Chapter 84

Of course, adults were guilty, but vacations were innocent.

Although she had been cruelly persecuted by unscrupulous adults, vacation itself was still very sweet. The mountain of homework looked like a lot, but when spread evenly across each day, it was not much at all. It was much easier than attending classes.

Once she adapted to this rhythm, she only had to get up every day and finish her homework—with the spirit of division of labor and cooperation brought into play when necessary—and the rest of the time could be spent letting herself loose.

Two days into the break.

“We’re minors. You can’t hire child labor, and you can’t abuse children,” Song Yi said righteously.

Hearing this, did you think Song Yi was locked in a battle of wits and courage with evil forces again?

The truth was:

Song Yi taught Li Wenwen how to fly on a sword, and then Li Wenwen rode the sword straight out of her own house, violating Cloud City’s sword-riding regulations. The two of them then took a shared spirit-energy car and fiddled with it until they turned it into a speeding flying car, the kind that left only afterimages behind…

In a very short time, they had already become the cubs the Police Bureau recognized most easily.

After paying their fines, the two underage cubs became volunteers, helping maintain order.

A battle of wits and courage with evil forces was impossible. They themselves were the evil forces.

Sure enough, when he heard her words, Li Xiu said mercilessly, “You have the right to report this to higher authorities, but every word you say may become evidence for extending your volunteer labor hours.”

Li Xiu liked cubs like Song Yi very much, but creatures like cubs could only be admired from afar, not played with up close.

They had only been on vacation for two days, and he had already begun looking forward to the start of school every single day. The thing that could contain bratty children was not a school. It was practically a temple!

Unfortunately, vacation had only just begun. He still had a long time to keep having headaches.

Passersby who did not know the truth rather liked these two volunteer cubs.

“They’re even coming out to help during vacation. They’re really so well behaved!”

“Have some snacks and take a break.”

The two restless little children rolled their eyes and began acting.

“No, we have to help Uncle share the burden. Otherwise he’ll have it very hard.”

“It would be bad if Uncle got angry.”

On those soft, fair little faces, there was vulnerability within strength, and pitifulness within vulnerability. The paternal and maternal love of the passersby overflowed.

Everyone cherished these sensible little children and expressed condemnation toward Li Xiu with their eyes: They’re already this sensible. Can’t you let them rest for a bit?

Li Xiu felt pressure as heavy as a mountain. Wake up, friends! They’re not here volunteering because they’re sensible! It’s because they have no choice but to be sensible while volunteering!

All one could say was that a cub’s appearance was far too deceptive.

Li Xiu turned his head and switched Zhang Xuan in to stand guard.

If someone had to bear this pressure, then it absolutely had to be his good brother.

Zhang Xuan: …

Don’t lead little children astray, you jerk!

So he covered the children’s eyes and gave Li Xiu a violent beating. Then he looked at Song Yi and the others with a smile on his face.

“Good friends really should support each other and help each other.”

The two children looked at Li Xiu behind him, who now had Zhang-pig-head face, and felt that his words were completely unconvincing.

Vacation should have passed in the joyful atmosphere of bratty children battling wits and courage with adults.

But Li Wenwen felt that something seemed wrong with Song Yi.

According to her observations, ever since vacation started, Song Yi rarely played with her identity token, was not obsessed with games and videos, and had also started zoning out all the time.

That was why she kept pestering Song Yi to teach her how to fly on a sword and deliberately caused trouble together with her, hoping it would help her recover her energy. Every time they made a huge mess, Song Yi would become a hundred times more spirited.

But the effect did not seem very big.

The two thick-nerved adults, Zhang Xuan and Li Xiu, did not notice anything unusual.

Li Wenwen was sometimes pretty thick-nerved too, but she was quite sensitive to other people’s emotions. Perhaps this was the essential special skill of a bratty child frantically bouncing on an adult’s line of tolerance.

Although Song Yi behaved as if everything were normal, Li Wenwen still felt that something had happened.

She had not guessed wrong. It was just that this involved a secret Song Yi had never told anyone before—her inner demon.

On the seventh day of vacation, Song Yi suddenly woke from her sleep with a start.

She glanced at Li Wenwen, who was fast asleep in the bed beside hers, then quickly ran out onto the balcony.

A phantom identical to her appeared in front of her.

After Song Yi came to this world, her inner demon’s power had been as weak as hers. Unless she willingly gave up control of her body, the inner demon had no way to leave her sea of consciousness at all.

This was the first time during this period that she had condensed outside Song Yi’s body in the form of a phantom.

Song Yi said softly, “You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

According to common sense, if an inner demon was not eliminated, it would grow stronger as the cultivator’s cultivation level rose. That was why, when she had first arrived, she had not planned to begin cultivating right away. Only after she found a way to restrain the inner demon did she relax.

But Song Yi knew that her inner demon had not become stronger because she had reached Foundation Establishment.

This fellow had been growing weaker and weaker, as if she had lost some kind of supporting power. In the past, she loved nagging in Song Yi’s ear the most, but later, she grew quieter and quieter.

Now that she had condensed into a phantom, it was like a final radiance before fading away.

“That’s right. Congratulations. You’re finally free of me.”

Song Yi should have felt happy. This was the greatest stumbling block on her path of cultivation.

She had slain her inner demon countless times, but she had never been able to completely kill her.

But perhaps, after coming to this world, her heart had become as dull as her sword. She could not feel happy.

“Can you stay? I won’t play games anymore. I’ll leave all my game time to you. I can also give you more time to control the body. You can eat whatever you want.”

She deliberately tried to think of it with carefree ease.

It’s just one inner demon. I can afford to keep her.

The inner demon smiled radiantly and reached out, pressing a finger against her forehead.

“I am you. You don’t need to keep me. You just don’t need me anymore.”

“I appeared because your heart held too many doubts. But now you can already find the answers yourself. I used to nag beside your ear because cultivating alone was too lonely. But you’re not lonely anymore. Many people will replace my existence.”

After she finished speaking, her figure became transparent and scattered like a wisp of green smoke.

Song Yi tried to catch her.

“Was it you who brought me to the New Era? Is it because you brought me here that you became this weak?”

But she received no answer.

After the inner demon disappeared, her sea of consciousness changed. The fragments of her divine sense were not repaired. Instead, they rose to the top of her sea of consciousness, the glittering fragments forming something like a nebula. The divine sense cultivated in this life sank like a trickling stream, forming a new sea of consciousness.

Her terrible sea of consciousness became gentle and brilliant, as if newly born.

But Song Yi suddenly became very sad. She crouched down and hugged her knees.

She remembered the words her inner demon had once nagged in her ear.

“You’re pursuing the Heavenly Dao? But the Heavenly Dao is emotionless. It won’t look at you twice just because you’re a genius. This Great Dao is not worth seeking. It’s all rules and restrictions. Very boring.”

“Song Yi, look up quickly. Those are stars.”

At that time, Song Yi had been killing someone, so she did not look up. She had to maintain absolute focus. Otherwise, the one counter-killed would have been her.

She had thought, This inner demon is trying to disturb my state of mind again.

If not for the inner demon’s existence, would she have gone mad long ago?

Li Wenwen rubbed her eyes and walked toward her in a daze.

“Little Yi, why aren’t you sleeping in the middle of the night? What are you doing here?”

After seeing Song Yi’s reddened eyes and the way she was curled up, Li Wenwen was frightened.

“Little Yi, what’s wrong?”

She hugged Song Yi and patted her back.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Song Yi shook her head.

“I’m just really sad, but I don’t know what to do.”

“Little Song Yi, when you’re sad, you have to cry it out.” Li Wenwen stared at her solemnly, bringing out the aura of a big sister. “You’re not allowed to grit your teeth and hold it in by yourself.”

What?

Song Yi was lost for a moment. She had not cried in hundreds of years, because tears were the most useless and cowardly thing. Rather than shedding tears, it was better to pick up the sword in her hand.

Did she still have the ability to cry?

But tears fell on their own, drop by drop.

First came silent weeping. Then she hugged Li Wenwen and burst into loud sobs. It was as if grievances that had been accumulated for many, many years were all being cried out at once.

This was the first time Li Wenwen had seen Song Yi cry.

She did not stop her. Instead, she kept patting her back. She hoped Song Yi would express happiness, and also express sadness.

Little Yi was very powerful, but sure enough, she herself still had to be just a little more powerful than Little Yi, because she was the one who could take care of little Little Yi.

Only, after a while, crying seemed to be contagious. At first, Li Wenwen felt that she ought to comfort Song Yi like a reliable big sister, but as she listened to Song Yi cry, she felt very sad too. For some reason, she also started crying along with her, tears pouring down.

The two of them wailed for a very long time. Since Wenwen’s parents had to be on duty today and were not home, there was not even an adult around to take charge of the situation.

Thankfully, soundproofing in the cultivation world was good enough. Otherwise, with the demonic sound of the two of them circling people’s ears, they would absolutely have become some people’s nightmare.

The two children got snot and tears all over each other, and neither had any right to dislike the other.

Song Yi was the first to stop. With a thick nasal voice, she asked Li Wenwen, “What are you crying about?”

“At first, I was just really sad. I felt like you’d suffered a lot of grievances. Then as I kept crying, I thought about how my parents won’t even give me spending money and still make me go to school. They don’t love me anymore. The teacher still punishes me with homework. I haven’t even learned sword-riding…”

Li Wenwen spoke while hiccupping from crying.

If you did not think about it, you would never know. Once you thought about it, you discovered there were far too many things worth crying over.

Song Yi: …

Then Li Wenwen opened her tearful eyes and asked, “Little Yi, then why were you sad?”

“There was someone who stayed with me for a very, very long time. An existence I don’t know how to describe… She disappeared.”

Her inner demon was not her friend, but she was the existence who had kept her company the longest.

“Ah!” Li Wenwen suddenly said. “I had a nightmare just now. I dreamed that you told me to kill you. You said that way, I could become really powerful. So I asked, why do I need to become really powerful? If Little Yi is powerful, then that means I’m powerful.”

Please. If you can win by lying down, why work hard yourself?

“That fake Little Yi was too scary. I woke up with a start and found that you weren’t there, so I came out to look for you.”

Li Wenwen held Song Yi’s hand tightly.

“Little Yi, I’ll always stay with you. Don’t be afraid either. I won’t let you be alone. Whatever happens, you can tell me, whether it’s something happy or something sad.”

Sure enough, she still liked the real Little Yi.

A hearty, unrestrained cry could drain a person’s energy. Song Yi cried herself tired and once again sank deeply into sleep.

The next day, Song Yi was woken by clamoring noise.

Li Wenwen’s living room had already turned into utter chaos. Tie Yuan was rolling all over the floor, Li Wenwen and Chu Wen were facing each other off with swords, Lin Ze was secretly plucking Tie Yuan’s fur, and Lu Shan had her hands on her hips as she told them to hurry up and stop.

“I’m here to supervise you while you do your homework!”

Song Yi looked at these people in confusion.

“Why are all of you here?”

After vacation started, Tie Yuan was supposed to return to his clan. Lin Ze was busy making money. Chu Wen was not even from Cloud City. Lu Shan normally did not play with them much either. Why had everyone gathered here?

Tie Yuan sprang onto her all at once.

“Home isn’t fun. I still like playing with you.”

Lu Shan said, “I’m here to tutor everyone.”

Chu Wen gave a dry cough.

“I can go wherever I want anyway.”

Li Wenwen exposed him.

“Little Yi, he got into trouble and was exiled here.”

Lin Ze scratched his head.

“Making money every day is exhausting. I need a balance between work and rest too.”

Looking at everyone exchanging glances, Song Yi realized that Li Wenwen must have told them, which was why everyone had arrived so neatly.

They came over and patted Song Yi’s head. Song Yi felt moved in her heart. She sniffled and did not resist.

In the end, the moment she turned her head, they asked Li Wenwen, “Did you record it all?”

Song Yi suddenly had a slightly ominous premonition.

Little Song Yi, who had no experience with crying bitterly, did not know this: when someone cried for that long, not only would their throat become hoarse, their eyes and face would swell too.

The experienced Li Wenwen had already applied medicine when she woke up that morning, so she looked very normal. But Song Yi had rarely overslept, and once she got up, she was face-to-face with all her little friends. This was equivalent to delivering her dark history straight into their hands.

The emotion in pig-head-faced Song Yi’s heart vanished like smoke.

She smiled and tightened her grip on her sword.

It was fine. As long as she beat all of them until they cried, it would count as everyone having dark history together.

Dark history everyone had together was approximately the same as no dark history at all.

She charged at the crowd, and the living room became even livelier.

Li Wenwen secretly let out a breath of relief.

Little Yi should have recovered her energy.

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