Chapter 32: Cloud-Roaming (Part 2)

The helicopter sent them directly to the capital. A special car took Chen Yi all the way to the most mysterious Central Office Building. There, Chen Yi not only met the senior leader he had met before, but under that leader’s introduction, he also met Xia’s highest leader.

The highest leader said, “The sect will become Xia’s, and even the whole world’s, state-protecting treasure in the face of the sudden changes to come. It is our greatest safeguard in protecting all of humanity and guarding our homeland. Comrade Chen Yi, on behalf of the country and myself, I thank you for your efforts and hard work!”

Chen Yi was extremely nervous at first, but during this meeting that felt like an ordinary chat, he slowly relaxed.

After the meeting ended, the highest leader said, “This is the inheritance of a civilization. Go ahead and do what you need to do. The country will fully cooperate with you.”

Chen Yi rose and shook the other person’s hand, saying, “Whatever arrangements the country has, please feel free to instruct me. Only with a country can there be a home. May the motherland flourish and grow strong!”

Only after meeting this leader and leaving the Central Office Building did Chen Yi realize his legs were a little weak.

Tang Qirui did not even have the qualifications to enter and had waited outside. When he saw Chen Yi come out and saw his appearance, he asked, “Did everything go smoothly?”

Chen Yi nodded. Naturally, it had gone smoothly. Being able to meet this elderly leader today also showed that the country’s trust in him had increased, and their cooperation would become even closer in the future.

Tang Qirui smiled. “Then what’s next? Do you have any plans?”

Chen Yi had long thought about it. “The civil service exam is in C Province, right? I still have a rented apartment over there. I can terminate the lease while I’m at it, then bring the children around for a walk.”

“Fine. Then I’ll arrange for someone to book your plane tickets. Do you want to spend two days in the capital before leaving?”

“No. I’m familiar with that side, so my mindset will be more relaxed. Maybe the Cloud-Roaming mission will be completed as soon as I go over.”

“You should still relax when it’s time to relax.” Tang Qirui approved of Chen Yi’s efforts.

Chen Yi smiled. “I’ll return your own words to you. You should still relax when it’s time to relax.”

Tang Qirui froze for a moment, then laughed.

Their group barely stayed in the capital at all. They set off directly for the airport, even solving lunch there.

Chen Yi had been worried the whole time that, after coming to the capital without getting to play, the children would be upset. In the end, he discovered that as long as their father accompanied them outside, they were very happy.

Their flight was at noon, and the journey took two hours. They took an afternoon nap on the plane. The spacious business-class seats were very comfortable to sleep in. When they opened their eyes again, the plane had landed on the runway of C Province’s provincial capital airport.

The family of four took their luggage off the plane. Tang Qirui was not with them. There was a flight from the capital directly to Zhang City that afternoon, which was a little closer to Lishui Village.

Chen Yi walked down the long exit corridor. Looking at the old and young by his side, he was wondering whether to rent a car when he saw someone standing outside the arrivals area whom he had not expected.

But the first to react were the two children, who pointed at the person in delighted surprise and reminded Chen Yi, “It’s Uncle Lou! Uncle Lou!”

His mother Xiang Lan was very surprised. “Did you arrange this?”

Chen Yi shook his head.

Lou Ting wore a light gray casual outfit that set off his slightly pale skin and tall, straight figure. He was handsome and striking, his thin lips lightly curved.

Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, the smile rippling in his peach-blossom eyes was like decades-old wine. It added a trace of rich playboy flavor to the wealthy noble aura he should have possessed.

The gazes of travelers hurrying through the airport stopped on him, and they could not help taking another look.

With that kind of presence, if this had been before, Chen Yi would have known very clearly that he and the other man were not from the same world. Perhaps they would never have had any intersection in their lives.

But now.

A thick smile spread across Lou Ting’s face. He half crouched on the ground, opened his arms, and warmly welcomed the children. “Qianbao, Linbao!”

Qianbao and Linbao really did run over.

During this period, he had been responsible for the children’s elite enlightenment education. Every day, in his free time, he played with the children, conversed with them in foreign languages, and used small games to teach big principles. His fresh and interesting way of playing was very popular with the children.

After catching the children, he greeted Xiang Lan. “Hello, Auntie Xiang.”

Only then did he look at Chen Yi. “I came to the company yesterday for something. Today I heard from Tang Qirui that you were going out. If I’d known earlier, we could have left together.”

Chen Yi still remembered that Lou Ting had been present during Technique Transmission at noon yesterday. He had not expected Lou Ting to have already left the sect last night.

After picking up Chen Yi, their group of five took the elevator to the parking lot together. They had only walked a few steps when Chen Yi’s gaze was drawn to a large, square SUV.

Lou Ting really did lead them toward that vehicle.

With a beep, the car lights flashed, and the doors unlocked.

Chen Yi asked, “Yours?”

“Mm.”

“How much did this car cost?”

“You like it?” Lou Ting handed the car key to Chen Yi.

Chen Yi did not take it.

Whether Lou Ting was giving him the car with the air of a scumbag or merely letting him drive it, he would not take it, because he did not have a driver’s license.

After loading the luggage and settling his mother and children in the back seat, Chen Yi sat in the front passenger seat.

Finally sitting in the driver’s seat, Lou Ting explained, “That space has outstanding people and a blessed environment, and I can even cultivate there. No one would want to leave. Unfortunately, even the landlord’s family has no surplus grain. Who knows how much work has piled up in the studio during this period?”

“The studio is in the city?”

“It was originally in the capital. This one’s newly opened. You said you were going to the capital, but I didn’t know that earlier. It’s been a long time since I last traveled by helicopter.”

A long time since he had, not that he never had.

Chen Yi’s eyes flickered. “I thought you were an engineer from some national construction unit.”

“I used to be. Later, I stopped...”

Chen Yi wanted to hear him continue, but no follow-up came.

Lou Ting saw him looking and did not explain. His eyes were long and narrow. When he was not smiling, he had an elite air that made him difficult to approach. But when his eyes curved, they were full of spinning peach blossoms. Even with glasses on, they could not conceal his flirtatious charm.

That almost-smiling expression looked somewhat frivolous, worlds apart from the impression he had left on Chen Yi inside the sect.

“Where to?” Lou Ting shifted the topic with natural ease.

“Back to my rental apartment. I left some documents there, and I need to terminate the lease too. Also, Minister Tang wants me to take a civil service exam, so I’ll be staying here for a few days.”

“The civil service exam—is it to give that person an explanation?” Lou Ting chuckled softly. “Some people are always toyed with by fate. After they miss their chance, they regret it too late.”

Chen Yi: “...”

Chen Yi did not speak. Lou Ting smiled faintly again and then said, “Fasten your seat belts. We’re setting off.”

He said this in a foreign language, with standard pronunciation, for the children in the back seat.

With a press of the accelerator, they spiraled upward through the deep underground tunnel. Then, like a giant dragon charging out of the abyss, the vehicle roared with a dragon’s cry, drove onto the surface, and sped away along the airport road.

Chen Yi gave directions. When they arrived near the rental apartment, he wanted to say he would terminate the lease today, but the landlord apologetically told him that he was out on business. If Chen Yi was not in a hurry, he would be back in a couple of days.

Chen Yi was not in a hurry.

A publicly funded vacation certainly could not be rushed.

Besides, he still had to take the civil service exam in the next two days.

Lou Ting said, “Now what? Find a hotel to stay in first?”

“Sure.”

Lou Ting made a phone call, then entered an address into the navigation system. In the end, they went to a five-star resort hotel and booked a villa.

And just like that, they officially settled in.

Lou Ting handed a room card to Chen Yi and kept one for himself. “You don’t mind staying in the same building, right? There are more aberrations in big cities. I’m afraid my skills are still shallow, so I feel safer in the same building as you. Besides, when you go out to handle business, I can also help you look after Auntie and the children.”

Chen Yi was curious. “What about before?”

“I’d go to the Night Watchers base! Xun Shiming is stationed here on rotation this week. If you hadn’t come, I would’ve gone to find him.” After saying that, Lou Ting stretched lazily. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a nightlife. These pure and desireless days... Sect Master, how did you live after your divorce? When you cultivate occasionally, do distracting thoughts start surging? Have you ever had qi deviation?”

Chen Yi smiled and did not answer directly. He only said, “Aberrations really are difficult to clear out completely. As the concentration of spiritual energy increases, there will only be more and more ghost disasters. But with your cultivation level, you’ll have no problem if you encounter a newly born aberration. What kind of life can’t you live on your own?”

Lou Ting looked at Chen Yi with bright, piercing eyes. “Then how about I take you Cloud-Roaming tonight?”

“???”

“Isn’t Cloud-Roaming about experiencing the joys and sorrows of ordinary life, about going deep into every corner you want to visit? Don’t go against your heart, Sect Master.”

Chen Yi glanced at his son and daughter, who were running past, then spoke earnestly. “Teacher’s ethics, Teacher Lou.”

After his mother Xiang Lan came over with the children, Lou Ting stopped talking.

He walked in front. As soon as they entered the villa, Lou Ting picked a room and shut himself inside, barely coming out afterward.

He said he wanted to have fun, but he was also truly working. When Chen Yi occasionally passed by the door, he could hear Lou Ting speaking, so he was probably working remotely.

The children spent an hour getting familiar with the big villa, then began yearning for a greater adventure.

Chen Yi thought they simply wanted to play in the hotel, but both children pointed at the standing sign by the bedroom headboard and said, “Amusement park!”

The advertisement was recommending this newly built large comprehensive amusement park. The original body’s owner had taken the children there twice before. Children this young did not remember much, but they had not forgotten everything either.

Seeing the Ferris wheel on the advertising sign, they remembered the joy of playing at the amusement park and clung to Chen Yi, begging to go.

An amusement park.

One of the common terrifying settings in horror novels.

After Chen Yi began cultivating, the second aberration he dealt with had been the Carousel Murder Incident, also in an amusement park.

If they went there now, they could only do the night session. With their sweet, delicious little family, they would one hundred percent run into an aberration at the amusement park.

“Dad, can we go?” Big brother Qianbao tugged on Chen Yi’s pant leg and looked up at him.

Little sister Linbao saw this and tugged on his other pant leg too, blinking adorably.

Their plump little faces, with those eager eyes looking over at him, were simply too cute.

Chen Yi nodded almost without hesitation. “Of course we can!”

Back when he had been poor, going to an amusement park required saving money for months, and they had to go early in the morning, playing from opening until closing, afraid they would not get their money’s worth.

Now he had money. So what if they played the night session?

Huh? What? There were aberrations?

What kind of joke was that? Any aberration that ran into him was the unlucky one. It had clearly been born without checking the almanac!

Once Chen Yi made his decision, they immediately set off, taking a trip as soon as they said they would.

The children cheered and jumped for joy. His mother Xiang Lan also supported it. Being cooped up every day in the sect space was not good for the children’s psychological development. Children needed to go more often to places with lots of people so they could become lively and confident.

When they passed Lou Ting’s door, they knocked.

“We’re going to the amusement park for the night session. Are you coming?”

Lou Ting raised an eyebrow, probably still thinking about the matter of “Cloud-Roaming” tonight. “The amusement park? Do you have to be that extreme?”

“I’ll leave the dagger with you. There shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lou Ting was silent for two seconds. Then he smiled again, his eyes full of peach blossoms. “Forget it. Work can be done anytime. Since I’m already out, I might as well walk around more.”

Lou Ting’s car had been driven away by the hotel for washing. It would still be a little while before it was brought back, so Lou Ting seized the time to work for a bit more. When the front desk called, he did not delay even one second. He stood up. “Let’s go.”

They arrived at the amusement park.

Because it happened to be the weekend, even the night session had quite a few people.

Chen Yi and his mother lined up with the children, while Lou Ting found a place, took out a laptop, and continued working.

Before they realized it, night fell. Starting from a certain moment, Lou Ting no longer worked at all. Wherever Chen Yi went, Lou Ting followed. Occasionally, the solemnity on his face revealed a hint of cold sharpness, like a special forces soldier currently carrying out a mission, listening in every direction and watching every path.

During that time, when they passed by the mirror house, Lou Ting smelled the legendary stench. His face stiffened, and he whispered, “There’s one inside?”

Chen Yi nodded. “There is. Want to go in and meet it?”

Lou Ting was both resistant and curious. In the end, he said, “We brought the children here to play. Let’s forget it.”

Chen Yi did not think so.

He pointed at a restaurant not far away and said, “Take my mom and the children there to eat. I’ll go in and be back quickly.”

Lou Ting did not want to leave Chen Yi, but he was even less willing to face an aberration. With difficulty, he said, “Come back early. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Everyone who knew understood exactly why he was acting so clingy. Even his mother Xiang Lan could not help laughing. Such a tall young man, over six feet, usually looked quite manly, so why was he so timid?

But Lou Ting was also very good at bending and stretching when needed. Knowing that this was embarrassing, he did not care. Instead, he held out his hand to Chen Yi. “I know you have Defense Talismans and Strength Talismans. Give me some to hold first. I won’t return them to you even if I don’t use them.”

The amusement park did not allow blade-shaped objects inside. Even wooden knives were not allowed, otherwise Lou Ting would have asked for one too.

Chen Yi found Lou Ting pretty slick, especially in line with the sect’s principles. Very gratified, he handed the talismans to him. “Use them as much as you need. Safety first.”

Lou Ting nodded in satisfaction and did not forget to urge him, “Come back early. Definitely.” He was just short of saying, “Your children and your old mother are in my hands...”

Chen Yi smiled, turned around, and entered the mirror house.

Next Chapter >