Doubting his existence as a rat.
Meng Qi, at the very beginning, was unaware of his transformation.
His eyes were covered by the Physician, and then he felt a wave of dizziness. It was still pitch black in front of him, with something covering his head and body, as if he were sleeping inside a tent.
Where did the tent come from? What just happened?
Ning Changyuan had just left, and it seemed that Meng Qi was talking to the Physician. Meng Qi was trying to recall when suddenly the “tent” above his head flew away, as if snatched by an eagle or swept away by a strong wind. It disappeared in an instant.
The candlelight was dim, casting flickering shadows in the room.
Meng Qi looked up and saw a familiar face.
“…”
Familiar indeed, but it was also too big.
They say that seeing through fog is like appreciating flowers, and observing people under lamplight is most hazy.
—What hazy thing? How could I not see clearly when the Physician suddenly became so much bigger?
He was suddenly lifted up by a hand, losing his balance immediately.
His plump belly was pressed against a warm palm, and the entire sand rat was in a daze.
There was no bronze mirror in the room. This wasteland was too poor for that. Among the ten households, only one had a mirror, and it was blurry. In order to make Meng Qi understand the truth faster, Mo Li walked to the table where the candles were placed and pointed to the wall, where the candlelight cast shadows.
“…”
The figure was very clear, and the object held in the hand was also apparent.
Small and delicate ears, a body resembling a steamed bun, and slender whiskers that were gently trembling.
The scene before him seemed like an absurd dream. Meng Qi was shocked to think that he was not a human but a daemon!
He lowered his head to look at his tiny claws, slender tail, and the round and chubby body…
—If it were a daemon, that would be one thing, considering there are so many daemons in the world. Tigers, eagles, anything would be acceptable. But how could it be a chubby rat?
Could it be that he doesn’t feel hungry when he doesn’t eat because of his size?!
Damn it, the Chu shamans are so devilish! He’s obviously a mountain spirit, that’s why he can communicate with the mountain spirits!
Meng Qi was in a terrible mood. Normally at this time, his anger would surge and he would lose consciousness, but now he was surprisingly clear-headed. It was impossible for him to faint even if he wanted to.
The chubby rat thought it was expressionless and serious, but in reality, it looked silly, with a very amusing appearance.
But Mo Li didn’t laugh.
This was his fellow creature. When Mo Li encountered the chubby rat in Qimao Mountain, he thought it was a creature with spirituality, just like the white fox, which is why he approached it playfully.
Mo Li went to fetch a basin of water again and carefully placed the chubby rat next to the basin to let it see its reflection.
Then the chubby rat tilted its head and fell over.
Mo Li: “…”
Fortunately, it didn’t fall into the basin.
Mo Li knew that the chubby rat couldn’t speak when it transformed, so he held the frightened sand rat and returned to the bed.
“Turn back.”
After saying that, he placed the sand rat into the pile of clothes.
But there was no movement from the clothes for a long time.
Mo Li waited for a while, worried that something might have happened to the sand rat, so he uncovered the clothes again.
The chubby rat, with its round and soft body, opened its eyes. Its paws were stretched out, and it stubbornly rolled several times on the bed, still not reverting back. Its pink nose trembled with anger.
Mo Li: “…”
This was bad. Physician Mo immediately drew upon his own experience and began explaining the sensations that occur during the transformation to the chubby rat.
However, Meng Qi didn’t remember the circumstances of his first transformation at all. He even instinctively resisted his own form—looking so unimposing, how could he be such a weak and even chubby creature?
After a whole hour of struggling, the chubby rat rolled around the entire bed three times.
Mo Li made a quick decision and packed his belongings, leaving the wasteland overnight. Otherwise, if Ning Changyuan or Qiu Hong came to see him off tomorrow, he would have to explain why one person was missing.
Although he could say that Meng Qi had urgent matters and left early, Mo Li didn’t like telling lies.
Creating falsehoods was also tiring, and he preferred to save his energy.
So, taking advantage of the dark night, Physician Mo set off on his journey.
He found a thick piece of cloth, wrapped it around the chubby rat, and placed the rat on his shoulder.
Martial arts experts have inner energy that protects them, keeping their clothes from getting wet even in the rain. The chubby rat was small enough to be within the range of Mo Li’s inner breath, so its fur wouldn’t get completely tousled by the cold wind.
“Brother Meng, it was my impetuousness.”
Mo Li spoke while on the road, his lightness technique steady, his upper body not swaying at all.
Meng Qi silently tightened his grip on the Physician’s clothes, feeling a mix of emotions.
After his true feelings were exposed, Meng Qi had considered the Physician getting angry or kicking him out, but he had never anticipated the current situation.
What was he doing perched on the person he had feelings for?
He didn’t even have clothes! He was covered in just a piece of cloth!
—Wrapping you in this cloth is because I’m afraid you’ll be cold.
Meng Qi had the urge to smash the table with a palm. He moved instinctively, and Mo Li felt the chubby rat pawing at him.
“Don’t move, you might fall.” Mo Li supported the chubby rat with his hand.
“…”
The medicine was still taking effect, and Meng Qi’s mind was very clear. He suspected that the Physician wasn’t from his own kin, definitely not another rat!
Otherwise, when he realized he couldn’t change back and couldn’t speak, he should have reverted to his original form and communicated in the way of the rat clan.
Meng Qi lifted his paw and rubbed his chin.
…He didn’t rub it; he just rubbed against flesh.
There was too much flesh on his cheeks, and too much flesh on his chin.
Meng Qi weakly pushed away the flesh and finally managed to rub his chin. What was originally just a gesture of contemplating now felt so difficult. He squinted his eyes and recalled the reflection he saw in the basin—it wasn’t the common house mouse found in granaries or among common folks, but a species from the grasslands in the north, the sand rat he had once raised.
His head was too big, his body too round, and he couldn’t possibly outrun a cat!
Meng Qi, who considered himself a martial arts expert with unparalleled lightness technique, was deep in thought.
In theory, although his memory had gaps, he shouldn’t have forgotten whether he was a human or a daemon. Over the years, he had moments of clarity and bouts of illness, but he had never transformed back.
He vividly remembered stroking and carefully feeding leafy vegetables to his beloved pet sand rat.
The sand rat was initially thin, and he gradually nurtured it into a chubby form, often cradling it in his arms.
Meng Qi also distinctly remembered the sight of his beloved pet’s body lying in the soil, its once supple body turning cold and stiff. No matter how he tried to manipulate the agile paw, it remained motionless.
What happened afterward?
Meng Qi’s memory was blank. He went mad, wishing to kill everyone.
He regretted why he had to go out, but he couldn’t recall what happened before or the origin of that sand rat.
Was that sand rat a member of the same species? Or a relative?
In the depths of his mind, Meng Qi recalled the Physician inexplicably talking to him about children.
—You can’t have children with an outsider, and you can’t have them with someone from the same species either. Could it be that you have to bear the child yourself?
“Brother Meng?”
Suddenly, Mo Li felt a strong force weighing heavily on his shoulder. His inner breath naturally circulated but was forcefully pushed several feet away. Before he could steady himself, he quickly turned around and threw his luggage aside.
“There are clothes inside.”
“…”
There was a rustling sound behind him.
Mo Li breathed a sigh of relief; he had finally transformed back.
He waited for a while, estimating that the timing was right, and then turned his head.
Meng Qi, with his long hair scattered, looked at him with a complex expression.
“Do you feel any discomfort?” Mo Li proficiently reached out to check Meng Qi’s pulse.
Meng Qi didn’t resist but his voice was hoarse as he asked, “Do you think I was interested in you because I wanted to have a child?”
“What?” Mo Li was taken aback. How could he even have the ability to bear a little dragon vein? Qimao Mountain was so far from Taijing, small and barren. The dragon vein of Taijing had lost its branch vein and suffered a severe loss of vitality. Qimao Mountain didn’t even have the possibility of producing branch veins.
“…Was that dead sand rat my child?” Meng Qi asked each word.
A sharp pain pierced Mo Li’s heart. He took a deep breath and tried to make his tone sound calm and gentle.
“I don’t know. It could be, or it could not be. Don’t be sad for now. We are different from humans. Death sometimes doesn’t mean complete disappearance. We need to go to that mountain in Taijing and take a look.”
“If it’s not a child, then is it our fellow species?” Meng Qi responded with a different question, speaking to himself. “Are we daemons? The spirits of the heavens and earth are daemons, the birds and beasts are also daemons. Have we deviated from our original appearance, attempting to live in the world as humans, which is unacceptable to the natural order? So no matter what we do, we will fail, and our loved ones will eventually leave us. In the end, we will be affected and go crazy?”
“Enough, I don’t know what the natural order is!” Mo Li saw that the situation was turning bad and promptly interrupted, bringing Meng Qi’s thoughts back.
Meng Qi stared straight at him, as if waiting for an answer.
“If the natural order is intolerant, then what about the Si family? What about the Holy Lotus Altar?”
“…They are human.”
“So what if they are human? Does that give them the right to indiscriminately kill?” Mo Li furrowed his brow, no longer using the term “Brother Meng,” and raised his voice directly. “Teacher Meng, you have been in the Chu Dynasty for many years, and although your thoughts are focused on bringing peace to the people and the world, you have still been influenced by the so-called moral norms. Daemons, neither human nor beast, are they considered beings that defy moral norms?”
“Is the world simply divided into black and white? Does the world only have right and wrong?”
“If you don’t belong to either side, does that mean you are defying the natural order?”
Meng Qi’s mind gradually cleared as he was questioned, but he still had a headache.
Yes, the Chu Dynasty perished during the reign of the second emperor, but was it really his fault?
But whenever he thought of that sand rat, he felt a sharp pain in his heart.
“In the end, it was my recklessness today…”
“No, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known myself.”
Mo Li wanted to say that they weren’t considered daemons either, but he couldn’t transform into a dragon form, and earlier he had almost trapped Meng Qi in his current form. Now that Meng Qi’s emotions were unstable and there were no medicines at hand, he could only temporarily set aside that discussion.
Doubting his existence as a rat.
Meng Qi, at the very beginning, was unaware of his transformation.
His eyes were covered by the Physician, and then he felt a wave of dizziness. It was still pitch black in front of him, with something covering his head and body, as if he were sleeping inside a tent.
Where did the tent come from? What just happened?
Ning Changyuan had just left, and it seemed that Meng Qi was talking to the Physician. Meng Qi was trying to recall when suddenly the “tent” above his head flew away, as if snatched by an eagle or swept away by a strong wind. It disappeared in an instant.
The candlelight was dim, casting flickering shadows in the room.
Meng Qi looked up and saw a familiar face.
“…”
Familiar indeed, but it was also too big.
They say that seeing through fog is like appreciating flowers, and observing people under lamplight is most hazy.
—What hazy thing? How could I not see clearly when the Physician suddenly became so much bigger?
He was suddenly lifted up by a hand, losing his balance immediately.
His plump belly was pressed against a warm palm, and the entire sand rat was in a daze.
There was no bronze mirror in the room. This wasteland was too poor for that. Among the ten households, only one had a mirror, and it was blurry. In order to make Meng Qi understand the truth faster, Mo Li walked to the table where the candles were placed and pointed to the wall, where the candlelight cast shadows.
“…”
The figure was very clear, and the object held in the hand was also apparent.
Small and delicate ears, a body resembling a steamed bun, and slender whiskers that were gently trembling.
The scene before him seemed like an absurd dream. Meng Qi was shocked to think that he was not a human but a daemon!
He lowered his head to look at his tiny claws, slender tail, and the round and chubby body…
—If it were a daemon, that would be one thing, considering there are so many daemons in the world. Tigers, eagles, anything would be acceptable. But how could it be a chubby rat?
Could it be that he doesn’t feel hungry when he doesn’t eat because of his size?!
Damn it, the Chu shamans are so devilish! He’s obviously a mountain spirit, that’s why he can communicate with the mountain spirits!
Meng Qi was in a terrible mood. Normally at this time, his anger would surge and he would lose consciousness, but now he was surprisingly clear-headed. It was impossible for him to faint even if he wanted to.
The chubby rat thought it was expressionless and serious, but in reality, it looked silly, with a very amusing appearance.
But Mo Li didn’t laugh.
This was his fellow creature. When Mo Li encountered the chubby rat in Qimao Mountain, he thought it was a creature with spirituality, just like the white fox, which is why he approached it playfully.
Mo Li went to fetch a basin of water again and carefully placed the chubby rat next to the basin to let it see its reflection.
Then the chubby rat tilted its head and fell over.
Mo Li: “…”
Fortunately, it didn’t fall into the basin.
Mo Li knew that the chubby rat couldn’t speak when it transformed, so he held the frightened sand rat and returned to the bed.
“Turn back.”
After saying that, he placed the sand rat into the pile of clothes.
But there was no movement from the clothes for a long time.
Mo Li waited for a while, worried that something might have happened to the sand rat, so he uncovered the clothes again.
The chubby rat, with its round and soft body, opened its eyes. Its paws were stretched out, and it stubbornly rolled several times on the bed, still not reverting back. Its pink nose trembled with anger.
Mo Li: “…”
This was bad. Physician Mo immediately drew upon his own experience and began explaining the sensations that occur during the transformation to the chubby rat.
However, Meng Qi didn’t remember the circumstances of his first transformation at all. He even instinctively resisted his own form—looking so unimposing, how could he be such a weak and even chubby creature?
After a whole hour of struggling, the chubby rat rolled around the entire bed three times.
Mo Li made a quick decision and packed his belongings, leaving the wasteland overnight. Otherwise, if Ning Changyuan or Qiu Hong came to see him off tomorrow, he would have to explain why one person was missing.
Although he could say that Meng Qi had urgent matters and left early, Mo Li didn’t like telling lies.
Creating falsehoods was also tiring, and he preferred to save his energy.
So, taking advantage of the dark night, Physician Mo set off on his journey.
He found a thick piece of cloth, wrapped it around the chubby rat, and placed the rat on his shoulder.
Martial arts experts have inner energy that protects them, keeping their clothes from getting wet even in the rain. The chubby rat was small enough to be within the range of Mo Li’s inner breath, so its fur wouldn’t get completely tousled by the cold wind.
“Brother Meng, it was my impetuousness.”
Mo Li spoke while on the road, his lightness technique steady, his upper body not swaying at all.
Meng Qi silently tightened his grip on the Physician’s clothes, feeling a mix of emotions.
After his true feelings were exposed, Meng Qi had considered the Physician getting angry or kicking him out, but he had never anticipated the current situation.
What was he doing perched on the person he had feelings for?
He didn’t even have clothes! He was covered in just a piece of cloth!
—Wrapping you in this cloth is because I’m afraid you’ll be cold.
Meng Qi had the urge to smash the table with a palm. He moved instinctively, and Mo Li felt the chubby rat pawing at him.
“Don’t move, you might fall.” Mo Li supported the chubby rat with his hand.
“…”
The medicine was still taking effect, and Meng Qi’s mind was very clear. He suspected that the Physician wasn’t from his own kin, definitely not another rat!
Otherwise, when he realized he couldn’t change back and couldn’t speak, he should have reverted to his original form and communicated in the way of the rat clan.
Meng Qi lifted his paw and rubbed his chin.
…He didn’t rub it; he just rubbed against flesh.
There was too much flesh on his cheeks, and too much flesh on his chin.
Meng Qi weakly pushed away the flesh and finally managed to rub his chin. What was originally just a gesture of contemplating now felt so difficult. He squinted his eyes and recalled the reflection he saw in the basin—it wasn’t the common house mouse found in granaries or among common folks, but a species from the grasslands in the north, the sand rat he had once raised.
His head was too big, his body too round, and he couldn’t possibly outrun a cat!
Meng Qi, who considered himself a martial arts expert with unparalleled lightness technique, was deep in thought.
In theory, although his memory had gaps, he shouldn’t have forgotten whether he was a human or a daemon. Over the years, he had moments of clarity and bouts of illness, but he had never transformed back.
He vividly remembered stroking and carefully feeding leafy vegetables to his beloved pet sand rat.
The sand rat was initially thin, and he gradually nurtured it into a chubby form, often cradling it in his arms.
Meng Qi also distinctly remembered the sight of his beloved pet’s body lying in the soil, its once supple body turning cold and stiff. No matter how he tried to manipulate the agile paw, it remained motionless.
What happened afterward?
Meng Qi’s memory was blank. He went mad, wishing to kill everyone.
He regretted why he had to go out, but he couldn’t recall what happened before or the origin of that sand rat.
Was that sand rat a member of the same species? Or a relative?
In the depths of his mind, Meng Qi recalled the Physician inexplicably talking to him about children.
—You can’t have children with an outsider, and you can’t have them with someone from the same species either. Could it be that you have to bear the child yourself?
“Brother Meng?”
Suddenly, Mo Li felt a strong force weighing heavily on his shoulder. His inner breath naturally circulated but was forcefully pushed several feet away. Before he could steady himself, he quickly turned around and threw his luggage aside.
“There are clothes inside.”
“…”
There was a rustling sound behind him.
Mo Li breathed a sigh of relief; he had finally transformed back.
He waited for a while, estimating that the timing was right, and then turned his head.
Meng Qi, with his long hair scattered, looked at him with a complex expression.
“Do you feel any discomfort?” Mo Li proficiently reached out to check Meng Qi’s pulse.
Meng Qi didn’t resist but his voice was hoarse as he asked, “Do you think I was interested in you because I wanted to have a child?”
“What?” Mo Li was taken aback. How could he even have the ability to bear a little dragon vein? Qimao Mountain was so far from Taijing, small and barren. The dragon vein of Taijing had lost its branch vein and suffered a severe loss of vitality. Qimao Mountain didn’t even have the possibility of producing branch veins.
“…Was that dead sand rat my child?” Meng Qi asked each word.
A sharp pain pierced Mo Li’s heart. He took a deep breath and tried to make his tone sound calm and gentle.
“I don’t know. It could be, or it could not be. Don’t be sad for now. We are different from humans. Death sometimes doesn’t mean complete disappearance. We need to go to that mountain in Taijing and take a look.”
“If it’s not a child, then is it our fellow species?” Meng Qi responded with a different question, speaking to himself. “Are we daemons? The spirits of the heavens and earth are daemons, the birds and beasts are also daemons. Have we deviated from our original appearance, attempting to live in the world as humans, which is unacceptable to the natural order? So no matter what we do, we will fail, and our loved ones will eventually leave us. In the end, we will be affected and go crazy?”
“Enough, I don’t know what the natural order is!” Mo Li saw that the situation was turning bad and promptly interrupted, bringing Meng Qi’s thoughts back.
Meng Qi stared straight at him, as if waiting for an answer.
“If the natural order is intolerant, then what about the Si family? What about the Holy Lotus Altar?”
“…They are human.”
“So what if they are human? Does that give them the right to indiscriminately kill?” Mo Li furrowed his brow, no longer using the term “Brother Meng,” and raised his voice directly. “Teacher Meng, you have been in the Chu Dynasty for many years, and although your thoughts are focused on bringing peace to the people and the world, you have still been influenced by the so-called moral norms. Daemons, neither human nor beast, are they considered beings that defy moral norms?”
“Is the world simply divided into black and white? Does the world only have right and wrong?”
“If you don’t belong to either side, does that mean you are defying the natural order?”
Meng Qi’s mind gradually cleared as he was questioned, but he still had a headache.
Yes, the Chu Dynasty perished during the reign of the second emperor, but was it really his fault?
But whenever he thought of that sand rat, he felt a sharp pain in his heart.
“In the end, it was my recklessness today…”
“No, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known myself.”
Mo Li wanted to say that they weren’t considered daemons either, but he couldn’t transform into a dragon form, and earlier he had almost trapped Meng Qi in his current form. Now that Meng Qi’s emotions were unstable and there were no medicines at hand, he could only temporarily set aside that discussion.
