Sand Rat: So frustrating, I always feel like I can swim.
It felt like a weary traveler had been walking in the dark for a long time, suddenly seeing an incredibly familiar house.
Even though memories had blurred over the years away from home, the moment the house appeared, a palpable feeling struck deep into the heart.
— Impatiently wanting to get closer to it, push open the door, and return to one’s own bed for a comfortable sleep.
Meng Qi’s emotions were somewhat out of control, and his aura began to fluctuate.
Not good.
Mo Li didn’t think twice; he immediately transformed into a human form in the water.
Meng Qi’s consciousness was hazy, and he even missed the drifting plank that the river water immediately carried downstream.
The landing point was missing, and that step would take him into the water. Meng Qi had just expended his breath, and his new internal energy had not yet connected. However, now the worst problem was not falling into the water but Meng Qi experiencing another seizure.
Mo Li didn’t expect that returning “home” would trigger Meng Qi like this.
He reached out and used his inner strength to pull the plank back, sending it right under Meng Qi’s feet.
As a black-scaled fish, he could only control the direction of the plank. After transforming into a human, he could do more, like exerting inner power on the plank. Meng Qi felt a pushing force under his feet and instinctively used it to stabilize his posture.
“Doctor?”
Meng Qi came back to his senses and found that the fish in the water was gone.
Amidst the surging waves, the agile and fair-skinned figure could vaguely be seen. It was evident that the doctor’s water skills were top-notch when in human form.
Why was Qing River’s water so murky?
Mo Li surfaced for a breath and, incidentally, gave the plank another push before quickly submerging again.
He felt that Meng Qi was absent-minded. He thought it might be the effect of the spiritual caves in the capital on the dragon veins. To be honest, Mo Li was quite surprised; the purity of the spiritual energy far exceeded his expectations.
Even though they were so far apart, it was still awe-inspiring.
The most spiritual place on Qimao Mountain was the pool inside the cave. Only at the moment of sunrise and sunset, when the earth’s spiritual energy mingled, would there be such a brief and intense sensation.
But what about here in the capital?
Was it like this all the time?
Could it be that the capital, this place, was like this constantly?
Mo Li thought of the golden dragon and understood. It seemed that the size of a dragon vein was not determined by the size of the terrain but by the amount of spiritual energy in that place.
With such dense spiritual energy in the capital, it was inevitable that what people perceived as “omens” would appear from time to time, such as naturally occurring auspicious clouds or springs gushing from the ground. Taoists naturally believed this was due to the presence of the emperor.
Being a dragon vein and about to step into another dragon vein’s territory actually made him somewhat uncomfortable.
This feeling was hard to describe, but in general, it was like entering someone else’s bedroom without permission, not knowing where to stand or sit, not even knowing where to place your eyes.
The right thing to do was to immediately withdraw, which was the way of a gentleman.
However, he came here to treat an illness, to visit the patient at their home. It was quite ordinary to make a house call to examine the patient, something Mo Li had never been uncomfortable with before.
But this time was different, probably because of the patient’s identity.
Mo Li’s gaze subtly changed as he suppressed his thoughts. Just as he transformed back to his original form, Meng Qi’s actions suddenly shifted. He went from leisurely strolling to swiftly gliding across the surface of the river.
The black-scaled fish was taken aback, but fortunately, its natural form allowed for fast swimming, and it caught up in time.
Unfortunately, the plank wasn’t as lucky. It was fiercely pushed and battered by the fast-flowing water, and cracks had already appeared on it, quickly breaking it into two halves.
Mo Li discarded the smaller piece.
This process repeated several times, and when they were close to the shore, the original half-plank was reduced to the size of a bowl’s mouth. If it weren’t for the calmer waters near the bank, it would have been swept away long ago.
After coming ashore, Meng Qi didn’t linger and used his lightness technique to disappear rapidly.
This left the onlookers on the riverbank with no clear view of his face.
“Something’s in the water!”
Someone called out.
In the shallows, Mo Li’s reflection shimmered.
“It’s a big fish!”
People rushed to the riverbank to get a glimpse, but they could only see ripples created by the fish’s tail, which quickly vanished into the river.
“The River God came as a sacred fish,”
Someone knelt and kowtowed, while others followed the direction where Meng Qi had disappeared.
As for the river folks on the opposite bank, they only saw Meng Qi’s sudden change in movement, transitioning from a leisurely stroll to a swift leap into the air, displaying a clear mastery of lightness technique. This reassured them that he was not some deity but merely a highly skilled martial artist.
The river was too vast, and even those with keen eyesight couldn’t see the situation on the opposite bank.
In fact, Meng Qi stood out because he was walking on the empty river surface. Even as a blurry dot, everyone could keep their eyes on him.
“Who could this person be?” Golden Phoenix’s Young Master muttered to himself.
In his mind, he ran through a list of famous figures in the martial world but couldn’t find an answer.
The Hengchang Temple had a diverse martial arts repertoire, but the current abbot and elders were not outstanding individuals, just decent enough to uphold the temple’s reputation.
The Tianshan Sect excelled in lightness techniques and swordsmanship, but they were located far away in the borderlands, with a relatively small number of disciples. Although they were an ancient and prestigious sect, their actual numbers might not even compare to a small escort agency in the martial world. This type of martial sect, relying on inheritance and individual enlightenment, made it easy to understand a certain principle: diligence alone couldn’t produce masters, but without diligence, there was no chance of becoming a master.
The Tianshan Sect was in a remote location, and the disciples in the sect were all sword-crazy individuals. However, those with high martial skills were truly exceptional, while those with lesser skills couldn’t even compete with third-rate martial practitioners in the martial world.
This generation of Tianshan Sect swordsmen was also limited in their excellence, and there were even fewer actively wandering the Jianghu. Scholar Mei had already returned, so it couldn’t be him.
Unless—
Golden Phoenix’s Young Master hadn’t finished thinking when one of his subordinates whispered, “Could it be the physician we encountered last time?”
After all, skilled martial artists were not readily available, and anyone would contemplate the connection between these two mysterious figures.
“This is getting more interesting,” Golden Phoenix’s Young Master stood up abruptly and ordered, “Head to the shore! We’ll ride downstream and find a ferry to reach the capital as soon as possible.”
At the same time, Mo Li had already found a secluded stretch of riverbank.
He was a bit worried, as Meng Qi had behaved oddly earlier. Although it seemed like he had recovered, it left the fish feeling anxious.
What if Meng Qi had another seizure and sprinted into the city, attempting to twist the Qi Emperor Zhao’s head off?
The doctor didn’t care about the life or death of the Qi Emperor, but if the emperor died, it would lead to a new wave of turmoil in the north.
Besides, Mo Li’s belongings were still on Meng Qi’s back, and while he wasn’t afraid of being penniless, he had no clothes to wear!
If Meng Qi ran off like that, Mo Li wouldn’t be able to come ashore before nightfall. He might even have to sneak into a fisherman’s house to steal some clothes.
Immersed in the spiritually enriched waters of the Qing River, Mo Li regretted his inability to resist the temptation of swimming. He also regretted listening to Meng Qi’s persuasive argument about why the State Teacher had to appear. He regretted…
He hadn’t even thought of the third thing to regret when a familiar figure appeared.
“Doctor?” Meng Qi looked around and, not seeing anyone, began searching for the fish in the water.
They had agreed to meet at the nearest uninhabited riverbank, but they didn’t know the exact location until they crossed the river.
When the all-black-scaled fish surfaced, Meng Qi suddenly felt absurd. He seemed to be in a fantastical novel. For instance, when someone was crossing a river on a boat and accidentally dropped a sword into the water, they would feign composure, mark the spot on the boat, and plan to dive in to retrieve it when they reached the shore. Then, suddenly, the deity governing the waters would appear and ask whether they had dropped a gold or silver sword…
Meng Qi thought he would respond that he hadn’t lost a sword but rather a fish with black scales.
“Doctor?” Meng Qi tried calling again.
The black-scaled fish couldn’t help but flick its tail on the water’s surface, giving Meng Qi a disdainful look.
Seeing disdain in the eyes of a fish that couldn’t even close its eyes was quite a novel feeling for Meng Qi. He marveled at it for a moment before confirming that it was indeed Mo Li. After all, an ordinary fish couldn’t achieve this.
“Doctor, I’ve placed your clothes here.”
Meng Qi took out the clothing from his bag, found a rock to dust it off, and then laid it out.
Then he turned his back and walked towards the nearby woods.
It wasn’t that Meng Qi didn’t want to stay; rather, he knew what kind of behavior would win the doctor’s favor.
Before long, Meng Qi saw Mo Li strolling over confidently.
His hair was perfectly in place, his clothes were neat, and there was no sign that he had just swum across the entire Qing River.
“Brother Meng, what did you want to say?” Mo Li took the bag and promptly put the money pouch into his own pocket.
Meng Qi hesitated for a moment, his gaze fixed on Mo Li’s hair. He wondered if it was dried by inner energy or if it naturally dried when he transformed into a human. Fish don’t have hair, but what part of Mo Li’s original body did the hair belong to?
This seemed like a mystery.
However, he didn’t intend to bring it up and casually replied, “I made a minor mistake along the way.”
Mo Li’s attention was indeed redirected to Meng Qi’s previous strange behavior.
“At that time, I could feel the fluctuation of the spiritual energy in the capital’s dragon veins. How did it affect you?”
Meng Qi thought for a moment and added, “It made me impatient to rush into the capital, like someone who had been away from home for a long time, eager to wander through the house to check if anything had been stolen, and then just nestle at home, indulging in eating, drinking, and sleeping to my heart’s content.”
“…”
Mo Li could tell he was eager to return home.
The Imperial Dragon Energy, the Emperor’s destiny, and the capital were described by Meng Qi as if they were an old dilapidated hut.
What could you call a house that wasn’t locked when you went out? It could only be a run-down shack.
“So, how did you regain your clarity?” Mo Li inquired dutifully as a physician.
Meng Qi’s gaze flickered, unable to mention that it was because he saw the doctor without clothes.
Meng Qi replied earnestly, “I saw you, Doctor, and thought about being a mountain spirit. So, the idea of eating, sleeping, and inspecting the house was all an illusion. I don’t need to do those things unless another mountain spirit has taken over the capital.”
“It’s impossible,” Mo Li stated firmly. “You were born here, a part of the local dragon vein. Even if Mount Yuncun were to give birth to another… mountain spirit, it couldn’t exclude you.”
“In that case,” Meng Qi pondered, “we mountain spirits could be considered fortunate, gathering the spirits of the land?”
He didn’t finish his sentence because, in those moments, he wanted to revert to his original form.
It was an absurd thought. Sand rats couldn’t swim, so wouldn’t he drown if he fell into the river?
However, the intense desire to escape his human form was overpowering. To this day, Meng Qi had a vague notion in his mind that he shouldn’t be unable to swim across the Qing River!
Author’s Note:
There’s another chapter tonight.
T/N: To make it easier to understand the namings of the emperor, it goes with this format: dynasty + emperor + surname. I’ll edit the previous chapters eventually. Sorry, I’m editing past translations according to my mood right now so this might take some time.
Sand Rat: So frustrating, I always feel like I can swim.
It felt like a weary traveler had been walking in the dark for a long time, suddenly seeing an incredibly familiar house.
Even though memories had blurred over the years away from home, the moment the house appeared, a palpable feeling struck deep into the heart.
— Impatiently wanting to get closer to it, push open the door, and return to one’s own bed for a comfortable sleep.
Meng Qi’s emotions were somewhat out of control, and his aura began to fluctuate.
Not good.
Mo Li didn’t think twice; he immediately transformed into a human form in the water.
Meng Qi’s consciousness was hazy, and he even missed the drifting plank that the river water immediately carried downstream.
The landing point was missing, and that step would take him into the water. Meng Qi had just expended his breath, and his new internal energy had not yet connected. However, now the worst problem was not falling into the water but Meng Qi experiencing another seizure.
Mo Li didn’t expect that returning “home” would trigger Meng Qi like this.
He reached out and used his inner strength to pull the plank back, sending it right under Meng Qi’s feet.
As a black-scaled fish, he could only control the direction of the plank. After transforming into a human, he could do more, like exerting inner power on the plank. Meng Qi felt a pushing force under his feet and instinctively used it to stabilize his posture.
“Doctor?”
Meng Qi came back to his senses and found that the fish in the water was gone.
Amidst the surging waves, the agile and fair-skinned figure could vaguely be seen. It was evident that the doctor’s water skills were top-notch when in human form.
Why was Qing River’s water so murky?
Mo Li surfaced for a breath and, incidentally, gave the plank another push before quickly submerging again.
He felt that Meng Qi was absent-minded. He thought it might be the effect of the spiritual caves in the capital on the dragon veins. To be honest, Mo Li was quite surprised; the purity of the spiritual energy far exceeded his expectations.
Even though they were so far apart, it was still awe-inspiring.
The most spiritual place on Qimao Mountain was the pool inside the cave. Only at the moment of sunrise and sunset, when the earth’s spiritual energy mingled, would there be such a brief and intense sensation.
But what about here in the capital?
Was it like this all the time?
Could it be that the capital, this place, was like this constantly?
Mo Li thought of the golden dragon and understood. It seemed that the size of a dragon vein was not determined by the size of the terrain but by the amount of spiritual energy in that place.
With such dense spiritual energy in the capital, it was inevitable that what people perceived as “omens” would appear from time to time, such as naturally occurring auspicious clouds or springs gushing from the ground. Taoists naturally believed this was due to the presence of the emperor.
Being a dragon vein and about to step into another dragon vein’s territory actually made him somewhat uncomfortable.
This feeling was hard to describe, but in general, it was like entering someone else’s bedroom without permission, not knowing where to stand or sit, not even knowing where to place your eyes.
The right thing to do was to immediately withdraw, which was the way of a gentleman.
However, he came here to treat an illness, to visit the patient at their home. It was quite ordinary to make a house call to examine the patient, something Mo Li had never been uncomfortable with before.
But this time was different, probably because of the patient’s identity.
Mo Li’s gaze subtly changed as he suppressed his thoughts. Just as he transformed back to his original form, Meng Qi’s actions suddenly shifted. He went from leisurely strolling to swiftly gliding across the surface of the river.
The black-scaled fish was taken aback, but fortunately, its natural form allowed for fast swimming, and it caught up in time.
Unfortunately, the plank wasn’t as lucky. It was fiercely pushed and battered by the fast-flowing water, and cracks had already appeared on it, quickly breaking it into two halves.
Mo Li discarded the smaller piece.
This process repeated several times, and when they were close to the shore, the original half-plank was reduced to the size of a bowl’s mouth. If it weren’t for the calmer waters near the bank, it would have been swept away long ago.
After coming ashore, Meng Qi didn’t linger and used his lightness technique to disappear rapidly.
This left the onlookers on the riverbank with no clear view of his face.
“Something’s in the water!”
Someone called out.
In the shallows, Mo Li’s reflection shimmered.
“It’s a big fish!”
People rushed to the riverbank to get a glimpse, but they could only see ripples created by the fish’s tail, which quickly vanished into the river.
“The River God came as a sacred fish,”
Someone knelt and kowtowed, while others followed the direction where Meng Qi had disappeared.
As for the river folks on the opposite bank, they only saw Meng Qi’s sudden change in movement, transitioning from a leisurely stroll to a swift leap into the air, displaying a clear mastery of lightness technique. This reassured them that he was not some deity but merely a highly skilled martial artist.
The river was too vast, and even those with keen eyesight couldn’t see the situation on the opposite bank.
In fact, Meng Qi stood out because he was walking on the empty river surface. Even as a blurry dot, everyone could keep their eyes on him.
“Who could this person be?” Golden Phoenix’s Young Master muttered to himself.
In his mind, he ran through a list of famous figures in the martial world but couldn’t find an answer.
The Hengchang Temple had a diverse martial arts repertoire, but the current abbot and elders were not outstanding individuals, just decent enough to uphold the temple’s reputation.
The Tianshan Sect excelled in lightness techniques and swordsmanship, but they were located far away in the borderlands, with a relatively small number of disciples. Although they were an ancient and prestigious sect, their actual numbers might not even compare to a small escort agency in the martial world. This type of martial sect, relying on inheritance and individual enlightenment, made it easy to understand a certain principle: diligence alone couldn’t produce masters, but without diligence, there was no chance of becoming a master.
The Tianshan Sect was in a remote location, and the disciples in the sect were all sword-crazy individuals. However, those with high martial skills were truly exceptional, while those with lesser skills couldn’t even compete with third-rate martial practitioners in the martial world.
This generation of Tianshan Sect swordsmen was also limited in their excellence, and there were even fewer actively wandering the Jianghu. Scholar Mei had already returned, so it couldn’t be him.
Unless—
Golden Phoenix’s Young Master hadn’t finished thinking when one of his subordinates whispered, “Could it be the physician we encountered last time?”
After all, skilled martial artists were not readily available, and anyone would contemplate the connection between these two mysterious figures.
“This is getting more interesting,” Golden Phoenix’s Young Master stood up abruptly and ordered, “Head to the shore! We’ll ride downstream and find a ferry to reach the capital as soon as possible.”
At the same time, Mo Li had already found a secluded stretch of riverbank.
He was a bit worried, as Meng Qi had behaved oddly earlier. Although it seemed like he had recovered, it left the fish feeling anxious.
What if Meng Qi had another seizure and sprinted into the city, attempting to twist the Qi Emperor Zhao’s head off?
The doctor didn’t care about the life or death of the Qi Emperor, but if the emperor died, it would lead to a new wave of turmoil in the north.
Besides, Mo Li’s belongings were still on Meng Qi’s back, and while he wasn’t afraid of being penniless, he had no clothes to wear!
If Meng Qi ran off like that, Mo Li wouldn’t be able to come ashore before nightfall. He might even have to sneak into a fisherman’s house to steal some clothes.
Immersed in the spiritually enriched waters of the Qing River, Mo Li regretted his inability to resist the temptation of swimming. He also regretted listening to Meng Qi’s persuasive argument about why the State Teacher had to appear. He regretted…
He hadn’t even thought of the third thing to regret when a familiar figure appeared.
“Doctor?” Meng Qi looked around and, not seeing anyone, began searching for the fish in the water.
They had agreed to meet at the nearest uninhabited riverbank, but they didn’t know the exact location until they crossed the river.
When the all-black-scaled fish surfaced, Meng Qi suddenly felt absurd. He seemed to be in a fantastical novel. For instance, when someone was crossing a river on a boat and accidentally dropped a sword into the water, they would feign composure, mark the spot on the boat, and plan to dive in to retrieve it when they reached the shore. Then, suddenly, the deity governing the waters would appear and ask whether they had dropped a gold or silver sword…
Meng Qi thought he would respond that he hadn’t lost a sword but rather a fish with black scales.
“Doctor?” Meng Qi tried calling again.
The black-scaled fish couldn’t help but flick its tail on the water’s surface, giving Meng Qi a disdainful look.
Seeing disdain in the eyes of a fish that couldn’t even close its eyes was quite a novel feeling for Meng Qi. He marveled at it for a moment before confirming that it was indeed Mo Li. After all, an ordinary fish couldn’t achieve this.
“Doctor, I’ve placed your clothes here.”
Meng Qi took out the clothing from his bag, found a rock to dust it off, and then laid it out.
Then he turned his back and walked towards the nearby woods.
It wasn’t that Meng Qi didn’t want to stay; rather, he knew what kind of behavior would win the doctor’s favor.
Before long, Meng Qi saw Mo Li strolling over confidently.
His hair was perfectly in place, his clothes were neat, and there was no sign that he had just swum across the entire Qing River.
“Brother Meng, what did you want to say?” Mo Li took the bag and promptly put the money pouch into his own pocket.
Meng Qi hesitated for a moment, his gaze fixed on Mo Li’s hair. He wondered if it was dried by inner energy or if it naturally dried when he transformed into a human. Fish don’t have hair, but what part of Mo Li’s original body did the hair belong to?
This seemed like a mystery.
However, he didn’t intend to bring it up and casually replied, “I made a minor mistake along the way.”
Mo Li’s attention was indeed redirected to Meng Qi’s previous strange behavior.
“At that time, I could feel the fluctuation of the spiritual energy in the capital’s dragon veins. How did it affect you?”
Meng Qi thought for a moment and added, “It made me impatient to rush into the capital, like someone who had been away from home for a long time, eager to wander through the house to check if anything had been stolen, and then just nestle at home, indulging in eating, drinking, and sleeping to my heart’s content.”
“…”
Mo Li could tell he was eager to return home.
The Imperial Dragon Energy, the Emperor’s destiny, and the capital were described by Meng Qi as if they were an old dilapidated hut.
What could you call a house that wasn’t locked when you went out? It could only be a run-down shack.
“So, how did you regain your clarity?” Mo Li inquired dutifully as a physician.
Meng Qi’s gaze flickered, unable to mention that it was because he saw the doctor without clothes.
Meng Qi replied earnestly, “I saw you, Doctor, and thought about being a mountain spirit. So, the idea of eating, sleeping, and inspecting the house was all an illusion. I don’t need to do those things unless another mountain spirit has taken over the capital.”
“It’s impossible,” Mo Li stated firmly. “You were born here, a part of the local dragon vein. Even if Mount Yuncun were to give birth to another… mountain spirit, it couldn’t exclude you.”
“In that case,” Meng Qi pondered, “we mountain spirits could be considered fortunate, gathering the spirits of the land?”
He didn’t finish his sentence because, in those moments, he wanted to revert to his original form.
It was an absurd thought. Sand rats couldn’t swim, so wouldn’t he drown if he fell into the river?
However, the intense desire to escape his human form was overpowering. To this day, Meng Qi had a vague notion in his mind that he shouldn’t be unable to swim across the Qing River!
Author’s Note:
There’s another chapter tonight.
T/N: To make it easier to understand the namings of the emperor, it goes with this format: dynasty + emperor + surname. I’ll edit the previous chapters eventually. Sorry, I’m editing past translations according to my mood right now so this might take some time.
