Chapter 52 – The Fifty-Second Ray of Light

The night before the Awakener’s departure, heavy snow began to fall once again over the Ningyuan Mountains.

The biting cold wind howled through the narrow crack of the Devil’s Cave, sending eerie cries echoing through the dead silence of the night. Even though everyone knew that a gust of wind slipping through the gap could cause the “ghostly wails,” in the current setting and atmosphere, they couldn’t help but feel as though the cries were real, as if “a ghost was crying.”

The night was deep and dark. The more one thought about certain things, the easier it was to feel unsettled.

However, when their gazes shifted to the Awakener’s military tent, and they noticed the faint yellow glow coming from within, an inexplicable sense of relief washed over them. It felt as though all the fear faded away with the retreating tide, no longer worth mentioning.

Perhaps they hadn’t yet realized that the words “Awakener” were gradually becoming the spiritual support of humankind.

From the beginning at Juwang City’s Great Tomb, fermenting in the Ningyuan Devil’s Cave, to taking shape at the next location, and finally reaching its peak at a critical moment—Awakeners would eventually become humankind’s trump card, the backbone of the army, and the vanguard of a new era.

It was as though, with an Awakener’s support, no matter how many obstacles lay ahead, they couldn’t be stopped from charging through the fire and the sword.

This feeling was called “someone has your back,” but in the hearts of soldiers, it boiled down to a simple, unpretentious “peace of mind.” From that moment on, even though the ghostly wails of the Devil’s Cave continued, they could still stand firm, guarding their empty city and the lights of distant homes.

And the Awakener they were especially optimistic about was indeed very diligent. Not only did he not rush to rest in the dead of night, but he was also busy researching the practicality of “meditation and resonance.”

At that time, Si Nuocheng, Qi Xinli, and Laki sat cross-legged on soft mats, instinctively choosing a “triangular” arrangement and then facing each other, entering the awakened state together.

The first time felt unfamiliar, the second time they grew accustomed to it, and by the third time, they could find the connection between body, mind, and spirit even with their eyes closed.

At this point, their bodies were like commonly used electric kettles; after boiling water once, the inner tank retained high heat. When cold water was added again shortly after, the time to reheat the water was much shorter.

Just like them, after their first awakening, although their brains would forget the sensations, their bodies would remember the energy flow path. After the second awakening, the synchronization between brain and body increased, and the “boiling speed” became much faster.

Now, they could generate power in less than thirty seconds with a single focus.

Si Nuocheng’s body radiated faint golden threads. They circled around him, almost wrapping him up in a cocoon. Qi Xinli’s body flowed with blue ripples, which took the form of a temple bell, enveloping him in a protective circle.

Only Laki’s power was wild and erratic. The silver-gray energy surged like a raging fire, crashing violently into the “temple bell” and “cocoon,” disturbing the entire magnetic field.

Sweat beaded on Laki’s forehead. Qi Xinli suddenly pressed his hands together in a prayer gesture and softly chanted a Buddhist chant: “Calm your heart.”

[Dong—] In the dimension where the three powers merged, it was as if the sound of a temple bell on a mountaintop echoed—deep, resonant, and solemn. The sound instantly brought Laki back to his senses.

When Qi Xinli took things seriously, he was truly capable of conquering all “inner demons.” As soon as he whispered the calming chant, Laki’s wild energy settled, as though it had been soothed like an enraged lion.

Then, Si Nuocheng suddenly extended a strand of golden thread into Laki’s energy field and pulled out another strand, linking it to Qi Xinli’s field. Once the golden threads formed a stable triangle, Laki’s energy erupted as though provoked.

It was like a wild beast!

While harmless energy fields could calm it, the golden thread’s intrusion into its territory was unacceptable. Si Nuocheng’s sudden move was like scratching a tiger on the head.

But unfortunately, no matter how fierce or savage it was, it could only circle around the golden thread, darting through the “triangle” like a trapped beast, unable to escape.

Seeing this, Qi Xinli was surprised: “How did you do that?”

Si Nuocheng replied: “An uncontrollable beast doesn’t think. As long as I weave the threads into human meridians for conducting energy, it won’t suspect anything. It will just keep running along the ‘meridians’ until it’s exhausted.”

Sure enough, not long after, Laki gasped and opened his eyes, covered in sweat as though he had just run a marathon. “I… I ‘saw’ myself running… I had silver mane and wings, and three long, sharp tails…”

In just a few minutes, Laki felt as if he had lived through a long, oppressive millennium. His body seemed to house an enraged soul, roaring and howling, desperately trying to remind him of something.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand.

“I was on all fours, full of anger, charging in one direction.”

Laki’s face turned pale. “The ground was covered in blood, with many nameless beasts and strangely shaped people dead. I leaped from the grasslands into the sky… Can you imagine? I just jumped up into the heavens!”

“Then…” Laki closed his eyes. “A hand grabbed my body.”

The silver-gray power surged violently. Laki took a deep breath and exhaled, calming himself after three attempts. “I think that hand crushed me.”

“The moment I died, I was incredibly angry—angry to the extreme,” Laki steadied his emotions. “How do I describe it? It was like… being betrayed and schemed against before dying, with overwhelming resentment.”

As his words fell, the silver-gray aura began to stabilize. It resembled a large cat, wronged and quiet, curled up in a corner, licking its wounds, exuding a “tragic hero” aura.

“It’s finally quiet,” Laki sighed in relief and slowly entered a state of calm.

Time ticked on. The three men’s energy fields gradually merged, and the frequency of the magnetic field’s vibrations rose higher and higher. It spread like invisible infrared rays, inaudible sound waves, layer by layer, sending out the trajectory of falling snow, shaking off the accumulated snow on tree branches, and stirring up a few wisps of dust that spread far, far away…

Before long, the biting cold wind disappeared, and the ghostly wails of the Devil’s Cave ceased. The heavy snow turned into light flakes, and even the temperature rose a few degrees.

Energy resonance, magnetic field alignment. Life was reviving, and death was retreating.

In the neighboring tent, Ji Si slowly opened his eyes. Just in that instant, he heard the cheering and joy of a seed breaking through the soil…

He smiled faintly, shifting to a more comfortable position as he continued to rest. He calculated the time they would leave early. After the energy resonance, if they didn’t leave now, they might never be able to.

At the same time, soft whispers began to drift from several tents in the camp.

“Am I running a fever? Why do I feel so hot?” Shen Yunling touched his forehead, but the temperature felt perfectly normal. He got up from his sleeping bag and couldn’t help but rub his joints, feeling an intense itch.

Elsewhere, Jiang Ziying woke up drenched in cold sweat, suddenly hearing the sharp “crack” of a glass cup falling to the floor. She quickly turned her head, locking eyes with Shu Yuting’s deep, dark gaze.

Hah! It’s quite terrifying to meet the eyes of a little girl in the middle of the night!

Jiang Ziying suppressed her emotions, her shoulders slumping. “Why isn’t Tingting sleeping? Is she thirsty?” She glanced at the broken glass cup. “Next time, if you want water, just wake Auntie up. Don’t pour it yourself. It’s okay if you break the cup, but if you hurt yourself on the glass, that would be bad.”

“Do you understand?” Jiang Ziying rubbed her head.

However, the usually obedient little girl shook her head at that moment. Shu Yuting pointed at the cup and tilted her head, saying, “It wasn’t me, it was Auntie…”

“Hm?” Jiang Ziying laughed, “Auntie’s sleeping, how could she break the cup?” Did she sleepwalk?

Shu Yuting raised her small hand and then dropped it abruptly. “Like this… Auntie, let the cup fly, then it falls on the ground.” She repeated several times, “Bang! Fly fly, fall to the ground!”

Jiang Ziying froze in her sleeping bag.

Her eyes widened more and more, her expression becoming increasingly anxious. Suddenly, she quickly dressed, cleaned up the glass, coaxed Shu Yuting back to sleep, and then sat silently in the dark, unable to sleep any longer.

She thought of a possibility, but… she really didn’t want to believe it!

Meanwhile, Jiang Qining struggled awake from a nightmare, and upon seeing Yu Mingyang’s pale face, he instinctively leapt toward him, as if seeing a relative. “Old Potato, damn! You scared the life out of me, Old Potato! Ahhh!”

Yu Mingyang: …Who the hell is Old Potato?

“That was terrifying!” Jiang Qining’s face was ashen as he recounted his nightmare. “I dreamt of a rich woman… no, a princess! The kind who weighs 300 pounds! Damn, in my dream I was only 15 years old, a kid, and she actually forced me to become her 72nd lover! I was so scared I decided to jump into the river to die, but she stepped wrong and fell in first…”

“Three hundred pounds of pure fat, you can’t pull her out of the water! This shows how important losing weight is!” Jiang Qining said. “The rest of my life was basically me being chased every day, always hiding, having to run!”

“Let go, don’t choke me! It hurts so much!” Yu Mingyang truly felt sore all over. “I dreamt I was a Western doctor, and because I exposed the church’s ‘donate money to cure diseases’ scam, I was nailed to a cross… Damn it, it hurt! Those nails, long ones, went through my bones, dayum!”

The two of them trembled for a while, recalling the terrifying details of their dreams. They couldn’t sleep at all.

At the same time, there were quite a few others feeling “something was off.” But after Si Nuocheng and the others finished their energy resonance practice, the camp finally returned to calm, and the snow once again began to fall.

Qi Xinli extended a finger to gently touch the “temple bell,” then compared their energy fields, narrowing his eyes. “Have you noticed? The shapes in which energy manifests always seem to match the things we are accustomed to.”

“For example, for me, when I chant and strike the bell, it turns into a copper bell. And for you—” Qi Xinli looked at Laki, “Inside you lives a beast, and your energy field is as wild as the beast’s mane.”

Then, Qi Xinli turned to Si Nuocheng. “But yours is different. I’ve never understood why your energy manifests as threads.”

Si Nuocheng was silent for a moment before speaking. “I heard Ji Si say that hair can be a container for storing energy.” He opened his hand, letting countless golden threads spill out. “Don’t you think all these threads look just like golden long hair?”

“After my awakening, the first form my energy took was golden threads. Using them, manipulating them, and transferring power to them is almost instinctive.”

Especially after dreaming of the light spirit, Adrian, Si Nuocheng often found himself thinking of Adrian’s brilliant golden hair, and inadvertently also recalling Ji Si’s jet-black hair.

“I really suspect that maybe in some past life, I liked growing long hair and storing power in it.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Xinli decided to kill the conversation: “So, aside from me, none of you are worried about going bald, huh?”

Everyone: …

…

Around 5 AM, Ji Si called for them to get up and pack. Half an hour later, they said their goodbyes to the early-rising Elder Jin and climbed into the off-road vehicle to leave the Ningyuan Mountains.

Winter dawns came late, and the sky was still dark at 5:30. As the Awakener group left the camp, no one noticed anything unusual in the darkness. It wasn’t until the sun rose and the white light replaced the darkness that they witnessed a miracle.

At the spot where the Awakener’s tent had been, the thick snow that should have piled up had disappeared without a trace. The hard earth that should have been solid was now soft and damp. Lush green grass extended outward from the tent, and the remaining warmth lingered, as though spring had finally arrived.

Inside the tent, a newly sprouted sapling had grown to half an arm’s height, its tender green leaves brimming with vitality…

A silent shock spread throughout the camp.

On the road as they traveled, Si Nuocheng asked, “How did a sapling suddenly grow inside the tent?”

Ji Si smiled. “A triangle is a sacred shape, representing ‘the power of the pyramid.’ It concentrates energy at a single point, making it easier to focus and activate. When you three chose this pattern for energy resonance, it naturally triggered some changes. Encouraging a seed to sprout is the most ordinary of outcomes.”

Qi Xinli: “So… does it mean that different patterns release different kinds of power?”

“Of course,” Ji Si continued. “The same power released through different patterns—that’s the foundation of talismans, arrays, and hand seals.”

He tilted his head and winked teasingly. “These three things were all created by your ancestors, and after hundreds of years, you’ve managed to strip them of any real use. On the other hand, Yujia Country has developed ‘yoga hand seals’ and ‘yoga practices,’ while you guys are more into forwarding koi blessings and paying for destiny changes.”

Everyone: …

“Pick it back up, it’s not too late.” Ji Si smirked, “After you get stronger, you’ll realize—”

“Your ancestors are still your ancestors, and you’re nowhere near as good.”

Everyone: …

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PS: Laki: Technically speaking, animals shed their fur in the summer, so they could go bald too.

Qi Xinli: …