บท 3: The Unification of Memories (2)
“Argh!”
Sough!
Not long after, countless old memories that appeared earlier in Zheng-Fu’s mind had merged perfectly with the memories of his present existence. Finally, they became one…
“Me…? That was me!? So, that is it. I understand the whole thing now.”
As his old and new memories merged into one, his headache suddenly disappeared as if nothing had ever happened to him. At that moment, Zheng-Fu made sense of himself with utmost serenity on his face…
This was because the unification of Jin-Yang’s and Zheng-Fu’s memories brought clarity to Zheng-Fu’s mind. Zheng-Fu was Jin-Yang and Jin-Yang was Zheng-Fu. They were the same person. It was just that his memories from the previous world had not entirely merged with the new ones’.
“So, I was really dead and was reborn to this new body belonging to this boy named Zheng-Fu?” Jin-Yang gained back his sense of old self, so he made the recall in the way that he would make in the previous world, and that was the more mature way. Soon after, he realized something, then yelled out loud…
“Oh!”
“So, this means that I’m in the Xianxia world now? Oh! Yeah! I’m in the world where special martial arts actually exist! Hahaha! Finally, I get to live in the Xianxia world” Jin-Yang yelled out his joy and jumped around happily. He never thought that his dream would come true. He used to fantasize about it and visited all the shrines out there to pray for his dream to come true. In the end, he had a chance to be reborn in the fantasy world where fantasy special martial arts exist like what he read in the novels or saw in the movies…
“Ouch!”
“This body doesn’t help me move freely at all. But I guess it’s understandable because this body is still young. I’d better go home. My hunch says it’s not wise to stay here!” Jin-Yang was a grown man in the previous world. So, when he gained back all his memories from the previous world, he realized that his new body did not help him move conveniently. However, it did not take long for him to readjust. So, he decided to rush home, the home where his new memories told him to head to…
‘The old Jin-Yang has gone. From now on, I am Zheng-Fu!’
Jin-Yang made up his mind that he would embrace this life under the name ‘Zheng-Fu’. He also knew that Zheng-Fu was born weak. But since he came from the future where he spent a lot of time studying about the Xianxia world from many textbooks (novels), he knew well that there were ways to take care of this sort of problem…
Not long after that…
At the residence of Zheng-Fu’s family…
“Mother, I’m home!”
“Zheng-Fu!? Where have you been? Don’t you know I have been looking for you?” Zheng-Fu’s mother ran to him hurriedly as she saw him while asking him the question caringly with concern. Then she started to examine his body…
“I went out for a walk to straighten things up, mother. You don’t have to worry about me!” Zheng-Fu saw the worry on his mother’s face, so he answered her question with an innocent smile in order to pick up his mother’s feelings…
‘Wait!? Am I thinking too much? I thought he would be unhappy after knowing the truth. Judging from his gesture, he seems to be fine about it.’
Zheng-Fu’s mother was muttering with herself because she heard that Zheng-Fu ran out and disappeared after he realized that he could not practice martial arts anymore. This was the reason why she was worried and concerned for him. She was now confused when she saw her son with a smile on his face and acted like nothing happened.
“What about studying with Master…Master Huang? What do you think about it?” Zheng-Fu’s mother saw that her son was fine, so she tried to check if he had any thoughts about studying. However, she had to ask him carefully because she was afraid that the question would hurt him further…
“You don’t have to worry about that, mother. I have made up my mind about it and understand perfectly clear that my body is too weak for practicing martial arts. So, I’ll study with Master Huang and take the Imperial examination as you wish. I vow to become the most famous and respectable Zhuàngyuán on the continent. I’ll never let you down, mother.”
Zheng-Fu confidently replied to his mother to let her know that he would like to study and pass the Imperial examination like what his mother wished for him, in light of wanting to learn more about this new world since he had so little knowledge about it. Knowing better would help him find a way to strengthen up his weak body, so he could go back to practicing martial arts…
“Did you really mean it, son!?”
“Definitely, mother! You don’t have to worry about it. Anyway, I have to excuse myself to take some rest. I’m very tired today. Let’s talk about it further tomorrow, mother. (Let’s not talk about it further, mother.)” What Zheng-Fu told his mother was true. It was just that they were not entirely true. He was unable to tell her the whole truth just yet, so in order to appear unsuspiciously, he decided to excuse himself to his bedroom…
“O…OK my dear!”
“I’ll prepare your favorite breakfast for you tomorrow morning!”
“Thank you, mother!”
Zheng-Fu’s mother continued to look in the direction where her son had gone to because she could pick up something strange from his words. The way he carried himself also made her feel like he was too mature to be her same old son…
“Gosh!”
“Am I thinking things or did my son really change?”
Back to Zheng-Fu…
Creak!! Clang! (Door slamming sound)
“Phew…”
Zheng-Fu closed the door right after he entered his room. Then he made a long relaxing exhale before saying, “So, this is my room. It looks like the one I saw in the movie. Well! This is the world of Xianxia, isn’t it?” He slowly took a look around his room with happy twinkling eyes. He was so happy that he did not know what to do next…
He inhaled.
“This very exact old-school ambiance… Am I not dreaming? I must pinch myself to see if this is real or just a dream!” Zheng-Fu pinched himself to check if he really was now in a Xianxia world…
“Ouch!”
“That was hurt. So, this can only mean that…”
“Hahaha!” (A laughing sound that came from a small boy.)
Since Zheng-Fu could sense the pain and see the purple spot on his arm, he knew that he was not dreaming, so he laughed out loud like a crazy boy…
“Are you all right, dear? What’s with that loud joyful laugh!?
“N…N…Nothing, mother! I’m fine. I was just thinking about something funny. That’s all, mother.”
“I see. It’s good that you are all right!”
“Phew! That was close.”
Zheng-Fu let out a long exhale with relief. He thought that he almost got his mom suspected about his reincarnation…
“Come to think about it, it’s extraordinary that I was reborn with old memories. Is it because I was so obsessed about becoming a Xianxia martial artist? Maybe not! Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. After all, my dream has come true. The only thing that I want to do is to practice martial arts…the real martial arts from the genuine martial arts manuals that are not some copies, which who would know if they were genuine or not? But first, I need to get to know this world.”
Zheng-Fu tried to calm himself down and contemplated what he had already known. Then he came up with some plans for his future…
Fast forward to the next five years…
Times flew. Zheng-Fu was now eight years old. For the past five years, he had been studying from textbooks and things from Master Huang including geography, economics, military strategy, governance, and many other pieces of knowledge that Master Huang knew.
“Zheng-Fu, boy! It has been five years since you started learning from me. You are a smart boy. It didn’t take long for you to understand everything that I had to offer. I ran out of new knowledge to teach you now.” Master Huang said while giving a warm smile to Zheng-Fu. He really adored this little student of his dearly because he had never come across any student who was so sharp and witty like Zheng-Fu…
“Thank you very much, Master Huang!”
“No need to thank me. Your success was from your hard work. Zheng-Fu! You must keep in mind that all things have their own cycles. You must keep on learning and acquiring new knowledge. If you find yourself facing a dead end, try to close your eyes and meditate. That’s when you see the light.”
“Yes, Master Huang! I’ll remember everything that you taught me.” Zheng-Fu humbly made a cupped fist before ensuring his teacher that he would do accordingly…
“Very well!” From now on, if you want to further your studies, you should go to those famous institutions to gain extra knowledge. With this exceptional comprehension skill of yours, I believe that a lot of institutions will definitely accept your application.” Master Huang knew that Zheng-Fu was an intelligent student and would not stop learning just now. That was why he advised on further education …
“School, right? Master Huang? Oops!”
“School?”
“Um…Nothing Master. I meant school as an institution, sir” Zheng-Fu completely forgot that they did not call an institution a school in the Xianxia world, so he tried to be funny by correcting his sentence so that he would not look suspicious…
“I see. I have been hearing strange words from you regularly for the past five years. You are indeed a strange boy. Well, I guess it’s not bad to hear some new words sometimes.” Master Huang did not think too much about it because he had been with Zheng-Fu for a long time. As he had been hearing those strange words, he became used to Zheng-Fu being that way…
Hee-hee!
“I have learned this from you, Master Huang. You taught me to always be creative and that we should not stick to the old ways all the time.” Zheng-Fu tried to be playful and funny when he said that to cover up what he had slipped earlier…
“Look at you, a good talker. Well, I need to go now. Be well, Zheng-Fu.”
“Yes, Master Huang. Please take care of yourself too. I would like to visit you if I have time.” Zheng-Fu bowed while making a cupped fist to bid farewell to Master Huang with respect and courtesy.
“I’m waiting to see your success. If you have something that you don’t understand, you can come to me anytime.”
“Thank you, Master!”
For the past five years, apart from gaining knowledge about this world from Master Huang, Zheng-Fu also sneaked out to practice martial arts to strengthen his body in his spare time. He mixed the techniques and moves that he learned from the previous world with the new ones…
The outcome was not bad at all. After five years, his body had changed quite a lot. It used to be hard for him to do things as he got exhausted easily. He noticed that he could endure more and could take on more activities with his stronger body strength…
However, the only thing that improved was his physical strength, not his inner strength. His inner energy level was merely at the third level of the Qi Gathering stage. It had stopped there for a while now. No matter how hard he tried, he could not break through to the next level…
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