Chapter 369: The Seed
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ye Chong's life suddenly got all busy and lively. Well, it was not much of a hassle to design a glider, rather the problem laid within the parts necessary for the building process - what parts would make up the portion, how they would fit in the entire dynamic and what material Ye Chong could use that just so happened to be in the forest. To figure that out, Ye Chong paid another visit to the Black Forest, in search of the appropriate materials.
Whenever Ye Chong began crafting things, Huang Baiyi would be watching by, with interests zapping from his eyes. And every time Ye Chong demonstrated his impeccable control of strength exerted on even the smallest parts, gasps and compliments would escape Huang Baiyi, to be ignored by Ye Chong however.
The breathtaking sight was justifiable. Anyone would be gasping as much as Huang Baiyi when they saw that broad log shrinking in Ye Chong's grip gradually like magic, as Ye Chong's hands swung gracefully his dagger.
Huang Baiyi gave a stare at the strange parts around and set his bewilderment upon this unfriendly, withdrawn young man, as he wondered what exactly the young man was. At first, Huang Baiyi assumed the young man to be merely a hardworking student once imprisoned by his master doing training deep in the woods, and was liberated at last. But hey, crafting parts from scratch was not included in a typical lesson plan of a martial arts practitioner.
Huang Baiyi had travelled to countless places, met with countless entities when he was young. And those parts on the ground convincingly were the essence of an ample amount of knowledge one possessed. Martial arts practitioners were no scholar - it was a truth universally acknowledged. Sure there were practitioners with variation in personalities. He had seen the crude brawler, the cold-blooded, the gentleman, the tenacious adventurer, but never once he had encountered a scholarly fighter, especially of such age.
A man's time has its limits since he was born, and every field has its own depth deeper than the sea.
It would take generally the entire life of a person to master one single field. Martial arts practitioners would master their physique, as what their harsh training would define, with countless repetition of the same move attempting to make breakthrough and discovery. Huang Baiyi might be unaware of what field a glider would exactly originate, surely it would be a field that required massive calculation.
Unlike martial arts practitioners, it was more likely for one to encounter a scholarly Mentalist.
Huang Baiyi did not intend to inquire however, as he had technically perceived Ye Chong's temper these days and he would not wish to disrupt their founded relationship hard to come by because of a silly, trivial question.
He was more concerned on the conversation with Ye Chong, of the working of the ancient mystic arts. The true Xi Feng clan had died decades ago. So it was his sole wish to pass these knowledge to Ye Chong at the very least. Those were from the ancients after all, that he would not want them to permanently depart from the world along someday.
The misfortune was, Ye Chong did not seem interested in becoming a Mentalist. The fortunate was however, Ye Chong seemed intrigued of the mystic arts, although merely because it was Ye Chong's habit to go too deep into everything.
Huang Baiyi eventually stopped mentioning the word "Mentalist" and just instilled Ye Chong with the theories of mental manipulation.
"Alright, so, the core of mystic arts is merely about manipulation of mentality, your own mentality that is. Well, of course, this is not a theory I came up during my sleep. This theory could be verified. So first off, what is mentality? Is it attitude? Is it your senses? Generally, there had been lots of definitions going on in the field, like it could mean your soul, your spirit, some said..."
Huang Baiyi got pumped up as he saw that concentrated stare of Ye Chong. His aged face remained calm as he explained. Most of the ideologies were passed down to Ye Chong through the little talk of his.
Whenever a concept was mentioned he would need to provide a generous amount of example, like an actual application of a certain technique, that was when Huang Baiyi became utterly detailed on his explanation. Ye Chong was focused even on the details. It was a journey of 60 years when Huang Baiyi began his training and he had gained temperament throughout the 10 year stay in the Black Forest. The rich experience from fights in the past, the foundation he was given when he was born, and the contemplation of 10 years, all these had made his mystic arts evolved.
As there were too much information in every conversation with Huang Baiyi, Ye Chong had to spend a considerable amount of time to digest it daily. So the progress of glider production became halted - a pleasing sight to Huang Baiyi, although his expression remained unchanged. The approach Huang Baiyi took was tricky, revealing just enough information on how to fight against a Mentalist to pique Ye Chong's interests and kept him busy.
Soon a complete system of the mystic arts had been built inside Ye Chong's head, well, only the theoretical part of course, which was more than sufficient for Ye Chong. To him, a little understanding of the mystic arts would allow him to at least not fight a losing battle against the Mentalists, although he did not seem to realize how that "a bit" was literally the entire infantry.
Huang Baiyi believed that Ye Chong would meet the other Mentalists one day and this young man would soon realize the values of these theories as a conflict occurred. Based on his observation these days talking with Ye Chong, certainly Ye Chong was the kind who would go very deep into the field once the value had been identified.
The lectures so far were just preparatory works.
And he looked forward to the future. He was excited, it felt like an interesting game he was playing, as he had planted a seed of the Xi Feng's mystic arts, an unknown seed that maybe would sprout into something undistinguishable as its forebears but who cares! Xi Feng's mystic arts remained existed in this world at the very least!
Years back Huang Baiyi had already predicted the fall and the demise of Xi Feng's mystic arts. He refused to accept it however. It eventually bogged him down like a giant rock on his heart, and now he had felt much more relieved. He had contributed something to the soon-lost mystic arts at probably the last few years of his life.
Regarding those former compatriots who had gone astray, they were no longer his concern.
It took Ye Chong quite some time to craft the glider, but he made it anyway. It was not smooth ride, as Ye Chong had failed probably at least 30 times at certain more complicated parts during the process. He made it, he made a glider from scratch, with only his dagger.
Such perseverance! How I wish he would be using his talent on the mystic arts!
Exclaimed Huang Baiyi in his mind.
Ye Chong went to Huang Baiyi. "We can leave here. This glider could take both of us. The success rate is about 70 to 85%," briefed Ye Chong.
"Move, you could just leave me here. I don't want to go," stated Huang Baiyi calmly.
The reply was uncalled for. It took a moment of silence before Ye Chong could comprehend the situation, "Why?"
Huang Baiyi smiled slowly, "I am old. I don't feel like moving anymore."
"Are you sure?" Ye Chong frowned, since that did not sound like a legitimate reasoning.
"Remember the Xi Feng clan I had mentioned you before? I would like to ask something," Huang Baiyi sat back slowly, "Do you think if it was right for them to leave the space zone in the first place?" A random question from him.
Ye Chong thought for a while. "Yes," he replied confidently, as he recognized the strength of the Xi Feng clan in any of the galaxy, be it the 5 major galaxies or He Yue. They reached even the current space zone they were in. Anyhow, they were correct. Their decision was right. In Ye Chong's opinion, Mentalist Pilots were far more resourceful compared to Mentalist. The ancient force would shatter as the technological age stomped.
"I knew it," muttered Huang Baiyi, his eyes were soulless. It took him a while to recover, "Well, it seems like I was too rigid myself. It was only a matter that they took a different path."
...
... ...
"I have taught you a lot these days." His speech broke the silence out of the blue, "As part of the exchange, I would like you to do me a favor. Of course the choice lies within yourself."
Ye Chong pondered for a short while. "State it," he said.
"Try your best to eliminate the Abductor." The calm tone was boiling inside, "Well, if you could do it that is, since you are still fighting alone."
"Why?" That was the second inquiry of confusion from Ye Chong today.
"I might not have the rights to judge if they took the correct path in the past, but I could to tolerate such immorality."
"I cannot guarantee," replied Ye Chong frankly. Although he could not perceive the point of Huang Baiyi's anger in such act by Xi Feng clan, he believed the absolute relationship between Xi Feng clan and the Abductor. He had seen quite a number of young Mentalist Pilots inside the Sanctuary back then, Zhu Ling was one of them. Probably those kids were from the outside, and likely they had forgotten how their parents looked...
But those were not his concern. The whole point was the relationship between Ye Chong and the Abductor. He could nod at Huang Baiyi's request, but he knew his strength well enough. The promise... sadly would happen at the tiniest probability he could imagine. Well, if he were given the chance to deliver the final blow, he would take it, no doubt.
"Mhm, you don't have to keep the promise till death." Huang Baiyi gave a smile and looked certainly relieved.
"I'll be leaving." Ye Chong turned away and moved to the peak, where the glider was placed earlier. Every preparation had been done. It was time to go.
"Have a safe journey." The old man spoke softly, as he sat on the mossy ground, hunched. His brightened eyes set a silent farewell to the shrinking figure.