Song Ciwan stood in the Otherworld, listening quietly to the commotion coming from within the courtyard gate. She felt, up close, how conflict could breed demons in the human heart.
Or perhaps, it wasn’t the human heart breeding demons.
In the mortal world, all troubles, even the most agonizing, spring from the smallest of things.
In the human world, where there are emotions, there is bias; where there is bias, there is conflict. People can never truly understand one another, for what they see, feel, and think are never the sa.
Argunts and disputes were, after all, commonplace.
Ordinarily, such quarrels were restrained by reason, but an unbridled argunt could easily spiral into unforeseeable tragedy.
The husband and wife in the house were arguing more and more fiercely. Song Ciwan extended her Spiritual Sense and, in that instant, saw through the courtyard wall. The wife had grabbed a kitchen knife while the husband wielded a club, and they were swinging the weapons at each other.
That alone was bad enough, but what was most critical was that a young Child, his hair tied in dangling topknots, rushed between them, crying.
He held one hand out toward his father and the other toward his mother, crying, "Daddy! Mommy! Please don’t fight! Don’t fight, boohoo... Xiao Lang is scared..."
At that mont, among the jeering neighbors leaning over the walls, soone cried out in alarm, "Watch out for the kid!"
Others grew even more excited. "Go on, fight! Why’d you stop? Just kill each other! You’re tired of living anyway, right? Heh..."
Just as tragedy was about to strike, the husband and wife—one swinging a knife, the other a club—both wore expressions of utter horror.
But it was too late! They couldn’t pull back their weapons!
In that life-or-death mont, Song Ciwan flicked her hand. The Five Poison Jar opened, and two swarms of pitch-black insects flew out like a pair of Black Dragons. Soaring over the courtyard wall from the left and right, they instantly slamd into the ard husband and wife.
Both of them were struck on the arm by the horde of Black Insects. CLANG! CLANG! The kitchen knife and the club fell to the ground simultaneously.
The wife shrieked, "Ahhhh!"
The husband yelled in terror, "What the hell are these things?"
The dragon-like swarms of Black Insects instantly dispersed, then buzzed their wings and charged toward the young Child in the center.
The Child’s eyes widened as he burst into tears. "Daddy! Mommy! Save Xiao Lang!"
The husband and wife were instantly terrified. They lunged forward together, screaming, "Xiao Lang!"
The Black Insects flew about, BUZZING, as they sward chaotically around the couple.
The two of them began swatting at the insects, desperately trying to push through the torrent of Black Insects. The process wasn’t actually that difficult, but it felt exceptionally perilous.
When these densely packed Black Insects, which had appeared out of thin air, rose and swirled like a dark cloud, who wouldn’t feel their skin crawl and their heart pound with fear?
Especially in the dead of night—the witching hour!
And so the couple worked as one, single-mindedly focused on mustering all their Energy to swat and drive away the insects, pushing forward with all their might.
What they didn’t know was that these Black Insects flying around them were ferocious enough to completely devour even an Innate Second Transformation Martial Artist. They were re mortals; in truth, they couldn’t have afforded to provoke a single one of the insects.
The only reason they could swat, push, and even scatter the Black Insects was that Song Ciwan hadn’t released them with the intent to harm.
Under Song Ciwan’s control, the Black Insects were rely playing a heart-pounding ga with the couple.
When the husband and wife finally batted away the last of the Black Insects and saw Xiao Lang standing in the middle of the swarm, the intense emotion that erupted in that instant surged through them.
The Heaven and Earth Scale manifested on its own, collecting several wisps of formless energy: [Human desires: Shock, fear, worry. Five jin, two taels. Sellable.]
[Human desires: Fear, shock, terror. Four jin, six taels. Sellable.]
[Human desires: Shock, joy, love. Five jin, eight taels. Sellable.]
Naturally, the shock and fear belonged to the husband and wife, while the shock, joy, and love ca from the young Child with topknots standing in the center.
Around the Child, a swarm of insects glowed with the soft light of fireflies. They circled and danced before him, at one mont forming the shape of a star, the next a smiley face. They dispelled the fear he’d felt from being surrounded by the Black Insects, creating a whimsical and magical space for him within the vast, dark swarm.
Watching the fireflies dance before him, the Child let out a bright, clear laugh.
"Daddy, Mommy!" He seed to have completely forgotten his earlier terror at his parents’ fighting; his eyes now only saw the dancing fireflies.
He held out his hands, and dozens of fireflies instantly landed in his palms. In the darkness, it looked as though he were cupping a piece of the starry river.
The Child held this handful of the galaxy up to his parents and said with a joyous laugh, "Daddy, Mommy, look! The Immortal lady gave Xiao Lang these stars. Aren’t they beautiful?"
His parents just stood there, stunned, their eyes wide and unable to form a response.
The couple had just experienced imnse Fury, sorrow, terror, and shock. Now, looking at their unhard child and listening to his innocent words, a thousand emotions churned within them, leaving them montarily unsure of how to react.
Not until the Child pushed his hands toward them again, rising onto his tiptoes and straining to lift his arms higher, repeating, "Daddy, Mommy, look! You have to look!"
The husband started, then blurted out, "Yes, they’re beautiful!"
The wife quickly agreed, "They’re beautiful!"
The Child giggled and opened his hands. The fireflies in his palms instantly scattered, taking flight once more.
Pinpricks of glimring light filled the small courtyard. The Black Insects that had sward out earlier like a dark cloud had vanished without a trace. All that remained was a yard full of fireflies, dancing gracefully—a scene as magical as a dream stolen from the starry heavens.
Even the neighbors who had been watching the spectacle for entertainnt were captivated. They stopped their jeering and shouting, their eyes quietly reflecting the starlight.
But in Song Ciwan’s eyes, the formless energy that had been swirling madly above everyone’s heads now seed to have been soothed by a gentle wave, slowly settling down.
The formless energy dwindled, then gradually faded away entirely.
This was proof that their emotional fluctuations had stabilized and were no longer as intense and volatile as before.
’In truth, when she had first discovered the couple arguing and inciting the neighbors to jeer wildly, Song Ciwan had manually collected the formless energy dissipating from above their heads. It was a "waste not, want not" situation. She could ignore those farther away, but to not collect what was right under her nose would have been just plain foolish. But Song Ciwan would never wish for a tragedy to occur, or for the madness to continue any longer, just to collect a little more formless energy. She collected this formless energy when it was convenient, but she let it go just as readily. The mortal world was full of suffering. Why not reach out for a mont and create a beautiful dream, just to see them all smile?’
Across from the Child, his father stamred, "Honey... I was wrong just now. Let’s... let’s not fight anymore, okay?"
The wife replied, "If you don’t start fights with , it’s not like I enjoy arguing."
The Child spread his arms and ran off joyfully, chasing the fireflies around the courtyard and laughing aloud. "Hehe! I’m catching stars! Xiao Lang is catching stars!"
The children from the neighboring houses grew antsy. One craned his neck and shouted, "Xiao Lang, save so for ! I want to catch fireflies too!"
Soone even scrambled over the wall. "Xiao Lang, wait for ! I’m coming..."
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