9: Chapter 9 Your Blue Star Is Different From Mine

On the third day after the assessment ended, Cultivate resumed.

To call it resumed, it was actually just everyone returning to their own rooms to Cultivate on their own.

The Qingyun Sect was not very strict with its newly initiated Disciple. The Cultivation Technique was given to you, and resources were given to you. If you passed the initiation assessment a month later, everything else depended on yourself.

Whether you could Cultivate results was your own ability, and if you could not, no one would chase after you to spoon-feed you.

Xie Feng felt that this was very reasonable.

After all, the company he stayed at in his past life was also like this. Training was given to you, projects were given to you, KPIs were given to you, and the rest depended on yourself. Whether you achieved results was your ability, and if you did not, no one would chase after you to spoon-feed you.

In the end, you would find yourself on the year-end layoff list, so Xie Feng got up early in the morning to meditate.

The "Qingyun Qi-Guiding Technique" was spread across his knees, turned to the fourth page. This page talked about the acceleration method for the circulation of Spiritual Qi through the heavenly cycle. Xie Feng had looked at it for three days and circulated it for three days, but it simply would not work.

This method had a prerequisite: the Meridians had to be unblocked.

"Aren't you just bullying an honest man!"

He would thank the heavens and earth if Spiritual Qi could flow through his Meridians. However, having passed the assessment, he was now an official Disciple and could go to Lingshu Pavilion to check his Meridians.

Three soft knocks came from the door.

Tu Ziguan's knock on the door was always in this rhythm.

Xie Feng used to think this was the professional competence of a social butterfly, but now he knew that this was the caution of a person undergoing Transmigration in a different world.

"Come in."

Tu Ziguan pushed the door open and entered, carrying two oiled paper bags in his hands—still those damned sesame seed cakes.

Smelling the fragrance, Xie Feng's stomach let out a growl.

Tu Ziguan did not urge him either. He sat down by the window, untied an oiled paper bag, and began to nibble leisurely. After taking two bites, he suddenly spoke.

"Brother Feng, let me ask you something."

"Hmm."

"Which planet were you from before your Transmigration?"

Xie Feng's eyelids twitched.

He opened his eyes and looked at Tu Ziguan. Tu Ziguan was chewing a sesame seed cake, his cheeks bulging, and his expression was very serious, not looking like he was joking.

"Which planet?" Xie Feng repeated.

"Right. Before my Transmigration, I was on the Blue Star, in a city called Suzhou-Hangzhou." After saying this, Tu Ziguan took another bite of the sesame seed cake, "What about you?"

Xie Feng had just wanted to say "I was also on the Blue Star".

Looking into Tu Ziguan's earnest eyes, he suddenly realized a terrifying problem.

The "Blue Star" Tu Ziguan spoke of might not be the same "Blue Star" he understood.

"That Blue Star of yours," Xie Feng's voice was a bit dry, "does it have Cthulhu?"

"C-what?"

"Cthulhu, a Great Old Ones with an octopus head and bat wings. The Lord of Rlyeh, the one sleeping at the bottom of the South Pacific."

Tu Ziguan's speed of chewing the sesame seed cake slowed down.

"Brother Feng, this thing you mentioned," he swallowed the food in his mouth, "I have never heard of it."

Xie Feng's heart sank.

"Then what about COC TRPGs? Call of Cthulhu? Board games?"

"I've played board games. Werewolf, Three Kingdoms Kill, Monopoly." Tu Ziguan counted earnestly, "What is COC?"

Xie Feng closed his eyes.

Just let it all be destroyed, really.

He suddenly felt very tired, thinking that Tu Ziguan was a fellow townsman, thinking that in this damn world there was at least one person who came from the same place as him, spoke the same language, and knew the same memes.

As it turned out, the other person indeed underwent Transmigration from the Blue Star, but this Blue Star was not that Blue Star.

On the other person's Blue Star, they probably didn't even know what Yog-Sothoth was.

"Brother Feng?" A trace of tension crept into Tu Ziguan's voice, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Xie Feng opened his eyes, closed them again, "Your Blue Star is quite nice."

"Brother Feng," Tu Ziguan suddenly spoke, his tone much more serious than before, "I have an idea. Look, people like us who underwent Transmigration definitely didn't do so for nothing. There must be a 'Protagonist' in this world. If we find him and follow him, maybe we can find a way back. Or solve that thing of yours... what was it, La, Rlyeh?"

He looked at Xie Feng.

"Do you want to look for him together?"

Xie Feng did not know what to say; of course he knew who Tu Ziguan was talking about.

The "Protagonist" in Tu Ziguan's heart was probably him—that good-for-nothing who had only opened one Meridian yet could repel ominous entities, that freak who scored full marks in actual combat and couldn't even explain it himself.

Tu Ziguan was not stupid; Tu Ziguan had set his sights on him long ago.

But what Tu Ziguan did not know was that the thing on him was not any "Protagonist Halo".

That was Yog-Sothoth.

This matter could not be told to Tu Ziguan.

Xie Feng was afraid of dragging this person into it. He did not know what would happen after being gazed at by Yog-Sothoth for a long time, nor did he know what would happen if he told others about this. He was afraid of losing this friend he had known for a short time.

"Let's talk about it later." Xie Feng felt like he was about to get depressed.

Tu Ziguan glanced at him and did not press further. He stood up, patted the sesame seed cake crumbs off his robe hem, and walked toward the door. When he reached the door, he paused for a step without turning his head.

"Brother Feng, although I don't know what is really on you, you should be able to tell that I am not a bad person. I just want to survive and live a little better. If there is anything you need me for, just say the word."

Tu Ziguan pulled the door open and left.

Xie Feng sat on the bed, looking at the newly closed door, remaining silent for a long time, and then buried his face in his palms.

"I won't Cultivate anymore." He said.

Yog-Sothoth did not give any response, and he didn't expect Yog-Sothoth to give one either.

That afternoon, Xie Feng went to Lingshu Pavilion.

Lingshu Pavilion was located at the boundary between the inner and outer gates of the Qingyun Sect. It was a three-story stone building with no windows and only a narrow door. Hanging on the lintel was a plaque with the three characters "Lingshu Pavilion" written on it. The handwriting was upright and regular, without any fancy decorations.

Xie Feng stood at the door, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open to enter.

Inside the door, it was brighter than imagined. Glowing stones were embedded in the four walls, and their cold white light illuminated the entire first floor down to the finest detail. Directly facing the door was a long table, and behind the table sat an old man in gray robes and gray hair with a lean face, browsing through a yellowed booklet.

Hearing footsteps, the old man raised his head.

The old man closed the booklet, looked at Xie Feng, and said in a calm tone: "Lingshu Pavilion is a place to regulate the Meridians for the Disciple. What is your name? What brings you here?"

"Disciple Xie Feng, here to regulate my Meridians." Xie Feng said.

Elder Zhao raised his eyebrows and sized him up.

"You are Xie Feng?"

"The Elder recognizes this Disciple?"

"Humph! Because of you brat, I was scolded a few days ago. Do you think I know you or not?"

Xie Feng was stunned at first, and then he realized that it was probably because his results were questioned during the assessment a few days ago.

"Come over here." Elder Zhao said.

Xie Feng walked hesitatingly to the front of the table.

"Look at you! Do you look anything like a Qingyun Sect Disciple?"

Elder Zhao reached out a hand, gripped his wrist, and placed three fingers on his pulse gate. The pads of his fingers had thin calluses, and his strength was not heavy.

Xie Feng felt a warm wave of Spiritual Qi seep from Elder Zhao's fingertips into his Meridians, like a thin, warm water snake slowly swimming upward along that single Meridian.

When it swam to the blocked cluster, Elder Zhao's Spiritual Qi was blocked and stopped.