Chapter 19
Chen Zhen sits up a little and c.o.c.ks his head to the side very confused. When he first opened his eyes he saw Mei Ling who looks exactly like his wife. They even have the same voice. So when Mei Ling didn't recognize his wife's name, he was thrown for a loop. As Chen Zhen looks around he sees that he is still in the shack he had lived in for the last week or so. He sees Shanggu Julong sitting at the table enjoying a steaming cup of tea. As he look around his sight lands on the two kids sitting together in the corner by the door. The kids are ages ten and eight. They look identical to his own kids. This is becoming more, and more strange for Chen Zhen. He takes a couple deep breaths and rubs his eyes vigorously. When he opens them and everyone is still where he saw them last he is completely perplexed.
Mei Ling can see the confusion that is playing across Chen Zhen's face. To make this awkward situation come to an end she decides to help Chen Zhen by explaining whom she is. She's intelligent enough to understand that he has her confused with someone else.
"My name is Mei Ling, and these are my children Chen Zhou and Chen Xiao.", Mei Ling say Waving for the kids to come stand next to her.
Chen Zhen is surprised to hear the children share a surname with him. Even though the children look identical to his children they have different names. Mei Ling can see that he recognizes the children's faces. Chen Zhen takes a deep breath to settle himself then stands up from the bed. He walks around to where the children are standing and kneels down to look them in the eye. Chen Zhen can't keep the tears from his eyes. They look so much like his own children that he misses so much. The kids are not used to seeing such emotion from grown men, so they are a little put off by Chen Zhen's behavior.
Standing back up Chen Zhen nods to Mei Ling then walks over to Shanggu Julong. He knows he owes him an explanation for his behavior. At this point Shanggu Julong already has a pretty good idea as to what happened, but he doesn't stop Chen Zhen from explaining.
"s.h.i.+fu I am sorry for my rash behavior. As you have probably guessed when I sensed this family in distress, I mistook them for my own family. They look identical to my wife and children down to the last detail. I know that I have unnecessarily endangered myself in the process. Please for give my lax in judgement.", Chen Zhen said this while trying his hardest to hide his true emotions. He felt that his wife and kids had been taken from him all over again. It was a heart wrenching pain. With his head bowed in front of Shanggu Julong Chen Zhen was too embarra.s.sed to raise his head. His tears were flowing freely now, and his sobbing made him look quite pathetic.
As Mei Ling and the children heard Chen Zhen's explanation for saving them, and then saw his emotional outburst, a part of their heart that had begun to grow cold was warmed by what they saw. To this family Chen Zhen started to remind them of their lost father and husband.
Mei Ling came up behind Chen Zhen and gently rubbed his back in a consoling manner. The
Clearing his throat Shanggu Julong said, "Since you are safe that is all that matters right now. Mei Ling and her kids can stay with us for now. I will arrange for her to be hired by my clan. They will be able to work and support themselves. I will make sure the clan takes very good care of them, they will want for nothing."
Hearing this Mei Ling's face lit up with surprise. She quickly grabbed her kids and they all kowtowed low in front of Shanggu Julong thanking him for his immense generosity. They kept going till Shanggu Julong had to use a little energy to lift them up from the ground preventing them from being able to continue. Knowing that they were going to be safe and taken care of Chen Zhen was especially happy and relieved. Mei Ling looked at Chen Zhen with a smile that could light up the room, making his heart melt a little.
Shanggu Julong shooed Mei Ling and her kids to their own shack so that he could discuss with Chen Zhen about his display of power today.
"So explain to me what you did today, walk me through it step by step."
Shanggu Feng and Lou Tian were curious as well. They had never seen someone in the body refinement stage doing what Chen Zhen did today.
"At first I was following your instruction on sensing the energy around me. Then I began to see in my mind what was happening. This became more clear to me as soon as I could see you walking away from me. Then I began to sense more of my surroundings. I followed the stream to the end of the clearings near the woods. I could feel a new energy blocking me from going further. I pushed against the energy with my mind until it gave what and let me thru. As soon as I could sense the woods my mind locked onto the sound of a woman's scream. It sounded so much like my wife's voice that I sent my sense rus.h.i.+ng to the sound. As soon as I saw Xian-er, I mean Mei Ling and the kids, my every instinct told me to protect them. I wasn't thinking much after that I just rushed to where they were. After I got there, and the wolves began to surround us, Shanggu Feng and Lou Tian both began to advise me at the same time. I didn't have time to sort out what they were saying so I just listened to both of them at the same time. After the attacks worked I was in such a rage over what I thought was my family being attacked I just wanted to kill those wolves. I wanted to use all the energy in my body to hurt them. Since the wolves took off running and I knew I could follow them both, I just threw everything I had in me into an attack. By the way did it work? Probably not, huh?"
Silence lasted for a long time. Neither Shanggu Julong, Shanggu Feng, or Lou Tian knew what to say. Was it really possible to be that lucky? Was it possible to say, "I wanted to be invincible, so I just was?" Chen Zhen didn't even know if his attack worked. He just made up something on the spot because he was mad at the wolves? Is this guy for real? Chen Zhen began to feel he did something horrible wrong because Shanggu Julong just sat there not saying anything.
"I want to begin by saying never, ever do that again. You have no idea how fortunate you were that you didn't blow yourself up with that little stunt you pulled. Energy is a force of nature. We as cultivators learn to slowly manipulate that energy over time. It is a slow and steady process. If you try to cut corners or skip ahead before you are ready you will more than likely kill yourself in the process. You are very lucky that when you formed those to energies together that you didn't create an imbalance and incinerate not only yourself but Mei Ling and the kids in the process. Your foolishness nearly killed those who you were trying to save. Yes your move worked this time but there is no telling what will happen the next time. That is why martial techniques were created. When a cultivator utilizes a martial technique the energy they take in is channeled thru bodies to stabilize the energy before it is released along a specific meridian pathway. This is to ensure the smooth transition of energy and to protect the cultivator from backlash which can do detrimental harm to your body. You were fortunate enough to receive a very mild backlash this time, but next time you could possible cause irreversible damage to your body."
Chen Zhen was surprised by what he heard. He had no idea that martial cultivation was so technical. There was almost a science to it. He was very much afraid of the potential consequences of his actions. But at the same time there was a spark of joy in his heart. His move had actually worked. He could remember clearly how it felt to form that energy together. It was very difficult to him to maintain it, if it hadn't been for his clones help the result would have been very detrimental to his life. Chen Zhen knew that Shanggu Julong would never approve of him practicing that move in order to perfect it, so he planned to have the clone research it later.
"Since your soul brothers have already begun to teach you, and you are strong enough to fight the weaker spirit beast, I will allow them to continue training for now. I will take this time to journey to the Shanggu Clan and make arrangements for Mei Ling and the children.", Shanggu Julong said before he got up and left. He stopped in Mei Ling's shack to give her an interspatial ring that had provisions for them, asking her to prepare meals for Chen Zhen.
Chen Zhen, Shanggu Julong, and Lou Tian were all wondering the same thing, "Soul Brothers??"