On the rooftop of tall building nearby, Li Zhihua looked over the entire mess he made. I was doing my best to minimise the risk, but the impact still rather catasthropic. His mind filled with slight guilt as he stretched out his hand. A purple circle restriction appears in the size of a sinkhole formed above the ground. Its form exuded a shiny purple light with ancient runes over the array, gradually spreaded over the whole destroyed area around the large pit.
Wu Yifan was flabbergasted.
Is this that so-called array that was mentioned often in numerous xianxia?
His breath was held back, shocked by the sight he previously thought could only happened in a fiction, now had really appeared before his eyes.
"W-What is this, senior?" he asked in awe, stammering.
"Array. I made both formation and restriction array beforehand so the people around will not realise the restoration I’ll do. ”
"Recontsructing these building? Senior, are you serious? " Wu Yifan's eyes looked all over the sinkhole and the mess around. "Like... all of it?"
Li Zhihua nodded. Those double array was finally formed. A restriction array now has made a huge purple sphere while the formation remained on the ground. Only those people who were allowed to see those sight could see those rare view.
"This venerable feel quite guilty for causing such mess."
"Well, you certainly must.” Wu Yifan scratched his cheek. “In this scale of damage, Senior will definitely have to compensate quite amount of money. Not to mention, the news about you probably had spread."
If that’s the case, this venerable will mass-erase any memories related to this catasthropy.”
WHOOSH.
A low explosion voice reverberated, as prior sphere exuded huge of energy. It was the heavenly power which could turns every human shudders in fear. A man next to Wu Yifan was still focused on the restoration. There was a rumbling sounds from moving ground. The debris and stones floated. Those destroyed building and cracked ground slowly retransformed. Gradually, some subsidence on the ground also returned to its prior form. The building slowly restored to its original shape.
Wu Yifan found himself stunned. He studied the man he just met with incredulous look.
He is really a man from Celestial Realm!
It took about half an hour to restore everything back to its previous condition. As everything finally fixed, the purplish aura slowly dissipated from his body. Sigh in relief, he looke upon the boy.
“Beside you, there won’t be anyone who can remember this occurence.”
Wu Yifan was stupefied. His hand clenched by the bag he had been embraced. His scanned over the surround building. All the damage had been restored, less than an hour! And those all thanks to Li Zhihua’s supreme power, the man he just met tonight!
He started to think of taking this man seriously.
“This venerable must admit, there are a lot of things in this realm that this venerable can not comprehend,” he murmured. “Now that you came to pick me up, do your ancestor has some kind pf unfinished business with venerable... or maybe do they owe me something, and they passed the message to you?”
“That’s not it, Senior, believe me,” he assured, slightly bemused by his proposition, though there was still of simper left in his lips, “but I gotta say that I have a cause to bail you out, and it’s related to my personal reason.”
“Oh?” The Supreme Venerable seemed intrigued. “And what kind of personal reason is that, young man?”
“W-well...” Wu Yifan rubbed his nape. He didn’t know how to start the explanation. As the wind started pierced through his thick jacket and made him shiver, he proposed another idea.
“Do you mind if we talk about this in my home? It's getting colder, I can’t stand it.”
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The Supreme Venerable seemed unexpectedly curious by the room design where he was seated in. The place Wu Yifan called home felt oddly unfamiliar for Li Zhihua. There are lot of trinkets and machine he never seen before in his entire life. He stared over the lamp, television, coffee machine, as those were some strange creature he should be cautious of.
As Wu Yifan prepared some teas, his eyes laid on some journal stacks. He was glad that his literacy was still applicable in this realm. Some journals and the title looked intriguing. He couldn’t help but curious at those massive pile of journals. He grabbed the toppest part of journal stack and perused over its content. There was some long explanation about artifacts, Qi deviation, human cauldrong and anything which suprisingly familiar to him.
“May I know what’s this?” he asked innocently.
Wu Yifan surprised by the journal Li Zhihua was holding. “Ah that’s...journal. Scientific journal.”
“Journal?” Li Zhihua inclined his head.
Wu Yifan facepalmed. His mind rapidly processing some information about on how to explain about modern stuff namely ‘journal’ and find relatable things which comprehensible to this ancient existence’s knowledge. His brain dug some terms he might ever found on some xianxia novel while matche every possible terms with journal...
“Ummm...jade-slip?” Wu Yifan blurted, quite unsure.
“Jade-slip?” Li Zhihua suddenly nodded. Wu Yifan reliefed, knowing his terms he could only read in xianxia novel finally useful. “Do these journals... so valuable?”
“Kind of. I use those to do some deep-study.”
Li Zhihua nodded, reading some lines again from the paper, before an idea popped on his mind. “Then... from what I gathered by these, are you some kind of... scholar?”
After placing the cups and saucers on the table, he sat across the god, making a long heavy breath and nodded.
“Yeah, Senior can call me so.” He made a tiny yet sad smile, while his mind wondering if ‘scholar’ was actually a suitable title for someone like him. “The journal you hold also related to my research.”
“Research?” That was new term for Li Zhihua.
Wu Yifan nodded. “Yes. Learning something based on some existed theory from credible journals and studies to found some new fact.”
It was quite practical terms that he had never hear of, but somehow Li Zhihua could caught the gist from his brief explanation.
“Allow this venerable to make assumption...” his lines was mid-cracked while Li Zhihua turned over the journal pages, reverting back between the paper and the scholarm, “from some terms I found here, does your reason to bail me out also related to this?”
This man is indeed sharp.
Wu Yifan stirred his tea and nodded once. “Amusingly, yes. I’m focusing on the history of some Immortal Realm existence, with scientific approach based from existed journal, although....”
The long pause made the deity looked upon his face, waiting. “Yes?”
“...ah, well... how do I put it...” there was a hint of pessimism in his nuance, “there’s still some flaw in fundamental theory. I am taking this topic only to prove that some people like you are exist, but... my lecture laughed and said that I didn’t take my thesis seriously.”
“Why?”
“To be honest, I am embarrassed to admit this entire study was purely based on my enthusiasm with xianxia. With my age, who does scholar that insanely enough to take final research which merely based on fantasy story?” he laughed deprecatingly at himself.
Li Zhihua’s furrowed his brows, undoubtedly showing his disagreement.
Before he was ascended and become part of Celestial Realm, Li Zhihua was once a prominent alchemist too. He had invented many potions and elixirs by thousands of trial and errors during his lifetime. Disregarding the succesful result after uncountable hours of hardwork, in fact, the idea of inventing some elixirs ridiculously originated from human whimsical desire which previously seemed not doable, in the verge of ‘crazy’. Who dared enough to think about immortality? Why bother thinking about panacea, since it was human’s fate to be sick and facing death? Still, it was cultivator’s way of life to go againts the law of nature. Even as the time goes, he still believe that even mortal would still laugh at him if he claimed that he could made an elixir that preserve human beauty for centuries or prolong someone’s age with small drop of elixirs. With every impossible thing he have done and great dedication to embody his ideas, the only thing crossed his mind was only once: is there anything wrong with believing in it fantasy?
Of course, Li Zhihua felt irritated by the statement.
“Isn’t that scholars duty to prove anything impossible become doable and believable? What is that exactly to be laught at?”
His question left Wu Yifan stunned. That was the first time someone was dead-serious when he explain the reason of why he took the topic as his final research. Wu Yifan couldn’t help but felt so appreciated. Not many people took him seriously. Not even his old sister and parents.
“Thank you,” he murmured, sheepishly, “that’s very kind of you, Senior.”
Li Zhihua blinked in bemusement. What’s with that blush, anyway?
“So,” he cleared his throat, alleviating the awkward moment, “this venerable surmise that my existence will be a great help for you in this... so-called research, no?”
“Uh, ehm, yeah. Enormously. There’s no information source as valid as living witness. Now that I’ve seen senior’s abilities, I have no slight doubt that senior must be somekind of deity from another realm.”
Li Zhihua chuckled, making a dismissive wave.
“My ability you’ve sighted is far from the scale to prove this venerable identity as one, but from mortal perspective, that will probably do, young one.”
“It’s more than suffice.”
“I see. Then this venerable will make the utmost of my capabilities to help you.”
“Eh?” Li Zhihua’s serious tone made Wu Yifan suddenly perplexed. “So you’re agree to help me? I’m not even officially asking you, senior?”
“Then, young one,” he commenced, with a more graceful tone hinted, “shall we make a fair deal?”
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