“Is he really coming to your graduation?” Li Yun asked Rouxi after hearing her brief conversation with Song Taiji.
“He’s going to invite himself to the graduation either way,” Rouxi didn’t think he would travel to a random small city to attend her graduation. The other Song family members typically graduated from a top university in Imperial City, and the rebellious ones would graduate from Magic City.
“Did you pick Binchu to spite him, or because Xuxu was going there?” Binchu University was on the opposite side of the country from Imperial City.
“One of the many reasons,” Rouxi responded and then quickly blocked his mouth with her hands to keep him from asking her another question. “Not fair, it’s my turn to ask.”
“But that wasn’t an answer,” Li Yun grabbed both her wrists, and locked them behind her back.
“All right, what do you want to ask?” Rouxi asked.
Given how busy they were, it was difficult to find a time to simply talk. There were also things between them that couldn't be revealed, but they tried their best to answer anything the others were curious about.
“When you changed your name, why Chu Rouxi?” asked Li Yun.
Li Yun wanted to make the wedding band but didn't know whether to carve Meilin or Rouxi. Song Meilin was originally on her birth certificate, but she changed it to Chu Rouxi after her aunt and uncle were sent to prison.
“Obviously because of my rosy personality,” Rouxi responded cheekily.
Li Yun knew Rouxi had likely chosen the name because in English it sounded like Rosy, but he knew she preferred magnolias. Based on her personality, it wasn’t the name she would have chosen on her own. Seeing that Li Yun didn’t believe her, Rouxi rested her head on his shoulder. She did that whenever she didn’t want to speak further.
“We can talk another time if you’re tired,” Li Yun hugged her as she snuggled closer.
There were two months left before graduation, but Rouxi had been stressing over her thesis and managing her Live-streaming recording. Live-streaming seemed easy, but she needed to prepare the topics of discussion and research different types of sales on makeup and cuisines. On top of that, she knew Li Yun was planning to ask her for marriage. Some things weren’t as complicated as television dramas.
“Yun, it’s okay, we can continue, but can I explain to you my name another time?” She asked.
“Then can I ask you about the Chu family?” Li Yun asked curiously.
He heard much about the Song family already, but he rarely asked her about the Chu after knowing how her mother had treated her. They planned to visit Chu Mimi and her husband Gerry while in the States, so it was the appropriate time to ask. He was also curious about how Master Yi knew about their family, and if the Chu family had a lineage from a long time ago.
“Where are the Chu family from?” Li Yun asked curiously.
Rouxi thought about it for a moment. “They are originally from the Shagrila area,” Rouxi recalled the information Aunt Mimi had told her. “But they were mostly wiped out in the early 80s. My grandparents escaped, but Aunt Mimi was too young to remember what had happened.”
Li Yun thought it made sense. Many old practitioners were driven out around that time. Master Yi Bao’s family had also experienced hardship during those times and it was Song Taiji who had helped the Yi family avoid punishment.
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“Are you curious about the Chu Family lineage?” Rouxi asked.
“Their specialty is poison?” Asked Li Yun.
“Something along that line, but the way it was passed onto Chu Meya was a bit controversial,’ said Rouxi. “She was only allowed to practice it within the family clan, but since the clan was destroyed, she had been reckless, especially with her dealings with Song Taiji.”
Li Yun thought about Song Taiji, and if Chu Meya drugged him, it made sense as to why he hated her enough to send out assassins. He wanted to ask more, but it was Rouxi’s turn.
“Yun, your ability, does it frighten you sometimes?” Rouxi asked.
Li Yun flinched for a brief moment. Rouxi rarely asked him about his ability, and he wondered why she specifically asked him that question.
“It does,” Li Yun admittedly replied. It scared him that such abilities existed. “I don’t know where it comes from, and the more I use it, the more it amazes me that it shouldn’t be something that humans should possess. Does it scare you?”
His ex-girlfriends had left him because they were afraid of his mentalist abilities, but how would people react if they knew his other abilities?
“It used to, but not anymore,” Rouxi responded. “What makes you continue even if it might be dangerous?”
Li Yun hadn’t thought about it much before because such thought was counterproductive. As much as the system scared him, it was exciting to see what was the limit of human’s ability. “Rouxi, the path before me is a cliff. I need to jump to the next cliff to continue. It scares me, but the unknown path beyond the next cliff is too tempting.”
Rouxi chuckled from his response. If it was a year ago, he wouldn’t be on the cliff in the first place.
“What’s so funny?” Li Yun smiled. Wasn’t it because of Rouxi that he had become more reckless? “Don’t answer that,” Li Yun stopped her from replying to his rhetorical question.
He thought about what question to ask her next. Based on what he had seen in Abbot Haoyang, Master Yi Bao, and Master Yue, Spiritualism seemed to be the best method to unlock certain genetic dispositions.
“Rouxi, if there is a way to unlock abilities in everyone, to make people invulnerable to all illnesses, what would it mean for humanity?” Li Yun had once thought this was a future medical problem, but the idea wasn’t too far into the future; he had underestimated the system.
It wasn’t a new question, but common hypothetical questions posed to medical and philosophy students. If the human body evolved to quickly eliminate viruses and bacteria like Li Yun, how would viruses and bacteria evolve to survive? Would they evolve into a super virus that could rewire the human brain like many zombie apocalypse scenarios?
“As humans, it’s important to evolve," Rouxi answered seriously. "But you’re concerned about the repercussions, like exacerbating the world population?”
Li Yun nodded. He had other concerns, but why was it in him to decide the direction of the world? Just because he was naturally stronger than most?
“I don’t think you will have to worry about that,” said Rouxi. “We are ultimately still human." Rouxi leaned back to look at Li Yun, wondering what he intended to do. “Yun, what are you planning to do?”
“I want to see if others could manipulate meridians,” he responded. “How much do you know about them?”
“I know they exist within the body. In the Chu’s family manuscript, the purpose of the Chu’s poison is to manipulate the meridians to damage the body. As the effects are undetectable by medical science, the main goal is to imitate common ailments like heart attack and aneurysm.”
Li Yun was surprised that the Chu family had such a manuscript.
“Don’t get too excited, the manuscript isn’t made up of formulas like medical treatises. It’s mainly a conceptual framework for creating poison. In order to understand it completely, the process must be guided by a master. I only know how to make a tranquilizer that can be easily missed by most blood tests.”
Li Yun remembered she had used it twice already. The profile of the tranquilizer was interesting, but it wasn’t unique. As the structure of the substance looked like amino acid, most hematologists would miss it. What surprised him was that she created it on her own.
“Rouxi, how much do you really know?” The more he knew about her, the more he realized that there was a lot about Rouxi he didn’t understand. He once thought that things would be simpler, but reality was different from his expectation. There were times when she seemed innocent, and other times, she seemed to know a lot more than he did.
“I can’t really sense the location of meridians like you do,” replied Rouxi. “I could feel them when they are active, but I can’t control it freely.”
Li Yun wanted to see if he could assist Rouxi to manipulate her meridians. After examining his meridians for over a year, he understood them better as portals or channels into a different realm. The portals were sending signals to his nerves, triggering a physical change in his body. However, he wasn’t sure if it was detectable in the physical world, but there was a possibility that manipulating meridians could be replicated in other humans.