“Our baby is still alive, isn't he?” The woman lifted her head, face streaked with tears, her slightly pale hands tightly clutching her husband's clothes. Her eyes were red, full of pleading, looking at her husband as if hoping he could tell her that all of this was just a dream, that none of it had actually happened.
“An An, I also wish I could tell you our baby is still alive, but Qian'er is already gone.”
Longyan gently patted his wife's back, trying to keep his tone as calm as before, his heartbeat as steady as before, although the pain in his heart was no less than his wife's.
Qian clearly saw all of this with his own eyes. He could distinctly feel the genuine emotions between the man and the woman; these feelings were so natural and sincere, with not a trace of insincerity.
“Little guy, I really envy you. Although your life is shorter than mine, you are truly much happier than me.”
Qian softly said the words as he looked at the baby, smiling bitterly. At that moment, he realized that his already tenuous presence in the world was dispersing again—and at an incredibly fast speed, almost unimaginable.
When only a trace of his consciousness was drifting in the air, Qian thought he was about to completely disappear, but suddenly, he discovered that the last remnant of his consciousness was heading straight for the baby lying on the low wooden table, wrapped in swaddling, leaving him no chance to resist, and directly entering the slightly bluish forehead of the infant.
In an instant, Qian found himself wandering inside the baby's body like a tiny insect, moving very fast, as if sightseeing, running swiftly through every chunk of flesh, every bone, every blood vessel, and even a very peculiar kind of meridian.
Something strange happened: every time he passed a part of the body, Qian found himself gaining a bit more sense of presence. The flesh, bones, blood vessels, nerves, and those meridians seemed to become a part of his own body.
Qian didn't have time to marvel too much. The only thing that surprised him might be the strange meridian within the baby, because he had never heard of any channels in the human body that were neither nerves nor blood vessels.I don't know how long I wandered, but the faint trace of the soul finally drifted through every part of the baby's body and returned to the baby's brain. At this moment, he clearly felt that the baby's body had become his body!
So, Shen tentatively tried to open his eyes, but despite great effort, it was in vain. He hurriedly shifted his focus, preparing to open his mouth to make some sounds, but the tiny lips still wouldn't obey him, tightly closed with not even a sliver of a gap. Raising an arm—no, kicking the legs—no, turning the head—no… Shen began to get anxious. He could clearly feel the body, so why couldn't he control it? What on earth was going on?
"Calm down, calm down, there must be something I haven't considered, definitely."
Shen whispered to himself. He didn't believe that all of this was just an illusion. He carefully observed this new body of his. Because of his wandering within the baby's body, those cells that had been on the verge of death, the congealed blood, the useless nerves, and so on had all been revitalized.
This was clearly a sign of resurrection, but why couldn't he command his body?
Shen thought quietly. In the hall, the mother's sobs, the father's comforting words, and the sounds of hands gently patting the mother's back still echoed intermittently.
All of it seemed to carry a rhythm, but to Shen's ears, something was missing.
What was missing? Shen tried hard to recall, remembering when he was still alive. After all, having drifted in the void for so long, like a wisp of smoke, he had only been accompanied by silence and could hardly remember what unavoidable sounds a normal person should hear.
"Heartbeat…the heart?"
Shen suddenly realized. He hastily tried to sense the baby's heart, a tiny heart, like a little red strawberry, quietly lying under the baby's chest.
Since Shen couldn't control the body, naturally he couldn't control the heart either, but he noticed that the strange network extending from the front of the brain under the brow to all parts of the body converged deep inside the heart and then stretched from the heart to connect to the back of the brain.There was a strange energy within the meridians, an energy that could make the heart beat. This was Qian's instinctive intuition; he had no hesitation and hurriedly drew the energy wandering in the meridians toward the heart, constraining it into waves, as if squeezing a hose and then releasing it, causing the energy to surge at the heart wave after wave. One strike, two strikes, three strikes… each time the heart was struck, the energy lessened. After striking it a full eighty-five times, when the remaining energy in the meridians could only last for about ten more attempts, the tiny heart finally began to beat. “Thump… thump-thump… thump-thump…” Qian had never realized that the sound of a heartbeat could be so pleasant. At that moment, he inexplicably felt an urge to cry. As the heartbeat sounded, the blood began to flow through the baby's body, and every bit of flesh rejoiced… In an instant, Qian's vision was forced to leave the body, plunging into complete darkness. Instinctively, he opened his eyes. Though the world he saw seemed blurry, he had never felt anything so real. The baby wrapped in swaddling opened its eyes—large, beautiful black eyes. The little one blinked and, with some effort, turned its head to look at the young couple on the sofa… // Chapter One: Resurrection! (Part 2) End “Baby… the baby has come back to life… I can see the baby has come back to life…” Tear-streaked An'an looked at the baby who had opened its eyes. Instead of feeling joy, she turned her head and buried it on Long Yan's shoulder, crying bitterly once more. Her delicate body trembled violently; she could not believe that what she had seen was real. “Qian'er is no longer…” Long Yan held An'an tightly, habitually glanced at the swaddled baby on the low table, then shuddered all over, and the words in his mouth abruptly stopped. After a few seconds, Long Yan suddenly smiled, speaking with unwavering certainty: “Yes, our Qian'er has come back to life!” A loud, resonant cry of “Wah” made the entire hall come alive. The sorrowful atmosphere disappeared instantly. This cry, though originally not very pleasant and monotonous, at this moment was undoubtedly the most beautiful and touching sound.The news that the young couple from the Long family had a son who had already died come back to life quickly spread throughout Xinling Town. While this news wasn't exactly earth-shattering, it still gave the busybody aunts and middle-aged women a new topic for gossip. Various speculations about the baby, who had died just three months after birth and was now resurrected, circulated everywhere. Some said it was a case of a corpse returning to life, some claimed it was never truly dead, others said he had been revived by a powerful person from the Xuan Zong Palace, and some even speculated that he was possessed by a spirit. One has to admire the vivid imaginations of the townspeople of Qitan Town. If Qian'er, also known as Long Qian (Qian), heard the last speculation, one could not tell if he would break out in a cold sweat. Since being carried out of that somewhat old wooden house by An'an and walking with him through the vegetable markets, fruit markets, fabric shops, jewelry stores… and all the other places women loved to visit in Qitan Town, and continuing this routine for three months, Long Qian clearly realized that this world was very different from the one he had known before. There were no tall buildings, no cars, no advanced modern equipment. This was the most noticeable difference. Of course, these things did not affect Long Qian much—none of them were important to him. What could be more important than regaining a new life and having a pair of parents who cared for him? On the contrary, Long Chen thought that this world was even more fascinating because of its many strange things: chickens with four wings, horses with sharp horns on their foreheads, pears the size of watermelons, watermelons the size of plums… Of course, the thing that caught Long Qian's particular attention was a book—a thick book with a black cover. In Qitan Town, it was common to see people walking around with a thick black book floating beside them. Not carried, but floating. It was a book with a black cover, with the large characters 'Forbidden Canon' embedded on its cover, very thick, and the spine embedded with six translucent stones. Notably, on the spines of the Forbidden Canon book held by most people, the six translucent stones were dim and dull, and only occasionally could one see a person holding a Forbidden Canon book whose one of the translucent stones glowed.These glimmers, some were pale red, some were pale cyan... It seemed that each of the six translucent stones represented a different color. This magical floating forbidden tome made Long Qian extremely curious, far more magical than his first encounter with a computer. He was very eager to find out what exactly this forbidden tome could do and how it floated. However, no matter how carefully Long Qian listened to the conversations of people in the town whenever he followed An'an outside, he unfortunately never gained any useful information.
Of course, Long Qian could choose to ask directly. At the moment he truly revived, he could understand the languages of this world and speak them fluently, all thanks to his current body.
Long Qian's father, Long Yan, also had a forbidden tome, and one of the six translucent stones on its spine emitted a faint green light.
However, learning certain things forced Long Qian to honestly behave like a real child. Being only a few months old, if he spoke up to ask questions, it would not be appropriate for his age. Even if he wasn't considered a monster, he would be seen as a prodigy.
What's the benefit of being considered a prodigy? Drawing attention and becoming a topic of discussion. Newly reborn, Long Qian was very wary of these things because he knew that every year in Qitan Town, some strange people would appear, and they would select children regarded as prodigies and take them away.
Long Qian had heard about this while accompanying An'an at the vegetable and fruit markets. Those aunts often talked about which children in which towns had caught the attention of the Xuanzong Hall, how many children from the neighboring town were taken this year, and how many were taken last year…
Although those aunts spoke in a tone of admiration, Long Qian did not see it as something worth envying. In his view, those so-called prodigious children taken away from their parents were no different from orphans who lost their parents at birth. He had had enough of the life of an orphan and never wanted to repeat it.
Therefore, Long Qian quietly stayed true to himself, silently absorbing all the knowledge he could access and meticulously remembering everything he saw and heard.Although it was impossible to hear much useful information from the aunties and aunties at the vegetable and fruit markets, Long Qian quickly figured out a general idea. This place is called Qitan Town, under the jurisdiction of Qingtian City, which is a small border town west of the Southern Luo Kingdom. As for where the Southern Luo Kingdom is...... Long Qian struggled a lot to find out that it was called the Hainai Continent. It seemed to be the only human settlement in the world. Of course, this might be because people's understanding of the world is quite limited, since to the east of the Hainai Continent lies the vast sea. No one in Qitan Town knows what lies across the sea. Most people here don't even know how many countries there are, and many have never left Xinling Town in their entire lives.
As for those forbidden tombs that can be summoned at will and retracted, with no one knowing where they've been placed, Long Qian still hadn't heard much useful information. However, the townspeople seemed to love talking about one place: Xuanzong Hall.
Compared to Qingtian City, which Qitan Town belongs to, and Nanluo Kingdom, the townspeople seem to be more wary of Xuanzong Hall. In fact, Long Qian could easily tell that people were not only wary but more yearning.
Everyone wants to be a member of Xuanzong's hall, just as everyone in their previous life wanted to be a civil servant, and becoming a member of Xuanzong Hall seems to be related to that magical forbidden tome. This is also why most people who possess the forbidden tome always like to have that thick book float beside them when they go out. Although they can never enter the Xuanzong Hall, it always makes them feel superior to ordinary people