Shifting Directions

"Fellow villagers, I am passing through your esteemed land and would like to make a fool of myself." He bowed with his hands clasped, smiling broadly. His voice was not loud but had a strong penetrating power, and people three layers away could hear him clearly. "What I will be demonstrating today is a small skill passed down from my ancestors."

He reached out and picked up a bean, weighed it in his palm, and then tossed it gently. The bean flew three feet high, and when it fell, he didn't catch it. His other hand, seemingly out of nowhere, emerged from his sleeve, and with a flick of his fingertips, the bean changed direction, circling around him. Then came the second, the third. Under the constant movement of his two hands, the dozens of beans bounced and tumbled, their speed increasing, their trajectories becoming more and more unpredictable, sometimes even hovering in mid-air, but never falling.

A cheer erupted from the crowd, and the atmosphere grew increasingly heated. The old man held one hand behind his back and the other raised to the sky, the beans hovering in mid-air. After a moment, he lowered his hands, and the beans scattered and bounced around. A few children in the front row reached out to pick them up, but he waved his hand, waving them all back.

Li Muxuan watched intently. He wasn't just watching for the spectacle; he was observing the underlying principles. Having formally cultivated for two years to reach the first level of the Reverse Life Realm, his perception of Qi far surpassed that of ordinary people. He could see that the bean was coated with an extremely thin layer of Qi, not the pure, extreme Qi of the San Yi Sect, but something else entirely. Flexible, unpredictable, and unconventional, without fixed paths or standardized movements. Each finger was an independent river, each with its own course.

Then the bean flew over.

Without any warning, as the beans were still flitting in Wang Yaozu's hands, a soybean suddenly bounced off the ground. It wasn't blown by the wind, but rather a wisp of breeze stirred up by Wang Yaozu's fingertips while he was handling the beans that sent it flying. The soybean's trajectory was light and slow, landing near Li Muxuan's feet, bobbing once, and stopping in a crack in the bluestone slab.

Li Muxuan bent down and picked it up. He held the soybean between his fingers, examining it over and over, then looked up at the center of the arena. Wang Yaozu was still performing, his gaze sweeping across the crowd, lingering on Li Muxuan for less than a moment. It was so brief that Li Muxuan himself didn't even notice. But Liu Jin did.

......

"Here comes the Ghost Hand King!"

"Wang Yaozu's entrance is always so simple. A juggling stall, a soybean, and then the story begins."

"In the original story, Li Muxuan was lured in by this soybean. First, pique his curiosity, then let him get closer, and finally let him slowly enter the world of Quanxing."

"But this time is different. Li Muxuan now has a sect, and Liu Jin is standing right next to him. Do you think Wang Yaozu can't see that?"

"He must have figured it out. One is a disciple of the Sanyi Sect at the second level of the Reverse Life Realm, whose cultivation is no less than his, and the other is also a junior disciple of the Sanyi Sect. He can't be that blind."

"Then why did he still give me that bean?"

"A test. Not a test of Li Muxuan, but a test of Liu Jin. He wants to see how this person standing next to Li Muxuan will react."

......

As the event ended, the sun was already setting. The crowd gradually dispersed, and Wang Yaozu leisurely gathered the beans on the table, picking up the copper coins one by one and putting them into his cloth bag. Standing beside him was a young man, around twenty years old, thin, with a long face, sparse eyebrows, and small but quick-witted eyes. He exuded the shrewdness of a low-level hoodlum. His clothes were very ordinary, a gray cloth short jacket, and mud-splattered trousers, as if he had traveled a long way.

Li Muxuan walked over and handed over the soybeans.

"Sir, here are your beans."

Wang Yaozu looked up, glanced at Li Muxuan, and then at Liu Jin behind him. His smile remained unchanged as he reached out to accept the gift: "Thank you, young man."

Just as his fingers were about to touch the bean, a hand reached out from the side and grabbed Li Muxuan's wrist before he could. The force wasn't great, but the position was extremely precise, hitting the weakest point on his wrist. Li Muxuan's right hand immediately lost its grip, and the soybean slipped from his fingers.

Liu Jin caught the bean with his other hand.

Before Li Muxuan could even utter the words "Master," or "Brother," he felt the hand gripping his wrist suddenly tighten. It wasn't a tightening, but rather a surge of Qi. That Qi traveled up his wrist and instantly swept through his entire body, then burst out from the palm of the other hand.

The soybean flew from Liu Jin's palm, carrying a thin layer of white light. It wasn't a throw, but a flick, using Qi as a bow and the soybean as an arrow. The soybean traced a straight line, its speed so fast that it left a very faint popping sound in the air. Wang Yaozu's pupils contracted slightly, his right hand instinctively rising, his eight fingers simultaneously weaving a net of Qi in front of him. The soybean struck the net, spinning forward less than an inch before being completely neutralized.

Wang Yaozu withdrew his hand and glanced down at his palm. His palm was slightly red.

"The Sanyi Sect's Reverse Life Second Level." He put his hands behind his back, his face showing no emotion, and his tone even carried a hint of a smile. "Such a young Second Level expert is rare. In all my years of traveling around, I've only seen the sect leader, Zuo Ruotong, with such talent."

"Here's your bean back." After saying that, Liu Jin turned around and pulled Li Muxuan away. Li Muxuan was dragged half a block before he realized what was happening and broke free.

"Senior brother, what you just did..."

"He is Quanxing."

Li Muxuan was taken aback. Quanxing. The name Zuo Ruotong had mentioned during her lecture. No sect leader, no rules, no bottom line; they acted solely on their own whims. Good could be extremely good, evil could be extremely evil. Disciples of the Sanyi Sect should never approach Quanxing alone, nor readily believe their words.

Li Muxuan remained silent for a while, then looked back at the direction of the market, which had already closed up and the market had dispersed.

"Those beans..."

"He deliberately brought you here," Liu Jin said without turning around, "just to get you to go up and talk to him. Once you do, he'll remember you, and you can say more next time you meet. After a few more words, you won't feel like he's a stranger anymore. That's his old trick."

Li Muxuan opened his mouth, but said nothing more. He walked half a step behind Liu Jin, looking down at his wrist that had just been pinched. His hand was still slightly numb, not from injury, but from the lingering effect of Liu Jin's energy. His senior brother had used only a soybean to force back that acrobat he had watched for so long without being able to understand him. And he, standing to the side, hadn't even seen what had happened from beginning to end.

He looked up at Liu Jin's retreating figure, a strange emotion welling up inside him. It wasn't jealousy, definitely not. Nor was it gratitude. It was that feeling of "when can I be like that?" like a small pebble stuck in a corner of his heart, not big, but unsettling.

......

"Liu Jin's move was awesome. He broke Ghost Hand King's 'Turning the Eight Directions' with just a soybean."

"It's not exactly broken. Ghost Hand King wasn't fighting seriously; he didn't want to reveal his identity here. He was just testing Liu Jin's strength."

"But Ghost Hand King definitely remembers Liu Jin. Anyone would remember being flicked on the palm with a soybean by a young man in his early twenties."

"Did you see Li Muxuan's expression just now? It wasn't admiration, it was that awkward feeling of 'Senior brother is really amazing, but I can't let him see that I think he's amazing.'"

"That's how a teenager's pride is. He might say he doesn't care, but he's secretly taking notes in his head."

"But speaking of which, now that Wang Yaozu hasn't managed to get in touch with Li Muxuan this time, what will he do next? Will he give up or try another path?"

"Don't worry, they haven't left yet."

......