Chapter 36: A game
“In your heart or you can say in your consciousness. When your Spiritual Power becomes stronger in the future, you’ll understand. Our consciousness is actually a blank space but the ordinary ones can’t control it. So right now, you could only reach your own space of consciousness with my guidance but don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get stronger to do it alone next time.” Nana smiled.
Lan Xuanyu didn’t understand. “Space of consciousness? Is it Spiritual Power?”
Nana thought about it for a moment and replied, “I think so, I’ve only understood these after I used my Spiritual Power.”
“That’s cool. Can I always meet Teacher Nana here then?” Lan Xuanyu asked.
“As long as the distance isn’t too far apart, it should be alright. But only I can come and find you,” Nana said.
“Alright! Alright!” Lan Xuanyu exclaimed excitedly.
Nana then said, “What would you like to learn when I become your teacher next time?”
Lan Xuanyu paused for a while and said, “I don’t know but there is a girl in school who keeps trying to bully me. Her Spirit Skill is one that is a hundred years old but I don’t know why it would always lose its effectiveness when it is used on me. Teacher Nana, do you know how to fight?”
Nana thought for a second and replied, “I think so.”
Lan Xuanyu then asked, “But is it bad to fight?”Nana chuckled. “It depends on why you’re fighting; if it’s to protect the people that you should protect, then it’s not a bad thing. For example, if your mommy is getting bullied, wouldn’t you protect her? And what if that time comes and you can’t? What would you do?
Lan Xuanyu seemed to understand what she had said. “So the purpose of cultivating is to protect? To protect the people I love?”
“Yeah, you can say so and that’s right! Protect and guard the people you love.” Nana’s eyes turned vacant and dazed like she recalled something.
“Teacher Nana, are you okay?” Lan Xuanyu waved his hand in front of her.
Nana then came to her senses. “I don’t know either. I just suddenly recalled something. Xuanyu, what do you really want to learn right now? I have to think through on how to teach you too.”
Lan Xuanyu tilted his head and said, “Teacher Nana, I don’t really dare to hit people, is there any method to dodge from getting beaten by them?”
“Why don’t you dare to hit people?” Nana laughed.
“I am a little timid,” Lan Xuanyu said shyly.
Nana’s smile became more vibrant and this child couldn’t help but stare when he saw her expression that was akin to the brightly-colored flowers in spring.
“I can’t teach you how to control the elements here. Why don’t I teach you some footwork? When you learn this, the others will not be able to hit you. Is that alright?”
“Great! Great!” Lan Xuanyu laughed.
“Try catching me.” Nana smiled.
Lan Xuanyu then asked, “Why do you want me to catch you?”
“Catch me and I will reward you. You’ll be punished if you can’t catch me though,” Nana replied.
“Reward?” Lan Xuanyu said excitedly.
Nana then smiled. “Catch me and I will let you kiss me, and if you can’t, I will punish you by giving you a kiss alright?” She was taken aback when she said this because ever since she was cryogenically awakened, she had never gotten close to anyone, not even other girls. But with this child, she didn’t guard herself at all.
“Alright, here I come.” Lan Xuanyu pounced forward towards Nana.
Nana merely took a step back, it was as if the split second when his fingers were about to touch her, she moved slightly and all he caught was air. He didn’t give up. He took another step forward and jumped towards her but Nana shifted her body as well, sliding a little to the side to dodge his move once again.
Lan Xuanyu wanted to release his Spirit instinctively but he quickly realized that he could not release it here at all and the only thing that he could do was to chase her.
Nana appeared to be moving in inches and her speed wasn’t fast either but her feet followed a kind of mysterious pattern and no matter how much he tried to catch her, he just couldn’t get close to her.
In the spiritual world, one would get tired all the same and after some time of hard work, Lan Xuanyu stopped. Everything before him became illusory.
“Teacher, I can’t catch you. I am so tired.”
Nana then said, “This is because your Spiritual Power has been used up. It’s alright, we’ll try again next time. You have to take note of my footwork while you’re trying to catch me and you can learn my footwork too so you could catch me. You’ve lost this time.”
“Then I have to let you kiss me?” Lan Xuanyu lifted his little face and went closer to her.
Nana laughed, “It’s not counted if I kiss you now. You shall owe me one first, I’ll kiss you next time alright so continue meditating. When I find out that you have regained your Spiritual Power, I’ll look for you again.”
Due to Nana’s appearance, Lan Xuanyu didn’t find the return journey lonely.
Lan Xiao and Nan Cheng were somewhat surprised that Little Xuanyu had been meditating the whole time and wasn’t tired at all. He would only stop so he could eat but they didn’t know the fact that he was spending his time in the spiritual world because each time that Lan Xuanyu regains his Spiritual Power, Nana would naturally appear so she could let him catch her.
There were times that he would become a bit impatient since he couldn’t catch her and each time this happens, Nana would intentionally let him catch her so she could cheer him up. This game of catch went on till the spacecraft landed.
During the severe turbulence, spacecraft 7703 passed through the Heaven Luo Planet’s atmosphere and slowly landed vertically at the Heaven Luo Planet Space Center.
“Hu——” Almost everyone felt a breath of relief.
It was an entire seven days! It wasn’t easy for anyone to stay in such a condition where you could only lay down halfway through the trip.
But Lan Xuanyu was brimming with energy. Nan Cheng wasn’t sure why her son’s big eyes appeared much brighter when they got off the spacecraft.
Everything was very familiar once they got back at the Heaven Luo Planet but after they got off the spacecraft, Lan Xuanyu kept looking back from time to time as if he was looking for that certain someone.
On the way back, he and Nana played the game of catch for over ten times and they got to know each other quite a bit. His happiest moment was when Nana intentionally allowed him to catch her but he wasn’t just happy, he had a sense of security.
“Stop looking for me, I will go to your place to look for you. Go back home with your daddy and mommy first.” Nana’s voice echoed in his head.
“Okay,” Lan Xuanyu blurted out almost instantly.
“Okay what?” Nan Cheng looked suspiciously at her son.
Lan Xuanyu smiled widely and looked at his mother. “This is a secret, I’m not telling you.”
Nan Cheng’s face then turned cold. “I’ll confiscate your garage kit then.”
“Ah? Mommy… my dearest awesome Mommy.” Lan Xuanyu immediately hugged Nan Cheng and he gave her an adorable face as he looked at her with his big watery eyes.
Nan Cheng burst out laughing. “Alright, I’m just joking. Quick, let’s go home. You have to take a shower.”
They didn’t layover at Heaven Luo City. They took a transfer flight directly back to Zi Luo City and it’s already evening when they found themselves at the comfort of their home.
Despite them being Spirit Masters, Nan Cheng and Lan Xiao still slumped into bed the second they reached home and they didn’t want to move at all. Long-distance interstellar travel was really tiring!
Lan Xuanyu was quite tired too but he remembered what Nana said to him so he didn’t go to bed straight away. Instead, he stayed in his little room and meditated.
Lan Xuanyu forgot about the outside world and when he was completely in the state of meditation, his space of consciousness lit up once again.