After Becoming the Pope’s Disciple - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Holy Light

By the time Ye Shaoqing returned to Wen Qingze’s home carrying the sand basin, the sky had turned completely black. Pressed for time, he instantly tossed the matter of the little fox to the back of his mind.

Wen Qingze asked a few questions about Old Tao, but Ye Shaoqing didn’t even eat dinner; he stuffed a piece of white bread into his mouth and locked himself directly in his room.

“What is this for…” Wen Qingze knocked on the bedroom door in surprise. “Are you alright?”

After a moment, Ye Shaoqing’s voice drifted from inside: “I’m fine. No need to save food for me tomorrow. Thanks.”

“Could he have been provoked by something at Old Tao’s?” Wen Qingze pushed up his slipping glasses in confusion but decided not to disturb him further.

The only table in the bedroom sat flush against the bed. The control knob for the desk lamp had long been broken, meaning it could only stay at its lowest brightness. Ye Shaoqing placed the sand basin brought back from the shop next to the lamp. The basin of fine sand lay still, appearing an eerie earthy yellow under the weak, warm light.

Ye Shaoqing buried one finger in the sand, using the sand as paper and slowly sliding his finger through the basin.

The sand began to flow slowly with his movements, eventually growing faster and faster. This sand looked no different from ordinary sand, but upon physical contact, one realized how heavy its texture was. Scooping a handful was no different from lifting a stone brick; having carried such a basin back, the muscles in both his arms were so sore he could barely raise them.

Ye Shaoqing spread his five fingers and quickly grabbed a handful. Before he could fully lift his fist, the fine grains of shifting sand instantly slipped clean through the gaps between his fingers and piled back into the basin, as if silently mocking his overestimation of his own strength.

The night grew deep. From the moment he returned to the room, Ye Shaoqing had been repeating these few movements. When his right hand grew sore, he switched to the left; when the left grew sore, he switched back to the right. Aside from making the sand flow faster, he was still at a complete loss regarding the so-called “primary application.”

“First, congregate… congregate…” Ye Shaoqing murmured to himself. Mental strength practice required a high degree of concentration and was extremely prone to causing fatigue. This was the main reason why most people needed over a week to achieve results.

Ye Shaoqing had been practicing continuously for over four hours. His brain was constantly sending signals that he needed sleep, but one of the two days in his time limit had already passed. He truly had no extra time to sleep.

Time ticked by second by second. The night was utterly silent.

Ye Shaoqing didn’t know how many times he had repeated the practice that night. His best attempt had allowed the sand he grabbed to stay held in his hand for five seconds before scattering, but it was still a far cry from the effect Old Tao had demonstrated.

Seeing the distant horizon gradually turn the color of a fish’s belly, he shook his throbbing head and went to the sink to splash his face with cold water. He took a deep breath. A faint trace of the Bodhi Lotus’s fragrance seemed to linger in the air, making him instantly feel a bit more alert.

“There must be something I’m overlooking…” Ye Shaoqing’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Just moments before the Bodhi Lotus bloomed, his index finger had touched the bud. Immediately after, the turquoise mist had absorbed some kind of energy he had unconsciously released, thereby regaining its vitality.

Turquoise mist?

He sat back down in front of the sand basin, his index finger reaching into the sand to stir aimlessly while he fell into deep thought. Was the hazy mist he saw at that time the visualization of so-called “vitality”?

In that case, would sand have it too?

Thinking of this possibility, Ye Shaoqing’s attention returned to the black sand. He closed his eyes, and the image of the sand basin surfaced in his mind. His index finger traced the path of a hexagram through the sand. He didn’t immediately try to grab the sand; instead, he was searching—searching for something that could create a connection with his own mental strength.

A moment later, the grains of sand in the mental image all vanished one by one. In their place was a spinning, earthy-yellow mass of air—that’s the thing!

Ye Shaoqing opened his eyes. The air mass had not vanished; it was still slowly rotating within the sand, formless and intangible, appearing and disappearing as it followed the stirring of his index finger to change direction.

At this moment, Ye Shaoqing was fully focused. A faint layer of gold coated his originally pitch-black pupils, yet he was completely unaware of all this.

He tried grabbing a handful of sand again, driving his mental strength to envelop this portion of the air mass. Sure enough, not a single grain of sand leaked out. As he tightened his fist, it was constantly compressed and solidified—until it turned into a round ball of sand.

He turned his fist over and balanced the sand ball on his palm. One minute, two minutes… the sand ball remained standing steadily, motionless, with not a single grain falling off. With a thought, the sand ball suddenly collapsed downward, gradually flattening until it spread across his palm like a pancake.

Success at last!

A surge of immense joy and achievement welled up in his heart. Ye Shaoqing let out a long, deep breath. The faint gold in his pupils vanished completely before it could fully solidify. His taut nerves relaxed, and he was instantly overwhelmed by a tidal wave of exhaustion. His head lolled to the side, and he collapsed unconscious onto the table. The black sand in his hand, no longer bound, disintegrated onto the floor in an instant…

The day was fully bright.

Although Ye Shaoqing had mentioned last night not to save food, Wen Qingze guessed that this guy would likely stay up all night, so he still prepared breakfast for two. There was no response to his knock on the bedroom door. He waited a moment before opening the door, only to find Ye Shaoqing slumped over the table, sleeping like the dead.

“Wake up, go sleep in the bed. You’ll catch a cold like this.” Wen Qingze pushed him gently, but there was no reaction at all.

There was visible exhaustion on Ye Shaoqing’s face. Wen Qingze shook his head, switched off the desk lamp, and fetched a blanket to drape over him. The cheap blanket was crudely made and felt rough to the touch, but fortunately, its heat retention was decent.

When Ye Shaoqing woke up, the sun was already drifting toward the west outside the window. The afternoon sunlight poured in through the glass, lazily illuminating his face and dividing his cheeks into light and shadow.

“…It’s already this late.”

As he sat up, the blanket slid to the floor. Ye Shaoqing froze for a moment, knowing Wen Qingze had been here. Even the sand that had scattered out of control last night had been cleaned up; the old floor was spotless. A bowl of millet porridge and half a plate of pickles sat on the table, having long since gone cold.

Only then did Ye Shaoqing notice he was ravenously hungry. He finished the millet porridge and pickles in a few bites. Having used mental strength continuously last night, his body had not yet recovered from the fatigue, yet his spirit was faintly buzzing with excitement. He performed a simple wash-up and immediately dragged his aching arms, picked up the sand basin, and rushed toward Old Tao’s shop.

When he stepped into the shop, Old Tao was sighing and groaning over a wilted potted plant. The flower stalks were half as high as a man, and three flowers had bloomed. The petals were layered like large bowls, but they had lost their brilliant luster and were teetering precariously, while the leaves were in a state of total disarray.

Seeing Ye Shaoqing return with the sand basin, Old Tao forced his gaze away from the flowerpot and asked lazily: “How was the practice last night? You realized it too, didn’t you? Controlling sand isn’t as simple as paper…”

Ye Shaoqing placed the sand basin on the table and said, “Yes, but I have already mastered the primary application you mentioned. Can you teach me Healing Magic now?”

The expression on Old Tao’s face froze. He comically dug at his ear and said incredulously: “What did you just say?”

Ye Shaoqing didn’t waste more words. He reached into the sand basin, made a casual grasping motion, and in the blink of an eye, a bowl made of sand appeared in his palm.

Compared to the sand ball from earlier, his control was undeniably a level higher.

“…You actually learned it in just one night?!” Old Tao’s eyes bulged larger than a bull’s; he was so shocked his reading glasses fell off. Looking at the calm young apprentice before him, he instantly felt like all his years had been lived in vain.

It took Old Tao quite a while to regain his composure from the daze. He shook his head dejectedly: “Sigh, truly the back waves push the front waves; I have to accept that I’m old.”

He put the sand basin back in its place and led Ye Shaoqing into another room—a “greenhouse” filled with all sorts of bizarre plants.

On the wooden rack closest to the door, a tender green vine was clinging. Sensing a stranger approaching, several branches instantly sprouted from the stem, waving about like tentacles in a menacing manner. It looked somewhat creepy.

Old Tao said with a chuckle: “Don’t worry, this is String Ivy. It’s very gentle, has excellent flexibility, and is generally used for binding. It’s greeting you—interesting, right?”

Ye Shaoqing turned his face away in distaste: “…” Not really.

Old Tao walked to the wooden rack and grabbed a section of the vine, saying: “Look, when this fellow was sent to me yesterday, a small section was infected with bacteria, becoming as stiff as cement and snapping the moment it was pulled.”

Perhaps sensing Ye Shaoqing’s distaste, the String Ivy obediently retracted its tentacles. Sure enough, the base had turned a diseased gray, no longer flexible. Ye Shaoqing observed it for a moment and asked: “What needs to be done?”

Old Tao stroked his beard and said: “Exotic spirit plants are generally divided into three types: common, rare, and precious. Animals are more complex than plants. String Ivy belongs to the common plants, and treating it is relatively simple. You just need to use mental strength to find the location of the bacteria and then extract it.”

Ye Shaoqing raised an eyebrow: “Healing Magic still requires finding the cause of the disease and prescribing the right medicine? Is it not possible to just infuse enough mental strength?”

If that were the case, what was the difference between this and starting to study medicine from scratch? He didn’t have that much time.

Old Tao froze for a second, then burst into loud laughter. The String Ivy was so scared it shriveled into a ball.

“Silly boy, do you think this is the all-powerful Holy Light Magic that expels all negative effects and restores all vitality? Only His Holiness the Pope, who possesses the Sacred Scepter, can use that. It’s impossible for an average person’s body to contain Holy Light. Naturally, one can only rely on experience and skill, calculating and using mental strength meticulously.”

Ye Shaoqing was stunned and fell silent, a peculiar expression appearing on his face.

Old Tao thought the boy was feeling ashamed of his ignorance. He patted his shoulder kindly and continued to lecture incessantly on the basic knowledge of Healing Magic.

Holy Light…?

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