The story of Bai Ling

There is an old mystical tale, passed down from generation to generation. Its origins old and indistinguishable, and its story, altered through time.

There used to be a river famously known as the river of blood and a musician who'd play his flute every day to calm the wrath of the river at night.

This was the story of Bai Ling and how he calmed the river of blood filled with wrath.

THE MIDNIGHT MUSICIAN

Once upon a time, there used to be a river of peace, so beautiful and pure, attracting attention from people all over the world who swooned over its beauty. Its water so clean and mystical like a treasure flowing down from the heavens.

However, one day, the river turned red, it lost its purity and beauty. This was the result of demonic sacrifices performed against the Dao of heaven.

The river, in turn, became the river of blood, feared and detested by the people. What flowed through the valley wasn't water, but blood with deep resentment energy.

If a human were to touch the river, his whole body would be overwhelmed with the negative emotions and energy, drying up his soul and leading to his demise, and if, by chance, he lived, he'd go crazy and succumb to his evil desires.

Every night, a musician would appear by its bank and play soothing music for the river. The sound of his flute entranced the people and calmed the river. This man had no name and no one knew his origins.

The people could only see his back as he stood facing the river and playing his flute. The melody was sad yet soothing, heartbreaking yet heartwarming. It contained within it a sense of loss and longing.

At dawn, the man disappeared just like the music, nobody knew where he went or where he came from. He was considered to be a god who would come at midnight to calm the wrath of the river of blood.

He was given the name Bai Ling by the people. Bai meaning white/pure and ling meaning spirit/soul, putting the two together, his name meant, pure spirit. He soon became the protagonist of a lot of folklore and myths.

The hero who saved the people from the raging river of blood.

Once the river calmed down completely and returned to its original pure form, he too could no longer be seen, no longer be found by anyone just like a spirit that floated away without a trace.

People believed he was a god. It didn't matter if he was really one or not.

He was a god because people made him one.

And this is the story of that god....

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"Where is Alvi?", Fu Jie enquired.

Alvi was the personalized AI bot who was assigned to every player of the crimson sky to help them complete a level. Although not of much use, Alvi was still needed. It provided the player with basic information of the realm or level they were in, gave an accurate description for all the characters in the game, and sent out warnings in case of a foul or invalid command. Without Alvi, playing crimson sky would be like walking blindly on an unknown road.

Bai Ling, "Alvi would not be assisting you in this level."

"Then how am I to know what I'm supposed to do?"

"I could assist you at times but even I have certain restrictions so I don't think I'll be of much help."

Fu Jie, "I don't trust your assistance."

Bai Ling grinned, "For starters, I can help you by giving you the whereabouts of the crimson dragon."

"Where is it?" Fu Jie asked with delight.

"The crimson dragon is yet to be seen."

"..."

Bai Ling grinned, "..."

"Utterly useless!"

Bai Ling, "brother, I'm telling you really crucial information. Maybe your luck is good cause if the crimson dragon is not seen yet, it means, it hasn't been born yet."

"How is an unborn crimson dragon lucky?"

"Time! You now have a major advantage: time. You can focus on increasing your soul force and cultivation so that you can at least stand a chance in winning against that monster."

"How do I do that?"

Thump. Thump.

There was a sudden rush of sounds: the sound of feet stomping on the ground—the sound of running men. Fu Jie instinctively looked towards the cause of the sound only to realize that there were a dozen men wearing white robes rushing towards him with hostility. Fear budded in Fu Jie's heart as he turned back to look at Bai Ling only to find that the latter was nowhere in sight. Like foam, Bai Ling had disappeared without a trace and without giving him an answer. Only one thought crossed through Fu Jie's mind as he thought of the man, "utterly useless".

Fu Jie's brain could not process everything fast enough as he stood there dumbfounded and the men surrounded him in the next second. Two or three men came forward, arrested, and dragged him away to god knows where. One of the men crushed a flower and threw it towards Fu Jie's face. He didn't know if it was the exhaustion taking its toll or because of the crushed fragrance of the flower that enticed him, but soon enough, Fu Jie started losing consciousness and the next thing he knew, he was sleeping; dreaming of the time when his mother was still alive. A time when he got along with his father, a time when he was an only child, loved by both his parents, when he would invoke the jealousy of others. The dream was sweet and warm but yet, his body felt cold. He slightly opened his eyes but there was nothing to see, only darkness. Where was he? He questioned in his mind.

He tried to push himself up from the ground. Clank. There were chains. Both his hands and feet were chained. The chains restricted his movements and at that moment he realized where he was. He was in jail—a cold and dark prison cell.

Fu Jie was now completely conscious as he yelled through gritted teeth, "who the f**k put me in here!?"

"Get me out!! Get me out!!"

"Shut up!" the voice shocked him as it came from somewhere totally unexpected.

He wasn't alone in this cell. Maybe it was because of the drowsiness or maybe because of the darkness that lingered in the cell which caused him not to realize the presence of another person. He squinted his eyes, focusing on the person who told him to shut up, once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out the silhouette of three other people.

"W-who are you?" he asked immediately

"Why should we tell you, brat. Just sit there quietly and we won't have any trouble." The voice of the man sounded once again, hoarse, as if not having wet his throat for a whole week.

"..." Fu Jie dare not say a word after that. This was a prison, and the only people one could hope to meet in a prison were fugitives, with that theory, Fu Jie concluded that the man was certainly warning him.

The next few days could only be explained as hell.

'Hell' was an understatement.

Fu Jie had been in this hell for the last three or four days.

The cell was as dark as always and nobody ever spoke a word. The only thing Fu Jie learned was that he was sharing this prison with three other people, who never spoke a word or even moved from their place, he couldn't even sense them breathing. There was even a point in time when Fu Jie questioned himself if the three were even alive.

Not only was the darkness hard to deal with, but the smell was even worse. From the smell alone, it could be concluded that somebody had already died in isolation and his corpse had rotten here.

Except for the darkness, smell, and desolation, there was another issue. He had not eaten or drunk a drop of water for the last few days. If this was the normal world, he would have already passed out from exhaustion, but right now, not only had he not fainted, he had also not been able to sleep a wink. His throat was so dry that he felt like if he tried to talk, not only would his voice be as hoarse as his cellmates, but he would also not be able to pronounce the human language.

However, all of this proved to him that this was real. If it was a dream, he wished to wake up soon but as the days passed by, he could only believe how real everything was. He had really transmigrated into a game and if so, what happened to the him in the real world? Had he gone missing? Was his father worried? Were they searching for him? Or was it just like Bai Ling said? Had he ceased to exist? Although he held no attachment to his world, the thought of not ever being a part of it still hurt him but he would never admit it.

With nothing more to do, he started reminiscing about the old times. His life had been so luxurious and easy so why had he been so contempt with it.

At birth, he had already evoked the jealousy of many. The only child of the two biggest business tycoons, loved and spoiled by both alike.

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"Want to join us after school? We're going to hang out at the PC room."

"Nah. I'm good." Fu Jie replied happily.

"Come on, dude. What is your excuse today? Your mom asked you to come home early?" The boy asked in annoyance.

Fu Jie beamed, "Yep. It's her birthday. We're going out for a family dinner."

The boy sighed, "Catch you later then, mama's boy."

"Bye!"

A 17-year-old Fu Jie rushed home in a hurry. Today was his mother's birthday and he was excited to give her the present he had been preparing for the last few weeks. His heartbeat and excitement increased as he got closer to his villa.

"Do you have to be like this?!"

"Why are you being so unreasonable?!"

"It's just for today!!"

As Fu Jie grabbed the doorknob, the sound of shouting could be heard from inside. His parents were arguing and he dare not open the door at the moment. The previous excitement and delight were now extinguished from his face. His parents were fighting once again. He decided to turn around and leave but before he could do so, the door opened, and out came his father who was dressed in a black office suit. He knew it at once: his dad was going for work and would not be joining them tonight.

His heart broke. Even on a day like this, his father could not leave his work and spend time with his family. Truly a cruel man. Had a wife at home but would rather have work become his mistress.

"Ah Jie..... Welcome home." His mother responded as she saw him enter, her eyes red from either anger or sadness or maybe a mixture of both.

"Hi, mom." Fu Jie spoke awkwardly not knowing what to say.

His father spared him a glance and continued to go out without further delay.

As soon as the door closed, his mother's legs gave out and she kneeled down on the floor, her hands wiping her tears that started flowing out like a waterfall.

With a hesitant soft voice, she spoke, "I... I'm so sorry... I let you see me like this again."

Fu Jie rushed towards his mother and hugged her, wanting to comfort her and stop her from crying, constantly assuring her, "it's okay, mom. It's okay."

She leaned her head on his shoulder and spoke, "I really feel like sh*t today...."

"It's okay, mom. I'm here."

She chuckled as she heard her teenage son assure her, "You're right. At least one of you is here. Grandma called. Do you want to go over there and have dinner with them?"

"..... Is that why you two fought?"

"It's complicated honey... You'll understand it once you get older." Lies, Fu Jie said in his mind. No matter how much he grew up, he'll never understand his father's obsession with his work, maybe it would have been better if his father just had a real mistress, at least that way his mom could get a clean divorce and be relieved of such a strenuous relationship. At times like this, he felt awkward. He wanted to yell at his father but his mother still supported that man and always adjusted while saying that it was okay. It was not okay! She was not okay and he could see it.

"Do they have ice cream?"

His mother chuckled, "hehe..... They have a whole bucket of ice cream prepared just for our Ah Jie."

Fu Jie beamed, "Then let's go!"

His mother wiped her tears and smiled, ruffling his hair lovingly.

The pair of mother and son got dressed and headed out to the other side of the city, where Fu Jie's grandparents lived.

Fu Jie never knew the details but he had heard one time that his grandparents were against his parent's marriage. His grandfather had warned them beforehand, "You're both young and have ambitions. Your business is just getting started. Believe me, it will be hard on both of you. One can never keep work life and family conflict separate. One day you won't have time for each other and you'll get into fights often and at that time, your marriage would start falling apart. Can you still take this decision knowing that's your future?"

His grandfather's words were just him worrying about his daughter but to Fu Jie's father, they were biased against him, insensitive, and came out as extremely rude. Maybe it was due to this that they got married, maybe to prove his grandfather wrong or maybe it was because they really loved each other at the time.

Actually, Fu Jie could still see it, his mother was still just as in love with his father as she must have been when she married him, but his father, on the other hand, was a man with indecipherable emotions. When he was a child, his mother would often tell him how much his father loved him and so naturally he grew up thinking that the man loved him, he would often get his favorite toy as a birthday present so he thought his father paid attention to him.

Only when he was 13 years old did he realize that the annual presents he got from his father were actually all organized by his father's assistant. Maybe his father was the one who started giving him presents in the beginning, but eventually got tired of it and decided to let his assistant do it for him, or maybe it had been the assistant who did it all along. He had never seen any extreme expressions from his father except for irritation and anger which made him wonder, did the man ever love his mother?

Was he always like this or was there a time he was different? Did his love die down or was it never there to begin with.