The Carefree Clouds

Before heading out, Shen Lian took one last look at his body.

The windows did not serve to obstruct Shen Lian at all; it took him just one light leap to get out to the courtyard.

The clouds gave way to the moon, and the plum blossoms were dancing with their shadows. The sky was dotted sparsely with stars, complementing the pale and clear moon. It felt as if the heaven accidentally spilled misty rain into the mortal realm.

Shen Lian could feel the lightness of the air with his spirit.

A thought suddenly occurred to Shen Lian – what if instead of letting the moonlight pass through him like the flowing of a river, he absorbed it?

The moonlight gathered around Shen Lian, enveloping him like a transparent coat of feathers.

Shen Lian felt the burning heat; it was as if the afternoon sun was shining on him.

There was a glowing human-shaped shadow in the once-empty courtyard. It was drifting between taking and not taking shape in this physical realm.

The face and the hairline of the blurry shadow gave off a mystical aura.

Guards sent by Old Master Shen were stationed all over Shen Lian's chamber. The two guards on night shift were leaning against the door to shelter themselves from the wind.

One of them opened his eyes and shouted as he saw the glowing shadow. His shout alerted his companion next to him.

Shen Lian did not want to cause a scene. He immediately willed the coat of moonlight to dissipate.

As spirits did not have a physical shape, it was not easy for mortals to spot them with their bare eyes.

The companion of the guard did not see anything when he woke up. He grumpily scolded the guard before falling back to sleep again.The guard who spotted Shen Lian gave his eyes a quick rub and did not see anything strange, which led him to think that his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Without the coat of moonlight around him, Shen Lian wavered in the cold wind.

It was as if he was standing naked in the cold wind, and was facing attacks by the blades of wind and swords of frost.

At that point, Shen Lian was void of emotions. The suffering of his spiritual body did not bother him at all.

This led him to understand that an out of body experience was nothing like what he experienced before. It was fun, yet dangerous.

It was only manageable because it was night time. If he were to do this during the day, he would not be able to withstand the scorching sun even with his strong spirit.

The rumor that ghosts and the like of it generally appear at night and never during the day was not an unfounded claim after all.

Without any prior experience, Shen Lian had to learn the rope carefully when it comes to having an out of body experience. He knew that he was walking on thin ice and had to be extremely cautious.

He was grateful for the connection that he had with his physical body. At least he knew that he was not alone in this harsh world.

It was similar to flying a kite; his spirit was always attached and anchored to his body, and would not be lost to the vast world.

The physical body was a prison, but it was also a bamboo raft that sailed through the hardships of the mortal realm; it came with both pros and cons.

"The carefree clouds float from behind the hills, the weary birds know that they should return." Just as the poem, it was definitely freer for the spirit to be out of the body, but just as birds that needed to return to their nests, the spirit needed to be nourished in the body.

Shen Lian tried to control his spirit and he experimented around in the process.

He realized something unique about the spirit – it can penetrate physical matter.

Recreating what he did with the moonlight, he tried to attach the wind to his spirit. It felt as if he was melted into the wind, and could travel by its force.

When he finally detached himself from the wind, he could not feel the gravity anymore.

He was merely floating around the ground.

After getting down the main characteristics of an out of body experience, he expanded his scope of operation.

He crossed through walls and buildings without resistance.

In this world, there was no electricity or electrical lamps. People went to bed early.

Under those circumstances, any source of light became extremely glaring.

This bout of out of body experience was meant to be an experiment and was completely aimless. Noticing the light source up ahead, Shen Lian decided to enter the room.

As per usual, there was no resistance when he was getting into the room. However, he heard a woman weeping.

The woman was weeping in devastation, giving off an air of sadness.

"What are you crying for? Ruoxi is just sick, you just need to take better care of her." Shen Lian could hear Shen Qingsan talking.

"But she is getting thinner as days go by. She is not talking and not eating, the doctors are out of wits. How can I not be worried? Don't you think Shen Lian is bringing misfortune with him everywhere he goes? First, he killed his mother, now he is killing Ruoxi slowly. Ruoxi wouldn't have fallen sick if it was not for the stupid idea of marrying her to Shen Lian!"

The woman ranted to Shen Qingsan as she wiped her tears.

Shen Lian was in the room. He saw and heard the conversation between Shen Qingsan and his wife, Chen.

Shen Qingsan was frowning, and Chen was seated opposite of him.

"So, Shen Ruoxi has fallen sick," Shen Lian thought. As for Chen's allegations, he was not offended at all. Even on normal days, he would not be angered by such allegations, what more when he was void of emotions.

He was grounded for a month. During which, he did not maintain any form of contact with the world outside. This was why he was unaware of Shen Ruoxi's predicament.

"Shen Lian had been grounded for the past month, and Ruoxi only fell sick five or six days ago. How can this have anything to do with him at all? Please don't listen to your sister-in-law." While Shen Lian was not angered, the same could not be said about Shen Qingsan. Due to the influence of Old Master Shen, he treated women as inferior to men. On top of that, he knew that his daughter would not be bullied if she was to be married to Shen Lian.

Chen was not about to retreat from her stance. "I don't care if Shen Lian is a good person or bad, but just take a look at him. He is so neutral and detached from everyone. What more, he is someone who has a mind of his own. Even if you were to treat him genuinely, I don't think he will appreciate the gesture!"

"You are wrong about this. Shen Lian is more reliable than anyone else. Despite that he doesn't reciprocate your kindness verbally, he would keep it in his mind. What more as a family, we are not supposed to expect any return to begin with." Shen Qingsan retorted, remembering what he found out back at the inn.

He had actually investigated into what happened between Shen Lian and the man in green back at the inn. Without a doubt, the two bodyguards sent to protect Shen Lian were killed by the man in green. What surprised him was Shen Lian's behavior that day.

"This is human lives that we are talking about, how am I supposed to just get over it? I cherish the human lives that you so carelessly dismissed. It doesn't matter if it's our own life; we all get only one chance at this."

The manager of Yue Ke Lai repeated Shen Lian's exact words.

Shen Qingsan believed that Shen Lian meant every word that he said and that he was genuine.

Shen Lian stood up for two insignificant bodyguards and was fearless when faced with the man in green.

Shen Qingsan had never seen this sort of behavior on a twelve or thirteen-year-old1 until Shen Lian came along.

Shen Lian was worthy of being entrusted with great responsibilities; the Shen family would only go far in the hands of someone like Shen Lian.

Shen Qingsan knew his own limits – he was not even capable of carrying on the Shen family, what more bringing it to greater heights. Moreover, his brother was even more incapable than him.

Due to the state that he was in, Shen Lian did not feel touched by what Shen Qingsan had just said. However, he had to admit that this uncle whom he was related to by blood was right about him.