The system says there are no ghosts.

Chapter 4 First Sensation of Spiritual Energy

The dormitory lights were off, with only the light from the lamppost shining through the window, casting a dim yellow patch on the floor.

Chen Yi pushed open the door and put the insulated bag on the table.

"You're back." Ah Qi floated in, looking around the small room. "It's a bit cramped, but better than the spiritual vein."

Chen Yi didn't reply, but sat down on the edge of the bed and turned on his spiritual terminal.

The report needs to be written. The system sent him to clean up the residual spiritual energy in the abandoned spiritual vein B-274, but not only did he fail to clean it up, he also disturbed what was inside. Worst of all, he brought out something that shouldn't have been there.

He looked up and glanced at Ah Qi.

"The system really won't detect you?"

"The system only looks at the data." Ah Qi floated in the corner. "You went in, how long you stayed, what alarms you triggered, and whether you reported any anomalies. It can't see me; it only looks at your operation log. If you don't report anything, it'll act like nothing happened."

Chen Yi remained silent for a while.

Even independent cultivators understand this principle. The system is inanimate; as long as it doesn't report anything, it will assume everything is normal.

He lowered his head to write the report, filling it out as Ah Qi had instructed, and wrote in the remarks column, "Severe depletion of spiritual veins, abnormal absence of residual spiritual power."

submit.

"+0.5 spirit stones".

That's it. He stared at the number for two seconds. Five spirit stones a month—this 0.5 was already one-tenth of his income.

"What are you thinking about?" Ah Qi asked.

"What about the future?" Chen Yi shook his head. "My abilities will be discovered sooner or later. The Eye of the Spirit can't be turned off. If I use it a few more times, the system will detect the unknown protocol."

"So what do you plan to do?"

Chen Yi remained silent for a long time.

He was just a cleaner, earning five spirit stones a month. He had exhausted all his strength just to stay alive, and he was ready to accept his fate and live a rotten life like this.

But now it seems that something is different.

He saw those things: the gray mist writhing deep within the spiritual veins, and those empty eyes.

"Do you want to cultivate?" Ah Qi suddenly asked.

Chen Yi turned to look at him.

"Cultivation. Don't you want to become stronger?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"I told you, I have a set of techniques," Ah Qi said. "My master passed it down to me; it's called the Azure Cloud Heart Method. It's not controlled by the system. If you're willing to learn, I'll teach you."

Chen looked at him.

"What's the price to pay for learning this technique?"

Ah Qi's expression paused for a moment.

"...it will fade a bit."

"Fading?"

"Passing on the technique is about transferring your memories and experiences to others," Ah Qi said. "My spiritual body will fade, but the core will remain. However, as a remnant of gray mist, it can only last for seven or eight years; whether it dissipates sooner or later doesn't make much difference."

Chen Yi remained silent for a long time.

Outside the window, the streetlights flickered. Next door, Old Zhang's snoring continued, rhythmic like some kind of never-ending machine.

"...Okay. I'll learn."

"The Qingyun Heart Sutra requires cultivation in a place with abundant spiritual energy to begin."

"Abandoned spiritual veins will do. There's still residual spiritual energy deep inside, and there's no surveillance," Ah Qi said. "Let's go when it's late at night and everyone's asleep."

Chen nodded.

Walking from the dormitory to the spiritual vein was too far. Chen Yi gritted his teeth and summoned a flying sword, spending 0.6 spirit stones.

The flying sword traveled through the night and arrived at its destination twenty minutes later.

The entrance to the spiritual vein remains the same.

A rusty iron gate, a broken sealing array, and a warning sign sprayed on the wall: "Danger Zone, Do Not Enter." Chen Yi squeezed through a small gap to the side, with A Qi following behind him.

The passage was dark and cold. After walking for about ten minutes, the view suddenly opened up.

The cave wasn't large; the ceiling wasn't even tall enough for two people to stand on. But Chen Yi didn't notice any of that.

His psychic eyes captured a scene he would never forget.

Every corner of the cave was crammed with people. No, not people. They were the spirits of the dead. Dozens, hundreds, densely packed along the rock walls, in the crevices, and on the ground. Their figures were indistinct, their edges shrouded in gray mist.

They are watching him.

There was something in that gaze that Chen Yi couldn't describe. It was like a drowning person seeing driftwood, like seeing light in the darkness.

"They were all cultivators executed by the system," Ah Qi's voice came from the side. "This spiritual vein used to be an execution site. Later, the corpses were cleared away, but the souls remained. They didn't dissipate because... they were unwilling to accept their fate."

"The system says there are no ghosts," Ah Qi said. "But you see, what the system says doesn't exist is often true."

Chen Yi ventured deep into the cave and found the point where spiritual energy converged.

A faint blue glow emanated from the ground. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

"How do I do it?"

"Relax first." Ah Qi floated in front of him. "Next, I'll put my hand on your forehead, and then you might see something. Don't be afraid, it's my memory."

Chen nodded.

He felt Ah Qi's spirit approaching, and then a cold hand touched his forehead.

The sensation was strange. It wasn't skin-to-skin contact, but some kind of deeper touch. It was as if something had directly touched his consciousness.

Then, the images came in.

He saw a forest.

It's a very old mountain, covered with ancient trees and shrouded in mist. There's a thatched hut halfway up the mountain, with a few medicinal herbs growing in front of it.

An old man sat in front of the house.

He was very thin, with a face full of wrinkles, but his eyes were bright. He was wearing a faded cloth robe and holding a twig, drawing something on the ground.

Chen couldn't see what the old man was drawing. But he sensed that what the old man was drawing was very complex, like the direction of some kind of formation, or like the route of some kind of meridian.

Then he saw the back of another person.

A young man stood behind the old man, watching quietly.

"Did you see it clearly?" the old man asked.

"I saw it clearly," the young man said.

The old man put down the branch and turned around. His gaze towards the young man was complex, as if he were looking at something very important.

"I'm passing on this Qingyun Heart Sutra to you."

The old man's voice was calm, but Chen Yi could feel the weight of his words. It wasn't just a simple "I'm giving it to you," but rather a kind of handover, a kind of continuation.

"Master..." The young man seemed to want to say something.

"No need to say anything more." The old man waved his hand. "I've left this set of techniques behind. Passing it on to you will allow me to die in peace."

"People will die," the old man smiled, "but the cultivation technique won't. As long as someone passes it down, it will live on."

He reached out and tapped the young man's forehead.

Chen Yi felt a faint light flash by, and then he saw the young man's body tremble slightly, as if something had entered his body.

"Alright." The old man withdrew his hand. "The seed has been planted. With proper care, it will eventually sprout."

The scene changes.

It was still the same mountain, but the thatched hut was now dilapidated. The sacred herbs in front of the hut had withered, and the ground was overgrown with weeds.

The young man knelt in front of the house.

His hair had turned a bit whiter, and his face had more wrinkles. In front of him was a mound of earth, with a wooden sign stuck in front of it.

"Master," the young man said, "I have passed on the skill. It's an orphan, very intelligent, even more intelligent than me. Don't worry, this line will not be broken."

The wind rustled through the forest.

The scene changed again.

This time it was a scene of utter chaos. Fires raged everywhere, shouts of battle filled the air, and the air reeked of blood.

A young man was cornered.

His clothes were tattered, and he had several wounds on his body, his clothes stained with blood. But he did not fall; he simply leaned against the wall, staring intently at the man in black in front of him.

"Hand over the cultivation technique," the man in black said. "The system won't make things difficult for you."

"Dreaming," the young man said.

His voice was weak, but firm.

"Then die."

The man in black raised his spirit knife.

There was no fear in the young man's eyes, only something indescribable.

"Master," he said in his heart, "I'm sorry, I may not be able to pass on this knowledge."

Then, the spirit blade, flashing with electromagnetic arcs, fell down.

The image disappeared.

Chen Yi suddenly opened his eyes and found himself still sitting on the ground deep in the spiritual vein. A Qi's hand was still on his forehead, but it was no longer as cold as before.

He turned to look at Ah Qi.

Then he froze.

Ah Qi's figure was much fainter than before. Not just a little, but noticeably fainter. The edges of the gray mist became blurred, and his features were no longer as clear as before. He floated there, like a wisp of mist that could be blown away by the wind at any moment.

"Ah Qi..."

"It's okay." Ah Qi withdrew his hand, his voice a little weak, but his tone was still relaxed. "It's always like this the first time, you'll get used to it."

Chen looked at him.

He recalled the scenes he had just witnessed: the old man, the young man, the mountain, the thatched hut, and the final flickering fire and shouts of battle.

Those are all Ah Qi's memories. Memories from the lineage of the Qingyun Heart Sutra. The old man passed it on to the young man, the young man passed it on to Ah Qi, and now it's been passed on to him.

This line has never been broken.

"That's...your master?" Chen asked.

"Hmm." Ah Qi nodded. "And there's my grandmaster, and my grandmaster's master. I don't know them either, I just know this line of events is very long."

"You just said that the power of the transferred energy would fade..."

"Yes," Ah Qi said. "The memories have been transferred out, the core is still there, but it will be a bit fainter. It's alright, the remnant soul of the gray mist won't dissipate so easily."

Chen looked at him but didn't say anything.

He sensed something new deep within his consciousness. It wasn't an image, nor a sound, but something deeper. It was as if a blurry path was buried within his consciousness, and following that path would lead to the entrance to the Azure Cloud Heart Sutra.

"You felt it?" Ah Qi asked.

"Hmm," Chen Yi said, "It's like something has been planted."

"That's the seed of a cultivation technique," Ah Qi said. "It's still dormant and needs to be nurtured slowly. Try walking along that path and see if you can sense any spiritual energy."

Chen nodded and closed his eyes.

He followed the blurry path deep within his consciousness.

At first, there was nothing. Only darkness and silence.

Then, he felt it.

A faint, almost imperceptible touch, like the wind brushing against the skin, like water flowing over the fingertips.

Reiki.

He tried to grasp that feeling, but the strength was too weak, and it vanished the moment he lost focus. He continued to try, but the feeling never returned.

Chen Yi opened his eyes.

"You sensed it?" Ah Qi asked.

"Just a little bit," Chen Yi said, "but it stopped very quickly."

"That's normal," Ah Qi said. "It's like this the first time. The seed of the cultivation method has just been planted and hasn't adapted to your consciousness yet. After a few more times, you'll gradually grasp the feeling."

He looked down at his hands. In his psychic eyes, he could see a faint gray light flowing on them. Those were traces left by the transfer of souls.

"Let's go," Ah Qi said. "It's time to go back."

Chen Yi stood up and walked towards the cave entrance.

The spirits in the cave were still there, staring at him with those empty, yearning eyes. Chen Yi walked past them without looking back.

It was already late at night when he stepped out of the entrance to the spiritual vein. The moon hung in the sky, casting a silvery-white light.

Chen Yi stood at the cave entrance and took a deep breath.

"The system says there are no ghosts," he suddenly said.

Ah Qi paused for a moment, then laughed.

"Yes, the system says there are no ghosts."

The two walked one after the other towards the Flying Sword Station. The moonlight cast a long shadow of Chen Yi, but the shadow did not feel lonely or desolate; it moved slowly along the mountain path.

From today onwards, Chen Yi is also part of this line.