Cyber Ghosts

Chapter 152 Shang Fang Valley Has Not Been Burned in History
“Not to mention you, I am confused, too.” Hao Ning grinned bitterly. “What happened that night just like we watched some poor film-edited movies. About the thing you mentioned that we didn’t be noticed…” Hao Ning pointed to Zhou Yuan, who was smiling with a complacent face at that time. Hao Ning continued to say, “It is because of his power. By the way, his name is Zhou Yuan.”

“Keep a low profile.” Zhou Yuan said in a humble manner but with complacent on his face. There was no sheer of modesty on his face.

“Zhou Yuan?” Nezha looked at this man. Nezha did see him that night but had a little impression on him. Nezha greeted him hurriedly, “Are you also a boy in the family of the master? The master was so extraordinary indeed. His living descendants are still so extraordinary!”

“You are so wrong!” Zhou Yuan had wanted to be modest. He turned to be angry as he heard what Nezha said. “Do you believe that I am the Three Lotuses on his head? Are you out of your mind?”

“Brother Ling Zhu Zi, maybe there are some misunderstandings.” Xiao Hong thought a while, pointed to Zhou Yuan and said. “This man… Ok, let’s assume that he was an Immortal. Although his power is not as strong as yours, he has fewer magic weapons than yours. He has something we don’t have. That is a skill to make fake things seem to be real ones. I just used his skill to save you. Now the Spiritual Flying Bugs are flying and monitoring you in a fake Hai Shenglong’s body.”

So that was what it was. Hao Ning understood it finally. The gas Zhou Yuan just played was one of the variations of the Virtualised reality. Those bugs should have monitored Nezha, and they were deceived now.

“You are right.” smiled Zhou Yuan. “Now the man the bugs are monitoring is the man the bugs wanted. The real Nezha had become a false one. The false Nezha, the outside one, on the contrary, had become the real one. Now you are a false one.”

“Speak in the human language.” Nezha was so confused. “What real or false?”

Zhou Yuan was stunned. He thought for a while and understood it then. The story in the Creation of the Gods happened in Shang Dynasty (about 1600 B.C. to 1046 B.C). At that time, there were no epigrams like “The immaterial is the material”. That was the reason why Nezha couldn’t understand the sentence about real and false. So, he simplified his sentence, “The meaning is: You are safe.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you very much.” Nezha said, holding Zhou Yuan’s hand. After shaking, his face changed greatly. “Who are you? What’s the relationship between you and Stone Monkey?”

“Stone Monkey? What Stone Monkey?” Xiao Hong and Zhou Yuan were confused. “Nezha, what bullshit are you talking about?”

What a mess it was! Hao Ning scratched his head. He was afraid that Zhou Yuan’s soul would turn to be unstable when he conferred moment god on Zhou Yuan. So, he did not tell him the details in the book of Creation of the Gods. He thought what he did was good for Zhou Yuan. It was out of Hao Ning’s expectation as things developed.

“Master…” Nezha said strangely, looking at Hao Ning. “What is it?”

“Stop. I am very annoyed.” Hao Ning rubbed his forehead. He added, “It’s Ok to call me Hao Ning.”

“Hao Ning, what happened here?” Nezha said, pushing Zhou Yuan’s hand in front of Hao Ning. “Why do I feel that this man’s body has something related to Stone Monkey?”

“Hao Ning?” Zhou Yuan said. Even if he was a dumb man, he should have known that Hao Ning might know something already. So, he continued to ask, “What is Nezha talking about? What Stone Monkey?”

Hao Ning frowned. He hesitated whether he should tell the truth or not.

“Hey, why not speak?” Zhou Yuan felt a little anxious when he saw Hao Ning not talking. He continued, “You used to be a talkative man. What’s wrong with you now? You dare not to speak because you did something wrong?”

“Ok, you forced me to say it. If something wrong with you later, don’t blame me.” Hao Ning had made his mind. He thought that there were so many Immortals over there. If something happened to Zhou Yuan, there might have a solution. Besides, Xiao Hong had magic tea-leaves. It might be useful, too. Thinking of this, Hao Ning nodded to Nezha, pointing to Zhou Yuan and saying, “You are right. This Zhou Yuan, he is the body of that Stone Monkey. Stone Monkey you saw should be his… his… Well…” Hao Ning hesitated to continue. Alas, If Zhou Yuan were Monkey Inside, what should we call Monkey King in the book? He thought for a while and continued no matter it was right or wrong, “What you saw was the soul of Stone Monkey. Besides, that Stone Monkey has a name. It was mentioned in the other…” Hao Ning meant to say in the other book. But he did not speak it out after thinking. He continued to say, “In the other myth. This Stone Monkey was called the Great Sage Equal to Heaven — Sun Wukong.”

“…”

After finishing his speech, Hao Ning did not see any exclamation he had expected. On the contrary, Liu Shuai, Xiao Hong and Zhou Yuan looked at him quietly as looking a fool.

Zhou Yuan drew out his hand from Nezha, rubbed Hao Ning’s forehead and said, “You didn’t catch a fever. Why did you become delirious?”

“Hao Ning, calm down.” Liu Shuai looked at Hao Ning, seriously. He added, “Don’t confuse fantasy novels with theological system. There are Immortals in the world. But they can’t do whatever they want just like what you have read in some novels.”

“You are, you are out of your minds!” Hao Ning couldn’t hold his emotions. He looked at the two, condemned them angrily. “Why did you not believe me? Why can’t Monkey King be Zhou Yuan? The Hong Hai’er could show himself in front of us, so why can’t Monkey King?”

“Because Uncle had been in the realm of Nirvana for a long time!” Xiao Hong said in a sudden with a cold tone. “He had gone during the period of the May 4th Seal God event.”

“What?” Hao Ning still had something to say. He sat down slowly after hearing what Xiao Hong said. He looked at him, confused, “Xiao Hong, what you said is real?”

“Of course.” Xiao Hong looked at Liu Shuai. He sighed as he saw that Liu Shuai had also lost himself. Xiao Hong continued to say, “Don’t you feel a little strange here? Why did you just see Avalokitesvara, Yunzhongzi and me? Why could you see so few Immortals? Where are the others?”

“As you mentioned it…” Hao Ning immediately understood it after hearing what he said. If the belief could give birth to so many Immortals, why did the other Immortals never show up before? Thinking of this, Hao Ning asked tentatively, “Is it because we are plebs, so we can’t see them?”

“Maybe that is the reason.” Xiao Hong said solemnly. In a sudden, Hao Ning felt that he was despised gravely. He said, “But the major reason was that the majority of Immortals were in the realm of Nirvana during the May 4th Seal God event period. And, Uncle Sun was one of them.”

“What on earth was the May 4th Seal God event?” Hao Ning hadn’t heard the word for a very long time. He looked at Liu Shuai, the theologian, saying, “Do you know?”

“Not too much.” Liu Shuai nodded. “Zhang Quan was so careful to conceal this thing. He just taught me some spells such as Yin-Yang Dust Array and Arhat Golden Light Tactics.”

“He did it for your good.” Xiao Hong nodded. “He… was a nice man.” When talking about this, Liu Shuai smiled, with his eyes flickering involuntarily.

“So, the May 4th Seal God event?” Hao Ning continued to ask.

“I don’t know the details.” Xiao Hong shook his head. “I just know that it was because of beliefs. The result of it was that the majority of Immortals in China entered a realm of Nirvana. The Chinese civilization could last until today because of their sacrifice. I had asked Zhang Quan this questions many times. He just told me the same answer: Don’t ask.”

“But, Xiao Hong, why didn’t you…” Hao Ning wanted to ask why Xiao Hong had not entered the realm of Nirvana. But he thought it was a little rude to ask so. He swallowed the next sentence. To ask somebody why he/she was still alive seemed to be cursing him/her. So, he didn’t continue his talk.

“You wanted to ask why I am still alive, right?” Xiao Hong laughed sadly. “Brother Hao Ning, did you still remember how we met?”

“How we met?” Xiao Hong’s openness made Hao Ning a little embarrassed. He recalled Liu Shuai and the weird scene Zhang Chi Hang defeated Hong Hai’er. As Xiao Hong behaved so sincerely, He had to answer his question, “That day, I was in Heaven, and I used Avalokitesvara’s sword…”

“You still remember? When did it happen?” Xiao Hong continued to ask. “Or, which dynasty did it happen in?”

“Were we talking about Nezha? Why were we talking about you and me now…” Hao Ning thought in his heart. He was wondering the reason, but he didn’t say it. He just answered, “The Three Kingdoms.”

“The Three Kingdoms?” Zhou Yuan was confused. “Hao Ning, are you out of your mind? Did you defeat Hong Hai’er during the period of the Three Kingdoms? Didn’t it happen in the Tang Dynasty when to draw Confucian classics from Western Heaven? Stop your joke, please.”

“It was during the Three Kingdoms period. It was about Shang Fang Valley event.” Xiao Hong nodded. “Do you still remember how I appeared?”

“Of course, I remember.” Hao Ning nodded, recalling. “At that time, Kong Ming wanted to burn Sima Yi in Shang Fang Valley. Sima Yi’s soldiers would be burned to death. So Sima Yi made a great vow. Then Zhang Chi Hang took us to save Sima Yi through his Time Manipulation tactic. When we were there, we saw you, Xiao Hong, in heaven, helping Zhuge Liang. Zhang Chi Hang told us that Zhuge Liang was the Ghostly Man. So, we needed to defeat you, too.”

This was the first time for Zhou Yuan to hear so many details from Hao Ning. After hearing the story, he laughed, “Hahaha. Hao Ning, your story made no sense at all. How dare you to mix the fiction with history!”

“You, go away!” Hao Ning couldn’t help blushing as he was mocked by Zhou Yuan. He stared at Zhou Yuan and stopped his talking. Hao Ning felt a little embarrassed, so he turned to Xiao Hong and asked, “Am I right?”

“You are right. You remember so clearly.” Xiao Hong nodded and continued to say, “Can you tell me it is real that Zhuge Liang burned Shang Fang Valley in history?”

“Err…?” Hao Ning was shocked when hearing Xiao Hong’s words. As a man who liked to study the background of fictions, Hao Ning naturally knew that the story that Zhuge Liang had burned Shang Fang Valley was a fictional story. The story was too wonderful that he ignored it was a fake history. He asked, “The story that Zhuge Liang had burned Shang Fang Valley didn’t happen in history. So, what happened on earth? Where did we go at that time?”

“Well,” Zhou Yuan smiled, adding, “I said that you confused fictions with reality. But you didn’t believe me! There was no such thing happened in history. The story was fabricated by novelists.”

“Zhuge Liang didn’t burn Shang Fang Valley?” Liu Shuai had little knowledge about history. He shook his head when he heard what Xiao Hong and Zhou Yuan said, “No, no. That day, we did see Zhuge Liang play magic arts. The place below him burned. Sima Yi’s soldiers were scared to run everywhere. Even Zhang Chi Hang admitted this thing. How could it be a fake story?”

Zhou Yuan stopped his laughter. If only Hao Ning said so, he could think it was a fake story. But if Xiao Hong, Hao Ning and Liu Shuai said so at the same time, the thing was worth pondering.

“If the truth was hidden in the false, the false could be a truth.” Xiao Hong said a double Dutch. He continued saying, “It was really the Three Kingdoms period.”

“What happened on earth?” Hao Ning felt a little dizzy.

“Brother Hao Ning, you just mentioned the May 4th Seal God event, and asked me why I am still alive?” Xiao Hong said sadly. “The May 4th Seal God event’s belief had a great impact both on today’s world and on the Immortals in the books. I didn’t know the details. I only knew that in order to save me from the disaster, my parents…”

Xiao Hong lowered his head when he recalled his parents. Hao Ning saw a drop of tear falling down his cheek. Xiao Hong continued to say, “They had sacrificed themselves for my life.”

“Sacrificed? You meant that Princess Iron Fan and Bull Demon King had sacrificed themselves?” Hao Ning knew that Xiao Hong was the child of Princess Iron Fan and Bull Demon King. He continued to say, “You had escaped? You escaped to where?”

“Escaped from the book Journey to the West?” Liu Shuai started talking. He seemed to understand the thing. “Yes, in this secular world, there was no Hong Hai’er’s temple. No Princess Iron Fan or Bull Demon King’s Bodhimanda. So, even Xiao Hong became intellect due to the belief, he won’t stay here for a long time. Or Wuxiang fragrance would run behind her expenses. If there were no such disaster on the belief, Xiao Hong wouldn’t appear in this secular world. With Xiao Hong’s incense, let alone being in this secular world, it was very difficult for him to get out of the book of Journey to the West. I think this was the reason that your had parents sacrificed themselves to save you.”

“Parents’ love for their children is bound to be far-reaching.” Xiao Hong wiped his tears. “At that time, my parents knew the disaster was inevitable. The last sentence they told me was ‘To find the belief trustee in the secular world and to be a good person then.”