Xin Hexue didn’t hold much hope for the script pool of the Big World. The script for the assessment world was also randomly drawn from the pool, and after hearing K’s introduction, he didn’t feel disappointed either.
One could only say this was indeed the standard of the Big World.
The plot K transmitted this time was extremely brief. Perhaps it was because the assessment in this small world focused on the staff member’s ability to deduce the plot, the script omitted almost all plot details.
In short, it was a story of a koi repaying a favor.
The koi demon first entered the human world during a severe drought. Without enough ability to transform into human form, it nearly dried to death. A poor scholar rescued the koi and kept it in a water vat at home, then released it back into the river after the heavy rain came.
The koi demon remembered the kindness, and later to repay the favor, gave the scholar gold and silver and offered itself in marriage, even helping him deal with mountain bandits on the journey to the capital, and introduced him to influential officials once they arrived. The demon and the human fell in love.
But humans and demons walk different paths. After the poor scholar came first in the imperial exam, he met a high monk. The monk revealed the koi demon’s identity, and in a panic, the scholar worked together with the monk to subdue the demon and seal it under the An Ning Pagoda (Peace Pagoda) at the foot of Mount Zhaoyao.
Stories of talented scholars and beauties had always been a timeless theme throughout history. Tales of gods, immortals, demons, and poor scholars were merely a variation of it. There are many stories of demons and ghosts escorting scholars all the way to pass the imperial examinations and then leaving quietly, but this ending where the koi demon was suppressed under a pagoda was rare.
The last time Xin Hexue heard such a tale was in a story involving a white snake.
This was roughly the entire plot. There weren’t any strict restrictions on how characters were to be portrayed.
K then introduced the inherent traits of Xin Hexue’s character;
Koi demons, regardless of gender, have both a reproductive cavity and genitalia. The cavity was hidden beneath the pelvic fins, and the genitalia only appeared from beneath the scales when aroused.
Aside from this unique reproductive system, there was another critical issue laid before Xin Hexue.
A fish’s memory only lasted seven seconds.
And though transformed koi demons had an improved memory capacity, it still only lasted seven days at most.
This was due to the laws of fate between heaven and earth.
The butterfly koi itself symbolized wealth and good fortune, and was long referred to as a “feng shui fish”. It carried great fortune, and those who frequently came into contact with butterfly koi would also be touched by its good fortune.
However, mortals with their three souls and seven spirits couldn’t bear too much blessing. When the sun reaches its zenith, it will begin to set; when the moon becomes full, it will begin to wane.
On the contrary, everything that went to extremes would reverse and the development of all things could not escape the Three Realms. To avoid future calamities, koi demons would have their memories wiped clean every seven days and would not form too many connections with the same mortal.
This memory wipe was extremely thorough.
Seven days equaled one cycle of cultivation. When the time limit was up, the butterfly koi would re-enter the water in its original form. When it emerged again, it would be like a newborn encountering the world for the first time.
But in the plot, the koi demon clearly repaid the favor with wholehearted devotion all the way through.
The script didn’t mention how the koi demon remembered to repay the favor, or how it found the poor scholar who had saved it.
K gave a hint: [Heart-protecting scale.]
After arriving in this world, Xin Hexue received the inherited memory of his species.
The butterfly koi indeed had a light golden heart-protecting scale, and the words carved into the scale could never be erased for all eternity. Usually, the butterfly koi would engrave the name of its partner onto the heart-protecting scale, so that they could find their partner again through the name.
But there were limitations to this…mortal names could not be engraved on it.
This was also related to the laws of fate between heaven and earth. If names of mortals or places from the human world were carved on the scale, the blessings could not be borne, and backlash would follow.
Based on this reasoning, it seemed like only the intent of repaying kindness could be engraved on the heart-protecting scale?
There must be other ways for the koi to find its benefactor again, but Xin Hexue didn’t understand them for now.
[What’s the name of that poor scholar?] Xin Hexue asked about the character who was called this term throughout the script. [If I lose my memory by then, can you give me a hint, gege?]
At this time, good partner K became good gege once again.
However, this time K calmly replied: [In this assessment world, staff member Xin Hexue is the examinee. The system K is positioned as the examiner and no further special assistance will be provided. Please maintain an appropriate level of social interaction between examinee and examiner.]
Xin Hexue: […]
He smiled slightly. [Okay, Mr. Examiner.]
………
Beside Tianchi lake of Mount Zhaoyao grew a bodhi tree with over a thousand years of cultivation.
The transformed Bodhi Lord was a white-haired elder.
All the little demons in this area had grown up under his watch.
Those little demons who had gained the ability to take human form had to descend the mountain and enter the mortal realm to train. The spiritual energy on Zhaoyao Mountain was only enough to grant spiritual consciousness to plants and animals. If lucky, they could take form, but to improve their cultivation, they still needed to temper themselves in the mortal world. For a demon to ascend to immortality or sainthood, they had to encounter enough fate and comprehend their own great path.
And the mortal world was the place to seek that fate.
Bodhi Lord passed on his experience to Xin Hexue.
He had to be wary of the demon-catching immortal masters from Taichu Temple of the Dacheng Dynasty, he must hold fast to his original heart, and must not stray onto a wrong path.
Though consuming mortal flesh and blood was a quick and evil shortcut that could prolong life and improve cultivation, in the end, it wouldn’t help one break through the great path, and would only attract the encirclement and suppression of Taichu Temple’s immortal masters.
In addition, regarding Xin Hexue’s situation, Bodhi Lord reminded: “Also beware of those mortals with impure intentions. Never trust mortals easily, lest you exhaust your danxin.”
The blessings of the koi demon were all stored within its danxin. This was also the key node for storing spiritual energy and cultivation.
Excessive interference in mortal fate, like using the danxin to bring blessings to mortals, would often lead to the koi demon exhausting its heart and soul.
Xin Hexue nodded and humbly said, “Thank you.”
He engraved the three warnings from Bodhi Lord deep into his heart, then bid him farewell and left.
The koi, with dazzling white scales, flicked its long tail like a wave and followed the lake’s waterfall downward.
Bodhi Lord saw him off.
………
This farewell sent him right into the midst of the great drought in Jiangzhou.
Last year at the end of summer, Jiangzhou suffered a flood, and relief funds were only allocated by the court at the end of the year. However, a sudden drought suddenly struck this year.
Ever since the Qingming festival, there has not been a single drop of rain for nearly two months.
Summer cicadas chirped harshly, and the rice in the fields awaited irrigation, but the river had already run dry.
The yellow earth cracked into a crisscross of lines and only the wild grass within the crevices still showed a faint yellow-green, while the rice seedlings had already withered under the scorching sun, barely hanging on.
The scorching wind seemed like it was about to set everything ablaze.
Straw sandals stepping on the yellow soil could feel the wave of hot air rolling up from the cracks in the earth.
The blue, narrow-sleeved shirt with a round collar, and linen trousers tied neatly at the ankles were clothes that were convenient for farm work.
There was no rain again today.
Zhou Shanheng lifted the straw hat on the ground, wiped the sweat off his forehead with a cloth, then put the hat back on his head. Only then did he feel a moment of coolness.
As he walked along, whether it was the fields of his neighbors or his own, there was no water left to draw.
If the drought continued, Xushou Village might face a grim situation where people would resort to eating their own children.
He walked along the edge of the field with a hoe resting on his shoulder. He had just removed the weeds in the field, but the result was minimal. If it didn’t rain for another month, the crops in his family’s fields would likely yield nothing at all.
Someone greeted him, “Zhou Da, I’ll come by your house in a bit. Help me write a letter, I want to entrust someone to send it to my distant relatives in Guizhou.”
Zhou Shanheng was one of the few literate people in the countryside around Xushou Village.
Unlike the pale, weak scholars in the county school, he was tall and well-built, with a narrow waist and broad shoulders. His skin was the wheat-colored tone of someone who has worked in the fields and under the sun.
But because he was well-read, he was different from the average country folk. His demeanor was steady and he had a kind of honest and refined temperament that comes from reading.
His features were extremely upright, and he looked like a pine tree standing tall on a cliff.
Zhou Shanheng responded to the middle-aged man from the neighboring village, then he started on his way home.
He saw something from the corner of his eyes and his sword-like eyebrows furrowed slightly.
A large river ran through Sanyuan Township, where Xushou Village was located. Now, after months of drought, the riverbed had dried up, with only a few stubborn puddles left.
Because it was so blindingly white, Zhou Shanheng had noticed the koi in the puddle with just a glance.
There were usually only grass carp, crucian carp, or loaches around here, rarely koi carp, and definitely not a completely snow-white koi.
