Chapter 74 Wang Qi's Happiness in His Joy

Facing Su Junyu's inquiry, Wang Qi didn't reply anything. Seeing that Wang Qi wasn't willing to speak, Su Junyu didn't ask anymore but instead instructed the four of them to rest well for the night.

At midnight, Wang Qi quietly opened his eyes.

Because the campfire had been unattended, it was already dimming. Wang Qi casually poked it a few times, adding some dry twigs. Then, he tiptoed toward the lakeside.

He walked carefully to avoid waking others. The day was nearing the new moon, and the light was very faint, it was a bit difficult to avoid stepping on twigs. For this, Wang Qi even focused his spiritual sense on his feet.

After walking about thirty steps, Zhen Chanzi suddenly spoke, "Stop here. If you want to vent a little alone, don't go any further. This area is still within Su Junyu's spiritual awareness range. If you go forward a few more steps, Su Junyu will wake up."

Wang Qi sighed, "You actually figured out what I wanted to do?"

"After all, I've taught you for so many years. Even if you still refuse to acknowledge me as your master, I still consider you like a nephew."

Wang Qi found a relatively flat stone and sat down. "My mind is a little messy."

This place was an open forest with few trees, so the view was quite clear. In the distance, Jiachen Lake reflected the countless stars, with faint waves shimmering. Wang Qi stared at the lake, silent.

After quite some time, Zhen Chanzi spoke, "Kid, it's not that your mind is messy. It's that you've settled down."

Wang Qi chuckled softly. "I don't feel like that."

"Your heart has never really settled."

"Really?"

Zhen Chanzi sighed with a bitter smile. "As expected, the person in the middle is always the most confused. Haven't you noticed that your condition recently isn't quite right?"

"How so?"

"When I first met you, you had little interest in cultivation matters. Even after stepping onto the path of immortality, you didn't show much enthusiasm for combat techniques. Plus, you were very protective of your life. You didn't want to practice anything too dangerous. That was the person I knew."

Wang Qi looked at his hand, clenched his fist, and felt the power within. "For me to have cultivated like this, it doesn't seem very like me."

"Heh, so you realize it now. To ensure your combat power, you've been practicing ten different divine techniques. Of course, this also comes from your extreme confidence in your talent and that misleading idea of 'at this stage, you have the chance to make mistakes.' But we can't deny that you've been impatient. Just a few days ago, when you got the inspiration to unify a few techniques, you rushed to put it into practice and nearly lost your life. If you were the cautious you, you would have spent a few days contemplating the techniques."

"Yeah."

The two of them were silent for a while. Then Zhen Chanzi said, "That village, and Li Ziye's matter, you care more than you think."

Wang Qi suddenly raised his right hand and slammed it hard onto the stone beneath him, causing a few stones to scatter. "Those bastards... the death of the villagers in Dabaicun has nothing to do with me, but I had lived with them for ten years. As for Li Ziye, though we've only known each other for a short time, he saved my life…"

"You kid," Zhen Chanzi sighed. "If you cried loudly and shouted 'I swear to kill the Emperor and the Heavens', maybe it would feel better."

Wang Qi's expression shifted, but in the end, he just gave a powerless laugh. "That's not my style. I live for happiness."

"Happiness, that's good," Zhen Chanzi said. "But you're not happy."

"Because I feel like I owe someone something. It's hard to feel good when I have this debt, and it's not easy to repay."

"So, you're working hard on combat techniques to fix that?"

"Anyone or anything that makes me unhappy must die."

Zhen Chanzi remained silent for a while. Then he spoke again. "But I think you've never truly been happy. Or rather, you only know what makes you unhappy, but you've never really said what makes you happy."

Wang Qi lowered his head and didn't speak. Zhen Chanzi continued, "You do show interest in some things, but from what I see, it doesn't seem like you 'really want to do' them. It's more like... a habit? Or maybe like you're commemorating something?"

"Like what?"

"You always play that card game with Su Junyu. Unlike him, you don't seem to truly enjoy the game. And you have this obsession with that half-demon girl's ears, but you're not actually someone who likes half-demons."

Commemorate? Is it because of my past life?

Wang Qi chuckled bitterly to himself. He used to read some transmigration novels back on Earth. When he saw the protagonists messing around with Earth's products or getting obsessed with things from their past world in the new world, he thought it was funny. But now, having transmigrated himself, he realized that feeling wasn't as amusing as he thought.

He instinctively did these things, maybe it was his way of remembering his past life on Earth.

"You clearly don't care about anything, but you still act all cheerful. What are you really happy about? That old guy's last words?"

Wang Qi slammed the stone hard, his voice full of anger. "That's my grandfather!"

With such force, his palm left an imprint on the stone.

Wang Qi's birth had not brought any joy to the Wang family in the big White Village.

And for quite some time, it had not brought Wang Qi any joy either.

Shouldn't someone who transmigrated just happily shout "I am the best in the world" and start a happy life in this new world, meeting unknown parents and living a carefree life, then begin his grand ambitions?

Heh.

I still have my parents, my family, my friends, my best friends, and the girls I admire on Earth. Not to mention, I had my career and dreams of seeking truth, something I worked on for over ten years.

Now you want me to throw all that away and call these strangers 'dad' and 'mom'? Start a life I never wanted?

Wang Qi initially thought this way. His real mother had died in childbirth, and he didn't feel much about it. Even when he saw his lost father, he only felt sympathy, not closeness.

We were both unlucky. I transmigrated, and you lost a normal son, heh.

Until the day his father passed away, and his grandfather hugged him, crying. That day, Wang Qi felt like he had done something wrong.

So, he tried calling the old man "Grandfather."

Before his grandfather's wrinkled smiling face, he chose to be a proper grandson.

Finally, when the old man passed away, he held Wang Qi's hand, and his last words were, "Good kid, good kid, be happy in the future. You must learn to smile, this happy child, not even the ghosts will take you."

Wang Qi felt he had a responsibility to live happily.

He thought it was easy to live happily. Just find some fun for yourself, who can't do that?

But…

Wang Qi looked up at the sky and murmured, "According to Su Junyu's words, I only know my own joy, but I don't know the joy in my joy..."