17 Blowing His Cover

"That's not a toy, young man. I really hope that you have not damaged it, otherwise your family will have pay for it dearly." A voice said from behind.

Ryujin had been so engrossed in his findings that he had totally forgotten where he was, throwing caution to the wind; thus, when Ella caught him red handed, he was startled enough to yelp.

"I thought I knew every single rascal, but I fail to recognize this one. What's your name, kid?"

"Ryujin. What's yours?" He replied while making puppy eyes, prompting Ella to react with curiosity rather than anger.

"Ryujin? Does that mean you're Lin's little imp? No wonder your face is new to me, you were just a new born the last time I saw you."

Ella's presence had made the chatter stop. Some women wanted to ask her how long until their turn, while others were just curious.

Lin jumped out from her chair apologizing on Ryujin's behalf.

"There's no need to apologize, Lin." Ella said. "No harm, no foul. The little imp has not damaged the book while playing with it."

"Yes mom, there is no need to apologize." Ryujin hated when someone spoke of him like he wasn't there. "And I was not playing with it, I was just reading."

"Reading? Young man, how old are you? Three years and something? If this is a joke, it's not funny. I never expected one of Lin's children to be such a liar."

"He is not lying. During the last storm, he had been extremely bored, so he asked his uncle to teach him how to read, write and count. Here is proof." Lin explained as she proceeded to hand Ella the wooden ruler.

Lin's rebuttal had caught Ella by surprise, making her realize that she seemed to have struck a nerve.

After studying the ruler, Ella had to admit it a nod of approval, that it was indeed a clever learning tool.

"Tell your husband that this thing is really a good idea. He could sell it to the teachers. It never hurts to have extra money."

Lin however, wouldn't let her change the subject, not until she apologized for calling her son a liar.

"Raja didn't invent it. Ryujin did, so he could study alone without bothering anyone."

Ella was shaken by these series of sudden revelations. Her pride wanted to avoid apologizing, but insinuating that Lin too was lying in front of all those people would hurt her family's reputation.

"So, young man, how much is nine times nine?" She asked.

"Eighty-one." Ryujin answered in a heartbeat with an expression that said, you would have to do better than that woman.

Truthfully, compared to the questions he had answered back at home, Ella's question was so easy that he had almost heaved an unimpressed sigh of boredom.

Ella then took the book from Ryujin's hands, and after opening a random page, she gave it back.

"What is written there? Start from the top of the page."

Ryujin suppressed a smirk.

Asking him about the contents of the book, especially after his codex had just compiled a perfect version of it for his leisurely perusal?

'This woman is actually begging me to show off. However, I don't think you have the capacity to or enough rewards to warrant that from me.' He thought to himself as he began to answer.

"The first thing to understand about healing is that health, recovery, and well-being are not solely determined by physical factors but are also influenced by the mental, emotional, and spiritual states of the patient. In fact..."

"Okay, that's enough. I owe you an apology Ryujin." Yet she said it while looking at Lin.

"Seems your son is indeed blessed by the light, my dear."

The room once again burst into a resounding chatter, but this time they were all discussing the same topic.

"What does Ella mean with blessed by the light? Isn't that just a fairy tale?"

"I wish my son was that smart. Every morning just sending him to school is a war of attrition. Not to mention getting some actual results!"

 Those were the most common of comments.

Ryujin kept hitting the iron while it was still hot.

"Can I..." He asked, realizing that he had ignored the word borrow. "take it with me for some time? I will return it as it is. I promise."

"And what would you do with it? Can you manipulate Qi?" Ella asked upon seeing the book Ryujin was grabbing at.

Ella's reply would have normally been quite different, but she had had enough surprises for the day and could not afford anymore sarcasm or skepticism.

"Yes, I can." Ryujin replied before realizing his mistake.

"I'm an idiot! I just blew my cover! Years of careful planning, ruined by this big mouth of mine. The only thing I can do is damage control."

"Really? And what how did you manage to do that?"

"Yes, Ryujin. What can you do?" Lin rebuked. Her right foot was furiously tapping the floor in annoyance, and Ryujin could tell that he was in hot soup.

"I can do sense, control and absorb Qi." He said with a low apologetic tone, while staring at his own shoes.

"I'm sorry, mom, I know you prohibited us from having anything to do with Qi. But the adults use it almost every time, and I was so bored."

The chattering increased in volume. Lin was really angry, but she could not scold him in public. Not when they were staring at them with admiration.

'Ella seems really impressed. Maybe this is a turning point in Ryujin's life. If she takes him as her apprentice, we could have a physician in our family. I can't ruin this opportunity.'

Lin thought to herself, and thus, kept her mouth shut, and instead began to wonder what the future held for her son.

"Would you please show me?" Ella asked, smiling for the first time.

'In for a penny, in for a pound. Here goes everything.' Ryujin thought.

He shut his eyes and allowed his mental sense to spread out within the radius of one meter, before using his Focus Qi to latch onto the atmospheric Qi, creating a mesmerizing shimmer of light to appear in the air.

Then after letting the audience bask in the sight for a brief instance, he absorbed it all into his body.

He pretended to lose control from time to time. His goal was to impress, not to brag or scare people out of their wits.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Ella laughed in admiration. She was starting to see more and more of her in the little imp.

She too had been a precocious brat. When she was his age her talent was better, but Ryujin was still a sight to behold.

Usually men were less talented for healing, since women with their prerogative to give birth, were naturally more in tune with the life force of the planet. Some called that natural energy, others simply called it Qi.

Also, country boys were usually blockheads, more inclined to rugged and laborious lifestyles than the elegant charismatic scholars.

"Now I want you to do a thing for me, okay?"

Ryujin nodded in response.

"Now gather up some Qi, it does not matter how little. But then, you have to wrap it around my body, like this..."

Ella directly, gathered the atmospheric Qi and then guided it into Lin's body.

Ryujin could not understand why she had made such a specific request, but he complied.

He once again created the shimmering atmosphere of Qi, this time, intentionally allowing it to phase in and out of sight.

He could not afford any more mistakes, his focus peaked trying to make his lack of control convincing.

He gathered the Qi around Ella's body, hugging her with it, as if he was just trying to figure out how to inject them into her body.

Then after several tries that left the entire audience with anticipated breaths, he finally let them seep into Ella's body, through her pores.

"Good... Very Good! Then how about this?"

Upon seeing what Ella was now doing, Ryujin couldn't help but flabbergasted. Not by Ella's Qi control, he was already able of doing the same, if not better.

He simply could not avert his eyes from the spectacle in front of him.

Ella had started by heating up the chilling atmosphere with a little bit of heat that came from the white flames that she had momentarily wrapped around her hand.

Then she had gathered the resulting moisture into two small spheres of water that constantly spun around one another, reflecting everything around them.

Sometimes, the water spheres would capture some sunrays, and turn them into sparkles of rainbow.

Ryujin had always seen Qi and cultivation in general, as a force to be reckoned with; a platform to build his future on, and a stepping stone towards achieving his goals.

But no part of him had ever thought something with such level of beauty could also be derived from it; especially when one considered the fact that, these people weren't gods or deities, but mere mortals like himself.

For the first time in over three years he was not pretending anymore. He was simply amazed, staring at the dancing lights that triggered a nostalgic recollection of some moments in the memories of his past lives.

"Ryujin, are you all right?" Lin's voice woke him up from his stupor.

Realizing how lax he had lowered his guard, Ryujin couldn't help but feel disgusted to the point of chastising himself.

'If Ella had harbored any malicious intent towards me just now, she would have had enough time to think about the many ways she could have hurt or even kill me.' Ryujin thought to himself, as his resolve steeled his mind further.

He didn't know why, but it seems like his physical body was somewhat dulling or preventing the overpowered qualities of his soul from showing forth.

"Yes, mommy, I am alright. I was just moved from the old lady's magic."

"My name is Isabella, Ryujin. But everyone calls me Ella." She revealed ruffling Ryujin's hair.

"I have a proposal for you. Now you are too little, but when you turn five, instead of going to school together with those blockheads, you could come here instead.

That way, you can freely read all these books as much as you want; and who knows, maybe you could learn a trade... Mine."

Ryujin tilted his head, playing dumb.

"I don't know, you don't seem nice. I would like the books, though." He replied, hiding behind his mother with only half his face visible from behind her.

Lin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Her dream had come true but Ryujin didn't understand what he was turning down.

"Please, excuse him, Ella. He is just three years old, he has no idea what he is saying. He doesn't even know the importance of apprenticeship."

"Three years old." Ella repeated. "It's almost too good to be true. But you are right, if he had to choose between gold and toys, he would probably pick the latter.

We'll have this conversation again two years from now."

She said before kneeling down to look Ryujin straight in the eyes.

"If you don't become as dumb as all the other boys in this village, I'll take you as my apprentice. If you are still interested in cultivation, healing and books, of course."

Ryujin nodded, grabbing his mother gown in search for protection. His weak and scared appearance hid his inner rage.

"Two years? I could have as well died of boredom by then! And all because of you, clueless hag." He was so sick of being bored to frustration that he almost wanted to headbutt the clueless lady.

"Calm down, Ryujin... Remember all of your lessons. Suck it up and grow stronger, because only undeniable power can set you free. Only great power will keep your family safe." He thought to himself.