The Chief of Staff's Superstition

On his way here, Shen Fengting had considered that Chen Buer might be bedridden from sheer weakness, or perhaps completely fine and lively. But the scene before his eyes... Directly facing the main doors, four large square tables had been arranged in a row against the screen wall, forming a raised platform. Centered on top was another, lower square table. The low table looked somewhat weathered. It resembled the very one carried up to the summit of Xilang Peak all those years ago, the one whose drawer had once held the Red-Slaying Saber. At this moment, a man sat cross-legged atop that low square table. To his left and right, three bamboo chairs were stacked on each side in stepped tiers. A thick red candle burned atop every chair. Below him on the front of the platform, an orderly row of celadon plates held fruit and pastries. In the middle sat a large porcelain bowl filled with soil, from which three sticks of incense burned with glowing red tips, curling smoke into the air. *Has he been the Invincible in the Mortal Realm for so long that he's hallucinating himself into a Buddha or a god?! Damn it, hasn't Azure always insisted that source energy is science?* *Don't tell me this was how he became number one under heaven in the first place?* *Wait, could this actually be some ancient formation like Zhuge Kongming's Seven Stars Array to borrow life from heaven?* As a man of the older generation, Shen Fengting was actually somewhat inclined to believe this last theory. After all, he was one of those who knew the truth about Chen Buer's solitary venture into outer space back then. By all rights, the old bastard should have died years ago. If he had managed to survive, having a few mystical, bizarre secrets was only natural. "Old Chen? Old Chen?" Thinking this, Shen Fengting grew noticeably cautious when he spoke, not even daring to raise his voice. Perhaps because the voice was too low, the Invincible in the Mortal Realm upon the altar remained sitting upright with his eyes shut, unresponsive. "Don't tell me I have to bow and pay respects to you first?" Shen Fengting clicked his heels together as he spoke, looking as though he were genuinely about to light three sticks of incense and bow down. "Cough... I can't move," a rather muffled, helpless voice finally came from the platform. When Shen Fengting looked up, Chen Buer had opened his eyes, though his gaze seemed deliberately averted. "Then what's all this..." Shen Fengting thought to himself: *Even if you can't move, what does that have to do with putting on an altar display like this?* "So, how did you get yourself enshrined up there?" "Also, aren't you choking?" Shen Fengting gestured toward the three sticks of incense in the bowl. "Piss off!" Even immobile, the Invincible in the Mortal Realm remained impolite. Having snapped that cold curse, he paused, then suddenly flared with rage. "I didn't set this up myself... That old bastard Xu Xiaohong said sitting here watching me like a vegetable every day was too boring." "So he hauled you up there and enshrined you?" "...Yeah," came a surly grunt. "Well, do you feel any better?" "Get lost!" Amid the curses of the Invincible in the Mortal Realm, no one actually left. Instead, a steady set of footsteps crossed the courtyard along the base of the outer wall and stepped through the doorway. "Old Shen, you're here?" Xu Xiaohong wore his customary gentle smile as he held out three burning incense sticks. "I'm guessing you came to ask for a favor. Here, pay respects to the deity first, then we'll talk." *Do I really bow?* Shen Fengting hesitated, caught off guard. "Don't do it, Old Shen! Don't listen to his bullshit, don't!" The Invincible in the Mortal Realm on the platform suddenly lost all his bravado and weakly pleaded instead. "Since Chen Buer, the Invincible in the Mortal Realm, has pleaded with me himself, then I... definitely have to bow." Shen Fengting had no deeper reason beyond trusting Xu Xiaohong, so he decided to play along—after all, doing this was pretty amusing in itself. Solemnly holding the incense, he bowed three times, then inserted the sticks into the large bowl. Finished, Shen Fengting stepped back two paces, looked up, and furrowed his brows. "Old Chen, jokes aside, no matter what happens, you have to help protect my granddaughter this time. She barely managed to survive, and she only just broke free from that steel armor..." Shen Yixiu was alive and out of her steel armor. Naturally, all three men present knew this, just as they knew she had become a target Ne and Nikola were determined to seize at all costs. "Second Lieutenant Shen—hasn't she already returned to Stream Vanguard?" Xu Xiaohong chimed in from the side. "She has, but recently haven't you heard that Azure Headquarters uncovered a Snow Lotus mole ranked high enough to sit on the Council Presidium? Because of that, I'm worried Ne's side already knows about Xiuxiu... I want to bring Xiuxiu here to hide." Shen Fengting had thought this last part through with total clarity before coming; according to plan, he would pester them relentlessly today until they agreed. But at this moment, his words lacked conviction. As he spoke, he looked at the man on the platform with hesitant eyes. "What are you looking at me for? Tell them to come," Chen Buer said irritably. He didn't say "her," but "them." Catching his breath, he added, "It just so happens I want them over here to protect me, too." "..." Shen Fengting's heart sank. For Chen Buer to say such a thing meant his physical condition was indeed just as the rumors outside claimed—his lamp had run out of oil. Otherwise, that stubborn, proud, unyielding old man would never have uttered such helpless words. "Crippled. Overestimating his strength, forcing a strike... and this is what became of him," Xu Xiaohong added from the side. He made it sound light, but the look in his eyes as he turned away did not look light to Shen Fengting at all. That slash at the South Pole—Chen Buer should never have forced himself to strike while at the nadir of his vitality. Based on the assessment made by Xu Xiaohong and the Azure Board of Elders regarding the battlefield at the time, Ne together with those hundreds of fighters had a chance of fighting the heavily injured Puta'er to the death. Therefore, whether from a personal standpoint or from the standpoint of all mankind, the old man should not have done what he did. At the very least, he shouldn't have decided to intervene so hastily. Yet had Chen Buer not acted, had he not stepped in directly to help and instead chosen to wait and see as the Azure Board of Elders expected... all those people would have died. On that battlefield, Han Qingyu would have died, Hua Bixuan would have died, Shen Yixiu would have died, Wu Xu would have died, He Tangtang would have died, Ye Jian would have died... every single Azure general who had boarded the craft would have died. Perhaps only Ne would have stood a slim chance of surviving. In the end, Chen Buer chose to strike immediately. It was the Invincible in the Mortal Realm's first defeat in nearly forty years; after a single slash, he was struck down straight from high altitude by Puta'er. Yet Puta'er was dead, with hundreds upon thousands of wounds covering its body; no one knew which cut had truly been the decisive one. As for the people in the sky that day, most of them had survived. At the same time, the Invincible in the Mortal Realm himself was reduced to what he was now. Such was the irrevocable outcome of that battle... As for the gains and losses, the rights and wrongs, even to this day, no one could deliver a definitive judgment. Because... "Rest easy. If Ne and that damned creature can really snatch someone away from today's Stream Vanguard, bringing her here wouldn't do her any more good." Chen Buer's tone remained harsh. Yet upon hearing that, Shen Fengting grew agitated. "You mean...?" "Immortal Chen and I..." Xu Xiaohong answered on his behalf. "Immortal Chen?" Being an Yanjing native, Shen Fengting unconsciously added a rhotic suffix to the end, turning it into "Immortal Chen'er"—which nearly made a certain person on the platform burst with fury. "That's him." Xu Xiaohong pointed toward the man shrouded in incense smoke. "He said that Han Qingyu as he is now might not be incapable of facing Ne head-on. After all, Ne and that thing were injured in that earlier battle as well, and Stream Vanguard isn't Han Qingyu fighting alone." "Good! That's good, that's good!" Shen Fengting finally received the answer he wanted and felt relieved. After the excitement subsided, he glanced back at Chen Buer and said with regret, "If I'd known that earlier, I wouldn't have bowed to you just now." "Hahahaha..." "Get out! Both of you, get out!" "Fine, fine, fine. Then you..." Shen Fengting originally intended to tease him further to keep the mood going, but stopped halfway. His tone involuntarily shifted, becoming somewhat stiff. "Even if you're crippled, it doesn't matter. Just don't die." *** When Shen Fengting left, Xu Xiaohong personally walked him outside. As the former commander of the Ninth Army under the Sole Witness Legion, and an old subordinate of Chen Buer and Xu Xiaohong, Shen Fengting hesitated several times along the way before finally asking: "Chief of Staff, what's really going on here?" "What? Oh, you mean enshrining him?" Xu Xiaohong smiled. "It's just what you saw. I was bored, and opportunities to mess with him don't come around often." "I don't believe you." Shen Fengting shook his head firmly. Based on his knowledge and understanding of Xu Xiaohong, the Chief of Staff's actions definitely held deeper meaning. "Come on, could this really be some ancient formation to borrow life and prolong it?" Leaning closer, he asked with utmost care. "It's not," Xu Xiaohong said. "Though if such a formation really existed, whether real or fake, I'd give it a try." "Huh?" Shen Fengting was momentarily baffled. "I'm out of moves, Old Shen," Xu Xiaohong said. It was merely a simple sentence spoken in an ordinary tone, but hearing it, Shen Fengting froze on the spot. For this was undeniably the very first time in his life he had heard Xu Xiaohong say he had no moves left. The Chief of Staff who had strategized for forty years in the Huaxia Sole Witness Legion of Azure was saying that in the face of this matter, he had no options left. And that matter was Chen Buer's life and death. Never mind that Old Man Chen had cursed with plenty of bluster just now; in truth, his grand trial between life and death would be over the moment his will wavered even slightly, or a single thought failed to hold firm. "Even so, Chief of Staff, surely you wouldn't go as far as... You're not like us. You're an educated man of great intellect." Even now, Shen Fengting could hardly believe this was something Xu Xiaohong would do, believe in, or pin his hopes upon. "Hahahaha... Maybe I'm getting old too. Hasn't it been said that at the end of science lies theology, and at the bottom of all remedies lies superstition?" Xu Xiaohong paused, then said, "I've decided to be superstitious." In this country, certain ancient traditions dubbed "superstition" had never truly disappeared, especially in remote regions and among the elderly. Months ago, when word spread that Chen Buer was mortally wounded—or even missing and presumed dead—across this vast land, countless longevity tablets bearing his name had been erected almost overnight... Among those who set up the tablets, some already believed in such things, while others never had. "I told him about this, reminding him constantly... telling him that all those mortal offerings and incense, all that faith—he has to receive it." As Xu Xiaohong spoke, he chuckled, but after only a few chuckles, he lapsed into silence.