Inside the clinic in Mingzhu City.
Yu Xian opened his eyes. Nora and the others were gathered around him, letting out sighs of relief only when they saw him wake.
"Yu Xian, what happened? Where is that Wang Jieming?"
Seeing Yu Xian awake, Niman immediately walked over from Little Huangquan's side, asking with concern.
Just a moment ago, the instant Yu Xian shook Wang Jieming's hand, Wang Jieming seemed to turn into a soul and enter Yu Xian's body, after which Yu Xian closed his eyes and remained motionless.
To be honest, the sight made everyone present think of a single word: possession.
The women had all worried that Wang Jieming had possessed Yu Xian, but there was nothing they could do. They could only wait anxiously, hoping Yu Xian would wake soon.
In fact, when Niman asked that question, her heart remained guarded. If Yu Xian showed any abnormality or behaved in a way uncharacteristic of him, she would suspect he had been possessed by Wang Jieming.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. The Wang Jieming of this world isn't the real Wang Jieming, just a phantom image from Feng Laixian's memories.
"Still, Wang Jieming and I probably share the same origin. He's a parallel-world version of me, and I'm a parallel-world version of him. What's more, he's likely an important figure—at least, I gained some benefits thanks to this illusory Wang Jieming," Yu Xian explained with a smile.
"His surname is Wang, and yours is Yu. How could the two of you be parallel-world counterparts?" Niman asked, frowning.
Yu Xian shook his head. "How would I know?"
"I know the answer to that! First off, do any of you know what a spiritual spark is? In other words, the most fundamental essence of a soul?" Zhang Buyao raised her hand and offered.
Yu Xian nodded. "I heard my aunt mention it before. Only creatures with a spiritual spark are considered truly intelligent life."
"Correct! Moreover, a spiritual spark is the soul's foundation. If a soul exists after a living being dies, it isn't truly considered dead. The soul can continue cultivating, or travel to worlds with places like the Underworld to undergo reincarnation, carrying its memories into the next life.
"If the soul itself dies as well, only the spiritual spark remains. When a spiritual spark reincarnates, it basically carries no information whatsoever, heading into the next life with a clean slate. Unless one cultivates to an extraordinarily, overwhelmingly powerful degree in that next life, it's very difficult to retrieve memories of the past life," Zhang Buyao said, nodding.
Nora frowned. "But what does that have to do with Yu Xian and Wang Jieming?"
"Don't rush me, let me finish. Across the myriad worlds, there are countless Earths, but not every Earth has a parallel-world 'you' or 'me.' So why would two similar people exist? Have you ever thought about that?" Zhang Buyao soothed Nora before continuing.
Yu Xian smiled. "Because the original spiritual spark split."
"Correct! For instance, if a mother conceives twins, a single spiritual spark might enter and split, producing two similar spiritual sparks.
"When those two similar sparks die and reincarnate again into the same type of world, a phenomenon resembling 'quantum entanglement' occurs. Their destinies end up miraculously similar. Generally, the closer their worlds are to each other, the more similar they become; the closer their relationship was before reincarnating, the greater the similarity," Zhang Buyao explained.
For example, after twins died, even if their reincarnated worlds were far apart, their next lives would still follow remarkably similar fates. Yet in the life after that, the differences would grow slightly; and in the one after that, if the distance remained great, their synchronization would weaken further and the variance would increase.
Of course, not all twins resulted from a single spiritual spark splitting in two upon entering fetal bodies. In most cases, two distinct spiritual sparks entered the mother's womb simultaneously, involving no split at all.
However, because the sheer number of worlds across the myriad realms was astronomical, almost the majority of spiritual sparks had split at some point, resulting in countless similar individuals across parallel worlds.
Yu Xian smiled. "Wang Jieming isn't me, but he might be Yu Tian's past life, or Yu Suan's, or Yu La's. Our relationship is probably something like that."
"Big Brother, why isn't there a Yu Ku? Shouldn't you complete sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy?" Little Nora asked curiously.
Yu Xian yawned, sat down on a nearby chair, and replied, "Because being too salty naturally turns bitter, and I'm salty enough as it is. I've been throwing punches until my brain turned into the shape of a fist. Let me sleep for a bit."
With that, he slumped over the table and fell asleep.
Niman and the others walked behind the medicine cabinet, discussing in hushed voices.
"Do you think Yu Xian is normal?" Niman looked at the others and asked.
Little Nora immediately nodded. "Big Brother is very normal. Just a little weird."
"A little weird? Doesn't that mean abnormal?" Shui Yuetian couldn't help commenting as she looked at Little Nora.
Little Nora shook her head. "No, Big Brother is normal, just weirdly normal. Anyway, Big Brother is Big Brother."
"Yu Xian shouldn't be possessed. If it were possession, I would be able to tell," Zhang Buyao agreed.
Niman turned to Nora. After all, Nora was the one who shared Yu Xian's bed; she trusted Nora's observations most. Nora naturally understood what Niman meant.
After a moment's thought, she said, "Yu Xian isn't possessed, but he seems to have aged so much all at once. How should I put it? Even though his appearance hasn't changed, he feels to me like an elder among vampires."
Having been around many vampires since childhood—creatures who never visibly aged—she possessed an innate ability to sense whether someone was younger or older than her without relying on physical appearance.
With some vampires who looked very young, she could tell just from speaking with them whether they were an uncle or a grandfather.
Just a moment ago, Yu Xian had given her the impression of an old grandfather. Yet miraculously, the sensation fluctuated. For a fleeting instant, he felt even older than Niman, but when he slumped over to sleep just now, he seemed young once more.
She desperately wanted to know what had happened to him.
However, there were two outsiders in their group at the moment, so she planned to ask Yu Xian privately later. She was sure she would get her answer then.
Seeing Nora, Little Nora, and Zhang Buyao all certain that Yu Xian had not been possessed, Niman was eighty percent convinced. She breathed a sigh of relief. If Yu Xian really had been possessed, she would have had no idea what to do.
After all, her future was tightly bound to Yu Xian's; if something happened to him, she would not fare well either.
Once they confirmed Yu Xian was fine, everyone set about their own tasks. Those preparing poisons prepared poisons; those gathering materials for traps gathered materials. Little Nora even found a knife in the clinic's back room for self-defense.
"I'll go scout out Feng Laixian's strength."
Having prepared a large supply of powdered herbs and gained a sense of security, Niman spoke to the others.
With that, she left the clinic. The rest of the group departed one after another as well, some searching for food, others searching for weapons.
In the blink of an eye, only Yu Xian, Little Huangquan, and Little Nora—who had stayed behind to look after Little Huangquan—remained in the clinic.
Chapter 333