The Second Volume Provincial Capital Chapter 29 On The Train

  Yitian Xing's days on the train were spent in misery. Although he had grown up in a garbage dump filled with foul smells since childhood, he never expected the smell inside the hard-seat carriage of the train to be terrifying to that extent, especially when surrounded by countless strange odors mixed with sweat and acid smells that his nostrils could hardly bear.

  From Gaoyang County to the provincial capital, it takes a seven-hour train ride. Yi Tianxing held his breath for seven hours, fortunately, he had already learned how to breathe through his skin. Although it was a bit embarrassing to do so in public, at least it could block out the stench that might invade him. He didn't care about anything else, occasionally pretending to move his chest up and down slightly, just in case the other passengers on the train thought this young man who hadn't moved for hours had died from a serious illness.

  The train, after leaving the city, plunged into the endless, undulating mountains of central province. He looked at the scenery outside the window, switching between tunnels and green hills, feeling a bit bored. Thinking of the Buddhist method he learned that day by the small pond, he furrowed his brow, slid past the crowded people in the carriage, and squeezed into the toilet.

  "Bang!"

  He snapped his fingers, looking at the faint blue flame rising from between his thumb and index finger with a hint of pride. He wasn't very skilled at controlling the strange fire within him yet, so he took advantage of the boredom on the train to practice in secret in the bathroom. The snapping of his fingers didn't stop, and the flame flickered on and off, until after an unknown amount of time, he finally felt the way the red glow inside him moved, and also gained a better understanding of controlling the flame, even being able to change the color of the flame on his finger from blue to bright red or white hot with just a thought. He knew that these changes in color were due to changes in temperature.

  Yi Tian Xing is after all a half-baked cultivator who has left home. Or it can be said that he is a completely self-taught person, and most of his current divine abilities are forcibly imposed on him by the heavens. These control skills, as they say: "the way", are slowly explored in the midst of mistakes. He hasn't found a fellow practitioner in this world yet, so naturally, he can't learn from Confucius to ask the old man with long ears. Fortunately, he was born with a strong physique and a big heart that encompasses the sky, plus his innate cleverness, and after reading so many religious books, he has managed to cultivate some skills.

  However, he still had a headache. During the summer vacation, apart from carrying large packages at the station, he rummaged through all the Buddhist scriptures in the county library, and even ran to the ancient temple next to the children's park to try his luck, but still couldn't find a real solution. What is called a real solution, in his view, at least needs to understand what is going on with one's body, what kind of fire is inside, and how does one control it purely with intention?

  On a street stall in Gaoyang County, he bought a book on qigong written by some "master" from Hebei. After reading it for half a day at home, he realized it was trash - Dantian Snow Mountain, Yuan Ying Jindan, but that required learning inner vision techniques. With his current eyesight, he could easily see couples kissing several kilometers away and whether they were using tongue or not, but seeing into his own body to observe the flow of those fiery red lights was simply beyond him.

  Currently, Yitian's state is like a baby playing with a handgun, knowing that pulling the trigger can fire bullets, but not knowing where the bullets are placed in the magazine, or what the firing principle is.

  Yi Tianxing was very dissatisfied with this state, on the one hand he had always been very concerned about his control over his own body, and on the other hand, he did not want to be like a child holding a gun, who would one day be blown up by the bullets in the gun.

  "Knowing it is so, but not knowing why it is so."

  Yi Tianxing casually blew out the faint flames on his fingers, then heard someone outside the bathroom door banging on it with great force.

  "Who is it?" He pushed the door open with some annoyance, and then saw a train conductor staring at him fiercely.

  "What's wrong?" Yi Tianxing thought it was because he had occupied the toilet for too long and was reacted by the passenger, and he felt a bit embarrassed.

  However, the conductor stared at him coldly, with a gaze that was both indifferent and contemptuous, as if Yitian Xing had stolen several cured meats from his home last night. "Ticket check!"

  Yitian Xing didn't understand why the ticket inspector had to shout "Tickets, please!" in such a loud voice, but he still obediently took out his train ticket from his shirt pocket and handed it over to the conductor.

  The conductor furrowed his brow, holding the crumpled ticket with two fingers as if afraid of being contaminated by it. He looked at it back and forth several times before reluctantly handing it back, muttering to himself: "It's actually a real ticket, I thought this kid was hiding in the toilet to dodge the fare."

  Yi Tianxing knew he was looking at his shabby clothes, so he stared all the way, and couldn't help but look down on this person. He took the ticket coldly and walked to his seat. The conductor looked at his expression and felt embarrassed, muttering a few curses under his breath.

  He didn't realize that his seat had been taken by a young man until he returned to his own seat. He called out softly, but the person didn't wake up. Yì Tiān Xíng took a closer look and saw that the young man was leaning against the chair with his eyes tightly closed, but his eyeballs were rolling slightly under his eyelids. He knew this guy was pretending to sleep in order to occupy the seat, so he slapped him on the shoulder without hesitation and said loudly: "Sorry, this is my seat."

  That guy clutched his shoulder in pain and jumped up, cursing: "Are you sick? That's so heavy!"

  Several people sitting next to him who were traveling with that guy also started arguing, and Yi Tianxing looked at them coldly but ignored them, sitting straight in his seat. Those people saw his expression of not caring about life or death, and they got even angrier, rolling up their sleeves to hit him. The train staff on the side just watched the joke, intentionally letting Yi Tianxing, this poor guy, suffer a loss, and didn't come to mediate.

  Yi Tianxing was annoyed by the flies, and he leaned against the window frame, pretending to sleep. His right hand was hidden under his left armpit, secretly rubbing it. With a slight touch of his thumb and index finger, a tiny spark flashed, and Yi Tianxing's mind moved slightly. The starfire on his fingertips split into several smaller sparks, which flew silently along the floor of the train towards the feet of those people.

  "Oh no, oh no, oh no......!"

  The train was filled with cries of despair, those who were wearing long-sleeved shirts wailed in unison, hastily taking off their flaming shoes. Only then did they discover that a small hole had been burned through the shoe leather, emitting a strong smell of burnt material. However, the fire seemed to have a mind of its own, stopping just after burning through the rubber soles and scorching the passengers' socks, merely causing them a moment of pain.

  "What's going on?"

  "There's something wrong with this car!"

  "The car is leaking electricity, it must be leaking electricity!"

  Yitianxing was somewhat satisfied with his own ability to control fire from a distance, and he no longer listened to the disputes between the travelers and the train staff. He buried his head in his arms and fell into a deep sleep.

  ……

  ……

  After an unknown period of time, the train finally passed through the Qinling Mountains and arrived in the rolling hills. It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Yi Tianxing stretched his head out of the window, squinting his eyes against the wind to look at the road ahead. He vaguely saw some white smoke rising from the sky in front, and the scenery around him also became more familiar. Only then did he know that they were approaching the provincial capital. The passengers who had been grumbling earlier were now dozing off, while the vendors on the train were busy making their last bit of money. Yi Tianxing tore open the packaging of his instant noodles, poured some mineral water into it when no one was paying attention, and then expressionlessly held the bowl. After a short while, his palm heated up the instant noodles to a boil, and he started eating the steaming hot noodles with relish.

  As we were eating and feeling satisfied, the train slowly came to a stop.

  Yitianxing let out a satisfied belch, shouldered his luggage and followed the crowded stream of people getting off the hard-seat car. From afar, he saw a black Nissan Bluebird parked on the platform near the soft-berth car, its sleek lines a feast for the eyes. He couldn't help but exclaim: "People from the provincial capital are really rich, this car is even better than our county head's!"

  The train conductor who was still standing at the door couldn't help but sneer: "What a country bumpkin, really hasn't seen the world. This train is nothing in the provincial city, it's just... these people can drive the train onto the platform to pick up people, looks like they're picking up some big shot too."

  Yi Tianxing was too lazy to bother with him, and with his backpack on his back, he prepared to leave the platform. Unexpectedly, looking at the carriage, there were more than a dozen people who seemed to be looking for someone but couldn't find them, their faces full of anxiety as they ran along the long train.