Under One Person: Feng Shui Master, I Will Protect the Mountains and Rivers with My Own Body

Life in the bunker was as dull as a glass of water that had been sitting out for too long; even the floating dust seemed to carry a sense of loneliness.

Liao Zhong, carrying Yan Sen's report on his desire to join the rescue of the Gu child, has been on his way to the Yanjing headquarters for two days.

These past two days have been exceptionally fulfilling for Yan Sen—so fulfilling that he's tempted to curse.

Open your mouth.

Yan Sen, holding a bowl of specially made medicinal porridge, sat on a small stool by the bed, issuing orders with a blank expression.

The girl on the bed mechanically opened her mouth, like a vending machine waiting to insert coins.

"swallow."

The throat moves as it swallows.

"Open your mouth again."

Yan Sen has become so proficient at this process that it's heartbreaking.

Since he took on this "hot potato" three days ago, this fully enclosed intensive care unit has become his second home. Except for going to the toilet and sleeping, he has practically lived here.

There was no way around it; the primordial Gu within this little ancestor was too picky. It had its eye on Yan Sen's liver wood Qi, which carried the fragrance of herbs and trees. When the Gu child tried to use its own Qi, the black Qi would become unruly and throw a tantrum at the slightest provocation.

"Hey, shouldn't you have improved a bit by now?" Yan Sen complained irritably while feeding the animals. "I'm feeding them both qi and food; even the donkeys in the production team aren't as tired as me. Can't you at least give me a smile?"

The girl's bright green eyes stared straight at him, without any emotional fluctuation, as if she were looking at a talking mass of air.

Yan Sen sighed, put the empty bowl on the table, and stood up to stretch.

Although he complained, he was actually quite pleased inside.

Over these three days, the liver qi in his body underwent a change due to the constant "nourishment" and "feedback".

What was originally just a trickle of liver wood qi has now become increasingly pure and concentrated, even carrying a hint of the domineering and resilient nature unique to primal Gu.

The "turning evil into good" principle in the "Shaking Dragon Classic" is truly accurate.

What appears to be a selfless act is actually a great deal of benefit for the individual.

"Xiao Yan, it's time to change the Gu child's diaper."

At the door, a fully armed female researcher knocked on the glass, holding up a diaper in her hand, her eyes revealing the 'deathly' calmness unique to working people.

Yan Sen's face twitched, and he immediately left the room, crossing his arms and declaring righteously, "I won't do this job! I'm a technical consultant, not a full-time nanny! I have my bottom line."

The female researcher gave a wry smile, took a deep breath, and walked into the room as if she were defusing a bomb.

Just then, the pneumatic door at the end of the corridor let out a heavy screech of air.

"laugh--"

The heavy alloy door slowly opened, and a tall, imposing figure walked in, exuding a travel-worn and chilly aura.

It's Liao Zhong.

His shirt was wrinkled, his tie was askew, and his eyes were more bloodshot than when he left. He looked like a lion who had just returned from a fight with another pride—exhausted, but still fierce.

"Uncle Liao, you're back?" Yan Sen glanced at him, but didn't get up, still leaning lazily against the wall. "Judging from your face, those people upstairs must have given you a hard time, right?"

Liao Zhong didn't say anything. He strode to the one-way glass and stared intently at the girl inside for a full minute until he was sure that the girl's complexion had improved. Only then did his tense shoulders suddenly relax.

He pulled a flattened pack of cigarettes from his pocket, wanted to smoke it, but after glancing at the "No Smoking" sign on the wall, he irritably stuffed it back in.

"Damn it, a bunch of bureaucrats spouting platitudes about morality," Liao Zhong cursed, his voice hoarse. "I spent two days in Beijing banging on the table with them over this little thing."

"And the result?" Yan Sen raised an eyebrow.

"The result?" Liao Zhong turned around and plopped down in the chair next to Yan Sen, the chair creaking under the weight. "What else could happen? Chairman Zhao is a sensible man, but he also has to balance the various forces. After all, this kid is a ticking time bomb, and no one dares to say anything openly."

Liao Zhong held up two fingers and waved them in front of Yan Sen.

"The board has relented and agreed to your participation in the follow-up treatment and recovery plan. But there are two conditions."

"First," Liao Zhong pointed to the ground, "until we are completely certain that this child is under control, you and she will both have to stay in the bunker. All your actions must be under my control. To put it bluntly, it means you two will be locked up with me."

Yan Sen shrugged: "As expected. Apart from being a bit cold, the food at the bunker is passable. I have no complaints."

"Secondly," Liao Zhong's eyes turned serious, "I am the person primarily responsible and also the supervisor. I will regularly review the results. If your approach fails, or if this child shows signs of getting out of control... the company will immediately initiate the 'destruction procedure,' and at that point, even I won't be able to stop it."

Yan Sen's smile faded slightly.

destroy.

These two words, when used to describe a living, breathing person, seem particularly cold and chilling.

"Don't worry, Uncle Liao." Yan Sen touched the cold Tianpeng ruler in his arms, his tone calm but firm, "As long as I'm here, even the King of Hell can't take her away. As for those people in the company... humph, as long as the profits are big enough, they'll treat this child like royalty."

Liao Zhong looked at the twelve-year-old boy in front of him, feeling a mix of emotions.

Although she's just a child, she's surprisingly insightful about some things.

"Oh, right, there's something else." Liao Zhong pulled a crumpled envelope from his pocket and tossed it to Yan Sen. "This was given to me by Chairman Zhao before he left. He said it was a message from Longhu Mountain."

Yan Sen's eyes lit up, and he quickly took it.

The envelope was unsealed, and inside was only a thin sheet of paper.

Upon unfolding it, the handwriting was illegible, clearly indicating that it was written by someone else.

"I heard it was written by Master Rongshan, who said it was Master Tian's idea," Liao Zhong added from the side.

Yan Sen looked down and saw that the letter contained only a few lines:

"You little brat, get back here right now! I can't sleep soundly without you! The food down the mountain isn't clean, don't get a stomachache! Come back now! Come back now!"

Looking at the exclamation marks, Yan Sen could almost see Tian Jinzhong blowing his beard and glaring at him, and his nose couldn't help but tingle.

Yan Sen had traveled all over the country with Yan Que since he was a child, and there was very little that could make him lose control of his emotions, except for a sincere heart.

This thing is nothing to some people, but to others it is incredibly important.

This old man is clearly worried about being taken advantage of outside, but he insists on using the food down the mountain as an excuse.

"There's one more sentence at the end," Liao Zhong pointed to the back of the letter.

Yan Sen turned it over and saw a line of powerful characters written on the back, the strokes like dragons, exuding an aura of domineering arrogance.

"Where your heart leads, your actions will follow. When you are in harmony with heaven and earth, heaven and earth will return to you. If you do not harm heaven and reason, everything will be up to you."

It was unsigned.

But Yan Sen knew that this was the work of the old master Zhang Zhiwei.

These two simple sentences stood like a mountain, firmly behind Yan Sen.

The preceding meaning is: Do what you want to do, don't be bound by rules and regulations.

The following means: If you merge yourself with heaven and earth, then everything in heaven and earth will belong to you. As long as you don't do anything bad, I, your grandmaster, will protect you!

Yan Sen took a deep breath, carefully folded the letter, and tucked it close to his body.

"How are you? Missing home?" Liao Zhong looked at Yan Sen's slightly red eyes and softened his voice, which was rare for him. "If you want to go back, it's not too late. I can handle this Gu Tong mess myself."

"Go back my ass." Yan Sen rubbed his nose, reverting to his usual nonchalant attitude. "The old man already said I can do whatever I want. If I slink back now, wouldn't that be a disgrace to Longhu Mountain?"

He stood up and walked to the one-way glass, looking at the girl inside who looked like a doll, his eyes gradually becoming deep.

"Uncle Liao, now that things are settled with the company, let's begin the second phase."

"The second stage?" Liao Zhong was taken aback. "What second stage? Continue feeding Qi?"

"Feeding her Qi is just a temporary fix; it can only save her life." Yan Sen extended a finger and gently tapped the glass. "To truly bring her back to life, Qi alone isn't enough. We need... taming."

"Tamed?" Liao Zhong frowned. "You treat her like a wild animal?"

"No, she's not even as good as a wild beast now." Yan Sen's voice was cold, yet it carried a kind of rationality that went straight to the heart of the matter. "Wild beasts still have the will to survive, and a sense of territory. She has nothing. She's just a blank sheet of paper, no, a black sheet of paper smeared with ink."

What we need to do is to scrape out the shape of a person bit by bit on this black paper.

Yan Sen turned around, looked at Liao Zhong, and a strange smile appeared on his lips.

"Uncle Liao, you've owned dogs before, haven't you?"

"I've raised them before, so what?"

What's the first step in owning a dog?

Liao Zhong thought for a moment: "Feeding? Building trust?"

"Wrong." Yan Sen shook his finger. "It's about giving it a name."

"Name?" Liao Zhong was stunned.

"Yes, her name." Yan Sen pointed to the girl inside. "She's now called 'Gu Body Saint Child,' which is the number the Medicine Immortal gave her, a code name for a tool. As long as she carries this title, she will always be that tool."

"If you want her to be a person, you have to give her a name first. With a name, there is the concept of 'I'. With 'I', there will be 'we', and there will be joy, anger, sorrow and happiness."

Yan Sen stepped back, giving the stage to Liao Zhong.

"Uncle Liao, this child is someone you risked your life to bring back, and you're responsible for him from now on. You have to name him."

Liao Zhong stood there, staring blankly at the girl behind the glass.

Naming it? Wouldn't that be walking right into his line of fire?

Everyone knows that Liao Zhong's specialty is naming things!

"Call her... call her Little Red? No way, that's too old-fashioned."

"Cuihua? That's pickled cabbage."

"How about... Liao Batian? That's a pretty cool name!"

Yan Sen nearly spat out a mouthful of blood: "Uncle Liao, do you want her to collect protection money in the future? Can't you do something more sensible?"

Liao Zhong rubbed his hands awkwardly, his gaze falling on the girl again.

It was dusk.

Although the bunker is underground, the room's artificial sunlight is gradually dimming, turning into a soft, warm yellow.

The girl sat there quietly, like a flower blooming in a dark abyss, both dangerous and fragile.

A scene suddenly flashed through Liao Zhong's mind.

That was the day they stormed the Medicine Immortal Society's lair. Amidst the corpses of poisonous insects scattered across the mountains, an unknown little flower stubbornly bloomed in a pool of blood.

"Duo..." Liao Zhong uttered a single word subconsciously.

"What?" Yan Sen didn't hear clearly.

"Duo..." Liao Zhong's voice grew louder. He looked at the girl, his eyes gradually softening as if he were pouring all his emotions into her. "Let's call her... Duo'er. At such a young age, she has to bear the heavy burden of her entire life. Chen, Chen Duo..."

"Chen Duo".

Liao Zhong turned his head, looked at Yan Sen, and said with a firm gaze: "Her name is Chen Duo."

Yan Sen chewed on those two words.

Chen Duo.

Calm as water, a single flower blooms.

"Good name." Yan Sen snapped his fingers. "Although it sounds a bit like Er Ya from the next village, it's easy to raise."

He walked to the console and pressed the call button.

The sound was transmitted into the closed room through the microphone.

"Hey, you inside." Yan Sen's voice echoed in the room.

The girl did not react.

"From now on, you won't be called Gu Tong anymore," Yan Sen continued. "That burly uncle with a face full of scars gave you a new name."

The girl remained motionless.

Yan Sen glanced at Liao Zhong, signaling him to speak.

Liao Zhong took a deep breath, leaned close to the microphone, his voice trembling slightly, carrying a hint of cautious probing:

"Chen...Chen Duo?"

In the room, the girl's eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly.

That was the first time in three days that she had responded to external sounds, apart from eating.

Although it was very faint, in Yan Sen's [All Things Connected by Qi] vision, at that moment, the lifeless Qi in the girl's body seemed to have a pebble thrown in, creating a small ripple.

"It seems she doesn't dislike me." Yan Sen smiled, a very happy smile.

This first step has been taken.

Stagnant water, once rippled, will eventually turn into a giant wave.

"Uncle Liao, get ready to be a dad." Yan Sen patted Liao Zhong on the shoulder. "This kid's teenage rebellion will be a real headache for you."

Liao Zhong looked at Chen Duo inside, grinned, revealing yellowed teeth, and laughed like a two-hundred-pound fool.

"Rebellious is good...rebellious means she's a person. As long as she's a person, I'll spoil her rotten!"