Cangmang Asks the Way 1: Guardian of the Lamp

He rushed to Wang Yaowu's side, squatted down, and was about to reach out when a male teacher in charge of order rushed over. Seeing this, he immediately tried to push Cang Tianci away, saying anxiously, "Don't move, kid! Wait for the school doctor!"

"I'm his classmate, I know first aid. This isn't just simple exhaustion. Look at his flushed face, but he's not sweating; it's like heat poison has attacked his heart. We need to treat him immediately." His fingers were already on Wang Yaowu's wrist, the touch from his fingertips was surprisingly hot and dry, but the blood and qi beneath were surging and chaotic, like a stagnant river congesting at several key acupoints, especially near the 'Shanzhong' and 'Xinshu' points, where the qi was tangled like a dead knot. This was clearly a critical sign of summer heat poison invading the pericardium, blocking the orifices of the mind.

At this moment, the homeroom teacher, Xu Wenyuan, squeezed into the crowd, panting.

"Teacher Xu, please trust me this once, we must deal with this immediately," Cang Tianci said urgently.

Xu Wenyuan looked into Cang Tianci's calm eyes, then glanced at Wang Yaowu, who was in critical condition on the ground. He gritted his teeth and said, "I'm his homeroom teacher. Let him try. I'll take responsibility."

The moment he received permission, Cang Tianci held nothing back. He held his breath and focused intently, circulating the Hidden Dragon Technique at an unprecedented speed. The "ancient well" in his dantian seemed to have been struck by a boulder, and the warm and mellow "Hidden Dragon Qi" surged forth like a awakened dragon, all converging in the index and middle fingers of his right hand. Without hesitation, he precisely pointed a finger at Wang Yaowu's philtrum. The fingertip, imbued with energy, touched and withdrew instantly, the cool yet powerful energy forcefully penetrating the acupoint, piercing directly into the core of the divine aperture blocked by evil heat.

However, Wang Yaowu's body only convulsed violently, emitting a chilling, hoarse sound from his throat. His eyelids trembled, but he did not open them. The knotted blockage was more stubborn than he had imagined.

Cang Tianci's heart sank. He could feel that the energy he had channeled into the water was like a mud ox entering the sea—it stirred the stagnant water but failed to break through the dam. With each passing moment, the vitality dimmed a little more. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

"Teacher, he..." a student whispered in fear.

"If you can't do it, don't try to be a hero!" The male teacher from before stepped forward again.

Just then, Lin Wanqing suddenly moved. She didn't speak, but leaning on her cane, she took two difficult but determined steps forward, landing precisely behind Cang Tianci. If the male teacher tried to force his way forward, he would inevitably bump into her. Then, she turned slightly to the side, quietly looking at Cang Tianci's profile. There was no anxiety in her gaze, only a calm understanding, as if saying, "Do what you believe is right. I'm here to protect you."

Unaware of the changes around him, Cang Tianci closed his eyes, focusing all his attention on his fingertips, pushing the Hidden Dragon Technique to its limit. This time, he no longer attempted to "break through," but instead transformed his energy into the finest and most resilient "threads," following the guidance of his pulse, avoiding the core of the raging heat poison, and cautiously probing the Neiguan, Hegu, and Yongquan acupoints on the soles of his feet, like acupuncture. What he wanted to do was not to forcefully break through, but to find even the slightest "flood discharge" channel for the congested and raging blood and energy, first ensuring the continuation of his heart meridian.

This process was ten times more dangerous and mentally taxing than the previous brutal breakthrough. His face turned pale at a visible speed, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down his forehead, gathering on his chin and dripping onto the scalding coal slag.

Everyone around held their breath and watched nervously.

Just as Cang Tianci's fingertips trembled for the last time as they brushed across Wang Yaowu's Yongquan acupoint on the sole of his foot, he clearly felt that the raging, stagnant torrent of qi and blood was finally released through a tiny, yet real, "outlet." Almost simultaneously, Wang Yaowu's limbs, which had been tense to the point of spasm, relaxed almost imperceptibly; and a layer of extremely fine cold sweat appeared on his skin, which had been completely dry before.

"It worked... He did it!"

A suppressed, excited gasp broke the silence. It was Song Wei. Just moments before, she had been as taut as a fully drawn bow, but now she let out a sudden sigh, patted her chest hard, and her face was filled with lingering fear. Her gasp was like a pebble thrown into a still lake.

Wang Xiuzhu finally loosened her grip on her mouth, and the tears that had been welling up in her eyes finally rolled down her cheeks. She didn't say anything, but just nodded vigorously, as if confirming that the miracle she wanted to believe was happening.

Lin Ruoxi's tightly furrowed brows had relaxed without her noticing. She didn't look at Wang Yaowu, but instead focused her gaze on Cang Tianci's sweaty yet unusually calm profile. A complex look of surprise flashed in her clear, cold eyes, as if she were truly "seeing" her deskmate for the first time—not just on the leaderboard, but in some dimension that she hadn't fully grasped yet couldn't ignore.

"Holy shit..."

A very low, yet incredulous mutter escaped from the crowd. Zhao Xiaohu's mouth dropped open, his eyes wide. The curse slipped out almost without thinking. When he realized it, he abruptly shut his mouth, instinctively trying to put on that disdainful expression, but his muscles wouldn't cooperate. In the end, he could only purse his lips and hurriedly look away.

Throughout, Lin Wanqing stood quietly behind Cang Tianci, like a reed that had silently taken root in the wind and rain. Her gaze never left Cang Tianci's figure; watching his pale face, watching the beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and hitting the coal ash, her heart sank heavily along with those beads of sweat. For the first time, she so clearly touched the texture of a soul: as firm as a pine tree, crystal clear. This certainty seemed to infuse her own heart, which had always been curled up by its imperfections and cold family background, with a warm, upright strength.

Just then, the school doctor, carrying a medicine kit, rushed over, parting the crowd: "Make way, make way! Who let the students move around like that!"

The school doctor rushed to Wang Yaowu's side, instinctively reaching to push aside Cang Tianci, who was still breathing with his eyes closed and his face pale. But his hand froze halfway as his gaze swept over Wang Yaowu's face. Experience told him that patients suffering from severe heatstroke and unconsciousness should have flushed or ashen faces and rapid, disordered breathing. But this child... although still unconscious, the alarming purplish discoloration on his face had faded considerably, and although his breathing was weak, it had regained a faint rhythm.

The school doctor, filled with suspicion, immediately bent down and deftly checked Wang Yaowu's pupillary light reflex and felt for a pulse in his carotid artery. He then quickly placed the thermometer under Wang Yaowu's armpit. After the examination, the expression on his face quickly changed from initial anxiety and readiness to questioning to astonishment, and then to disbelief and shock.

"This..." He looked up, his voice trembling slightly, "It is indeed severe heatstroke. His vital signs should have been extremely critical, but..." He glanced at the thermometer he had just taken out, then quickly checked his pulse again, "Why is his heart rate dropping? And his temperature is showing signs of decreasing? This is impossible... Given the time he was unconscious and the circumstances, his condition should have continued to worsen!"

He abruptly looked up, his gaze fixed intently on Cang Tianci, who had just opened his eyes and was leaning on his knees, slightly panting. His eyes seemed to pierce through him: "Classmate, what exactly did you do to him just now? Your technique... it's definitely not some ordinary first aid taught in gym class!"

Cang Tianci looked as if he had just gone through a fierce battle. He slowly straightened up, supporting himself on his knees. His vision blurred for a moment. The first aid he had just performed seemed simple, but it had actually taken a heavy toll on his mental energy. He answered evasively, "I just stimulated some acupoints to try to clear the heat and open the orifices..." He could not reveal the secrets of the Hidden Dragon Technique and the Finger Mystery Hand.

On the periphery of the crowd, Zheng Tao had quietly taken his place. He didn't push his way to the front; he simply watched silently. When the school doctor exclaimed, "Your technique is definitely not ordinary first aid," his eyes behind his glasses narrowed slightly, and the usual faint smile he used to maintain his composure vanished completely.

"Medical skills..." He silently pondered the two words, as if weighing an unexpectedly acquired weapon, unsure whether it was a blessing or a curse. "So you're not just good with your fists, you can do this too. Saving lives... what a 'benevolent heart' indeed. Now, things are even more interesting."

He took one last, deep look at Cang Tianci, whose face was still pale, then turned and silently disappeared into the increasingly noisy crowd. It was as if he had never been there, but a colder, more dangerous thought had already taken root in his heart.

At this moment, Wang Yaowu, who had been motionless on the ground, let out a muffled groan, his eyelids twitched violently a few times, and then he slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were initially empty and blank, as if he had struggled back from an endless abyss, not yet understanding where he was. Then, consciousness returned, and the extreme weakness and hollowing-out discomfort throughout his body, along with the burning pain in his throat, made him instinctively furrow his brow and let out a painful groan. Then, he saw the surrounding crowd, the school doctor, and finally, his gaze settled on Cang Tianci, who was pale and still covered in sweat, standing nearby.

In an instant, his bewilderment was shattered by an overwhelming sense of absurdity. His savior? Was it a gift from heaven? The stuttering boy he'd bullied since childhood, the one he'd sworn to forever trample? This realization struck him like an invisible slap, more devastating than any physical pain. A wave of shame washed over him—not gratitude, but a shame a thousand times deeper than failure, of fainting. He had been saved by the person he despised most, when he was at his most pathetic, most like a dead dog. This "gratitude" was like a red-hot iron, searing his soul, filling him with a terror and loathing more intense than the suffocating pain of near-death.

His facial muscles contorted uncontrollably, his eyes flashing violently. From initial bewilderment to shock upon recognition, then to the burning pain of shame, finally, all emotions were forcibly suppressed into the deepest recesses of his eyes, tempered into an almost desperate coldness. He abruptly closed his eyes, turning his head to the other side, as if trying to completely isolate himself from everything before him, including the figure of his rescuer.

Upon seeing him wake up, an even greater wave of relief and exclamations erupted from the crowd. Wang Xiuzhu finally breathed a sigh of relief, lowered her hand from her mouth, but tears still streamed down her face as she sobbed to her classmate beside her, "I was so scared! Thank goodness, he's finally awake..." Lin Ruoxi also breathed a sigh of relief, her gaze shifting between Cang Tianci and Wang Yaowu with complex emotions before finally settling into a barely audible sigh.

Cang Tianci clearly received all the coldness and hatred contained in that glance; that gaze was like a poisoned icicle, piercing him fiercely. Even though his temperament was much more composed than his peers, he couldn't help but be slightly startled at this moment, a feeling of indescribable stagnation and chill rising within him. This confusion was like a tiny pebble thrown into the calm lake of his heart, rippling outwards.

He subconsciously activated the Hidden Dragon Technique, its warm and mellow energy flowing through his body like a silent stream, gently smoothing the subtle ripples caused by external malice. He stepped aside, his gaze sweeping over Wang Yaowu's profile, filled with resistance and pain, over the relieved and admiring looks of the surrounding classmates, and finally settling on the somewhat empty track in the distance after the commotion.

In that brief silence and detachment, his master Chen Jiren's teaching, "Do not seek externally, but always ask your own heart," unexpectedly illuminated his heart like moonlight piercing through the clouds.

In an instant, the blockage in my mind was suddenly cleared.

An indescribable sense of clarity, like a cool and sweet mountain spring, poured into his Baihui acupoint on the top of his head, instantly washing away all confusion, stagnation, and slight chill, reaching deep into his dantian. The dormant dragon energy in his dantian seemed to be stirred, swirling joyfully, becoming even more gentle, serene, and vast. He suddenly understood.

His actions, while outwardly saving lives, were fundamentally about seeking the Dao. He never sought repayment from others, but rather the Dao within himself. Wang Yaowu's resentment was his delusion, his karmic consequence, like a gust of wind sweeping across mountains, only making them appear more serene and majestic. And this wind will eventually dissipate.

The reactions of others, whether gratitude or resentment, become a mirror reflecting his moral compass, rather than a yardstick defining his behavior. Maintaining inner goodness and peace, unmoved by external things, and untainted by evil thoughts—this is his "unmoved mind."

Having understood this, Cang Tianci felt no more obstacles in his heart. He looked at Wang Yaowu again, his gaze now calm and devoid of emotion, filled only with a profound, almost compassionate, tranquility. He saved people by consulting his own heart and following his own path. His way lay in every step he took with a clear conscience.

Xu Wenyuan stepped forward, patted him heavily on the shoulder, his eyes filled with relief and lingering fear: "Well done, Tianci!"

The sports meet finally came to a close. Cang Tianci gave up his long-distance running results to save someone, but his glorious record-breaking performances in the long jump and sprint, as well as his decisive act of saving someone on the field and the amazing medical skills he displayed, spread like wildfire throughout Jixian Middle School.

"The gifted student from the gifted youth program" is no longer just a student with good grades, but has become a name with a legendary aura.