After saying that, Chen Youzai wandered around the room. There was nothing interesting to look at, so he turned his attention back to the middle-aged man. Then he suddenly burst out laughing. “What? You said you soaked in that lake for three whole years? No wonder you look so sturdy but felt so light when I dragged you out. You’re all puffed up from soaking! Hahaha…”
As he laughed, Chen Youzai noticed that the man’s expression remained just as cold and gloomy. Realizing the joke was entertaining no one but himself, he stopped. The man spoke again in the same slow voice. “Whatever wish you make, I can help you fulfill it.”
Chen Youzai sighed. He must have read far too many fairy tales as a child if even his dreams were this childish. Still, the man looked so serious that Chen Youzai played along and thought for a moment. “I don’t really have any wishes. Even if I did, you probably couldn’t make them come true.”
“Tell me.”
Chen Youzai’s eyes darted around. It’s only a dream. Saying it out loud isn’t that embarrassing. Maybe I can at least get it off my chest. So he said frankly, “I just want to look a little better. I don’t have to be ridiculously handsome. Just… decent enough that people can stand looking at me.”
“That really is too difficult,” the man said with a long sigh.
Chen Youzai rolled his eyes. He had not expected to humiliate himself even in his own dream. Irritated, he stomped on the ground several times, intending to wake up and switch to a better dream. This time, however, nothing happened. He remained standing there, perfectly intact.
Ignoring Chen Youzai’s reaction, the man continued, “There is another way. I know the Soul-Transfer Art. I can move your soul into someone else’s body.”
To humor the man, and to make his own dream a little more interesting, Chen Youzai deliberately widened his eyes and exclaimed, “Whoa! You’re really that amazing?”
The man nodded solemnly, then waited calmly for Chen Youzai’s response.
Chen Youzai gave a few dry laughs. Great. This time I’ve dreamed up a lunatic. A kind lunatic, maybe, but one with an even wilder imagination than mine.
“Even if that made me handsome, so what? It would still be someone else’s body! And I can’t bear to leave my mom. If I switched bodies, wouldn’t I have to get to know a whole new set of people? The ones I already know give me enough headaches.”
The man neither took offense at Chen Youzai’s questions nor reacted to his scoffing. Instead, he began explaining at an unhurried pace.
“It isn’t what you think. The Soul-Transfer Art can be controlled freely. As long as you keep this silver coin safe, you can exchange bodies whenever you want and return whenever you want. If you don’t want another person’s soul entering your body, you can seal that soul away and leave a basic sub-soul in your body instead. That way, your body will continue functioning normally.”
Chen Youzai’s eyes lit up. Now this sounded fun. He took the coin and examined it. It looked no different from an ordinary coin except that there were no numbers on it. It barely weighed anything in his hand, and when he bit it, it felt like silver. Seriously, even my dreams are cheap. If it were gold, I could at least brag about it to my classmates later.
While Chen Youzai sighed and complained, the man patiently taught him how to use the coin. Once Chen Youzai heard how simple the procedure was, he lamented his own lack of imagination yet again. He only half listened to the precautions that followed, vaguely remembering that he was not supposed to use it recklessly just for fun.