Amelia was visibly shaken. Lee Yunlong gently patted her shoulder, quietly using the moment to channel the stabilizing energy of a spirit-calming pill-a technique derived from his Essence Qi pill method-into her body. «We're friends, Amelia. Don't forget that,» he murmured softly. «I offered to help you of my own free will, so don't carry any burden over it.» The spirit-calming pill was a low-tier alchemy formulation meant merely to settle one's mind and focus vital energy, but its mild, harmless nature made it famous for gentle efficacy-precisely what Amelia needed right now.
Dabbing at the corner of her glistening eyes, Amelia took several deep, measured breaths. Slowly, her composure returned. «I'm sorry you had to see that, Lee,» she admitted, letting out a faint, dry laugh. «I thought I was brave enough to face anything. God knows it isn't the first time I've faced danger in my line of work. But a curse…» She kept her hands firm on the steering wheel, giving a helpless shrug. «I was completely out of my depth. When I saw my colleague on that screen just now, I realized how terrified I actually was.»
«In situations like yours, Amelia,» Lee Yunlong replied, «as a researcher of occultism, I can share some of my experience to teach you how to face it.»
«That would be wonderful, Lee. Thank you.»
Lee Yunlong glanced out the window. They were still far from the city center, and traffic on the midnight road was virtually nonexistent. With the headlights cutting through the dark, any oncoming vehicle could be spotted from a distance; so long as she remained somewhat attentive, nothing would go wrong. It was the perfect opportunity to introduce her to a few fundamental concepts of occultism. «First, Amelia, you must understand the sheer complexity of the human condition. This complexity isn't something that bends to your individual will. The moment you were born human, it was already etched into your nature. You are Christian, which differs from the Eastern occultism I specialize in. I only know a smattering of Christian theology, so my explanation might be imprecise. Take what I say with a grain of salt.»
Amelia raised no objections. Lee Yunlong's perspective might have its flaws, but without him, where else could she find a reliable guide to explain the occult? «Christian theology glorifies the Holy Trinity,» Lee Yunlong continued, «yet when it comes to the individual, it emphasizes original sin-the idea that humans are born flawed. Tell me, Amelia, what do you think that inherent original sin actually is?»
Uncertain of the exact theological answer, Amelia ventured a guess. «Original sin… usually refers to the Seven Deadly Sins, doesn't it?» The Seven Deadly Sins was a concept rooted in Catholic tradition, codified back in the thirteenth century by the Dominican priest Saint Thomas Aquinas, who enumerated the manifestations of vice as pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust.
«You're on the right track, but it's incomplete,» Lee Yunlong said. «The Seven Deadly Sins are part of original sin, yes, but that's merely a religious categorization. Human original sin is far more fundamental than that. You can understand it simply as human survival instinct.»
Amelia found his framing somewhat biased. «If it's an inherent instinct for human survival, Lee, why call it an original sin?»
«Because of perspective, of course,» Lee Yunlong stated bluntly. «Religion has never stood on the side of humanity; it stands only on the side of itself.»
«Surely not!» Amelia protested. «Isn't religion supposed to stand on the side of God?»
«Have you read the Dead Sea Scrolls?» Lee Yunlong countered. «What do they say? 'God does not dwell in grand houses built of stone.' That phrase is a direct critique of organized religion itself.»
The argument struck a jarring chord with Amelia, flying in the face of everything she had grown up believing. Fortunately, her brand of Christianity was relatively open-minded. Combined with the modern information explosion and her career as a journalist-which had forged her a remarkably resilient mind-she was able to listen to his unorthodox ideas without flying into a rage. Had she been a Catholic believer from the Middle Ages, Lee Yunlong's words alone would have seen him bound to a stake and set ablaze! «Fair enough, Lee,» she said, choosing her battles. «You're the expert on occultism here, so I think we should stick to how I can overcome my fear. We can debate theology another time.»
«Fair enough, Amelia,» Lee Yunlong agreed smoothly. «Fear itself is a form of original sin-a core survival instinct. What you need to do is look fear in the eye, embrace it, master it, and cherish it as your most precious treasure.»
«Hold on a minute, Lee,» Amelia interrupted hastily. «Cherish my fear like a treasure? Didn't you just say fear is a primal instinct, an original sin? How does acknowledging it suddenly turn it into a treasure?»
«You see, Amelia, that is the core of the problem,» Lee Yunlong said. «Your upbringing, along with how everyone around you reacts to fear, consists of external influences that have warped your mind. They've stamped a distorted branding onto your psyche! You've never actually looked your fear in the face. Your entire understanding of fear is nothing more than that artificial, twisted imprint.»
Amelia pondered his words for a moment. Following his chain of logic, she had to admit there was a strange coherence to it, yet she remained skeptical. Isn't fear inherently a negative emotion? «Even if I grant your point, Lee, at most it means I don't fully understand fear as an emotion. That's still a far cry from calling it a treasure, isn't it?»
«That is simply because you haven't truly faced it,» Lee Yunlong replied.
«Is fear really such a good thing?» Amelia asked, deeply dubious.
«Fear itself is neither good nor bad,» Lee Yunlong explained patiently. «It becomes a treasure only when we harness it effectively, rather than letting it rule over us.»
«Fear is fear,» Amelia insisted. «I don't see the difference.»
«You haven't practiced occult disciplines, Amelia, so you can't physically feel the subtle distinctions yet,» Lee Yunlong said softly. «Let me give you a few simple examples so you can grasp the principle conceptually. Take a minor instance: when you're cooking in the kitchen, you use knives, right? When you hold a knife, do you gleefully cut, slash, or stab yourself with it?»
Amelia rolled her eyes at him. «I'm not crazy. Why would I stab myself with a knife?»
Lee Yunlong nodded. «Your choice is the choice of the vast majority. It's precisely because you fear the harm a blade can cause that you don't turn it on yourself, even when it's right in your hand. That is an exact instance of utilizing fear to protect yourself.»
«That's just common sense!» Amelia snapped, exasperated-though her voice trailed off as she began to really consider his point. On the surface, it sounded like a trivial truism. But looking at it through the lens of occultism-or perhaps through psychology and evolutionary biology-the role fear played went far beyond anything she had ever imagined. Lee Yunlong's knife example was small, but as Amelia pursued the train of thought, she realized the same applied to every other facet of life: using electrical appliances, driving a car, playing sports… When considered carefully, that simple principle governed virtually everything humans did.
«That was just a minor example from daily life,» Lee Yunlong said. «Now let me give you a larger one. Have you ever wondered what actually maintains the authority of federal law? I'll tell you: it is fear!»
Amelia instinctively disagreed. «The authority of federal law is upheld by government law enforcement agencies!»
Lee Yunlong scoffed dismissively. «By law enforcement?» He raised a hand, pinching his thumb and index finger close together to frame a tiny gap. «Forget about law enforcement officers alone-even if you count every single federal employee, how many people is that really?» He spread both arms wide. «Compared to the total population of citizens, what percentage do they actually represent?» He wasn't making things up; even though the public constantly criticized the federal government for bloat, red tape, and wasted resources, when it came to actual police departments on the ground, no state could ever boast it had enough officers. Every year, the cry for more police force was identical.
Amelia found herself unable to refute his point. The facts he presented were indisputable, yet she sensed a flaw in his grand conclusion. «Lee, if fear is truly such a treasure, why has no one ever told the public about this all these years?» Amelia didn't believe Lee Yunlong was the only clever person on Earth. If handled properly, his theory could be spun into a massive news story. As confident as she was in her professional instincts, she never underestimated her peers. There had to be a catch she was missing; otherwise, this concept would have been public knowledge long ago.
Lee Yunlong had no intention of hiding the truth from her and addressed it directly. «Because of control, of course. Amelia, do you know how nicotine addiction works? A person starts smoking in their youth out of curiosity, peer pressure, or any number of reasons. Years later, as an adult, they realize smoking is destroying their health, so they try everything to quit. But the process is rarely smooth; it's a constant cycle of trying, relapsing, and trying again. That struggle accompanies them for the rest of their life, until they finally succeed-when they're laid in the ground.» Lee Yunlong tapped the side of his temple with a finger. «You see, Amelia? If breaking a tiny habit like smoking is that difficult, imagine trying to effectively control fear-let alone manipulate it intentionally! Don't forget that fear is an innate biological instinct. It operates on a completely different level than a self-inflicted bad habit like smoking. If fear slips out of control, it ceases to be a treasure. It transforms into a nightmare-more ruthless than a tyrant, more cunning than a devil, shadowing your every step until you finally fall into its clutches.»