I am a wisp of consciousness.
I have no body. People cannot see me, and neither can ghosts.
I don't know why. It's been this way for as long as I can remember.
There's nothing wrong with that. I drift around all day, sometimes through the mountains, sometimes up among the clouds, sometimes stopping by human cities to take a look.
Until one day, as I sat outside a teahouse basking in the sun and listening to a storyteller, a little beggar spoke to me.
The little beggar looked straight at me. For the first time, I knew what it felt like to be seen.
I liked the feeling, so I decided to go begging with him.
.
The little beggar was full of energy. He talked a lot and could never sit still, begging for food across all twelve kingdoms of the Nine Provinces.
Then the Demon Realm collapsed, and the demons invaded the human world. The little beggar put down his bowl and picked up a sword.
With one sword stroke, he steadied mountains and seas.
.
Many strange people found the little beggar. Every one of them could see me, and they looked at me strangely.
It turned out the little beggar wasn't the only unusual one. Neither was I.
According to the strange people, the little beggar was someone important. They wanted him to come back with them.
So the little beggar had a home after all.
Going home sounded nice.
I left the little beggar and went back to drifting around, sometimes through the mountains, sometimes up among the clouds.
I never went to human cities again.
.
One day, as I basked in the sun on a rock in the mountains, I heard a familiar voice speak to me.
Xiao Wu, there's no food to beg for in the mountains. Let's go beg in the village at the foot of the mountain.
Xiao Wu (Lin Wu), the little beggar (Lin Tianzhao)
Theme: Though adrift like duckweed, my heart holds the world
