Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 54

The next day, Yun Qing and her companions looked through some ancient texts left in Linglong City, but none of them contained any record of Chu Jing’an.

Like countless ordinary people in this world, he had come and gone, leaving no trace of his existence behind.

Their desires, their loves and hatreds, all returned to stillness with their passing. No one cared, and no one remembered.

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

The trail ended here.

Whether it was Chu Jing’an or Qingcheng Zi, all things considered, Yun Qing and her companions currently had too little information. Meanwhile, their opponent was lurking in the shadows.

In such a large city with two to three hundred thousand people, finding a secretive evil cultivator was exceedingly difficult.

Yun Qing sat in a chair with her legs crossed, leaning to one side with her elbow on the table, chin resting on her palm in deep thought. Fu Xue and Cheng Suiyan were chattering away, speculating about various possibilities.

Ci Li had returned to his normal small cat form, sitting in his cage and listening to their analysis, mockingly commenting, “Not using your brains at all, but your mouths never stop running.”

Fu Xue coldly laughed, “I see you want your bottom touched again. Suiyan, go ahead.”

Cheng Suiyan waved his hands somewhat awkwardly, “Be quiet. I’m not that kind of pervert.”

Jiang Baiyu sat upright in his chair and suddenly said, “We’ll leave after tomorrow’s celebration banquet ends.”

Cheng Suiyan looked surprised, “What? Aren’t we going to investigate the earth souls anymore? I still wanted to help Yanchuan find his earth soul.”

Fu Xue was also puzzled, “That’s so sudden. Are we really leaving? What do you think, senior sister?”

Yun Qing’s eyes lit up, “Baiyu is right, we’ll leave tomorrow.” As she spoke, she smiled at Jiang Baiyu.

Jiang Baiyu met her gaze and curved his lips slightly.

Ci Li sat in his cage quietly observing them and said, “Why are you two exchanging glances like that? Is this the result of all your thinking? You’re worse than those two fools.”

Yun Qing was in a good mood and picked up a golden Buddha’s hand fruit from the table, tossing it up and down playfully. Hearing this, she smiled, “Yes, I just enjoy exchanging meaningful glances. Everyone has their hobbies.”

Ci Li hadn’t expected her to admit it so shamelessly. He was stunned for a moment before shaking his head:

“How is it possible that every single one of you is abnormal? I worked hard cultivating for three hundred years, only to stumble into a den of weirdos.” His tone became rather self-pitying toward the end.

Fu Xue asked, “Senior sister, if we leave, what should we do with this little cat?”

“Simple. Suiyan likes touching its bottom, so let’s take it along for him to touch every day.”

Cheng Suiyan’s scalp tingled, “I’ve already said, I’m really not a pervert!”

****

Later, the four of them went to bid farewell to the siblings Chu Yanzhang and Chu Yanhe. The brother and sister were surprised to hear they were leaving the next day. Chu Yanhe said reluctantly:

“Sister Yun Qing, please stay in Linglong City a bit longer. If you find the evil cultivator difficult to track down, you could take some time to relax. I can take you to watch plays and listen to storytellers.

I heard there’s a very popular story in Guangling City called ‘The Immortal Lady Treading on the Moon.’ A storyteller learned it in Guangling City and brought it to Linglong City. Why don’t we go listen to it tomorrow?”

Yun Qing shook her head.

“To be honest, my junior sister and I came down from the mountain to look for our missing master. We can’t stay in Linglong City for too long. Since we haven’t made any progress on the earth soul matter, we think it’s better to search for our master first.”

Chu Yanhe’s eyes reddened, “I thought we could spend more time together, but I didn’t expect we’d part so soon. And my brother’s earth soul still hasn’t been found. I really, I really feel terrible about this.”

Yun Qing sighed and comforted her, “Yanhe, I promise you, after I find my master, I will definitely return to continue investigating the earth soul matter in Linglong City.”

“Alright. Then I’ll organize the citizens of Linglong City to see you off tomorrow. It’s the city’s sentiment, so you can’t refuse.”

Yun Qing smiled, “Very well.”

****

The celebration banquet was extremely grand.

Many people from Linglong City had already gone in groups to see the Mountain God’s corpse in Linglong Mountain. The corpse was truly shocking, and from then on, no one doubted Immortal Lady Yun.

Although some people pointed out that there were still people in the city becoming stupid, these voices were very weak, as only a tiny minority were affected.

The entire city was engulfed in an atmosphere of frenzy.

Many citizens spontaneously sent gifts to the City Lord’s mansion. Yun Qing and her companions handled this by returning gifts from the poor and converting gifts from the rich into money.

Many households were decorated with lanterns and colorful banners, as if celebrating the New Year. Chu Yanzhang set up a street-long feast outside the City Lord’s mansion, with many ordinary citizens invited to the celebration banquet. Mountains of delicacies were continuously served.

A row of stages was also set up, with musicians, dancers, singers, and various performers presenting their arts. People didn’t know where to look first.

The banquet inside the City Lord’s mansion invited various gentry, officials of all ranks, and some prominent merchants. This feast was held in the Chaoqu Tower.

Sitting in Chaoqu Tower, one could see the joyful and harmonious scene of common people below, while the tower itself featured performers of even greater skill and beauty.

Before the banquet began, several scholars and literary men, inspired by the grand occasion, gathered to craft poems, planning to showcase their talents at the banquet.

Outside the door, people continuously arrived with gifts, and the servant announcing names never stopped.

Amidst the noisy scene, suddenly someone came running, barging through the crowd.

This person was tall and slender, dressed in luxurious clothes, with a handsome and refined appearance and natural smiling eyes. He was tightly hugging a sandalwood box, running while giggling foolishly.

Many people recognized him as none other than the second young master of the City Lord’s mansion, Chu Yanchuan, who was rumored to have unfortunately become mentally impaired.

Chasing closely behind Chu Yanchuan was the City Lord’s young lady, Chu Yanhe, who was well-known to many as she often moved about Linglong City.

Behind her were two maids and several servants.

These people came running in such a hurry that the crowd hastily made way, afraid of bumping into the ancestors of the City Lord’s mansion.

Chu Yanchuan crawled under tables, jumped onto drums, tore down flagpoles, knocked over servants, and broke bowls and plates. The scene was filled with clattering, banging, and clanging noises, even livelier than an opera performance.

Since he was the second young master of the Chu family, people didn’t dare use force, and could only chase while trying to persuade him. Who knew that after becoming mentally impaired, he had become even more agile than before, and they couldn’t catch him.

Yun Qing and her companions had just packed their luggage and were about to attend the banquet. Passing by, they saw Chu Yanchuan making a commotion while Chu Yanhe was gently trying to persuade him. The two maids were stomping their feet and blaming each other.

“I looked away for just a moment and you caused this disaster. How could you let him go to the mansion’s treasury? If he damages anything, neither of us will live!”

“He was playing with a ball in the courtyard. I only took my eyes off him for a moment. How could I know how he got to the treasury? Could he walk through walls and burrow underground?”

“You clearly weren’t watching him properly because you were playing around!”

“Even if I wasn’t watching him properly, were the servants guarding the treasury all blind?”

At that moment, the treasury servants were participating in the effort to surround Chu Yanchuan and couldn’t spare the attention to argue with them.

Seeing their difficulty in containing him, Yun Qing leaped into the air, flying over the heads of several servants and landing beside Chu Yanchuan. The servants only felt a gust of wind passing over their heads and were momentarily stunned.

Yun Qing jumped to Chu Yanchuan’s side, grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up like an eagle catching a chick, then carried him to an open space.

Once seized by her, Chu Yanchuan became docile.

Chu Yanhe hurriedly ran over, checked to see that her brother wasn’t hurt, sighed in relief, then said, “Thank you, Sister Yun Qing. You scared me to death.”

Chu Yanchuan hugged the exquisite sandalwood box and giggled at Yun Qing.

Yun Qing shook her head and said, “You should go back now.”

The servants came to pull Chu Yanchuan away, with some trying to coax him into releasing the sandalwood box he was holding.

Chu Yanchuan clutched the sandalwood box tightly, refusing to give it up. In the struggle, the box fell to the ground and broke open.

With a crack, the contents spilled out.

It was a scroll painting. Because it was old, the paper had yellowed. The binding cord had come loose, and part of the scroll had unrolled.

Yun Qing saw the content of the painting.

It depicted a woman, with the open part showing just her face.

An oval face, phoenix eyes, long eyelashes, and cherry lips.

She looked exactly like the female ghost Wei Sanniang who had hanged herself under the osmanthus tree in Anle Lane.

Yun Qing curved her lips and exchanged a smile with Jiang Baiyu.

Yesterday, when Baiyu suggested leaving Linglong City, she immediately understood.

If, as she had previously suspected, someone was guiding them to Linglong City, then this person, whether friend or foe, would not likely stand by and watch them give up halfway and leave Linglong City.

So he or she, or perhaps it, would certainly act impatiently to keep them there.

Looking at the painting scroll on the ground, wasn’t this exactly what they had expected?

Now, they not only obtained a new clue but also confirmed that someone was indeed guiding all of this – truly killing two birds with one stone.

Smiling, Yun Qing bent down to pick up the scroll.

The treasury servant thought Yun Qing was picking up the scroll to hand it to him. While thanking her, he respectfully reached out to take it, but she said, “This painting is quite nice. May I appreciate it for a moment?”

The servant looked toward Chu Yanhe.

Seeing his hesitation, Chu Yanhe impatiently waved her hand, “Let alone just wanting to look at it, if Sister Yun Qing wanted to keep it, our City Lord’s mansion would gladly give it to her.”

The servant then put on a fawning smile and gave the box to Yun Qing as well.

Yun Qing thanked him and then said, “It’s too noisy here. Let’s find a quiet place.”

“Alright, Sister Yun Qing, follow me.”

Chu Yanchuan was coaxed by the maids to walk back. After just a few steps, he suddenly giggled and ran off again. The two maids chased after him while lamenting, “This ancestor, why is he suddenly so energetic today!”

Running into the garden, he disappeared. The maids searched everywhere and finally found him in a cave of a rockery.

He had rolled into the cave and was sleeping soundly with his eyes closed, his outer garment removed and clutched in his arms.

The two maids looked at each other, both feeling something was strange.

One maid said, “How could he run around so much and then fall asleep without being red-faced or out of breath?”

The other maid suspiciously said, “Could it be——“

“That’s impossible! Let’s not scare ourselves.”