Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 56

The weather changed abruptly.

Just a moment ago, the sky had been perfectly clear, but now it was suddenly overcast with dense clouds.

The dark clouds converged, obscuring the sun.

Yun Qing looked up at Chu Yanzhang and called out, “Chu Jing’an, turn back while you still can.”

“Turn back?” He reacted as if he had heard something extremely amusing and suddenly burst into laughter.

Two hundred and seventy-four years had passed.

That autumn, the gentle rain had continued for more than half a month. He had learned that his beloved was being forced to become the Mountain God’s bride. The Chongshen Society was too powerful; they couldn’t oppose them.

He had planned to elope with Sanniang, but worried about his mother, he wanted to take her along too.

But suddenly his mother told him that his biological father wasn’t dead as she had previously claimed, but was instead a nobleman from the Chu family.

She had engaged in an illicit relationship with that man, initially loving and trusting, but later as her beauty faded, so did his affection, until finally she was forgotten—walking the same path many lovesick women had walked before.

If possible, he wouldn’t have chosen to elope. After all, her family was here, as were his friends and everything they knew.

He went to find his biological father, that scion of a Chu family collateral branch. He hoped his father might help him save Sanniang out of some small sense of blood connection.

However, his father was weak and cowardly, while his stepmother was harsh and aggressive. She directly ordered someone to break his legs.

He was carried back with broken legs, and his mother sought medical treatment for him. Unable to elope now, he could only ask friends to sell their family assets to try to rescue Sanniang.

As the fifteenth of August drew closer, he grew increasingly desperate.

His mother couldn’t bear to watch and went to the Chu family to demand justice. But the Chu family matriarch slandered her as a prostitute who had produced a bastard to extort money from the Chu family.

That night, to prove her innocence, his mother smashed her head against the stone lion outside the Chu family’s main gate.

The Chu family members found the corpse inauspicious and carried it to his doorstep, then knocked on the door.

He rolled off his bed with his two broken legs and crawled to the door.

When he opened it, he saw his mother covered in blood.

Rain had soaked her clothes, and blood had flowed down from her forehead, diluted by rainwater, making it look as if clusters of spider lilies had bloomed all over her body.

She lay there quietly, no longer breathing.

His mind went blank, unable even to feel grief. At that moment, everything seemed unreal.

It was like a dream, his soul drifting vaguely away, numbly watching the dismal world.

Cool raindrops hit his face. He looked up at the black night sky shrouded in rain and suddenly felt something stir within him.

As if driven by intuition, he dragged his two broken legs, struggling to crawl outside. He crawled past the gate, to the end of the alley, leaving two trails of blood behind him that were scattered and dissolved by the rain.

He crawled to the osmanthus tree that he and she had loved so much.

Then he saw his most beloved woman hanging from the osmanthus tree.

He sat in the pitch-black rainy night, crying loudly, then laughing wildly.

No one supported me, no one pitied me, no one remembered me. The rain fell like mist, the night spread like waves.

Who am I? What am I? How am I different from an ant that anyone can trample?

Why are some people noble? Why are some people lowly? Why do the malicious enjoy glory? Why do the kind suffer bullying? Why is heaven heaven? Why is earth earth?

What is the Dao?

Yin is not complete yin, yang is not complete yang, black is not complete black, white is not complete white.

The Linglong River flowed with filth, thousand acres of good fields grew sin.

Everyone was guilty, everyone deserved to die.

That was the Dao.

After sitting withered under the osmanthus tree for three months, at the brink of death, he had attained enlightenment.

Although the Way he had realized was considered a form of “evil cultivation” in the eyes of the world.

But what did it matter? It didn’t matter, because he would destroy this sinful city.

For this, he abandoned his physical body, even abandoned his other two hun souls and seven po souls, retaining only one earth soul.

This earth soul was engraved with his deepest, indelible hatred.

The earth soul had possessed the city lord, becoming the most honored person in the city.

He saw his biological father bowing and scraping to him, that strict stepmother fawning and flattering him.

He smiled.

……

Two hundred and seventy-four years.

He had waited for this day for too long.

After his great laughter, Chu Yanzhang said, “For me to turn back, the heavens would have to collapse, the earth would have to shatter, and the Milky Way would have to pour down!” As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a silver spear flew into his grasp, frightening the surrounding guests who retreated repeatedly.

Chu Yanzhang leapt down from Chaoque Tower with the spear in hand, his wide robes fluttering in the wind. Yun Qing knew that he was now far more formidable than he had been that night at the ancestral temple. She solemnly jumped back to create distance, then directly activated her dark sword to fly toward his face.

The women playing instruments on Chaoque Tower saw this scene and were terrified, screaming “Ah!” and falling into chaos.

After landing, Chu Yanzhang deflected the dark sword with one thrust of his spear. The spear tip and blade edge scraped against each other, producing a teeth-grating “screeching” sound.

As the dark sword withdrew, Jiang Baiyu’s flying sword arrived. Chu Yanzhang kicked away the steel sword, flipped in mid-air, and thrust his spear tip into the bluestone ground, channeling his power.

Yun Qing was familiar with this move; Jiang Baiyu had used it too. Ripples formed on the bluestone ground from the spear tip as center and spread outward. Everyone jumped to scatter, then raised their swords to counter-attack.

While swinging her sword, Fu Xue said, “The true culprit was clearly that golden-haired hound. Why aren’t you seeking revenge against it? Why are you so determined to harm ordinary people?”

Chu Yanzhang laughed coldly. “Wild beasts that eat people should indeed be killed, but people who eat people are even more hateful.”

“Come on, if someone eats people, just go kill them. Why do you have to kill everyone?”

“Everyone is guilty, so naturally everyone must be killed.”

“You really are…” Fu Xue was never good at arguing or reasoning, and suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Cheng Suiyan said, “If everyone is guilty, why don’t you just kill yourself and be done with it? Out of sight, out of mind.”

“You’re right. But… I am also guilty.”

Although a longer weapon gave an advantage, facing five swords with one spear gradually put Chu Yanzhang at a disadvantage. Finally, Jiang Baiyu’s sword pinned his shoulder, and blood flowed along the blade, soaking his crimson dragon robe.

Chu Yanzhang’s expression remained unchanged. He joined his left index and middle fingers and quickly tapped his brow.

Wisps of smoke seemed to rise from his body, gathering in the air and finally forming a soul.

A bright, enormous soul.

Chu Yanzhang’s soul floated in the air, as large as a small mountain, like a human-shaped lantern. The Chaoque Tower beside him looked like a child’s toy in comparison.

The soul in mid-air gazed toward a certain direction.

Yun Qing turned her head to look—it was the direction of Anle Lane.

He suddenly raised his hand, and a surging wave of spiritual power struck their faces. A huge, distant voice echoed in the air. “The immortal soul has formed. Linglong City, prepare to die.”

The people on Chaoque Tower and nearby citizens scattered in panic like ants whose nest had been doused with hot water, crying and fleeing in disarray.

Yun Qing activated her dark sword to pierce the giant soul in mid-air.

The dark sword passed through the soul but had no effect on it whatsoever.

She frowned and took out a small green flag from her treasure pouch.

These small flags had been forged by Baiyu for her last night in case of emergency, and now they came in handy.

She threw the small flag into the air. The flag expanded rapidly with the wind and flew toward the soul.

Chu Yanzhang’s soul was magnificent and elegant, holding an osmanthus branch in his slender hand. If seen under normal circumstances, Yun Qing would surely have praised its elegance.

He lightly waved the osmanthus branch, and the green flag was pushed away by an invisible force, falling diagonally to the ground.

Yun Qing sent a palm strike through the air, and the flag suddenly straightened again, rapidly plummeting, until finally the wooden flagpole forcefully pierced the bluestone slab, sending stone fragments flying.

While Jiang Baiyu was activating talismans, Yun Qing took out another small flag.

Jiang Baiyu’s talisman took effect, and golden talisman characters flew toward the soul, eliciting a contemptuous snicker from the latter. Then, with a light sweep of the osmanthus branch, the talisman characters shattered into golden specks of light midway, then disappeared without a trace.

He swept the osmanthus branch again, this time toward Chaoque Tower. A group of living people were struck by the branch, immediately collapsing to the ground with ashen faces, their life force extinguished.

Cheng Suiyan summoned the Colorful-Robed Beauty. When the Colorful-Robed Beauty saw the giant soul in the sky, she solemnly threw her flower basket. The soul swept the branch toward the beauty.

After an enormous clash of spiritual power, the Colorful-Robed Beauty suddenly transformed into fragments of colored light and fell back into the fan.

Fu Xue shook the Six-Path Sealing Bell and muttered to herself, “Please, please, send someone powerful.”

A python as thick as a bowl mouth slithered over very quickly.

“Snake! Ahhhhh!” Cheng Suiyan jumped around in fright as if scalded.

The python looked up at the soul in the sky, then turned and fled even faster.

Fu Xue: “…”

Yun Qing looked back at Ci Li. “Ci Lili, stop slacking off.”

“I told you my name is Ci Li!” Ci Li roared angrily, transformed into a black cat, and suddenly grew in size until he was as large as the soul, like a small mountain.

The black cat pounced toward the soul.

The soul swept at him with the osmanthus branch, but although the black cat had increased in size, it still retained a cat’s agility. The branch moved extremely fast but couldn’t touch the black cat’s body.

The black cat raised its fluffy paw to slap the soul. From the ground, Yun Qing could see the pink pads on its paw, like a giant plum blossom.

Just as the paw was about to touch the soul, it was suddenly wrapped in countless red threads, which then spread across the black cat’s entire body.

Yun Qing looked closely and saw a red double knot hidden under its paw. Now the double knot extended countless red threads, binding the black cat tightly.

Bound, the black cat rapidly shrank to the size of a normal cat.

The double knot in the air extended more threads, attacking everyone present.

Jiang Baiyu pointed his steel sword to the sky, recited an incantation, and called down heavenly fire.

This heavenly fire wasn’t particularly strong, but because it happened to counter the threads, it crackled as it burned back the threads’ attack.

Yun Qing looked at the black cat on the ground with some disdain. “You’re a great spirit, yet you can’t defeat a three-hundred-year-old evil cultivator.”

The black cat raged. “I’m also three hundred years old, okay!” As soon as the words left his mouth, he stubbornly rolled on the ground and transformed back into a youth.

The youth’s amber eyes now gleamed with a wild light as he panted and wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

Yun Qing had already taken out the sixth flag.

The other five flags were planted at various positions around them.

The soul in the sky suddenly laughed lightly, “Heh.” “I’m very curious what formation you’re trying to set up.”

His tone carried a kind of arrogance that looked down on everything, quite similar to the immortal Yun Qing had met in her dream.

In these people’s eyes, the only difference between mortals and ants was perhaps the ability to speak.

Yun Qing knew she couldn’t hide it from him, so she didn’t rush. She patted the small flag in her palm and smiled, “I’m also curious why you’re still so obsessed when the people you hate died over two hundred years ago.”

“No, the people I hate have always been here. I hate all people.”

“What about Wei Sanniang? She waited for you for over two hundred years. Did you ever go see her?”

“Yes, she also waited for over two hundred years. I want her to witness with her own eyes this sinful city turning to ashes in my hands.”

“What gives you the right to decide the life and death of tens of thousands of people in an entire city?”

“To borrow your words, by the sword in my hand!” After he spoke, a jade-green sword suddenly emerged from the soul. The jade sword was normal-sized, intensely green like lush leaves growing wild after abundant rain.

The sword’s aura fiercely attacked Yun Qing. He was preventing her from planting the final flag.

Yun Qing dodged the jade sword while rushing toward the final position. The sword was too fast, and despite her nimble reactions, she had difficulty evading it. Finally, she was forced to roll on the ground.

Suddenly, she felt a coolness on her face, followed by intense pain. Something warm seemed to be flowing down her cheek.

Fu Xue was shocked. “Senior Sister!”

Her senior sister was actually injured!

Jiang Baiyu’s expression also changed as he looked at Yun Qing. But he finally kept his composure and didn’t move, silently activating a defensive formation to protect the five flags.

Fu Xue summoned two small animals in succession, a hedgehog and a crow. After slightly distracting the jade sword, they were injured by the spiritual power of the sword.

Cheng Suiyan knew this moment was extraordinary. Although he felt his cultivation had been exhausted, he still mustered his strength to open the Zhaoming Painted Bone Fan and recited another incantation, trying to scrape the last few drops of cultivation from his spiritual sea, like a parched person searching for the last few drops of water at the bottom of a bottle.

Fortunately, a familiar figure truly floated up from the fan surface again.

After appearing, the Colorful-Robed Beauty saw the jade sword pursuing Yun Qing and immediately threw her flower basket to block it. When the flower basket collided with the jade sword, it shattered into fragments of light, and the Colorful-Robed Beauty herself also transformed into fragments of light and returned to the fan.

Cheng Suiyan felt his sea of qi boiling like hot soup. He suddenly vomited a large mouthful of fresh blood.

This time, he truly had nothing left.

The soul impatiently swept the osmanthus branch several times quickly, as if swatting flies. Fu Xue and Cheng Suiyan were swept away first, engulfed by intense yin energy that instantly made them feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

Fortunately, they had at least distracted the jade sword’s attack, and Yun Qing was getting closer and closer to the final flag position.

Finally, as Ci Li was also swept by the osmanthus branch while trying to protect Yun Qing, she rolled awkwardly to that spot, suddenly jumped up, and the last flag expanded rapidly before being forcefully thrust into the ground.

“Since you insist that the strong have the right to determine the fate of the weak,” she planted the flag, gripped her dark sword before her chest, pointed it skyward, rose slowly with her toes leaving the ground, and coldly looked at the soul in the air.

“Then I can also determine your fate.”