Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 69

The group was startled and looked in the direction of the voice, seeing a person emerge from behind the pine tree.

When Hanlu Zi saw that person, she immediately said angrily, “You wretch, you still dare to come?!” As she spoke, she moved to draw Yun Qing’s sword again.

Jiang Baiyu stopped her, “Senior, please calm your anger. This matter concerns the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus, so let’s hear what he has to say.”

The person who had come was indeed Yu Beiting.

Yu Beiting approached unhurriedly, carrying his sword. He first glanced at Hanlu Zi, his leopard-like eyes revealing no particular emotion.

Then, he looked at Yun Qing with a somewhat casual air and smiled, “Little girl, your formation is quite interesting. Did you escape the same way last time?”

Yun Qing said impassively, “It was still broken by you.”

“That’s not your fault. When I usually pass by this grave, I always come to take a look, and even if I don’t look, I think about it. Today I actually walked straight past without thinking about it even once. Tell me, wouldn’t I find that strange?”

Yun Qing was somewhat speechless. So her mistake was in setting up such a formation?

She had never felt so directly what it meant to “do something unnecessary.”

She snorted lightly and said, “Get to the point.” She gestured with her chin toward Jiang Baiyu’s direction, “Who exactly is he?”

Yu Beiting shook his head, “That’s not the point.”

Yun Qing looked at him inexplicably, “Then what do you say is the point?”

“The point is, don’t chat in front of someone’s grave. It’s very impolite to disturb others’ sleep.”

This person really was…

Everyone complied with his request and moved away from the burial ground.

Yun Qing remained wary of Yu Beiting’s potential tricks while also guarding against pursuing enemies, so her fingers kept stroking the bracelet on her wrist, preparing to flee at the first sign of trouble.

After walking deeper into the forest for a long time, finally Hanlu Zi said impatiently, “Now you can speak, can’t you?”

“Naturally.” Yu Beiting seemed to want to gain their trust, so he actively threw his sword to the ground, sat cross-legged, and said, “This matter has to start from twenty years ago.”

Everyone knew that in that year, Saint Xi had manifested to control the floods and rescue countless people, but very few mentioned that just the year after Saint Xi controlled the floods, drought demons ran rampant, leaving the land barren for thousands of li. The Central Plains suffered consecutive years of great drought, and a third of the population perished.

During those years, all the immortal sects had experiences of taking in abandoned children.

Hearing this, Yun Qing couldn’t help but nod. The reason she had been abandoned by her parents was also connected to those years of natural disasters. Moreover, according to her master, Fu Xue had also been found by him.

Fu Xue was more fortunate than her in that when she was abandoned, she was still in swaddling clothes and couldn’t remember, so she wouldn’t retain the painful memory of being abandoned by her closest relatives.

Fu Xue asked, “So, was Baiyu also found?”

Yu Beiting shook his head, “Not entirely.”

At that time, besides the drought demons, there were also some other ancient demon beasts running rampant, but because their numbers were small, they didn’t cause large-scale damage.

The atmosphere of the Huayang Sect at that time was not like what it was now.

Under the management of the two successive sect leaders, Huayang Zi and Tuishan Zi, the Huayang Sect had always taken it upon themselves to eliminate demons and protect the Dao, frequently descending the mountain to catch demons. Their reputation in the martial world was quite good, and if common people discovered demons harming the world, they would run to Huayang Mountain to report it.

Huayang Zi had eight direct disciples, among whom Tuishan Zi Yu Wanzhi and Miansong Zi Jiang Binghe were the most outstanding.

Yu Wanzhi was gentle and sincere, while Jiang Binghe was proud and upright. Both were people of extraordinary talent and high cultivation, and being handsome as well, they were called the Twin Gems of Huayang, which became a great tale in the martial world.

These two senior and junior brothers had an extremely good relationship. When Jiang Binghe was young, he had even risked his life to save Yu Wanzhi, so they were not only senior and junior brothers but also the closest of friends.

Because their relationship was so good, there were even busybodies who spread ridiculous rumors, saying they were brothers during the day and dao companions at night.

One day, Yu Wanzhi’s subordinates came to report that a pack of ferocious beasts had appeared five hundred li southwest of Huayang Mountain.

This was no small matter, so Yu Wanzhi planned to go see for himself. Just as he was preparing to set out, someone else came to report that there was a drought demon six hundred li northeast of Huayang Mountain.

These two locations were in opposite directions, and Yu Wanzhi couldn’t be in two places at once. At that time, capable elders like Hanlu Zi and Qingwei Zi were all out eliminating demons and had not yet returned, so below Yu Wanzhi, only Jiang Binghe was capable of handling the situation.

“Senior Brother, I’ll go kill that drought demon!” Jiang Binghe said.

Yu Wanzhi had no better choice, so he could only say, “Junior Brother, be extremely careful.”

“Senior Brother, rest assured. If I don’t kill it, I won’t come back either.”

This was exactly what Yu Wanzhi feared. His junior brother was rebellious and stubborn, often getting stuck in dead ends, and would risk his life to achieve a result. After thinking it over, Yu Wanzhi took out the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror and said, “Junior Brother, take this with you.”

“Senior Brother, this…?!” Jiang Binghe didn’t dare accept it. This Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror was an immortal artifact left by their master to the senior brother; how could others have the right to touch it?

Yu Wanzhi smiled and said, “It’s fine. We are brothers; why should we distinguish between yours and mine?”

Jiang Binghe’s eyes then reddened, and he accepted the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror. Yu Wanzhi carefully taught him the incantations.

After Yu Wanzhi’s disciples learned of this, they had some complaints, but since their master and martial uncle had such a deep relationship, they couldn’t say much. If they said anything, it would seem like the disciples were trying to sow discord.

Thus, Yu Wanzhi hurriedly set out with two disciples.

Yu Wanzhi had four direct disciples in total. This time he brought down the mountain Zhang Yinmo and Fang Hongyu, while his other two disciples, Ji Yunche and Tan Jingshu, remained at the sect.

The master and two disciples used swift-travel techniques and headed southwest for about half a day when they saw a manor.

The manor had white walls and black tiles, with collapsed walls, hidden among a large grove of willow trees. Due to the drought, more than half of the willows had died, and the remaining half were half-withered and half-flourishing, likely to die at any moment.

Since the drought demons had run rampant, such ruined households often appeared. The master and two disciples paid no attention and were about to pass by.

Suddenly, they heard a commotion from inside the manor, mixed with the crying of a small child.

It turned out that this manor had just been occupied by a group of refugees.

This group of hungry refugees had assumed that such a large manor would surely have plenty of grain, but after searching for a long time, they found not a single grain. The pot contained a pile of wild vegetables and leaves, plus a few small insects they had caught.

In the manor, there was only a couple about twenty years old, guarding a baby in swaddling clothes.

The refugees first killed the man, then grabbed the woman to assault her, but the woman found an opportunity and killed herself by hitting her head against a wall.

Several refugees refused to let her go and began stripping her clothes around her corpse. Other refugees ate the pot of wild vegetables and insects, while still others planned to eat the tender baby first, then eat the couple afterward.

When Yu Wanzhi and his disciples entered, they heard the refugees discussing whether to cook the baby directly or to prepare it carefully like killing a chicken before cooking.

Seeing several people with red eyes stripping clothes from the dead woman, Fang Hongyu became angry and killed all these refugees first.

After a brief interrogation, they discovered that every one of these refugees had eaten human flesh.

Anyone who had eaten human flesh could be considered no different from beasts, so they showed no mercy and killed them all, then used incantations to call down heavenly fire to burn the corpses completely.

They buried the couple and picked up the baby to continue their journey. The baby was so hungry it was skin and bones, and they didn’t know how much longer it could live.

On the road, Zhang Yinmo caught a lactating leopard to feed the baby some milk, and Yu Wanzhi transferred some of his cultivation to the baby to maintain its life force.

The baby’s complexion quickly became rosy, and its big, dark eyes also became bright.

Yu Wanzhi felt this was unusual. His cultivation had too obvious an effect on the child, which meant this child’s body might be very suitable for cultivation.

He then felt the child’s bones, and after finishing, he looked up to the sky and laughed loudly. “Heaven blesses our Huayang!”

Zhang Yinmo asked curiously, “Master, how is it?”

“Exceptional bone structure, truly once in a hundred years. As long as his future comprehension isn’t poor, he will definitely achieve great things!”

Fang Hongyu poked the baby’s little cheek and smiled, “Looking at his face, his comprehension shouldn’t be bad. Look at those little eyes.”

Zhang Yinmo said, “Master, are you planning to take him as a direct disciple?”

“Naturally. After we finish dealing with the ferocious beasts and return, I’ll formally accept him.”

Zhang Yinmo and Fang Hongyu happily called this little fellow “Little Junior Brother.”

Actually, speaking of disciples, Yu Wanzhi had some regrets.

His four direct disciples naturally all had good aptitude and worked very hard, and he had always cherished his disciples.

But somehow, whether it was the birth chart or something else, his four disciples worked hard, but the direction of their efforts was somewhat peculiar—so peculiar that Yu Wanzhi hoped they wouldn’t work so hard.

His eldest disciple, Ji Yunche, was obsessed with beast-taming arts. Whenever he was outside, he would bring back any small animal he found. His courtyard was so messy there was nowhere to step, and when Yu Wanzhi went to his courtyard for tea once, rats ran up his pant legs three times.

His second disciple, Zhang Yinmo, loved mechanical arts and spent most of his daily energy on researching mechanisms. He had once invented a giant crossbow and during testing, one arrow blew off the roof of Changsheng Hall, nearly causing a great disaster.

His third disciple, Fang Hongyu, was a painting fanatic who had once foolishly hoped that her master would abolish her cultivation so she could start over and enter the Dao through painting. This had forced Yu Wanzhi, who was usually gentle and kind, to actually scold someone.

His youngest disciple, Tan Jingshu, was also a talent—she was obsessed with story books.

She not only read story books but also wrote them herself. She had left behind quite a few popular stories in Immortal-Seeking Town and had even written about the “those years” of her eldest and second senior brothers, which Zhang Yinmo caught her doing and gave her a good scolding.

In short, with these four good disciples as “precedent,” Yu Wanzhi had high hopes for the newly found baby while also feeling quite anxious.

He was unwilling to hastily give this future little disciple a name and planned to carefully consult the classics when he returned to the sect to choose a proper one.

The three of them, carrying this baby, arrived at the location where the ferocious beasts were rumored to appear and indeed saw the ferocious beasts.

This was a small village built at the foot of a mountain cliff. About a hundred ferocious beasts had just finished ravaging this village and were resting after eating and drinking their fill. The air was filled with the smell of blood.

Yu Wanzhi’s expression was serious. Ferocious beasts were one thing individually, but a pack was a completely different concept—the more there were, the more troublesome they became. The master and two disciples spent considerable effort before finally clearing them all out.

After clearing the ferocious beasts, they sat among the corpses to rest. The baby in Fang Hongyu’s arms suddenly began crying heart-rendingly, stretching out its little hands and struggling, though it was unclear whether it was hungry or something else.

While Fang Hongyu gently patted the baby’s back, she said to Yu Wanzhi, “Master, I’ll look around to see if there are any cows or sheep that can provide milk.”

Yu Wanzhi was just about to speak when he suddenly noticed the sky had changed.

Right above their heads, an enormous moon was rapidly rising. The moon’s tremendous pressure caused the surrounding space to distort somewhat.

No, that wasn’t a moon.

As the sect leader of Huayang Sect and holder of the Jade River Sky-Shaking Mirror, Yu Wanzhi knew all too well what that was.