Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 92

After Shi Muyu finished collecting the blood, Yun Qing learned that these two drops of blood could be stored in the Hundred Seed for twenty years. As long as they were planted according to the correct method within twenty years, they could nurture children.

Yun Qing found this quite interesting and thought to herself that she might get a Hundred Seed to play with if she had the chance in the future.

After Liang Xiao redeemed herself from Yixiang Tower, she came to bid them farewell. Yun Qing asked, “Where do you plan to go next?”

“I don’t know.” Liang Xiao shook her head and answered melancholically, “My father has already been executed, and my mother hanged herself on the day our family property was confiscated. I have no more relatives in this world. The world is so vast, yet I don’t know where my home is.”

Yun Qing thought for a moment and said, “I observe that you have good character and are very suitable for cultivation.”

“But where should I go to cultivate?”

Yun Qing wouldn’t mind her joining the Longshou Sect, but now the old temple on Longshou Mountain was empty, and it obviously wouldn’t be appropriate to have Liang Xiao go there to watch over it for them. She also couldn’t take Liang Xiao on the road, as the path ahead was dangerous.

Seeing Yun Qing’s difficulty, Jiang Baiyu said, “She could go to the Huayang Sect, or I could also recommend her to other sects.”

“What sects?”

“Any sect would do.”

Yun Qing laughed, almost forgetting that Baiyu was now the sect leader of the Huayang Sect. With his recommendation, there probably wasn’t any sect that would refuse to give him face.

Thus, everyone introduced several of the current mainstream Daoist sects to Liang Xiao. Liang Xiao couldn’t make up her mind for a while, so Jiang Baiyu simply wrote several recommendation letters at once, letting her choose slowly.

Everyone bid farewell to Liang Xiao and packed their belongings to prepare to follow Shi Muyu to Shenle Valley. Before leaving Mengliang City, Shi Muyu went to the teahouse once more and listened with lingering interest to a story about Immortal Lady Yun angrily pacifying Mingyue Tower.

Yun Qing listened to the storyteller praise her to the skies and felt so embarrassed she wanted to scratch the table.

According to the tea patrons, Immortal Lady Yun had recently come to Mengliang City, created multiple haunting incidents, and finally designed and executed the city tyrant Helan Qing, which was truly satisfying to people’s hearts.

The storyteller was urgently looking for someone to polish this story, and it would probably be published soon.

Yun Qing felt embarrassed but also somewhat relieved, thinking that they probably wouldn’t tell the story about Baiyu offering his primordial yang…

Among the tea patrons’ chatter about the immortal lady, there was also a piece of gossip mixed in:

It was said that a robbery had occurred in the outskirts of Mengliang City. A certain person surnamed Chen from Zhuze City had been robbed of an entire chest of gold by a group of bandits, who also broke his leg and threw him in a ditch. Fortunately, he was rescued by passing merchants.

When the merchants found this person, he was clutching his leg and crying, shouting “Jinniang, I know I was wrong!”

****

On a morning with clear skies, Yun Qing’s group left Mengliang City and headed deep into Liuyun Mountain.

Thick fog had risen in the mountains, and the surrounding trees and grass were covered with frost, like layers upon layers of jade flowers in bloom. Everyone walked through the jade trees and jade flowers, and before long, their hair and eyebrows were covered with a thin layer of frost.

Passing by a hot spring, the pale blue water surface was like a huge gemstone, with vapors swaying above the water, dreamlike and fantastical.

Beautiful as it was, they couldn’t see clearly beyond twenty zhang, which was truly troublesome.

In such terrible weather, they still encountered three disputes along the way, showing that Liuyun Mountain was indeed quite unsettled. Since the group was in a hurry, they didn’t stop to watch the excitement, which was a small regret.

Yun Qing was quite curious about one thing: normal people easily got lost walking in the mountains, let alone a blind person. How had Shi Muyu managed to walk out of Liuyun Mountain alone before?

So along the way, she paid close attention to Shi Muyu’s every move. She saw that when the little girl encountered uncertain paths, she would untie the panpipes from her waist and play a tune. Yun Qing felt that this action wasn’t simply for boosting morale.

Fu Xue said, “Sister Muyu is so thoughtful, understanding that we’re tired from walking and playing music for us from time to time. Baiyu, don’t you also know how to play music? Why don’t you play a piece for Sister Muyu?”

Jiang Baiyu was about to speak when Shi Muyu exclaimed “Ah!” and said, “I’m not playing for fun.”

“Then what’s your purpose?”

“I judge the shape of the mountains based on the echo of the music, thereby determining our location, so I know which way to go.”

Yun Qing raised her eyebrows. This Way of Silence was quite interesting.

But Jiang Baiyu still spoke up, because he had another matter to address. “Sister Muyu, I can cure your eyes.”

Shi Muyu was stunned for a moment, then shook her head, saying, “Thank you, but it’s not necessary. If you cure me now, when I go back, Mother will have to use poisonous smoke to blind me again. That would be too troublesome.”

Everyone’s hearts sank upon hearing this.

Thus, after walking in the thick fog for most of the day, they finally emerged from it. The sky became clear, and the vegetation in the mountains was once again draped in green. Besides this, Yun Qing also felt that the mountain air was becoming warmer.

Shi Muyu led everyone into a mountain valley. The air grew increasingly warm, and Yun Qing looked up to see several clusters of purple wildflowers hanging from the cliff walls.

Yun Qing could tell that the place they were walking through was full of maze formations, but with Shi Muyu leading the way, naturally no one would trigger the arrays.

Finally, Shi Muyu stopped in front of a large tree covered with vines. Each vine was as thick as a wrist, with moss covering their surfaces. The vines twisted and coiled, like a green waterfall hanging before everyone’s eyes.

Shi Muyu untied her panpipes and played a cheerful tune.

As she played, the large tree creaked, and the vines moved like living creatures. Before long, the wrist-thick vines all curled up, revealing a mountain gate about half a zhang wide.

Shi Muyu was the first to step through the mountain gate, while the others followed with curious expressions.

“This is Shenle Valley. All of us in the Shenle clan have the surname Shi. Everyone is very kind, but some people have been out of contact with outsiders for a long time and have somewhat eccentric temperaments.”

Walking through Shenle Valley, Yun Qing couldn’t help but marvel inwardly. This ancient clan really knew how to choose locations – the spiritual energy here was very rich!

Such a feng shui treasure land, and in Liuyun Mountain at that – over all these years, hadn’t anyone come to seize the territory?

Jiang Baiyu spoke tactfully, “Aren’t you worried about people accidentally breaking into Shenle Valley?”

“Ah, there are maze formations outside. Just now, because I was leading you through, we didn’t trigger the arrays.

Even if someone broke through the maze formations, except for the four entrances and exits, barriers are set up everywhere else in Shenle Valley. The four entrances are all guarded by tree spirits, so ordinary people can’t enter.

Even if someone wanted to force their way into Shenle Valley, we Shenle clan members aren’t pushovers either. And I heard from my mother that—”

Shi Muyu lowered her voice here, her tone quite mysterious, “Our Shenle Valley has formations laid down by Goddess Shengxi. Every so often, Shenle Valley changes its location.”

Ci Li found this somewhat unbelievable. “The entire Shenle Valley?”

“Yes! But it hasn’t moved since I was born, so I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

Yun Qing marveled secretly – such immense power was truly worthy of a deity.

Fu Xue said, “Were those vines outside tree spirits? Why didn’t they speak to us?”

Shi Muyu laughed, “There are countless spirits in the world, but those who can cultivate to become great spirits like Brother Ci Li are truly one in ten thousand. The tree spirit at the mountain gate can’t speak yet. If it cultivates more intelligence, it would probably run away.”

The group chatted and laughed as they walked, when they suddenly heard someone faintly shouting “Help!” in the distance.

Everyone looked at each other and followed the sound.

Crossing through grass clusters heavy with seeds, ahead was a dense forest. As they got closer, the voice became clearer – it was a clear, bright male voice:

“Help! Please let me down first, okay? Hanging like this will kill someone! I’m so dizzy, someone’s going to die…”

Shi Muyu exclaimed “Eh?” somewhat uncertainly, “Brother Qingshang?”

The person calling for help had excellent hearing and could still hear Shi Muyu’s whisper from such a distance. This time he didn’t shout for help, but called out loudly, “Sister Muyu? Is that you? Come save me quickly!”

Shi Muyu happily ran toward the source of the voice. “Brother Qingshang, you’re back!”

Yun Qing and the others exchanged glances and hurried to follow. After winding through the forest for a while, they saw the person.

A tall, slender man was tied by his ankles and hanging upside down from a large ginkgo tree, restlessly twisting his body.

Perhaps because this mountain valley was warmer than outside, even though it was now deep winter, the tree’s golden leaves hadn’t completely fallen yet.

The man’s wrists were also firmly bound, hanging below his head.

His face was flushed red from the blood rushing to his head, and his eyes were covered with a silk band about an inch wide. The black silk was symmetrically embroidered with two phoenix tails in gold thread, with simple yet flowing lines.

This silk band was tied behind his head, and the ribbons hung down due to his inverted position, swaying with his struggles.

Shi Muyu said excitedly, “Brother Qingshang, it really is you! When did you return?”

The man called Brother Qingshang said, “Sister Muyu, now is not the time to talk about this. Please let me down first.”

“Yes!” Shi Muyu said, drawing her sword.

This Brother Qingshang suddenly said from above, “Xiaobao, long time no see.”

Yun Qing looked left and right – was there someone else here? Shi Xiaobao?

After looking around for a while, she didn’t see anyone else.

Fu Xue asked Shi Muyu, “Sister Muyu, who is Xiaobao?”

“It’s my sword.”

“…”

A bit strange, yet also a bit cute.

Shi Muyu suddenly flicked her wrist, and the Xiaobao sword flew out, slashing toward the rope above Shi Qingshang’s ankles.

The rope looked ordinary, but it turned out to be extremely resilient. When struck by the sword blade, it only bent slightly, then bounced Xiaobao back.

Shi Muyu caught Xiaobao and said with some difficulty, “Brother Qingshang, what should we do? I can’t cut through it. This rope must be the Evil-Binding Cord made by Uncle Wushe.”

Shi Qingshang: “My good sister, you’re so clever. Do these tree branches bite people? Why must you cut the rope?”

“Oh, right.”

Shi Muyu was about to activate Xiaobao again when Yun Qing, who hadn’t drawn her sword in a long time and was feeling restless, said, “Let me.” She then drew Hundred Years of Sorrow.

With a clear ring, Hundred Years of Sorrow left its sheath, and Shi Qingshang above, hearing this sound, couldn’t help but praise, “Good sword!”

A silver rainbow of sword light flew toward the branch from which Shi Qingshang hung, but before the blade reached the branch, it was blocked midway by a slender black object.

With a “clang,” the sound of metal clashing accompanied sparks scraped from the blade, and then Hundred Years of Sorrow retreated toward Yun Qing.

Yun Qing’s expression grew stern. Looking closely, what had blocked Hundred Years of Sorrow was an iron flute.

Such a fast iron flute!

After blocking the sword blade, the iron flute flew toward the treetop. Yun Qing followed the flute’s trajectory and looked up, seeing a figure faintly visible behind the dappled tree shadows.

The sound of the flute suddenly began to play.