Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 93

The sharp sound of a flute pierced the air, wailing like a cuckoo crying blood. Yun Qing felt the flute’s sound was like a silver needle striking her eardrums, causing waves of sharp pain.

She caught the returning Hundred Years of Sorrow, her feet trembling as she launched herself from the ground, holding her sword as she thrust toward the person behind the tree’s shadow.

That person put away the iron flute and likewise drew her sword, while coldly saying, “Outsider.” It was a woman’s voice, quite solemn and dignified.

Yun Qing had been studying the “Ruoxu Sword Manual” that Hanlu Zi had given her these past days, and her hands had long been itching for action. At this moment, her sword intent was like a sudden downpour that had been brewing for a long time, splashing toward the woman behind the tree’s shadow.

The woman unhurriedly raised her sword horizontally to parry. The two exchanged several moves like this, with sword qi overflowing in mid-air and branches and leaves flying wildly. The woman’s sword techniques were quite experienced, and for a moment Yun Qing couldn’t fathom her depth.

Through the wildly flying branches and leaves, Yun Qing saw her eyes.

A pair of dim, dark eyes, just like Shi Muyu’s.

At this moment, Shi Muyu softly spoke from below, “Mother.”

Yun Qing was startled and hastily withdrew her sword, falling back to the ground.

That person also sheathed her sword and landed gracefully. Her figure was extremely beautiful, but unfortunately, because she wore a light gray robe with two black hair ribbons, when falling from the air she looked like a giant moth fluttering about.

After she stood firm, everyone looked at her. Before them was a tall, strikingly beautiful woman whose actual age couldn’t be determined from her face.

Her clothing and appearance were somewhat disheveled like Shi Muyu’s, her eyes were dim and unclear like Shi Muyu’s, with both eyeballs staring vacantly without movement.

She faced everyone with a cold expression. Though her eyes couldn’t see, she seemed to have “observed” Yun Qing and the others, then her face darkened as she said to Shi Muyu:

“What did I tell you before you left? I forbade you from telling outsiders about the Shenle Clan’s affairs, and even more so from bringing outsiders into Shenle Valley! How is it that you all treat my words as if they were wind past your ears?!”

Shi Muyu carefully pressed her lips together and didn’t dare talk back.

Yun Qing cupped her hands toward the beautiful woman and said, “Greetings, senior. We are friends of younger sister Muyu.”

The beautiful woman frowned and said coldly, “Our clan never makes friends with outsiders. Please leave this place.”

Yun Qing hadn’t expected her to be so unforgiving and could only brace herself to explain, “Senior, we truly mean no harm.”

“If you insist on staying in Shenle Valley, then follow our valley’s rules and blind your eyes.”

Yun Qing suddenly understood. It seemed that everyone in Shenle Valley was blind, and most had actively blinded themselves or had it done by relatives.

This was really too…

Everyone was somewhat confused for a moment. Cheng Suiyan wanted to whisper something to Fu Xue to discuss how ruthless the Shenle Clan was, but he was afraid of offending the stern woman before them, so he could only press his lips tightly together and suppress that urge to discuss.

He looked at Fu Xue and saw that she was pinching her own lips, her upper and lower lips pressed together like a wild carp. He could tell that her urge to discuss was even stronger than his.

Yun Qing steadied herself and said, “Senior, we came to Shenle Valley only to inquire about something. We’ll leave after we finish asking and won’t disturb you.”

“Oh? What do you want to inquire about?”

“We want to know the whereabouts of Qi Guangzi Yin Fanhui.”

The other party answered without thinking, “Don’t know. Please leave.”

Yun Qing didn’t know why, but her intuition told her this person was lying.

But even if she knew about Qi Guangzi, so what? She held such hostility toward them that even if she knew, she wouldn’t tell them.

Tsk, troublesome. Should she use the Incantation of Truth? Setting aside whether this person’s cultivation was higher or lower than Baiyu’s, she was after all Muyu’s mother. As Muyu’s friends, they couldn’t very well use force…

Just as Yun Qing was struggling with this dilemma, Shi Muyu suddenly began to cry.

She cried very quietly, as if carefully suppressing her sadness to keep others from knowing, yet she really couldn’t control it and let out a little crying sound.

Such crying was actually more heart-wrenching than open weeping. The beautiful woman who was her mother’s face immediately changed, but her tone was still stiff. “You still have the nerve to cry.”

Shi Muyu lifted her sleeve and gently wiped her tears, saying softly, “Mother, they’re not bad people.”

The beautiful woman shook her head and sighed, her tone softening somewhat. “Jiujiu, you’re only how old? Can you tell good people from bad people?”

Yun Qing thought to herself, so younger sister Muyu’s nickname was Jiujiu? How cute.

Shi Muyu became somewhat indignant. “Of course I can tell the difference. I can’t see with my eyes, but my heart is very clear. They’re friends I finally managed to make, and every one of them is very good. I originally thought Mother would like them and everyone could stay in Shenle Valley for a few days, but I didn’t expect Mother would drive them away. Wuwu, Mother, I’m so sad—” The more she spoke, the sadder she became, covering her face as she sobbed painfully.

The beautiful woman frowned and said helplessly, “Stop crying.”

“Mother, do you know that Sister Yun Qing is the person I admire most most most most? She first killed the Golden-Maned Hound in Linglong City, then battled Qingcheng Zi. She’s a great hero famous throughout the outside world. I really, really can’t bear to part with them, wuwu—”

“Alright, I understand—” The beautiful woman said, turning her face toward Yun Qing and asking, “You killed Qingcheng Zi?”

Yun Qing answered, “We killed him together.” She then introduced the others, and everyone respectfully greeted this senior.

The beautiful woman pondered for a moment and said, “In that case, I’ll allow you to stay in Shenle Valley temporarily. But our valley is not peaceful right now, so we may not be able to keep you for long.”

Yun Qing smiled and said, “Thank you very much, senior.”

“Let’s go.” The beautiful woman said as she turned around, and everyone followed.

Fu Xue walked beside Shi Muyu, handing her a handkerchief to wipe her tears while saying, “Sister Muyu, your nickname is Jiujiu?”

Shi Muyu wiped her tears while answering carelessly, “Yes.”

“Such a cute nickname.”

Shi Muyu smiled and lowered her voice to say, “My mother’s full name is Shi Feijia, and her nickname is Pangpang.”

Fu Xue laughed, “Huh?”

Shi Feijia in front suddenly turned around, holding her iron flute as she lightly tapped Shi Muyu’s head.

Shi Muyu stuck out her tongue.

At this moment, the person hanging from the tree spoke. “Sister Muyu.”

Everyone turned back to look and saw Shi Qingshang’s slender body still struggling restlessly, like a lively fish tied to a grass rope.

Shi Muyu: “Ah?”

Shi Qingshang: “Sister Muyu, could you cry again?”

Shi Qingshang: “Do you have the heart to see your Brother Qingshang hanging like this?”

Shi Muyu was a bit conflicted. If tears were used consecutively, they wouldn’t be as effective.

She carefully asked Shi Feijia, “Mother, what did Brother Qingshang do wrong?”

Mentioning this, Shi Feijia said irritably, “He brought an outsider into Shenle Valley, and the next day your Uncle Wushe disappeared.”

Upon hearing this, Shi Muyu looked anxious. “What? Something happened to Uncle Wushe?!”

The person hanging from the tree protested, “Clan Leader, this is unjust! My friend has practiced the Way of Shennong for generations. They only save people, they don’t harm people.”

Yun Qing thought to herself, so this Shi Feijia was the Shenle Clan’s leader. No wonder she was so stern.

Shi Muyu asked, “Mother, then where is Brother Qingshang’s friend now?”

“I’ve locked him up.”

“Since that’s the case, then first let Brother Qingshang down, and we’ll all look for Uncle Wushe together.”

Shi Feijia naturally knew that hanging Shi Qingshang like this was useless. Now hearing her daughter say this, she drew her sword, and the sword tip precisely flicked at the rope around Shi Qingshang’s ankles. The rope instantly came undone.

Shi Qingshang fell head-first, but while in the air, his leopard-like agile waist twisted lightly, his body flipped upright, and his feet landed steadily on the ground.

His physique was athletic, and this series of movements flowed like clouds and water, quite pleasing to watch. Yun Qing’s eyes showed undisguised appreciation.

Jiang Baiyu let out a very faint snort from his nose.

After Shi Qingshang stood firm, he shook off the rope from his ankles, then strode forward to catch up with everyone. His build was comparable to Jiang Baiyu’s, with slightly darker skin, and the flush of blood on his face from hanging hadn’t completely faded yet.

This man wore all black fitted clothing, his hair meticulously combed and held by a silver hair clasp. His belt was likewise embroidered with golden phoenix feathers, matching the silk over his eyes.

Yun Qing looked at Shi Qingshang, then at Shi Muyu and Shi Feijia, and suddenly felt somewhat uncertain. She quietly asked Shi Muyu, “Is everyone in the Shenle Clan blind?”

Before Shi Muyu could answer, Shi Qingshang spoke, “Our Shenle Clan has practiced the Way of Silence for generations. To pursue the highest ideals of righteousness, we must cut off all interference from visual forms. Eyes are a burden to our clan. Therefore, everyone in our Shenle Clan has had their eyes smoked blind from birth. What, didn’t Sister Muyu tell you about this?”

Uh, she had said it but also seemed not to have said it?

Before meeting Shi Feijia, Yun Qing had always thought Shi Muyu had a cruel mother, but she hadn’t expected this was their tradition.

However, this tradition was quite cruel indeed.

After Shi Qingshang finished speaking, he extended his bound hands toward Yun Qing, smiled slightly to show a row of white teeth, and said, “Excuse me, please help me untie this.”

Yun Qing was about to lower her head to help when she was stopped by Jiang Baiyu.

Jiang Baiyu gently pushed her aside and stepped forward to help Shi Qingshang untie the bonds himself.

Shi Qingshang seemed to have discovered something interesting and smiled with the corners of his mouth curved upward.

Jiang Baiyu also let out a snort of laughter. Once, when he realized he loved Yun Qing, Jiang Baiyu had thought his discernment was quite good. But he hadn’t expected that all these men outside had discernment as good as his.

Even those without eyes still had their discernment intact.

How annoying.