Chapter 17 Snow Falls Before the River

The little boy who was picked up rushed down the stairs and ran out, his hoarse roar was terrifying.

Wu Lu used his crutch to stop him, and the boy rolled to the ground, holding his head and crying.

"I'm sorry, I didn't stop you." Xun Yan followed behind, spreading her hands with a smile on her face and said, "Young guest, you should go back to your room and rest..."

Everyone hurriedly lifted him up, and Cang Ming was still saying to the boy in vain: "These are all good people... good people..."

Behind her, amidst the cries, Wei Qiang said, "This child is from Shiqiyan? Then I... know what's going on."

Xisheng threw a talisman, hitting the boy squarely on the forehead. The boy collapsed limply, his lips tightly locked together, only his eyes darting around in fear.

"I'm sorry, sir, please sit for a moment." Xunyan helped him to the elegant chair.

"Go ahead." Xisheng clapped his hands and said to Wei Qiang indifferently.

Wei Qiang glanced at the little boy and said hesitantly, "I, I really am telling you."

"Hey, this is fake." Wu Lu urged, "Brother Wei, tell me quickly."

Wei Qiang hesitated for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Music Fairy, do you have any wine?"

Xun Yan went to the kitchen to get a bowl of wine, and handed it to Wei Qiang with a grin. Wei Qiang took it and drank it in one gulp, then put the bowl down with a slam: "Old Guilian almost molested me!"

The sound of the thunderclap was so shocking that everyone stumbled. With a loud crash, the wine bowl shattered into eight pieces.

Wei Qiang sat upright, his fists clenched on his knees, his fair cheeks quickly turning redder than his clothes.

Cang Ming patiently comforted her, "Don't be shy, just say it out. It will be fine once you say it out."

Wei Qiang coughed dryly and said, "I'm ashamed. I'm a martial arts Taoist priest, but I was almost killed by a demon... That old guy is elusive and travels around the country. His greatest joy in life is to capture handsome men alive and bring them back to Seventeen Smoke to molest them..."

"And then they raped her, killed her, and threw her into the underground palace?" Cang Ming shuddered. "There are six corpses hanging on the wall, arranged in a lotus-shaped curse formation."

"A cursed formation?" Wei Qiang shook his head. "I haven't seen that. Last time I went into Shiqiyan to collect herbs, I was ambushed and hypnotized by an old man. Fortunately, Tian Xinshu, who was passing by, saved me."

"But this time we didn't see the old ghost, but we did see a lot of embroidered shoes and a small statue of Tian Xinshu." Cang Ming pondered, "If she was in cahoots with this old man, how could she have saved you?"

"That snow sculpture is naturally moody," Wu Lu said as a matter of course. "Perhaps she had a falling out with the old immortal, and in a fit of rage, she saved Brother Wei and then set a curse in the stone fortress..."

Cang Ming rubbed his temples and muttered to himself with a headache: "Isn't there a thousand possibilities..."

Sitting on that armchair, the boy looked like a piece of rags forgotten by the world.

Xisheng reached out to remove the spell from his forehead, but he remained motionless, as if he had withered and decayed. A silent and invisible despair and deathly silence appeared on his face.

Cang Ming whispered, "Take him back to the room. Mi Xia, if possible, please take care of him..."

The broken jobs in the three blocks of Xiyuan gradually turned into pieces.

From early morning to dusk, a crisp sound often came from a guest room upstairs. Then Mixia came downstairs with a sad smile on her face and said to Wu Lu, "Boss, that young man threw the food away again."

The little boy had spoken only one sentence since arriving at Xiyuan Sanfang. One day, after Cang Ming brought him a bowl of porridge and asked him his name, he said, "Hua Yi. Please let me die."

Then Hua Yi smashed the bowl of porridge.

As the sounds of crying and breaking porcelain rang out for the umpteenth time, Cang Ming grabbed his mask and said to Wei Qiang, who was about to go out to prepare medicine, "The bowls are almost used up. Buy a few more. I'll go out with you."

The two walked onto the street, leaving the irritating noise behind, and looked at each other guiltily.

Cang Ming said, "Brother Wei, which hospitals are you going to treat today? Let me help you."

Wei Qiang readily accepted: "That's great, thank you, Ghost Buster."

"Brother Wei, I'm actually quite curious," Cang Ming glanced at him through his mask, "What herbs are there in Seventeen Smoke that are worth picking?"

If she had to talk about herbs, she remembered that there were only some mold and moss in the Seventeen Cigarettes.

Wei Qiang used his tickler to pick up the broken basket and proudly put it on his shoulder: "Ghost Buster, you don't know this. The Seventeen Smoke looks like a barren land full of rocks, but it is actually the favorite hiding place of a kind of spiritual herb."

"Oh." Cang Ming nodded, politely applauding, "This is really unexpected."

"Of course! What kind of magical herb do you think that is?" Wei Qiang looked around mysteriously. Apart from a few vegetable vendors and funeral processions on the street, no one paid any attention to them.

He turned his head back and said in a deliberately low voice, "It's a ginseng doll!"

“…”

"Ghost Buster, don't disbelieve it." Wei Qiang laughed. "Although this is just a folk legend, it's true. When ginseng becomes a spirit, it runs around everywhere and can run for a long distance."

"Is this true?" Cang Ming suddenly cheered up and smiled happily.

"Otherwise, why do we in the Old Ginseng Sect love to wear red clothes?" Wei Qiang explained vividly, "Because the red cloth can cover the ginseng doll!"

Cang Ming slapped his thigh and said, "No wonder you sneaked into a place like Shiqiyan's!"

Wei Qiang said, "I'm not in league with demons and ghosts. Ghost Buster, you're really suspicious by nature."

Cang Ming said, "You don't seem to be in cahoots with Lao Gui. I suspect something else."

"Oh?" Wei Qiang walked away cautiously, pointing to a hillside in the distance. "I'm going to go dig herbs over there. Let's talk another day."

Cang Ming smiled and said, "What is there to be afraid of?"

Wei Qiang immediately said, "Who said I dare not listen? Just ask."

Cang Ming folded his arms and looked at him. He said nervously: "Gui Wenxing, you are the master... No, no, no, I mean..."

"The Old Ginseng Sect has a deep foundation and is thriving. Why do disciples need to travel all the way south to collect ginseng in the ghost village?" Cang Ming raised an eyebrow. "I imagine your sect's alchemy room has all kinds of rare and precious medicinal herbs."

Wei Qiang was speechless and groaned for a long time before he suddenly said dejectedly, "Ghost Buster, I'm telling you the truth. I betrayed my master and escaped quietly."

Cang Ming raised his head and smiled, "I guessed you were running away. I just didn't expect you to betray your master."

Wei Qiang was silent for a while, then said, "My father, he is actually the master of the Lao Can sect."

"That's amazing." Cang Ming gave a thumbs up, "So it's the Young Master."

Wei Qiang smiled bitterly and said, "I'm not much more glorious than you. My father ran into a demon king and his golden core was destroyed. I was so worried that I almost died. I observed the stars and used divination... but in the end, I calculated that... I should give my cultivation to my father in order to save his life."

Cang Ming was caught off guard, sighed, and asked sympathetically, "How is the old man now?"

Wei Qiang said vaguely: "Maybe he's hanging on by some rare and miraculous medicine... I don't know."

Cang Ming carefully considered for a moment and said, "Everyone has their own karma. I shouldn't say too much. Just don't leave any regrets in the future."

"I'm not very talented. If I disperse my cultivation, I'll never get it back."

He stopped and looked up at the sky in confusion. The clouds were heavy, like gray waves falling towards the ghost town.

Wei Qiang carried the herbs, Cang Ming carried the pot. They walked into the last house of the day, and as soon as they entered the house, they set up the pot in the middle and skillfully boiled the medicinal soup.

A woman was hidden under the tattered linen on the bed. She was as thin as a piece of paper. She glanced at them and then closed her eyes.

Cang Ming stared at her for a while, and suddenly recognized her as the sister-in-law who had fought in the street that day. He unexpectedly felt a sense of familiarity, so he asked, "Did you find your daughter?"

The eldest sister-in-law groaned weakly, and a little girl crawled out from under the bed, scaring both Cang Ming and Wei Qiang.

The little girl said, "My mother pulled me out of the water."

Wei Qiang put the medicine into the pot and said, "Congratulations."

The little girl added, "But my mother has the plague."

"Ah..." Wei Qiang changed his tone, "I really don't like this."

The eldest sister-in-law glanced at her daughter, her eyes moist. When her daughter climbed onto the bed and snuggled up to her, she immediately said, "Get down! Mom's illness is contagious. Get under the bed!"

After saying that, the sister-in-law got so angry that she started coughing and almost vomited.

But the little girl lay down beside her and said, "I'm going to stick to you."

Wei Qiang sighed and began to stir the medicine soup in the pot according to the directions of the Eight Diagrams and astrology, and then pasted big red talisman paper on the four corners of the room.

Cang Ming had nothing to do, so he stared blankly at the mother and daughter and said, "Sometimes I feel that even this is worth envying."

For a moment, she suddenly longed to see Wei Ci. It seemed that just standing in front of him would be like standing in front of a stove to keep warm.

Without giving it much thought, as if overwhelmed by the alluring light of the stove, Cang Ming suddenly stood up and said, "I'm leaving first."

Wei Qiang said, "Go ahead, but the sky seems to be very overcast..."

Cang Ming had already flown towards the ancient building.

Wei Ci sat down under a big tree in front of the building again, just like the day they first met. Cang Ming stopped, took off his mask and looked at him. His eyes slowly lit up.

Wei Ci stood up and walked in front of her: "General, this is the first time you have taken the initiative to come to me."

"I..." Cang Ming's heart suddenly turned cold, thinking of his wife, "I came to return the clothes."

With a snap of his fingers, he summoned the fairy's colorful clothes and said lightly, "Thank you for the clothes. I have washed them. I hope you don't mind."

Wei Ci was stunned for a moment, put away the clothes, and said, "This is not mine."

"Oh." Cang Ming said politely, "I'll take my leave first."

"General," he said sadly, "there are no customers in the antique shop today. It's really boring."

Cang Ming said, "I think your business is booming, so you can use this day."

He said, "General, why don't you come in for a drink and rest your feet? We need to plan carefully to capture Old Ghost Lian."

Cang Ming was greatly surprised: "It's rare to see you getting involved in such matters."

"Because I'm very free." Wei Ci said with a smile.

"The three of us are discussing this matter, so we won't bother you anymore." Cang Ming turned his head and looked at the sparse forest. "We can't always drag you into it. You've helped us enough."

Wei Ci didn't speak for a long time. He waved his hand silently to open the main door of the ancient building, then turned around and looked at Cang Ming with earnest eyes.

Cang Ming felt something in his heart and thought that it was indeed too lonely and boring for him to run the antique shop, so he slowly walked over.

The building was dim and the waterfall had frozen into a piece of ice, hanging down from the sky, silent and exciting.

The waiter brought warm wine and poured a glass for Cang Ming without saying goodbye.

Suddenly, a flurry of white snow fell from the sky, swirling with the wind, and the world was filled with flying snowflakes.

Cang Ming reached out and gently caught the goose-feather-like snowflakes, then looked up at the dome, which was hazy.

Her tears rolled down one by one, snow fell on her head and body, and she seemed to be hidden in layers of snow curtains.

Wei Ci looked at her at a loss, not knowing where to put his hands and feet. After a long while, he said dully, "General, why are you crying?"