Chapter 93 Famine Guanyin Soil

Wandering the world in countless layers, with no fixed abode, she constantly travels to every corner of the globe, gathering believers with coin-like eyes. Taking on disciples is her pleasure, or perhaps, she simply enjoys the feeling of bestowing magical power upon mortals.

Shen Cangyu had seen Wan Qianzhong's past self through the notes she left in Kunlun. In her memory, Wan Qianzhong was devoted to studying mental arts, simplifying complex concepts, and hoping to enable more mortals to master the ability of mental arts. She disliked Taoist magic, believing it to be something that could be achieved overnight and could only favor those with innate intelligence.

But now, how is the way Wan Qianzhong constantly casts the Taoist magic coin eye on people any different from those Taoist magic holders she used to hate?

Perhaps people always change.

"Doesn't she have a home as she travels around?" Shen Cangyu asked.

“She doesn’t need a home; she sees everyone as a burden.” This includes Pei Wenjing. That’s why, after Wan Qian was reborn as Pei Wenjing, she abandoned him without even giving him a name.

Countless souls yearn for freedom and wanderlust, like a snail carrying its home on its back; wherever it goes, that's its home. It doesn't need a fixed abode or a fixed family.

Pei Wenjing used to hate her. Wan Qianzhong gave him life, but nothing else. He didn't understand why Wan Qianzhong would give birth to him if she truly had no feelings for him. In a later life, Pei Wenjing went to find Wan Qianzhong to find the answer to this question.

"That's your life, your lessons, your karma. What does it have to do with me? From the moment the umbilical cord between us was cut, we were even."

The cold and indifferent appearance of Wan Qianzhong reminded him of Shen Cangyu.

Shen Cangyu spared his life and saved him from dire straits, making him fall in love with her and making him feel that the world wasn't completely hopeless. But then, at the very moment he loved her most, she chose to self-destruct her soul.

She was also cruel and ruthless, but now Shen Cangyu had lost his memories of the past, and he had no way of finding the answer to why he left back then from her.

Upon hearing Pei Wenjing's words, Shen Cangyu paused for a moment without speaking. The Wan Qianzhong that Pei Wenjing mentioned was very similar to her. In this respect, her thoughts also aligned with Wan Qianzhong's. They were both extremely independent people who separated themselves from everyone else.

However, Shen Cangyu differs from her in that Shen Cangyu doesn't draw such a clear line between herself and others. From a character design perspective, Wan Qianzhong is the kind of lone wolf readers desire; she doesn't allow anyone into her circle, and her relationships with others are purely transactional, devoid of genuine affection. Shen Cangyu needs teammates, while Wan Qianzhong doesn't.

Such a stubborn person who doesn't trust others, she naturally treats so many of her coin-eyed disciples as her own resources. She doesn't do unprofitable deals, and she doesn't trust others to manage these people. She will definitely monitor everyone's movements personally so that their actions don't deviate from her plan.

Thousands of spirits can come and go as they please? Shen Cangyu will not allow it.

She made a hand seal and touched her right wrist. A red light appeared, and after a long while, a red thread slowly floated out from her palm.

Relying on the Daoist imprints left on her hands by Wan Qianzhong, Shen Cangyu forcefully pulled out a causal line to trace the direction of Wan Qianzhong.

Pei Wenjing's face suddenly darkened as he looked at the causal thread in Shen Cangyu's hand.

He had thousands of causal threads pointing to Shen Cangyu, but Shen Cangyu refused to return a single one to him. In the past, he could comfort himself by thinking that it didn't matter, Shen Cangyu didn't love anyone, and she would never give any causal thread to anyone else, and he was no exception.

But now the first causal link that Shen Cangyu has pulled out is actually for that woman, not for him!

[Love-obsessed mind goes wild]

Great news!

A huge barrage of comments suddenly appeared in front of Shen Cangyu's eyes.

"?"

What is that?

Shen Cangyu turned to look at Pei Wenjing beside her. Pei Wenjing stared at her, then at the red thread in her hand. Smelling the strong scent of jealousy, Shen Cangyu finally understood. Pei Wenjing's infatuation had flared up again; he was even jealous of his own mother.

Shen Cangyu thought for a moment, then raised his hand and patted Pei Wenjing's shoulder: "Want to come with me?"

In that instant, Pei Wenjing seemed to melt. He had been waiting for these words for a long time. He said, "Where do you want to go? I'll take you there." He could teleport and also burrow underground. He had many abilities. As long as Shen Cangyu gave the order, he could set off immediately.

"No need, I have a fish cart." Shen Cangyu raised his hand, and a large fish appeared out of thin air.

As her memories of Kunlun gradually returned over the years, she also gradually mastered the abilities of various Daoist techniques. Shen Cangyu had previously speculated whether a person could only possess one Daoist technique in their lifetime. But now she understood that as long as she could comprehend all Daoist techniques, she could obtain the power of all of them.

In her first life, Shen Cangyu possessed the power of various schools of Daoist arts, making her omnipotent. However, in her first life, she obtained these powers through popularity and the system's assistance. She was the protagonist, and protagonists always combine the strengths of many schools. That was her cheat code.

The current Shen Cangyu isn't using a system, nor has she redeemed any cheat codes from the shop. She gains these powers because she understands and accepts the underlying principles of all Daoist arts. As long as she embraces all things, her river can flow towards any Daoist art.

Shen Cangyu leaped into the air from the fish-drawn carriage, the wind ruffling her clothes. Pei Wenjing watched her retreating figure, and for a moment, he seemed to see her from the past again.

Pei Wenjing had also tried, wanting to understand the various schools of Daoist arts like Shen Cangyu and attempt to master their abilities. But he failed.

Although different schools of Taoism have similarities, their underlying origins are completely different. Unlike water, which can be divided into different fragments, humans can only reach one outcome.

Only the Shencang Jade is different.

That's why Pei Wenjing felt that Shen Cangyu was a deity who came to observe the human world, since these were things that humans couldn't do, but deities could.

Therefore, for an ordinary human being to presume to retain a god is nothing short of wishful thinking.

But he never said these words to Shen Cangyu.

God is perfect, while He is flawed in every way; He knows He is unworthy. He is like the monkey trying to scoop the moon out of the water, never worthy to keep the moon.

The fish cart crossed the mountains, and the red line stopped on the north bank of the river.

The earth was cracked, yellow sand filled the sky, and the sun was blazing overhead. Shen Cangyu realized that it was September.

In September, Kunlun is filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. The summer heat has faded, and the cold winter has not yet arrived; the temperature is just right. But the mortal world outside the mountains does not possess the spiritual energy of Kunlun or the ability to reverse the climate. After a scorching heat, the sky does not rain, the grass and trees wither, the well water burns out, and another year of famine ensues.

The hay huts on the ground were empty, with nothing inside; the entire village had become a deserted village.

With no rain and no water or food, people had to leave their villages and begin a long migration to new places in search of food.

Shen Cangyu recalled that her grandmother had said that she was born in such a barren and desolate place.

A severe drought and famine struck, leaving the village without food. As the drought lingered, they took their last remaining food and began their migration.

Humans are social animals, and living in groups always brings them benefits during migration. They cooperate and divide tasks; some forage for food, while others navigate, increasing their chances of survival. It's a situation with both advantages and disadvantages.

The bad thing is that if they can't find food, they'll turn to other people. During their migrations, the old, weak, and disabled become targets for many. Cannibalism becomes extremely common at this time.

Fearing that her child would be stolen, cooked, and eaten at night, Shen Cangyu's mother left the crowd early and went far away alone.

Shen Cangyu held onto the red thread in her hand and walked until she reached the end of the village. There she saw a large house with a wooden fence around it, and judging from its appearance, someone must live inside.

As she walked toward the house, her gaze met a pair of wary eyes through the torn paper window.

Cultivators who enter the mortal world always observe people, remaining detached from them and never interfering in their lives. But Shen Cangyu pushed open the wooden railing and went inside.

She pushed the wooden door of the house, and the door wobbled but did not open. The man had locked the door from the inside.

Shen Cangyu raised her hand and waved it, causing the door latch to clatter to the ground. A sour, foul smell wafted out, and she saw the scene inside the room.

The room was filled with clutter, hay, and hardened mud. The windows hadn't been opened in a long time, so a sour, human stench wafted through the air. As Shen Cangyu pushed open the door, the woman inside rushed to the doorway, holding a stick and watching her warily with the eyes of a fierce, protective beast.

Inside the room, there were faint cries of a baby and the soft whispers of a child trying to soothe the infant.

There was more than one child in the house. No wonder the woman was so protective of the house; she was afraid they would take her child away.

Shen Cangyu's gaze swept over the woman's wispy limbs and skin covered in wounds, finally settling on her unusually protruding abdomen, as if she were six months pregnant.

But what was inside her belly wasn't a child, it was mud.

For some reason, this thought popped into Shen Cangyu's mind, as if she had seen this scene with her own eyes.

During famines, when tree bark and grass roots were all gone, people ate dirt when they had no other food. They called the dirt "Guanyin soil," and swallowing it would relieve their hunger.

The woman ate the clay, and her body absorbed the nutrients from the clay, transforming them into flesh and blood. She then used a knife to cut open the skin on her hands and fed her child with the blood, thus prolonging her life.

When Shen Cangyu's mother escaped the famine, she finally reached a mountain covered with green trees and entrusted her child to her grandmother. Even though she had arrived at the oasis, she could not survive, and this was the reason.

What flowed through her body was no longer blood, but mud. She used the mud to prolong her life, but the mud could not keep her alive.

Shen Cangyu only wanted to find Wan Qianzhong, but little did he know that during his journey to trace the origins, he seemed to vaguely see his own past.