Perhaps it's because he was wrong.
Why didn't he keep running? Why did he stop?
Why isn't he afraid of the flames that will kill his people?
Because he had already seen things more terrifying than fire.
——
After leaving the cemetery that had been submerged by the sea, the little dog led the four of them on a tour of various places in the mountains.
There was no sunlight here, and everything was shrouded in mist. Xie Shuci couldn't feel the passage of time. They couldn't say for sure how much time had passed since they came down.
"Where are the ruins of the Banxia clan?" Xie Shuci asked.
The puppy shook its head. "There's nothing left there."
According to the genealogy, after the Banxia clan died tragically, the villagers belatedly realized the terrible mistake they had made. Fearing retribution from their ghosts, they poured their ashes into the river, dug three feet deep into the scorched earth, covered it with fresh, thick soil, and laid down unknown wild grasses, year after year.
Despite not withering due to the lack of sunlight year-round, the trees, carrying a heavy dampness, formed many foul-smelling swamps.
The king's eyes rolled back from the pungent smell, and he buried his head tightly in Xie Shuci's arms.
Although Xie Shuci felt a little sorry for it, he couldn't help but laugh when he looked at its round, bulging back of the head and its drooping ears.
"You didn't believe me when I told you to stay on the ship? Serves you right."
"Ouch!" the king cried out in grievance.
How did the baby know it smelled so bad here? Besides, the baby wants to protect you!
Xie Shuci took out the Dragon-Subduing Magic Weapon and, just like Xie An had done before, had the king hold it in his mouth.
The little dog and Sikong Xin walked ahead. Sikong Xin asked about the details of what happened back then, but Xie Shuci already knew most of it and wasn't really interested in listening. He and the little blind man lagged behind them, walking a couple of steps behind.
Perhaps because she had gotten used to it, Xie Shuci no longer felt afraid of the eerie environment around her.
He glanced at Xie An beside him and touched his right hand, which was hanging by his side, almost imperceptibly. Xie An grabbed his hand and held it in his.
Xie Shuci struggled symbolically, "What are you doing? I just wanted to ask if you're cold."
Xie An held his hand and said calmly, "Is that so?"
"Yes." Xie Shuci nodded confidently.
Xie An nodded and released his hand, but Xie Shuci grabbed it back instead, shrugging and sighing, "If you want to hold hands, then hold hands. What's wrong with us brothers holding hands in front of outsiders?"
Xie An raised an eyebrow, unable to deny it, and tightened his grip on Xie Shuci's hand that had reached out to him.
The little blind man's long, slender fingers gently tapped against his skin.
Xie Shuci leaned half her body on his shoulder, almost being dragged forward by him, looking weak and listless.
"Unhappy?" Xie An turned his head slightly to look at Xie Shuci.
Xie Shuci muttered, "Our fates are uncertain, how can I be happy?"
Xie An chuckled softly after hearing this and asked, "Just because of this?"
Xie Shuci frowned. "Of course, there are other reasons as well. Tell me, how come we all ran into these messy things? Was it all preordained?"
Xie An fell silent for a long time before saying, "The people you dislike happened after you met me."
If it were anyone else, after hearing his words, they would probably attribute their own recent misfortunes to him.
After hearing this, Xie Shuci's expression fell. "Little blind girl, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have encountered these things."
In Xie Shuci's view, although he did not meet Xiao Xun or die at his hands after coming to this world, he caused a series of butterfly effects. If the little blind boy had not followed him, he might not have encountered these things with him.
Xie An: "..."
Just as Xie Shuci was sighing, the three people in front of him turned their heads. Xie Shuci reflexively tried to shake off Xie An's hand, but Xie An tightened his grip and held on to him firmly.
Fortunately, the light here
The light was dim, and their intertwined hands hanging at their sides went unnoticed.
Xie Shuci, however, was easily flustered. He immediately avoided eye contact with the three of them, lowered his head, coughed twice to cover his embarrassment, and asked, "W-what's wrong?"
Sikong Xin's gaze swept over the two of them, seemingly without noticing anything.
Liu Dazhuang looked at them strangely and said, "Why are you two standing so close together?"
Xie Shuci chuckled dryly, "To warm up, to warm up."
"Are you cold?" Liu Dazhuang looked at them suspiciously. "I'm warm, or..."
Xie Shuci and Xie An's entangled hands separated instantly.
Xie Shuci took a step back to the side, and Xie An lowered his head to straighten his cuffs.
“There’s absolutely no need for that,” Xie Shuci said with a blank expression.
Sikong Xin glanced at the two's reactions with interest, but did not point it out. He said, "We discussed it and realized that searching aimlessly like this is not a solution. No one can be sure whether Ban Xiaxi will take the initiative to make trouble."
"So?" Xie Shuci asked, puzzled.
Sikong said, "Actually, just like Chunsheng Mountain, the simplest way is to ask Banxiaxi directly."
Xie Shuci hesitated after hearing this, "But he is now... Before he came, he reminded us that it was best to stay away from him."
Sikong Xin nodded and said, "I have considered that. Banxiaxi's resentment has turned the water black, but the goodness in his heart has not completely disappeared. Perhaps if we find water that represents the goodness in his heart that has not been polluted, we can temporarily cover his consciousness with the positive side."
Xie Shuci nodded, feeling that his words made some sense. Turning back, she couldn't help but ask, "But this space isn't small. How can we find the goodness in his heart?"
Upon hearing this, Sikong Xin also fell silent; this was indeed a difficult problem for them.
The puppy lowered its head and said to everyone, "I know where it is."
"really?"
The four looked at him in surprise.
The little dog said, "There were originally seven lakes in the mountains, and the water was sweet and delicious. Later, the water in the other six lakes turned black one after another, leaving only the last lake. That lake is the only clear water in Chunsheng Mountain."
If Ban Xiaxi's kindness were completely replaced by resentment, the little dog would also lose its source of water to survive. But when he talked about these things, he always seemed indifferent.
Perhaps after thousands of years, life and death have become indistinguishable to him.
"There's no time to lose, please lead us there, brother." Sikong Xin immediately bowed to the little dog with a solemn expression.
The puppy said, "You'd better not go near that place."
Xie Shuci asked, puzzled, "Why?"
The little dog said, "Actually, the cultivators who come to the mountain are not killed immediately. After hiding in the mountains for a period of time, they will constantly search for water under the influence of miasma. Once they get close to that small lake, they will be killed. You cultivators cannot go near that place."
Sikong Xin looked puzzled. "You can?"
"Hmm." The little dog nodded gently. "That lake is the only place in the mountains without miasma. The lake water is crystal clear and you can see the bottom."
"So, does that mean you're unaffected by the miasma because you drank the water from there?"
The puppy said, "I don't know."
Sikong said, "It's not impossible."
Liu Dazhuang shouted, "Then what do we do? We can't get close, and that thing Ban Xiaxi won't see Brother Gou, so we can only..."
Liu Dazhuang paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered something and turned his gaze to Xie An.
"Then it's just Brother Xie An!" Liu Dazhuang said.
Xie Shuci's face hardened. "Don't even think about it, it's impossible."
What a joke! Sending a blind boy alone to such a dangerous place is like pushing him into a fire pit! If something happens inside, the blind boy won't even know where to run. It's so quiet here. Even if he can locate things by sound, he can't do anything without sound.
Sikong Xin glanced at Xie An, thinking to himself, given his current state of soul-body separation, if you call him a cultivator, he is a cultivator.
You can say he's not a cultivator, but he's not a cultivator either, since his golden core and spiritual veins were genuinely destroyed. It's just that his soul wasn't affected at all; in fact, it was strengthened.
This question really stumped them.
Since the little dog said that cultivators would die if they got close, Xie Shuci and the others couldn't possibly gamble with their lives, and it was even more impossible for the little blind man to go alone.
Just as everyone was hesitating, Xie An sighed almost inaudibly, took the king out of Xie Shuci's arms, took the Fulong magic weapon from its mouth, and said, "There is no miasma around the lake. It is a place where the good thoughts in Ban Xiaxi's heart gather. As long as he appears, and with the Fulong magic weapon there, we can stabilize his emotions."
"Aww!"
Xiangxiang's treasure was taken away, and the king complained.
Upon hearing this, everyone felt that it made a lot of sense.
The lake was formed from his good intentions. Even if he harbored strong resentment in the face of his good intentions, he still had the Dragon-Subduing Artifact to resist the resentment, which should allow him to maintain a positive personality for the time being.
Having spent these days with Xie An, Xie Shuci knew that his little blind boy was a man of few words but possessed remarkable talent, so he unconditionally agreed with him. Sikong Xin, on the other hand, knew his true identity and chose to believe him. As for Liu Dazhuang, he was astonished to hear the little blind boy express such a series of insightful ideas.
"I didn't expect you to be so smart, even though you're blind."
Xie An gave him a nonchalant glance.
Xie Shuci was a little unhappy after hearing his words, "What do you mean by blind? He has a name."
Liu Dazhuang pouted: "Can't a blind man be allowed to talk about himself? Besides, don't you call him 'Little Blind Man' yourself?"
Xie Shuci: "That's my pet name for him, how can that be the same?"
Xie An: "..."
Sikong Xin: "..."
Liu Dazhuang looked at them suspiciously and said with certainty, "There's something wrong, something wrong! You two definitely have something wrong with you!"
"I'm warning you, don't talk nonsense, or I'll sue you for defamation!"
Liu Dazhuang rolled his eyes. "You're sick."
The puppy stood aside listening to their arguing, and the corners of its mouth involuntarily turned up.
Unlike the outsiders he had met before, he sensed vitality in them, a genuine feeling of being alive.
Amidst the ordinary, childish noise, I sensed a touch of human warmth—this is the rare and precious quality in Xie Shuci.
"Alright, please lead us there first, brother," Sikong Xin said to the little dog.
Liu Dazhuang said, "Brother Dog, please lead the way!"
This time, the puppy didn't refuse and nodded in agreement, leading the four of them in the opposite direction.
The magical artifact exuded an auspicious scent, causing the miasma and dust floating in the air to shun the group.
Before long, the puppy led them into a dense forest.
The soil in the forest was damp, and every step kicked up a thick layer of mud that reeked of decay. Xie Shuci could hardly bear it, so he pinched his nose, grabbed the little blind boy's arm, and slowly moved forward.
The smell was so pungent that Sikong Xin and Liu Dazhuang couldn't help but frown and look disgusted.
The puppy, however, seemed to be used to it, moving expressionlessly through the incredibly smelly dense forest.
"My goodness, this stinks like hell!" Liu Dazhuang cursed, pinching his nose.
The puppy said in a flat tone, "There are many animal and human corpses here. It's the smell of the rotting corpses in the soil."
Upon hearing this, Xie Shuci's face immediately changed color. "You...you didn't say...you were the one who collected their bodies..."
The puppy said, "Collect the whole corpse."
Xie Shuci asked with a blank face, "What about the incomplete ones?"
The puppy glanced at the wet, sticky mud on the ground, its meaning clear.
Xie Shuci's heart skipped a beat. He looked ahead in the direction the light from the pearl shone and saw what appeared to be a red hem of clothing in the dark brown mud on the ground.
"Ugh—" Xie Shuci's stomach acid churned, and he felt so nauseous that he saw stars. He had thought, how could there be a place that smelled worse than a latrine? If there were, it would be the smell of countless corpses rotting in the soil that never sees the sun! That would be the most disgusting smell in the world, bar none.
"vomit--"
Before Xie Shuci could even consider whether his reaction was a bit embarrassing, he saw Liu Dazhuang behind him also clutching his stomach and dry heaving, his face ashen.
"Big brother..."
"Second brother..."
The two looked at each other and exclaimed, "Ugh!"
Knowing what was in the soil beneath his feet, Xie Shuci wished he could cut off his legs. Unfortunately, although he had learned to control spiritual power, the most crucial thing was that he still hadn't learned to fly!
"Are you alright?" Xie An bent down and patted his back.
Xie Shuci said with a mournful face, "Little blind man... I want to go home... It's too disgusting... It's so, so disgusting..."
Xie Shuci felt that he couldn't really be blamed for being timid. Although he wasn't interested in ghosts and spirits, he had always held them in awe. But this... this soil... this mud...
The thought that every step he took might have been taken from the flesh and blood of other people made his stomach churn.
Xie An looked somewhat helpless and said, "You are the one who should have stayed on the ship the most."
Xie Shuci's eyes were practically brimming with tears. "If I had known it would be like this, I would have obediently gone back to the ship. Wouldn't it have been better for me to sleep in the cabin? This is too unbearable!"
Xie An pinched his arm. "Stand up."
"Huh?" Xie Shuci looked at him in confusion.
"I'll carry you across."
Xie Shuci sniffed, "But...but..."
He hesitated for a long time before finally managing to say, "But..."
Xie An took one of his arms and put it on his shoulder. "Come on, brother."
The casual use of the word "elder brother" when spoken by Xie An inexplicably made one's heart race.
The king casually tossed him to Sikong Xin, then supported Xie Shuci's legs with both hands and easily carried him on his back.
Xie Shuci struggled symbolically for a moment, which was somewhat like playing hard to get.
Carried on the back of the little blind man, Xie Shuci used his spiritual power to wash the mud off his shoes and then quietly lay on Xie An's back.
"Oh, my brother is so good, he's the best brother in the whole world," Xie Shuci couldn't help but exclaim.
Xie An ignored him, and fearing that he might press down on the peach blossom at his waist, he pressed his legs down a little.
Watching this scene of brotherly affection from behind, Liu Dazhuang couldn't help but feel envious. He tiptoed forward a few steps and went to Sikong Xin's side, awkwardly rubbing his hands together. "Brother Sikong...look..."
He pointed to the harmonious scene between Xie Shuci and the other person, making a pointed remark.
Sikong Xin looked at him incredulously. "Can't you even be a little aware of your own weight?"
"No, get out." Sikong Xin refused cleanly and decisively.
After hearing this, Liu Dazhuang sighed, "Sure enough, our brotherhood is fake, while other people's brotherhood is real."
Xie Shuci hugged Xie An's neck, thinking to himself, "What brotherhood? This is definitely love, affection!"
Xie Shuci freed his legs, sat up straight from Xie An's back, and looked around. The trees cast dappled shadows, but some light could be faintly seen ahead.
Xie Shuci wanted to see more clearly, so he raised his head up. With a "bang," he bumped his head on a tree trunk because he had raised it too high.
"hiss--"
Xie An: "..."
"Don't move."
"oh."
Xie Shuci obediently lay back down.
"arrive."
Before long, the little dog at the front stopped and addressed the group.
They had now emerged from the dense forest and arrived at a place resembling a valley. Below the valley was a pebble beach, and in front of the beach was a lake emitting a shimmering white light.
There was indeed no miasma or strange smells here. Xie Shuci patted Xie An on the shoulder, signaling him to put him down.
He would come when summoned by Xie Shuci.
Seeing his dismissive attitude, Xie An raised an eyebrow and put him down.
Xie Shuci stared blankly at the lake before him, speechless for a moment.
The lake was several meters wide, with clear, flowing water. Below it were pebbles that shone brightly under the shimmering white light, like a slowly flowing Milky Way in the sky.
In the center of the lake, ten feet below the surface, there was a round object emitting light. Xie Shuci didn't know what it was, but he could feel a continuous stream of pure spiritual energy emanating from the center of the lake.
This lake, nestled in the valley, is like an inverted world, with the lake itself resembling the dazzling Milky Way on the horizon, and the ethereal objects like the pale moon, complementing the surrounding stars perfectly.
This lake is absolutely beautiful, just like the star map Xie Shuci once saw. Thousands of stars gather in the lake, and it truly feels like you can reach out and pluck the stars from the sky.
The puppy saw the object emitting light in the lake, but looked somewhat puzzled and said, "I was here not long ago, and there was no such thing in the water then."
Upon hearing this, the group was greatly shocked. "Really?"
“Absolutely true,” the puppy said.
Liu Dazhuang didn't care about anything else. He borrowed a bronze cauldron from Xie Shuci, went to the lakeside, scooped up a cauldron of water, sat on a nearby rock, and vigorously washed the mud off his boots. He was still a little traumatized, so he decided to wash them with water.
As he was washing, he suddenly felt a cold wind blowing from behind him, as if a pair of eyes were staring at him with a fierce look from a corner.
That's practically radiating malice, isn't it? Using water gathered from people's good intentions to wash your boots—this kind of behavior can be summed up as: courting disaster.
Liu Dazhuang sensed something was wrong and quickly put his leg down, saying, "I won't wash, I won't wash."
He quickly poured the water back, but as soon as he reached the lake, a current grabbed his ankle, suspending him in mid-air, and then tossed him back into the dense forest they had passed through on their way there.
"Ah!!" Liu Dazhuang shouted.
Everyone: "..."
A moment later, Liu Dazhuang returned to the group, covered in mud and reeking of stench.
Xie Shuci quickly pulled Xie An back a few steps and pinched his nose in disgust.
Sikong Xin made a hand gesture to wash him clean, and cursed, "Serves you right."
"Is he here?" Sikong Xin asked.
The puppy said, "He is where there is water, but he won't appear where I am."
"Let's see what's in the water first," Xie Shuci suggested.
The little dog was also curious about this sudden appearance, so it nodded and led the four of them across the riverbank, stepping over the pebbles, to the shore in the middle of the lake, where they looked into the water.
As they got closer, they discovered that, shrouded in white light, the object emitted wisps of eerie blue light, and the spiritual energy emanated from that blue light.
"Aww!"
Just then, the king, who was lying on Sikong Xin's body, suddenly shouted towards the water.
The sudden shout echoed through the silent valley, startling Xie Shuci.
"Stop yelling!" Xie Shuci pulled it out of Sikong Xin's arms.
"Awooo!"
The king, however, was relentless, barking wildly at the object in the lake and tugging at Xie Shuci's clothes as he barked.
A sudden inspiration struck Xie Shuci, and he picked up the king, asking, "Is the thing in the water the Water God?"
"Aww!" The king nodded.
It remembered the scent of the Water God's spiritual power, which was full of surging vitality, painting a picture of mountains, rivers, birdsong, and fragrant flowers before it.
Sikong Xin and the others looked down into the water in shock after hearing this.
"This is... Ban Xia Yin?" Sikong Xin murmured.
He could sense that the spiritual energy was both incredibly powerful and incredibly gentle. If he had possessed such powerful spiritual energy back then, the Banxia clan might not have perished. This could only mean that Banxia Yin, like Banxia Xi, continued to cultivate using his soul after death.
"Lord Water God? Lord Water God!"
Xie Shuci stood on the shore and called out twice, but there was no response in the water.
The Water God must have met Ban Xiaxi long ago to be here. So why would Ban Xiaxi leave Chunsheng Mountain to avoid him?
"Dazhuang." Sikong Xin called out, and the latter immediately understood his meaning. He flew up from his spot, stepped into the air and came to the center of the lake, hovering in mid-air, carefully observing the objects below.
It was unclear whether Ban Xiaxi was secretly watching them, but he didn't seem to have any intention of attacking the others. Perhaps influenced by the lake of good intentions and the Fulong magic artifact, his consciousness was temporarily covered by his positive personality, and he dared not appear in front of them.
Not long after, Liu Dazhuang flew back from the lake.
"How is it?" Sikong Xin asked.
Xie Shuci and the little dog stared intently at him.
Liu Dazhuang frowned and said, "He seems to be trapped underwater by something."
Sikong Xin asked, "Is there a way to untie it?"
Liu Dazhuang gripped the axe at his waist. This axe was more than capable of splitting the sky and earth, but he wasn't so sure about the thing in the water. He shook his head and said, "Not sure."
"I don't dare to actually chop it. What if I anger Ban Xiaxi?" Just thinking about what he had just experienced made him shudder. He never wanted to experience it a second time.
Sikong said, "Let's try moving him first."
"good."
Liu Dazhuang nodded and stood on the lake shore with Sikong Xin. He gathered a ball of spiritual energy in his palm, which then transformed into countless strands of light that flew toward the object in the center of the lake.
"Do you need my help?" Xie Shuci poked his head out from behind.
Sikong Xin nodded, "Use your spiritual power to lift him out."
"oh."
Xie Shuci walked to their side and, imitating the two, channeled his spiritual energy into the object in the lake. The three of them worked together to gradually lift the object, which was emitting a white light, out of the water.
As the object slowly rose into the air, everyone discovered that it was something wrapped up like a cocoon, and there were even four chains made of water from the lake, firmly binding the "cocoon".
When it rose to a certain height, the four chains straightened, clearly having been stretched to their limit.
Surrounded by white light, a slender figure vaguely appeared, with wisps of blue spiritual energy overflowing outwards, forming a blue and white light.
"My name is Sikong Xin. I greet you, senior."
Sikong Xin clasped his hands in a fist salute towards the blue and white light.
Under the tense gaze of everyone, the spiritual energy hovering in mid-air began to become transparent, eventually forming a flowing water cage.
Imprisoned. The figure confined in the water cage gradually came into view.
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