Chapter 45 Mountains and Seas—This is the sea.
The wind howled past Xiao Jiang, and despite wearing her thickest cloak, the chill still bited at her, making her bones shiver. She clung tightly to the crane and, guided by the Big Dipper, flew westward.
The lights beneath her feet grew increasingly sparse; she had already left Zhaoming City far behind. This city, which only existed in the descriptions of Yu Ling'er and Qin Yuqi, was a place she had stayed in for several months, but she could only see a small part of its world.
It wasn't until she flew into the sky that she truly understood why they called it the First City of Central Continent.
The streets running north to south are wide and neat, and the houses of varying heights are densely packed together. The man-made buildings are spread out in a square pattern on the flat land, forming a grand city.
It is a level that Liyue Village can never reach.
Xiao Jiang finally understood the source of Qin Yuqi's arrogance when he repeatedly called her a barbarian.
She took one last look, then looked away and gazed into the darker distance.
She was going to keep heading west. Yu Ling'er told her that the west was the territory controlled by the former Great Zhou Dynasty. A hundred years ago, the Great Zhou was replaced by the Great Yong Dynasty, and the remaining remnants of the Great Zhou retreated to the Moyu River area in the west, relying on the power of the immortal sect Kunlun to eke out a living.
Xiao Jiang didn't know Mo Yujiang. Yu Ling'er told her that when she saw a towering mountain that she couldn't fly over, she could stop.
That is Kunlun.
A place where the monsoon stops, a mountain that even birds cannot cross.
It is also one of the largest immortal sects in the world.
The Moyu River originates from the Kunlun Mountains.
Xiao Jiang was surprised that Yu Ling'er knew so much, but Yu Ling'er smiled shyly and told her that she had learned it all from books and that she had never actually been there.
Xiao Jiang thought of Qing Dai, who also loved reading. Qing Dai had read all the books available in Liyue Village, and they both knew a lot. Qing Dai knew about Liyue Village, and Yu Ling'er knew about the Dayong Dynasty.
She was the only one who didn't like reading and needed others to tell her many things, which made her easily deceived by bad people. She secretly felt regretful.
But there are still birds that won't lie to her.
That day, the silver bracelet she had placed on the windowsill attracted a passing crow. The crow told her that the silver bracelet was a magical artifact that could summon flocks of birds, and that if she needed it, she could use her spiritual power to activate the artifact and summon birds to help her.
Xiao Jiang's newly ignited hope suddenly sank.
She has no spiritual power left.
"It's alright, there's another way." The crow pecked at her palm, comforting her, "If you don't have spiritual power, you can borrow it from heaven and earth."
The moment when the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the moon is at its peak is when the full moon rises. By using blood as a catalyst, one can absorb the spiritual energy of the moon and temporarily replace spiritual power. One can also activate magical artifacts by using the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the moon.
Yu Ling'er was unaware of her full plan, only vaguely knowing that someone would come to fetch her on the night of the full moon. Yu Ling'er helped her devise the first half of the plan, successfully lowering Qin Yuqi's guard against her. The second half was carried out by her alone; she deliberately sent away all the palace staff, including Yu Ling'er, so that no one would be implicated by her escape.
The day Yu Ling'er said she would help her, Xiao Jiang asked Yu Ling'er, "Why do you want to help me?"
Yu Ling'er whispered in her ear that she had seen enough of those plays. In the plays, noblemen and princes would lower themselves to fall in love with women of low status, and they would think that this was a great blessing. But in the end, it was always the women who got hurt. It was as if as long as the noblemen and princes still had feelings for the woman, no matter how much she was hurt, she would still end up with the noblemen and princes.
"Miss Jiang, I'd like to see if there's any other way we can go."
She helped Xiao Jiang with her makeup and dressing up to soften Qin Yuqi's heart, and told her how to act submissive to lower Qin Yuqi's guard. Everything went smoothly, and Qin Yuqi, just like a prince in a play, was very susceptible to this.
A few days before leaving, Xiao Jiang asked Yu Ling'er if she would like to go with her. Yu Ling'er hesitated for a while but eventually shook her head. Her home was in Zhaoming City.
A quick glance down from the palace tower revealed not only Qin Yuqi on the ground, but also Yu Ling'er in the crowd.
Yu Ling'er's eyes were bright.
Xiao Jiang thought that she must be happy for her.
The journey to Kunlun Mountain was long. Xiao Jiang lay on the crane, with only the enormous moon and scattered stars that he could never reach in front of him, and only darkness on the ground beneath his feet. Gradually, he became sleepy.
When Xiao Jiang opened his eyes again, a damp, cold wind woke him up.
She groggily opened her eyes and found that it was already daylight.
A cool breeze carrying a damp, salty, and fishy scent swept over us, while a series of rumbling sounds echoed in the distance.
The moon spirit supporting the crane dissipated, and the crane disappeared as well. Only then did she realize that she had been placed in a forest. The forest was unfamiliar, and the leaves had already fallen, making it look sparse.
Xiao Jiang walked a short distance in the direction of the loud noise, but soon could not go any further.
Behind the sparse woods was a precipice, below which stretched a vast expanse of water that seemed to have no end. A huge red sun was slowly rising from the water, turning the water and sky into the same orange-red hue. The endless water surged toward the shore, crashing against the indestructible cliff face again and again, without ceasing.
This is the sea.
A thousand rivers converge, and ten thousand streams flow into one place.
This is a vast world.
*
Xiao Jiang spent some time in this forest. When he was hungry, he would go into the sea to catch fish to eat, and when he was tired, he would find a cave to sleep in.
She tried to learn the magic that the birds in Liyue Village had taught her, but no matter how she practiced, nothing happened, and she finally realized that she could no longer cultivate.
As time went by, Xiao Jiang transformed himself from a nobleman in Zhaoming City into a wild man in the mountains.
There was no one in the mountains. Xiao Jiang was more at ease in the mountains than in Zhaoming City. The only thing that bothered her was that she didn't know if this was the Kunlun Mountains that Yu Ling'er had mentioned.
That night, as she pricked her finger and smeared her blood on the name engraved on the back of the bracelet, Xiao Jiang kept silently praying: "Please summon a large bird that can carry me." She felt very lucky; what she summoned was a crane. The crane even boasted to her that it could travel a thousand miles at night. But she wasn't sure if the crane knew the location of Kunlun Mountain.
For several consecutive full moon nights, it was rainy and overcast, so she couldn't borrow the moon spirit. The silver bracelet on her wrist was just an ordinary piece of jewelry.
But there is less and less food in the mountains, and what's worse, winter is coming.
Looking at the messy figure in the water, Xiao Jiang felt it was time to go down the mountain.
In the town below the mountain, there were stalls selling steamed buns. As soon as the steamer was lifted, the fragrant aroma of the food wafted far and wide.
"Go away, little beggar, where did you come from? Get lost and don't get in my way of doing business."
The stall owner, impatient with chasing him away, shoved the dirty boy to the ground.
He was thin and bony, dressed in tattered clothes and wearing a tattered hood. He looked like a refugee who had come from who-knows-where. He had seen many such people before.
"I can help you with the work."
The little beggar stared longingly at the steaming buns, the aroma of the food making her stomach rumble again.
The stall owner, annoyed by the little beggar, yelled, "If you want steamed buns, you have to pay! I want money, understand?! Who wants you to work? What can you do with your little body? You think you can eat steamed buns for free just by lifting a finger? You're dreaming!"
People were coming and going in the town, and although the stall owner's noise wasn't loud, it still attracted a lot of attention.
This year's harvest in Dayong is quite good, and even in such a border town, there are not many refugees. But even if there are refugees, most of them sit quietly by the roadside, waiting for alms from kind-hearted passersby; it is rare to see them openly begging.
But then the little beggar took something out of his pocket and handed it to the stall owner, saying, "Can I trade you this for something else?"
The stall owner glanced at him disdainfully, but when he saw that the little beggar was holding a round and shiny pearl in his dirty hand, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Where...where did you get this from, kid?"
"I picked it up from the beach."
Of course, Xiao Jiang wouldn't say that it was stolen from the palace in Zhaoming City.
Qin Yuqi had placed many of these beads in her room, which would glow at night, but she only took one.
The stall owner snatched the pearl and stared at it intently. Pearls of this quality were worth as much as his entire stall. The little beggar looked honest and easy to bully, and the stall owner's greed was instantly aroused.
He put the beads into his pocket, draped a cloth over his shoulder, and made a gesture as if to grab the little beggar. "This is obviously something you stole from somewhere, you little thief with a dirty hand! Come on, let's go to the government office!"
Sure enough, as soon as the little beggar heard that the authorities were going to be notified, he immediately ran away and disappeared into the crowd.
The stall owner didn't chase after them, and smugly packed up his stall. He'd made a big profit, so why bother setting up a stall anymore?
Passersby shook their heads and secretly cursed, thinking how utterly heartless this man was. But no one stepped forward; he was just a beggar, alive today, but perhaps dead tomorrow.
Xiao Jiang ran quite a distance, making sure no one was chasing her, before finally stopping, panting, against the wall. She already felt guilty for taking Qin Yuqi's things, and the stall owner was going to take her to the authorities. She had finally escaped and never wanted to go back to that place.
Xiao Jiang rubbed her nearly empty stomach and realized with dismay that she had nothing of value on her except the bracelet, but the bracelet was something she would never trade for.
Perhaps she should go back to the mountains. This is not a suitable place for her to live. She doesn't understand their rules, nor can she see through their thoughts.
She began to miss Liyue Village, but Liyue Village was gone, and she had no home to return to.
Wandering aimlessly through this unfamiliar town, Xiao Jiang suddenly saw a large group of people gathered in front of him, all peering inside.
"A reward of 100,000 gold coins, plus a noble title!"
"Who is this person?"
"She looks like a pretty young girl, why is the government making such a fuss..."
"Could he be some vicious and ruthless person?"
"Heh, 100,000 gold coins are all hard-earned money from the people..."
"Scatter! Scatter, all of you!"
The crowd chattered amongst themselves until a soldier in black armor brandished his weapon and dispersed them, at which point Xiao Jiang could finally see what they were looking at.
A notice was posted on the city wall.
Xiao Jiang recognized her name on it, but she couldn't recognize many of the other characters. The drawing on it should be a portrait of her, but it didn't look very much like her.
But Xiao Jiang's heart still tightened; Qin Yuqi was still relentlessly searching for her.
However, given her current appearance, Qin Yuqi probably wouldn't recognize her even if he stood right in front of her.
Her hair was so dirty and black that its original color was no longer visible. She wore a cloak and a hood, the brim and messy hair obscuring her eyes. Unless she stared directly into people's eyes, no one would notice the unusual color in her eyes.
Xiao Jiang watched from a distance through the crowd, and just as she was about to leave, the black-armored soldier suddenly strode towards her.
Xiao Jiang tugged at his hood and turned to leave.
"stop!"
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Author's Note: Our little Jiang has finally met the vast ocean and is going to see the outside world! [Sprinkling flowers]
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