Chapter 28 Young Heroes
Although they didn't spend a lot of time together, Mu Yuan could sense that Qing Jue was a very deep person.
This is something she can see even without the composure mirror.
But she inexplicably felt that this concealment was not out of malice.
Qing Jiujie and Qing Jue have very different personalities, and their goals may also be different, but neither of them is unlikeable.
She felt that Qingjue was like a shattered mirror, and to understand him, she had to piece it back together bit by bit.
How much did his disciples know about him? Aside from awe, did his fellow disciples ever feel any curiosity about him?
Mu Yuan had no idea, and it wasn't something she should investigate.
Yuanmuyuan has been completely turned into a wasteland. The past can never be returned to. All we can do is look forward.
Even if Qingjue and the others can't find the answer in this era, when Qing Jiujie returns hundreds of years later, he can tell the truth himself.
At that time, they will surely be able to work together to create another place like Yuanmuyuan.
Qingjue asked, "As for the Mind-Stabilizing Mirror, it's already broken, isn't it?"
“Hmm…” Mu Yuan thought for a moment, then conjured a shard of glass in his palm and said haltingly, “This is one of the fragments of the Heart-Stabilizing Mirror. Before it merged with the mountain… I hid it inside my body… It also contains my spiritual power, and the material itself is a top-quality treasure… Although I don’t know if it will be useful… I will still give it to you….”
"Then I will accept it without hesitation. Thank you, young lady."
"I... have nothing else to hold me back. I might as well wander around and... maybe see if anyone has left Yuanmuyuan..."
Qingjue nodded, thinking that her current mindset was not bad.
There was one more secret I couldn't bear to tell her.
The most likely reason why Qing Jiujie's remnant soul was attached to that iron box is that he experienced unbearable, soul-tearing pain before his death.
So his soul shattered into many pieces, one of which remained in that box.
Such pain was unimaginable even to him, more agonizing than the tearing in his body. Unfortunately, no other clues have been found to reconstruct the truth of what happened back then.
After giving his instructions, Qingjue went out and went to Qingzhenling's courtyard again.
Qingzhenling was a very intelligent old man, but he was usually serious and rarely smiled, which made him seem old-fashioned and conservative.
Such a person could be seen through as a fake.
This was a bit terrifying for Qingjue, who had transmigrated to this world.
Sure enough, the old gentleman was already sitting in the courtyard drinking tea early in the morning.
"Have you finished talking with that tree spirit girl?"
He seems to know everything.
"Yes," Qingjue didn't try to hide anything and readily admitted it, then sat down opposite him: "What do you think the truth was back then?"
“I haven’t witnessed it myself, so how can I say I think so?” Qingzhenling poured him a pot of good tea and said, “I should ask you what your purpose is in coming here.”
“I don’t know either. At first, I didn’t want to get involved in worldly affairs, but the earthquake had special significance for me, so I got involved.”
"Hahaha," Qingzhenling laughed heartily, saying, "Good, it's good that you're in the game."
What do you mean by that?
"Because this at least proves that you really won't harm the Qing family."
"...Even if I don't get involved, I won't harm the Qing family."
“That’s your opinion, and people’s opinions can change,” Qingzhenling said, his expression turning serious again. “Only those who share the same goal and are bound together can become allies.”
"What about Immortal Lord Wu Qing? Don't you have any feelings for him at all?"
“I don’t dislike him. Although people have mixed opinions about him, some think it’s normal for a strong person to have a temper. Look at the young master of the Yun family, some people don’t like him either. Some think his arrogant attitude is too haughty and he will fall down sooner or later,” Qing Zhenling swirled the tea in her cup and blew away the steam. “But I see him the same way I see the other members of the Qing family.”
"Sacrifices are common in various events. I've seen enough of these things in my hundreds of years of life, and I'm used to it."
Qingjue lowered his eyes: "..."
"I will not reveal your true origins to anyone else. Consider it a contract left to us. You are indeed slightly stronger than Immortal Lord Wuqing. This is a good thing for the Qing family, as are those children. I hope you can discipline them well, raise them to adulthood, and help them achieve something."
“I understand,” Qingjue stood up, feeling that even if Qingzhenling really knew something about what happened back then, she wouldn’t say it at this point, so: “Then I’ll take my leave.”
This old gentleman is indeed much smarter; Qingjue doesn't really like dealing with leaders like that.
I always have to try to figure out the meaning behind his words and listen to the unspoken implications in his workplace remarks.
At least their stance is clear: they are not enemies.
...As it stands at the moment.
Qingjue remained cautious. There were too many backstabbing scenarios like this, and even with past experience of misjudging the plot, it was hard for him not to be suspicious.
Rather, it's more accurate to say that if he hadn't been so suspicious by nature, he wouldn't have been able to rescue Mu Yuan.
It's best to keep this habit.
In the past few days, Qingjue has been tirelessly investigating various clues. When he has nothing to do, he doesn't bother the elders, so as not to let any one of them suddenly reveal his identity, which would make the information he has to deal with even more.
Mu Yuan's injuries gradually healed. Her skin damage was irreversible with ordinary pills, and she could only recover through her own slow cultivation.
She will be leaving this place in a month.
During this month, the children often visited her, and these distinctive children reminded her of many past events.
The little demons of Yuanmuyuan should be hundred-year-old great demons by now, right?
As for those mortals, they should have reached the end of their lives after a hundred years.
She also learned from Qingfeng how to make the sencha cakes she had always longed for.
Take the best tea leaves, steep them in water, crush the grains, mix them with the tea water and tender tea leaves, steam them, then roll them into balls, flatten them, and fry them until golden brown on both sides.
Although the taste was familiar, it was different from what I remembered it as it was a hundred years ago.
Qingfeng said that the recipe from a hundred years ago may indeed be different from the one now, which is why the taste is different.
Mu Yuan thinks it tastes pretty good as it is now, maybe it's because the tea leaves Qing Jiu Jie used were different back then.
Mu Yuan covered half of his face with a veil and wore a cloak.
Her skin is still too fragile and needs the help of these external aids.
She's leaving today.
Qingfeng took meticulous care of her over the past month, and the two almost became sisters.
"Take this with you; it will help you recuperate. This will also help you restore your spiritual energy, and this will strengthen your body. And..."
Qingfeng stuffed all the herbs into her hands, and Muyuan smiled and said, "No need for all this trouble. Take good care of yourself here. I'll come back to see you when I have the chance."
“…Alright,” Qingfeng also put away her worried expression and said, “The Immortal Lord said that you were once the guardian spirit of that mountain. Now that your foundation is gone, will it be harmful to your body?”
"I have been an independent individual since birth, but my cultivation method and speed are different from others, so don't worry."
"Okay, then take care."
"You too, then I'll go say goodbye to the Immortal Lord."
"Um."
Before she even entered the door, Qingjue had already noticed her presence and put away the little poem he was reading to the children.
"Today I'm going to give you a practical lesson," Qingjue said to the children in the room. "The name of this lesson is 'Farewell.' Each of you should go and say goodbye to Muyuan individually. Your reflections will be your assignment for this lesson."
The room fell silent for a moment until Aju spoke up: "Sister Muyuan, are you leaving today?"
Then they started chattering amongst themselves.
Ruan Linglai: "Where is my sister going? Will she come back to see us?"
Yan Shiqun toyed with a calligraphy brush in his hand: "I knew he was going to leave a long time ago."
Then he smeared ink from his brush all over Jie Zhoujian's face.
Yan Shiqun: "...It wasn't intentional."
Jie raised his hand to wipe his face during the day, making the ink even more messy.
Ah Ju laughed so hard he almost fell over.
Wen Tianyu used her spiritual power to draw water from the cup, wet a handkerchief, and wiped him clean.
While wiping, Wen Tianyu asked, "Sister Muyuan, is your injury healed?"
Qingjue couldn't help but chuckle at their interaction, saying, "Yes, she can go out on her own now, and her spiritual power has basically stabilized. The rest is up to her."
Wen Tianyu nodded slowly, his reaction a beat slower than usual.
At the door, a fairy in a white dress and cloak, wearing a veil, stood there. The children saw her as soon as they opened the door, and Ruan Linglai and Aju ran towards her reluctantly.
They also took Yan Shiqun with them.
Wen Tianyu walked slowly, then strolled over to her and joined the somewhat noisy farewell.
It seems that nobody remembers Qingjue's initial instruction to go one by one.
However, Qingjue didn't stop them.
Of course, there's also the daytime relief.
He was indeed the last one to reach Muyuan.
"Fairy Sister".
"Hmm..." Mu Yuan still didn't really want to see him, which was within Qing Jue's expectations.
Jie Zhoujian made up his mind: "...Although my surname is Jie, I have never forgotten that my surname is Jie, but I will become a very good person and protect many, many places like Yuanmuyuan."
A hint of surprise flashed in Mu Yuan's eyes.
"Alright," Mu Yuan finally closed her eyes, the scene of devastation flashing before her eyes again. She was unsure how to face the child, but she said, "I heard your vow, and the sacred tree of Yuanmuyuan heard it too. Are you willing to bear the consequences of your vow?"
"I swear on my name and my life that I will never become a despicable scoundrel who commits lewdness and plunder!"
“Okay,” Mu Yuan shook hands with him, as if the two had signed an agreement that didn’t require a signature. “Then I will trust you.”
Yan Shiqun stood not far away and said quietly, "Actually, our Demonic Sect has a mental technique. Once used, if the oath is broken, one will suffer eternal torment. If needed, I can teach it to him."
Qingjue laughed and said, "What do you know?"
"……cut."
Ruan Linglai couldn't help but shed tears again: "Waaah, I'm so reluctant to part with you, Sister Muyuan."
Aju rested her head on Wen Tianyu's shoulder and lazily touched her chin: "Actually, I don't feel much, after all, it's only been a little over a month."
Wen Tianyu: "I can't bear to part with it."
"well?"
Aju looked left at Ruan Linglai, whose eyes were brimming with tears, and right at Wen Tianyu, whose expression was blank but whose eyes held a deep sense of reluctance.
Aju scratched his head: No way... Am I the only one who doesn't feel anything?
He wisely refrained from saying that.
He doesn't really care about others, as long as his master and the others are safe and sound. This is his home, and this is all he cares about.
As long as his fellow disciples, masters, and senior brothers and sisters are all safe and sound.
Children can't distinguish why they have such thoughts; they just think about it but feel out of place, so they don't say it out loud.
...
“Immortal Lord, I don’t know how to repay these favors,” Mu Yuan said as he approached Qing Jue. “Before I leave, I would like to give you two small gifts.”
"Oh?" Qingjue blinked, asking curiously, "What is it?"
The first gift was a wooden whistle that carried the essence of wood.
“Blow this whistle in times of emergency and summon me directly. I will do my utmost to help you, no matter how far away you are… As for the second gift, you will all know about it tonight.”
Mu Yuan smiled, turned around, and flew into the sky.
Qingjue saw small white dots floating around her, a faint white light, which gathered one by one into a brighter little light.
Ruan Linglai pointed to that spot and said, "Fireflies!"
Wen Tianyu: "A ball of light?"
Aju: "Oh no, this is clearly a dandelion that glows."
Then those little points of light drifted over slowly, scattering in all directions. Some crossed Shuiyun Lake, some landed on Qing family territory, but in the end they all landed on the foreheads of each person.
Qingjue felt a light, warm sensation wash over his body, but nothing happened.
"Tonight, you will all know."
As night fell and he fell asleep, his vision suddenly turned white, and then his vision gradually cleared as he drifted off to sleep.
A beautiful dream.
He saw that there was no earthquake, that the teachers were all alive, and that he was happily returning home with his university acceptance letter, a dream he had of his whole family reuniting.
"Little Bu, you've grown into a grown-up."
Those gentle, large hands touched his cheek.
He also saw what Jie Zhoujian and the others looked like as adults. Jie Zhoujian's figure was familiar to him; he felt he had seen him somewhere before, and he looked very much like the adult man he had vaguely seen a few times.
But he had no face; he could only vaguely see Ruan Linglai, now a grown woman, waving at him and calling his name.
Does being disrespectful to elders mean that once you grow up you can't use respectful titles anymore?
But they all grew up well and are now adults, which is wonderful.
I see.
This is probably an illusion that allows people to see what they are thinking; this is the gift she sent.
Even if none of this is real, it is still so heartwarming.
But when did he begin to consider helping them grow up properly as one of his wishes? These rascals.
At night, Qinghuan saw how old he looked, and he contentedly fished by the Shuiyun Lake, which was his wish.
While Qingfeng was decocting medicine in the kitchen, she fell asleep and saw that her medical skills had become highly proficient. The herbs and pills she had refined were in high demand and short supply, and people who wanted to consult her had to line up all the way outside Quanzhou and Zhangzhou.
In that short period of time, everyone saw what they most wanted to see. Qingjue didn't know what the children saw, but children's wishes are always simple. They might just want to eat osmanthus cake again, or they might want to go home and be spoiled by their parents.
Yan Shiqun's wish is probably to return to Qianlun Mountain and revive the Demonic Sect.
What about Wen Tianyu and Aju? Will they find their families?
As Qingjue pondered, the scene before him gradually faded away.
A beautiful dream ended, and the white-clad fairy in the sky quietly departed without anyone noticing.
"Master!"
As dawn broke, the little girl's innocent voice interrupted his thoughts.
Several children barged into his dormitory and lay down by his bed, urging him to get up.
Jie Zhoujian was also surprised, even somewhat panicked: "Are you... alright?"
He suddenly sat up and realized with a start that he had actually shed tears.
Before he was overwhelmed with complicated emotions, he had already cried just seeing that all his teachers were alive and well.
He wiped away his tears: "I'm fine, just a little sentimental. This beautiful dream is Mu Yuan's gift."
“Master, Master,” Ruan Linglai asked, “wasn’t the gift from Sister Muyuan a good thing? I dreamt of something wonderful, so why are you crying?”
Yan Shiqun: "Could it be that they're giving you special treatment? What did you see?"
“Master, I shed tears precisely because of beauty—because the most beautiful things in this world are more moving than sorrow.”
I heard that the academy in town has been almost completely rebuilt. I should take some time to visit the teacher.
He said that not only the young children, but even the Demon Lord Yan Shiqun, who had lived for decades, didn't quite understand what he was saying.
The latter had never experienced anything beautiful before; what he experienced here was the first time in his life that he had ever encountered true friendship.
Although Yan Shiqun himself is very reluctant to admit it.
In this respect, Yun Yuelin is probably more frank than him.
"Alright, alright, time to get up for morning class. Practice your sword this afternoon, and I'll be checking your homework."
Aju wailed, "Can I please not write this...?"
Qingjue said, "Of course not. Learning and education should start from childhood."
"I am not a doll, why should I act like one!"
Qingjue smiled: "The sea of knowledge is boundless."
Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered that Yun Yuelin's calligraphy was quite beautiful, while Aju and Yan Shiqun's calligraphy was rather indescribable. The former was pure cursive script, and even the person in question couldn't make out what it was writing. The latter simply hadn't written much, and had problems with penmanship and grip.
...If Yun Yuelin were to teach them, would he agree?
After that, Qingjue continued living as before.
Take care of the kids, practice swordsmanship, teach them how to be good people and how to cultivate themselves, occasionally teach Fan Aotian a lesson, and do various "side quests".
After the earthquake, my relationship with Yun Yuelin wasn't exactly close; we could only sit down and have tea peacefully after a fight.
Qingjue also had another objective: to relentlessly search for the clues left behind by Qing Jiujie.
He traveled to many places, following in the footsteps of the former head of the family. Sometimes he would take a few children with him to gain experience. They were too young to understand many things, so most of the time they just played along.
He gained nothing.
And once that lead was lost, it remained unbroken for nine years.
...
"Hey, I heard there are some great treasures hidden here, is it true or not?"
Deep in the mountains and forests, an old farmer and his companion were talking about this.
His companion, holding a torch, whispered, "Keep your voice down, don't let anyone hear us, or we'll have to share what we can't find!"
"Oh, but where did you hear that information? Is it accurate? If there were really good stuff hidden there, wouldn't those cultivators have taken it long ago? How could it be our turn?"
"Hey, do you really think those cultivators are all-powerful? There are so many things in the world, there must be things they don't know."
Just as they were chatting, not far away, the eyelids of a ferocious beast in the cave quietly opened, revealing its blood-red eyeballs.
The sand and stones flying in the forest, and the movement of every blade of grass and tree, are all within its sight.
It slowly stood up, revealing its thick body. Its skin was similar to that of a leopard, but its size was much larger than that thing. Its body was sticky and dripping with venom, making people feel nauseous just looking at it.
It left the cave, revealing a horrifying mountain of white bones behind it, along with a partially devoured corpse whose flesh was rotting and crawling with maggots.
Two farmers, who came in search of treasure, carried only a torch to illuminate the small patch of land in front of them.
They suddenly felt the surrounding environment tremble. Turning around, they saw the ferocious beast with its mouth open, rushing towards them at an extremely fast speed.
Screams erupted instantly, and birds in the deep forest took flight in fright.
But the pain didn't come to them. The two farmers threw away their fire, huddled together, and when they felt no movement, they slowly opened their eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey, can you please not just leave torches lying around?"
The one who tightly bound the giant monster with the demon-binding rope was actually a young girl dressed in expensive clothes. Two strands of hair fell down her neck and draped over her chest, while the rest of her hair was coiled behind her head. She looked neat and tidy.
She caught the torch before it even hit the ground, remaining unmoved by the horrible beast's screams. Despite her young age, she possessed exceptional physical skills, turning around and kicking the beast away.
"Ugh! That's disgusting!"
She shook her trouser leg in disgust, as if afraid of getting something dirty on herself.
Before the two old farmers could react, another person was hanging upside down from the tree branch in front of them.
"I almost died!"
"Ahhh!!"
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that it was not a ghost, but a boy hanging upside down with his legs hooked on a tree branch.
His hair was all tied into a low ponytail at the back of his head, and now it hung straight down from the tree...
A refined voice came from not far away.
"Aju, don't scare people like that."
"Okay."
The boy used some clever trick with his legs to easily flip down from the tree branch.
He flexed his wrist: "Senior sister, why did you kick it so far?"
"Didn't you see how disgusting that thing looks...? Is Tianyu's formation set up yet?"
That refined voice came from afar once again.
"alright."
The two old farmers looked in the direction of the sound and saw two other people standing on the mountaintop, watching them from a distance.
The boy standing in the middle had his hair combed the most neatly, all neatly pinned up, with only two strands parted at the front.
Unfortunately, from this angle you can't see that one of his eyes is white.
He pointed in a direction to the person next to him.
The person next to him wasn't so conventional; his hair was all loose down his back, with only two braids hanging down from his temples.
"Oh."
"Notice--"
The young man's smile was somewhat sinister. A black sword, blending seamlessly into the night, was strapped to his back. He leaped down and headed in the direction the other man had pointed.
Even if someone seems to have something to say.
"……Safety."
The area he pointed to instantly exploded into a raging fire.
Then the sound traveled far through the spiritual energy.
"What danger could I possibly be in?"
Wen Tianyu sighed softly: "I mean, be careful to protect the tree and don't burn it too badly."
"..."
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