Chapter 35
"Years."
Jiang Mingyan looked at the child sitting in the yard with tears streaming down his face. He hid the pain in his eyes, moved his lips stiffly, and made a dry sound.
He took a step forward, intending to pull the child away and pick him up.
Although Jiang Mingyan was unwilling to admit it, he still had to let Uncle Chen rest in peace.
However, just as he raised his foot, he suddenly stopped.
Jiang Mingyan saw a piece of cake.
A small, delicate, dusty pastry.
It lies quietly not far away, like a true heart covered in dust.
Jiang Mingyan stared at it blankly, as if he had been suddenly and violently pushed out of nothingness, his soul plummeting to the ground. Then, the surroundings, which he had ignored in his grief, became vivid.
He saw the familiar wooden table and benches.
They were overturned in front of the woodshed, with a piece of oil paper pressed under the corner of the table and cakes scattered around.
The wooden door of the woodshed was open, and the firewood that Jiang Mingyan had chopped that day was neatly stacked inside.
Jiang Mingyan walked over and lifted up the wooden table and benches.
He stood there, looking towards the woodshed.
From this position, you can see a table piled with food in the corner of the woodshed where the sun doesn't shine.
Spiritual rice, spiritual vegetables, as well as the monster meat and cakes that Jiang Mingyan and Sui Sui sent that day.
Under the table is a large, clean wooden basin.
Inside was a big black bone.
...Where is Dahei?
Jiang Mingyan thought dully.
Where is Dahei?
The woodshed was empty. Where was the big black dog with black hair and a majestic appearance?
A sense of urgency surged in Jiang Mingyan's heart.
He must find Dahei.
Jiang Mingyan was about to walk into the woodshed.
Dahei must still be here.
The yard is so small, he will definitely find Dahei's.
"Brother." Sui Sui's small, hoarse voice came from not far away, interrupting Jiang Mingyan's movements: "Dahei is here."
Jiang Mingyan turned around in shock.
The child had gently let go of Uncle Chen's cold arm without him noticing.
He heard faint whimpering.
——It’s Dahei.
So the child got up and stumbled towards the direction where the sound came from.
"Squeak--" the child pushed open the tightly closed door of the main room.
The door of the main room opens inwards and looks tightly closed, but the child just pushes it lightly and it opens naturally.
Does Uncle Chen also hope to open this door every year?
I don’t know every year.
Inside the room, from the large cabinet against the wall, tiny noises kept coming out.
The child pulled open the cabinet door with force.
A black dog was lying inside, its two hind paws and two front paws were tightly tied with cloth strips, and its mouth was also wrapped with cloth strips.
It struggled, but the restraints swallowed up all its struggles and roars.
Suisui stretched out her little hands and tried to untie the cloth strips on the black dog.
However, the cloth strips were tied very tightly and could not be untied year after year.
"Sui Sui, go call your brother." The child touched the black dog's head, turned around and ran towards the yard.
"Brother, please help Dahei untie it." Pulling the corner of her brother's clothes, Sui Sui walked back to the cabinet and begged in a crying voice.
"...Okay." Jiang Mingyan responded in a hoarse voice, bent down and untied the cloth strips on the black dog.
"Woof woof!" The black dog barked at them twice and staggered towards the yard.
It pounced on Uncle Chen, nudged his stiff body with its head, and licked his pale cheek with its tongue.
"Woo woof..." After an unknown amount of time, the black dog stopped moving. It seemed to have realized the cruel reality. It curled up beside Uncle Chen and let out a low cry of pain from its throat.
"Woo woof..."
Jiang Mingyan picked up Sui Sui, stood in front of the main hall, looked at the wailing black dog, and seemed to see the scene of yesterday in a trance.
Uncle Chen put on the robe that he and Suisui had given him.
During the day, Uncle Chen wore this robe and walked around the farm, asking everyone he met, "Does my robe look good?"
"Hey, my nephew bought it for me. I told him I didn't need it, but he still insisted on buying it for me. What a waste of money!"
People thought he was showing off and ignored him, but he didn't get angry. He continued walking forward with a smile. When he met the next person, he would ask, "Look at my robe, isn't it nice?"
…
At night, it was already late, but Uncle Chen did not go into the house to rest. Instead, he propped up the table, opened a bag of pastries and put them on the table, then sat next to Dahei.
"Dahei, tell me, when will Xiaojiang and Suisui come back? They've been gone for several days."
He looked at the spiritual rice and vegetables in the woodshed: "Luckily, these are filled with that... spiritual energy! They spoil slowly, otherwise how can we eat them in this hot summer?"
Before I finished eating a bag of pastries, I heard a fierce roar in the air in the distance.
Uncle Chen frowned and stood up, looking up at the blue-gray giant wolf and the white spirit beast fighting in the air.
He was just about to go to the woodshed to get his axe, but his eyes widened in surprise.
The blue-gray giant wolf bit the white spirit beast's neck with its sharp fangs and swung it hard. The white spirit beast fell down with a loud bang, collapsing several houses.
Uncle Chen's face darkened. He strode to the black dog and untied its chain: "Big Black, go inside and hide."
The black dog refused, struggled and barked continuously.
"Dahei! Be obedient! If anything happens to me, just follow Xiaojiang and Suisui. You all need to be fine!"
But the black dog still refused.
During the struggle between the man and the dog, the table and chairs were knocked over, and the cakes were scattered on the ground. One of the cakes rolled a long distance.
The black dog would not bare its fangs to its owner, so it was forcibly carried into the house, its paws and mouth entangled, and hidden in a cupboard.
Uncle Chen closed the cabinet door, hurried out of the main room and closed the door.
Outside the yard, a neighbor's man screamed in agony. Before Uncle Chen could react, the wall was knocked down by the giant blue-gray wolf...
"Brother!" The childish voice of a little kid sounded in my ears.
Jiang Mingyan lowered his eyes and saw the child with tears in his dark round eyes looking at him worriedly.
"Sui Sui..." Jiang Mingyan's arms exerted force involuntarily, but he restrained himself at the last moment and did not hurt the child at all.
"Brother, don't cry." Sui Sui's nose was red as she whispered, "Uncle Chen went to look for my father and mother."
"In a place far, far away, they will be very happy and will always be watching us."
Jiang Mingyan buried his face in the child's soft, small shoulders.
Suisui hasn't mentioned his father and mother for a long time.
Jiang Mingyan thought that the child was too young and had already forgotten his parents.
After all, when Suisui lost his father and mother, he was still so young and naive.
But in fact, even children know it.
He is ignorant, but not ignorant.
"Brother, Sui Sui is with you, and Da Hei is with you too." The child felt the wetness on his shoulder. He stretched out his little hand and gently touched his brother's black hair.
——Just like when the child had just lost his parents, every time the child cried at night, his elder brother would pick him up and gently stroke the child's soft hair.
·
Uncle Chen has no wife or children and is alone.
Jiang Mingyan put Suisui into the backpack, and personally made a coffin while carrying Suisui on his back.
He and Suisui buried Uncle Chen in the cemetery that Uncle Chen had chosen for him long ago.
The cemetery is not far from Xizhuang. It is a large area of land with large and small graves, all of which are buried with the people of Xizhuang who have died over the years.
When Uncle Chen chose this place as his burial place, was he afraid of being alone after his death?
No one knows the answer.
By the time Jiang Mingyan finished all this, the affairs of Quyuanzhuang were basically settled.
The guardian beast of the village was buried next to the old owner's grave, and the body of the Fenggu Wolf was burned by the living people of Quyuan Village, so it was considered a clean place.
The surviving residents of Quyuan Village were gradually sent away by the Tang family. They would settle down in other villages and continue their lives.
Quyuanzhuang is gone, but Zhongzhuang is still there.
In other words, from now on, there will only be Zhongzhuang, a market that still provides a place to stay and a place for transactions for cultivators entering and leaving the Dusk Mountains.
Changsun Lianwen and the others are leaving too.
Suisui was held in her brother's arms and saw her eldest grandson Lianwen and her group in the newly built Tang's Pharmacy.
After experiencing such a huge change, Wu Chen became much quieter. Even though he had learned that Jiang Mingyan was Changsun Lianwen's former 'fiancé', he did not say anything.
The two women in dark blue dresses saw the child with red eyes and seemed to want to say something, but were stopped by Zhao Yongyu.
So, in the end, only Changsun Lianwen came over.
"The matter at Quyuan Manor is almost settled, and we are about to set off to return to Zhongzhou." Changsun Lianwen said softly, "My condolences."
"I'm fine." Jiang Mingyan forced a smile: "Be careful on the road."
"Okay." Changsun Lianwen glanced at him, then reached out and touched the child's soft black hair, then turned and left.
Jiang Mingyan looked at the backs of their group, and his gaze finally fell on the seemingly inconspicuous old man.
Practicing Qi, building foundation, golden elixir, and Nascent Soul.
Above the Nascent Soul, there are the Spirit Transformation, the Void, and the Tribulation Transcendence.
In this world, strength is respected.
Even if he had rushed back yesterday, what would have happened?
The spiritual roots are broken and the Qi is cultivated.
But it was just a soul killed by the Fenggu Wolf.
Jiang Mingyan hugged the small and soft child in his arms tightly, his eyes cold and gloomy.
"I want to find a Dan cultivator," he said.
"I have a trustworthy alchemy practitioner." Tang Jiu stood beside him and said quietly, "I'll invite him here for you."
"I still have spiritual plants here." Jiang Mingyan lowered his eyes: "A lot."
Suisui can control Hypericum jejunum and Hemolyticum clottingii.
Although Suisui's blood-clotting grass came onto the path by chance, it has one thing that other spiritual plants cannot compare to.
While the blood-clotting grass wasn't everywhere, it was widely distributed. Suisui, the blood-clotting grass, could learn about it from the other common blood-clotting grasses.
Suisui had previously dedicated herself to preparing abundant flowers for her brother. So whenever the blood-clotting grass brought news, Suisui would send Hypericum virginianum to investigate. If conditions permitted, Hypericum virginianum would collect any spiritual plants the blood-clotting grass had discovered.
Intermittently, many spiritual plants appeared in Jiang Mingyan's Lanqiuying bracelet.
"Okay." Tang Jiu looked at Jiang Mingyan deeply and nodded in agreement.
That afternoon, Tang Jiu went to Shanhe City.
On the third day, he brought back a white-haired alchemist.
Jiang Mingyan handed the pill formula and several jade boxes to the alchemist.
The alchemist spent three days and barely managed to refine one pill: "The pill recipe you gave me is too abstruse. This one was just a fluke."
Dan Xiu stroked his snow-white beard and sighed.
Jiang Mingyan looked at the luminous pill inside the jade box and pursed his lips slightly, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. You've already paid." Dan Xiu waved his hand. "I really like that Xia Ming Lotus."
After Dan Xiu left, Sui Sui looked up at his brother and said, "Brother, are you going to retreat?"
Sui Sui had just learned the word "retreat" from Tang Jiu.
"Yes." Jiang Mingyan gently stroked the child's soft back. "Sui Sui and Da Hei, can you wait for your brother outside the room for a few days?"
Sui Sui nodded, and the black dog, who had lost a lot of weight, also whimpered softly.
Jiang Mingyan entered an alchemy room in Tang's Pharmacy.
Sui Sui sat on a large wooden chair, and the black dog lay down next to the chair, with its tail wrapped around one of the chair legs.
The sun gradually disappeared into the mountains. No matter how Tang Jiu tried to persuade him, the child still sat on the chair, looking at the closed door, and refused to leave.
Suddenly, the child's heart began to pound, and the gray bracelet on his chubby wrist became hot, as if giving a silent warning.
"Brother!" Suisui climbed down from the chair and stumbled towards the alchemy room.
"Sui Sui..." Tang Jiu hurriedly tried to stop him: "Don't make trouble."
When he investigated Jiang Mingyan and Sui Sui, he knew that Jiang Mingyan's spiritual roots were broken. Although Jiang Mingyan did not say it explicitly, he could guess that Jiang Mingyan bought the black hedge grass and found Dan Xiu to make elixirs in order to restore his spiritual roots.
"Woof woof——" The black dog's hair on the back of its neck stood up, its fangs were exposed, it stood in front of the child and barked a warning at Tang Jiu.
"Brother, I'm injured!" Sui Sui's voice was filled with tears: "Sui Sui wants to find my brother!"
Tang Jiu hesitated.
He knew Sui Sui was not a mischievous child.
Moreover, once the spiritual roots are broken, can they really be healed?
Tang Jiu had always doubted the authenticity of the recipe Jiang Mingyan had given him. After all, he had never heard of any elixir that could heal a broken spiritual root.
Spiritual roots are the bridge for cultivators to communicate with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. How can they be healed so easily?
Tang Jiu didn't mention it before because he didn't want to disappoint Jiang Mingyan's expectations.
Although he had never experienced the pain of having his spiritual roots shattered, he felt a chill all over his body just thinking about it.
If he is like this, what about Jiang Mingyan?
Therefore, he was unwilling and afraid to mention it.
But now, looking at Sui Sui's round little face full of anxiety, he was silent for a moment.
Then he made a decision.
"Sui Sui, let Da Hei move aside. I'll help you open the door to the alchemy room."
Sui Sui quickly hugged the black dog's neck, and her small hands gently stroked the erect hair on the back of the black dog's neck: "Tang Jiu is not a bad guy, Dahei is not fierce, Dahei, please get out of the way, okay?"
The black dog slowly retracted its fangs and gave way after being comforted by the child.
Tang Jiu strode forward, mobilized his spiritual power, and forcibly opened the stone door of the alchemy room.
"Brother!" The next moment, the child rushed over quickly and staggered.
Jiang Mingyan sat on a cushion on the floor of the alchemy room, his face pale and his black hair soaked with cold sweat.
"Brother." Sui Sui lay on her brother's lap, and the bright red mole on her forehead hurt slightly.
He saw a long sword in a trance.
A long sword that is shining and radiant.
So... familiar.
"Brother, every year is so uncomfortable..." The child muttered, and a heavy feeling of fatigue surged up like a tide.
"Sui Sui!" Tang Jiu exclaimed.
The child was lying on Jiang Mingyan's lap, fast asleep.
unreasonable.
Tang Jiu thought.
He took a few steps forward and tried to pick up Suisui.
However, before he could touch the child's chubby little body, he was pushed out of the alchemy room by a surge of overflowing spiritual power, and fell into a ball with the black dog.
"Sui Sui! Jiang Mingyan!" He looked up in surprise.
The alchemy room was already flooded with auras of interwoven green and gold.
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