Chapter 18 The Heavenly Evolution Secret Realm: Clouds Roll and Unroll
Have you ever heard of someone who has died but is brought back to life?
"What?"
Fu Yusheng chuckled, "I once heard a story. In a village, there lived a kind family. A man from this family saved a cultivator who collapsed at their doorstep. The cultivator was grateful and performed divination for the woman's unborn child, but the result was an ominous sign. He said..."
"This child is a cursed star, destined to bring misfortune to relatives and friends. His birth will surely bring calamity. He must not be allowed to live!"
Fu Yunyao stared in disbelief at the house that had suddenly appeared before her.
Inside the house, the monk looked flustered, and the woman who heard his words turned deathly pale. She was very beautiful, and her red-rimmed eyes made her even more captivating.
The man beside her was furious and chased the monk out of the courtyard with a broom.
"What kind of heartless Taoist priest are you? I saved you, and you actually cursed my daughter!"
The monk was still outside the courtyard trying to persuade them, "I have been cultivating the Tao for many years and have never made a mistake in divination. This child is a great threat and cannot be allowed to live!"
Their commotion attracted the attention of the villagers, and the man became furious.
"Qingqing and I have always done good deeds and accumulated virtues! Our child, even if not blessed with great fortune, should at least live a peaceful and carefree life. How could he possibly be a calamity!"
The villagers chimed in, "That's right, you Taoist priest, how rude! They saved you, and instead of being grateful, you curse their unborn child! What kind of behavior is that!"
The monks were driven out of the village.
The scene in front of Fu Yunyao changed once again.
The man gently stroked the woman's pregnant belly, his expression tender.
"I think if this were a boy or a girl, I would name him Mu Chaosheng, meaning 'sharing the tides across the vast ocean.'"
"
"What if it's a girl?"
"Then let's call her Mu Shu."
"Clouds drift and gather, serene and content—a beautiful name!"
Fu Yunyao lowered her eyes. Mu Shu? The name of the former sect leader of the Tianyan Sect?
"Brother Mu, let's go! This is a big order!" someone called from outside.
The man hugged the woman gently again, "Wait for me!"
She nodded slightly, but the man never returned.
Amidst the torrential rain and thunder, the baby girl let out her first cry. The woman, with tears in her eyes, gently soothed the baby girl to sleep, supporting her weak body.
The torrential rains lasted for three months, flooding all the crops in the village.
After the torrential rains of March, a drought lasting more than half a year followed.
The villagers could no longer contain themselves. They cursed the baby girl as a jinx, and the woman raised the baby girl alone amidst countless insults and scornful stares.
Countless nights, she held the little girl in her arms, her fingertips trembling as she stroked the girl's wounds, gently comforting her, "Shu'er, don't be afraid, your mother is here, your mother will never abandon you."
"..."
"But she broke her promise."
Fu Yunyao looked at her reddened eyes, feeling extremely confused.
She clearly seemed to love her child very much, so why did she choose to bury her child in the end? And why did she choose to commit suicide in the end?
"You can't predict matters of the heart. You might hate him at one moment, but the next second you might feel sorry for his past," Fu Yusheng replied to her confusion.
"I won't." Fu Yunyao answered without the slightest hesitation.
Fu Yusheng gently shook his head.
You will. You're just a little slow to react to emotions, so you'll be able to make rational decisions. And at some point in the future, you'll suddenly realize what kind of pain those past events, which you didn't care about in the past, will actually bring you.
He sighed inwardly and spoke again, "The story I heard has a sequel. The girl didn't die; she struggled and survived in the pit."
"She is Sect Leader Mu?"
"yes."
Fu Yunyao and Fu Yusheng returned to the place where the girl was buried. The woman's body lay on the ground, blood still flowing from the wound on her forehead.
From the soft sand pit, a small hand covered in scars emerged.
With that hand, she brushed aside the top layer of sand, and in no time, she was freed from the sand.
She dragged her weak body to the woman's side, her small fingers probing the woman's breath before slowly withdrawing them.
She knelt beside the woman's cold corpse, her eyes vacant.
It wasn't until the sun rose and its warm rays fell on her that she slowly came back to her senses.
Fu Yunyao watched her bury the woman under the tree, watched her small body move through the streets, fighting with vicious dogs for food, watched her participate in the cultivation world's recruitment, and watched her climb the 13,700th corpse step of the Tianyan Sect all by herself.
She wasn't particularly talented, but she excelled through hard work. She became the champion of that year's cultivation competition and entered the Linglang Secret Realm. It was there that she obtained her natal sword, Liuying.
This spirit sword, which had no reputation in the cultivation world, followed her from becoming a prodigy in the cultivation world to the sect master of the Tianyan Sect.
She is powerful yet gentle. She will find marrow-cleansing beads for disciples with low talent and will impart all her knowledge to them without reservation. When other sects are in trouble, she is the first to lend a helping hand. Even when facing people who hate her, she can treat them with gentleness.
She was a good person, but she developed inner demons...
The thunder and torrential rain were just like the day she was born.
She leaned against the tree where the woman was buried, looking relaxed.
Until the lightning struck, the blinding light made Fu Yunyao turn her head. When she looked again, she saw Mu Shu's illusory figure slowly dissipating. Overnight, this mountain range with its sparse spiritual energy became a spiritual vein.
The moment the spiritual energy spread, the illusion before them vanished once more.
...
As the campfire blazed and the flames flickered, Fu Yusheng patiently picked out the bones from the grilled fish in his hands.
Fu Yunyao glanced at him. "You can see now?"
"No, you can't," he replied casually. "When your cultivation reaches a certain level, you can 'see' it by observing fluctuations in spiritual energy."
Fu Yunyao asked suspiciously, "Then why are you afraid of losing me?"
"Because I can't 'see' you. There's no spiritual energy fluctuation on you, so I really would lose track of you."
He acknowledged, made sure the fish bones in his hand had been removed, and handed it over.
"Want some? The fish in this secret realm are quite fresh; they should taste good."
Fu Yunyao wanted to refuse, but he stopped her, "Don't refuse, I can't see anything right now, I still need you."
She paused slightly, but finally took the fish meat from his hand, which he had already removed the bones from.
Fu Yusheng added some firewood to the campfire. "Would you like to hear the story I told you earlier again?"
Even though it was him speaking, another voice rang in Fu Yunyao's ears.
Would you like to hear stories about the lands beyond Yaotai?
Receiving no response, Fu Yusheng called softly, "Yun Yao?"
She lowered her eyes, composed herself, and said, "Listen."
"After the woman died after hitting a tree, the villagers said she had gone mad because of her child. Gradually, as time went by, they forgot that there had been a girl in the village who was called a jinx."
"Another year, the village suffered another drought. They prayed to the heavens and to the immortal sects. The first to respond to them was Mu Shu, who had become the sect leader of the Tianyan Sect. She solved the drought in the village, and the villagers respected her and even built a temple for her."
"But the following year, a thunderstorm completely submerged the village, and after the storm came a plague. This time, no one came to save them."
“It wasn’t until the last person in the village died from the plague that Mu Shu appeared at the village entrance, covered in wounds. Amidst the rotting corpses on the ground, she saw a child staring blankly at her. She took the child away and sent him to the Kunwu Sect.”
Fu Yunyao blinked. "Is her inner demon related to the village?"
"Yes. It was after that that people learned that Sect Leader Mu had such a past, which made them even more impressed by her kindness and benevolence."
Fu Yunyao sensed something was amiss. "Did she develop inner demons because she failed to save the villagers who had bullied her?"
Fu Yusheng laughed, "You're so smart, why don't you try to guess?"
She turned her head away, not wanting to pay him any attention.
He didn't seem to care at all. "Do you know who that child she sent to Kunwu Sect is?"
Kunwu Sect?
Fu Yunyao pondered, recalling the sword move "Yunmengze" that Wen Ci used during their duel, which belonged to Mu Shu... She suddenly looked up.
"Sect Master of Kunwu Sect!"
A mist rose again, and the campfire went out.
The sound of weeping echoed through the woods.
"Immortal, please save us, please, Immortal."
As she spoke, the mist dissipated, revealing the complete appearance of the village to Fu Yunyao and Fu Yusheng.
The village was dilapidated, but the temple remained clean and tidy. The wind blew the gauze curtains that covered the temple, revealing the statue behind it. The statue had its eyes slightly lowered, as if it contained infinite compassion and mercy.
The man knelt before the statue of the god, his expression sincere and humble, "Immortal, please save our village."
Outside the temple, the streets were filled with people lying on the ground, their skin festering and rotting, and any slight movement would cause a piece of rotten flesh to fall off.
The stench of decay permeated the air. Fu Yunyao walked past them, watching as villagers afflicted with the plague were shoved into a courtyard.
Oil was poured all around, and when the torch was lowered, flames erupted everywhere.
People kept banging on the courtyard gate, their shouts drowned out by the firelight.
The person standing outside the courtyard wore a veil and looked completely numb.
The burnt smell and the stench of decay mixed together, causing Fu Yunyao to frown.
She turned her head and met the gaze of the child hiding behind the door.
She took a few steps toward the child, with Fu Yusheng clinging to her sleeve, without missing the fleeting fear in the child's eyes and the little movement of quietly retreating.
"What's wrong?" Fu Yusheng asked.
“There is a child who can see us.”
Fu Yusheng understood and released his grip on her sleeve. Fu Yunyao moved her toes slightly and covered the boy's mouth before he could react.
She spoke softly to comfort her, "Don't be afraid, we just want to ask you a few questions."
The boy's pupils constricted slightly, but he eventually nodded due to the overwhelming disparity in strength.
Fu Yunyao then released her hand from her mouth and patted his slightly wrinkled clothes.
She looked at Fu Yusheng, who was still standing there, and asked, "Aren't you coming over?"
Fu Yusheng said helplessly, "You forgot, I can't see you."
Can't you see or hear anything?
Fu Yunyao didn't want to argue with him, so she could only walk over and extend her sleeve for him to take her hand. Unexpectedly, he grasped her wrist this time and slowly wiped her palm with a brocade cloth that he had just taken out of his Qiankun bag.
He spoke silently as Fu Yunyao looked over.
plague.
A note from the author:
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This week's list has a higher word count requirement, so there will be more updates~
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