Chapter 661: Shao Bai [Two-in-One]
He thought he could pick the flower without anyone noticing, but just as his fingers were about to touch the petals, the little red flower drifted away with the wooden staff. Shao Chong seemed to sense something, looked up, and saw the owner of the staff looking down at him; their eyes met.
The boy frowned slightly: "What are you doing?"
Shao Chong stared longingly at the little red flower. Even though he had failed in his attempt to steal it and had been caught red-handed by the owner, he wasn't ashamed. He smiled and raised his eyebrows: "How much is this flower? How about you sell it to me? I can afford any price you ask for! Name your price!"
Chao Lian couldn't help but expose him: "I can't afford it."
The boy's clear eyes lingered on Shao Chong's face for a moment before looking away, turning away with an expression that suggested he didn't want to talk to strangers. He took out a small purse from his sleeve and quietly checked the prices with the vendor, appearing reserved and shy. Perhaps because he rarely interacted with people, the entire process involved the vendor calculating the price of each item, telling the boy the total, and then the boy counting out the money and paying.
"You look so poor." Shao Chong's gaze was still fixed on the little red flower. Seeing that the boy paid mostly with copper coins, he decided to use money to persuade him to agree. "Just sell me this flower, one tael? Two taels? If not, I'll give you five taels..."
The boy ignored him.
He took the packaged items from the vendor; they were all daily necessities, such as salt, millet, needles and thread, and cloth. This was the first time in his life he'd gone out shopping alone; usually, his Uncle Lin would handle it. His teacher told him not to be nervous, that he just needed to buy what was listed in the book. He could use the remaining money to buy himself some candy…
"Thank you. Do you know where I can buy candy?"
The boy longed for candy, but didn't know where to buy it.
Seeing that he was being ignored, Shao Chong raised the price again.
How about ten taels?
While eating, Chao Lian once again undermined him: "Thirteenth Brother, your brother here doesn't have ten taels. It's just a little red flower. If you want it, wait until next spring, your brother will take you out of the city to pick as many as you want. Don't bother him."
The boy still ignored Shao Chong.
All I could think about was how much money I had left to buy a few pieces of candy.
Hey! Look at me!
Shao Chong ignored Chao Lian's words and instead struck like lightning, grabbing the boy's left shoulder. His previous enthusiasm vanished, replaced by a deep, sinister voice, from which a series of fine, eerie gurgling sounds escaped his throat, like the low growl of some wild beast.
Looking into his eyes again, his pupils gleamed with an ominous red light.
Chao Lian was all too familiar with Shao Chong in this state.
How could they possibly care about eating the last bite of millet porridge?
He threw down the ceramic bowl, intending to step forward and stop Shao Chong from going mad.
"Thirteenth brother, please calm down! This is not the place for you to go crazy! If your elder brother finds out, you'll be in for a beating!"
Chao Lian also harbored doubts.
Previously, the root of the problem couldn't be found; all that was known was that the thirteenth brother would go mad upon seeing blood. However, after several years of recuperation and restraint, the Gu worm within the thirteenth brother's body has gradually reduced its influence on him, and even his stagnant mental state has begun to slowly improve with age. Except for the night of the full moon, when the Gu worm becomes exceptionally agitated, forcing Shao Chong to passively enter a state of madness, he is otherwise normal.
Shao Chong, however, turned a deaf ear.
The hand pressing on the boy's shoulder tightened.
Chao Lian subconsciously held his breath, not daring to make a sound or disturb Shao Chong, for fear of provoking him and ruining the boy's shoulder. To his surprise, the boy didn't move an inch, turning his head to look at Shao Chong: "That flower isn't for sale, let go of it."
Shao Chong let out a strange laugh: "What if we don't?"
The boy looked confused and troubled.
He said, "But I don't want to kill anyone."
The boy's calm voice reached Chao Lian's ears clearly, and Chao Lian was filled with anxiety. He wasn't worried about his thirteenth brother, of course; he was worried about the boy. In his mad state, Shao Chong was like a firecracker that could explode at any moment, and the boy's provocation was just adding fuel to the fire. There was a high probability that he would be torn to pieces by bare hands, his blood splattered on the spot.
The boy repeated it again.
"I don't want to kill you." When he said this, there was no murderous aura about him. His eyes were as clear as a spring, and his gentle demeanor was like a breeze. "My teacher also said that it's better to avoid trouble. Killing someone is easy, but disposing of the body is troublesome. My teacher hates trouble the most."
The boy added, "I hate it too."
Chao Lian couldn't help but whisper a reminder.
"Stop provoking Thirteen..."
Doesn't this child know Shao Chong's infamous reputation? Didn't he see how the common people on the street ran away or hid as soon as they saw Shao Chong's posture?
Many people have seen Shao Chong's face, and some have even witnessed him killing people, scenes that have become haunting nightmares. Even ordinary women use phrases like, "If you cry again, the red-eyed monster will come and eat you," to scare children. Is this foreign-looking boy just a reckless young man, daring to provoke a tiger?
"Give it to me!"
Shao Chong's eyes had been replaced by a bloodshot red, and the sound escaping his throat was inhuman. He raised his hand into a claw, and with lightning speed, grabbed at the boy's face. Among the brothers, Shao Chong possessed the strongest finger strength. Even without using any martial energy, he could crush a stone with his bare hands as easily as crushing tofu. If this grab landed squarely on the boy, his skull would be split in half!
"Thirteen!"
Seeing that Shao Chong was really going to make a move, Chao Lian was so anxious that his voice cracked.
He didn't even have time to draw his weapon, preparing to block Shao Chong with his bare hands. But he was still a step too slow. At such a short distance, the boy sidestepped the grab, then retaliated with a bent elbow, unleashing a wisp of emerald wind from his right palm, forcing Shao Chong back.
Although they were only a ten-foot apart, it was enough to make Chao Lian stare in astonishment.
This boy...
Judging from his appearance, he is definitely younger than Shao Chong.
"Run!"
This is not the time to be shocked.
Chao Lian conjured weapons from thin air, placing two pistols diagonally in front of Shao Chong, blocking his path and buying the boy time to escape. His ability to force Shao Chong back didn't mean he could escape Shao Chong's attack. Harming the innocent and increasing bloodshed was against the principles of morality.
The young man said to Chao Lian, "Thank you."
But he did not turn around and run away.
"I can spare his life!" He formed hand seals, summoning a wooden staff tucked diagonally behind his waist. Mysterious patterns and the Big Dipper constellation spread outwards from his feet in all directions. The boy's robes fluttered without wind, and the small red flower at the top of the staff swayed from side to side.
Chao Lian: "..."
What... what kind of power is this?
It was neither scholarly nor martial, yet it could communicate with the energy of heaven and earth. Chao Lian's intuition told him the boy was safe. Reality confirmed his guess. Instead of aiming his wooden staff at Shao Chong's head, the boy tapped the ground, sending a streak of emerald energy like a meteor hurtling through the air, heading straight for Shao Chong's brow. Chao Lian raised his hand to block, but the energy passed right through his palm.
"Thirteen!" Chao Lian turned his head and saw the energy entering Shao Chong's brow. He rushed forward and caught him.
The boy stepped forward, holding a wooden cane.
He half-squatted down and poked Shao Chong's forehead with his finger.
“There’s something inside him that’s not cooperating.”
Chao Lian was greatly alarmed.
"Who are you? What did you do to Thirteen?"
"Now you're obedient."
Chao Lian grabbed the boy's wrist, preventing him from leaving.
"Obedienced? What do you mean by that? You're saying the thing inside Thirteen...obedient? How did you do that?"
"Let it sleep, and it will obey."
Isn't this something that can be done very easily?
The boy straightened the crooked red flower, tucked the wooden cane back into his waistband, and then kindly reminded Chao Lian, "Don't let your brother eat insects indiscriminately. If people eat insects indiscriminately, the insects will eat them. Not only will they get a stomachache, but their heads will also hurt. The teacher also said that people who get headaches from eating insects will have short lives."
Do you have a way to get rid of the bugs?
The boy shook his head: "The teacher hasn't taught it yet."
The teacher only taught us how to make the insects sleep.
Chao Lian seemed to have grabbed a piece of driftwood and hurriedly asked, "Your teacher? Does your teacher know? This is my thirteenth brother. We'll pay any price to cure him. Whatever your teacher wants, as long as it's not against morality, we brothers will do it for him!"
The boy shook his head again: "I don't know."
Chao Lian noticed that the boy's reaction was similar to Shao Chong's back then, seemingly that of a child. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and asked in a coaxing tone, "Do you know where your teacher is? I'd like to visit him."
The boy refused to tell: "The teacher said I can't tell."
"Then—" Chao Lian wanted to ask more, but the boy had already frowned impatiently and stood up to leave. He quickly changed the words he was about to say, "Young man, could you please ask your master for me?"
"Why? He tried to steal my flowers; he's a bad person."
Chao Lian, as if possessed, said, "Young Master, if you help me with this, I'll have Thirteen buy lots of candy to apologize to you later, how about that?"
The boy looked conflicted, as if he was weighing whether it was worth it.
In the end, they succumbed to the temptation of sugar.
"Okay, I'll contact you again once I get a reply."
Chao Lian was overjoyed and was about to trick the boy into meeting him somewhere, then follow the clues to find the boy's teacher, when suddenly his right hand went empty. He looked up again, and a fallen leaf drifted down from mid-air to where the boy had been; the boy was nowhere to be seen.
Upon learning of this, Gu Ren immediately sealed off the city and searched for the person.
The boy who had caused the commotion appeared at a roadside teahouse outside the city, carrying some things. In a corner, a man dressed as a commoner lowered his straw hat and quietly sipped his tea. The boy called out to him, "Uncle Lin Si."
"All done shopping?"
The man known as "Uncle Lin" looked up.
He then asked, "Did you get into a fight?"
"He stole my things..."
Uncle Lin asked, "You didn't kill anyone, did you?"
The boy shook his head: "I didn't kill them, I let the bugs sleep."
Uncle Lin didn't press him about what "making the insects sleep" meant. Anyway, after finishing his martial arts practice, the boy liked to squat in a corner and mess with things like toads, centipedes, scorpions, and ants. For a boy of his age, playing with insects was quite normal.
"Have you bought everything?"
The boy nodded nervously: "Mmm..."
But his fingers seemed to instinctively try to cover something.
After checking and confirming that everything was correct, Uncle Lin got up, paid for the tea, and said, "Let's go, your teacher is still waiting for you."
Halfway there, I whispered a reminder.
"Don't let your youthful appearance fool you, you still have protruding teeth. Eat less candy, or I might get caught by your teacher."
The boy responded with an "oh".
Admitting mistakes readily but failing to correct them despite repeated attempts.
The boy's teacher was an old man with white hair and beard. He had aged rapidly in recent years, and an aura of old age emanated from his body. Anyone with eyes could see that he did not have long to live.
Upon seeing the young man and Uncle Lin return, his withered face finally came to life. The three ate a simple meal, and the old man said, "Everything is ready, let's continue south..."
Uncle Lin: "Leaving again?"
This seclusion was like a war, with people constantly hiding and running away, but he didn't see anyone chasing after him. He couldn't understand why the old man was moving around so frantically.
The old man said, "Yes, for Shao Bai's cultivation."
The boy was stunned for a moment before he realized that Shao Bai was calling him. He said with distress, "Teacher, I am Ayan."
He didn't like the unfamiliar name, Shaobai.
Uncle Lin just wanted to roll his eyes.
"It doesn't matter where he cultivates."
The old man said, “Of course it’s different. The countries in the Northwest are busy fighting and have no intention of holding selections. Even if they did, they would refuse to let foreign scholars participate. Shao Bai needs to go to the Sacred Land of Mountains and Seas. When that happens, I, this old man, will be completely at ease.”
Uncle Lin said nothing more after hearing this.
The boy, however, was restless: "Teacher..."
"What is it?"
"Does the teacher know how to kill insects?"
"insect?"
"Today I met a guy with worms in his brain. His brother promised that if I helped them kill the worms, he would... he would..."
The last words were unclear.
The old man instantly understood and sneered, "Those who abuse their power deserve to die. I know the method, but I cannot do it. You can do it, but your strength is insufficient. Of course, if that person is lucky enough, you can drag it out until your strength is sufficient..."
"Yes, Ayan knows."
"Also, eat less white food and less sugar."
The boy quickly covered his mouth with both hands: "Ayan didn't eat!"
The old man pointed with his chopsticks at the tooth stuck with sugar in the boy's bowl and said, "You've lost your tooth, and you're still being stubborn?"
juvenile:"……"
Those eyes, as beautiful as a landscape painting, were veiled in a thin mist.
It was a front tooth that fell out.
Several days later.
Gu Ren and his brothers searched high and low but couldn't find the boy, as if he didn't exist. Even Chao Lian couldn't help but wonder if he had made a mistake. That day, they returned empty-handed again. Chao Lian was frantic with worry when he saw a familiar face.
He was overjoyed and stepped forward to stop the person.
"Young master, you've really made me..." But upon seeing the man's face clearly and meeting his gaze as if he were a fool, Chao Lian almost coughed up air and exclaimed in surprise, "Gongxi Chou, how could it be you—"
"Oh, it's you, Gu Ziyi's younger brother. What's up?" This man was Gong Xichou, who had left Xiaocheng. He was traveling alone, so his travel efficiency was at its maximum. Gong Xichou greeted him casually, as if he wasn't the one who almost killed Shao Chong back then.
His reaction was frank, which left Chao Lian bewildered.
"you……"
Gong Xichou said, "I was just passing by."
A few days ago, the ancestral markings on my shoulder blades inexplicably became hot.
He ran wildly in the direction indicated by the clan crest.
Then things stalled again halfway through.
Chao Lian hesitated before asking, "Then... have you ever seen a young man who looks about five points like you? His attire..."
He paused for a moment as he spoke.
His gaze was completely fixed on the patterns on Gong Xiqiu's collar.
This pattern is similar to the style of a teenager.
They clearly come from the same source.
Gong Xi Chou, losing patience, was about to pay and leave when Chao Lian grabbed his arm. Gong Xi Chou sneered and threatened, "Don't you want this hand anymore?"
“That person looks a lot like you.” Afraid that Gong Xiqiu wouldn’t believe him, Chao Lian took out the pattern he had drawn from memory from his pocket, almost slapping it on Gong Xiqiu’s face. “Have you seen him before?”
_(:з」∠)_
Let Ayan come out for some fresh air before continuing to dive.
(End of this chapter)
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