Chapter 38
It's not easy to learn inside information from unfamiliar faces, so Xiao Mu and Zhou Xuanzhi disguised themselves as peddlers, carrying their loads and walking through the streets and alleys, greeting everyone and trying to get close to them.
The youngest disciple in the Exorcism Division followed Su Liyue, and they concealed themselves in an ancient tree.
The young disciple was very uneasy seeing the others like this, and he asked the person next to him, "Is this really okay?"
Upon seeing Xiao Mu bring over a middle-aged man, she whispered, "Why not? Shh." She put her index finger to her lips, signaling everyone to be quiet.
They looked around, and when they saw no one was around, they whispered, "What do you mean she was beaten to death? She ran off with some random guy."
Seeing Xiao Mu's "Really? I don't believe it?" expression, the man became a little anxious. He patted his chest and said with an air of certainty, "You haven't seen that family's wife. She's real." He smiled maliciously, "Even the most beautiful courtesan in the brothel isn't as captivating as her."
What followed was nothing more than how the woman had seduced him, how he had made love to her, and who her lovers were. The exorcist disciples were so angry they wanted to rush down and beat him to a pulp, but given their current status and the crucial time for gathering information, no one dared to act.
Hearing the words of the repulsive-looking middle-aged man, the young disciple nearly smashed his sword over his head. If he hadn't witnessed the women's horrific state firsthand, he would have believed the man's words.
The ability to recount non-existent events in vivid detail demonstrates this person's exceptional storytelling skills. If he had applied that ability to writing storybooks, he wouldn't be in such dire straits.
Today they have also seen how many families treat women, and it really can't be called good.
At night, in a simple wooden pavilion far from the village, everyone reviewed what they had found out that day.
These villages are not very friendly to women. What Xiao Mu encountered today was relatively mild; the villages visited by the two exorcism disciples were truly chilling.
"That village has a custom that children who die young cannot be buried in the ancestral graveyard. Later, a kind-hearted person couldn't bear to see those children's bodies exposed in the wilderness, so he built a tower specifically to collect the remains of those who died young. As a result, after they gave birth to a baby girl, they drowned the child in the water, and now that tower is full of the skeletons of baby girls!" The man spoke with righteous indignation, wishing he could rush over and ask them why they did this!
Upon hearing this, Fei Xiang uttered "Amitabha Buddha," and then began to turn the prayer beads, chanting the sutra in a low voice.
Other disciples stood up indignantly, saying, "They even said that a wife is like dough that's been kneaded after being beaten. If we hadn't stopped that beast, he would have beaten his wife to death!"
"Not only that, they also married off a ten-year-old girl to a man in his thirties. The girl was only this tall." The disciple gestured, indicating that the girl only reached his waist.
The young disciple from the Exorcism Division seemed to have thought of something and asked, "If all the female infants are killed, how will those men get married when they grow up?"
Hearing this, the young disciples laughed in anger, "They bought girls from respectable families from outside, but those poor women were all kidnapped from the streets!"
Zhou Xuanzhi remained silent, and Su Liyue wore a pained expression. These women shouldn't live in such an environment; it would be a good thing if they were freed from it. But what they were doing was sending this woman back to hell.
“They will die if they come back here,” Zhou Xuanzhi said softly. His voice was not loud, but everyone present heard him.
"What about their parents..." The junior disciple of the Exorcism Division regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. Living in such an environment, how could their parents care about what happened after their deaths?
These women are well protected by that monster; at least they won't be beaten or scolded.
Some disciples didn't understand. If they couldn't be born in this place, they should move to another place. "Then move to another place to live, far away from here."
Zhou Xuanzhi explained, "This place will not allow the women here to read and write. They will find it difficult to adapt to living in a different place, and most importantly, they will not be able to establish their own households."
The imperial court forbade women to be heads of households, which meant that their only way to survive outside was to sell themselves into slavery. The lives of slaves were probably no different from those in this village.
“Their parents are just as you think, little brother.” When these women’s parents told their husbands’ families, “A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl,” Xiao Mu felt a chill.
After a long silence, Shi Yunzhou said helplessly, "So the method we came up with before won't work."
Su Liyue said self-deprecatingly, "If this is a story, then we are the villains in this story, the kind of villains who use the banner of justice. When I listen to stories, the kind of people I hate the most are those who die."
This was a situation they had never encountered before, and for a moment, no one could think of a good solution. Xiao Mu suddenly asked, "If it were Junior Martial Aunt, how would she handle this?"
These words jolted everyone awake. If they couldn't think of a solution themselves, they could ask their elders for help. In similar situations before, the people of Tianyu Mountain would first think of Shi Wanqing, who never followed the usual path. Some elders were indeed difficult to talk to; asking them for help would truly be sending these women into a fire pit.
Seeing everyone's attention on him, Zhou Xuanzhi thought for a moment, "If it were my master, she would take these women to a safe place and then capture the monster. We don't have any way to protect these women, so..."
"You don't know either?" This wasn't the answer Xiao Mu wanted.
"I don't know," Shi Yunzhou said, looking at Zhou Xuanzhi.
That resolute expression made Zhou Xuanzhi feel as if he were seeing his former self, and he was momentarily stunned. Then he smiled and said, "It's okay if you don't know."
They didn't know the monster's whereabouts, nor what had happened in the village. They were still investigating, having only passed through this area.
This was an excellent excuse, and the three from Tianyu Mountain all agreed. They looked at the people from the Exorcism Division.
They are all young people, and their edges have not been smoothed out. They already feel very aggrieved that they did not stand up for these women and seek justice when they encountered such a thing. Now, the opportunity to save them is right in front of them.
“We’ve been tracking down the monster, but she’s too cunning, and we haven’t been able to find her,” Su Liyue said.
Seeing that everyone agreed, we were about to leave, but before we left, we had to find the monster and at least say a few words to her.
It was at this moment that everyone saw a bald monk named Fei Xiang dressed in monk's robes, who was chanting sutras with his eyes closed.
"Master, will you help us?"
Fei Xiang's gaze toward Xiao Mu seemed to say, "Please, beg you, don't make things difficult for me," and he indeed said, "Amitabha, a monk does not lie."
No one knows about this right now, and it's easy to explain when they get back. As long as Fei Xiang doesn't say anything, no one will know what kind of decision they just made.
“But I was just chanting sutras for innocent children and didn’t listen carefully to what you all were saying,” Fei Xiang said again.
Seeing the monk's calm expression, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Xiao Mu stepped forward and said, "In that case, we'll go talk to that monster tomorrow. Everyone, please rest well today."
Fei Xiang didn't seem to want to listen to Xiao Mu speak, and lowered his head, closed his eyes, and began chanting scriptures again.
When everyone had left, Fei Xiang saw Zhou Xuanzhi still standing there. He stopped and asked, "Isn't Cultivator Zhou going to rest?"
"I'm thinking about something."
Watching the backs of those people, Fei Xiang said, "It seems that Cultivator Zhou does indeed have something on his mind."
“Master, you said…” Zhou Xuanzhi paused for a long time without being able to speak, but one could not tell what he wanted to say from the scene.
"Master Yuzhen passed away suddenly, leaving behind some things he couldn't explain. Why blame yourself?"
Hearing this, Zhou Xuanzhi looked ashamed and lowered his head. "When Master was training down the mountain, she must have encountered many difficulties, but she overcame them all. She even had connections here that could resolve the problems of these poor women. She could handle everything."
"My master is a ruthless person, but she is not heartless. She has feelings for the world and for all living beings. But I still can't do anything. It has taken so long to even find out the real cause of my master's death. I wonder if my master regrets taking me as her disciple."
"Is that what Cultivator Zhou thinks?" Fei Xiang was at least a bit older than Zhou Xuanzhi, so he could offer some advice on certain matters.
Zhou Xuanzhi did not reply, but Fei Xiang continued, "When you became a disciple, Master Yuzhen probably only hoped that you could live well and be happy."
Her master had requirements for her studies, but she wasn't very strict, just like with her other disciples. The only difference was that she wanted him to take good care of Shi Yunzhou.
He picked up Shi Yunzhou from Yunzhou City himself, so the task of taking care of him fell to him. At that time, his master's health was already very poor, and he spent most of his time recuperating.
"I just miss the time when my master was still alive. Back then, the three of us, master and disciples, had a very happy time on the back mountain."
Actually, back in the back mountain, he and his junior brother weren't particularly well-behaved, just like most disciples of Tianyu Mountain. These sword cultivators, after obtaining their own swords, would do everything in their power to maintain them. Tianyu Mountain spent all of its monthly allowance on sword maintenance.
By the middle of the month, everyone's savings are almost gone, so in order to avoid going hungry and to make a good living in the second half of the month, they try to find ways to earn some money.
The wealthiest among them are the senior disciples of Lunzhe Peak who specialize in crafting artifacts, weapons, and magical implements. They also create and sell some of their own items. In short, they are incredibly rich and powerful, so no one dares to mess with them.
The herbalists and healers of Yangjia Peak are also very wealthy, so those who wouldn't dare to target weapon refinement would instead try to steal from them. For example, they might steal a few unknown herbs from the herb garden of the herb cultivators, or steal a few pills they've refined.
Then, he and Shi Yunzhou were caught red-handed stealing herbs from the medicinal field. Since they were disciples of an elder, no one dared to lay a hand on them, and they were then brought before the Enforcement Elder.
The white-haired old man pointed at the two of them for a long time without saying a word, furious. It was his disciple, their junior uncle Gu Fengyin, who persuaded them to go back and then invited their master over.
"Senior sister, I've already persuaded Master to go back. You'll be fine once you take him back." Gu Fengyin's voice came from outside the door.
The two knew their master had arrived as soon as they heard the news, and they lowered their heads in shame. They had not only failed to bring honor to their master, but had also disgraced him.
When Shi Wanqing entered, she saw her two disciples facing the wall and was so angry that she almost laughed. They had embarrassed themselves in front of the law enforcement elder.
"Let's go! Don't embarrass me here."
But upon returning to the back mountain, there was no punishment, no scolding, only delicious food brought back from the foot of the mountain by his master. Zhou Xuanzhi couldn't remember what was on the table that day, only that the meal was a little bitter, but also exceptionally delicious.
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