As An Zhengzheng left the village, she could see white cloths hastily hung up by each household every few steps.
Some had lost their daughters or sons, others their mothers or fathers; the white cloth covering their bodies had not yet been removed as they supported each other as they saw An Zhengzheng off out of the village.
Since dying of illness doesn't count as being poisoned, there's no injustice involved, and An Zhengzheng has no chance to pray for the soul of the deceased.
At the village entrance, as the sun sets, the surviving villagers stand guard at the village entrance.
"Fairy, we all know you have done your best. Without you, our village would probably be completely destroyed."
The setting sun cast long shadows of the group of people, and I don't know who said that.
"Damn it, who could be so wicked as to destroy all the medicinal herbs? My child is only four years old, with a bright future ahead of him..."
When An Zhengzheng left, a woman was still wiping away tears, clearly unwilling to accept the situation.
An Zhengzheng was also unwilling to give up.
Even gods neglect their duties, indulging in love and romance. What crimes they commit are nothing more than spoiled and unruly behavior. What does the life of a mortal matter?
...What do all of An Zhengzheng's efforts these past few days amount to?
She gripped the jade stone tightly in her hand.
Just as An Zhengzheng had guessed, the jade stone absorbed a large amount of immortal energy when the Goddess Yunhua used her magic to knock her away last time.
Along with the incense offerings from before.
The newly planted medicinal herbs could not save the lives of the dead, and those people were buried together in the farthest corner of the village.
She will remember this day.
An Zhengzheng is gone.
She embarked on her journey once again.
But she hadn't gone far when a girl carrying a bundle followed closely behind her.
She was only twelve or thirteen years old, her face was covered in dust, but her clothes were clean, and she looked uneasy.
An Zhengzheng turned around, surprised for a moment: "It's you."
This little girl is mute and usually very timid, but she is quick and efficient. An Zhengzheng has seen her help deliver medicine.
After thinking for a moment, she took out some fruits that the villagers had given her from her treasure bag. She was at the Golden Core stage and had little appetite.
The little girl kept shaking her head and waving her hands, then pointed to the bundle on her back.
"...Don't want to?" An Zhengzheng thought for a moment and asked, "Want to come with me?"
The mute girl understood what was being said. She pointed to the sky and made a two-character gesture.
Tears welled in her eyes.
"You saw it that day?"
Who started the fire?
Is it the Third Princess, or the Goddess Yunhua?
But it seems like it makes no difference who it is, doesn't it?
An Zhengzheng walked along, and the mute girl followed. When An Zhengzheng walked fast, she would run; when An Zhengzheng walked slowly, she would walk slowly to rest.
They couldn't drive her away, after all, she was her only relative, her mother, who died three days after the medicinal herbs were burned.
Looking at her worn-out straw sandals, An Zhengzheng sighed.
From then on, An Zhengzheng had a little tail following her around.
She couldn't remember the mute girl's name, only had a vague impression of her.
"Is it Awei? Or Awei?"
The mute girl was illiterate and could not speak.
For convenience, An Zhengzheng called her Awei, the Wei of "majestic".
This is the second time An Zhengzheng has named someone.
She teaches Awei a few words every day, and sometimes uses magic to soothe her damaged language center.
If anyone asks again, they will address each other as master and disciple.
Years later, when An Zhengzheng was driving away the demonic beasts, she came to the old cave. Looking at the cave full of spiritual energy, she guided Awei to draw in the energy.
Ah Wei will be able to cultivate soon.
The twelve or thirteen-year-old girl has grown into a seventeen-year-old.
An Zhengzheng always noticed that her eyes shone brightly when she practiced her skills. No matter which remote and impoverished village she lived in, she was always immersed in her own world.
"Master Zheng, I want revenge."
"...The road is very difficult."
"I'm not afraid of hardship."
On the way, An Zhengzheng led her to the border of the cultivation world. Beyond that was the real human world, completely devoid of spiritual energy.
The border between the human realm and the cultivation world is also the poorest and most remote place.
An Zhengzheng arrived at the most remote village.
At the village entrance, they felt a chill in the air. A tall stone tower stood at the entrance, with three large characters prominently displayed.
The corpse of a female infant.
This is the abandoned baby tower. An Zhengzheng heard someone mention it in a village along the way, so she came straight here.
"Are you scared?" An Zhengzheng turned to ask Awei.
Awei said, "With Master Zheng here."
An Zhengzheng asked calmly, "What if I'm not here one day?"
Just like a hundred years ago, she asked her younger sister An Yirou.
"..."
The tall stone tower, with even its windows being quite high, must have been an extension.
According to villagers on the road, as more and more baby girls were thrown into the tower, it was to prevent sick baby girls aged four or five, or seven or eight, from crawling over the corpses of other baby girls and then crawling out of the windows.
They said that many years ago, almost all the villagers in this village went mad and fought each other, frightening many nearby villages.
Rumors circulated that it was a plague, so many villages moved far away and started clearing land anew.
An Zhengzheng calculated that it was exactly half a year before she left Siyue Sect and came here for training.
She took out a magical artifact, which was given to her by Master Wushang, to clarify the cause and effect and prevent wrongful convictions.
The mirror recreates a scene from a hundred years ago.
At first, some people couldn't accept their child's death and built a tower specifically to bury the child. Later, poor families who couldn't afford coffins also sent their children there, and it was called the "Tower of Righteousness".
Someone behind them, seeing the newborn girl, said it was bad luck, but not wanting to be the bad guy, asked someone to throw her into the tower.
This has led to the emergence of professional baby abandoners.
The two men who abandoned the baby pushed a cart, going from house to house to collect baby girls, and then threw them into the tower like garbage.
A newborn baby girl, a disabled child, a three- or four-year-old girl who suddenly falls ill and requires money, but whose family doesn't feel it's worth the expense...
They were all placed or tied up and thrown onto the vehicle.
The rate of female infants is over 95%.
The tower keeper watched over the tower to prevent the baby girl from coming out, and every three days, he had to add a fire inside to prevent the growth of an unpleasant smell.
The screams and cries of the still-alive baby girl were incessant.
The tower keeper spat and said, "Noisy!"
Annoyed, she cursed again: "They're all worthless lives. The sooner they die, the less they'll suffer."
"...You are born to enjoy nothing of this world, so why bother living?"
The tower guards, who were initially somewhat reluctant, have long since become numb.
The nearby villages also heard about this. Those who could be sold as child brides were sold, and those who couldn't were sent to this village through intermediaries.
Some people even called for the construction of a "righteousness tower" in their own village.
An Zhengzheng looked at herself quietly in the mirror.
Awei was young, and when he saw the burning baby girl, he vomited uncontrollably and went to a nearby place to dry heave.
Amidst the raging flames, a girl engulfed in fire screamed as she climbed out of a tower window.
How could that be?
The tower keeper was astonished. The girl looked to be fourteen or fifteen years old. How did she get into the tower?
Besides, they've been raised to this age, so they can still work and be sold for money. It's not worth burning them!
In the past hundred years, I have never heard of any tower keeper mentioning burying a girl this big!
He has been guarding the tower for fourteen years, and has never seen it once.
An Zhengzheng watched as the girl, burned black, jumped from the tower and landed steadily.
The fire quickly ignited the nearby vegetation.
She walked towards the tower keeper, facing the firelight.
His figure, his movements, the way he walked—all of this felt familiar to An Zhengzheng.
I remember now.
Many years ago, when she had just left Siyue Gate, she glanced at her surroundings briefly.
She saw her senior brother Yu Tiao leading the new junior sister into the room.
...That junior sister was the same way, rubbing her arms every few steps, as if she was soothing the painful burns.
She smiled then, thinking that the new junior sister was just afraid of the cold.
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