"It was my father who made them. Were you trapped in here just now?" He tilted his small face, his eyes darting around, and pursed his lips, revealing two dimples: "My father saved you and asked you some questions. What's that called? Anyway, you wouldn't find it embarrassing to answer, right?"
The noble young child held his full chin high. Beneath his delicate and elegant nose, his small mouth was as red as a cherry, and he spoke with reason.
Yan Tianjiao's ears twitched, and he interjected with defiance, "This is called combining kindness with authority."
The young child: "..." I may be young and uneducated, but don't lie to me. This idiom doesn't seem to be used like that.
Lu Ziyin, Cheng Hong, and Fu Wanyan: "..."
This should clearly be called repaying a kindness!
Lu Ziyin felt so embarrassed he wanted to cover his face. Tianjiao, my friend, you've exposed your lack of proper study with just one slip of the tongue, do you realize that?
But Yan Tianjiao always had a mysterious confidence in his own linguistic and cultural achievements. He never thought he was wrong; others, lacking substance, were always at fault.
This little brat was quite articulate. He looked no more than five or six years old, but his words were like a needle wrapped in cotton, more potent than those of many adults.
"This is a hundred miles outside the suburbs of Compassion City, and the nearest place to rest is Compassion City."
Fu Wanyan, who generally did not interfere in their conversations, spoke to the little child at this moment.
Unless one had a cultivation base of Foundation Establishment or above and could use a spiritual artifact or fly, it would take several days to walk to Compassion City. However, with spiritual artifact flight, it would only take about an hour.
Seeing the man in the white cloak looking sickly and quiet, she wondered if he could hold on until Compassion City.
The little child looked up at Fu Wanyan's eyes. Her gaze was like a clear lake, warming after a chill, devoid of any filth or impurities. He smiled at her and said politely, "Thank you, sister."
He turned back, intending to take his father's hand, but Fu Wanyan called out to him, "We are also preparing to go to Compassion City. Since you helped us just now, why don't we travel together?"
As she spoke, she opened her palm and levitated a long boat flying artifact. With a wave of her hand, it rapidly enlarged.
Lu Ziyin looked at her in surprise.
Fu Wanyan had directly produced a scenic flying artifact capable of accommodating over a hundred people, demonstrating her immense wealth.
A huge shadow enveloped them overhead. This display was somewhat akin to a rich patron casually spending a fortune, creating a spectacle for onlookers.
Fu Wanyan had an inexplicable intuition that she didn't want to miss this father and son pair. Thus, she broke her usual indifferent demeanor and used her utmost effort to persuade them.
"As you can see, it's not safe around here. Traveling together allows us to look out for each other."
The little child tilted his head back and opened his mouth. This was his first time seeing such a large flying spiritual artifact, and his childish curiosity made him want to try it.
However, he glanced at the man beside him, who had remained completely unresponsive, and shook his head, saying, "No, my father..."
He doesn't like interacting with outsiders.
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted.
"Then we shall trouble you."
At this moment, the man slowly walked over. His voice was highly distinctive, like a string of melodious bells flowing into one's ears, soft and rippling. It was also like holding a clear moon, carrying a wisp of fresh breeze, blooming a thousand fireworks in the sky.
Everyone was slightly stunned. His movement seemed to stir the wind and clouds around him, conjuring a mist that blurred the eyes.
This person possessed a very special aura that made it impossible to ignore him.
Lu Ziyin couldn't help but ask, "You, a sick person, bringing a young child to Fengdu. Do you know that Fengdu is in a period of unrest? Aren't you afraid of encountering danger?"
What if they were captured as blood slaves... He suddenly recalled his previous actions and felt that he might be worrying unnecessarily.
If they could travel north and south to Fengdu with a child, perhaps they possessed extraordinary skills.
The man perceived Lu Ziyin's kindness. He lowered his head, clenched his fist to cover his mouth, and coughed before saying, "Because there is a reason why I must come."
Having said this, it was not appropriate to inquire further, as they were all mere acquaintances.
"Young sir, may I know your name?" Lu Ziyin shifted to a less sensitive topic.
"I am Ping Sheng."
The young child responded, "My name is Le Bao."
Upon hearing the names of this father and son, one could immediately tell they were aliases. How could a man who exuded grace and dignity even without revealing his face have such an ordinary name?
Since they had temporarily formed a team, he also introduced himself: "My name is Lu Ziyin, this is Master Cheng Hong, and the other two are Yan Tianjiao and Junior Sister Fu."
The three of them stated their real names directly. However, Fu Wanyan was a woman, and it was not appropriate for him to reveal her maiden name without her consent.
If those who knew their background were present, there would be no need for such caution. But the issue was that the origins of this father and son were suspicious, and it was necessary to be cautious.
The man's wide hood dangled, obscuring his eyes and nose. The fluffy, clean fox fur around the brim of the hood fluttered in the wind. His lips, like a corner of the sky-blue, parted slightly, rippling like water stirred by a breeze, and he said, "I presume you also have important matters to attend to. Let us depart first."
The man took Le Bao's hand. He hadn't noticed before, but as they walked, it was evident that Le Bao was identifying their location, while the man was being led.
They found it strange. Why wasn't the father leading the child, but the child leading him?
"Could he be blind?" Lu Ziyin blurted out.
"Blind men feeling an elephant?" Yan Tianjiao crossed his arms and raised his chin.
At this moment, Le Bao stopped. He turned his head. Though small, his demeanor was no less imposing: "My father is not blind. His eyes are merely temporarily impaired."
Lu Ziyin gave a dry laugh, "Le Bao has excellent hearing."
Le Bao's eyes were particularly sharp, "It's because your voices were too loud."
After the father and son boarded the flying ship, Fu Wanyan suddenly asked, "Master Cheng Hong, what do you think the background of this father and son is?"
Cheng Hong remained silent for a moment before speaking, "I cannot discern the man's cultivation, but the child is likely using a treasure to conceal his cultivation. His cultivation is already at the twelfth level of Qi Refining..." He then looked at Lu Ziyin, "Therefore, Lu Tanyue, he is not an ordinary child who can be easily deceived."
Lu Ziyin exclaimed in surprise, "He, he looks no more than five or six years old."
Cheng Hong had witnessed too many geniuses. Although some things were unreasonable, even incredibly bizarre, they were not impossible, nor did they not exist.
"The aura around this father and son is bright and clear, and they can dispel the already formed ghostly energy. It is likely they are friends, not enemies," Cheng Hong stated.
——
Fengdu, Shuofang City
The scar-faced man, carrying Hua Lu, walked through alleys and streets. His movements appeared chaotic, but he had already planned a specific route in his mind, eventually arriving at the highest point of Shuofang City – Sunset Peak.
They stood at the place used for Shuofang's sacrifices, from which one could clearly see all four cities of Fengdu.
One could also see a winding black river circling below the mountain. The area around the black river was barren, shrouded in mist. After a winding path, there was a forest of cold, thorny bushes.
The pitch-black thorny branches intertwined, as if covered by layers upon layers of a great net, or like a deep, dark cave with no end in sight, through which not a sliver of light could penetrate.
A gloomy and bleak cold light fell upon this forest of thorns, which even ghost cultivators spoke of with a shiver. The place was so silent as if all life within had died, exuding an extremely inauspicious, abyss-like aura.
That patch of forest grew neither trees nor grass, only thorns sharp enough to scrape the skin and entwine the flesh. They were incredibly hard and highly poisonous, thus it was a natural place of expulsion, punishment, and imprisonment.
It was also a forbidden land.
It was said that countless demons and monsters who had committed heinous crimes were imprisoned there, living in darkness, suffering the torment of the poisonous thorns day after day, with no hope of ever escaping.
"Child, are you cold?"
Hua Lu shivered and tightly hugged one of the ugly man's arms with both of his own.
"N-no, I'm not cold."
Sunset Peak was the highest peak in Fengdu, and coupled with the bone-chilling cold air from the black river, he took a black cloak from his storage space and draped it over himself.
Hua Lu subconsciously glanced at it. He felt the simple, unpretentious appearance of the cloak was somewhat familiar, much like the one belonging to the young lady of the Mu Mansion.
"...How come you also have a black cloak like that person in the black cloak?"
The scar-faced man didn't respond to the topic. He said, "Now you can tell me what your relationship is with that Hua Jie, and why you had to escape him through me?"
The scar-faced man's tone was neither light nor heavy, but it struck Hua Lu's heart like a resonant bell.
He finally understood what it meant to settle accounts at the end of the year.
Hua Lu still depended on him, so he had no intention of lying. He recounted his story with Hua Jie.
"...He's not the Hua Jie I knew. He doesn't remember anything from our past together at all. And... he even changed his face to his current one. He wants to use this handsome face to get close to the young lady of the Mu Mansion..."
Although Hua Lu did not intend to deceive the scar-faced man, he knew some things could not be said, so he spoke haltingly, omitting some details and cutting off the beginning and end.
However, the scar-faced man clearly had no intention of understanding every minute detail of his affairs. He only needed to be sure that this child was not kidnapped by him, and that the child had not chosen to follow him out of mere childish caprice.
"And you? By following Hua Jie, you could have lived in the Mu Mansion without worry, even receiving the best treatment, and wouldn't have to live a life of hardship like in the past."
Hua Lu had grown up fending for himself, and his disposition had long been honed. He was also a decisive person.
"I don't want to," he pouted.
"Why?"
He couldn't reveal the real reason, so he made up an excuse to get by: "Because I'm so good-looking, what if I stay at the mansion and the young lady of the Mu Mansion takes a liking to me? I don't want to be her son."
"Then who do you want to be a son to?"
"You."
The scar-faced man immediately stared at him with a peculiar smile, "They say that young lady of the Mu Mansion is as beautiful as a flower. Child, are you sure your eyesight is not problematic?"
Hua Lu hurriedly retorted, "No, I definitely pick the best—" He stared at the scar-faced man, and a hint of green light flashed in his dark eyes. Then, his small face turned flushed, both proud and excited, he said, "You are the best!"
——
On the other side, the man in the white cloak, traveling to Compassion City aboard the luxurious flying ship, suddenly shuddered. He bent his body and reached out a hand to press tightly against his eyes from within the hood.
"Father, do your eyes hurt again?"
He said calmly, "...I'm used to it."
"It's happened again in such a short time!" Le Bao, rarely losing his innocent smile when facing others, put on a stern face and snorted.
"Yes, in such a short time..."
After the sharp pain subsided, he lowered his hand and blinked his eyes, only to find that his vision, which had just begun to recover, had become blurry again.
"Father, why did you agree to go with that sister and them?"
"We were going to Compassion City anyway."
Le Bao was somewhat displeased, "But she kept looking at you, even though you've always hidden your face and haven't let her see your appearance."
"What are you unhappy about?" The man squatted down and gently pinched his tender little cheek.
Le Bao said seriously, "Father, you belong to Mother."
The man's hand paused, "You've forgotten, you don't have a mother."
"Father, don't lie to me. Everyone says children are born of their mothers, so I must have a mother too. How could you possibly have given birth to me alone?" Le Bao looked as if he had seen through the deceitful ways of adults.
The man stood up, his blurred vision falling on the clouds and mist rapidly being swept away by the wind outside the flying ship, and said with exasperation, "You were born of me, what's impossible about that?"
"It was Father who gave birth to me, but how could Father have carried me alone?" Le Bao didn't believe him. "Father, where is my mother?"
In the past, whenever he asked this question, his father would only fall silent.
This time, it was the same.
"Isn't having me enough?" the man asked hoarsely.
Le Bao puffed out his cheeks, about to say "not enough," but seeing his father's expression, he lowered his eyes and said obediently, "Father, Le Bao won't ask anymore. You, you don't be sad, I really won't ask anymore."
He desired a mother; it was his nature.
But over the years, to make his father, who had been abandoned by his mother, feel better, he had to suppress his natural instincts. At such a young age, he bore pressure that was not meant for his age; it was too difficult for him.
At this moment, Fu Wanyan walked over from the other end of the ship. Seeing the quiet atmosphere between the father and son, she stepped forward and said, "Le Bao, I have some sweet milk fruits here. Do you like to eat them?"
She took out a milky white fruit, about the size of an orange, from her storage space. This fruit had a sweet, milky fragrance and was well-loved by children and some female cultivators.
Le Bao's mood was currently dejected. He glanced at it but still replied politely, "Thank you, sister, but Le Bao hasn't liked sweet milk fruits since he was three years old."
Poor him, his staple food since childhood had been sweet milk fruits fed to him by his father, along with various precious tonics. It was only after he strongly protested at the age of three, demanding to eat normal meals, that he was kept away from these overly sweet and greasy items.
Fu Wanyan's expression remained unchanged, and she asked again, "Then what do you like to eat?"
As she spoke, she waved her sleeve, and with spiritual energy as a shield, she displayed various valuable precious fruits before him.