Le Bao was already agitated due to the earlier argument with his father, his fair, tender face etched with annoyance. Seeing her persist in pestering them—
He tilted his head to glance at her, then turned and walked to his father's side, extending a chubby little hand to tug at his sleeve.
"Dad, tell that sister for Le Bao that Le Bao has been taught diligently by you since childhood and does not accept anything from strangers when out."
The way he said it was faultless, a perfectly reasonable rejection of someone's unsolicited offerings.
However, he could have said it himself, but he deliberately had his father relay the message in front of others. This move was a clear snub.
It was a blatant declaration: I don't want your things, and I don't want to talk to you anymore.
Fu Wanyan tightened her grip on her palms. Her expression, hidden by the veil, was visible only to herself.
She remained silent for a moment. Seeing that neither father nor son spoke further, she withdrew the carefully selected precious fruits.
She nodded and took her leave, "My apologies for disturbing you."
Her departure was clean and swift. The corner of her Qianyue robe was lifted, accentuating her slender waist.
After her figure disappeared into the cabin, small snowflakes began to drift down from the sky.
The flying ship, a high-grade treasure, was equipped with protective shielding. The wind and snow outside seemed to fall through a transparent barrier, gracefully descending, only to be swept away by the relentless whistling wind, drawing long white lines like shuttles in a loom, fleeting like a white steed.
On the quiet and snow-laden beautiful bow of the ship, Le Bao lowered his head, looking pitiful.
"Dad, you— you aren't going to scold me?"
Le Bao knew he had acted improperly just now.
What was wrong with someone offering sweet milk fruit? She only wanted to please him, yet he had taken his anger out on her, publicly embarrassing her.
This was not in line with the principles his father usually taught him about how to conduct himself.
Ping Sheng slightly raised his head, but he did not reprimand him.
He knew Le Bao's disposition very well. His bloodline, no matter how much he suppressed or guided it to change, could not alter the fact that he had been exceptionally intelligent and perceptive since childhood. This was not a bad thing, but sometimes he used a child's unique cunning to handle mistakes, which was rather exasperating.
Le Bao would never become a simple and honest child.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder, if she saw Le Bao one day, would she like the bright and clever Le Bao?
His eyes were temporarily sensitive to light, but the overcast, snowy weather did not cause him any additional burden. His robes fluttered white as he stood on the bow. The flying ship, though seemingly slow in the clouds, was actually traveling at great speed.
He saw the vague outline of a city appearing in the distance, but the sky above the city was enveloped in a vast expanse of blood-red.
"Le Bao, when we reach Ci Bei City, if I am unable to be by your side, you should try to stay with Fu Wanyan." He suddenly instructed him solemnly.
Le Bao's eyes widened, and he blurted out, "Why? Dad, among so many people, her cultivation is the lowest. Why must I follow her?"
"Listen to me. I cannot tell you some things yet. Just remember what I have told you."
Although Le Bao was often opinionated, when his father became serious, he could only obediently listen.
"Le Bao understands."
—
Fengdu Shuofang City
"You say you're an orphan and have been living and making a living in Hua City with Hua Jie since you were three?"
"Yes."
"What about before the age of three?"
Hua Lü paused, then tilted his face up and said casually, "I don't remember."
The ugly man judged that the child was lying but did not expose him.
With one hand supporting his hip and thigh, and the other covering his little face, he leaped down from the high peak of Luoriguang.
The powerful wind force, which almost peeled off his face, was blocked. He was indeed not in the Qi Refining layer. He paused in mid-air, and instantly a disc of light expanded beneath his feet. With a swift, crane-like movement, he flew across the miasma-filled Black River.
During the moments of rapid descent and perilous ascent, the child's heart could not help but race. Frightened, he hugged the man tighter, burying his face in his embrace.
It was soft and warm. A man's chest muscles were quite firm.
Passing through the Black River, which snaked through Fengdu like a black dragon, they entered the Thicket Forest, a place that even ghost cultivators feared.
The Thicket Forest was also known as the Devil's Den.
When the child came to his senses, they had landed. He straightened up and looked around, his small face tightening.
Although Fengdu Ghost City was not exactly bright and cheerful, this place presented a completely different, sinister, and terrifying scene.
The thick, entwined thorny vines, which looked like a dense mass of black mist from afar, were actually a mottled blend of dark black, deep green, and crimson up close. They tightly coiled into nets, then formed walls, then a city. From a distance, it resembled a nest of densely packed writhing snakes, enough to make anyone's hair stand on end.
Hua Lü did not expect him to bring him to such a place. No wonder he had run up to Luoriguang earlier; he must have gone to scout the terrain beforehand.
He grabbed the ugly man's hand, "You can't go in here!"
Even if they were still pursued by people from the Mu family, it would be better than falling into this place where no one could hear them cry for help.
"You know this place?" the ugly man asked calmly.
Hua Lü nodded vigorously, speaking in a tone meant to convey how serious and terrifying the matter was, "Inside... I've heard they imprison the most ferocious and terrifying beings in Fengdu, but they suffer terribly in there. I've heard that every midnight, agonizing screams can be heard within Shuofang City."
The ugly man watched him vividly describe the dangers of the forest, a hint of a smile in his ink-black eyes. "Don't be afraid. I am the most ferocious. If you aren't afraid of me, you have no reason to fear those things."
Hua Lü was dumbfounded.
It wasn't that he feared those people. Well, he did fear the banished evil spirits and demons within, but he feared this bizarre, unsettling forest even more.
The ugly man stroked the child's small head. Finding the texture pleasant, he habitually started to caress it a few times.
Hua Lü glared at him for a long moment. Seeing that he remained indifferent, he said dejectedly and awkwardly, "Not at all."
Where was he ferocious? He was clearly very gentle.
The ugly man held him and walked steadfastly towards the Thicket Forest. As they approached the poisonous thorns, their glaring sharp points emitted a toxic, faint green light. If these things pierced the skin and entered the body...
Hua Lü's small hands dug their nails into the ugly man's flesh. His body stiffened, like a sacrificial boy awaiting judgment, but unexpectedly, at the last moment of confrontation, they quickly retracted.
It was as if the ugly man possessed something that they feared.
The thorny vines, coiled into ancient tree-like formations, parted. Wherever the ugly man passed, a smooth, traversable path opened up.
Hua Lü was utterly stunned.
"Why aren't they attacking us?"
As he spoke, he excitedly stretched his hand out from the ugly man's embrace, perhaps intending to make a gesture. But an accident occurred at that very moment.
The thorny vines, which had fled from the ugly man as if he were a ghost, were not immune to Hua Lü. A dark green vine, whipping through the air with a rustling wind, flashed past like a black-green silhouette.
Ah— wΑp.kanshu伍.net
Hua Lü's vision blurred. He squeezed his eyes shut in fear, his face turning pale, but he did not feel the expected pain.
He cautiously opened one eye and saw that the writhing poisonous vine was firmly grasped by a hand. The thorns were indeed hard and sharp. Blood dripped from the palm, but strangely, the highly poisonous vine began to wither and rot from its tip within this drop of blood, eventually turning to ash all the way to its roots.
In the blink of an eye, the thing that had been arrogantly devouring people was reduced to nothing.
"I— I'm sorry. Are you poisoned? Does it hurt?"
Hua Lü saw the dense blood holes pricked by the thorns on his hand, his entire palm a bloody mess, and tears welled up.
The ugly man gently wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes with his clean hand, saying lightly, "Don't cry. I'm not poisoned. This kind of injury heals quickly."
Healed?
That kind of talk might fool a three-year-old, but he was almost six and didn't believe it at all.
Hua Lü thought he was trying to comfort him, but when he looked down, he saw that the blood holes seemed to have truly healed. Apart from some dried bloodstains, not even a layer of skin was broken.
"Wh-why?" he asked in surprise.
The ugly man continued to walk forward, holding him. "Child, since I dare to venture into this forbidden ground of Fengdu, I must have absolute confidence. Before undertaking any action, one must accurately assess oneself. Reckless or impulsive behavior might lead to a lucky escape once, but it will inevitably fail to ensure long-term safety."
Hua Lü seemed to understand, "You mean, one must become strong enough before undertaking such dangerous tasks?"
"Your understanding is excellent."
His voice was truly different from his appearance. His clear and slow tone, when lowered, changed its vibrational frequency, inexplicably giving one a sense of being greatly honored, as if being treated specially.
"It's because you taught me well."
After this interlude, Hua Lü forgot his previous fright, and his face finally regained some color.
"Have you read books?"
"I am literate."
He responded quickly, afraid of being looked down upon.
"Being literate is one thing, but you should read more books. The content of books may not necessarily help you understand life, but it can add depth to your life."
He tilted his head, "Are you a teacher?"
"Certainly not, but I can be your teacher."
Hua Lü was somewhat dissatisfied, "Didn't you say you would be my father?"
"Since you have living parents, why would you want to acknowledge someone else? Moreover, I also have a child, so I cannot be your father."
Upon hearing him say this, Hua Lü's eyes reddened with anger, "You have a son?"
The ugly man said, "I don't know if it's a boy or a girl."
His own child, and he didn't know?
Suddenly, Hua Lü thought of something and seemed to understand immediately. He looked at the ugly man with sympathy, "Were you abandoned by your Dao companion too? Did she run off while pregnant?"
The ugly man's gaze inexplicably shifted to him.
This child knew quite a lot, but he didn't know why he would think of these things.
He curved his lips slightly, his indifferent eyes deepening, and said faintly, "I have been searching for someone for seven full years. Tell me, will it take me to scour the entire cultivation world, or to overturn all black and white, good and evil, until he has no place to hide, before he will willingly appear before me?"
Hua Lü had heard many people gossiping over the years about some immortal master feuding with some female immortal, but no one had ever spoken with such arrogance, as if they could pierce a hole in the sky with a single word.
He really knew how to brag.
"Um, Dad, no, Uncle, with your current mindset, even if you find your Dao companion in the end, you won't reconcile."
He didn't argue with him about whether his search had a direct connection to reconciliation, but instead asked, "Oh? Tell me, what is my mindset?"
Hua Lü raised his chin, confidently stating, "The mindset of wanting to lock someone up in a dark room."
He had experienced being locked in a dark room too many times in the past. Whenever he misbehaved, the person wouldn't hit or scold him but would simply enforce confinement.
Therefore, he recognized the calm yet dangerous expression on the ugly man's face.
The ugly man was silent for a long time before saying, "You're wise beyond your years. You really know everything."
They chatted as they walked. To others, this was undoubtedly a dragon's den and tiger's lair, but the forest seemed to have no effect on them.
However, as they went deeper into the forest, visibility decreased, and there was complete silence. The ugly man felt the child in his arms growing cold and asked, "Are you afraid of the dark?"
"...No, I don't think so."
"Tell me, is it more unpleasant to be unable to see things, or to be locked alone in darkness?"
His words led Hua Lü to ponder, "Being alone in the dark, I suppose."
"Is it being alone that is unpleasant, or is it the darkness?"
"Being alone."
"Then you are not alone now, nor are you in the dark alone. You can close your eyes, just like when you usually sleep."
Hua Lü clutched his clothes tightly, "Uncle, will you always hold me?"
The ugly man sighed, "Hua Lü, boys shouldn't act spoiled."
Hua Lü had never been like a typical child. It was said that he didn't cry when he was born, nor did he cry when hungry. Later, when he was with Hua Jie, although he was younger than Hua Jie, he was more decisive.
But now, after being told this by the ugly man, he realized he was acting like a child asking for candy.
His face flushed red, "I— I'm not acting spoiled. I'm just worried that if you let go of me, I'll be dragged away by the thorns in that forest."
After saying this hastily, he added, "Also, my name isn't Hua Lü."
He resolutely refused to acknowledge that huge, ugly, unpleasant name as his own.
"What is your name?"
At this moment, a faint, ghastly light approached.
"What the hell!"
A scream suddenly echoed, "Ah— he's back—"
They saw that in an inner pit plaza ahead, many people, or perhaps monsters, were hanging.
Most of them had features of both humans and other races, such as human heads with deer bodies, human bodies with ox heads, sharp horns, and long fur.
These hybrids were driven here and entangled by thorns. The poison incessantly invaded them, causing their blood and flesh to ache, but due to their constitutions, they could not die comfortably for a hundred years.
—
Miss Mu, along with Mu Nanxue and Hua Jie, went to see Gu Yejin alone.
"Yejin."
Miss Mu, as she walked, removed the hood of her cloak, revealing a face as beautiful as a hibiscus flower.
Hua Jie was stunned.
The rumors that the world spoke of were true; Miss Mu was indeed very beautiful.