Chapter 58 Among the Living

　　Within Chaoge City.

　　The Grand Tutor emerged from the mountain's depths after a long while, unable to regain his senses for quite some time.

　　He was astonished by what he had witnessed, so much so that he couldn't bear to dwell on it. The mere thought brought a stinging sensation to his nose. How much had the Emperor God, whom they had deemed cold and heartless, and who had passively watched Chaoge City's descent into its current state, truly sacrificed over the past three thousand years?

　　Later, Fei Yu and Wu Yu presented the map.

　　They relayed everything Wei Yuan had said to the Grand Tutor.

　　The latter was equally delighted by the effects of the fruit from Mount Chongwu. He understood Chaoge City's predicament far better than Wu Yu and Fei Yu, and he grasped the value and significance of this treasure for Chaoge. As long as they obtained this treasure that could improve the aptitude of future generations, Chaoge City's biggest problem would cease to be a problem. He examined the map, his hand trembling, gently brushing over the location of Mount Chongwu on the map.

　　Then, he recited the annotation beside it in a low voice:

　　"The first of the mountains in the Western Thrice Scripture is called Mount Chongwu, south of the River. There is a tree there with round leaves and a white core, red flowers and black veins. Its fruit is like a trifoliate orange; eating it benefits descendants."

　　……………………

　　The five Mountain Gods left Chaoge City, traveling together, preparing to return to their own mountain lairs.

　　The old man looked back at Chaoge, sighing, "What a pity."

　　"I sensed that aura. I originally thought it was Yuan. If Yuan is here, then King Yu must be here as well, but halfway through, I realized it was a new Mountain God. Heh, although it's also a joyous occasion, I somehow feel like I got my hopes up for nothing."

　　"King Yu was the one who recorded our sacrificial methods, but Yuan was the one who came up with the idea of how to prepare the sacrifices. Perhaps he didn't care, but that was the first time we tasted human food and wine. I always feel like I've never eaten anything so good since then."

　　The burly Mountain God glared at him and said, "You're actually thinking about Yuan's food instead of King Yu."

　　The old man's lips twitched. "Of course, I respect King Yu."

　　"But, King Yu's personality... his personality is too frugal." The old man finally found a compliment, saying, "Because of his personality, he's not particular about food at all. He doesn't waste any food, so the things he makes are really not as good as Yuan's."

　　The Hercules Mountain God glared at him, saying, "You're talking nonsense! King Yu is flawless!"

　　"Then do you think the sacrifices King Yu made were delicious?"

　　"No."

　　"Then isn't that the end of it?"

　　The Hercules glared at the old man, saying, "But even if it's not delicious, it's still perfect!"

　　The Old Pulse Mountain God was helpless, too lazy to pay attention to this Mountain God, feeling that he was indeed worthy of being a bovine Mountain God, with a stubborn personality. He looked into the distance and whispered, "In any case, King Yu will never return, will he? Nujiao is in Qingqiu Country, and Yuan..."

　　"King Yu's subordinate is also buried here."

　　The other Mountain Gods stopped talking.

　　Time is always cruel to people.

　　The old man took a sip of human wine and, emboldened by the alcohol, recited a chapter from the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, also about Mount Chongwu, but different from what Wei Yuan told the people of Chaoge City. The ancient voice, mixed with the wind, was almost like poetry:

　　"The first of the mountains in the Western Thrice Scripture is called Mount Chongwu, south of the River."

　　"Looking north, one sees Zhong Sui; looking south, one sees the Marsh of Yao; looking west, one sees the Hill of the Emperor's Beast Hunt; looking east, one sees Yan Yuan."

　　"Looking east, one sees... Yuan!"

　　*Classic of Mountains and Seas*.

　　After Yuan's death, King Yu completed the remaining parts.

　　The head of the Western Thrice Scripture mountains is Mount Chongwu, that mountain, south of the divine era's Yellow River.

　　I climb this mountain, looking north, I see Mount Zhongsui where my father died, and looking south, I see the great marsh where my teacher Emperor Yao is buried, looking west, I see the hill where the late Emperor Shun once hunted, looking east, that is Yuan...

　　Accomplishments achieved.

　　Old friends all gone.

　　……………………

　　With a clear ringing sound, Wei Yuan drew the Eight-Sided Han Sword, the iron eagle on the hilt spreading its wings.

　　He carried the Eight-Sided Han Sword on his back.

　　The Nine-Section Staff was a bit too large and inconvenient to carry, and Wei Yuan originally intended to bring Zhang Daoling's Magic Sword, but after thinking about it, the functions of the two swords were similar, and losing one would not greatly damage Wei Yuan's strength. Besides, this time it was a trip for the Taiping Dao cultivators.

　　Using the Celestial Master's Mansion's Magic Sword would be somewhat inappropriate.

　　First, he used the Eight-Sided Han Sword to chop off a third of the fish head, put it in a special foam box with frozen ice packs inside, muttering to himself, the old Taoist is too vague, he can't bear to use the refrigerator, even a freezer would do, and if he doesn't have ice packs, he can at least cool it down.

　　What age is this? He's still using lime to pickle it like in the Three Kingdoms period.

　　Tsk, an old fossil.

　　Wei Yuan raised his hand, carrying the fish head on his back. Wei Yuan grabbed the black cat by the scruff of its neck, severely warning the black feline not to secretly eat the fish head while he was away, otherwise it would eat cat food for three months with no meat at all, and then he stepped out, and with a creak, the museum door slowly closed, restoring its silence.

　　The black cat licked its paw.

　　Staring at the refrigerator, it struggled internally.

　　Finally, it walked towards the refrigerator door.

　　Heh—

　　Stupid human.

　　He actually thought he could threaten this great one.

　　Tap, tap, tap—

　　It heard the sound, startled so much that its tail stood on end, and then realized that the sound didn't come from the door. It turned its head and saw the box on the wooden cabinet struggling constantly, with an embroidered red shoe peeking out from inside, hurriedly trying to rush to the door, but failing to succeed. It seemed a little lonely and regretful. The Qi Family Army soldier souls and the water ghost all knew the origin of this red embroidered shoe, and knew the story of Wan Qiniang.

　　The soldier soul patted it to show comfort.

　　The water ghost was quick to speak, saying, "Maybe the curator's matter is more important this time. Next time, go over there and throw a tantrum. Sigh, the curator is sometimes not particular. It would have been great if he had taken me to Sakura Island. I want to try the special drinks there too."

　　"Who are you talking about behind their back?"

　　The ghosts were stunned.

　　One side of the red embroidered shoe was propped up on the ground, the toe slightly raised, as if in anticipation.

　　With a creak.

　　The museum door was opened, and Wei Yuan appeared at the door with his sword on his back.

　　He looked at the red embroidered shoe, as if returning to the beginning, seeing the old man whose regret and pain had turned into a *jibakurei* (earthbound spirit), thinking of Wan Qiniang's last song, thinking of her lover who sacrificed himself for the country, thinking of that era.

　　Finally, he reached out his hand and said, "Come."

　　Wei Yuan whispered, "Repay kindness with kindness, repay hatred with hatred."

　　"I said it."

　　"Besides, you also want to go to Sakura Island, right? The story of that year should have an ending."

　　"Where is there a story of victims suffering unbearably while perpetrators get away scot-free?"

　　The red embroidered shoe leaped up, this time directly turning into a ray of light, collected into the box, and kept by Wei Yuan in his backpack. Wei Yuan's gaze swept across the museum, looking at the Qi Family Army soldier soul, saying, "You come with me too, just leave a few to guard the house, there's no need for so many."

　　The eyes of the Qi Family Army soldier soul lit up.

　　He instinctively straightened his body, clenched the broken sword, and solemnly shouted:

　　"Yes!"

　　The water ghost raised his hand: "What about me, what about me? What about me?"

　　Wei Yuan pursed his lips and said seriously:

　　"You have an even more important task, which is related to the safety of our future life."

　　"Damn, that's awesome, boss, what kind of job is it?!"

　　"Housekeeping."

　　Water Ghost: "........."

　　……………………

　　"Have you remembered?"

　　On Mount Longhu, Zhang Ruosu put down his phone, looked at the Taoist next to him, and warned word by word: "After you go out with him this time, be sure, be sure to keep an eye on him for me, and never let him mess around again, don't let him make any noise, do you understand?!"

　　"Not even a little bit is allowed!"

　　The Taoist, who still looked young, only like a teenager, with a delicate red flame mark between his eyebrows, was bewildered:

　　"But, Senior Brother, aren't we going to kick some ass this time?"

　　"We even sent the head over."

　　"Isn't the more noise the better?"

　　After hearing the six words "the more noise the better," Zhang Ruosu rarely twitched his brow. Ever since he said these words last time, and then caused the Huai River to change its course, he had developed a psychological shadow over these words.

　　The old Celestial Master waved his hand with a painful expression, saying:

　　"You're still young."

　　"You don't understand..."

　　At this time, Wei Yuan had already arrived at the foot of Mount Longhu.

　　Stepping onto the Mount Longhu steps.

　　On the back of his hand, the Heavenly Mandate Scarlet Record slightly lit up with a stream of light.

　　ps: Thanks to Dogwordsfish for the myriad reward, thank you.

　　The original text is, "Looking north, one sees Zhongsui; looking south, one sees the Marsh of Yao; looking west, one sees the Hill of the Emperor's Beast Hunt; looking east, one sees Tuiyuan," using Yao for Yu, and Tui for Yan, hmm, after all, it's Yuan, so there is still a mention of it in the real records~ Of course, the real record in our world may really just be an abyss~

　　Of course, there is not much ink about Zhongsui in the records, so a novelist has written a note, above~