Chapter 19 Memories of the Past

"Zhang Erhe? Zhang Erhe..."

Qiao Yu's expression shifted erratically.

If the identical name was a coincidence, then the identical experiences were too much to be a coincidence.

When all coincidences collide, it's no longer coincidence, but inevitability.

The only explanation was that the old man before him, Zhang Nianyu's father, Zhang Erhe, was the same Zhang Erhe he had met in the Ghost Mountain dungeon.

But only two months had passed between his time in the Ghost Mountain dungeon and Silent Town.

How could Zhang Erhe have a seventy or eighty-year-old son?

Was the flow of time different inside the dungeon compared to the real world? Or were these two dungeons extracted from different timelines?

But the dungeon had been reset, so how could Zhang Erhe remember him?

Zhang Nianyu… Zhang Erhe missed Qiao Yu? Did Zhang Erhe name his son this way to remember him?

Countless questions turned Qiao Yu's mind into a confused mess.

In his memory, besides Xun Dong and the Mechanical Empress, who possessed self-awareness, other NPCs were just dungeon tools.

But Zhang Erhe was clearly an exception...

A shrill voice interrupted Qiao Yu's thoughts. Qiu Xin crawled out of the ground, her face covered in dirt, her expression venomous as she glared at Qiao Yu.

"Qiao Dapao! How dare you hit me! Do you know who my dad is? My dad is..."

"So noisy!"

"Slap!"

Qiao Yu slapped her again with his backhand, this time using sixty percent of his strength. Qiu Xin transformed into a pink shooting star and flew off into the distance.

"What are you all standing around for? You saw a shooting star, quickly make a wish!" Yang Xiangdi piously clasped his hands in front of his chest.

The others from Azure Sky Academy: "..."

After being brought back by her teammates, Qiu Xin didn't dare to make any more noise, only daring to stare at Qiao Yu with resentment.

"Qiao Dapao, just you wait, a student from a trash university dares to hit this young lady! I'll make sure you get expelled!"

Qiu Xin swore secretly through gritted teeth.

"L...little friend, can you put me down first? Holding me up like this is a little too much for my old bones..." Zhang Nianyu said weakly, nearly scared witless by the sudden turn of events.

Qiao Yu released him and took a deep breath.

"To be precise, you shouldn't call me 'little friend,' you should call me 'uncle.'"

Zhang Nianyu: "?"

He first took out an ordinary mirror and looked at himself.

White hair and beard, face full of wrinkles, definitely an old man.

Then he took out a demon-revealing mirror and shone it on Qiao Yu.

No change, not a demon, just an ordinary young human.

"Little friend! Even though your strength is indeed a bit stronger than mine, that doesn't mean you can take advantage of me!" Zhang Nianyu frowned.

"I'm not lying to you."

Qiao Yu shook his head. He needed to gain Zhang Nianyu's trust first if he wanted to know more about Zhang Erhe.

"The enlightened master you mentioned who killed the Ghost King with your father, Zhang Erhe, was me," Qiao Yu said.

"You?"

Zhang Nianyu froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Ridiculous! That master was from the same era as my father, Zhang Erhe. If he were still alive, he'd be at least a hundred years old! How could he still be a young child?"

"Dapao bro, you've vented your anger, so stop joking around. It'll be troublesome if you really anger Taoist Zhang."

Wang Tiezhu勸轻声劝说, but Qiao Yu ignored him and continued speaking to himself.

"That Ghost King was called Ghost Monk. He was located on Central Southern Ghost Mountain. In life, he was an old friend of Zhang Erhe's master. Zhang Erhe went to Ghost Mountain to retrieve the remains of this old friend, as well as a lost Taoist artifact – the bronze compass."

At first, Zhang Nianyu was still disdainful, but as Qiao Yu spoke, his expression slowly became serious.

"Originally, the two of us working together still couldn't beat the Ghost Monk. At a critical moment, Zhang Erhe used a bronze blood sword stained with the Daoist's lifeblood to heavily wound the Ghost Monk, which allowed me to find an opportunity to kill the Ghost Monk in one fell swoop."

"How about it, do you believe me now?" Qiao Yu asked.

Zhang Nianyu's expression was uncertain, because what Qiao Yu said were all details from that battle, and it would be impossible to know them without experiencing it personally. He himself had only heard his father tell it a few times.

"I have another question! If you really are that enlightened master, and have survived until now with an ageless face, then your Daoist magic must have reached a heaven-defying level! I want to see your Daoist magic!"

Zhang Nianyu shouted in a low voice.

"Daoist magic? I believe in Four-Eyed Daoist, do you think this will work?"

Qiao Yu raised an eyebrow, and with a light wave of the Crescent Moon Blade in his hand, he attacked Zhang Nianyu with a monstrous murderous aura.

Although the murderous aura value was still a little short of being fully stacked, the concentration of murderous aura on the Crescent Moon Blade was now much stronger than it had been on Ghost Mountain.

Looking at the overwhelming murderous aura, Zhang Nianyu's expression changed drastically, and he knelt down without any integrity with a *thump*.

"It works! It works too well! You are my dear uncle now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Crescent Moon Blade stopped instantly in front of Zhang Nianyu's face.

The murderous aura on the blade made Zhang Nianyu feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

His Adam's apple couldn't help but bob up and down.

Such a strong murderous aura, even the executioner's beheading knife would be ashamed, right?

His father, Zhang Erhe, accumulated virtue and did good deeds, benefiting all living beings, how could he know such an evil person?

"Mm, wouldn't it have been better to be this obedient sooner?"

Qiao Yu nodded, he was still being too reasonable. Next time, it would be better to be simple and crude.

He pulled Zhang Nianyu aside and quietly asked if Zhang Erhe had left any words or last words about him.

Zhang Nianyu thought for a while, then asked in a low voice,

"Are you really Senior Qiao Yu himself? Not some descendant of Senior Qiao Yu or something?"

"Here, my ID card." Qiao Yu directly took out the relevant documents.

"My father has been dead for over twenty years, and you are still alive, and so young... It seems my father's guess... was correct." Zhang Nianyu took a deep breath, his expression extremely complicated.

"Guess? What guess?" Qiao Yu raised an eyebrow.

Zhang Nianyu took a deep look at Qiao Yu, a look that made Qiao Yu's heart palpitate.

"Before his death, my father, Zhang Erhe, had reached the peak of Refining Void and Combining Dao, and had comprehended the principles of yin and yang in all things."

"Just before he died, he told me that he had understood the truth of how this world works, and had also seen through your origins."

Zhang Nianyu's words made Qiao Yu's heart beat faster.

"My father's exact words were..."

"Nianyu, I finally understand why I couldn't find a person named Qiao Yu anywhere in the world after the battle on Ghost Mountain."

The old Zhang Erhe sat in the courtyard, looking at the starry sky, with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Father, why is that?" The middle-aged Zhang Nianyu couldn't help but ask.

"Because, he doesn't belong to our world..."

Zhang Erhe's words carried an inexplicable tone.

These words exploded in Zhang Nianyu's ears like a thunderclap.

"Doesn't belong to our world? Father, what do you mean by that?" Zhang Nianyu's breathing quickened.

Zhang Erhe's mouth twitched slightly.

"He comes from the Main World!"

*Rumble!*

As soon as Zhang Erhe finished speaking, there was a muffled thunder in the sky, and countless dark clouds gathered, covering the sky and the sun, as if the gods were angry.

"This is... brewing heavenly punishment!!!" Zhang Nianyu exclaimed.

His father had accumulated virtue and good deeds throughout his life, how could he encounter heavenly punishment? Was it just because of those short words just now?

The Main World, what kind of place was that?

Zhang Erhe on the ground suddenly stood up, straightened his old body, and looked directly at the lightning punishment in the sky.

"Hahahaha, you're scared!"

Zhang Erhe's white hair danced wildly, staring at the sky like a god.

In the sky, all the thunderbolts slowly gathered.

Turning into a ferocious thunder dragon ten thousand feet in size!

The thunder dragon roared, shaking the entire world.

"Heh, a threat? Why would I, Zhang Erhe, fear death?"

Zhang Erhe turned his head and used his Daoist magic to send Zhang Nianyu out of the courtyard. Zhang Erhe's voice was urgent.

"Nianyu! Remember, the last divination that I did, predicted that you will meet a person named Qiao Yu when you are 73 years old!"

"Help your father pass on a message to him!"

"The world you, Qiao Yu, are in is real, and the world I, Zhang Erhe, am in is real, but the people in your world have been deceived!"

Zhang Erhe's words seemed to have violated some great taboo. The huge thunder dragon suddenly tore through the sky and crashed towards Zhang Erhe, as if destroying the world.

"Dad!!!"

Zhang Nianyu let out a painful wail, watching helplessly as the sky full of thunder turned his father, Zhang Erhe, and the small courtyard into ashes.