Ziyun and Earth were similar in that both supported life, and their place among the stars and galaxies were quite alike.
Ziyun’s weather patterns were also identical to that of Earth’s.
The Sixteen Countries of the East Valley lay in approximately the same area where the Asian continent could be found on Earth. Toward the end of November in the Year 1229 in Ziyun’s calendar, the weather had started to turn cold.
At the Chuxiu Inn, in the courtyard of the number three guest room: “Aunt Lan, are you sure you don’t plan on going to the Valley of the Medicine Masters with Elder Brother Zhou?”
A teenage girl, about 16 or 17 years old and dressed in a flowing rose-colored mink fur coat, questioned the beautiful woman seated opposite her at the stone table.
The gorgeous lady was resplendent in a silver mink fur coat, and she exuded a quiet and elegant grace.
“Mm.” The lady nodded her head in response to the young girl’s questions. “The country of Yunyang, and even the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley, is just a starting point for that boy Donghuang, I’m afraid. The road that this child wants to travel, I’m sure, will not be limited to the Sixteen Countries. I don’t think I want to follow where he goes, I will just be a burden to him. Besides, it has been over a year already, and I find I have not grown accustomed to these other places. I still very much prefer Qingshan town, compared to the Chu royal city, or even the city in Yunfeng prefecture.”
As the beautiful lady said these words, a wistful smile appeared at the corner of her lips; in her eyes was a look of yearning as she reflected on the past.
“We’ve been gone for so long…I’m sure Aunt Lian misses me.”
On the subject of Aunt Lian, some warmth was brought back into the woman’s eyes. From as early as she could remember and into her adult life, this was the first time she had left the care of Aunt Lian for this long.
She had watched Aunt Lian grow from a middle-aged woman to the one she knew now, aged and weathered through the years.
“Heh heh…” A young child of seven or eight years in a similar mink fur coat ran over from somewhere. “Mother, if you want to head back to Qingshan town, Little Lu will come along with you.”
“Good,” the beautiful lady answered in laughter as she heard the little girl’s words. She quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, when it came to choosing the next path to take, she could decide for herself, but she could not force anyone else to make the same choice.
A faint look of disappointment seemed to flash across the teenage girl’s face. She looked across to the woman and smiled, saying, “Aunt Lan, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I came along with you too?”
“If you don’t wish to hold back Brother Zhou, Zixi, you can come with us.”
At the stone table, the three beautiful ladies, old and young, named Lin Lan, Yang Zixi and Yun Lu, talked among themselves and discussed the affairs of Qingshan town.
Little did the three ladies know that while they were talking, their voices had traveled past the walls of their room and were clearly heard by Fu, who had just left his own room.
The room that Fu stayed in was just adjacent to the courtyard of guestroom number three.
“Yes indeed. if I were to follow the young master to the Valley of the Medicine Masters, wouldn’t it be cumbersome for him? Mm, I guess I should head back to Qingshan town with you, Milady and little Miss Lu.”
Fu had really intended to continue staying by Zhou Donghuang. However, as he thought about how far his young master’s strength had surpassed his own, he decided to cancel any thoughts of heading back to Qingshan town with him.
As Fu considered this, he had also thought to consult with the four men—Leng Hangfeng, Lu Qinghu, Zhou Han and Zhou Feng—and tell them what he had overheard from Lin Lan and the other ladies.
The four men fell silent as they heard this news.
“If even Lady Lian is not willing to follow the young master to the Valley of the Medicine Masters for fear of being a burden to him, then aren’t we being selfish for doing so?”
Leng Hanfeng was the first to express his thoughts, his eyes flashing with a new resolve. “I have decided to head back to Qingshan town with Lady Lian, and in the free time I have outside of my training, I will gather a strong team from within Yunfeng prefecture to protect Lady Lian and Miss Lu. This way, we will spare our young master any further worry about the future of their welfare!”
Both Zhou Han and Zhou Feng looked up to Leng Hanfeng as a second parent as well as their teacher. So when Leng Hanfeng made this decision, they naturally accepted it wholly and unconditionally.
“Originally, I had planned to follow Young Master Donghuang. With him, I had harbored the hope of achieving the Connate stage in the days ahead… However, now it looks like even if I am not meant to go with the young master to the Valley of the Medicine Masters, I am fully confident that there will come a time when I will reach that Connate stage!”
Lu Qinghu’s eyes shone with renewed vigor, and he responded with a laugh, “Since you have all decided to head back to Yunfeng province with Lady Lian, I guess I should do the same as well.”
“From this day onward, the Lu family shall not perish, but for the protection of the Lady!” As Lu Qinghu declared this, his whole being seemed to be ablaze with a hardened resolve.
For some time now, with the help of Buddha’s lifeblood exuded by Zhou Donghuang’s strength, Lu Qinghu’s practice had improved drastically and very quickly, as if he were onboard a rocket.
Meanwhile, in the Chu royal household: “My Lord, it has been three whole months since the time Commander Su last delivered a message to the imperial family. Has there been any news of activity at all from the Valley of the Medicine Masters?”
In the middle of a spacious courtyard was a splendidly dressed, beautiful woman, her eyes full of worry as she questioned the middle-aged man sitting and reading at the table.
The middle-aged man, clothed in dark gold robes that had been embroidered with a four-clawed golden dragon, was the head of the Chu royal household—King Chu, Xiang Xiong.
The beautiful lady was his betrothed, a Chu royal consort, Fan Ji.
“No.” Xiang Xiong closed the volume in his hands, shaking his head. “It does seem like there is something odd going on here. I have asked Commander Su. He was in the imperial city in the ninth month. He had gone into the palace to report on the killing of His Majesty and the Connate demon, the Silver-Crowned Crane to the imperial family.”
“And by my estimates,” Fan Ji said darkly, “if the imperial family were to send word to the Valley of the Medicine Masters, it would not take more than a month to do so, no matter how slow. Besides, other than the flying beast Cloud Condor which has died, the imperial family has also raised and trained a Petty Consummation of the Qi-Gathering beast, the Fiery Lion.
“And even if the Fiery Lion has for some reason been retained in the Valley of the Medicine Masters, the imperial family has also trained two other flying beasts who are level-nine adepts of the Qi-Gathering. With the speed of these two flying beasts, the news would have reached the Valley in less than a month.
“By more generous estimates, it would only have taken them a little over a month.
“And if the men from the Valley of the Medicine Masters didn’t have means of transportation via the Connate demons, they could have depended on one of their many other Great Consummation of the Qi-Gathering beasts, not to mention their flying beasts.
“It would take no longer than half a month for a messenger of the Valley of the Medicine Masters to reach the Chu royal city.
“But now, it has been over three months…and yet there hasn’t been a word or sound from the other side.”
Fan Ji looked terribly disturbed when she finished.
As he considered Fan Ji, Xiang Xiong was able to read and understand her thoughts completely. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “My royal consort, you still can’t let it go, can you?”
“My king, for many days now, I have not been able to stop dreaming about the Fan family, kneeling and begging us to avenge them!”
A burning desire for revenge could be seen in Fan Ji’s eyes as she spoke through clenched teeth in a measured voice. “I hate that I lack the strength to avenge them myself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have to helplessly wait on a hero from the Valley of the Medicine Masters to come to kill that Zhou Donghuang!”
As Fan Ji spoke, the iciness in her tone seemed to manifest more clearly in the chilly weather, throwing her anger into sharper relief.
Xiang Xiong sighed again.
“My king, I do not blame you.” There was cold-blooded murder in Fan Ji’s eyes. “Where there is injustice, there must be someone who must pay the debt… My only hope is that a hero from the Valley of Medicine Masters will come quickly to kill that Zhou Donghuang for the sake of avenging my entire Fan family!”
“Even if their main purpose for killing Zhou Donghuang isn’t to help me exact that revenge,” said Fan Ji, her eyes narrowed and full of hatred.
Not long after Fan Ji said these words…
Bang!
A sudden loud noise came out of nowhere, and a stunned Fan Ji froze completely, while the volume in Xiang Xiong’s hands fell to the floor.
In the next moment, both Xiang Xiong and Fan Ji realized that a man had appeared in the middle of their courtyard. This man was dressed in plain, thin white robes, and a green light seemed to emanate from his entire body and surrounded him. Some of these green rays of light shot out more than a meter away from his body.
“A Connate-level practitioner!”
Seeing the white figure before them, his back towards them, both Xiang Xiong and Fan Ji could not help but shrink back and call out in surprise.
“Your Excellency…are you from the Valley of the Medicine Masters?”
Xiang Xiong immediately rose and took a deep breath, respectfully bowing toward the white figure in greeting.
“I had no quarrel with you, but, since the two of you are so bent on killing me, it looks like there is no reason why I should spare your lives,” a bored voice rang out.
Upon hearing this, Xiang Xiong’s face drained of color, and the pupils in his eyes immediately contracted in fear.
The white figure, whose entire body was wrapped in qi, slowly turned towards them. A handsome face with a youthful appearance appeared before Xiang Xiong.
This young man, whose robes were white as snow, seemed to exude an extraordinary aura about him. His eyelids seemed to droop halfway, and he seemed to have a rather lackadaisical attitude about him.
“Young…Young Master Donghuang.”
Xiang Xiong’s face was pale, his legs turned to jelly, and he was so frightened that he fell seated onto the ground, “I…we…we have no intention of becoming your enemy!”
Never in a million years would he have thought that in just a span of a few months, the young man before him would so suddenly enter the Connate stage.
An 18-year-old Connate practitioner? Young Master Donghuang?
When Fan Ji heard this uninvited guest speak, she had not been able to react. But upon hearing how Xiang Xiong had addressed him, the look on her face also changed completely.
The young man clothed in white in front of her…was he the very same one that drove the two golden-crowned eagles to destroy the Fan Family: Zhou Donghuang?
“No intention of becoming my enemy?”
Zhou Donghuang glanced at the two of them, a wry smile appearing at the corners of his lips. “Then I guess I must have been deaf a while ago?”
In the next moment, as Xiang Xiong and Fan Ji looked on in horror, Zhou Donghuang made a small wave with his hand, his own face completely calm.
Xiu!!
The sword sphere transformed into a sword, and with a fleeting, howling sound, it took the lives of both people.
Just a moment before, Zhou Donghuang had entered the Connate stage. He had been about to initiate the Lord of the Four Supremes technique when he found himself in a sort of surreal state of being.
And in that state, his sense of hearing seemed to reach an astonishing level of keenness, and he was able to hear everything a mile away, from the Chuxiu Inn to the furthest reaches of the Chu royal household.
To be sure, the distance between the Chuxiu Inn to the Chu royal household was not that long, but they were still a few hundred meters apart, with a lot of other noises interfering in the middle.
Despite the distance, as Zhou Donghuang reached this surreal state of being, he was able to hear every word that came from within the Chu royal household.
This, of course, had included what was said between Xiang Xiong and Fan Ji.
It was because of this that when he returned from that ethereal state, and he could no longer hear voices from outside the Chuxiu Inn, he quickly left his room and leaped from roof to roof from the Chuxiu Inn until he finally came to the Chu household.
Comments