Chapter 100: Clear Day Chapter 79: The Returnee

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

The speed of the Wu Nuo Practitioners heading north was not fast; first, they were not soldiers rushing to the battlefield, and second, the further north they went, the colder the climate became, with frequent freezing snow, making rapid travel impossible.

Traveling in winter was actually a poor choice; previously, the Wu Nuo Practitioners entered the capital once every three years, usually setting out in spring. This time was an exception because the Taichang Temple had issued an urgent order in advance, and no region dared to be negligent, so they all moved up their departure dates.

Behind the Taichang Temple's special urging was the Ren Emperor's lingering illness since autumn, like continuous rain.

In the past, Wu medicine and medicine were not separate; among the various offices under the Taichang Temple, the Taiyi Shu was included.

In the Taiyi Shu, those in charge of medical arts included physicians who used medicine, acupuncturists who used needles, and Curse Masters; Curse Masters used talismans and other arts to remove evil diseases, and were mostly filled by Taoist fangshi and Wu Nuo Practitioners.

After these Wu Nuo Practitioners entered the capital, the Taichang Temple would assign them to corresponding offices based on their individual specialties to study, including the Taiyi Shu.

The Taichang Temple wanted to quickly infuse fresh and vigorous blood, seeking more hope of vitality for that dragon body unwilling to grow old. They also hoped another great Wu god who could communicate with the will of heaven and earth would appear, to stabilize the Great Qian National Fortune and the hearts of the people under heaven.

Like the predecessors who entered the capital in previous years, this group of Wu Nuo Practitioners were all eager to try, harboring the ambition to fully display their talents.

However, after traveling north for nearly a month, most people from the South found it hard to adapt to this severe cold; the more serious ones fell ill, and the lighter ones were plagued by frostbite. Before they could fully display their talents, their fists and feet had already swollen up, and their fervent ambition was temporarily frozen in their lungs. They also paused narrating their grand ambitions, as their upper and lower teeth had been requisitioned to chatter and clatter.

Among the group of Wu Nuo Practitioners frozen to the point of staggering, Shaowei was a rare one who was completely intact, a Wu Nuo Practitioner in her original form.

Shaowei rarely spoke along the way, usually nodding or shaking her head when encountering things. When she spoke for the first time, she startled the people in the same carriage. The two Wu Nu initially thought she was mute, and thus speculated she possessed a secret art—it was said that in the South there was a forbidden secret art, and those who practiced it had to take a muteness pill from childhood.

It turned out she was not mute, so she probably did not know that secret art either. Then what extraordinary quality did this little Wu Nuo Practitioner have? If she took the normal path, studying medicine and Nuo arts, at her age she really was not impressive enough.

The two female Wu Nuo Practitioners thought it over and over, but really could not see anything special about this little Wu Nuo Practitioner. She was nothing more than a pretty little Wu Nuo Practitioner carrying a lazy little bird, so they felt she was more like a freeloading, coasting relationship household who slipped through the cracks during the clan's Nuo rituals.

Shaowei being suspected of being a coasting fraud was not entirely accidental; she deliberately restrained the killing aura on her body and lowered her presence to the minimum.

The most striking thing on her body was that killing aura. If fully released, it would surely make people see at a glance that this so-called flower fox was essentially a peerless evil fox carrying many rat lives on its back.

Now Shaowei could suppress and release this fierce killing aura: first, due to the results of her years of static sitting; second, due to the credit of learning the art of concealing breath and restraining Qi from Zhao Qie'an; and third, due to the precipitation after tempering. Previously, she disdained hiding anything related to herself, but now it was different.

The prey had not yet appeared. Even a fierce tiger just out of its den had to patiently crouch behind snow bushes, even learning to adjust its breathing to the frequency most suitable for hunting.

The convoy rested midway. Dry grass on both sides of the road hung with snow. Stepping over those narrow snow bushes was the grove, where the ground was covered with undisturbed thick snow, especially tempting, causing a group of cold-fearing Southern Wu Nuo Practitioners to wrap their heads and faces tightly and run into the grove to frolic.

Shaowei, who had no interest in playing with snow, did not want to appear too independent, so she perfunctorily squatted in the snow, pinching a snowball with her hand, while her thoughts had already flown far away. It could be said her brain and hands were each doing their own thing.

Everyone around started a snowball fight. A young man retreated while laughing, slipped under his feet, and knelt down. Eager to interact and counterattack, he casually grabbed the snowball Shaowei had pinched and laughed as he threw it at the opposite side.

Because he wanted to throw it far, he naturally used some force. The snowball hit the young woman's shoulder but did not burst like powder; instead, it bounced back intact like an iron block.

The expression on the young woman's face changed from shy to bewildered, then to angry. She glared, covered that shoulder, and ran back into the carriage.

The young man, whose hands were long numb from the cold, stood alone in the wind, bewildered, feeling that the newly formed red thread of marriage had suddenly snapped.

The young woman returned to the carriage, peeled off layers of heavy clothing, and asked her traveling companion to check for her.

Seeing that half of her shoulder was red over a large area, the friend exclaimed in surprise and cursed incessantly: "……I told you long ago, those Southern Wu Nuo Practitioners are rotten-bellied raised by poisonous insects. You insisted on being with him. Now you know!"

Wu Nuo Practitioners in the South were also divided into factions. Those around Jingzhou were called Chu Wu Nuo Practitioners, more skilled in healing arts. Further south, the Jiaozhi Department was more skilled in Gu insect poison arts, called Southern Wu Nuo Practitioners.

In the eyes of the world, they were all called Wu Zhe Nu Shi, but Chu Wu Nuo Practitioners considered themselves the orthodox lineage, and the two factions secretly competed with each other to some extent.

At this moment, that Wu Nuo Practitioner, while applying medicated oil to rub her companion's blood back to life, took the opportunity to heavily criticize Southern Wu Nuo Practitioners. To persuade her friend to give up, she did not hesitate to say: "Love that defies ancestral taboos will not be blessed!"

Shaowei passed by outside this carriage in silence.

The lingering laughter gradually was gathered back into the carriage from outside. The carriages and horses started moving again and arrived at a post station before nightfall, where they settled down.

Snowlight blurred the boundary of the night. Between heaven and earth, everything was bright and clear. The stars all over the sky seemed to be covered with a layer of dim cold light.

Shaowei, who had just finished washing, came out of the room carrying a wooden basin. After pouring out the water, she held the wooden basin in front of her body, raised her head, and observed the stars.

Through the Star Observation Method taught by Jiang Fu, Shaowei carefully distinguished. Faintly, she could see Mars appearing in the sky, starlight flickering, while the Zicheng Emperor Star showed signs of flickering in and out—an ominous sign of a precarious realm and turmoil under heaven.

Thinking of what she saw before choking to death in her previous life, Shaowei stood silently under the azure sky for a long time.

Compared to the row houses in the back courtyard where Shaowei and the others were, a rather magnificent pavilion stood in the front, used to receive officials with ranks.

At this moment, the lights in the pavilion were bright. Two officials passing by and resting sat facing each other around a stove, quietly discussing the secret prophecy left by the Baili State Preceptor. This prophecy had spread into many different versions, many of unknown truth or falsehood. The version these two knew was relatively correct. Although the first six characters were unclear, the last six characters were exactly right: "……Heavenly Mechanism Returns, Zicheng Flourishes."

One official with a short beard said in a low voice: "I heard the reincarnation of the Tianji Star is in Xian Tai Gong, among the group of youths selected from various places."

The other frowned and pondered, muttering: "But what does the character 'Returns' in 'Heavenly Mechanism Returns' mean? 'Returns' means returning to one's old place……"

"Perhaps it means the Tianji Star returns to its constellation?"

"……"

The two men's conversation grew quieter and quieter, gradually drowned out by the sound of boiling tea water.

Just like when she first met Jiang Fu at the beginning of the year, Shaowei spent another New Year's Day on the journey this year.

Traveling twice. Back then, she thought about when she could shake off that person and travel freely. Today, her mood had been completely overturned.

During this journey of nearly two months, Shaowei's nominal age increased by one year, and she grew a little taller.

In mid-January, although the Beginning of Spring had passed, the frozen earth had not yet thawed. The noon sun was glaring and hung high, not biased, directly above the city gate.

The carriages and horses slowed down, beginning to wait for inspection to enter the city.

Just like when she followed the Ling Family Army into the city in her previous life, Shaowei lifted the carriage curtain and immediately saw the prominent characters "Chang'an" on the majestic city gate.

Previously, she was a traveler from afar. Now, she was a returnee.

Travelers hid a bewildered and lost heart. Returnees held the unyielding spirit of Shi Chi.

The carriage curtain was lowered, concealing the girl's flashing cold pupil light. She clutched a piece of cloth in her hand and followed the group slowly into the city.

……