Chapter 164: Why Seek the Dao with a Single Heart?

Liu was helping Liu Xia pack his luggage while simultaneously trying to persuade him.

"Of all the men in the family, you are the only one who hasn't settled down yet. This has always been a source of heartache for Mother. If you insist on entering the Dao like this, aren't you just breaking her heart?"

Not long after Banxia left Liu Fu, Liu Xia stated the purpose of his return home: he was determined to seek the Dao.

After hearing his words, Liu Cishi was so angry he wanted to invoke family discipline, smashing several bowls and cups; had it not been for Liu Dageer and the second brother intervening, he likely would have struck Liu Xia.

Lady Liu, meanwhile, spent her days weeping, lamenting what sin she had committed to give birth to such a nemesis, insisting he must have been a debt collector from a past life coming to claim his due.

The whole family was currently under a dark cloud, and even Long Qi and the others felt it was truly inappropriate to stay any longer.

Yet Liu Xia seemed to have made up his mind, stubbornly packing his things by himself.

Previously, the reason the two elders of the Liu family agreed to let Liu Xia go to the Yuanqing Sect to cultivate was only because Chiyanzi had told them at the time that Liu Xia had to go through this experience to live a peaceful life thereafter. Who would have thought that after going through it, he would throw himself heart and soul into this cultivation business.

Seeing her parents like this, Liu could no longer stand by, which was why she came to Liu Xia's room to persuade him.

But after all, he was her own younger brother, whom she had watched grow up since childhood; the two shared a deep bond, and seeing him like this, she couldn't bear to say even half a harsh word, only silently helping him pack his luggage.

"Does Elder Sister know why I am so determined to enter the Daoist Sect?" Liu Xia suddenly asked, turning to Liu.

Liu was startled upon hearing this; wasn't it because he had heard of her connection with the immortal Chiyanzi that he was so single-mindedly devoted to the Dao?

Seeing the confusion on Liu's face, Liu Xia smiled softly: "Even though Senior Chiyanzi saved my life, I didn't remember anything at the time. How could it be because of him? That was merely a pretext."

"That happened when I was very young, and I don't remember it clearly, but that silhouette—I have always remembered it clearly..." He sighed, unable to stop himself from reminiscing.

Thirteen years ago, Liu Cishi was still a military officer. Because of his talent as a commander, the Imperial Court specifically ordered him to guard Lindong, a crucial frontier stronghold. Consequently, the entire Liu family lived in Lindong with the army.

Yet that very year, for some reason, the Tuhuer Khan of Manzhou suddenly launched an attack on Lindong City. Because it was a night raid, the soldiers of Lindong were caught completely off guard.

Fortunately, thanks to the valiant resistance of General Liu at the time, Lindong was preserved.

At that time, the Tuhuer Khan had found a Shaman from somewhere who used some unknown witchcraft to abduct Lady Liu and the then three- or four-year-old Liu Xia to their encampment, using them to threaten General Liu into surrendering.

But as a general of the nation, he naturally possessed a spine of unyielding pride.

General Liu stood on the city gate, and under the gaze of all, he knelt before the enemy army. Just as the soldiers thought he was going to surrender, they heard him shout to the enemy:

"My wife A Ruo manages the household, supports her husband and educates our children, and has borne me three sons and one daughter. I have been deeply blessed by her and hold her in love and respect. Now that A Ruo is trapped in the enemy camp and the enemy general uses this to threaten me, as a subject of the Emperor, I must share the Emperor's burdens and cannot commit such an act of treason. I can only wrong my beloved wife and hope she understands. Once I break through this predicament and resolve the Emperor's worries, I will surely follow her. I hope A Ruo will wait for me on the Huangquan Lu; I will certainly not let you cross the Forget-River Water alone!"

After finishing these words, he knocked his head twice with a thud, and when he rose, his face was covered in tears.

Yet it was precisely these words that caused the morale of the soldiers in the city to soar. Not only did they defend Lindong, but they actually forced the Tuhuer Khan to retreat fifty miles.

But even after winning the battle, Lady Liu and the still-young Liu Xia were not rescued.

Because of this defeat, the Tuhuer Khan was so humiliated and enraged that he ordered his men to abandon the mother and son in the snowy mountains before retreating back to Manzhou.

Come to think of it, this Tuhuer Khan truly lacked character; having no ability and losing the battle, he had to take his anger out on a woman and a child.

Although Lady Liu, as a general's wife, did not know any martial arts, she had done farm work for a long time before marrying General Liu, so her constitution was sturdy enough to resist the cold slightly, but the child could not.

The child's constitution was weaker to begin with, and after being exposed to the cold wind, he fell ill. At first, he could still say a few words about the cold, but in the end, he could only shiver.

As a mother, she naturally could not watch her child suffer this torment, so she took off all the clothes on her own body to wrap little Liu Xia in, while she herself bore the biting wind.

Yet even so, little Liu Xia reached the point of being on the verge of death, and Lady Liu fainted not long after giving her clothes to Liu Xia.

Just as little Liu Xia's mind was becoming muddled, he saw a woman walking toward them.

The woman was wearing a blue robe, her hair pinned up high, looking quite like an immortal; but he was already too delirious at the time to see the woman's face clearly, knowing only that there was a red dot at the corner of her eye, appearing like Cinnabar.

Little Liu Xia thought he was about to die and that this was a celestial maiden from heaven coming to fetch him, but unexpectedly, the woman took two pieces of Talisman Paper from her bosom, pulled a Brush from her waist to draw for a moment, and then stuck them onto himself and his mother.

As soon as the Talisman was applied, little Liu Xia suddenly didn't feel so cold, and after a while, he even felt waves of warmth flowing into his body from the Yellow Talisman the woman had applied.

After applying the Talisman, the woman only said, "The Liu Family Army will find you in half a cup of tea's time," and then she turned and disappeared into the cold wind.

It was this turn that deeply etched that silhouette into little Liu Xia's mind.

Liu naturally knew about the kidnapping. It was because of that time that Lady Liu was left with a chronic illness that had not healed to this day; whenever there was rain or snow, her bones would ache unbearably.

But she had never heard him mention the immortal he spoke of, and when Lady Liu and little Liu Xia returned, no Talisman was seen on them.

"Are you saying that it is because of that person that you are so determined to cultivate the Dao?"

Liu Xia held his cup and nodded: "When I was young, I thought she was a celestial maiden descending to earth, but later, after learning some Daoist Mysterious Arts, I understood that she was actually a mortal who practiced cultivation."

"But..." Liu said hesitantly, "even if you want to see her again, it has been such a long time. Not to mention whether she is still alive, searching for such a person in the vast sea of humanity is like looking for a needle in a haystack; it is extremely difficult. Why must you be so obsessed..."

Liu Xia smiled softly at these words, set down his cup, and looked at Liu: "And what about you, Elder Sister? You refuse to marry to this day; isn't that also a deep obsession?"

Liu lowered her head upon hearing this—it was true, she was just the same, what right did she have to lecture him...

Liu Xia finally left with Long Qi and the others. Before leaving, he knelt before the door and knocked his head three times to Liu Cishi and Lady Liu, then left without looking back.

Under Liu's persuasion, Lady Liu felt much more at ease, but after all, she was a mother, and seeing her child suffer such hardship, her heart still ached somewhat.

Liu Xia was naturally not hard-hearted, and he felt bad inside too, but for some reason, he felt that he would definitely be able to meet that woman during this journey; this feeling became increasingly intense after leaving Liu Fu.

Now that the four were gathered, Long Qi planned to go from Xiangcheng to Nanhua, but after the previous ordeal, Xinyi Zhao Wuyang would no longer let him lead the way, instead handing the task to Liu Xia.

Long Qi felt aggrieved; regardless of what happened before, they had arrived at Cangzhou City, which proved his route was correct. Even if they suffered a bit, the final goal was reached, so why couldn't they follow him?

However, after tasting the sweetness of staying in an inn once, he no longer felt stifled—having a roof to shelter from the wind and rain and being able to eat a hot meal without having to sleep in the open was truly comfortable...

Yet even though Liu Xia was leading the way, they were traveling on official roads, and there were not always large cities along the way; from time to time, they would encounter small villages.

If they encountered people with simple customs and abundant lives, they could borrow lodging, but if they encountered those who were dirt poor, let alone borrowing lodging, they couldn't even beg for a scrap of food.

And so, the four of them were now staying in a place called Fengwu Village, a place that was truly poor—so poor that not even smoke could be seen rising.

As for why this village was so poor, it was not because of the village's customs, but because this village had suffered a long drought without rain, and even the wells were dried up to the point of only having mud left.

Even during this Grain Rain season, not a single drop of rain fell in the village, and as a result, the fields were abandoned, and there would be no harvest at all.

Without a harvest, there was no money or grain.

Many of the young and strong had long since left the village to seek a living elsewhere. But the elderly were unwilling to leave the place they had guarded their whole lives. There were also some with children who could not bear the hardships of the journey.

Thus, the group of four could only see the old, the weak, the sick, and the young in this village...

To speak of Fengwu Village, it was once considered a prosperous village, but only after the Awakening of Insects this year did it gradually become what it is now.

At the time of the Awakening of Insects, a bolt of lightning struck a mountain behind the village, and thereafter a deep pool suddenly appeared there.

This in itself was very strange, but what was even stranger was that on the second day after the deep pool appeared, the water wells in the village showed strange phenomena; whirlpools appeared within them, and even the buckets placed in the water were stirred into shreds.

This strange phenomenon lasted for three days before ending, and the reason it is said to have ended is because there was not a single drop of water left in the wells.

The people in the village also tried to dig a new well, but no matter how deep they dug, they could never reach the spring eye.

And what is even stranger is that since then, in the entire village, only that deep pool on the mountain would receive rain; no rain fell anywhere else.

Seeing this situation, some bold ones went up the mountain and were never seen returning. Because of this, the people in the village believed it was caused by a demon, and that the lightning that day must have been the demon descending into the mountain.

"It sounds like a demon is indeed at work..." After listening to the villagers recount the cause and effect, Liu Xia frowned and looked at Xin Yi.

Xin Yi also frowned but did not answer, only feeling very puzzled in his heart; he had never heard of any demon that could descend with lightning, and if that were truly the case, he imagined it must be a great demon.

To be able to dance with lightning, it must be either a dragon or a Flood Dragon...

"If it really is a demon, then it must be difficult to deal with," Long Qi analyzed after hearing what Liu Xia said: "It can cast Witchcraft so extensively, from the mountain all the way into the village; I imagine its cultivation must be profound. But what is strange is, why would it need so much water?"

At this moment, Zhao Wuyang had a different opinion: "Perhaps... it is not caused by a demon..."

Hearing him say this, everyone hurriedly asked why, and Zhao Wuyang hurriedly replied: "Previously, Fucang Elder gave me a copy of 'Records of Strange Tales of Mountains and Seas', which records many strange events and monsters. I remember reading a passage in it that described a situation extremely similar to the current one..."

"In ancient times, there was a village that also encountered such a thing. Later, an immortal came to the village, only saying it was an ancient sacred object, and went to that place alone. Later, he came out carrying a bead, and that bead was the Water Spirit Pearl among the Five Elements Spirit Pearls. And after that old immortal took away the Water Spirit Pearl, the rain in the village returned to normal."

"It is indeed somewhat similar, but the Water Spirit Pearl is an ancient sacred object; how could it cause the villagers who went looking for it to lose their tracks? In my view, it should still be a demon at work..." Long Qi said as he looked at Xin Yi, "What do you think?"

Xin Yi nodded upon hearing this: "That is indeed so. If it really were a Five Elements sacred object, logically it should not harm human lives."

And Liu Xia, having heard what Zhao Wuyang said, felt that his words made some sense: "I once heard a legend that a woodcutter went up the mountain to cut firewood and ended up seeing two people playing chess in the mountain. He stood by and watched, but after one game was finished, the two people urged him to leave quickly. And after he returned home, he discovered that two years had already passed."

"You mean..." Xin Yi did not understand the meaning of his words and hurriedly asked.

"I think the reason the woodcutter took two years to return home was that he encountered immortals in the mountain, which is why it happened. And since this Water Spirit Pearl is a sacred object, I imagine it must have some divinity. Could it be that those who went looking for it accidentally entered the Divine Path, and the time passed differently there?"

"Not right..." Long Qi spoke up immediately upon hearing this: "Lingxiang has a Fire Spirit Bead on her, and I haven't seen that time passing any differently. If it really were the Water Spirit Pearl, it shouldn't be like that."

Looking at it this way, it might really be caused by a demon, which is why it is like this.

At this time, Zhao Wuyang spoke up and said: "What if there is someone holding the Water Spirit Pearl? Just like Fucang Elder holds one, could that lead to this scene?"

Everyone was startled upon hearing this. If that were really the case, then this person would be even harder to deal with. Being able to arrive with lightning and also be able to activate the Water Spirit Pearl—such cultivation must be extremely high.

"Guessing back and forth like this, we will never figure out the reason. Why don't we go to the vicinity tomorrow to take a look? Perhaps we will be able to know the crux of the matter then?"

As soon as Long Qi finished speaking, Xin Yi wanted to speak to stop him—this matter had not been figured out yet, and going there rashly would certainly be inappropriate. But before he could speak, he heard the villager say:

"A few days ago, a female immortal came here, and then she went up the mountain by herself and hasn't returned yet."

"A female immortal?" Liu Xia felt extremely strange upon hearing this, "Did she say which sect she studied under?"

The villager recalled for a moment upon hearing this: "She didn't say that, but looking at her attire, it is somewhat similar to yours. She was holding a Eight Trigrams Plate in her hand and had a brush hanging from her waist; she looked quite strange."

Hearing this, the four of them were greatly shocked.

Could that person be Banxia?