Chapter 465: Be Smiling, Be Kind

"Green grass grows next year, wild geese depart and return. The spring breeze blows this year, will the young master return or not? Green stone slabs, green grass, a young man in green on the green stone bridge, humming a Jinling tune, whose daughter is bowing her head and smiling..."

A crisp and nimble voice sang a little Beimang folk song, drifting into the ears, possessing a unique charm.

The one singing was a young girl in white; regardless of the wind and sand on her face or the high sun, the girl remained spotless, like a touch of accumulated snow on the peak of Tianshan—pure white and flawless, yet without the slightest chill of snow.

A black-clad man, as handsome as a demon, stood on a high slope, gazing toward the north, where a city could vaguely be seen in the distance. It looked quite far, but as the saying goes, "looking at a mountain tires a horse," there was still a stretch of road to travel.

The black-clad man tapped his toes lightly on the ground and drifted down the high slope, his sleeves fluttering as if he were a flying immortal.

"Yanhui Pass is right ahead. Once you pass Yanhui Pass and head north, that is Beimang territory. It is said that the defenses are strict: a beacon every five miles, a mound every ten miles, and a city every hundred miles."

The black-clad man listened to the song drifting faintly in the wind, and only after the girl in white finished singing the nursery rhyme she had heard from a Beimang child the day before did he smile and speak.

The girl in white stroked her dark hair falling from her fragrant shoulders with her fair hands and said with a hint of resentment: "Tonghuang, why did you run to Beimang? It is full of wind and sand here, which is very bad for the skin; it is so dry."

The black-clad man held his forehead; a woman's focus was always different. He looked up at the sky and explained with great patience.

"When my martial arts reached completion, I said I would travel across the mountains and rivers to enjoy all the beautiful scenery. After two trips to the Central Plains, I have already enjoyed most of the scenery of Liyang. The scenery of Beimang is rugged—'a river of gravel as big as a peck, stones rolling everywhere with the wind.' Now that I have the time, if I don't come to take a look, wouldn't it be a regret in the future? Of course, there are a few small things to do, but they are optional."

"As for you, I told you to stay on Huishan, yet you insisted on coming to Beimang with me."

"You like reading storybooks and novels, don't you? I could have had people collect them for you, or even hired novelists. Whatever plot you want, they would write it. They claim to have the integrity of scholars, but if I throw down hundreds or thousands of silver, I don't believe I can't bend their waists. These fellows have never had any principles; I know them well."

"I don't want that. Last time you returned to Beiliang, you said you would be back soon. But after you went to Beiliang, you first went to Shangyin Academy with your 'fish beauty,' and then you went to keep an appointment with Wang Xianzhi. If Qingfeng and I hadn't gone to Wudi City, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to find you." The young woman in white pouted, her tone carrying a bit of resentment.

This pair of man and woman, who looked extremely similar but had vastly different temperaments, were naturally the siblings Murong Tonghuang and Murong Wuzhu.

Previously, after Yu Liancheng fought Wang Xianzhi, he returned to Huishan to rest for a period of time, reflecting on the gains from his battle with Wang Xianzhi.

Wang Xianzhi had been invincible in the world for sixty years, and his understanding of the Nine Grades Martial Dao system was far beyond what ordinary experts could compare to. In the original timeline, Xu Fengnian barely won against Wang Xianzhi after borrowing strength from many sides, but that was also because Wang Xianzhi did not fight with all his might and was willing to die.

Dueling with such an expert was of great benefit to comprehending the Nine Grades Martial Dao.

By the way, during this period, he also exchanged pointers with Cao Guanzi, who "monopolized eight-tenths of the Heavenly Phenomenon's romance," which was also quite rewarding.

Yu Liancheng could feel that he was not far from the Heavenly Phenomenon Realm.

The Nine Grades Martial Dao of this world was quite beneficial to him, especially the Wang First Grade Sijing.

The Vajra Realm greatly strengthened his physique, and in the Finger Profound Realm, he even comprehended the Finger Profound secret technique "Broken." It was precisely because of this power of "Broken" that he was able to easily crush peerless experts like Wang Xianzhi.

If he achieved the Great Heavenly Phenomenon Realm, he wondered if he could replace Heaven with his own body and summon wind and rain.

One of the reasons for this trip to Beimang was to spar with the experts of Beimang.

Different environments nurture different people; perhaps the experts of Beimang could give him a different experience and allow him to advance to the Heavenly Phenomenon Realm faster.

By the way, he remembered that Beimang also had Huyan Guanyin, who carried great Luck; perhaps she could also be taken back to Beiliang.

"Tonghuang, I heard that Beimang is full of Devils, all of whom eat people and drink blood. We won't run into people like that, will we?" Murong Wuzhu said with some worry.

The two walked toward Yanhui Pass; although they were on foot, they used light-body techniques, so their speed was not much slower than galloping horses.

Yu Liancheng went without saying, and Murong Wuzhu now also had First Grade standards; coupled with luck-based methods different from this world, there was no trouble in traveling.

"Although Beimang has the Ten Great Devils, it is not full of Devils everywhere. Didn't you meet Beimang people before? That little girl even taught you how to sing." Yu Liancheng smiled slightly, his eyes seeming to ripple with spring water, and he said in a gentle tone: "Besides, even if they are Devils, if you don't provoke them, they won't necessarily kill everyone they see. If you show kindness to others with a smile, others will naturally return it with goodwill."

Although he often guessed others with the worst malice, he did not want his sister Murong Wuzhu to be the same. A young girl like her should bloom with the brightest and gentlest smile at any time. As for all the Darkness, let him, as a man, bear it.

Come to think of it, letting Murong Wuzhu accompany him to Beimang this time was not entirely a bad thing; at least it could keep her a little further away from that crazy woman Xuanyuan Qingfeng.

"Really?" Murong Wuzhu asked doubtfully.

"Really." Yu Liancheng nodded: "There are also many good people in Beimang, smile, young girl."

After passing through a stretch of undulating hilly land and continuing forward for a moment, miserable sounds of slaughter emerged.

Murong Wuzhu swept her beautiful eyes toward Yu Liancheng and bit her lip.

Yu Liancheng coughed twice: "It should be horse bandits and marauders, let's go take a look. Beimang is so vast, even if you want to meet a Devil, you might not necessarily encounter one."

This was not a lie; horse bandits were as numerous as locusts on the borders of the two countries. Along the way, the siblings had encountered several groups.

Sure enough, they saw a dozen or so horse bandits surrounding a middle-aged man and woman.

This had nothing to do with how good their eyesight was; it was just that the attire of these horse bandits was too obvious. Most had their upper bodies bare, wore hemp horse pants, revealed clumsy-looking tattoos, and had fierce expressions—they were only missing the words "thief and bandit" tattooed on their faces.

And the middle-aged man and woman surrounded by the horse bandits were also extremely interesting.

The woman's cheeks were smeared with heavy rouge that had clumped together, which was obviously a lack of makeup skills and was very striking. Her waist swayed, but this "bucket waist" that could irrigate three acres of land could not sway out any charm.

The man beside her was very tall but was skin and bones, weighing no more than a hundred pounds. Like a hemp stalk, he appeared even more fragile than the delicate woman, his expression dull and his eyes turbid, as if he hadn't woken up yet.

What was even more bizarre was that the fat woman was snuggling in the man's arms like a little bird.

They looked like a married couple, but they didn't look like a match at all, making one suspect that if the woman turned over while sleeping, she would crush the man to death.

"Haha, what a fat woman, if we take her to light a sky lantern, she'll burn for three days and three nights." A horse bandit sized up the two pieces of prey, completely treating them as fish on a chopping block.

"Haha, don't kill them yet, I like this type." Another horse bandit leered: "Fat sister, this man of yours looks like a sickly weakling, as thin as a monkey. Are you interested in having a battle with me for a hundred rounds?"

The fat woman was not afraid in the slightest; she glanced sideways and displayed the boldness of a Beimang woman: "Old lady has no interest in men under a hundred pounds. What are you drooling over in such a hurry? With that pathetic look of yours, I'm afraid if you take off your pants, there isn't even two taels of meat down there."

The horse bandits burst into laughter.

The fat woman turned her head to look at her own man and asked: "Old Ghost, it was hard enough to come out to accompany you on a trip to stock up on goods, and we ran into such filthy people. What do you say?"

The withered, thin man was clearly not good with words, only saying dully: "You say, I do."

The proprietress sighed: "Then kill them all. Anyway, I reckon you're hungry, and there's still a stretch of road to Yanhui Pass."

The group of horse bandits heard this and laughed wantonly.

"Haha, have you gone insane? With just this thin hemp stalk, I could crush him to death with one hand."

"Hahaha, what a pair of idiots. If you could kowtow now... what are you doing?" The horse bandit who had previously teased the fat woman frowned.

But he saw the withered man's figure seem to sway, and a pool of blood appeared in his hand, while his own mouth was also stained with a patch of bright red.

"Lao Zhang... your chest..."

The remaining horse bandits looked at the horse bandit's chest in surprise.

The horse bandit surnamed Zhang looked down and saw a wave of blood spreading; he hadn't realized until now that a wound as big as a peck had appeared on his chest, and only now did he feel the pain.

Everything went black before his eyes, and he collapsed to the ground.

"The more I move, the hungrier I get..." The withered man licked his tongue, his eyes having turned crimson, his mouth full of fresh blood. He scanned the surrounding horse bandits again, and his figure swayed once more.

The horse bandits, who usually split gold in large chunks and eat meat in large mouthfuls, were so terrified their scalps felt like they were exploding, and they immediately spurred their horses into a wild gallop.

In reality, there were several skilled fighters among these horse bandits; if they joined forces, it was not certain they could not hinder this man.

But even in the Beimang Dynasty, where the folk customs were fierce, the person before them was a figure of the Demon path.

Very quickly, except for two riders who ran faster, the remaining horse bandits fell one after another.

"You... who are you?" The last one to be struck off his horse was the leader of the horse bandits; he had barely managed to exchange two moves with the middle-aged man before collapsing into a pool of blood.

"My man is named Xie Ling, the Xie of 'thank you', the Ling of 'spiritual'."

The middle-aged man ignored her, and the fat woman answered with a coquettish laugh: "As for me, you can call me the proprietress, the proprietress of Yatoulu."

"So it is... the Demon... Xie Ling..." After finishing these four words, the horse bandit leader's head tilted to the side, and he no longer had any breath.

Unlike the Liyang Dynasty, where the Demon path was in decline, the Beimang Dynasty had always followed the principle that affairs of the Edo should be resolved by the people of the Edo, and they even listed the ten great giants of the Demon path. Any one of them would not have enough heads to be chopped off ten times in the Liyang Dynasty. One of these Demons, ranked tenth, went by the alias Xie Ling.

"Old Ghost, why kill them all? Aren't you hungry?" the fat woman who called herself the proprietress asked in confusion.

The Demon Xie Ling wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, turned his gaze toward the place hidden by mountain rocks, and said: "With delicacies and fine food before me, how could I eat such filthy things? I fought with that Demon in Luoyang and was severely wounded, falling out of the Vajra Realm; my cultivation base is like a flood breaching a dam. This time, I was merely accompanying you to acquire goods and to relax. I did not expect to encounter dragon liver and phoenix marrow, a treasure bestowed by Heaven. If I eat it, not only will my injuries be restored, but I will also be able to reach a higher level."

The proprietress rolled her eyes and revealed a charming smile: "So there are passing guests; why not come out and have a chat? Neither Old Ghost nor I are bad people; at most, we are just asking for a bright red object, and I hope the guests will not be stingy."

After a moment of silence, two figures slowly walked out.

A man and a woman; although they seemed to be shrouded in a thin veil, giving people a hazy feeling, they were both exceptionally outstanding figures.

"Ah, truly a dragon and phoenix among people," the proprietress exclaimed, then added: "Old Ghost, are you eyeing the man or the woman?"

The Tenth Demon Xie Ling pointed at the man.

"Little brother, how about lending me something?"

The proprietress was smiling, and her voice was soft and gentle, as if she were discussing a small business deal with someone: "My man was injured fighting a crazy woman and is in great need of a potent supplement. Don't worry, just one, and we will definitely not make things difficult for the little woman beside you."

Seeing Xie Ling look over, and recalling the other party's actions, the gentle woman could not help but shiver, her pretty little face turning pale, looking pitiful enough to stir one's heart.

The man, however, revealed a warm smile: "Proprietress, we are just passing through; there is no need for this, right?"

The proprietress, who usually had no affection for men over one hundred jin, felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at this handsome face.

But Xie Ling let out a cold snort, and the proprietress came back to her senses. She moved her fat, "charming body" and walked toward the man and woman step by step, sighing: "What a handsome little brother, it's just a pity your fate is bad, to be born with such a treasure. As long as it can cure my man's illness, even imperial relatives and nobles must die."

"As long as you let us pass, paying some extra silver is enough."

Yet that handsome young man still wore a bright smile, saying words of concession. Occasionally, he seemed to be muttering something, but he was a bit too far away to hear clearly.

The proprietress walked toward the couple step by step, and not feeling any flow of Qi, she felt relieved.

Of course, for such young people, even if they had learned martial arts, how could they be a match for her man, that veteran Demon?

When she got close, the proprietress could finally hear the young man's whisper, which seemed to be "must smile, must be kind..."

These things, which were the least valuable things on the Beimang border, seemed to be idiots from the Liyang side.

"Little brother, accept your fate. Since my man has finally come out for a trip, just treat yourself as the gift I am giving him."

The proprietress reached out a fat hand toward the young man; although she did not use any fierce moves, it still whistled with wind, encompassing all directions.

Just as that fat hand was about to land on the black-clad youth's shoulder, the black-clad youth suddenly looked up, a flash of sharpness in his eyes, his mouth curling up to reveal a set of grim white teeth.

Bang!!

Then a massive force struck; the proprietress spat out blood, her huge body flying horizontally like a giant cannonball.

At the moment she was struck by the massive force, the proprietress's mind was unprecedentedly clear; scenes from the past flashed before her eyes, and she faintly heard the handsome young man seem to curse through gritted teeth.

"Screw your kindness!!"

Immediately after, there was another light sigh; the world is dangerous, and it is hard to be a good person.