Chapter 157: I have a lot of things following me~

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing the petite figure below.

She only reached his chest in height, wearing a goose-yellow short jacket paired with dark green trousers, with a pair of small deerskin boots on her feet.

Her hair was styled into two small buns, tightly tied with bright red silk ribbons that swayed gently in the morning light as she raised her head.

Her face was fair and clean, with large, round eyes.

Right now, those pupils were darting around, a hint of guilt hiding within even more curiosity.

The Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp?

In Lu Yuan's mind, a record from the old man's tattered notebook flashed by.

One of the Ten Families beyond the Great Wall.

Rumor had it this family specialized in one thing—providing the final breath to lives and souls on the verge of extinguishing.

It was more like when an oil lamp was about to burn out, they could find a ladle of new oil to add in.

The lamp could then shine for a while longer.

As for what they sought in return, the notebook didn't write, only leaving the line, "When the matter is done, brush off your clothes and leave, hiding your merit and fame deep."

Lu Yuan hadn't expected to encounter one of them on his own mountain path.

Judging by her appearance...

She probably wasn't even an adult yet.

He stepped down the path, Zhou Shouzuo silently following behind.

Walking closer, Lu Yuan saw clearly—the little girl had been poking Flower Maiden's deity bench.

In front of the shrine, the azure smoke from the three sticks of incense was being drawn in strand by strand. With her poke, the smoke had even tilted slightly.

Lu Yuan's face darkened.

"Why were you poking it?"

The girl named Hu Tutu blinked her eyes. Not showing a trace of timidity, she instead puffed out her little chest.

"I was checking if it was alive."

Lu Yuan: "..."

What kind of talk was that?

Seeing Lu Yuan silent, Hu Tutu tilted her head and sized him up a few more times, then suddenly asked:

"Were these deity benches erected by you, Daoist Priest?"

Lu Yuan nodded irritably.

"Yes."

"For those wild deities about to scatter?"

"Yes."

Hu Tutu's round eyes instantly widened even more.

"But they have no incense offerings anymore, and they can't manifest their power. What's the use of erecting deity benches?"

Lu Yuan looked at her, not answering immediately.

Hu Tutu, however, continued on her own, shaking her head like a little adult.

"These wild deities with severed incense offerings are like lamps without oil. They'll go out sooner or later; no one can stop it."

As she spoke, she looked back at the seven brand-new small deity benches, her eyes filled with pure confusion.

"Daoist Priest, isn't what you're doing just a waste of effort?"

"My dad often says, 'Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs.' What should perish must perish; it can't be saved."

Listening to her reciting ancient words with such seriousness, the two little buns on her head swaying along with each movement, the bit of anger in Lu Yuan's heart dissipated, replaced instead by amusement.

"Your dad teaches you this too?"

Hu Tutu nodded vigorously, her expression serious.

"My dad teaches me everything."

A slight curve lifted the corner of Lu Yuan's mouth.

"Then did your dad teach you the next line after 'Heaven and Earth are not benevolent'?"

Hu Tutu was taken aback.

Lu Yuan looked at her, his voice neither hurried nor slow, yet clearly reaching her ears.

"'The sage is always good at saving people, therefore there are no abandoned people.'"

"Heaven and Earth have their rules; humans have their principles."

"They have protected this land for three hundred years. Now that they can't go on, they come to my mountain gate seeking a place to stay."

"If I won't even do this little thing, then what difference is there between the priests of Zhenlong Temple and that heartless, unfeeling Heaven and Earth?"

Hu Tutu was stunned.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, then swallowed it back.

It seemed like such a person, such words, were something she was hearing and seeing for the first time.

Those round eyes stared fixedly at Lu Yuan, as if looking at some rare thing she had never seen before.

After a long while, she finally found her voice, blurting out:

"Daoist Priest, what's your name?"

Lu Yuan slightly lifted his chin, his demeanor carrying a bit of the pride of a disciple of the Daoist path.

"Lu Yuan!"

"Lu Yuan... Lu Yuan..."

She repeated it twice, then as if suddenly remembering something, she clapped her hands sharply, her face full of the shock and excitement of discovering a new world.

"Oh! You're that Little Taoist in White Robes from Zhenlong Temple who pulled Shen Jizhou off his horse, Lu Yuan!"

Lu Yuan was taken aback, blinking.

Was this matter already so famous beyond the Great Wall?

Thinking about it, it made sense. After such a big event, it was only natural for it to be discussed for months beyond the Great Wall.

Hu Tutu seemed to have discovered a treasure, circling around Lu Yuan once, carefully examining him from head to toe.

"I heard you beat Shen Jizhou until he only had one breath left! And I heard you have a gun that can summon heavenly thunder!"

"And I heard your master is the Celestial Master of this generation! And I heard you married two wives as beautiful as celestial beings in one go!"

"And I heard there's also a female deity more beautiful than in paintings living in Zhenlong Temple!"

The more she spoke, the more energetic she became, her eyes bright like two small lanterns, filled entirely with admiring light.

Lu Yuan felt a bit dizzy from this barrage of "I heard."

She knew quite a lot!

"Wow!!"

She let out a satisfied exclamation.

"I actually got to meet the real person today!"

Hu Tutu's large, darting eyes looked at Lu Yuan, her face full of excitement.

It was a bit like a fan on Earth meeting their idol.

Especially this easily startled and excited manner, and her tone, actually made Lu Yuan feel somewhat embarrassed.

Seeing she was about to continue, Lu Yuan quickly raised his hand to interrupt.

"Stop, stop, stop."

"First, talk about your business. What did you come to Zhenlong Temple for?"

As soon as the words fell, a trace of confusion appeared on Hu Tutu's face. She looked around, scratching the back of her head.

Then, she looked at Lu Yuan, answering with extreme seriousness:

"I didn't know this was Zhenlong Temple."

Lu Yuan: "..."

"Then why did you run here?"

Hu Tutu extended a finger, pointing at the seven deity benches beside them.

"I came to find them!"

Find them?

Lu Yuan glanced at the little girl in front of him, then at those deity benches. His heart stirred, remembering the specialty of the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp.

"To... extend their lives?"

Hu Tutu waved her small hand, pointing at one of the deity benches, her voice crisp.

"Right!"

"However, not for all of them, only for Flower Maiden!"

Flower Maiden?

Lu Yuan followed the direction of her finger. The small deity bench belonging to Flower Maiden was quietly bathed in the morning light.

The azure smoke in front of the bench was still continuously being drawn into it.

What did this mean?

Why only look for Flower Maiden, or rather...

Why only extend the lamp for Flower Maiden?

And not for the other deities?

Before Lu Yuan could ask, Hu Tutu had already counted on her fingers, speaking on her own.

"Recumbent Ox Stone Lord, its original body, that stone, is still there, right by the edge of the wasteland at the foot of the Taiyin Mountains."

"Spring Mother, that mountain spring is also still there. Although no one drinks from it anymore, the springhead hasn't dried up; it's still seeping water."

She suddenly stopped. Those large, round eyes looked at Lu Yuan again, carrying a hint of cunning.

"But why are they still about to scatter?"

Hu Tutu blinked her large, round eyes, as if testing Lu Yuan.

Looking at Hu Tutu like this, Lu Yuan couldn't help but be amused for a moment.

Hey!

This little snot-nosed kid was actually testing him.

Lu Yuan pondered for a moment.

The stone was still there, the spring was still there. Logically, the material foundation for the deities' existence wasn't destroyed; they shouldn't have declined so quickly.

Unless...

"The thoughts have broken."

Lu Yuan uttered three words.

Hu Tutu sharply clapped her hands, the little buns on her head jumping along, nodding repeatedly.

"Right!"

"The stone is still that stone, the spring is still that spring, but no one goes to worship them anymore, no one thinks of them anymore. Once human thoughts break, the deities lose their support."

"But Flower Maiden is different."

She pointed at Flower Maiden's deity bench, her voice taking on a more solemn tone.

"Flower Maiden's original body is a patch of wild flowers."

"That flower patch was dug up by people."

Lu Yuan's gaze sharpened.

"Dug up by people?"

A deity's original body could also be easily destroyed by people?

On second thought, although this world was filled with strange and eerie things, it was ultimately still the world of humans. That made sense.

"Mhm."

Hu Tutu nodded in confirmation.

"The village down the mountain was building a road. They directly flattened that hillside. Flower Maiden's flower patch wasn't even left with roots."

"But she's still here."

Hu Tutu tilted her head, gazing at the curling azure smoke in front of the shrine.

"She's the weakest of the seven, with the shallowest cultivation, yet she alone hasn't scattered."

She suddenly playfully winked at Lu Yuan again.

"Come on, test you again. Why is that?"

Looking at her this deliberately profound little-adult appearance, Lu Yuan was completely amused.

He thought seriously for a moment, tentatively speaking:

"Because... of those flowers?"

Snap!

Hu Tutu made a crisp snap with her fingers.

"Right!"

Her eyes instantly lit up, as if praising a smart student.

"That flower patch is gone, but every spring, on that original hillside, a few scattered wild flowers always bloom."

"Don't know where the seeds floated from. Just those few, all alone."

"But they bloom."

"As long as they bloom, Flower Maiden can sense it."

"It's those flowers, thinking of her."

Lu Yuan's heart trembled slightly, momentarily speechless.

Flower Maiden had protected that mountain wilderness for three hundred years, making flowers bloom profusely, making girls seeking marriage blush with shyness.

Now the flower patch was destroyed, her divine light about to scatter. Yet every spring, a few unknown wild flowers still stubbornly bloomed in the original place.

They didn't understand incense offerings; they didn't know deities.

They were just blooming.

But that blooming was the purest, most fundamental faith in Flower Maiden.

Hu Tutu's voice became low and solemn.

"The Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp doesn't continue incense offerings; it continues the 'root.'"

"Only things with a root can be continued."

"Recumbent Ox Stone Lord's root is that stone."

"The stone is still there, but it's already cracked, weathered, and won't last many more years."

"Even if we continued it, it would be continuing for a stone about to shatter."

Hu Tutu shook her head.

"Can't be continued."

"Spring Mother's root is that spring."

"The spring is still there, but a reservoir was built upstream. The water changed course. That spring only has a bit of seepage left."

"In a few more years, it will dry up completely."

"Also can't be continued."

Her gaze turned to Flower Maiden's deity bench, her eyes becoming exceptionally soft.

"But as long as flowers bloom on that piece of land, Flower Maiden's root is there."

"Even if it's only one flower, even if it only blooms for a few days in spring."

"That root is still there."

Hu Tutu looked back at Lu Yuan, saying seriously:

"The Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp only continues those with a root."

"If the root is there, it can be continued."

"If the root is gone, continuing is useless. No matter how much oil you add, the lamp will still go out."

This little snot-nosed kid Hu Tutu really didn't beat around the bush.

She chattered a whole bunch.

Not like that Tan Jiji, always talking about secrets among the Ten Families, hidden matters that couldn't be spoken of, this and that.

Made people dizzy just listening.

Hu Tutu told everything.

However, this telling everything also had a problem.

It was that she said too much, letting Lu Yuan, who knew nothing about the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp, suddenly know too much.

His head felt a bit dizzy.

However, one good thing for now was that...

Lu Yuan seemed to have found a "fellow traveler."

Of course, this "fellow traveler" also depended on how you looked at it.

Lu Yuan wanted to pull all seven ashore.

But this little girl from the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp only had eyes for Flower Maiden, whose "root" hadn't been severed.

As for the remaining six Durant...

She didn't even have the slightest interest in taking another look.

But regardless, at the very least, this Hu Tutu helped Lu Yuan resolve one deity.

Lu Yuan felt slightly relieved in his heart. Looking down at this little one who wasn't even as tall as his waist, his curiosity arose.

"You've said so much. How exactly do you go about continuing?"

As soon as the words fell, Hu Tutu's large, round eyes stared at him vigilantly. She pursed her little mouth, her voice crisp and firm:

"This is our Continuing the Lamp family's secret!"

"Can't let you know!"

Lu Yuan: "..."

Fine!

He finally understood.

These Ten Families beyond the Great Wall were all cut from the same cloth at their core!

Lu Yuan irritably curled his lip.

"I can't even be bothered to know!"

He shifted the topic, pointing down the mountain.

"I mean, if you're going to act now, I can help stop the worshippers coming up the mountain."

After all, the mountain gate was about to open now. Worshippers would come in an endless stream. This was the only path up the mountain.

A little girl like her couldn't possibly perform magic amidst the coming and going of people, right?

Hearing this, a trace of gratitude appeared on Hu Tutu's face, but she still waved her hand in an old-fashioned manner like a little adult.

"No hurry, no hurry~"

She lifted her little face, speaking with utmost seriousness.

"This has to be done at night~"

"Who lights a lamp in broad daylight~"

Looking at her this deliberately profound appearance, Lu Yuan just found it funny, shaking his head helplessly.

Alright then.

Coincidentally, he also planned to summon those seven deities tonight. They could all gather together and get things done.

Lu Yuan then extended the invitation again:

"Then do you have any other places to go next?"

"If you're just waiting for nightfall, why not rest at my Zhenlong Temple today?"

"Coincidentally, the temple's dining hall just started serving."

Hu Tutu originally wanted to imitate an adult's manner, politely waving her hand to decline.

But before the words could leave her mouth, her stomach betrayed her with an unmistakable "gurgle."

The sound was especially loud on the quiet mountain path.

The little girl's face instantly flushed red. Somewhat embarrassed, she lowered her head, giving Lu Yuan a slight bow, her voice as faint as a mosquito:

"Then... then thank you very much, Daoist Priest~"

Lu Yuan smiled and shook his head, saying no more. He turned and continued up the mountain with Zhou Shouzuo.

Hu Tutu immediately followed.

Her two short little legs moved swiftly, bouncing and full of vitality, closely trailing behind Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan looked back at this child brimming with energy like a little firecracker. His heart stirred, and he couldn't help but ask:

"Speaking of which, are you traveling alone?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Tutu immediately proudly raised her head, looking at Lu Yuan, nodding her head seriously.

"Yes!"

Lu Yuan's eyebrows lifted slightly.

"Your family really trusts you, huh!"

He truly couldn't understand what the people of the Hu Family of Continuing the Lamp were thinking.

Letting such a little snot-nosed kid go out alone to handle business?!

This was beyond the Great Wall, where demons and evil spirits were everywhere, and banditry ran rampant!

Forget about those ghosts and evil spirits; even if she encountered a black-hearted mountain bandit or a bandit...

This family's hearts were too big.

However, before Lu Yuan could say anything more, Hu Tutu proudly puffed out her little chest, her chin held high, shaking her head and swaying as she said:

"Don't worry, don't worry~"

Her voice carried a hint of mystery and pride, her bright eyes looking at Lu Yuan.

"The things following behind me are plenty~"