Chapter 90

Qingwa was dark and thin, with many scars on his body, all old wounds layered over older ones.

He was the leader of those children. When they couldn't get enough to eat, he would take them to nearby towns to beg for food. If they couldn't beg, they would steal, and if caught, they would be beaten severely.

At this moment, he was sitting in Xiang Kuangcheng's small room, looking at the people in front of him with some timidity.

"Qingwa, there is something I want to ask you. You must answer truthfully, can you?"

Qingwa pondered for a long time, then finally nodded.

A child of his age was already sensible, not to mention that he had been struggling on the streets for so many years and had long since developed the ability to distinguish between good and evil.

Who was a good person and who was a bad person, he could probably still tell.

Over these past few days, he knew that Xiang Kuangcheng had been serving porridge to everyone and had even found a physician to treat his illness, so his defenses weren't high.

Seeing him nod in agreement, Xiang Kuangcheng pointed to the animal bone pendant he was wearing and said: "Where did you get this thing?"

Qingwa looked at the pendant, a flash of panic crossing his face: "Found it, I found it..."

"Where did you find it?"

"At the entrance of our old village."

Xiang Kuangcheng couldn't help but touch his messy hair: "You also saw the little brother who came to see you just now. His sister is lost, and your pendant is very similar to his sister's. He really wants to find his sister. Qingwa, I know you are a good child. You fight everywhere just to let your little brothers have enough to eat."

After a long silence, Qingwa raised his eyes: "That day, there were many, many carriages parked on the open ground in front of our village entrance."

Xiang Kuangcheng took a deep breath and slowly sat up straight: "And then?"

"We knew that such large carriages basically belonged to merchant caravans and would have food inside, so we thought about stealing some things to fill our stomachs, but we searched several and none had food."

When Qingwa said this, a very profound fear was clearly revealed in his eyes, and his thin shoulders kept trembling: "Later, we sneaked to the fourth carriage, lifted the cloth on top, and saw many strange children..."

Ji You was guarding the door at this time and couldn't help but turn his head upon hearing this.

If the pendant was indeed found by Qingwa, then this clue would be meaningless, but he mentioned children at this moment.

And what they had been looking for all along were those missing infants.

Xiang Kuangcheng glanced at Ji You, then said to Qingwa: "What do you mean by strange children?"

"Their bodies were red, as if they had been steamed. They all had their eyes wide open, their teeth were sharp, and black Qi was coming out of their nostrils. They didn't cry or make a fuss, as if they were dead, but they were still breathing."

Qingwa hadn't been to school and didn't know much; he could only use simple and pale language to describe what he had seen.

But even so, what he described was enough to make one's blood run cold.

Ji You and Xiang Kuangcheng looked at each other, then he said: "Was the pendant picked up from those children?"

"The other children were scared, saying those infants were born from evil seeds in the mountains, but I wasn't afraid. I am their leader; if I were afraid, they wouldn't respect me. So I plucked up my courage and snatched this pendant from one of the children to show them when I got back."

Xiang Kuangcheng was silent for a long time, then said: "Where did those carriages go?"

Qingwa thought for a while: "The carriages only stopped at the village entrance for one night and were gone the next day."

Ji You remembered the wisp of black energy he had been infected with and turned around: "Qingwa, when you took the pendant, did you touch the bodies of those children?"

"Touched, touched them once."

"..."

Xiang Kuangcheng was silently bowing his head at this moment, still lost in this sudden and eerie information, while Ji You had already begun to act.

He first sent Huwa back outside the city, then took Xiang Kuangcheng to a bookstore and bought a map of Central Province.

Because there was immortal destiny born in the Qiling ruins before, such maps were everywhere and easy to buy.

The two then went nowhere else, sitting in the bookstore and staring at the map.

After seeing the relative positions of the Qiling entrance, the Hongshan Mine, and the Baishui River, Ji You's brow never relaxed again.

"White River Village is on the south side, separated from where I entered the mountain by many heavy mountains. This is not a place one needs to pass through to enter the mountain."

Xiang Kuangcheng was silent for a long time: "Could there be another road?"

Probably not. Ji You pondered for a long time, and the answer gradually emerged in his heart.

When he and Yuan Yuanchen went to rescue Yuan Caiwei, they saw the Yanxing Station's carriages on the north side of the foothills of the middle mountain, so they must have entered from the north side when they sent the infants in.

But Qingwa shouldn't be lying.

Because under sudden questioning, it's impossible for anyone to make the story so perfect, not to mention he was just a child.

Inferring from this, the strange infants Qingwa saw were not being sent in, but being transported out.

If they were normal infants when they went in, and all turned into what Qingwa described when they came out, what does that mean?

After he went to Qiling, his biggest doubt was that everything seemed to have ended after the demon Daoist's failed ascension.

But the matter of the infants always remained outside the entire thread.

He initially thought the infants were captured to refine medicine, but later he didn't find any bloody smell in Yuan Caiwei's alchemical furnace, and Yuan Caiwei hadn't seen any infants either.

Only now did he know that those infants were sent out after being sent into the mountain.

There must be immortal destiny in the ruins, perhaps it should be called by another name, originating from the ancient times, originating from the ancient clans.

If not, that demon Daoist had no Daoist lineage inheritance and could never have possessed the power to strike at the Immortal Gate.

The fact that those noble family disciples broke through their realms one after another after breaking in also proved this point.

But later everyone discovered that neither immortal destiny nor spiritual herbs could be brought out of the ruins.

Just like the Zhu Guo that Ji You brought out from it, even though it was packed in a storage gourd, it still shattered and turned into black ash.

But according to Qingwa's description, someone must have brought things out of the ruins in some way, and those missing infants were very likely the containers.

Ji You looked at the location of the Zheng family on the map, and the thread in his heart began to gradually become clear.

Before the Hongshan Mine was reopened by the Heavenly Academy, it had always been in the hands of the Zheng family.

They accidentally opened the ruins because of the mined-out tunnels and saw the mysterious immortal destiny, but found that it couldn't be brought out at all.

But they were unwilling to give up and kept trying, so after countless attempts, they discovered the miraculous use of infants...

He didn't know what these attempts specifically were, but he also knew that it was absolutely not something an ordinary person's psychology could bear.

In short, they succeeded.

Then these infants should have been sent to the Zheng family...

Because Yan Shuyi said that the Zheng family kept many evil seeds that could speak human language, but he didn't know how they were used specifically.

It's just that the infants used as containers were highly toxic, and Qingwa, who went to steal things, happened to be infected.

Later, because someone brought things that didn't belong to this world out of the ruins, the evil seeds went out of control and were no longer bound by the ruins, so the world fell into chaos, attracting the attention of the Immortal Sects.

Seeing that it couldn't be hidden, the Zheng family ancestor set up a grand scheme of refining humans with karmic fire, resulting in a shocking tragedy.

"Did Brother Ji think of something?"

At this moment, Xiang Kuangcheng's voice sounded in his ear.

Ji You shook his head after pondering for a moment: "No, nothing at all."

"Do you think Huwa's sister is still in this world?"

"Huwa's sister might already be dead. This matter should end here..."

Xiang Kuangcheng couldn't help but look up at him upon hearing Ji You's words.

He understood Ji You and knew that Ji You was definitely not this kind of character. Even if his realm was low and he couldn't do anything, he would definitely have cursed a few times after hearing Qingwa's words.

But he was extremely calm at this moment, even using "end here" to describe it.

After hesitating for a long time, he didn't ask.

He believed in his friend, believed in Young Master Ji who spat blood in Yuyang County but told him that death is inevitable for everyone since ancient times.

If he had something he didn't say, it meant that Ji You felt this matter shouldn't be known to him.

In fact, Xiang Kuangcheng's thoughts were correct; he wasn't stupid, and Ji You was also a smart person.

The fact that infants could be used as containers, even if it was just a guess, could not be known by anyone.

Because the temptation of immortal destiny was too great. Looking at those noble family disciples who swarmed in even knowing there would be danger, one knew that they would do anything for immortal destiny.

Since the Qingyun world could produce one Zheng family, a second Zheng family would appear.

And Xiang Kuangcheng himself was a hothead who meddled in everything in Yuyang County.

If he knew about this, he would inevitably be drawn into the disputes among cultivators, but he was a commoner after all, with no cultivation base to protect himself.

So no one could know about this, not even him.

Ji You didn't have many close friends in this world; Xiang Kuangcheng was one. He was indeed pedantic at times, but pedantic in a way that made one respect him.

Think about that autumn day last year, when he had nothing to do with the Qiu family but kept running around, seeking him and begging the Fang family. If he let him know his guess, what would happen?

This matter was too big; he didn't want him to die because of it.

The only good news at present is that there have been no missing infant incidents in the capital for the past six months.

Ji You only hoped that the Zheng family ancestor's failed ascension was the final outcome, burying everything, and that no one would have designs on the ruins in the future, so that the world could be a bit more stable.

"Is becoming an immortal really that good?"

Ji You listened to Xiang Kuangcheng's muttering and pondered before speaking: "Becoming an immortal can grant longevity. Once you've tasted the flavor of power for a long time, you will have the thought of being eternal."

Xiang Kuangcheng looked at the gloomy sky: "Why don't they cherish the world they already have before their eyes?"

"Because they can become immortals, can ascend to the Immortal Realm, can obtain great freedom. People in the village are all like this, always thinking about going to the city."

Ji You stood up: "As I said before, we should have a meal together after returning safely."

Xiang Kuangcheng came back to his senses and looked up at him: "Today?"

"Let's make it today. Call Miss Wei and Yuan Yuanchen, and we'll go together."

"We only met Miss Wei by chance. Inviting her to sit at the same table with three men might be a bit rude, and it wouldn't look good if seen by others."

Ji You thought to himself that you kid are quite cautious: "Then ask Miss Wei to invite a female friend she is close with to come along."

Xiang Kuangcheng looked at the pendant he got from Qingwa, clutching it in his palm: "I'll go see Huwa first, then I'll go tell Miss Wei and ask her to invite a friend."

"Forget it, I'll ask Yuan Yuanchen's sister to keep her company."

"?"

Xiang Kuangcheng was stunned for a moment: "Brother Ji really wants to marry two. But this is considered normal in the Qingyun world. The daughter of the Pill Sect has a noble status, so she can be the main wife, and the fairy who came that day can be the concubine, so that the alchemist can also treat mortals."

Ji You glanced at him, thinking to himself that you don't know anything.

If it comes to status, there is perhaps no woman in this world more noble than Yan Shuyi, not even Yuan Caiwei.

Let her be my concubine? Good heavens, my seven-foot male body wouldn't be enough for the Spirit Sword Mountain to stab.

Besides, do you think Yan Shuyi is the type to be a concubine? She would kick me to death.

However, he felt it was better not to tell Xiang Kuangcheng about Yan Shuyi's identity, otherwise this scholar would again make him spread the family line for the sake of all the people.

According to his understanding, Ji You marrying these two would be equivalent to obtaining the help of two major sects, only needing to contribute his body, without even needing to wait for the Abbot to die.

And the reason Ji You changed his mind was actually for another reason.

Wei Rui is very likely Wei Li's granddaughter...

Because when he came outside the city to find Xiang Kuangcheng a few days ago, he had seen a group of noble family disciples in the capital and had also heard their discussion.

The one sitting in the carriage was the Princess of the Chong Prince's Mansion, and the man he knocked off his horse was the son of the Minister of Revenue.

Connecting this to Wei Rui's surname, her identity could naturally be confirmed.

Xiang Kuangcheng currently holds a position in the Immortal Supervision Bureau and is a sworn enemy of the pro-immortal faction. If they were to meet like this, it probably wouldn't end well.

This guy didn't even dare to ask for her name; he probably hasn't realized it yet.

The former Prime Minister Wei was at the height of his power, representing a thorn inserted by the Immortal Sect into the Great Xia court. Ji You was afraid he would be too hotheaded and take risks, so he let him go pick up girls to hedge against the threat of the pro-immortal faction.

But now the Immortal Sect and the noble families are suspicious of each other, and the pro-immortal faction also feels like it's crumbling, so this is meaningless.

But it's a first love after all, and Ji You didn't know how to tell him about this.

(It's almost the end of the month, please vote for monthly tickets!! Also recommending a book "Great Ming: Longevity Emperor? Please Your Majesty Call Yourself Crown Prince")

(End of chapter)