Chapter 10: A Mound of Yellow Earth, Crimson Faces and White Bones

Leaving Maple Forest City through the west gate, and following the main road for about seven or eight li, then turning left onto a small path, you would see the Green Willow River, with weeping willows lining its banks, in less than half an incense stick's time.

At this moment, the evening breeze caressed the face, and the bright moon was reflected in the rippling waves.

When Jiang Wang emerged from the small path, he saw Linghe's gaunt back, standing by the river like a silent tree.

"Oh, let me see, let me see." Zhao Rucheng darted in front of him, craning his neck and saying, "You must be hiding and crying, right?"

Linghe was somewhat helpless, "Why are you guys here?"

"Your voice is a little hoarse. You definitely cried!"

At this moment, a rough voice emerged from the riverside grass, "Zhao, you know you're asking for a beating sometimes, right?"

"Brother Hu, you're here too?" Zhao Rucheng shrank his neck. This brute, Du Yehu, would really resort to violence at the slightest disagreement, and wouldn't care about his handsome face.

"I was already here drinking." Du Yehu said sullenly, his breath full of alcohol drifting in the evening breeze, "I didn't expect him to carry that guy over too, what a jinx."

"Exactly! Why even bury him?" Zhao Rucheng continued, "This kind of heartless bastard should be thrown directly into the river, let him drift downstream to feed the fish and shrimp."

Jiang Wang glanced in the direction Du Yehu came from, "He's buried there?"

"Third brother." Considering Jiang Wang's feelings, Linghe explained, "I haven't forgotten Pengju's bad deeds, but I also remember his good ones. My family was poor, and I often didn't have enough to eat. Pengju always used the excuse of asking me to teach him martial arts, pulling me to stay until it was time for dinner. He deserved to die, but I can't watch his corpse be exposed in the wilderness... Of course, you were very good to me too. That year when we suppressed the Green Bull Stronghold, you saved me..."

"What's the point of saying all this?" Jiang Wang interrupted him, "When my father was alive, he told me that adults are different from children. The first thing adults need to learn is to seek common ground while reserving differences. The kind of 'I don't play with him, so you can't play with him either' is childish. You and Fang Pengju, and me, we each deal with our own relationships. I won't influence your deep affection for him, and you won't influence my complete break with him."

"That makes sense." Linghe said.

He looked around at the Green Willow Riverbank under the night, "I always have a feeling of being transported back to yesterday. This place hasn't changed much, but we are all different now."

"Nothing stays the same, the only constant is change." Zhao Rucheng said meaningfully, then shamelessly approached Linghe again, "Burying someone wouldn't take this long, did you two hug and cry?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he shot up and nimbly dodged Du Yehu's flying leg.

"Tsk tsk tsk, embarrassed into anger..." He had only said half of his provocative words when he quickly cupped his hands and bowed, "My mistake, my mistake, Brother Hu."

Du Yehu had already been gearing up to chase after him, "You're not wrong, I just wanted to hug you and cry for a bit."

Watching the two fighting, Linghe said leisurely, "But I believe there are always some things that will not be changed."

"I agree with half of what you said." Jiang Wang said.

The "sparring" between Du Yehu and Zhao Rucheng somehow turned into a four-person melee. Fists and feet flew, and everyone tripped each other up. In the end, everyone was panting for breath, and then they all burst out laughing, and then hugged each other and cried.

If someone happened to pass by the Green Willow River that night, they would probably spread another ghost story or something.

The four brothers finally left the Green Willow River shoulder to shoulder, leaving this place that recorded their youth and friendship.

No one spoke again.

Only Zhao Rucheng muttered as he turned back one last time:

"When you get to the other side, don't harm your friends anymore. You dead ghost."

...

The moonlight flowed into the rippling Green Willow River, and also poured down from the dilapidated roof of the Still True Temple.

Perhaps because of the moonlight, the faces of the two people speaking in this broken temple appeared extremely pale.

One of them was a captivating woman, wearing a large red dress, with a very exquisite figure, curved in all the right places. Especially the dazzling white skin slightly exposed at the neckline, making it difficult for people to take their eyes off it.

Her face was a little too pale, which in theory would make her look slightly weak and sickly, but she gave people an astonishingly gorgeous feeling. Perhaps because of her overly bright red lips?

She sat on the dust-covered incense table without any concern, so beautiful yet so at ease.

She lightly wiped her red lips with her little finger and said, "The beggars in this temple are all dead, which is really troublesome. What are we going to use to invite the Divine Decree?"

The voice seemed to circle around the spider web at the corner of the eaves before reaching its destination, sounding somewhat empty.

"A cultivator's life soul is enough."

The person speaking stood at the entrance. Unlike the woman in red, he seemed unwilling to even get half a foot into this dirty temple, and even used a handkerchief embroidered with plum blossoms to cover his mouth and nose.

"Oh my, that's easier said than done." The woman in red said, "We have to sneak around even when killing a few mortals. Kill a cultivator? Aren't you afraid that the Dao Academy of Zhuang will come knocking on our door?"

"Everyone in this city, sooner or later, is going to die anyway." As the man spoke, he frowned, "Do we have to talk in a place like this?"

The woman in red chuckled, "Zuo Guanglie, who is famous throughout the world, fell here. The people of Zhuang have searched this place inside and out no less than ten times. There is no cleaner place nearby than here."

Speaking of Zuo Guanglie, she actually closed her eyes slightly, revealing a drunk expression, and even the pale face quickly flushed, "I seem to be able to smell his majestic aura ~"

"Let's get back to business." The man interrupted her reverie without batting an eye, "Wei Quji is not easy to deal with, and now there's Dong A. We must find the Dao Child as soon as possible. Those Qin and Chu barbarians are fighting here, making it impossible to perform the sacrifice at the Still True Temple. If you ask me, instead of sneaking around to catch some mortals, it's better to directly sacrifice a cultivator, which is simpler and more straightforward."

"There is more than one way to find death, why do you have to stick to this one? Isn't drawing a sword and slitting the throat better? Or attracting thunder to devour yourself?"

Perhaps annoyed by the interruption of her reverie, the woman in red opened her beautiful eyes and also restrained her smile, "Before the Dao Child appears, you better know what it means to be low-key!"

The man also seemed a little annoyed, covering his nose and saying, "Miaoyu! It's not like attacking Maple Forest Dao Academy wasn't your idea! Now it's causing a storm in the city, and if we're not careful, our grand plan will be ruined!"

"What do you know? This world is too big, there are too many accidents! Who would have thought that Zuo Guanglie would die like this? And just happen to ruin our sacrificial plan. The bones at the bottom of the River of Forgetfulness have been silent for too long! There can be no more accidents! Now in Maple Forest City, Dong A is crucial, we must clearly understand his strength and bottom line! A certain sacrifice is inevitable. Furthermore..."

The woman in red named Miaoyu licked her lips: "Do you know that the beggars in this broken temple are not all dead? In the Maple Forest Dao Academy, I smelled a familiar smell..."

The dirty environment made the man even more impatient: "Is the life or death of a mere beggar worth my concern?"

Miaoyu this time only stretched lazily, showing off her beautiful figure, "Fool."

The man narrowed his eyes, also concealing the desire that flashed in his eyes, "Don't think that just because you are nominally the Dao Child's woman, you can be so presumptuous. There have been many Holy Maidens in the cult for thousands of years. When the Dao Child appears, whether he wants you or recognizes you, remains to be seen."

"Red face and white bones, empty and illusory. Can't you see through it?"

"Hehehehe." The man turned and walked out of the temple, "Whether I see through it or not, what does it matter? That's just how it is."

After a long time, in this quiet and dilapidated old temple, a seductive murmur softly echoed, spreading like moonlight.

"How could he not love me? How could he not want me? I've guarded for so many years, waited for so many years..."