Ten Years
Black dark clouds hovered in the night sky, the gloomy canopy in the sky seemed to be pressing towards the ground, drifting down from the vaults of heaven in the piercingly screaming cold wind, the drizzling rain rolled over the vast earth.
Within the wilderness, no villages could be seen ahead and the ground could not be seen at the back, lush growth everywhere. Only an ancient path extended over from far away, and again all alone by itself extended out to a distant place.
Within the dark clouds in the night sky, a deep low thunder sound rumbled, the rain between Heaven and Earth gradually became heavier.
The earth solemn and quiet, other than the sounds from the wind and rain, everywhere was pitch black. Only on the ancient road, a lonely lamp burned, revealing a little light.
This is a little house in the wilderness, the owner’s surname was Ho, a forty-something middle-age man who was born in a town called Xiao Chi Town, which would take a day of travel from here. At this desolate place beside the ancient road, he built up a simple and crude house with his own hands and provided a place for the travellers travelling from South to North to have a place to rest and have tea, thus making a few hard-earned money.
Right now shopkeeper Ho was sitting behind the counter at his own shop, concentrating to hear the wailing storm outside his house. His brows frowned slightly and he softly sighed, this kind of bad weather, most unlikely there would not be any more customers coming in.
This small house of his was built between Xiao Chi Town and a big Kongsang Mountain, the ancient road in front of his door, ever since ancient times it had always been a road for merchants and travellers and it also led to a big city at in the further East area, a must go-through route to East ChangHe City, therefore there would be travellers travelling at any one time.
Right now in this stormy night, in this wilderness small shop, there was unexpectedly a few customers who were silently sitting in the gloomy, dim small house, avoiding the wailing wind and weeping rain.
“Pi pa.”
The lampwick in the oil lamp in front of shopkeeper Ho made some light cracking sounds and roused this honest middle-aged man from his drowsiness. The sound of the storm outside his house pressed in in waves, [Wu wu] like it was choked. It seemed like tonight those customers would not be able to leave.
As he was thinking, he raised his head to look towards the customers in his shop. The simple and crude small house had only five tables and three of the tables were seated with customers. The table at the extreme corner sat one single man and that area was one of the dim areas where the lamp’s light could not reach properly. That man sat there solitary, even his face was indistinct.
And the two tables nearby, one table was seated by an old man with an uncommon bearing and a young lady. Beside the old man’s hand, a bamboo pole was leaning against the table with a cloth banner at the side, written on it “Immortal Guide” four words. Seemed like he was a Jianghu fortune-teller.
As for the last table, it was the table with the most number of people, merchants travellers who were travelling the same way, a total of four people. The corner behind them was stacked full of goods and right now it seemed that there was a young man among them who was softly berating the awful weather.
“Alright, don’t say it anymore.” An old who looked oldest among the four people commanded him, turned his head over and smiled at shopkeeper Ho, with a slight apologetic tone he said, “Shopkeeper Ho, this rain is so heavy and the winds are so strong, we still make you accompany us throughout the night.”
Shopkeeper smiled and shook his head, this group of merchants frequently traveled via this ancient road and stopped over at his small shop frequently so they were also considered regular customers. He immediately said, “It is alright, it is a common affair for me to stay up throughout the night but today, ever since from daytime, dark clouds have been hanging over the sky, why did Sir you still hurry on with your journey?”
The elderly was stunned with what he heard and he and his companions looked at each other, he bitterly laughed and said, “Actually how could we not know that the weather is bad today but being away from home, we really have our difficulties.”
Shopkeeper Ho made an “Ah” sound.
The elderly raised the cup in front of him and drank it down in one gulp, he said, “Shopkeeper Ho, the ways of the world nowadays are tough!”
Shopkeeper was shocked and said, “What happened?”
That elderly gave a bitter laugh and said, “Since ten years ago, the Evil Faction that had disappeared for a long time suddenly appeared again, I heard that they even had a big fight with those celestials from the Good Faction at Qing Yun Hill. After that for these ten years, not only was the Evil Faction not destroyed by the Good Faction, it instead flourished as the days goes by and everywhere we go we heard they are fighting and contending with the Good Faction.”
Shopkeeper Ho silently agreed, that elderly sighed and continued, “They fight their own fights and we commoners are unable to intervene too but just that with these fights, the whole world is in chaos, nowadays robbers and bandits run amuck and those that robs and plunders the houses are numerous. We who make our living travelling, are on tenterhook everyday, fearing that we will run into bandits which is why we are travelling in haste, unexpectedly we are obstructed here by the storm, troubling shopkeeper Ho.”
Shopkeeper Ho shook his head and said, “It doesn’t matter, you don’t have to be troubled by it……”
While he was still speaking, suddenly a voice was heard from across that far corner, indifferently speaking, “So since you said it this way, this gentleman without a doubt, believe that all of the great disorders presently happening under the sky, robbers and bandits running amuck, are all caused by the Evil Faction as mentioned in your speech?”
That elderly was shocked, without having the chance to speak, the fortune-teller and the young lady sitting at the table in front, also turned to look at them. That young lady’s gaze was bright, her appearance beautiful and with light dimples at the corners of her mouth, looking lovable.
She suddenly smiled lightly and spoke to the elderly merchant, “This Sir!”
That elderly looked at her and said, “What’s the matter, miss?”
That young lady softly said, “Sir, your face is thin with many wrinkles but the shape of your face is unbroken, destined that although there will be many twists and turns in your life but your life will still be considered safe and sound. Just that six points away from the middle of your forehead, there is a small scar, horizontal in the middle of your face. It obstruct your life line, wealth line and foretell that during your old age, there might be a big calamity. Looking at your age now, why not speak less as it will also reduce the sources of disaster.”
The group of merchants changed their countenance together, that elderly even stood up and stared closely at this elderly and youth but both of them instead did not have any reaction, looking perfectly composed. After a long while that elderly’s expression was undecided, looked around at his surroundings and finally sat back down, cupped his hand towards the young lady and said, “Thank you Miss for your guidance.”
Once he sat back down, the small shop immediately became quiet. That mysterious guy at the corner also seemed to quieten down and did not speak anymore.
Just that this night was long and endless, it was really difficult to bear and after a long while, the merchants began to chat, but all they could chat was again that Good and Evil great battle ten years ago at Qing Yun Hill.
These merchants were just ordinary commoners, naturally they would not be at the actual scene but hearsay was created because of this. In addition, those Good Faction cultivated masters had always been very secretive so it was the best topic for these commoners to gossip about.
As they chat along, a few of those young guys’ voices became louder, the rest of them heard it and began to pay attention to it.
“......anyway, at that time Qing Yun Sect’s situation was already in imminent danger, luckily DaoXuan the old immortal used his powers to create and lightly dabbed with his fingers, immediately a chi long lightning with thunder crash came down from the sky. I heard that loud deafening sound was heard within the vicinity of hundred of miles, this then made the Evil Faction retreated!”
“Nonsense!” Suddenly a soft shout was heard but it came from that unordinary bearing old man who was seated together with the young lady, everyone was surprised and looked at him, the old man was heard saying, “If DaoXuan was really that powerful, how could it be that the Qing Yun Hill battle, so many people from Qing Yun Sect died and even two of the seven branches leaders also perished. Numerous senior and elder disciples were injured or dead, you think those devils in Evil Faction eat nothing but plain cooked rice?”
Everyone was speechless, the young lady beside him frowned deeply and quietly said, “Grandfather, I had just ask them not to talk too much, how come you are speaking so much?”
That old man Hehe laughed, the face with divine demeanour suddenly displayed slight arrogance, he softly replied, “Xiao Huan, don’t scare me. I have allowed you to read my life fortune long ago and although my whole life I will roam around but I will have luck when I am old and destined to be safe and sound with my family to send me off on my funeral, hehe, doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter!”
The young lady had just sipped her tea and almost choked on his words, she coughed a few times and stared angrily at that old man, that old man instead was immensely pleased with himself and was not worried at all.
This old man and young lady were indeed the Jianghu fortune-teller, Zhou YiXian and his granddaughter, Xiao Huan, who travelled around the world. It had been ten years since the Good and Evil big battle at Qing Yun Hill and Xiao Huan had already passed her puberty and grown up, blossomed into a beautiful girl but just that she still followed Zhou YiXian to roam the ends of the earth.
Right now Zhou YiXian as if his addiction was stimulated, disregarding that this was the first time he had met those people, he pulled his stool and actually sat among those merchants and started to talk loudly and arrogantly regarding that battle at Qing Yun. Xiao Huan who was beside felt depressed due to his actions but could do nothing to stop him.
Zhou YiXian was an excellent talker, also he depended on his glib tongue to travel around the world. His description was vivid and lifelike, far exceeding those young men earlier on and even shopkeeper Ho could not bear it after a while and walked over. The crowd gathered around, listening to Zhou YiXian haughty described in-depth, laughing and recollecting about the past……
“Ah!”
While listening to the exciting parts, the few young men exclaimed out at the same time, one of them could not help but asked, “Sir, couldn’t it be that you were at the scene too, how did you come to know the details so well?”
Zhou YiXian was stunned, following which he lightly patted his clothes, shook his head and sighed, “All these fightings and killings, already all along I do not wish to be involved, simply let those Qing Yun Sect juniors to handle it!”
Everyone was shocked and immediately filled with a deep veneration, unexpectedly at this moment, a sound of “Pu” was heard from beside, it was Xiao Huan who had spitted out the mouthful of tea she had just drank, coughing non-stopped.
Zhou YiXian gave her a stare and turned his head back, Hehe laughed slightly. At this time, a young guy sitting beside said, “Sir, then in the end that disciple surnamed Zhang in Qing Yun Sect, what happened eventually, was he really kicked out of Qing Yun Sect?”
Zhou YiXian frowned his brows, was silent for a while then shook his head and said, “I am not sure about this, the situation was chaotic at that moment, it seemed like that Zhang Xiao Fan had also fainted and eventually was snatched by the Evil Faction people. Since then there was no traces of him.”
The crowd around him sighed, actually Zhang Xiao Fan’s existence was a secret and was an important big secret to Qing Yun Sect and TianYin Temple which absolutely would not be told to outsiders but on the day that the secret was revealed, there were considerable number of people present, especially the Evil Faction members were at the scene too, therefore as time passed by the rumours actually started to spread around. Just that what Zhou YiXian was describing now, was as if he had personally saw everything at TongTian Peak in Qing Yun Hill.
Shopkeeper Ho sighed and said, “Wondered how is that young man now?”
“How is he now……” suddenly, again that mysterious guy who was sitting at the corner spoke, carrying with it an indistinct shift.
Zhou YiXian turned his head over and looked at that man sitting in the dim shadows, he said, “Why, this brother, could it be that you know?”
That man was silent for a while and unhurriedly said, “Of course I know but just that even if you are someone who once saw him, now most probably you might not be able to recognize him already……”
Xiao Huan frowned her brows and said, “ What happened to him?”
But that man did not speak anymore, only made his own figure disappeared into the darkness.
The storm outside the house filled up the whole sky and covered the land, the melancholy seemed to have increased by a few degrees……
Kongsang Mountain, Thousand Bats Ancient Cave
Eight hundred years ago, here was where Evil Faction senior Elder Blackheart started the period of Blood Forger Hall’s golden age, took over the command of the Evil Faction and intimidated the world. But as of now the later generations disciples were unworthy and the place became desolate and dilapidated, really pathetic.
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