Over the next several days, whenever dusk fell, the girl named A Li came to the cave where Su Yi was staying, bringing food and medicinal herbs.
Besides that, she brought Su Yi an old beast-hide robe.
According to A Li, the robe had been left behind by her grandfather before his death.
Occasionally, A Li would also take out an Animal Skin Scroll and a pen to converse with Su Yi through writing.
But they did not talk much.
Su Yi only learned that this place lay at the foot of a mountain called Southern Barbarian Mountain, bordering the Little Cang River.
The distant village was called Stream Cloud Village. Around six hundred people lived there, most of them hunters who made their living by hunting and gathering herbs.
A Li had lost both parents at a young age and depended on her grandfather for survival.
Three years ago, while hunting in the mountains, her grandfather had unfortunately encountered an attack by a pack of beasts. By the time someone brought him back, he was already gravely wounded and on the verge of death. Not long afterward, he passed away.
Only A Li was left behind.
However, according to A Li, she also had an elder sister.
When her sister had been five years old, an immortal passing through Stream Cloud Village had taken a fancy to her and wished to accept her as a disciple, taking her back to an immortal sect to cultivate.
With A Li's grandfather's consent, her elder sister had left with that immortal. From then on, all contact had been completely lost.
Ten years had passed since then.
Whenever she spoke of this matter, Su Yi could clearly sense A Li's low spirits and sorrow.
"A Li, why did you become mute?"
One evening,