Is This Kid Delusional? (Asking for Monday's Monthly Votes)

The sky had only just begun to brighten when worshippers were already arriving at Wish-Fulfillment Abbey through the morning dew.

Ren Shanshi had no time to change out of his martial arts uniform before accompanying Yun Niang step by step up the stone stairs within the abbey. Still, he could not help but feel lingering fear toward Wish-Fulfillment Abbey.

Ever since Song Baizhou's death, Wish-Fulfillment Abbey had known no peace. It was eerie as hell.

Yun Niang tilted her head up slightly, her vision blurred by her eye condition as she looked toward the main hall. Her other hand gripped a blind cane, which she occasionally tapped against the ground to confirm the path ahead.

"Slow down. There's a step here."

Ren Shanshi reminded her softly, reaching out to steady Yun Niang.

He stared at Yun Niang in a daze. Years of scraping by had long worn away the last traces of her beauty, yet the expression she revealed looked remarkably like Ren Qing's birth mother.

Coming back to himself, the two entered the main hall together. Inside, only two unfamiliar Daoist priests were receiving the worshippers.

Ren Shanshi instinctively looked around and discovered that, compared to a few days ago, the main hall had changed yet again.

Aside from the central main statue, another forty or fifty small statues had appeared along the floor and walls. Their shapes were equally indistinct, their faces nothing but blank emptiness.

"Huh?"

Ren Shanshi's gaze fell on one of the clustered small statues.

It vaguely appeared to be an old man, with a bent back and throat, an obvious limp, and fine cracks covering his entire body. One knee was even caved in, nearly broken.

Three crooked characters were carved into the statue's base.

Molting Immortal.

All the small statues bore similar immortal titles—Yellow Mud Immortal, Oil-Wax Immortal, Immortal in the Painting...

Yet Ren Shanshi felt that the old man's statue looked somewhat familiar. It resembled Su Huo very closely, except Old Su did not limp. By now, he had likely already left Water Mouth City.

Naturally, he had no idea that the small statues clearly corresponded to the cultivators who had participated in the Immortal Ascension Assembly. If cracks appeared on a statue, it meant its owner had been injured.

"I wonder what kind of stonemason carved these. Hardly any of the statues are intact."

Yun Niang knelt before the central statue, closed her eyes, and began to murmur. Her voice came in fits and starts, hesitation threading through every word. "Yao'er must... be safe, get through... this hardship."

"Qing'er must be... healthy and well, and soon... soon marry and have children."

Ren Shanshi stood patiently to one side, knowing full well that Yun Niang suffered from more than just an eye condition. A fever in childhood had also damaged her soul.

It was only because Yun Niang's family had once been fairly well-off that she had managed to grow up safely.

Yun Niang's original name was Li Yun. She was the distant cousin of the manager of the Fuyang Chamber of Commerce. Her family had fallen into decline long ago, while the "Yao'er" she spoke of was Li Yao, the manager's only daughter.

She had barely managed to survive all these years through the Chamber of Commerce's support, remaining unmarried even at nearly forty.

Later, the Chamber's accountant introduced her to Matchmaker Wang, allowing the two of them to meet.

Ren Shanshi frowned slightly. He had heard that the Fuyang Chamber of Commerce had recently suffered one calamity after another. Guards would always die mysteriously in the middle of the night, their corpses hollowed out, their internal organs completely removed.

It was said that something unclean had set its sights on Li Yao.

After a while, Yun Niang slowly rose to her feet, feeling about for her blind cane and cautiously probing toward the threshold.

"L-let's go. But we... we need to return to the martial arts hall first. I knitted Qing a... a set of clothes, but I didn't bring them."

She was clearly nervous as she spoke. Since she rarely interacted with others in daily life, she opened her mouth several times only to stop herself.

Ren Shanshi hurriedly stepped forward to support Yun Niang and answered softly, "Yun Niang, don't rush."

He lifted his eyes to glance at the main statue. Quite a few worshippers around them called it Three Incense Lady, but now that it had roughly taken shape, it did not look like a woman.

Heh, it actually looked a little like his own youngest son.

But how could it possibly be Qing?

Ren Shanshi withdrew his gaze and helped Yun Niang out of Wish-Fulfillment Abbey.

The two returned to Black River Martial Arts Hall. As soon as they reached the entrance, they saw several disciples of the hall packing up belongings, their faces filled with alarm and confusion.

"Brother Ren."

Upon seeing Ren Shanshi, the disciples promptly stopped what they were doing and greeted him respectfully.

Ren Shanshi found it somewhat baffling. He had only been gone for half an hour. "What happened at the martial arts hall?"

"The instructor vanished early this morning. Just now, a senior brother broke open the inner room's door. Inside... inside, there was blood everywhere, but no body."

Ren Shanshi hurriedly calmed them down. His every word and gesture clearly carried the bearing of the martial arts hall's eldest senior brother.

"What did the manager say?"

"The hall will be closed for a while starting tomorrow. First, we need to find out whether the instructor is dead or alive."

Ren Shanshi had wanted to ask a few more questions, but when he saw Yun Niang's face turn deathly pale, he said no more.

Once they had gone some distance away, Yun Niang said with trembling lips, "There... there's a beast."

"What wild beast could there be in the martial arts hall?" Ren Shanshi's heart tightened. Given the instructor's mastery of external martial arts, even an ordinary wild beast might not be able to do anything to him at close range.

"A... a bear-man."

Yun Niang's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, sweat soaking the few strands of white hair on her forehead.

A bear-man was an enlightened black bear, usually capable of standing and walking upright for long periods, half man, half bear.

Ren Shanshi frowned and asked a few questions, but Yun Niang merely shook her head in silence, unable to say another word.

He assumed Yun Niang had been frightened into wild thoughts. After collecting the clothes she had woven, the two hurriedly left the martial arts hall and headed along the street toward the coffin shop.

On the way, Ren Shanshi also picked up some wine and food.

Yet Yun Niang seemed increasingly uneasy. Her fingers tightened around her blind cane as she unconsciously quickened her pace.

Before long, they passed through the alleyways and arrived at the shop's back courtyard.

The moment Yun Niang entered the courtyard, her fear abruptly faded. Hearing birds chirping from the branches and the muffled croaking of toads, she could not help letting out a long breath.

Ever since a fever in childhood, she had often been able to hear strange sounds.

For instance, at the martial arts hall, she had heard the hissing breaths of a bear-man for several days. Along the way, she had vaguely caught the cries of various wild beasts as well. Yet upon reaching the coffin shop, it was as though they had been cut off from the world—every anomaly vanished.

Yun Niang's gaze fell upon the youth by the well, her blurred vision trying to make out his features.

"Ah Qing, your father has brought Yun Niang over. Tonight, we'll eat and drink together. I even bought half a jin of pig head meat and half an osmanthus roast chicken."

"Mm."

Ren Qing's response was indifferent, his manner nothing like that of a son facing his father.

Yun Niang found it somewhat strange. Ren Shanshi often praised Ren Qing for being sensible and filial, yet watching Ren Shanshi bustle about, she instead felt that the father was the more sensible and filial one.

After confirming that Yun Niang was merely an ordinary mortal, Ren Qing only used the Imperial Court Scroll to slightly influence her perception.

"This poor Daoist has recently entered secluded cultivation and does not eat grains or meat. You two may eat."

Yun Niang froze. This poor Daoist? Why was he calling himself that?

She recalled Ren Shanshi mentioning that Ren Qing had remained frail ever since a serious illness, and that his temperament had changed somewhat as well. Could it be...

"Boundless Heavenly Worthy."

Ren Qing smiled as he counted on his fingers, having figured out several crucial points for refining the Sword-Nourishing Method.

Sigh.

The look in Yun Niang's eyes as she gazed at Ren Qing softened by several degrees.

It was delirium, wasn't it?

No wonder Shanshi had never mentioned it. This child's fate was truly bitter.

He was dressed so thinly, too. The clothes she had woven earlier might not fit him; she should weave him another cape.

Outside the alley.

The scholar came with his nostrils twitching. His breathing suddenly quickened, and his mouth stretched into an exaggerated grin, revealing sharp, slender teeth. He had a rat's face and a human body.

"I, Dou Sangu, absolutely did not mistake it!"

The rat demon concealed his aura and muttered, "A martial artist passed by earlier, his entire body giving off treasured radiance. He must have regularly come into contact with great medicine."

He could not resist moving closer to the alley, but just before stepping inside, his foot abruptly stopped.

Dou Sangu's face became exceptionally ugly. His innate divine ability could not only seek out medicine, but also faintly sense impending disaster. An intense sense of crisis rushed over him.

"A demon of profound cultivation is guarding the great medicine!"

Dou Sangu was secretly alarmed. Closing his eyes, he carefully discerned the auras. "There is a demon of the water, and another demon of the earth."

"I cannot alert them."

What baffled Dou Sangu most was that the martial artist tainted with treasured radiance posed the greatest threat. It was as though the slightest malicious intent...

Would cause his... body and soul to be annihilated!!

"Wait a little longer, wait a little longer. There will always be a chance."