A Candle Flickering in the Wind

When Shitou staggered into the village entrance, the entire village was thrown into an uproar.

"Shitou, it really is Shitou! He's back!"

"Heavens, wasn't he chosen by the divine envoy to enjoy blessings on the Divine Mountain? How did he end up like this?"

A woman drying black fish jerky abruptly turned around at the commotion. When she saw that familiar yet unfamiliar figure, the fish in her hand dropped to the ground with a smack.

She stood frozen in place, her eyes reddening instantly, her lips trembling without a single sound coming out.

"Mother."

A boy of seven or eight rushed out from the house and threw himself at Shitou.

Shen Qingzhou crouched with the motion and pulled the boy tightly into his arms.

"I'm back."

His voice was exactly like Shitou's, somewhat dry and hoarse.

Carrying the child, he walked over to the woman and looked at her face, filled with tears and disbelief.

"We'll talk inside."

The oil lamp inside the house cast a dim yellow glow.

Shitou's wife, A-Lian, brought over a bowl of hot water, her hands still shaking uncontrollably.

"What... what happened? Where's the Divine Mountain? Where did the divine envoy go?"

Shen Qingzhou accepted the bowl without drinking, merely holding it quietly.

Looking at the mother and son before him, still trembling from fright, he slowly began recounting the story he had long prepared in his heart.

He told A-Lian that there had never been any immortal fate on the Divine Mountain. Those people who called themselves envoys of the Earth Mother were all frauds.

All the strong men of the village had been deceived and taken away, locked in a terrifying place, then turned into thoughtless monsters through evil arts.

"Uncle Dagen, and those who were chosen in previous years—I saw them all. They... they've all become walking corpses."

Shen Qingzhou imitated Shitou's manner of speaking.

"I escaped only because I caught them off guard and risked my life."

A-Lian's face turned deathly pale. She covered her mouth tightly, not daring to let herself cry aloud.

"Those people are demons. They'll definitely come looking again."

Shen Qingzhou said fearfully.

"We absolutely cannot stay here any longer. A-Lian, listen to me. At daybreak, take the child and flee south. The farther, the better. Find the immortal masters of the Profound Heaven Sect. Only they can keep you alive."

"Then... what about you?"

A-Lian clutched his arm tightly and asked through tears.

"I can't leave with you. They've already marked me. If I go with you, I'll only drag you down."

Shen Qingzhou took out a piece of beast hide from his robes. A diagram of the human body had been drawn on it in charcoal.

"This is a body-tempering method I stole. Have the child practice according to it, and it'll strengthen his body. Remember, never let outsiders see it."

What was recorded on that beast hide was a revised version of the Earth Spirit Sect's tyrannical method for force-ripening mortals, improved through his ability as a Source Heaven Master.

The foundation of this cultivation art was extremely solid. It was a genuine body-tempering method.

Shen Qingzhou had noticed the little boy the moment he entered the village.

There was actually a wisp of pure earth-element spiritual essence within the child's body. He was born with the makings of a cultivator.

In truth, his father Shitou had possessed even greater talent. Unfortunately, there were no ifs in this world.

For such a seedling to grow from land where people were raised like pigs and dogs was, one had to admit, truly ironic...

"Hide it close to your body. Take it as... something I'm leaving behind for the child to remember me by."

Shen Qingzhou forcibly stuffed the beast hide into A-Lian's hands, then turned toward the boy, who had been listening with wide eyes.

"Remember this well. When you grow up, you must protect your mother properly."

The boy nodded hard, his eyes red.

Shen Qingzhou slowly rose to his feet, gave the pitiful mother and son one final look, then turned and pulled open the door.

"Shitou!"

A-Lian cried out desperately behind him.

Shen Qingzhou did not look back. He stepped into the night, and his figure soon vanished into the thick swamp mist beyond the village.

Only after walking a long distance did Shen Qingzhou stop and remove his disguise, returning to his original appearance.

He glanced back at that tiny, dilapidated village, his face devoid of any extra expression.

Whether leaving behind that cultivation method had been a whim, or whether he wanted to bury a future nail for the Earth Spirit Sect, even he could not say for certain.

Perhaps it was both. He could not distinguish between the two himself, so he simply could not be bothered to dwell on it further.

The fates of mortals were as fragile as a dying candle in the wind. All he could do was casually nudge the direction of its flame.

As for whether that flame would ultimately die halfway or truly ignite into a prairie-consuming blaze, that no longer had anything to do with him.

He took out the map of Blackwater Marsh from his storage pouch and sent his divine sense into it. The territories and strongholds of the three great sects interlocked like canine teeth.

The Profound Heaven Sect's Sunken-Sand Fort, the Earth Spirit Sect's Yellow-Sand Rampart, and the Plain Maiden Sect's Flower-Washing Creek formed a triangular formation, enclosing a vast stretch of the swamp's interior.

He definitely could not return to Sunken-Sand Fort. A petty man like Zhao Yan might well have long been colluding with the Earth Spirit Sect in secret.

His gaze moved away from the center of the map and slowly settled on the Plain Maiden Sect's territory in the northwest corner.

Fleeing into the Plain Maiden Sect's territory would let him avoid the Earth Spirit Sect's mad pursuit to the greatest extent possible.

Rumor had it that every female cultivator of this sect was graceful and lovely. They usually cultivated methods of yin-yang harvesting and dual cultivation union, which could not only increase cultivation but also greatly temper a cultivator's Dao heart and will.

Shen Qingzhou had always been quite curious about those rumors.

Cultivating immortality could not be nothing but burying one's head in bitter cultivation. One had to broaden one's knowledge and experience, after all. He could not roam around the great swamp every day like a savage.

Of course, more importantly, the Plain Maiden Sect's disciples all cultivated the Heartmoon Dao Lineage.

Yin Force could guide all waters. Since Heart Moon was one of the lineages under Lunar Yin, it would naturally possess corresponding manifestations and influences.

If he could use this chance to fully understand his own path to Foundation Establishment, that would be even better.

Having fixed his direction, his body flashed, and he vanished into the night.

Meanwhile, within Sunken-Sand Fort, Zhao Yan paced back and forth anxiously inside his stone house, the fat on his face quivering with every step.

That brat Shen Qingzhou had disappeared without rhyme or reason for a full ten days.

Neither alive nor dead, he was nowhere to be found. The other one who had vanished with him was Lu Chen, that fool who did not know the height of heaven or depth of earth.

"Fuck, those two brainless blockheads."

Zhao Yan gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath.

If those two had really died outside, or caused some colossal mess that could not be cleaned up, then he, as the steward, would have no way to answer to the sect.

Two dull knocks sounded.

The door was pushed open from outside, and Xie Qin of the Plain Maiden Sect entered with a worried expression.

"Any news about those two?"

"News, my ass. I couldn't even find a single hair outside. Those two vanished into thin air."

Zhao Yan snapped back irritably, his heart full of frustration.

"What are we supposed to do? The Earth Spirit Sect has been going mad lately, seizing people and searching the mountains everywhere. I heard someone destroyed one of their crucial strongholds."

Xie Qin leaned closer and lowered her voice nervously.

"Do you think... those two might have done it?"

Zhao Yan's heart suddenly lurched.

He stopped in an instant, his small eyes fixed tightly on Xie Qin.

"Don't spout such life-threatening nonsense."

"I was just guessing."

Xie Qin felt her scalp prickle beneath his gaze. She shrank her neck and muttered softly.

As the two spoke, a noisy clamor suddenly rose from the courtyard outside.

With a dark expression, Zhao Yan shoved open the door and saw several garrison disciples gathered in a cluster, panic impossible to hide on every face.

"What are you making such a racket for? What happened?"

Zhao Yan shouted at the crowd.

"Steward Zhao, this is bad. Something terrible happened."

An outer sect disciple scrambled over, trembling as he extended both hands.

"The patrol just dug this out of the mud by the swamp."

The disciple opened his filthy palm. Resting there was half of a shattered sect identity token, the engraved character for Lu still clearly visible.

Zhao Yan's expression sank to rock bottom.

"All of you, come with me. We're going to see Senior Brother Xu right now."

Gritting his teeth, he made the decision at once and headed straight for the shabby stone house that perpetually reeked of alcohol.

A dull bang rang out.

The heavy stone door was pushed open.

Xu Zhaoye lay sprawled on his back, clutching a large wine gourd tightly in his arms. Awakened by the noise, he raised his head with an irritated face.

"Why are you howling like mourners at a funeral? Did your father die, or your mother?"

Still bleary-eyed, he belched, reeking of alcohol.

"Senior Brother Xu, something terrible has happened."

Zhao Yan strode forward and placed the bloodstained half-token on the wooden table.

"Lu Chen's identity token was found in the mire. He must have met with foul play."

"And that Shen Qingzhou has been missing for ten whole days. He's probably met with disaster too. We must report this to the sect immediately and let them decide what to do."

Xu Zhaoye half-opened his eyes and glanced at the token, then gave a huge yawn without concern.

He slowly got to his feet, tipped back his head, and gulped down another mouthful of strong liquor.

"Report it upward? Report what?"

He wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth and asked lazily.

"Obviously, we report that those scum from the Earth Spirit Sect ignored the old alliance agreement among the three sects and secretly murdered an inner sect disciple of our sect."

Zhao Yan stamped his feet anxiously, the fat on his face shaking wildly.

"If we don't report it quickly, when Elder Li and Cloudveil True Person come demanding answers, what heads will we have to offer them?"

"Did you see with your own eyes that those mud-legged bastards from the Earth Spirit Sect did it?"

Xu Zhaoye asked with narrowed eyes.

"Isn't it obvious? Do I need to see it with my own eyes? In all of Blackwater Marsh, apart from those mad dogs from the Earth Spirit Sect, who else would dare strike our people with such deadly force?"

"Oh."

Xu Zhaoye answered lightly, then slumped back down and waved a hand dismissively.

"Fine, I know about it. This ends here. No one is to keep guessing, and no one is allowed to leak even half a word outside."

"Just pretend those two unlucky bastards never came to this shitty place at all."

"What?"

Zhao Yan froze completely, his eyes round as saucers, wondering whether there was something wrong with his ears.

"Senior Brother Xu, what exactly do you mean by that?"

"I'm not deaf. You don't need to shout so loudly."

Xu Zhaoye rolled over and closed his eyes, his tone brimming with impatience.

"Didn't you understand what I just said, or can't you understand human speech? Get the fuck out, all of you. Stop delaying my sleep."

As soon as his words fell, a wave of spiritual pressure instantly spread through the room.

Everyone inside immediately felt a tightness in their chests.

Pale-faced, Zhao Yan opened his mouth. He had wanted to force himself to argue a few more words, but when he caught sight of Xu Zhaoye's icy eyes, he swallowed every word back down.

That look in his eyes...

He knew better than anyone that Xu Zhaoye was serious this time.

Though his belly was full of grievance and confusion, he could only withdraw in disgrace.

Only when all sound outside had completely faded did Xu Zhaoye slowly open his eyes. Staring at the pitch-black stone ceiling, he let out an inexplicable chuckle.

"That kid really is a damn blockhead."

He unhurriedly fished up the wine gourd, tipped his head back, and poured another great mouthful of strong liquor down his throat.

"Interesting."

He smacked his lips contentedly and muttered indistinctly.

"For the sake of that bit of old friendship with Cloudveil True Person, I'll reluctantly block this for you. As for what comes next, that'll depend entirely on your own fortune."

He shifted into a more comfortable position, rolled over, and hugged the wine gourd in his arms even tighter.