Yao Zhuang was momentarily stunned by Yang Qing's words.
However, he quickly recovered.
"Since you've all seen through it, we might as well sit here and rest a while."
Yao Zhuang reached back and took out the Erhu he had been carrying on his back, then sat down cross-legged.
Yang Qing, Bu Er, and the others sat down as well.
"It's a long story."
"Then make a long story short."
Yao Zhuang had once again assumed the air of a storyteller, but he had barely begun before Bu Er cut him off.
They had already realized that the Demon Grassland surrounding them was no ordinary place. The aura emanating from it also made all of them feel deeply uncomfortable.
Yet Yao Zhuang seemed to feel nothing at all. With only a faint smile on his face, he slowly began his tale.
"My wife was an extraordinarily beautiful woman."
He sank into his memories, his eyes closing slightly.
"We spent several happy decades together. I thought we would grow old together, our hair turning white side by side."
"But one day, she suddenly disappeared."
Another smile rose at the corners of Yao Zhuang's mouth.
"To find her, I searched nearly the entire continent, but she was nowhere to be found. Until one day, someone told me she might be here."
Yao Zhuang held a wooden walking stick in his hand, and now he tapped the ground beneath his feet with it.
"So I came. And once I stopped here, ten years passed."
There was a trace of loneliness in Yao Zhuang's voice that even he did not recognize.
"I searched the Demon Abyss for nearly ten years before finally confirming where she had settled: the Demon Grassland."
As Yang Qing listened to Yao Zhuang's account, a question in his heart grew