Child of the Heavenly Dao
"It's you, it's you... it really is you!"
Upon hearing Sang Ying's reply, the old man burst into tears as if he had gone mad. He cried uncontrollably, tears and snot streaming down his face, as if he wanted to cry out all the pain and grievances he had suffered in the past in front of this female cultivator.
"I've finally waited for you, I've finally waited for you..." The old man cried for a long time before he could barely suppress his emotions.
Jiang Zhuoxue had already settled the Wuming uncle and nephew on the other side. He had also cast a spell on the two mud figures who were frozen into ice blocks, ensuring that they would not be able to escape even if the ice melted.
The child, still reeling from what had just happened and the old man's sudden breakdown and anguish, clung tightly to his uncle's hand the whole time, huddled at the foot of the bed with him, even though the old man was covered in mud and filthy beyond recognition.
"Fellow Daoist Duan, please speak frankly. I came here today specifically to see you," Sang Ying said, seeing that the old man's emotions had finally stabilized.
The old man wiped away his tears, and when he saw the rough skin on the back of his hand, he pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. He then tore off the layer of skin with his other hand!
Sang Ying was startled by his actions and was about to speak to stop him when she saw that beneath the rough, bark-like skin was a patch of fair and delicate skin.
Not satisfied with tearing off what was in his hands, the old man continued to rip off what was on his neck and face, not even sparing his gray hair. Beneath the aged white hair were shoulder-length black hairs.
The frail old man in front of me is clearly a young man with a baby face!
Sang Ying witnessed this scene, but was completely bewildered. "What are you doing?"
"There's nothing I can do. Many people have seen my original appearance before, so I naturally have to be careful to hide my tracks," the old man—or rather, the young man—complained.
However, he concealed his thoughts, and Sang Ying didn't pay much attention to it. She simply asked him, "Yesterday we visited the Household Head Min. He told us that you, my friend, had performed a divination for him eight years ago, and your payment was a meeting with the two of us. I wonder what you want to see us about?"
The young man sighed, probably because he was too exhausted.
He raised his eyelids slightly and pleaded with the only two people in the room who could still move, "Could you please set up an array or barrier? This matter is of utmost importance; we can't let anyone else hear it."
Sang Ying and Jiang Zhuoxue exchanged a glance, and in the end, it was Jiang Zhuoxue who made the move. His dragon breath was so powerful that it enveloped the entire room. Not to mention ordinary cultivators, even the snakes, insects, and rats on the ground scattered and fled under this terrifying dragon might.
The young man watched this scene and felt a surge of emotions.
"Alright, now you can speak." Reminded by Gu Shu, Sang Ying had brought Jiang Zhuoxue all the way here, hoping to get some useful information from the person in front of her.
The young man did not disappoint her. "I know you are from over three hundred years ago. At that time, your master came to my master for divination, wanting to know when the person he had been waiting for would appear. My master told him to wait in a specific place and find the person with whom he had a predestined master-disciple relationship."
"So it was you guys." Sang Ying's mind also conjured up the image of Gu Huaiwei before her death three hundred years ago.
She didn't tell the other person about the twists of fate that followed, but simply listened in silence.
The young man was unaware of the unexpected events that followed, nor did he know that Gu Huaiwei, whom he spoke of, had already perished in the Twin Orchid Realm. He believed that everything was proceeding smoothly as his master had predicted.
He continued, "You all know that divination reveals heavenly secrets. If it were just some minor matter, it wouldn't be so bad, perhaps just a loss of lifespan. But what my master revealed was no small matter. So, not long after Immortal Venerable Yanchen left, my master..."
The young man lowered his eyes, overwhelmed with sadness as memories flooded his mind. "The Heavenly Mystery Palace was rife with factions and never truly harmonious. After my master's sudden passing, even the uncles and elders who had previously treated us kindly suddenly changed their attitudes. Before I could even react, the Heavenly Mystery Palace was already in chaos."
He didn't need to tell Sang Ying what happened next; the once-prosperous Heavenly Mystery Palace disintegrated not long after the death of the Old Man Buyun.
Most of the disciples died in a turmoil. The few who survived managed to keep the Heavenly Mystery Sect afloat, but they had not yet mastered the skills. Even though the Heavenly Mystery Sect was still the same Heavenly Mystery Sect, it was no longer what it used to be.
Without Old Man Buyun Telling, and with all the other powerful fortune tellers either fleeing in the chaos or dying, the once mighty Heavenly Mystery Sect rapidly declined.
Sang Ying only learned about these things later, but she never expected that the person who experienced them firsthand would now be sitting in front of her.
"I didn't expect you to be Elder Buyun's disciple." Sang Ying looked the young man up and down.
The young man smiled bitterly upon hearing this. He was in a sorry state, and even if he wanted to eat something good, he had to go to wealthy families to swindle and cheat. But who would know that when his master was still alive, he was the pride of the entire Heavenly Mystery Sect, envied by everyone?
The reason why the Old Man Buyun accepted him as a disciple was because the young man's talent was no less than that of his master. It can be said that as long as the young man continues to cultivate smoothly, he will surely become the second Buyun and continue to support the Heavenly Mystery Sect.
Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes.
"What happened before is in the past, and there's no point in bringing it up now. I've come to find you this time to tell you about the prophecy left by our master." The young man's expression suddenly turned serious.
Upon seeing this, Sang Ying straightened up.
The young man tightened his grip, his expression growing increasingly serious. "The last prophecy left by my master concerned a great calamity that was about to befall this world. And the one who can quell this calamity, the current Child of the Heavenly Dao, is the only disciple of Immortal Venerable Yanchen. She will exorcise evil spirits, quell the war, and with a sword powerful enough to slay dragons, bring light to the Hidden Nether Realm and restore peace to the Lower Realm..."
Crack!
A bolt of lightning struck out of nowhere, destroying the chess pieces beside the man. He looked at his blackened fingertips and murmured, "Has it begun to reject me? It seems that the death of Gu Huaiwei alone is not enough for the rules of this world to acknowledge my existence."
The servants following behind him were filled with worry and fear. The lives of their entire clan rested on this man's shoulders; if anything happened to him, none of them would escape unscathed. But how could they possibly speak up and advise the man before them?
"Forget it," the servant shook his head. It would be a miracle if this man listened to him.
"If you count it up, Duan Hanyi has been gone for two hundred years now..."
The servant listened to his master's murmurs but did not reply.
Sure enough, the other person quickly continued, "It seems he has already met Sang Ying. Indeed, the Child of the Heavenly Dao should now clearly understand his identity and the heavy responsibilities he bears."
A note from the author:
My thoughts are a bit scattered, let me sort them out first~