Unseen Immortal of Three Hundred Years - Chap 70
Chapter 70
As the raven Snow watched intently at the “storage area,” a long shadow silently appeared before the Great Sorrow Valley on the line that existed hundreds of years ago.
The man was extremely tall, with broad shoulders and a strong waist.
He was dressed in black clothes and boots, with silver bracelets on his wrists, making him look neat and upright. The hat on his head was pressed very low, covering most of his face, and from a distance, one could only see his thin lips and the clean lines of his chin.
This was none other than Xiao Fuxuan, who had come to investigate.
Previously, the raven Snow had asked him whether, when using a wisp of spiritual consciousness to probe, it would be like a shadow or if it needed to attach to a person.
Normally, it would be the former, as spiritual consciousness is formless and moves with the wind. But Xiao Fuxuan was somewhat special; he could transform.
For example, the man in black clothes right now.
He followed the traces of Doctor Wu and landed in front of the Great Sorrow Valley, looking up with a slight surprise.
This was his first time coming to the Great Sorrow Valley on this line, and for a moment, he couldn’t recognize it.
The Great Sorrow Valley was not desolate or decayed, still with some sandstorms, but without the perennially enveloping grey-yellow dust fog.
Even the entrance of the valley could be considered lively.
Xiao Fuxuan took a quick glance and saw inns, taverns, tea houses, and hitching posts for horses. There were horse sheds everywhere, equipped with long troughs, for the caravans to rest.
The horse sheds were half full, and outside the tea houses and taverns, many people sat under the straw canopies, dressed differently, showing how many people traveled through this deep valley daily.
It was a completely different Great Sorrow Valley.
Xiao Fuxuan saw Doctor Wu in the straw canopy of the tea house.
Clearly, he had reached the mouth of the Great Sorrow Valley, and just past the long bridge was his destination, but Doctor Wu was not in a hurry to travel. He sat at a square table, sharing it with a couple.
The couple looked worried, the woman holding a child in her arms, wrapped in a thick coat, even covering the face, as if afraid of catching a cold.
And the man carefully took something out of his bosom.
It was a peace talisman commonly seen in temples, folded into a small piece. He unfolded the talisman paper, revealing a pinch of ash-like powder.
The man poured the powder into the tea bowl in front of him, gesturing towards the child in the woman’s arms.
Xiao Fuxuan had seen this practice before; when people suffered from difficult and miscellaneous diseases and didn’t know what to do, they would do this—find an efficacious temple and get some incense ash to make talisman water.
Presumably, this couple was doing just that.
The woman hesitated for a moment, bit her lip, and was about to pull the tea bowl towards her, but a hand pressed down on the rim of the bowl.
The hand belonged to none other than Doctor Wu.
He was still wrapped in a thick scarf, covering up to his nose bridge, at first glance looking like a scholar who was afraid of the cold.
Upon hearing the words, Xiao Fuxuan turned his head towards the direction she pointed and saw a temple at the entrance of the Great Sorrow Valley, just like the one that had once enshrined Yun Hai before the deity’s statue was removed.
Yi Wusheng also looked in that direction, and after a moment, he came back to his senses.
When he shifted his gaze away from the Great Sorrow Valley, he saw Xiao Fuxuan.
Because Xiao Fuxuan had changed his appearance when he transformed, and was also hiding under a hat, Yi Wusheng did not recognize him. He just paused his gaze slightly, as if he had accidentally made eye contact with a stranger, and politely nodded his head.
He took out his medicine pouch, poured out two small pills, and asked the waiter for a bowl of water to dissolve the pills in.
He broke off a piece of straw by the road and said to the couple, “Feed it slowly, and don’t sit in this windy tea pavilion. Find a sheltered place, use something hot to cover his chest, lightly pat his back, all through the night. If he spits out a breath of foul air in the morning, he will wake up.”
Tears streamed down the couple’s faces on the spot, and they grabbed his sleeve, wanting to kowtow to him.
Yi Wusheng quickly stopped them, urging, “Don’t delay here on my account, hurry along.”
After saying this, he could no longer sit in the tea pavilion. He hurriedly got up and came out, just in time to be beside Xiao Fuxuan. He bowed to Xiao Fuxuan and said, “Excuse me.”
He thought Xiao Fuxuan was waiting for an empty table in the tea pavilion and pointed to his own vacated chair, saying, “I’m leaving now, sir, please feel free to sit.”
Xiao Fuxuan said in a deep voice, “No need.”
Yi Wusheng was taken aback, “Aren’t you here to rest and have some tea?”
Xiao Fuxuan replied, “No.”
Yi Wusheng asked, “Then are you also passing through the valley?”
Xiao Fuxuan thought for a moment, pointed to the temple at the entrance of the Great Sorrow Valley, and said, “I’m going there.”
Yi Wusheng was stunned, and after a long while, he smiled and said, “What a coincidence, we’re heading the same way.”
Hearing this, Xiao Fuxuan suddenly remembered Wu Xingxue with his eyes half-closed, wearing a slightly regretful expression.
He fell silent for a moment, then asked Yi Wusheng, “Are you going to that temple to ask for something?”
Yi Wusheng exclaimed, “Ah,” and after a long pause, said, “I suppose so.”
“What are you asking for?”
Yi Wusheng smiled and did not answer immediately.
It wasn’t until they crossed the bridge and the temple was within reach that Yi Wusheng said, “I don’t even know what I’m asking for.”
Back at the fork in the mountain road, a few words from Ning Huai Shan had made him hesitant.
Centuries ago, he had the chance to change the past, he might not have to die, he might still have a long life ahead.
Such a tempting thing.
It was just a moment’s thought, and he chose to walk alone.
After parting with Wu Xingxue and the others, he didn’t immediately rush to the Great Sorrow Valley. He made an excuse, saying, “I’ve left something in Luohua Mountain City and need to go back to look for it,” and he really did return to Luohua Mountain City. He casually entered the busiest tea house, sat by the window all day in a daze, inexplicably feeling a bit melancholic.
It was a very strange sentiment; he didn’t even know what he was melancholic about.
He slowly spent the whole day before he sluggishly set off for the Great Sorrow Valley.
Centuries ago, without the restrictions of the various sects, if he was really in a hurry, he could travel very quickly, but he had no intention of hurrying.
Along the way, whenever he saw someone sick, he would go over to help, distributing a few medicinal pills.
When he had set out from the Hua family, his medicine pouch was full, but now, after the journey, there were hardly any pills left. The last two pills were used by the couple just now, and from then on, the medicine pouch was completely empty.
Before arriving at the Great Sorrow Valley, he had mocked himself in his heart, thinking, “Yi Wusheng, oh Yi Wusheng, you’ve been dispensing medicine and saving people along the way, are you trying to alleviate your guilt? Because you want to do something rebellious, so you’re performing good deeds.”
Even when crossing the bridge, he still thought this way.
But when he actually stood in front of the temple, just a step away from everything, he calmed down.
Yi Wusheng looked at the temple gate and suddenly asked, “Sir, have you ever had a lifelong regret that you can’t let go of?”
This question was actually very abrupt for a true stranger, especially since the other party was a young man. The term “lifelong” was not something to be discussed lightly, and if it were in the common folk, it would surely be criticized as inauspicious.
Rather than asking someone else, it was more like he was asking himself.
His murmuring voice was not loud, clearly not expecting an answer from anyone.
In fact, Xiao Fuxuan hadn’t expected to answer this abrupt question either, but when he came to his senses, he heard himself answer in a deep voice, “Yes.”
