ITOTIABSAM | The Immortal on Liuyun Mountain | 149
At this moment, the sun had yet to set, and the empty courtyard was clearly visible at a glance.
The surroundings were eerily quiet, showing no signs of anyone hiding nearby. Gu Cong, however, trusted Xie Ye's judgment even more. He carefully let his sleeve fall over his right hand and, sure enough, after a while, a furry little head sneakily peeked out from behind the low wall.
It was the boy who had run all the way to call the village chief earlier.
As soon as he looked up and met the piercing gaze of the black eyes staring at him, he was clearly startled. He stepped back repeatedly, exclaiming in pain as he fell flat on his buttocks.
However, before he could endure the pain and attempt to escape, the boy heard the voice of the one who had discovered him, chillingly saying, "Come here."
Knowing that the other person was sick, let alone catching up to him, even running was difficult. But as if possessed, he couldn't muster the courage to escape. Slowly and hesitantly, step by step, he walked through the gate into the courtyard.
The boy's instincts, honed from his usual pastime of fishing and bird-catching, kicked in. Several meters away from the young man, the boy tentatively stopped his steps.
Xie Ye said calmly, "Name."
"Shitou, Ma Shitou," the boy answered honestly, hanging his head low as if admitting a mistake. This village was called Majia Village, and most of the people in the village shared the same surname.
Gu Cong, who had been on alert, breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't come across this name in the main storyline.
But he remained silent, allowing Xie Ye to continue questioning, "Why were you peeking?"
The boy remained silent, his mouth tightly shut. After a while, he mumbled softly, "Because I thought you looked like an immortal."
That's why he had followed secretly.
1101 couldn't help but chuckle, "This kid's eyes are pretty sharp."
But Xie Ye denied, "I'm not."
"You must be mistaken."
Visibly disappointed, the boy's expression was filled with disappointment, but he still hadn't given up. He turned his head, looking towards Gu Cong, hoping for a more favorable response.
Never intending to undermine Xie Ye's authority, Gu Cong could only gently shake his head.
"I heard from the village chief that in a few days, there will be a Daoist from the Qingfeng Sect coming," Gu Cong reassured in a gentle tone. "You can try then."
"It's no use," like a deflated balloon, Ma Shitou quickly deflated. "They didn't want me last time."
The Qingfeng Sect's selection only happened once every three years, and those chosen were mostly seven or eight-year-old children. Several villages might not even produce one. Now that he had aged another three years, those Daoists would surely not even spare him a glance.
Waiting eagerly at the village entrance every day was just his refusal to give up.
Upon careful consideration, Gu Cong realized that the boy was indeed taller than the other children, perhaps accustomed to playing under the sun, he was dark and thin, standing stubbornly at the door with a hint of pitifulness.
Coincidentally needing to gather information from the outside world, Gu Cong exchanged a glance with Xie Ye. Seeing no objection from him, Gu Cong raised his intact hand and gestured, "It's cold outside, come in and sit."
It was rare for outsiders to visit the village, and Ma Shitou was indeed unwilling to leave just like that. Thinking he was being subtle, he glanced at Xie Ye's expression, his curiosity finally overcoming his fear, gaining the upper hand.
Although he appeared mischievous, Ma Shitou was actually very observant of others' words and expressions. He quietly found a seat closer to Gu Cong, keeping a distance from Xie Ye, and kept his hands and feet neatly in place, so as not to dirty the expensive clothes Xie Ye wore.
The white bird that mistakenly intruded into the Liuyun Mountain was not a spiritual beast. With its small body and tiny courage, it sensed the unfamiliar aura and immediately abandoned the bowl of water, fluttering its wings and diving into Gu Cong's embrace, showing no intention of protecting its food.
Its short legs, round body, and fast speed made it look like a "ground chicken" when not flying.
Now, Ma Shitou had completely lost hope in the identities of the two: he had only heard of Taoists riding on cranes, but never of ones raising little chicks.
With limited resources in the village, there was only plain water in the teapot on the table, and even cups were nowhere to be found. Gu Cong comforted the white bird and poured a bowl for the boy as well, asking, "Is the Qingfeng Sect far from here?"
"It should be quite far, otherwise those Taoists wouldn't fly over on swords," Ma Shitou's interest finally picked up a bit as he mentioned this, "Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, so majestic."
Gu Cong sincerely agreed, "Yes, they are very powerful." Flying on swords was a skill he hadn't learned yet. Although the main reason was his inability to control his excessive spiritual power accurately, resulting in the sword being blown away every time.
"Right, right. Everyone says that once you join the Qingfeng Sect, you can live a life of luxury and glory, outliving even the emperor," Ma Shitou suddenly paused with suspicion, "You guys came from the city and yet you don't know all this?"
Gu Cong reacted quickly, using Xie Ye as a shield, "In the past, he was weak, so we rarely went out."
"In the past?" Ma Shitou wondered, he looked weak now too. But the young man just sat there, making him reluctant to cause trouble. If it weren't for this Gu fellow beside him, he definitely wouldn't have come into the house.
So, hesitating, Ma Shitou asked in a low voice, "What's your relationship with him?"
Judging by their faces and ages, they didn't look like brothers.
This question hadn't been asked by the village chief just now, and Gu Cong hadn't rehearsed lines with Xie Ye either. Considering himself Xie Ye's primary puppet, he was about to answer "master and servant," but someone beat him to it.
"Master."
"I am his master," Xie Ye replied.
Ma Shitou subconsciously followed up, "Master? Like a teacher?"
Xie Ye responded, "Teaching other things as well."
Such as tying hair, swordsmanship, and making up stories.
Gu Cong, however, felt a little embarrassed by this nonsense.
After crossing into this world, Gu Cong had also read some similar novels on the system, with titles like "master." They were typical signs of certain tropes. Although he hadn't entertained any thoughts about it, those texts he had read seemed to trigger keywords in his mind, bringing forth lines of text that made an ordinary term seem somewhat ambiguous.
As Xie Ye took the initiative to engage in conversation, Ma Shitou became even more relaxed. "We used to have a teacher in our village who taught me how to write my name."
To shift the focus, Gu Cong asked, "What happened afterward?"
"Afterward? Well, he got a fever, just like my mom did, and he didn't make it," Ma Shitou shrugged calmly.
He had lost his father before he was born and his mother when he was just over a year old. Growing up eating meals from various households, he had long ceased to fear death like other children did.
He had heard that after cultivating immortality, one could refine pills to cure all diseases. When that time came, he would return and give everyone a pill each. Unfortunately, the Daoists from the Qingfeng Sect said he didn't have the aptitude.
It seemed like it was something that grew inside you, and only when you had it could you be taken away.
Children's thoughts were easy to guess, even for Gu Cong. However, he was very aware that cultivating immortality was far from the easy and beautiful endeavor that the boy imagined. Most people could only reach the Foundation Establishment stage in their lifetime, becoming responsible for menial tasks like sweeping the grounds as outer disciples.
"Perhaps there are other paths," Gu Cong couldn't bear to shatter the boy's dreams directly and offered consolation, "Being a doctor is also a good profession."
Ma Shitou muttered, "Young master, no doctor would come to a place like this to take on apprentices."
Moreover, as a boom star who had lost both parents in succession, even if people in the village were kind-hearted, he might not find work in the city, let alone be taken as an apprentice.
The Clear Wind Sect was the only chance that could change his fate. But he had messed it up.
Expecting Gu Cong to offer some empty words of comfort, Ma Shitou waited for a while, but when he saw Gu Cong's brows furrow tightly, looking extremely distressed, he got worried that he had angered the two esteemed guests and would be scolded by the village elder.
He quickly raised his head to try to make amends, only to see the sickly young man standing up. He extended his slender, fairer-than-the-prettiest-girl-in-the-village fingertips and pressed them against the left side of Gu Congs forehead.
The sensation of his mind connecting automatically with another place was so vivid that Gu Cong guessed it was Shen Qingshu. Instinctively, he wanted to sever the connection, but it felt like a knife cutting into his soul, causing him so much pain that he almost blacked out.
"What's wrong with him?" accompanied by the anxious chirping of the white bird, Ma Shitou stood up straight, "I'll go call Grandpa Village Chief..."
The last word, like a jujube pit stuck in his throat, blocked his airway abruptly. With keen eyes, he immediately noticed the withered fingers inadvertently exposed under Gu Cong's sleeve.
Pretending not to have seen anything, Ma Shitou calmly controlled his urge to run away.
However, such acting was too naive for Xie Ye. Nonetheless, he didn't knock Ma Shitou out or manipulate him with puppet threads. Instead, he simply said, "Go."
"Don't forget to close the door."
As if granted amnesty, Ma Shitou pushed his chair back, closed the door gently, and ran off without looking back.
Xie Ye wasn't afraid of Ma Shitou going to the village chief to report the strangeness between him and Gu Cong. It was just a temporary place to stay, and they could change anytime.
Creating a piece of plain cloth out of thin air, he gently wiped the fine sweat from Gu Cong's forehead. Despite his actions being gentle, his eyes held a fierce emotion.
Regardless of what the protagonist intended to do with Song He's body, if Gu Cong was harmed, there would be consequences.
With a tug of the puppet threads, crimson droplets of blood formed on his fingertips, then transformed into a miniature and intricate array. It silently entered Gu Cong's forehead.
Like the first rain after a drought, the soul pulled by Song He's original body was nourished; yet, it was also like a raging storm, where countless patterns carved into wood and stone were stirred by this drop of blood, forcefully expelling anything that didn't belong to each other.
Knowing it was the blood forcibly drawn out by the youth, Gu Cong wanted to say something in panic, but he was held in place by Xie Ye, who pressed his lips with fingertips bearing long scars.
"Stay still."
With the wound too deep, the warm liquid, devoid of any hint of bloodiness, flowed into his mouth in large drops, staining his tongue. Swallowing it down his throat, he could faintly taste a hint of sweetness.
His stiff spine remained straight as Gu Cong heard the youth say, "Don't waste it."
"Drink it all."
Thousands of miles away, Shen Qingshu stood before a coffin adorned with intricate arrays, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, his complexion turning extremely grim.
"He's out," Shen Qingshu said, his neatly trimmed nails digging into his palm until they turned white. "I just borrowed Song He's eyes and saw a child."
The child's appearance was too ordinary, definitely not something that could originate from Liuyun Mountain.
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