Sect Master Wen's Junior Martial Brother Who Shared His Hardships Has Returned - Chapter 10

Song Shuiqing looked at the pastry in his hand with some confusion — why did it feel a bit strange?

But from that day on, Xu Chaoqi often went out only after he had eaten his fill.

…….

Ten thousand miles of dark clouds came surging in ferociously, covering the stars embedded in the night sky. The sea was dim and lightless, the waves surging violently, rising high and curling into a great bend before smashing heavily down onto the water’s surface.

“Boom— splash—” Spray scattered in all directions, mixed with pulverized stone dust.

A great wind rose, and the sea waves were also blown up. Several streaks of black mist shuttled back and forth across the ocean surface. Thunder flashed and flickered in the night sky, lighting up the sea surface, and the thunder-light shone upon a pair of full, plump wings.

Several streaks of black mist rose into the air, wings spread wide, powerful and forceful, stirring up wind and waves.

The black mist gathered together, casting an enormous shadow down upon the sea surface. They carried a bitterly cold aura, their eyes fixed on the sea surface as if steeped in poison, seemingly searching for something.

The massive wings moved back and forth, and the intense sense of oppression frightened away the fish and shrimp in the sea.

Ten zhang beneath the sea, a figure sped swiftly through the currents. The seaweed in the water swayed, leaving behind a trail of bubbles.

A small fish, no bigger than a palm, was cradled in the woman’s arms.

It was at its last gasp, its large watery eyes open, fear and unease showing in them.

Dozens of wounds caused it to bleed continuously, and its body was little more than skin and bones. It was weak and small; when the wind from the wings sounded in the sea behind it, it was so frightened that it burrowed further into the woman’s embrace.

“There it is, the phoenix woman and the bastard offspring are right ahead!” A vicious voice mixed with the sea wind, its tone somewhat strange.

The little fish bit its lip, tears falling without stop.

The slender white palm gently stroked its fish head. The woman’s swimming speed was not slow, and her increasingly rapid heartbeat also made the little fish’s body tremble.

The woman’s calm voice carried within it a barely audible tension and urgency. “Almost there, Ah Yu, don’t be afraid. We’ll be entering the Southern Region very soon. The Centennial Grand Disciple Competition is imminent, and the Southern Region has opened its barrier — they won’t be able to get in.”

The little fish held onto the woman with its fins. The woman patted its back soothingly with her hand while murmuring, “Mother is afraid she can’t protect you anymore, but you’re still so young!”

The little fish whimpered. Even though its wounds left it without strength, it still wanted to hold tightly onto its mother.

The woman let out a breath, lowering her eyes to look at the little fish, a reluctance to part hidden deep in her eyes. She looked toward the bottomless expanse of sea ahead, her aura faint, almost imperceptible.

“Ah Yu, don’t be afraid. Mother won’t die. Mother will undergo nirvana, and in a thousand years, Mother will be reborn.”

The little fish shook its head forcefully, its tears mixing with the seawater.

The shadow behind them drew closer and closer. The woman looked at the sea area still several li away from them, her heart cut as if by a knife. She embraced her Ah Yu one last time, tears falling without end.

“Ah Yu, they won’t tolerate you, and ordinary sects and clans won’t dare take you in either. Fortunately, you were born extraordinary. If you’re willing to serve as a mount, it should be possible to draw out a mighty expert to step forward — I just fear those people might sell you to them for profit…”

The woman panicked, tears falling like a string of broken pearls. She looked ahead, stunned for a moment, then slowly said, “If from now on you hide your identity and serve as a mount for a disciple of Yingtian Sect, never leaving the Southern Region for your whole life, perhaps you can keep a path to survival.”

“You must cultivate quickly. Only by becoming strong yourself will you have a chance to escape. Ascend as early as you can in the future, and stay far away from the mortal world.”

The little fish opened its eyes and looked up at its mother. The woman closed her eyes, a flash of golden light flickering between her brows. She drew out the golden light and placed it upon the little fish’s body.

“From now on, no one will be able to detect your aura or know your identity.”

Having said this, the little fish seemed to fly up — it was trapped inside a bubble, watching its mother grow farther and farther away.

It seemed to pass through a layer of barrier. In the distance, flames filled the sky, and the illusory form of a phoenix burned away half the heavens.

The black shadows staggered, and it took them a long while before they flew toward it again. The massive illusory form made it collapse directly inside the bubble.

Watching the black shadow draw closer and closer, until the moment the other side touched an invisible barrier, the sky suddenly lit up. Several streaks of thunder-shadow split downward, and thunder several zhang thick engulfed the black shadow.

The little fish looked at the thunder-light before its eyes that occupied its entire field of vision. In its ears there seemed to sound a man’s calm and emotionless voice.

“Those who carry killing intent and dare to trespass into the Southern Region shall kneel upon the sea for three days.”

Several black shadows, punished by the thunder, could not even stand steadily. They glared fiercely at the little fish, but in the end knelt unwillingly upon the sea surface.

The little fish was dazed. The bubble broke open, and it fell into the sea. As spiritual light scattered into the air, it saw the invitation card that had been reduced to fragments.

Mother?

The little fish paused blankly upon the sea surface for a moment, then finally dove into the sea, slowly and with great difficulty swishing its fish tail as it swam toward the very south.

****

Xu Chaoqi lay on the seashore, tossing crumbs of steamed bun into the air. About ten seabirds skillfully caught them in their beaks.

The birds’ claws landed on the reef rocks. Their long red beaks went “clack clack” as they finished chewing the buns, leaving some crumbs to fall into the water.

Ripples stirred faintly beneath the water, still clear and pure, the seaweed slowly swaying.

Xu Chaoqi came here every day searching for fated encounters, but unfortunately these birds were basically all mundane birds — never mind serving as mounts, even their intelligence amounted to no more than that of a three- or four-year-old child.

Song Shuiqing, worried that Xu Chaoqi would get too hot, specially held an umbrella for him.

Xu Chaoqi also felt embarrassed letting his friend give without receiving anything in return, so every day he would also draw some spirit talismans to give to Song Shuiqing so the other could go back and report them as accomplished work.

He tossed some more chunks of steamed bun into the air. After the seabirds finished eating, one piece was left over and fell into the water.

The bun chunk soaked up water and became puffy. It swayed back and forth in the water, eventually landing on some coral.

At this moment, the seabed remained completely still. A moment later, a tiny piece of reef rock was forcefully pushed aside by a fish fin, and the little fish wobbled and crawled out of the sea.

It was even weaker than it had been days before, barely able to swim a few inches before needing to rest. The wound on its body had gone untreated for a long time, and without any spiritual energy, the area near its tail had already rotted through in patches, its body even thinner than before.

It swam in the water and looked upward. Sunlight filtered through the sea bottom, and it saw a vigorous, energetic young man dressed in red.

The little fish withdrew its gaze. It slowly crawled up to the grain of steamed bun and swallowed it bit by bit, carefully and cautiously.

The person in red clothes came here every day — this was also its only source of food.

It carefully chewed the grain of bun; the bun made from spirit wheat gave it a bit of strength.

Once it finished eating, it buried itself in the seaweed, waiting for the next time bun crumbs would fall.

The fish’s eyes reflected Xu Chaoqi’s white skin and black hair. The other was a disciple of Yingtian Sect; it had thought about swimming out to serve as his mount.

That one time had been its bravest attempt yet — it had nearly swum all the way to the sea surface when it smelled the scent of fish meat.

That person ate fish, quite a lot of it. It grew afraid, afraid of being caught and thrown into the pot.

The wound on its body was growing more and more severe. It felt somewhat dizzy — relying solely on the spiritual energy from bun crumbs likely wasn’t enough to stabilize its injury.

Xu Chaoqi’s luck was good today. Just as he was scattering bun crumbs, a flock of cranes flew over from the sky and landed on the reef rocks.

The cranes sniffed at his steamed buns — a bit fragrant, but still far from matching their standard.

Song Shuiqing knew that Xu Chaoqi had been searching for a mount all along, so he took the initiative to ask on his behalf. “Where do you all come from, and do you have a destination?”

The crane truly was no ordinary bird. Its beak opened and closed as it looked at Xu Chaoqi’s face and said, “I am a spirit bird raised by the Spirit Beast Daoist Lord. Having now left the mountain, it is time to seek out a master.”

As for why it did not look at Song Shuiqing? Did it not see the male eagle crouched beside him? A good bird does not serve two masters — naturally, one must pick the one without a mount already.

It glanced over Xu Chaoqi’s entire body, secretly calculating in its heart.

This little disciple was good-looking, and had a certain air of immortal grace about him too. If in the future it flew together with him to various mountains, wouldn’t the moment they touched down elevate even this bird’s own status and refinement?

It raised its neck slightly. The other cranes, looking at Xu Chaoqi’s face and figure, all had the same thought.

Hearing this, Xu Chaoqi’s eyes brightened somewhat, and he sat up.

Seeing this, the crane thought: there’s an opening here! And so it stated its standard.

“Do you have enough spirit fodder grass here?”

Xu Chaoqi was stunned for a moment. He scratched his head. “What is spirit fodder grass?”

Upon hearing this, Song Shuiqing grew anxious.

Spirit fodder grass was a high-grade spirit herb — ordinarily, one bundle cost one mid-grade spirit stone and could last ten days.

Upon hearing this, the crane knew at once that this young man was somewhat poor. Anxiously, it was just about to flap its wings, but then felt that doing so would rather lose an immortal crane’s dignified bearing.

Other cranes had already been eyeing Xu Chaoqi’s figure with envy, and so they hastily lowered their standards, starting to bid against one another.

“I’m actually easy to keep — plain sweetgrass would be enough for me to eat!”

Plain sweetgrass cost 90 low-grade spirit stones per bundle.

Upon hearing this, the earlier crane thought: yo, is this bird about to be undercut?

Its heart hardened, and it lowered its price. “Honey Qin Grass, enough to eat, works too!”

Honey Qin Grass cost 75 low-grade spirit stones per bundle.

“I’ll take tanxu grass!”

The flock of cranes went back and forth, back and forth, until finally the spirit herb being called out cost a mere 50 low-grade spirit stones per bundle.

Once the price reached this point, no one dared to keep calling anymore — calling any lower and they really would die of spiritual energy exhaustion.

And yet Xu Chaoqi remained utterly lost. “This… what is mingyin grass?”

The flock of cranes: …

This was no way to live!

Just at this moment, a faint voice came from the water. “I… I just need… one bun a day.”

A little fish trembled as it poked its head out of the sea. Its body was white in color, with fiery-red patterns, no scales on its skin — it rather resembled a small dolphin. Only its whole body was weak and emaciated beyond measure, covered in countless scars, and near its tail the flesh had rotted through to the bone.

The little fish was somewhat afraid of this cultivator who liked to eat fish, but this was its last chance — it feared that once the cultivator found a mount, he would stop coming to feed it steamed buns.