Thousand Dusts Ferry Me

TDFM Chapter 95

     

Desire

In the end, Shi Feijia did not take them to where she lived. Halfway there, faint sounds of jingling music drifted from the distance. To Yun Qing’s ears, the music sounded very much like the sound of chopsticks striking iron pieces.

Upon hearing this music, Shi Feijia said, “There’s something happening in my clan. Jiujiu, Qingshang, you take them over there. It’s under the old maple tree, next to the Changxiao and Changdi brothers’ place—that empty house.”

Shi Muyu nodded, “Don’t worry, Mother!”

“Don’t wander around. There are man-eating demons in the mountains.”

“Mother, you still treat me like a child.”

After Shi Feijia left, everyone felt more at ease. Fu Xue even dramatically patted her chest and said, “Sister Muyu, your mother is both beautiful and formidable.”

Thus, Shi Muyu and Shi Qingshang led Yun Qing and the others for a while longer. From afar, they could see a tree covered in crimson clouds. As they approached, they saw the crimson clouds blocking out the sun, with tree shade covering about half an acre of land.

Yun Qing had never seen such a large maple tree, and neither had Fu Xue. The two excitedly ran over and spread their arms to embrace the trunk. Naturally, they couldn’t wrap their arms around it, so they called Shi Muyu over.

After Shi Muyu joined them, the three still couldn’t embrace the tree completely.

Then Fu Xue laughed and said, “Little cat, come quickly!”

Ci Li disdainfully said, “How childish.” Though he said this, he eventually walked over anyway. With four people, they finally managed to embrace the tree.

Cheng Suiyan stood with his arms crossed, watching Yun Qing and Fu Xue giggling and laughing. With a smile on his face, he sighed, “Girls are really wonderful.”

Shi Qingshang said, “I have a friend who practices the Way of Shen Nong. Their clan has a medicine that can transform yang to yin, changing from male to female. Would you like to try it?”

Cheng Suiyan was dumbfounded and awkwardly waved his hands, “The body and hair are received from one’s parents. It wouldn’t be proper to lose any part of it, ha, not proper at all.”

When Jiang Baiyu heard about the medicine that could transform yang to yin, he asked, “Does your friend come from Hundred Herbs Valley? Is his surname Ding?”

Shi Qingshang raised an eyebrow slightly and said, “Worthy of being the Huayang Sect Master, truly well-informed and knowledgeable.”

Yun Qing and the others walked over, laughing as they asked, “What are you talking about?”

Jiang Baiyu answered openly, “Brother Qingshang was teaching us how to become girls.”

Yun Qing looked puzzled, thinking that Shi Qingshang had quite a peculiar hobby.

Shi Qingshang hadn’t expected to be set up by Jiang Baiyu and quickly said, “It’s Brother Suiyan who’s more interested.”

Cheng Suiyan pointed at himself in disbelief, “Me?”

Fu Xue was about to speak and tease him when she suddenly heard sounds of arguing.

Under this great maple tree stood two houses. One had its door tightly shut, while the other had its door wide open. The arguing voices were coming from the open doorway.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to these arguing voices.

“Shi Changdi, I’ve endured you for a long time! Don’t think I don’t know what you said in front of Ruibin. You’re really scheming, even calculating against your own brother!”

“Hehe, when it comes to calculating against one’s own brother, who could compare to you? Mother clearly said she would pass the ‘Rain Blade Musical Score’ to me. Explain how this score ended up in your hands now. What did you say to Mother?”

“It’s clearly because you’re incompetent! Besides, you know very well how you got your Qinghong Sword. If we speak too plainly, it won’t be interesting anymore!”

“Then tell me, did you poison the little rabbit I gave to Ruibin?”

“It was clearly Ruibin herself who found it annoying. At her age, still giving rabbits—how childish can you be? How could Ruibin possibly like such a childish person!”

“Hehe, but Ruibin has already agreed to practice the Flying God Melody with me. My dear brother, you’re still living in a dream.”

“You! Today I’ll teach you a lesson for Mother!”

Clang, clang, bang…

Yun Qing listened with some bewilderment. This—blood brothers, fighting over magical treasures, poisoning rabbits, two men competing for one woman—they were all quite the characters.

Shi Muyu said, “Those two are arguing over Sister Ruibin again.”

Fu Xue asked, “Do they argue often?”

“Yes, they both want to spend their lives with Sister Ruibin. They’ve been arguing for a long time. Sister Ruibin is also very troubled. She says she only wants to spend her life with her pet hwamei.”

Yun Qing thought to herself that this Sister Ruibin was also quite something.

She felt greatly shocked and couldn’t help but say, “To be honest, before coming here, I always thought that people in Shenle Valley lived lives free from worldly disputes. I never expected that everyone would be so… well, so down-to-earth.”

Shi Qingshang laughed out loud. When he laughed, he again revealed that row of dazzling white teeth. He crossed his arms and leaned against the great maple tree, saying:

“There’s no such thing as being free from worldly disputes. All people have desires, and where there are desires, there will be conflicts. If someone claims to be without desires or demands, then they must be a hypocritical person.”

Yun Qing raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

Shi Qingshang continued, “Legend has it that when Nuwa created humans, she weakened the heavenly and earthly souls but strengthened only the human soul that governs desire. Therefore, desire is the destiny that all of humanity cannot escape, and even ascending to immortality won’t change this.”

Yun Qing listened with a start.

****

The houses in Shenle Valley were all tall, sturdy, and practical, with very few decorative items. After Yun Qing and the others were assigned rooms and settled in simply, they discovered that quite a few people had gathered outside the house to “look at” them.

It turned out that news of Shi Muyu bringing friends back had spread like wildfire. The valley hadn’t seen outsiders for many years, so everyone was curious.

These people weren’t as hostile to outsiders as Shi Feijia had been. Some with lively personalities boldly struck up conversations with Yun Qing and the others, and some even brought flower honey and wine.

Yun Qing saw a woman with a white hwamei perched on her finger and presumed this must be the legendary Sister Ruibin.

This Sister Ruibin was very conspicuous in the crowd, for no other reason than that from her brow bone to her chin, a blue birthmark covered almost half her face.

She was curiously listening to everyone’s conversation and nodding from time to time, as if she found it very agreeable. Before long, two men who looked almost identical stood beside her, competing to talk with her. She looked impatient.

Fu Xue was stunned and said incredulously, “Everyone’s news travels this fast?”

Ci Li speculated, “There were different string and wind sounds in the air earlier. Perhaps the Shenle clan can communicate through playing music?”

Shi Muyu confirmed his guess. “That’s right.”

Yun Qing noticed that Shi Muyu wasn’t in high spirits and knew she was probably worried about her missing uncle.

So Yun Qing said, “Sister Muyu, do you have your Uncle Wushe’s birth date and time? Perhaps I could divine his whereabouts—though I might not be accurate.”

Shi Muyu became somewhat excited. “Sister Yun Qing, you know divination? I don’t know Uncle Wushe’s birth details, but my mother definitely knows. I’ll take you to see Mother!”

Shi Qingshang also looked surprised. He raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Yun Qing, it seems you’re quite confident in your divination skills?”

Shi Muyu suddenly made a puzzled “eh” sound.

Fu Xue asked, “What’s wrong, Sister Muyu?”

Shi Muyu said, “Brother Qingshang didn’t used to smile this much.”

“He’s definitely trying to please my senior sister,” Fu Xue said carelessly. “Everyone in this world loves to please my senior sister. I’m used to it already, sigh.”

Her tone made it sound like the most capable head eunuch beside an emperor talking about the seductive concubines in the palace.

Yun Qing hadn’t expected her junior sister to be so bold in her boasting. She felt a bit embarrassed and interrupted everyone, saying, “Let’s go.”

The group found Shi Feijia. When Shi Feijia heard that Yun Qing wanted to divine Shi Wushe’s whereabouts, she was also surprised.

Shi Feijia didn’t hold much hope. In her heart, she acknowledged that being able to kill Qingcheng Zi, these young people must have their unique strengths. She wasn’t doubting Yun Qing’s divination skills either.

But regardless, Yun Qing was really too young. No matter how skilled her techniques were, she was only nineteen years old after all, and couldn’t overcome the gap in cultivation level.

However, the other party meant well, and Shi Feijia wasn’t the type to be ungrateful. So she readily gave the birth details, then said to Yun Qing, “Don’t force yourself.”

Yun Qing also had some doubts. “Are there no people in Shenle Valley who practice divination? Or is it that Senior Wushe’s cultivation is very high, making him impossible to divine?”

Shi Feijia shook her head. “Our Shenle clan has always relied on intuition and doesn’t much practice divination.”

“I understand.”

Yun Qing thought that borrowing this opportunity to establish good relations with the Shenle clan, perhaps Shi Feijia would be happy and tell her about Qiguang Zi.

Therefore, she divined extremely seriously. Her divination method was no longer flashy but used the most conventional divination tools.

Using six copper coins, she threw them six times in succession. After carefully analyzing the hexagram, Yun Qing felt something was wrong. This hexagram was a severed head hexagram, the most ominous among inauspicious hexagrams.

She didn’t dare rashly upset Shi Feijia and Shi Muyu, so she only said, “In the southeastern direction, within about ten li, he’s currently at a location where all five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—are complete… Is there such a place in Shenle Valley?”

Shi Feijia frowned and pondered for a moment, then shook her head and said, “I don’t know. Let’s look around first.”

“Wait,” Shi Qingshang suddenly spoke up, “I know of such a place where all five elements are indeed complete.”

“Oh?”

“Follow me.”

Shi Qingshang led everyone over a small mountain and across a stream, finally stopping in front of a jujube tree that had been struck by lightning.

The jujube tree was probably over a hundred years old and had been struck down completely, lying on the ground. The trunk was charred black from burning, with lightning-like patterns appearing on it.

The great jujube tree had extremely strong vitality. Even in this state, it hadn’t died and had even sprouted new branches. Judging by the density of these new branches, it had been struck by lightning about two or three years ago.

This was a very standard lightning-struck tree.

Yun Qing looked at this lightning-struck tree with sudden understanding.

Lightning-struck wood—it truly did have all five elements complete.

She walked around the lightning-struck tree observing, finally stopping in front of a patch of grass. The grass there grew differently from the surrounding area, and the soil looked like it had been turned over.

Yun Qing pointed at this patch of grass and said just one word. “Dig.”

Jiang Baiyu, Cheng Suiyan, and Ci Li drew their swords and began digging.

Among them, Cheng Suiyan’s sword was the broadest and most convenient, like a small shovel. After digging a few times, he pushed Jiang Baiyu and Ci Li aside, saying, “You two rest. Standing here actually gets in my way.”

Fu Xue said, “I never would have thought that you, young master, would be so skilled at manual labor.”

After knowing each other for so long, she still sarcastically called him “young master.” Cheng Suiyan felt a bit wronged and retorted, “Young lady, I’m working so efficiently, so please stop calling me ‘young master.'”

With swooshing sounds, the thing buried under the soil wasn’t deep. He found his target in just a few strokes.

It was a corpse.

The weather was cool, and this corpse hadn’t been dead long. It was still fresh and hadn’t decomposed.

Cheng Suiyan carried the corpse out and placed it on the grass. Yun Qing cast a spell to clean the mud from the corpse.

It was a man with a lean build, ashen complexion, and dim, staring eyes, as if he had died with his eyes open.

The man had three wounds on his body—one on his thigh, one on his wrist, and one on his chest. All were sword wounds.

Shi Feijia’s expression changed. She knelt beside the corpse and touched the corpse’s face with trembling hands. After feeling around for a few moments, she confirmed this was indeed Shi Wushe.

Tears fell from her eyes. “Wushe…”

Shi Muyu threw herself to the ground, crying as she shook the corpse. “Uncle Wushe, Uncle Wushe, wake up!”

Shi Feijia said, “Jiujiu, he’s dead.”

“I don’t believe it! Uncle Wushe hasn’t finished the story he was telling me last time. He promised that when I came back this time, he would tell me the ending! Uncle Wushe, you must keep your word!”

Shi Feijia pressed her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, “Jiujiu, don’t let your uncle depart in unrest.”

Shi Muyu threw herself into her mother’s arms and cried loudly.

Yun Qing felt a wave of sadness watching this. Perhaps she wasn’t a qualified cultivator, always unable to bear witnessing the sorrows and joys of human life.

Shi Feijia was now completely convinced of Yun Qing’s abilities. She no longer dared to underestimate these young people. At this moment, while gently patting her daughter’s back, she also looked up at Yun Qing, not bothering to wipe away the tears that kept flowing from her eyes.

She said, “Yun Qing, can you divine who killed Wushe?”

Yun Qing frowned and shook her head. “Divination requires information about the subject. The more detailed the information, the more accurate the divination. Right now, without any information about the killer, I can only reach some vague conclusions.”

Jiang Baiyu said, “The reasons for murder are generally revenge, money, or passion. Can we start investigating from these three types of clues?”

Shi Feijia thought for a moment and said, “Wushe was easygoing and straightforward. Everyone liked him very much. He had no enemies. As for money, that’s also unlikely. He usually only loved drinking and playing the pipa.

Passion is even more impossible. Many years ago, he was in love with a woman from the outside world. That woman was in poor health and couldn’t cultivate. She died early. Since then, he’s been alone, abandoning love and affection, and refused to even have children.”

Ci Li, thinking of the argument between the two brothers next door that they’d heard earlier, asked, “Is it possible that someone coveted his magical treasures, musical scores, or similar items?”

Shi Feijia replied, “That possibility can’t be ruled out.”

Fu Xue said, “Is it possible it wasn’t a person, but demons, ghosts, or similar creatures?”

Shi Feijia shook her head. “That’s unlikely. Many people from our clan cultivate in the mountains and forests. If there were demons in Shenle Valley that had achieved significant power, we should have known about it over such a long time.”

Yun Qing suddenly said, “There’s another possibility.”

“Oh?”

“Senior Wushe having no enemies in the Shenle clan doesn’t mean he had no enemies in the outside world.”

Shi Feijia frowned slightly, “You’re saying that outsiders somehow entered Shenle Valley without anyone knowing? How is that possible?”

“I just feel that nothing in this world is absolutely foolproof. Although Shenle Valley has layer upon layer of restrictions, is it really completely without any loopholes?”

Shi Feijia remained silent. With Shenle Valley being so large, she naturally couldn’t be completely certain it was foolproof.

At this time, Shi Qingshang, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, spoke up. “Whether there are any or not, we’ll know if we search.”

Fu Xue asked, “How do we search? Do we need to climb mountains? How many people are in the Shenle clan total? Do we have enough manpower?

I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but looking at how large this place is, if there really is someone here, they naturally have legs. If we can search for them, they can run. In these vast mountains and wilderness, wouldn’t that be like a dog chasing a rabbit?”

Cheng Suiyan said gloomily, “Thanks a lot for making me a dog by following you.”

Shi Muyu had calmed down somewhat by now and stopped crying, saying, “Does Brother Qingshang mean for us to play the zither to find people?”

Fu Xue said in wonder, “Zithers can be used to find people? That’s amazing?”

“Yes! However, the zither can search for all living people, not a specific person. That is to say, all of us would respond to the string music, including the player themselves.

I think if we gather all our clan members in one place and then play the zither, we should be able to know if there are other people in Shenle Valley.”

Shi Feijia shook her head. “That won’t work. The human string of the zither causes responses in people’s internal organs, which causes great harm to human organs.

If we play the human string, everyone currently in Shenle Valley would be injured to different degrees, and plugging their ears wouldn’t help.

Those with high cultivation naturally wouldn’t be afraid, but there are many children in the valley. Unless absolutely necessary, we wouldn’t use the zither to find people.”

Shi Qingshang suddenly said, “Who said anything about using a zither?”

Yun Qing and the others all looked at him curiously.

Shi Feijia paused, “Qingshang, could it be that you…”

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