Chapter 42: Gān Lù Town Above Worrisome Clouds

  "This pastry is indeed from Ganluo Fang."

  Ning Feng brought Da Ya here and took a glance around before making a judgment.

  Ganluo Fang is just a small shop, with the owner's house in the back and a simple storefront in the front. Outside are several tables for people to rest while eating.

  Most of them just grab and go.

  The pastries on those tables were a vibrant green and looked like jade, so Ning Feng knew he hadn't come to the wrong place.

  "Big brother..."

  Da Ya came here and couldn't move anymore, with her thumb in her mouth, her voice was muffled. She lifted her little head first, looking up with full of hope, then lowered it down shyly.

  "Sit down."

  Ning Feng smiled slightly and pulled this little girl to sit down at the empty table.

  Just as the two of them had sat down, a young woman in coarse linen clothes hastily came out of the shop and stood by the table, asking: "Young master, what would you like?"

  "Bring up the dessert."

  Ning Feng replied casually, gazing at the young woman for a moment.

  Since this shop is related to Tianyunzi's arrangement, it will be treated as a Dengluzi and he cannot help but observe carefully.

  The young woman looked to be in her twenties, with a delicate appearance and a plain face. Her eyebrows were furrowed, as if she had something difficult to say. While waiting for Ningfeng's response, and while attending to other customers, she would occasionally lift her head to gaze towards the direction of the town entrance, unable to conceal her anxious expression.

  It's fortunate that Dengluzi didn't lose face in front of Ning Feng, the young woman didn't notice his gaze at all and hastily left after hearing the answer.

  "Little girl, last time's green mung bean cake."

  "Little girl, where's the pastry you brought from outside? Your mother at home loves this kind of thing, hurry up."

  "Little girl, if you don't come over here again, my daughter will flip your table over. I'm not paying for it either."

  “……”

  The sound of calling, the figure of a young woman named You Nang Shao Fu is everywhere in Ganluo Fang, facing guests or urging, kind intentions, teasing, or blaming, she can handle it with ease, but as the day wears on, the sorrowful color on her delicate face becomes more intense.

  "Is she the only one busy in the shop?"

  Ning Feng saw that now, he felt more and more that his family's judgment was correct, and the riddle left by Tianyunzi's master had fallen on Ganluo Fang.

  He unconsciously muttered to himself, facing a little girl with her mouth stuffed full of pastries, unable to speak.

  Watching her gesticulate with her hands and feet, wanting to dig out the pastry from her mouth but being reluctant to do so, and then speaking unclearly in a flustered manner, Ning Feng found it amusing and his mood improved.

  He reached out to wipe away the crumbs from Xiaoyu's mouth, then handed her a bowl of water and patted her back until she swallowed.

  "Little girl sister, and two big brothers, an old grandfather."

  Da Ya immediately began to speak, counting on her fingers in a very proper manner as she told Ning Feng.

  "Where are they?"

  Ning Feng's eyebrows rose slightly as he thought of the faint sorrow on his young wife's face, and it seemed that he had grasped something.

  This question was beyond Xiaoyuan's ability to answer. She shook her head with a bewildered expression, as if she had heard but not understood.

  Ning Feng ordered another plate of pastries for her and then stood up, walking towards a customer at the next table.

  The scholar Shi Wenwen was a guest who politely inquired about the situation, and with just one cup of tea's worth of effort, he had already grasped the ins and outs of the matter.

  "The young girl surnamed Han was a child bride of the Han family and grew up to be married to the eldest son of the Han family."

  "Ganluo Fang is a family business passed down through the Han family, with three generations of father and son guarding a well of sweet dew, using its special water quality combined with their research over the years, Ganluo green jade cake is famous all over the world."

  Ning Feng thought it over in his mind again, and some fragmented information he had heard about the Han family father and son flashed through his mind.

  Han's family's sweet dew green jade cake, except for the lack of a mouthful of sweet dew well, also needs a certain kind of green jade vine from the depths of the Gobi Desert as the main material. Old Man Han went to pick it up the day before yesterday and has not returned yet.

  Today, Han's two sons, big and small, were also in a flurry, and they too entered the Gobi to search for their father.

  At this point, the crowd of diners sighed and seemed to be very pessimistic about their outcome. These people gathered here, rather than saying that they were greedy for food, it's better to say that they were waiting for news.

  "But it's only been two or three days, why do they seem to have made up their minds that Old Man Han is dead for sure, and even the safety of the two young masters of the Han family is not optimistic?"

  Ning Feng was puzzled in his heart and wanted to ask again, but these people were tight-lipped and refused to mention it again.

  He didn't ask any questions and sat back down, looking thoughtful. The little girl opposite him seemed to have no idea that he had slipped away for a while and was still struggling with the pastry.

  The big belly is already full and round, but still eating with gusto, savoring the delicious food, with a face covered in crumbs, like a little flower cat.

  Ning Feng looked at her with a smile, occasionally wiping away for her, relaxing his mind and chatting with the little girl, time slowly flowing out from between their fingers.

  The sun sets in the west.

  "The Master's one move of the Rainbow Technique sent me flying, I don't know how far away, and on the road again spent who knows how much time, I was completely bewildered and didn't know anything."

  Ning Feng gazed out at the setting sun in the direction of the town entrance, subconsciously covering his chest with his hand. There, five golden tokens were emitting a warm heat, as if he had a warm jade stone tucked away.

  Jīn dān zhēn rén jìng jiè, tài yáng shén gōng dà fǎ, zài nà yī tuī, yī sòng, cháng hóng kuà yuè tiān dì de shí hòu, xiǎn lù wú yí.

  The wind blows gently, and I am lost in thought, my spirit wandering freely.

  At this time, the number of people in Ganluo Alley was decreasing, and Han Youniang was no longer so busy. Her clear face was full of worries, guarding the door and looking at the town entrance.

  Just as Ning Feng was thinking of going forward and getting closer to them, wondering if he could hear anything else, suddenly...

  "Dad!"

  "Dad, ah... We're home."

  "I'll send you home, open your eyes and take a look again~~~"

  A hoarse voice, a muffled sound, wailing and crying, sorrow overflowing, the suffocating sounds heard in my heart came from the direction of the town entrance.

  Suddenly stood up and looked around.

  At the town entrance, a sturdy man with a wooden expression, hunched over and carrying another person on his back, ran towards Ganluo Alley.

  The man on the back of the Hun boy was motionless, his white head leaning against the boy's shoulder, like a broken cloth bag.

  "Oh no, husband! Father!"

  Han Youniang rushed forward, shouting loudly. The wooden Hanzi ran wildly to the entrance of Ganluo Alley, and with a soft knee, he knelt down on the ground. The surrounding diners who had not left yet all surrounded him in an instant.

  Ning Feng also wanted to go forward, but after a moment's thought, he shifted his position and stood between Da Ya and the chaotic mess.

  "Big brother don't block, wu wu, don't block."

  The little girl danced with her small hands covered in cake crumbs, looking very dissatisfied.

  "That's not suitable for a child to watch." Ning Feng shook his head, keeping an eye on the commotion while speaking softly to Xiaoyu: "Come, take the remaining pastries back home and eat them there. Don't stay here any longer, your family must be worried."

  Da Ya Zui's mouth flattened, and he obediently listened, taking the remaining rice cakes - there weren't many left anyway - and dumping them into his clothes. With both small hands holding the rice cakes, he walked outwards.

  While doing this action, she muttered in her mouth: "Big brother, is the old man also asleep? Da Yu has seen it, many people are sleeping."

  Ning Feng heard this and his pupils suddenly contracted, vaguely grasping something. He suddenly understood why Han Youniang's eyes were filled with sorrow, and why the guests were so pessimistic.

  He restrained the urge to ask further, watching as the little girl cherished a rice ball in one hand and waved goodbye with the other, reluctantly leaving his line of sight before turning around and heading into the crowd.

  Ning Feng's body was tempered like glass, and on the path of cultivation, he had only taken a small step, but his physique was already far beyond what ordinary people could compare to. Without leaving any marks, he easily squeezed into the innermost part without much effort.

  There, the old Korean man had been laid down, propped up on an old sheepskin mat, his whole body shriveled and small, his limbs like chicken claws, his mouth wide open, with a hint of yellow sand filling it.

  。

  "This is death from dehydration."

  Ning Feng could see at a glance that this old Korean man seemed to have been dried out under the scorching Gobi Desert sun for several days, and was clearly a desiccated corpse with no signs of life.

  "It's just this belly..."

  His gaze shifted and fell onto the belly of Han Lao's corpse.

  The mummy's belly was round and bulging, as if it were a pregnant woman of several months, in stark contrast to the rest of its emaciated and dehydrated body.

  "Old Master Cheng has arrived, everybody make way, everybody make way."

  Ning Feng was still wondering what was in Han Lao's belly when a commotion came from outside the crowd.

  The crowd parted to make way for an elderly man with a cane who hobbled forward.

  At the same time, there were wails all over the town, and white flags were hung high. The atmosphere of endless sorrow, pain, and despair enveloped this dusk town.

  "What's going on?"

  Ning Feng was initially stunned, then thought for a moment and suddenly understood, "I see, I reckon the body they found wasn't just Han Lao's, it's just that Han Da ran ahead and turned back first."

  His mind flashed back to what Dà Yā had just said, “...is the old master also asleep? Dà Yā has seen it, so many people are asleep......” The childish and naive voice revealed a family's brokenness, loneliness, and utter despair.

  "Old Master Cheng used to be a famous doctor in the county, and he would never make a wrong diagnosis."

  "Alas, Master Cheng is at an advanced age and had returned home to spend his remaining years in comfort. Who would have thought he'd encounter such a thing?"

  "How many rounds has it been?"

  “……”

  Ning Feng listened to the discussions around him, watching as Old Man Cheng walked up to Han Lao's corpse, knelt down with difficulty, reached out to press his hand against it, and then checked his mouth before shaking his head and sighing as he stood up.

  "Old man, my father..."

  Han Da's big and honest husband, words reached his mouth but couldn't be spoken, constantly wiping away tears, next to him Han Youniang was also crying with tears streaming down her face.

  "Same as them."

  Cheng Lao Yezi sighed and said, "Just stopped for three days, and it's back again. Your dad was starved to death, his belly was full of sand, what a sin."

  "What's going on lately, what kind of evil spirit has our Ganlu Town provoked? Except for the calmness of the past three days, it's either scorching people to death or freezing them to death, and my stomach is still full of sand."

  Cheng Lao Yezi tapped his cane, his voice filled with the pain of being unable to protect his hometown and hatred for the demons.

  "Sunstroke... frostbite... sand..."

  Ning Feng silently remembered in his heart, looking at the gloomy and misty Ganluo Town. Thoughts of tasks and trials faded from his mind, replaced by solving mysteries, subduing demons, saving people from calamity, and bringing peace to families and towns.

  From the whispers and lamentations of those around him, he gradually pieced together what had happened.

  Actually, Ganlu Town had been in trouble since more than a dozen days ago. From time to time, people would find corpses on the Gobi Desert.

  These corpses were all sitting in a circle or died of exposure like Han Lao's death from heat stroke, or died of freezing.

  In the past, in the Gobi Desert, due to the large temperature difference between day and night, it was not unusual for such corpses to appear occasionally. However, this time it lasted for many days, with many deaths, including outsiders and townspeople, and the whole town could not help but fall into panic.

  "There is no external injury, and then there is a strange sitting posture, and it appears consecutively, I'm afraid it's really the work of some kind of evil spirit."

  Ning Feng had just made a judgment when he suddenly heard a cry of surprise in his ear.

  "What?!"

  Han Da shouted out in grief over his father's death: "You say little brother has not returned yet?"

  Across from him, Han Youniang nodded weakly and silently wiped away her tears.

  "Ah!"

  "No way, I'll go look."

  Han Da shouted and was about to turn around and rush out, but he fell to the ground after taking only two steps, having exhausted his physical and mental strength.

  Han Youniang burst into tears and threw herself at her husband, hugging him tightly without saying a word, refusing to let go even in death.

  The villagers around all sighed: "What a disaster! Han Er hasn't come back yet, and it's estimated that he won't be able to come back. What a pity! The Han family is finished."

  The townspeople are not lacking in sympathy, but who dares to go out of town again in such a situation?

  "Is he dead? Not necessarily."

  The gentle breeze in his heart suddenly stopped for three days, reminiscent of the three days when his own master disappeared, as if he had gained some insight.

  He hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly raised his head, pushed through the crowd, and walked towards the town entrance.

  The setting sun struggled at the end of the desert, and the last rays of sunlight stretched out the shadow of Ningfeng from one end of the town to the other...