Chapter Thirty-Three: Past Events of the Mundane World

  Qiu Shui Town, located in the southeast of Zhao State, is a barren land with rampant bandits. Even officials demoted by the imperial court are unwilling to come here. Except for some elderly, weak, women and children, most young people have left this place.

  Yang Lao Han is already 76 years old this year. When he was young, he used to be a bodyguard and traveled all over the country with his company. Compared to the residents of Qiu Shui Town, he can also be considered as someone who has seen the world. However, these are all past events now. Yang Lao Han is old, and after getting old, people tend to think about their hometown, so Yang Lao Han quit his job arranged by the bodyguard company and returned to Qiu Shui Town, where he was born and raised.

  The sun sets in the west.

  The setting sun was like blood, its reflection on the bluestone pavement of the street, the whole town exuded a late afternoon atmosphere.

  Yang Lao Han sat on a small wooden stool, leaning against the gate, holding a pipe in his hand.

  Every day at this time, Old Man Yang would sit here and take a couple of puffs. It's a habit, also a nostalgia for the past.

  Pfft.

  Yang Lao Han took a drag, and a pungent smell went down his throat, deep into his lungs.

  "Huh?" After finishing a pack of cigarettes, Old Man Yang knocked out the cigarette butt and when he looked up again, he found that there was an extra person in front of him.

  This was a young man, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a somewhat delicate appearance, wearing only a thin blue long shirt. In Yang Lao Han's impression, only those bookish scholars who were weak and powerless would dress in this way.

  "Old man, do you know Yishui?" The young man asked, revealing a set of pearly white teeth as he spoke.

  "Yi Shui? Are you referring to that small village in the south? It's been abandoned for three years, and except for the graves, there isn't even half a person left." Old Man Yang said with confusion.

  Yishui is the name of a small village not far from Qiushui. The village has only dozens of households, and few people know about it. Yang Lao Han also passed by that place many years ago, which is why he remembered it.

  When Yang Lao Han knew the location of Yi Shui, the young man was overjoyed at first, but after hearing Yang Lao Han's words clearly, he was stunned and asked, "How could it be abandoned? What about the villagers living in Yi Shui?"

  Yang Lao Han looked at the young man for a moment without immediately responding. Instead, he picked up his pipe, loaded it with tobacco, lit it, and took a puff.

  After a while, Old Man Yang spoke again, "Three years ago, the horse team passed by from Yishui Road, and since then, Yishui has been deserted. The village became a ruin, I heard that everyone in the village died."

  Is he dead?

  The young man was stunned and stood there.

  The young man is called Ding Yan.

  After entering the Dao Fan Great Array, Ding Yan only discovered that the world inside this array was much larger than he had imagined. It was as if it were another world altogether, with no end in sight. Just from hearsay alone, there were already dozens of mortal nations within, each with vast territories spanning tens of thousands of miles; even at Ding Yan's speed, it would take half a year to fly over them.

  Half a month ago, Fang Yu Yao bid farewell to Ding Yan and went back to her hometown.

  He and Ding Yan's hometown were both within the borders of Zhao Guo. The specific location, neither of them remembered very clearly. Adding to that, ten years had passed, many places had changed, quite a few towns had become ruins, and villages had turned into graveyards.

  After parting ways with the two of them, Ding Yan spent another seven or eight days before finally finding this small town in his memories.

  At first, when Ding Yan was taken away by the master of Lianhuagu, he was only seven years old. Many memories were very vague, and Ding Yan also searched for more than a dozen places before finding this place.

  "I hope that after you are reborn, you can take on my identity and take good care of my sister. She is just an ordinary person, with only a few decades to live..."

  Ding Yan thought back to his host's words before he died.

  Yang Lao Han saw this and couldn't bear it in his heart. He put down the pipe in his hand and asked, "Little brother, are you from Yi Shui?"

  Ding Yan seemed as if he hadn't come back to his senses yet, and Old Man Yang shook his head and sighed.

  "What evil deeds... this world..."

  Ding Yan collected his thoughts and asked again, "How did Yishui leave?"

  Yang Lao Han shook his head, but seeing Ding Yan's persistence, he finally told him the route of Yi Shui.

  After leaving Qiushui Town, Ding Yan's figure flashed, and he transformed into a stream of light, disappearing at the horizon...

  Half an hour later, at the old site of Yi Water, a figure appeared.

  What was originally a half-day journey took only half an hour under Ding Yan's flight.

  At this time, the sun had already set completely, a new moon appeared on the horizon.

  Treading on the ruins, one can still see some charred broken walls in the distance. The old banyan tree at the village entrance had its vitality scorched by the flames, leaving only half a burnt black trunk slanting into the earth. The withered branches were bare, and the old crow's residual cries made the scene even more desolate.

  Looking at the broken wall, vague memories gradually became clear.

  A surge of spiritual inspiration rose up in his heart.

  "This is the village chief's home." Ding Yan walked up to a broken wall.

  With a wave of his sleeve, he brushed away the surface debris and discovered a broken stone tablet hidden beneath. Although it had been scorched by fire, the two characters "Yi Shui" written in ancient script were still faintly visible.

  Past life, this life!

  Reincarnation is like a dream!

  Borrowing a corpse to return the soul is a divine ability, and also a continuation of life. After rebirth, Ding Yan inherited all the memories of the original owner of his flesh body, including the unforgettable miserable childhood. After a long time, Ding Yan finally found the location where he and his little sister had built a thatched hut on the edge of the ruins. However, due to the great fire, nothing was left behind.

  Treading on scorched earth, Ding Yan's mind wandered for a moment.

  Yishui is a small village with no worldly cares.

  Ten years ago, Ding Yan was seven years old and Ding Ling was six. That year there was a big rainstorm, and Ding Yan brought his sister to this place, where the two nearly starved to death were saved by the kindness of villagers. Later, with the help of villagers, they built a simple thatched hut, which in Ding Yan's memory was his first home.

  He also remembered that night, Xiaoling sat in front of the door, with both hands supporting her chin, looking at the starry sky.

  "Where's older brother, father and mother?"

  "Dad and Mom have gone to a very far place, when Xiaoling grows up, they will come back to see you." Ding Yan stroked his sister's head, deceiving her.

  ......

  "Brother, Xiaoling is very hungry."

  "Little Ling, wait until tomorrow when Little Ling wakes up, brother will make you delicious food..." DIng Yan, who was already dizzy from hunger, coaxed his little sister to sleep.

  "Hmm, Xiaoling wants to eat a lot of buns and also porridge!"

  ......

  In turbulent times, human life is as worthless as a blade of grass!

  Parents had died early, in a chaotic world, brother and sister relied on each other for survival.

  Half a year later.

  Seven-year-old Ding Yan, at the village entrance, met Lu Ren Xing, the master of Lotus Valley who was wandering in the mortal world. He was taken away by Lu Ren Xing and left the mundane world behind. He clearly remembered that when he was kidnapped by Lu Ren Xing, a small spirit knelt at the village entrance and wept.

  "When I've finished training and become strong, I absolutely won't let Xiao Ling suffer again! Anyone who bullies Xiao Ling will be my enemy, Ding Yan!"

  Eleven-year-old Ding Yan stood in the Lotus Valley, looking at the location of the Dao Fang Great Array, and vowed.

  That year, Ding Yan was in a nameless village at night and discovered an ancient well. He met a soul hiding inside it.

  That soul is also called Ding Yan!