Chapter 21: The Mother and Daughter of Kinzan Mountain

  Wu Xin left home and arrived in Jingang Town in just two days.

  This Jin Gang Town is also named after the Diamond Mountain, and it has a small reputation because of the Diamond Mountain. The town is bustling with all kinds of handicrafts, snacks, and food, and people are coming and going constantly, which is more prosperous than Xugou Town. Compared to big cities, although it's not as good, it has its own unique charm.

  Wu Xin squeezed through the crowd, and after much difficulty, finally found a corner to rest in. Just as he was about to ask for directions to Jin Gang Shan, a little girl came over.

  "Little brother! Are you going to Jin Gang Mountain?" the little girl asked.

  "Really! How did you know?" Wu Xinqi said.

  The little girl smiled and said: "Many people come to worship the mountain every day, looking at you doesn't seem like a local, so I naturally guessed it!"

  Wu Xin smiled and said: "That's right! What's your name? Can you take me there?"

  "My name is Xiao Zou, I can take you there, but you have to give me money, okay?"

  "Alright, Little Zou!" Wu Xin felt somewhat displeased, nowadays people only have money in their eyes.

  "I can also let you go home and rest, have a cup of tea! Is that okay?" Little Zou looked at Wu Xing with full expectation.

  The two of them continued on their way.

  "Xiao Zou! Why do you have to make money like this? You should know that spending two bucks on a map can get you there, or even just following the crowd!" Wu Xin couldn't help but ask.

  Xiao Zou listened and said timidly: "Little brother! Do you think I shouldn't be earning this money?"

  "A little bit! After all, if everyone uses trivial matters to seek benefits, the world will become very dull!" Wu Xin was very honest and straightforward.

  "Then just follow this road! When you reach the fork in the road, turn right and continue on. Then make a left turn and keep going straight until you arrive!" Little Zou said calmly before turning around and heading back the way he came.

  "Wait! Xiao Zou, aren't you angry?" Wu Xin said hastily, "I didn't say I didn't want you to lead the way, did I?"

  Xiao Zou turned around and smiled slightly, a forced smile that seemed helpless. She gave off an innocent and pure feeling. She said softly: "Little brother! You must look down on me, so I don't want your money. Although I'm short of money and need it, I can't let people look down on me because of money!"

  Wu Xin listened, startled in his heart, and said softly: "Little Zou, I was wrong to suspect you, can you forgive me? Can you help me find my way? I'm also thirsty, take me to your home to have some tea?"

  Xiao Zou listened and laughed happily: "Little brother! How could I blame you? Let's go! My home is not far from Jin Gang Mountain, it just so happens to be on the way!" After that, they continued on their way with high spirits.

  Before long, Wu Xing indeed saw a patch of snow-white clouds in the distance, emitting dazzling light, which was the snowy peak of Mount Kong. A section of mountain peaks rose to the sky, and below it was a hazy mist that covered the entire mountain waist tightly, making the mountain look like a fairyland and the scenery like a fairy world. This is truly an extremely strange landscape!

  Xiao Zou saw Wu Xin looking for a long time, and then said: "Little brother! That's Jin Gang Mountain! But it's still far away, want to go to my home to rest? My home is just ahead." Wu Xin couldn't help but be curious, wanting to know why Xiao Zou needed money so much at such a young age, so he nodded.

  Xiao Zou's home was just a mud hut, strictly speaking, only half of a mud hut. Wu Xin understood a bit when he saw this place.

  As soon as you enter the door, it is a long and spacious hall, oh no, it's half a hall.

  "Little Zou, how did the family next door dig away half of your main hall? Won't it leak rain like that?" Wu Xin asked softly.

  "Oh! The house next door is my uncle and aunt's home. In the past, we built a mud hut together, with each family living in half of it. Now that they have money, they naturally built a new house on the basis of their original half, so we can only live in this broken and shabby half!" said Little Zou lightly.

  "It's all in the family, they built a house, and even if they tore down half of it, what's the use? Why not just leave it to you?" Wu Xin asked.

  "It's like this, there's another household next door, and if the middle area isn't demolished, it'll be too narrow, they can't not demolish it!" Xiao Zou said with a pretentious air of casualness, smiling as he spoke: "Little brother! Come on, let's go take a look at our place!"

  On the left wall of half of the hall, there was an arched entrance, which was dark even in daytime. The two people went in from there and saw that on both sides, i.e., the front and back of the left side of the hall, each had a room. Little Zou opened the door on the right side and entered, it was a pitch-black room, only after turning on the light did he realize it was the kitchen.

  "Little Zou, does your family only have one room?" Wu Xin asked. "Yeah! There are only three of us in the family, why do we need so many rooms? This is the kitchen, and that side was the bedroom, the living room is also very spacious!" Little Zou poured tea for Wu Xin, which was homemade tea leaves, added hot water, and it was indeed fragrant. Wu Xin took a light sip and smiled: "Little Zou! This tea is really good, did you guys make it yourself?" Little Zou had been staring at Wu Xin, and only smiled after hearing this: "I was worried you wouldn't like it! My mom and I picked the leaves ourselves and made it! Is it really that good?" Wu Xin nodded with a smile: "It's really good, and also very clean. I've drunk so much tea, but this one is the most comfortable to drink!" "Then have some more!" Little Zou said with a smiling face.

  Wu Xin slowly drank his tea. Xiao Zou watched with relish by his side.

  Wu Xin suddenly said, "Little Zou, what's wrong with your mom?" Little Zou heard this and asked in surprise, "Young brother, how did you know my mom is sick?" Wu Xin replied, "Hehe, it's not very well-ventilated here, I can smell the medicine, and I knew your mom was lying down in the room, so of course, I knew!" Little Zou asked again, "How did you know it was my mom in the room?" Wu Xin calmly said, "Because I heard her coughing earlier." Little Zou thought for a moment and then said, "I didn't notice my mom coughing earlier..." Wu Xin quietly asked, "Little Zou, your mom has been sick for a long time, right? Does she need to spend a lot of money on treatment?" He added, "It's very honorable to earn money through hard work, especially when it helps family members in trouble!" Little Zou heard this and sighed, "My mom has always had poor health, and now she's been sick for several months... We don't have the money to treat her, so it's really tough on her..." Wu Xin quietly asked again, "Little Zou, does your mom cough severely every night, and then have a fever in the morning? Does she feel weak and sore all over, with severe pain in her lower back, and no appetite?" Little Zou heard this and looked surprised, saying, "Young brother, how did you know?" Wu Xin said, "I was just guessing! Your mom's illness is the result of years of accumulation. She's been working too hard, so her body has been damaged, and she's developed chronic arthritis. The situation is getting more and more serious... How can she hold on?" Wu Xin gently said, "Little Zou, do you believe me? I can cure your mom's illness!" Little Zou heard this and looked at Wu Xin carefully for a long time before saying, "Young brother, are you a god or something? You're here to save us! The best doctors in town say they can't cure my mom's illness... Do you really think you can?" Wu Xin smiled faintly and said, "Little Zou, how could I be a god? If I were a god, I'd turn this place into a big house for you guys and give you lots of money!" Little Zou smiled but didn't say anything. Wu Xin said, "Let's go see your mom."

  The two of them came out of the kitchen and into the room, where they saw a thin, pale-faced woman lying on the bed.

  As she saw someone coming in, she sat up and said softly: "Xiao Zou! Who is this brother?" Xiao Zou smiled and said: "Mom! This brother is very good, he can cure your illness!" Xiao Zou's mother smiled and said: "My illness cannot be cured, it's nonsense! You play with brother for a while, mom will rest for a bit." Wu Xin said softly: "Auntie! Your illness can be cured, do you believe me?" Xiao Zou also chimed in: "Mom! I believe him, he's like a god, just now in the kitchen he knew you were ill and what kind of illness!" Xiao Zou's mother listened and sighed: "Young brother! It's not that I don't believe you, but our family really doesn't have money to give you, so please don't say more!" Wu Xin said calmly: "Auntie! I can cure your illness, but it's not for the money, if it were for the money, even if you gave me 100,000 I wouldn't do it!" Xiao Zou's mother listened and asked in surprise: "Then why?" "I drank a lot of tea at your house earlier, it was the best tea I've ever had, very fragrant and clean, so I want to cure your illness, so that Xiao Zou can still make such good tea with you in the future!" Wu Xin smiled calmly. Xiao Zou's mother listened, her nose souring as she said: "I believe you! You can treat me!"

  Wu Xin nodded, took out a small cloth bag from his side, and opened the mouth of the bag, revealing a large handful of silver needles. Wu Xin said gently, "Auntie! It might hurt a bit, can you bear it?" "Hmm! Just go ahead! I'm fine, don't worry!" "Okay! Relax your body as much as possible! I'm going to administer the needles now!" As soon as he finished speaking, Little Zou only saw that the room was filled with a cold gleam, flashing and moving, knowing it was the flying silver needles. However, she didn't know how this person could instantly produce so many needles, nor did she know how these light silver needles could be so obedient, automatically flying towards her mother's body without a single one falling to the ground. Thinking about this, she stood there in a daze.

  Before long, Mrs. Zou fell fast asleep, and Wu Xin also stopped injecting her.

  Wu Xin said calmly: "Little Zou! Help your mother up, don't let the needles on her body fall off!"

  Next, Wu Xin used his internal force to unblock several of Xiao Zou's mother's meridians and repeatedly rotated around each joint to thoroughly clear them out, taking four or five hours to finish.

  Little Zhou's mother woke up from her drowsiness and suddenly felt very relaxed, all the soreness and fatigue disappeared, her body felt light and airy as if she had become 20 or 30 years younger. The sudden comfort and joy made her feel moved beyond words. She had only let the little boy try it out so that he wouldn't be too disappointed, but she hadn't expected such a miraculous effect! She turned her head to look at the bedside, and saw Little Zhou looking at her with an expectant gaze, while the little boy was smiling faintly. Little Zhou's mother smiled knowingly, then burst into loud laughter, doing something that Little Zhou had not anticipated - suddenly jumping out of bed and hugging him tightly.

  Xiao Zou watched as her mother fell into a deep sleep, still secretly worried that she might not be able to trust this young man. What if he had actually harmed her mother instead? Had she been too rash? As she thought about it, her dark eyes kept darting back and forth between her mother and the young man, seeing him with a peaceful expression on his face, which calmed her down a bit. Then, when she saw her mother wake up and look at her, she suddenly felt very happy; seeing her mother's face break into a faint smile, followed by an uncontrollable fit of laughter that she had never seen before, her heart swelled with joy, knowing that the young man's treatment must have been effective. With gratitude in her eyes, she turned to look at the young man, but was suddenly startled when her mother quickly jumped out of bed and tightly hugged her, who could have thought that there would be such a quick and effective medical technique? Where did they expect that her mother, who had been bedridden for so long, would suddenly become so spirited? Xiao Zou was truly stunned, looking at her overjoyed mother and the young man's faint smile, she couldn't help but laugh foolishly as well.

  Xiao Zou and his mother were extremely grateful, busily cooking a meal and buying meat that they normally "dared not" to eat, to entertain Wu Xin. This moved Wu Xin, who couldn't decline the offer. After the three of them finished their meal, it was already dusk.

  "Are you going to Mount Konggang? Nobody has ever gone in there! Are you curious after hearing the legend?" asked Little Zou's mother curiously.

  "What legend? What's going on?"

  "You don't even know this?! Little Zhou's mother laughed and said, "It's a legend, but in the past two years, someone has seen a beautiful fairy living inside. She's incredibly beautiful! And she looks very young, but the age of an immortal is different from that of a mortal, so everyone calls her 'Goddess Sister'. As soon as this rumor came out, countless people wanted to take a look. Zhengfu even sent a helicopter to go there, but it couldn't get in. If you try to cross the water, you'll end up back at the water's edge; if you take a helicopter to the top of the mountain and get off, you'll end up back at the original mountaintop. This is really strange! Some people say this is a method set by the fairy to prevent mortals from entering, so this place has been called 'Mortal Fairyland' by everyone. And that's not an exaggeration!"

  Wu Xin listened and was secretly shocked, then said: "If that's the case, why are there still so many people coming?"

  "You're wrong, people love the unusual, the stranger it is, the more people will come! They tried and failed, naturally they lost interest, but later generations didn't believe it. Besides, the people around here have been developing slowly around the water, creating strange artificial landscapes, which can also amaze the world. And the surrounding mountains' rippling waters are quite mysterious too!" said Little Zou's mother with a smile.

  Wu Xin listened and understood a little more, but found it strange that Auntie Zou was saying such things. "Auntie! I can tell from the way you speak that you're well-read and should have a good job, so why are you stuck here?"

  Xiao Zou's mother heard this and felt a pang of sadness, saying: "It's all because of the 'intellectuals going to the countryside' movement back then! Poor Xiao Zou's father was a sturdy man, but he got sick and left us behind, leaving us as lonely orphans and widows with no one to rely on!"

  All three were sad. Wu Xin insisted on going to Jin Gang Mountain, saying he was not afraid of the dark. Xiao Zhou and his mother had no choice but to send him off by the side of Liang Shui River and even helped him find a boatman to take him there before bidding farewell.

  Wu Xin ordered the boatman after landing: "Old man! You can go back, don't wait here anymore, I won't be back for a while!" The old man said strangely: "You'll come out naturally after going in for a while, this is absolutely true, I didn't cheat you!" Wu Xin sighed and said: "Then just wait for a while! If you don't see me coming out, don't wait anymore, it's cold, you should rest early too!" "Oh! You're afraid of this, I didn't think your heart was so good! Alright, I'll wait for a while!" The old man smiled.

  Wu Xin headed towards the Golden Mountain, and by that time it was already dark. Wu Xin took out a flashlight he had prepared earlier to find his way. As he walked, a sudden chill swept in, and Wu Xin knew something was amiss. His whole body shuddered, and when he looked again, his body seemed to be falling into clouds and mist, unable to discern the direction. Even the flashlight was useless, and the road beneath his feet was covered by the fog. Wu Xin knew things were not right, and he must have entered some kind of formation. If he continued forward, he feared he would only get more lost, so he stood still, thinking deeply.

  But the old man who was rowing the boat sat at the bow, opened his tobacco pouch and started to smoke. In these times, there were really not many people smoking this kind of tobacco! The old man extinguished the light, covered himself with a thin blanket and just sat there at the bow, puffing away on his pipe. He waited for Wu Xing to come out on the left, but he didn't come out, then he waited on the right, but still no one came out. His heart started to feel strange! This child was a good kid, had something bad happened to him? Impossible! Although this place was strange, there had never been anyone who got hurt or anything like that before. At night, when going in to explore, it wasn't just him alone either. Besides, he had declared beforehand, did he know the way? Was he originally an insider? An immortal?

  The old man was indeed strange, just as he was about to light the lamp and return, he saw a frightening scene. He saw a figure jumping over from the opposite bank, like a god flying in mid-air, and when it fell, its feet lightly touched the water surface, and then immediately jumped up again. Its body was quick and agile, flashing by like lightning, and its speed was incredibly fast. In just a few moments, it had already reached the foot of Jin Gang Mountain not far away. The old man didn't know whether he was dreaming or awake, whether it was human or ghost, and was so frightened that he didn't dare move for half a day. After the figure disappeared into the mist, he hastily got on the boat and hurriedly returned.

  After they went back, the mother and daughter were still waiting. The old man then told them everything, only to see the two return with worried looks!