Chapter 29: The Oriole's Song and the Swallow's Dance

  "Strange!" The thin man struck again with a punch, "Bang" hitting the stone armor, instantly feeling as painful as hitting a rock, and wailing loudly. The end of his fist was also bleeding profusely.

  At this moment, Li Muran snapped his finger and a small fireball flew out from his fingertips, landing on the thin man's body.

  "Boom!" A loud explosion, and the lean man's body burst into flames. In an instant, he turned to ashes and smoke, and even the large knife in his hand was burned away without a trace.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!" Li Muran's fingers snapped in rapid succession, unleashing a flurry of small-scale Flame Explosions. In the blink of an eye, four or five bandits were reduced to ashes amidst the flames.

  The remaining mountain bandits came to their senses, hastily fleeing in all directions. Li Muran shot out two more fingers, killing two of them, but one lucky guy managed to escape into the mountains.

  Li Muran did not go after the killer, he put away his technique and thought to himself: "It's true that my magic is not smooth during the day, if it were at night, these thieves would be solved in two or three moves, and I wouldn't even need the Stone Armor Talisman."

  Li Muran looked at the big tree blocking his way in front of him, and another blast of flames exploded out. In an instant, the latter was reduced to a few wisps of green smoke that disappeared, leaving behind hardly any ashes.

  "Let's keep going!" Li Muran removed the stone armor talisman stuck on Old Man Guo's back.

  Although it withstood the mountain bandit's knife and fist, this talisman had hardly lost any of its spiritual energy. The attacks of ordinary people are not worth mentioning in front of a cultivator.

  "Magic is indeed powerful!" Old Man Guo exclaimed in awe, repeatedly nodding his head in admiration.

  Unconsciously, Old Man Guo's attitude towards Li Muran also underwent a slight change, with less familiarity and more respect. In his eyes, the young Taoist in front of him was vastly different from the village boy Zhao Wuming who had left Yaonong Village back then.

  "I and your Zhao family have formed a three-generation bond." As they approached the Medicine Farmer Village, Old Man Guo started talking about his past with the Zhao Wuming family.

  "In the village, people go up the mountain to pick herbs. To avoid accidents such as slipping and falling, they usually go in pairs for safety."

  "These two people have the same hemp rope tied around their waists, commonly known as 'rope friends', and some also call them 'life-and-death friends' - that's a partner who shares life and death!"

  "When I was young, your grandfather and I both apprenticed under the same herbalist in our village. After we finished our apprenticeships, we became sworn brothers, sharing life and death together for twenty years, bound by a single hemp rope!"

  Later, your grandfather passed away due to illness, and your father inherited his position, continuing to be a medicinal herb collector. Your father and I also became 'sworn brothers'.

  "You and your dad are the same, looking forward to going up the mountain to collect medicine since you were a child. Six or seven years ago, when you were ten years old, I and your dad took you up the mountain, and tied the hemp rope around your waist as well."

  "At first, everything was going smoothly. One day, on the top of Cliff Peak, a huge bird with wings as wide as a zhang suddenly flew over, creating a gust of evil wind that cut through the rope tied to you like a sharp knife, and you were thrown off the mountain."

  "What then?" Li Muran asked, although he knew Zhao Wuming must not have died at that time, but he was very curious about how Zhao Wuming had escaped from death.

  Old Guo paused for a moment, then continued: "You shouted loudly in mid-air. Your father didn't even think about it, raised his hand and cut off the hemp rope connecting me and him with one knife, and then jumped down."

  "What's next?" Old Guo didn't say anything else, making Li Muran a bit anxious.

  "Later, he grabbed you and with all his might threw you up into my arms. He himself fell down the mountain without making a sound."

  "When you were born, your mother died in childbirth. You grew up drinking the milk of a hundred families in the village. An old fortune teller said that your fate was too strange and that you couldn't be named before adulthood. Your father was hesitant and didn't dare to give you a name, so he simply called you 'No Name'. At ten years old, your father also died because of you, and the villagers all said that your fate is too strong, killing both your parents!"

  "Ever since your father died, you've become a different person. You no longer mention going up the mountain to pick herbs, but instead sell off family property and somehow get hold of several tattered books on cultivating immortality and seeking spiritual enlightenment, which you read every day like they're treasures. You say that for generations, our village has been picking herbs, and who knows how many people have lost their lives at the bottom of the mountain? Those heavenly-grown medicinal materials are all sent to the hands of the immortals in the mountains, used to refine elixirs and cultivate immortality; so you shouldn't pick herbs, you should go cultivate immortality, become an immortal yourself!"

  "Afterwards, you left the village and I, along with the villagers, searched everywhere for you but couldn't find you."

  "In recent years, every year there are people in the village who die from the demon bird while picking herbs. The villagers have no choice but to go up the mountain to pick herbs for a living. Just last year, my son and daughter-in-law both died, so I had to go to the Xianmen in the mountains to seek help from the immortal. Who would have thought that I would end up meeting you!"

  At this point, tears welled up in Old Guo's eyes.

  Li Muran's heart moved slightly, and Zhao Wuming's life experience was indeed quite pitiful.

  The scene at that time was definitely critical, if Zhao's father had any hesitation, he would not have been able to save Zhao Wuming. Pitiful parents in the world, for their children, can selflessly give up their most precious things.

  As they spoke, the two had already entered the village. Since it was getting dark, there were no villagers on the road. Old Man Guo took Li Muran directly to the Guo's house.

  "Swallows sing and dance!" Old Guo shouted loudly as he pushed open the door and entered the house.

  "Grandpa! You're finally back!" The two girls' voices rang out in surprise one after another.

  Before long, two girls rushed out of the inner room, leaving Li Muran momentarily stunned.

  These two girls were about fifteen or sixteen years old, looked exactly the same, obviously twin sisters, and both were delicate and lovely, naturally beautiful, with a lot of charm, not like ordinary village girls.

  Two girls, one on each side, were hugging Old Man Guo's arm, both excited and agitated.

  However, they soon noticed the Taoist robe-clad young man beside Old Guo.

  "Nameless Brother?" One of the girls exclaimed in surprise, muttering to herself in disbelief.

  "Is that really you? Hmph, what are you doing here?" Another girl also recognized "Zhao Wuming", and immediately turned stern, her face falling.

  Li Muran was taken aback and had no idea how to respond. It seemed that there was still a grudge between these two women and Zhao Wuming.

  The girl with a sullen face grew angrier as she spoke: "Bah, you still have the nerve to enter my Guo family's gate. In the past when you broke off the engagement and divorced my sister, didn't you say that you wanted to cut all ties with my Guo family? Have you forgotten all these things?"

  Another girl lowered her head and remained silent.

  "Shut up! Ying Ge, don't be rude!" Old Guo hastily advised, then introduced to Li Muran: "This is the old man's granddaughter Ying Ge and Yan Wu. They grew up with you since childhood."

  Guo Lao said to the two sisters, "Wuming is now a fairy master of the mountain's immortal gate. This time he has come to help us get rid of that demon bird! Wuming suffered a serious illness and can't remember anything from before, so you two must not be rude to him."

  "Can he also be a fairy master?" The angry one was his sister, Ying Ge. She said with some doubt: "Don't you remember? Perhaps it's because the things he did in the past were too embarrassing, and he doesn't dare to admit them!"

  "How dare you be rude to Master Xian!" Old Man Guo was about to scold Ying Ge, but was stopped by Li Muran with a hint of a smile:

  "No matter! Tonight we'll rest here for a while, and tomorrow morning we'll go search for the trail of that demon bird, then make further plans."

  "Yes!" Old Guo replied respectfully, then instructed the two sisters to clean up and vacate a room for Li Muran.

  "I'll be meditating tonight, so I don't want to be disturbed. If it's not urgent, please don't bother me, and definitely don't enter without permission." Li Muran added.

  "Anonymous brother, have you really become a celestial master?" The always silent Yan Wu looked at Li Muran's words with a serious expression and couldn't help but believe it a little.

  "This is what Grandfather saw with his own eyes, how can it be fake!" Old Guo replied on behalf of Li Muran, "Yanwu, quickly prepare some food and hot water, Wu Ming has been rushing for several days and must be tired."

  "Monk's taste is light and refreshing, dislikes greasy food. Just prepare some green vegetables and plain rice for Yanzhu Niangzi." Li Muran added.

  "It's quite like him!" Ying Ge muttered to herself, but her heart was also slightly shaken.

  Li Muran was having a meal when Old Man Guo stood beside him, not daring to eat at the same table. Li Muran invited him several times before he sat down.

  "It seems I had a marriage agreement with Yan Wu? What's going on?" Li Muran asked curiously.

  Mr. Guo sighed softly and said slowly: "This story has to be told from the beginning..."

  "In the village, people are busy, when adults go out to gather herbs and work, the oriole's song and swallow's dance are entrusted to you to take care of. Although you're only one year older than them, you've been very sensible since childhood."

  "That year you were only eight or nine years old, and you took them to play at the village entrance. Suddenly a wild dog appeared from somewhere and started biting people everywhere. You were so brave, protecting them with a wooden stick, beating that wild dog half to death, and leaving a big wound on your arm. Don't believe me? Take a look."

  Li Muran nodded, he had long discovered that there was a three-inch-long shallow scar on his arm, the skin color of which was obviously different from other places, and it was not flat, apparently injured in his early years.

  "Back then, at dusk, they would each hold one of your sleeves, and the three of you would wait for me and your father to return from gathering herbs. Sometimes when we encountered trouble and came back late, the three of you would sit shoulder-to-shoulder on that huge rock at the village entrance, waiting for an hour or two. They often leaned against you and fell asleep."

  "On your tenth birthday, I discussed with your father and arranged a marriage for you, letting you choose one from the pair of swallows. You finally chose Yanwu, and Yingge cried for several days because of this! Haha!"

  Old Guo spoke of past events, and a rare relaxed smile appeared on his old face that was full of vicissitudes.

  "What's the point of bringing up old matters!" Ying Ge happened to be carrying a new dish over, and upon hearing these words, her face turned slightly red as she pouted.