Chapter 0009: Entrusting an Orphan in Linfeng City

  "Brother, where are we going?"

  Li Ran Dao lowered his voice and said:

  "This man was injured before, we don't know if he has any other enemies, it's no longer safe here, let's leave for another city."

  His younger brother followed him in a daze, not knowing what it meant, into the night, heading towards another town.

  After walking for several miles on the mountain road, I finally arrived at the town of Kao Shan Pao in the evening when the lights were about to go out. I found an unassuming inn and stayed overnight. The next morning, I hired a horse carriage and headed west, rushing along the road for a whole day. It wasn't until nightfall that I finally arrived at a larger mountain city - Lin Feng City.

  This time, Li Ruo Dao led his younger brother to a secluded street and found an elegant inn. He rented a room on the upper floor, helped his brother take a bath, changed into new clothes, and watched as his brother fell asleep sweetly on the soft big bed. It wasn't until then that Li Ruo Dao finally let out a sigh of relief and put his mind at ease.

  He has not yet broken through the third layer of Jingyuan, his strength is too weak, and it's hard to survive. He doesn't want to get involved in a vendetta prematurely and disrupt his plan to rescue his father.

  Ji Feng Snake is dead, but the news he brought still made Li Ruo's heart secretly excited.

  In his past life, he had heard of the Misty Valley, a place that could drive cultivators mad. Inside, countless years of spiritual energy accumulated, growing enough years' worth of spiritual medicine, and roaming about were creatures that had obtained spiritual energy and had cultivated spiritual beasts. There was even a legend that it was extremely possible for some immortal relics to remain inside.

  Misty Valley is shrouded in thick fog, the mountain is treacherous, and legend has it that ancient formations are scattered throughout the mountain. A long time ago, many powerful cultivators ventured into the mountains to explore but never returned. Gradually, the place became a forbidden land for cultivators, and no one dared to enter again. Over the centuries, Misty Valley gradually faded from people's minds.

  Li Ruo later analyzed that the ancient formation of Misty Valley, after hundreds of years of operation, would occasionally turn the Gate of Life to the Wangheji area for a few days, which is probably the origin of the Qifeng Snake's transmission.

  In the previous life, the news of the opening of Misty Valley still spread far and wide, and nearby cultivators swarmed in like a beehive.

  Li Ruo also went to the Misty Valley alone to rescue his father and increase his strength, but unfortunately, he was too weak and didn't dare to venture deeper. In the end, he didn't get anything in the Misty Valley and couldn't fulfill his wish of seeing his father again in his lifetime.

  Li Ran sighed quietly.

  Relying on his current second-rate lowly strength, even with past cultivation experience, going in would still be extremely perilous. Watching his younger brother fall into a deep sleep, Li Ran sat cross-legged on the bed, his hands forming a seal as he circulated the Zhou Tian to cultivate.

  He wants to seize every opportunity to improve himself.

  For a whole night, Li Ran felt that the power in his body had become more refined, but the third pass of Jingyuan's power still showed no signs of actual breakthrough.

  The next morning, Li Ran called his brother to get up, went downstairs to eat something, and led his brother to walk on the main street in the early morning. There were not a few hunting teams carrying spears and knives, traveling together towards the outskirts of the city.

  His younger brother had been alone in the broken temple for half a year, and everything was fresh to him. He excitedly turned his head and looked around for a long time before looking at Li Fenger with doubt and asking in a low voice:

  "Brother, where are we going?"

  Li Ran's heart ached: "Xiao Xu, I'll take you to a safe place and help you find some friends to play with, okay?"

  "Okay, brother, who did you find to play with me?"

  Looking at his younger brother's happy appearance, Li Ruo's heart became even more sour. Without saying another word, he led his younger brother to hurry forward, turning over several streets, and walked into a slightly remote alley, stopping in front of a family's door. Li Ruo stepped forward and knocked heavily on the mottled red door twice.

  In an instant, with a creaking sound, the gate opened and a sturdy man inside was taken aback at the sight of Li and Ran Dao.

  "Ran Jian, Xiao Xu, is it you..."

  "Uncle Yu!"

  "Ah, come in quickly..."

  The man hastily agreed, turned sideways, and Li Ruo Dao pulled his brother into the courtyard. Another woman quickly walked out of the house inside, wearing coarse linen clothes, still looking pretty, but with fine wrinkles on her forehead that were too early to appear. The woman saw Li Ruo Dao and his brother and was stunned for a moment, then rushed over and grabbed them:

  "Ran Jian, Xiao Xu, after your father's accident, I asked you and your uncle to find out what happened to your brothers. Where have the two of you been these past few days?"

  The woman said, her eyes reddening.

  Li Ran's heart warmed with a knife, and he said in a low voice:

  "Auntie, isn't this good enough for me and my brother?"

  That sturdy man hastily moved the knife and fork stuck in the doorway to one side, making way for the door and quickly said: "Come in quickly, come in quickly."

  Li Ruo raised his head, carefully examining the two houses in the courtyard. They were somewhat dilapidated, and the paper on the windows was still from last year, already yellowed with age. The woman wore a coarse linen long gown, her fingers slightly pale and swollen, clearly having spent years doing laundry for others.

  This family is also considered to have a long-standing relationship with the Li family. When Liruo was young, his father brought him here several times, and he knew that Uncle Yu and Aunt Yu were both down-to-earth people.

  With a loud noise, three more boys rushed out of the house and curiously ran over to gather behind their parents, looking at Li Ruo and his brother.

  The three children were all smaller than Li Ruo's knife, and the smallest was only slightly bigger than his younger brother.

  Li Ran shook his head at the robust man:

  "Uncle Yu, I won't come in then. This time I came to ask you for a favor."

  The woman grasped Li Nian's hand tightly, and with her other hand she wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

  "Raging knife, what are you seeking or not seeking? You and your brother, how have you been getting by these days? How much suffering have you endured?"

  The robust man also let out a sigh: "Feng Dao, what's on your mind, speak up."

  Li Ruo took a deep breath and said slowly, "Uncle Yu, Auntie, I want to think of a way to see my father and figure out how to rescue him. However, my younger brother is too young and there's no one to take care of him, so I was thinking of letting him stay with you for a while."

  The robust man was taken aback, his mouth agape and tongue-tied for a moment, unable to utter a word.

  The woman turned her head and glanced at the man, then pulled her brother over and gently stroked his head:

  "Xiao Hui can stay here from now on, I will treat him like one of my own children. Xiao Hui is only six years old this year, how pitiful."

  The man is still hesitating.

  The woman pulled at the man's clothes with force: "You dad, you said it wasn't!"

  A robust man slowly let out a sigh, and suddenly his face showed a resolute expression, bitterly smiling:

  "Alright, Xiaoxiao can stay then. Our family won't be short of one more mouth to feed. I'll just go into the mountains a bit more often each month and that's it."

  The kids in the back also understood, and the smallest one ran to the front with an excited face, pulled his brother's hand, tilted his head and asked: "Can you play marbles? I have several big and beautiful ones, come and see."

  His younger brother turned his head to look at Li Rengdao, and Li Rengdao's heart ached again. After being reborn and staying with his younger brother for so many days, he had to leave again. However, Li Rengdao had no other choice.

  Li Ran Dao said with a smile: "Go and have fun."

  Several children cheered and ran to one side.

  The robust man watched this scene with a wry smile, tugged hard at his own short jacket, and exposed a patch under his arm. The woman exchanged a glance with her husband, stepped in front of him, looked at Li Nengdao with concern and asked:

  "Ran Jian, what's your next move? You're still young, saving your father isn't going to be an easy task..."

  Li Ruo took out a purse from his bosom and handed it over to the woman.

  "Aunt, I have made arrangements for the next step. There are eighty taels of silver here, consider it as Xiaohui's living expenses while he is here. Since I won't be around these days, please help me take care of my brother."

  The man and the woman were stunned at once, looking incredulously at Li Ruo's knife. The man looked at the purse and swallowed a mouthful of saliva with a gulp.

  "Eighty taels of silver?"

  Eighty taels of silver is a considerable fortune for such a family. If calculated separately, the living expenses of one child would not be used up in over a decade.

  The woman waved her hand in distress:

  "Ran Jian, where did you get so much money from? Your aunt can't have this money, hurry up and put it away."

  Li Ruo stuffed the money bag into the woman's hand without saying a word: "Uncle Yu, Auntie, Xiaoxiao is now all in your care, I'll come back to pick him up after I've finished my business."

  Li Rendao turned around and walked out, the man and woman stared blankly at Li Rendao's back, lost in thought. The man pulled his jacket again, looked at the money bag, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed. After a long while, the woman let out a deep sigh:

  "Rong Dao is still just a kid after all, it seems this disaster has made him mature faster."