Chapter 22: Returning Home to Chen Prefecture

  My second brother shook his head helplessly, stood up, patted my shoulder, and let out a disappointed sigh before leaving the room. Everyone else could only follow him back to their own rooms to rest, even the usually restless Old Six seemed to have become silent.

  Watching everyone leave, I didn't make a sound towards them, but only felt gratitude in my heart. Thinking about these days, because of Master's affairs, all the brothers have been unable to eat or sleep well, it's really unfair to them. If not for their help, how could I have made it this far?

  "Ghostly brother, shall we also go back to our room and rest?" Hook Spirit's words broke into my thoughts.

  Jian Hou Ling was looking at me with concern in her eyes. I quickly nodded to her and pulled her hand, heading towards our residence.

  The next morning, after breakfast, the brothers began to pack their bags and set off separately. Each of them had a heavy heart and there was an oppressive atmosphere in the house, with no one speaking for a while. Everyone knew that each person had their own thoughts and didn't know when they would meet again, so they couldn't help but feel a little sad.

  Seeing this, I handed the travel bag to Hou Ling and broke the silence first: "Brothers, what are your plans for going? It's not too early to say something about meeting again in the future and setting a date."

  "I'll first go to Shaanxi to find a few fellow seniors and see if they recognize that ancient character. I'll also take the opportunity to inform the families of those brothers who died at Mount Heng about their deaths. If everything goes smoothly, I'll be back in Chenzhou within a month and meet up with Big Brother." Sima Lin replied softly.

  "I'll go with Fifth Brother then. If we need to move mountains or fight, perhaps I can still make some slight contribution." Third Brother continued after Sima Lin's words.

  "It's all right, I'll go back to Chen Zhou with Lao Liu first and visit my master. Maybe we'll go to Guzhang to find that green-haired corpse king. And what about you, second brother? What are your plans?" I turned around and looked at my second brother.

  "Big brother, I'll go with you to Zhenzhou first and take a look at Tianyu Master's house. I'm a bit worried about him. Then we'll return to the mountain to pay respects to our master. If everything is fine, we can then meet up with Fifth Brother and the others."

  After bidding farewell, it was already around 8 or 9 o'clock. Knowing that time was not on their side, they couldn't linger any longer. Everyone shouldered their bags and left the house, heading towards the market. Inside the market, each person chose a fine horse and led it out of Changsha City. After exchanging pleasantries once again, they mounted their horses and parted ways.

  As I saw Sima Lin and the others had already walked far away, I turned around with some disappointment and said to everyone: "Let's get on our horses too. It will still take several days to reach Chen Zhou."

  Four people rode horses towards the direction of Xiangxi, along the way it was already spring and the scenery was beautiful with birds singing and flowers blooming everywhere. Unbeknownst to us, spring had already arrived. The beautiful spring light dispelled the gloomy atmosphere that had been in our hearts for many days, making our mood much better. Ling was especially excited, like a naive child, constantly praising the beautiful scenery along the way. Every time she saw a strange mountain or river, she would make gestures of reluctance to leave, making us smile. After four days of traveling and laughing together, we had already entered the territory of Chenzhou.

  Arriving at Chen Zhou, his mood suddenly became heavy and his attachment to Master was also extremely strong. He immediately urged everyone to hurry to Luogongshan Zhu Youke without stopping.

  The groom saw my serious expression and stopped his smile, for a while everyone was speechless, only the sound of horseshoes echoed as they galloped forward. At dusk, the four finally arrived at Luo Gong Mountain.

  The sound of horseshoes had already startled the fourth brother and Little Cui inside, seeing that we were back, they hurriedly and happily led our horses.

  Hurriedly entering the master's room, I pushed open the familiar wooden door. Through the dim candlelight, I saw from afar that my master was lying on his bed with his back to me, just like he did every day. He was very quiet, and I could faintly hear a weak breathing sound coming from his mouth. It seemed that during this period, the strange curse that had afflicted my master had worsened. Thinking of my master's safety, tears were already welling up in my eyes.

  Wiping away the tears in my eyes, I suppressed the pain deep within me and dragged my heavy legs to Master's bedside. Thinking of how I had been running around seeking help for days but still couldn't do anything as Master left me, I felt extremely helpless and painful. Closing my eyes, all I could see was Master's usual voice, smile, and appearance. I couldn't bear it anymore and knelt down beside the bed, wailing: "Master, I'm a useless disciple! I failed to save you from suffering... I don't deserve to be your disciple... I should die, I should die..."

  After crying out loud, the grief that had been stored in my heart for many days suddenly poured out like a flood, and I went through all the hardships on Mount Miao and into the ancient tomb. However, as time passed, there was still no progress in breaking the curse of my master. The pain and guilt made me unable to stop banging my head against the wooden bed.

  "Brother, please don't be like this, okay? What are you doing?" Hou Ling beside me cried out and rushed to my side, tightly embracing me in her arms.

  "Don't cry anymore, okay?" Kouxing patted my head non-stop with his hand, comforting me like a child.

  Leaning into Huo Ling's arms suddenly made me feel like I was lying in my mother's arms, with a warm and helpless feeling in my heart. It was as if I had found a harbor to rely on. My mind also seemed to clear up a lot, knowing that I had lost control earlier and hurt Huo Ling and everyone else. So I forced myself to stop crying and nodded: "Hmm."

  I got up and wiped away my tears. Tang Si, who was beside me, said in a low voice: "Big brother, during this period of time when you went to the back of Mount Cui, it seems that Master Tianyu's curse has changed again. And I have an important new discovery. By the way, there is a place called Wuzhi Village, and someone came from there a few days ago. They should be asking you to drive out ghosts, but I didn't promise them. I reckon they will come again in these two days."

  "What's new?" I looked at my fourth brother with a puzzled expression, but in my heart, a bad premonition arose.

  Tang Si nodded and saw that he used his hand to slightly lift the quilt on his master's body. Underneath, his master was wearing a large linen robe, which looked very loose, as if he had been wrapped in it. For some reason, Tang Si also put a big hat on his master's head.