Chapter 38: The Three Realms Inquire About Zhu Qingbai

  "I originally wanted to see if you could kill a wild boar, but instead you ran away. I couldn't bear to watch it." Can I beat Ze Huan? Tell me to kill a wild boar? I'm not someone who's been trained since childhood.

  "Sorry, sorry, I've let you down. Even if we need to practice, don't look for wild boars to practice with!"

  "It's been a long time since I've had meat, and you're here, so let's have some." Hearing this response, I was also impressed. Do we need to catch the meat ourselves? "Is this how you treat your guests? Do I need to catch it myself?" But as I looked at Ze Hong carrying the wild boar, with its head facing me, I still remembered how it had just charged at me, and I subconsciously took a few steps back.

  After returning to Guanmen, Ze Hong directly threw the wild boar on the ground. "Second Master!"

  "Wow, okay, today's luck is so good that we caught a wild boar!" I saw Bao Xi running out and rubbing his hands.

  After being locked in for so many days, I finally know that Baoxi's cooking skills are not bad. I feel like Baoxi and Zehong carried a wild boar into the kitchen, and for a while, I didn't know what to do either. Sitting in the living room, I was stunned, took out my phone but still had no signal, and didn't even know how Zhang Ting was doing now...

  "Ah, I miss Ruoqin a bit." Shenteng had somehow sat down beside me, and he actually misses Ruoqin?

  "You're not kidding, right? I thought you were just joking, but you actually took it to heart?" This surprised me a bit, although I knew that their sect had been closed off in the mountains for years, with no chance of encountering girls except when they went down the mountain for training. Zehong told me all this.

  "Uh, I don't know how to describe this feeling either. It's just that I miss her a lot in my heart, and every time I think of her, I feel anxious. Do you understand, Subuta?" Looking at Seteng's shy appearance, it also looks quite cute.

  "Even Shixiong understands, Shidi, everyone's first love is bittersweet. It's like an unripe apple placed in front of you, when you take a bite it's sour, but in your heart it's sweet." I was disgusted by Ze Hong's words, he appeared behind me and answered Shi Tong without warning. "Don't mention that you're not my first love either." I gave him a disdainful look.

  "Zi Chuan, you wouldn't understand my junior brother's feelings if you weren't locked up in the mountains. We were brought into the mountain gate by our master since we were young and never left the mountain. Every day, apart from our master and senior brothers, the ones we see most are wild beasts. Not to mention women! And my junior brother is the youngest one, who wouldn't understand his first love?" This guy is blaming me now?

  "Alright, alright, I don't understand, you do!" I responded to Zehong, "Shiteng, let's go back and visit Ruoqin together after a while."

  "Hmm..." Looking at Shī Téng like this, I also feel quite sympathetic. Perhaps the pain of longing can only be understood by falling in love.

  "Haha, then I'll go too. I actually quite like the life in your city..." Ze Hong was actually quite cheerful, leaving me speechless.

  "Alright! Let's wait for this storm to pass and we'll head back!"

  ......

  "Come, come, come and try my braised pork with potatoes!" Before long, Bao Xi brought up a pot, lifted the lid, and "Wow, it smells so good!" The aroma wafted directly into my nostrils, making me feel like I was starving, "What is that delicious smell?" Wu Zhide and Yan Dengfeng also ran out of their rooms, and we all gathered around the table to dig in.

  Wild boar meat, first time having wild boar meat, the meat still has a lot of chewiness, none of those domestic pigs can compare to this. The potatoes were stewed until they fell apart and absorbed all the savory flavors from the meat. When I put it in my mouth, there's only one word to describe it: refreshing! Before long, we finished eating all the dishes on the table, then Yan Dengfeng and Ze Hong said they wanted to head down the mountain for a bit. "What's the point of going down the mountain?" I actually just wanted them to take me along, at least there would be signal so I could call my parents and Zhang Ting.

  "It's been so many days, according to the habits of the Yin Soul Sect, they know our master is not here yet they haven't come looking for us, there must be some plan. Let's go down the mountain and ask around." After Yan Dengfeng said this, I wanted to follow him even more. When we went down the mountain, I carefully looked at this section of road, when we came up it was too dark to see what we were walking on.

  The bushes and woods are indeed there, but the grass near the bushes looks like all grass, but it can be clearly seen that it is artificially filled up, which means that underneath they are all empty. No wonder Ze Heng wanted me to be careful that night, and not only that, occasionally I could see something moving in the bushes. "Is it a wild boar again?"

  They didn't answer me, just smiled and continued to lead me forward. The time it took to get down the mountain was quick, and before long we arrived at the foot of the mountain. This road was still all mountain roads, and I didn't see any houses. "Walking a bit further there's a small village," Ze Heng said. I didn't care what Ze Heng said anymore, the first thing I did was take out my phone! Great! The signal was full bars.

  "Dad."

  "I called you back and forth but couldn't get through, now it's your turn to call me!" Although my dad spoke in this tone, I knew he was full of concern.

  "Uh-huh, our school's internet connection was down for a few days and just came back on today. Have you eaten yet?"

  "It's already 2 o'clock, you ask if I've eaten or not." I looked at the watch and it was indeed 2 o'clock, what question did I ask.

  "Hey, what's mom doing?"

  "Your mom is mopping the floor, usually at school don't stay up late, don't lose spirit." My parents know about my school life, generally sleep after 2 am... Hearing me they are quite satisfied, no matter how old I grow in my parents' eyes I'm still a child.

  "Uh-huh, okay, you go take a nap then." I knew my dad's habit was to take a nap after lunch, so after hanging up the phone with them, I called Zhang Ting. The first time it didn't go through, and I was worried that something had happened to her! Just as I was worrying, the phone rang again, and it was Zhang Ting's! "Ting~" Before I could even finish speaking, I heard from the other end: "Li Zichuan! Where have you been lately!!!" Hearing Zhang Ting yell at me, the stone in my heart also fell down, as long as nothing had happened to her.

  "Zi Jiang! You said so!" I heard Zhang Ting burst into tears... I panicked.

  "Ting Ting... I... I miss you." I didn't know how to start, but these four words were all that was in my mind. The other end fell silent... "Ting Ting, I'm currently in Shaanxi... wait for me, I'll be back soon."

  "I don't care! You get back here right now! Get back here right now!"

  "Uh-huh, I'll be right back! Wait for me," I heard Zhang Ting's voice. It was my fault that she suffered, no matter how the yin-yang party treated me, I didn't care anymore.

  "Hurry... hurry back!" Hearing Zhang Ting cry louder and louder, I feel like my heart is being pinched by her. She cries, I cry; she laughs, I laugh. "Mm... I wanted to call you a long time ago, but there's no signal here. Only today did I get one... sorry, Tingting." I comforted her, and if she were in front of me, perhaps I would have already hugged her tightly.

  "Zi Chuan! Hurry up." Ze Hong interrupted me from the front. "Alright, Shidi, let him chat with his family for a bit more, we can slow down." Deng Feng stood up for me...

  "Ting Ting, wait for me, I'll buy a ticket back today, you wait for me."

  "Don't deceive me..."

  "Uh-huh." I hastily hung up the phone, feeling a bit reluctant to part with it, but at least I had a signal now and wasn't afraid. I ran up to catch up with them, still occasionally texting Zhang Ting on my cell phone.

  "Ze Hong, Dēng Fēng, I think I'll be leaving today." I shared my thoughts with them, not wanting to make Zhang Ting cry, "Hmm, let's take a look first." The wait wasn't a refusal, but their understanding.

  I followed them into a village, and they seemed to be familiar with the place. They walked into the village with ease and came to a house with two white lanterns hanging at the door. "Is someone dead? Are you guys in the right place?" I don't know why I associated these lanterns with death, have I watched too much TV?

  "You'll know when you go in..." They still kept it a mystery from me. I saw Zehong and Dengfeng walking up, with Dengfeng going to knock on the door. He knocked three times, with a bit of rhythm, the first two knocks were light, the third one was slightly heavier... Just as I was about to ask something, I saw Zehong signal me to be quiet with a "shh".

  The door opened, just a crack. A face appeared, looking quite frightening, with wrinkles all over, clearly aged. "Oh? Who is it... come in." The man's voice was a bit hoarse, he opened the door and stood behind it as we three walked in. I turned back to look at him, not good, what I saw was an old man, his face was normal but his lower body was shriveled up, very thin, you could see the bones, how did he walk?

  That old man saw me staring at him and didn't get annoyed, instead he smiled at me, his smile made me feel a bit unbearable, his wrinkles gathered together...

  I shuddered and quickly followed, only to find it very dark inside. The only light came from the window, which was still an old-fashioned one. We sat on chairs, "cough, cough." Seeing the old man hunch over and walk in while coughing twice, I feared his body couldn't withstand this cough...

  Seeing him walk by steadily and sit down, I realized my worries were unnecessary.

  "Let's get straight to the point, what brings you here this time." The old man seemed to be exerting himself when speaking. "Master Zhu, we've come to ask for some information," I saw Yan Dengfeng speaking respectfully to the old man, and he called him Master Zhu?

  "Is it the affair of the Yin Soul Sect?" As soon as I heard the old man's hoarse voice, I felt that he was still in good spirits. "Master Zhu? How did you know?" This sentence was spoken by me, because I was quite curious about him. "Zi Chuan, this is the famous Three Realms Investigator Zhu Qingpo, there's nothing in our circle that he doesn't know about. Moreover, Master Zhu is also a master of divination."

  Divination? Master told me about the five Taoist techniques: Mountain, Medicine, Fate, Divination and Physiognomy. Each has its own strengths. The mountain pulse is for catching ghosts, the medicine pulse is for healing injuries and illnesses, the fate pulse can observe a person's fate, the art of taking lives, the divination pulse can detect anything about anyone, even heavenly secrets. The physiognomy pulse is like a Feng Shui master, observing and measuring Feng Shui for people, even searching for dragon pulses.

  Since Dēng Fēng said he was good at divination, then it would make sense that he knew. "No, I didn't use divination for this matter, because on that day I saw you and the Yīn Hún Pài people fighting together." What Zhū Yé said was quite intriguing.

  He said he saw our Yin Soul Clan people fighting each other? Was it him who informed Deng Feng and the others to come?