Chapter 775 - 225: Divine Crow and Community Drum—Why Must the One Who Returns Be Young?

Chapter 775: Chapter 225: Divine Crow and Community Drum—Why Must the One Who Returns Be Young?

At the end of the year, snow was falling.

The snow was very cold.

But colder than the snow was the solitude and loneliness of the human heart.

If there was joy and laughter, the snowy land would be a great place for building snowmen, having snowball fights, and setting off firecrackers, but...those who trekked across this landscape were often alone.

Fang Jianlong was also very lonely; he had left Huakai Town on Yanyun Dao months ago, and wandered this land, witnessing much chaos, much death.

Suffering resonated with him.

And within these months, he had once used his bloodstained hands to save a little girl from a wasteland.

Afterward, he thought his life had changed because a child had added warmth to his loneliness.

Children grow up, and his world would change with it.

However, he quickly discovered that the little girl had already been terminally ill before he rescued her.

How did the illness come?

Fang Jianlong quickly figured it out, and with eyes flashing with rage, he cursed, "Damn it," and then he took his fists to the house of Master Zhao in the neighboring town, hung Master Zhao from the city wall, and sliced him to death.

Blood dripped to the ground, blooming like red flowers.

Fang Jianlong took the decapitated head of the now skeletal Master Zhao and presented it to the little girl, but the girl let out a scream of fear and then...went mad.

Within days, she also...passed away.

In shock and speechless agony, Fang Jianlong forgot that "a wounded child perhaps only needs warmth, not revenge," but it was too late.

He buried the child and then understood a truth: loneliness once warmed, grows colder after it loses warmth.

He didn’t know where to go in this vast world.

Cultivation?

He had lost his drive.

His revenge was fulfilled.

Beyond that, he lost the possibility of cultivation.

For the Lotus Sect had already declined.

In these times, if people found out he was a remnant of the Lotus Sect, endless pursuit and assassination awaited him.

Therefore, he didn’t dare to use power beyond the Sixth Grade, even to kill Master Zhao he only used the means of an ordinary person in the Social World.

So, he dared not cultivate.

He was at the Fifth Grade, and could only effectively cultivate near a Fourth Grade Meat Field, but what Fourth Grade Meat Field wasn’t surrounded by major powers?

Where else could he go?

Suddenly, a thought surged from deep within his soul: Why not return...why not go home...return to one’s roots...that land at least held beautiful memories...born there, buried there.

"Then let’s return to Shanbao County, even if...to live as an ordinary Martial Artist, never to show strength above the Sixth Grade."

Fang Jianlong suddenly made a decision, a decision that suddenly gave him hope.

He walked south, for how long he didn’t know, and amidst the treacherous snowy paths, he faintly heard a woman’s familiar voice from afar.

He could never forget the woman who changed his fate; years ago, he would have left quickly, but now...he suddenly wanted to see her again, even from afar.

So, he climbed over a mountain and reached the adjacent mountain path.

In the gorge, a carriage sped by, snow dust swirling between the wheels, but couldn’t drown out the boy’s intense coughing and... the woman’s anxious voice in the carriage.

"Xiaoyun, the next town is just ahead, hang in there."

"Mom, cold...I’m so cold...I’m really cold...cough cough cough..."

"Xiaoyun..."

Fang Jianlong closed his eyes tightly, took a deep breath, cold air pouring into his stomach, making him feel increasingly desolate and lonely.

He confirmed who the mother and child in the carriage were.

His former wife Zhu Qiao’Er, and the child Zhu Qiao’Er had by then.

Only it seemed that the child must have been traumatized and injured in youth, leaving a chronic illness.

He slowly turned his gaze to the Imperial Hand Seat of the carriage.

The Imperial Hand Seat was a big bearded man, with many scars on his face, but he still looked reliable.

’Is this the new man you’ve found?’

Fang Jianlong mocked himself with a smile, turned around to leave, only to sense something was wrong as he turned, because...his memories of the past were awakened.

That bearded, scarred man looked very familiar!

He frowned, and as he looked again, he found that the bearded man was looking at him too.

To notice him, that meant the other person was likely also a Fifth Grade.

And with a single look, Fang Jianlong confirmed the identity of the other.

The bearded man seemed to recognize him too, even though his face was disfigured, he somehow sensed it, pulled the reins to stop the carriage, raised his head, clasped his fists in greeting, and shouted courteously: "Brother, I greet you."

Fang Jianlong wanted to speak but hesitated, his lips moved twice, then he suddenly turned and ran.

But as he took two steps, a rough voice called out from behind him.

"Fang Jianlong!!"

Fang Jianlong slowed his steps, breathing heavily.

The voice behind him continued.

"Damn it, your wife said she got separated from you, so I escorted her on a journey; what? Do you still want me to continue taking care of her?"

Fang Jianlong came to a complete stop, turned around, and stood on the edge of the cliff again, only to see the bearded man on the Imperial Hand Seat in the gorge below, with his legs crossed, looking up at him.

The bearded man shouted harshly: "Damn it, get down here!"

Fang Jianlong said coldly, "Between you and me...there’s already enmity."

"What enmity?" The bearded man frowned, then burst into laughter, "That was the enmity between the Red Lotus Sect and the Holy Fire Palace, what does it matter to you and me?

Now I’m no longer part of the Holy Fire Palace, and you, if you’re an Elder of the Red Lotus Sect, what are you doing here? This is the road south, a hundred miles ahead takes you to the Long Sleep River, and across the river, is home."