Chapter 1279: The Current State of the Southern Domain

When Chen Changsheng arrived amidst Green Mountain and saw the two burial mounds standing there, his heart grew heavy.

He stood there.

He touched his waist; the Gourd was still there, but once again, it held no wine.

Tears inexplicably welled in his eyes as his thoughts drifted to the past. He, Chen Changsheng, had watched them grow up.

Ping'an, Ruyi... Ping'an, Ruyi...

"Safe and sound, may all go as you wish..."

"This Chen failed you," Chen Changsheng said.

He stood before the graves, gazing at them for a long time.

A very long time.

Chen Changsheng thought that he would likely never return here. It felt as if nothing was left for him to hold on to.

"Two skewers."

He left this place. Once he walked away, he had no idea when he might return.

"How much?"

"Dao Lord, to you, the root of this world lies in nature. But what is This Chen's Dao? Will This Chen ever be able to comprehend it?"

Chen Changsheng's gaze swept over, catching sight of the man selling candied hawthorns, and he immediately called out to stop him.

"Two wen a skewer."

Twice up the mountain, twice down.

He seemed to have left his thoughts amidst Green Mountain.

He looked out at the world. In this moment, he did not know where to go.

"Guest, would you like to buy a Candied Hawthorn Skewer?"

Chen Changsheng grew increasingly afraid of time.

Walking aimlessly through Qingshan City, he heard a few hawking cries.

He took a deep breath, gazing far off into the mountains and rivers of heaven and earth.

After descending the mountain, Chen Changsheng looked desolate.

The people he missed were long gone. It was as if on this road, there was no longer any place for him to rest. Even a simple thatched hut had not been left for him.

He was worse off than the lonely ghosts and wandering spirits of the world; at least they could move forward, step by step, with the passage of time.

"Candied Hawthorn Skewers! Candied Hawthorn Skewers here..."

Chen Changsheng had carried those Candied Hawthorn Skewers back up the mountain and left them there.

He thoroughly loathed these fleeting years. The heavens had granted him life, yet stripped away his death.

"Alright."

Chen Changsheng did not know what the road ahead held. He had seen Jiuxiaozi merging with the Dao of nature—this was the only path he knew.

He also understood that this was someone else's Dao. Yet, wasn't Jiuxiaozi also himself? He could only walk slowly, observe slowly, and comprehend slowly. In the distant future, there would always be changes. From a single point of origin, myriad transformations would arise.

This would be a long, long road.

...

Chen Changsheng walked through the Mortal World.

He no longer sank into this Red Dust; instead, he watched with his eyes, using it for his Cultivation.

He became different from before.

The Mister of the past now seemed unwilling to interact too deeply with others.

He always left in a hurry. Here today, gone tomorrow, with no one knowing where he went.

Winter of the forty-seventh year of Shunzhi.

With the arrival of winter, the demon disaster in the Southern Domain had quieted down slightly.

Along the borders of the Demon Race in the Southern Domain, many commoners still remained.

When a place teetered on the edge of danger, it also became a land where rules struggled to reach.

With the influx of many jianghu wanderers and cultivators, this place had descended into chaos years ago.

Because the people here were too mixed and unruly, the rules could no longer bind them.

"What are you doing? What are you doing..."

The vegetable-peddling woman struggled desperately. Tears filled her eyes as she cried out, "Sir, please let me go! Sir!"

"Stop screaming!"

"Mmph, mmph..."

The woman's mouth was clamped shut, and she was forcefully dragged away by the soldier.

Many bystanders watched this unfold, but they were powerless and dared not step forward to stop him.

Years of demon chaos had long eroded the minds of these soldiers. They had forgotten who they once were. As one person reached out to take, more and more followed, their faces becoming increasingly vile and stomach-churning.

The soldier dragged the woman into an alley.

Tears streamed from the woman's eyes. With her mouth covered, she couldn't make a sound.

The soldier smacked his lips and laughed, "Little bitch, you think rubbing some dirt on your face means I won't recognize you?"

Saying that, he reached out to grope her.

But in the next moment, a hand clapped onto his shoulder.

"Sir, why don't you let her go?"

"Huh?"

When he turned around, he saw a man in a green robe looking at him with calm eyes.

Seeing his good time interrupted, a surge of anger instantly flared in the soldier's chest.

"Who the hell are you?!"

With that, he kicked out.

Chen Changsheng grabbed the incoming leg, his palm clamping down on the soldier's ankle before he applied force.

"Ah!!"

The soldier instantly let out a miserable shriek.

"You motherf—"

But before he could finish his curse, the man brought down a knife-hand strike.

The soldier's vision went black, and he collapsed.

The woman's face was smeared with dirt and her eyes were red. Seeing the soldier collapse in front of her, she was terrified out of her wits.

Trembling, she watched the scene with fear.

"He... he..."

Seeing her state, Chen Changsheng said, "He isn't dead. He merely fainted."

Hearing this, the woman breathed a sigh of relief. She pressed her lips together and immediately began kowtowing to Chen Changsheng.

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord!"

Chen Changsheng looked at her and asked, "Where is your home? Do you need This Chen to escort you back?"

The woman pressed her lips together, stammering, "I..."

Her gaze fell upon the unconscious man before her, endless fear filling her heart.

"I don't know. I don't know..."

Chen Changsheng immediately understood. Looking at the soldier on the ground, he said, "He could also simply never wake up."

These words made the woman's heart shudder. Her arms trembled.

"Kill... kill him..."

The woman muttered. Perhaps her mind was in too much turmoil; at this moment, she was somewhat incoherent.

Chen Changsheng crouched down and said, "Don't be afraid."

"The situation here is much worse than This Chen imagined," he said.

He turned to look at the woman, asking, "Do things like this happen often here?"

The woman pursed her lips and said, "Mm..."

Chen Changsheng understood. After nodding, he asked, "What is your name?"

"Su Shi."

Chen Changsheng paused for a moment and asked, "Which Shi?"

"The Shi from persimmon."

"I see..."

Chen Changsheng stood up and said, "This Chen will escort you back. Don't come here to sell vegetables anymore."

"Thank you... thank you..."

Tears in her eyes, the woman mumbled her thanks.

They walked out of the alley.

Su Shi looked back at the alley and said, "That man, he..."

Chen Changsheng said, "You don't need to worry. He will never wake up again."

Su Shi's heart trembled. Hearing those words, she couldn't help but feel a flicker of fear. But on second thought, she felt relieved.

Dead...

It was better that he was dead.

If he was dead, she would never have to worry again.

She thought to herself, unsure if she was thinking about the shameless soldier, or herself...