At dawn, sowhere around Loulan.
Earthy yellow Yardang landforms wound across the earth, each one at least a hundred ters long, vast and desolate, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Ten-ter-high earth mounds rose and fell, and the morning sun gradually brightened, dyeing the mounds golden-red, looking from afar like a sleeping giant dragon.
In such a remote and dangerous place, where salt crusts covered the ground and there was almost nowhere to stand, once one entered the heartland, logically speaking, there should be very few people. But at this mont, a figure was running along the ridge of the earth mounds, facing the rising sun.
It was an adult male dressed in white, carrying a long sword on his back, surrounded by dazzling silver light. Within the silver light, vigorous ink brush characters occasionally flashed.
Either 【Fighting three thousand li, a single sword once blocked a million troops.】, or 【Ten years sharpening a sword, its cold soul shines upon mountains and rivers.】, or perhaps 【Killing one person in ten steps, leaving no trace for a thousand li】...
A white-clad swordsman, as if with special effects, ran wildly across the desolate Gobi Desert, truly flamboyant.
After rushing across the sprawling Gobi Desert for an unknown length of ti, the morning sun had already turned into a scorching sun. It was only then that Bai Kai slowed down, the silver light around him dissipated, and he stopped before a very small oasis.
Calling it an oasis was a stretch; it was actually just a muddy pool not much bigger than a bathtub, with a few clumps of half-dead cal thorns growing around it and a few Populus euphratica trees standing tall.
Having stopped, Bai Kai headed straight for the cave carved into the rock face at one corner of the oasis, intentionally Bypass the Populus euphratica trees beside him as he walked.
Although many articles describe Populus euphratica as a symbol of perseverance, Bai Kai couldn't bring himself to like them at all.
In the Gobi Desert, there has always been such a legend, saying that where Populus euphratica grows, the souls of ancient warriors who could not rest in peace are buried beneath, which is why they grow into that twisted, struggling appearance.
Bai Kai didn't know if the Populus euphratica in other places were the sa as in the legend, but he knew that the ones here were definitely not normal.
As Bai Kai walked, before he even reached the cave in the rock face, soone ca out to greet him.
It was an Old man with white hair and beard and cloudy eyes, wearing a dirty sheepskin coat whose original color was indistinguishable, with a rusty pipe tucked into his waist and leaning on a red willow staff, looking like a mber of the Beggar's Sect from a martial arts novel.
Seeing the Old man approach, Bai Kai imdiately went up to him and said respectfully, "Master!"
Hearing this, a sharp glint suddenly flashed in the Old man's cloudy eyes. His figure flickered and disappeared from his original spot, reappearing behind Bai Kai. He reached out his rough large hand and gave his butt a hard pinch.
So, there's a reason why Shui Ge is so flamboyant all the ti; with a Master like that, there's bound to be a disciple like that, it's not strange.
"Master, this behavior of yours would get you arrested outside. Don't you know that molesting n is also illegal now?" Bai Kai complained, "If you take on any more disciples in the future, you can't do this."
"Hmph, you're full of nonsense, you know I can't get out."
The Old man said with a smile, his gaze passing over Bai Kai and looking behind him with a puzzled expression, "Why are you alone? Where's Lu Ming?"
"He's already..." Bai Kai hesitated, lowering his head.
The Old man tilted his head, examined Bai Kai's expression, and asked softly, "Dead?"
"Mm..."
"Ah—!"
The Old man sighed deeply, looked out at the vast Gobi Desert with his hands behind his back, a few glistening tears welling up in his cloudy eyes, "It's good that he's dead, it's good! Living is just suffering anyway, at least now he can go down and keep her company!"
After a pause, the Old man turned around to look at Bai Kai, changing the subject, "Speaking of which, you've co all this way to see , I'm afraid it's not just to visit this old man, is it?"
"Tell , what do you want to do?"
"I want..." Bai Kai opened his mouth, hesitated for a mont before continuing, "I want to go to Jingjue, get sothing for Xiao Bei, and ca to see you along the way."
"Oh, good thing, good thing." The Old man nodded thoughtfully, "Do you need my help?"
"No need to trouble you." Bai Kai said, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the Populus euphratica behind him, "You still have to watch over that thing here, you can't leave for too long, can you?"
"Alright then!" The Old man trusted his disciple's abilities very much and nodded, "Why don't you stay for a day? It's been a long ti since we Master and disciple t, we can have a drink and catch up."
Bai Kai glanced at the dark cave behind the Old man and said with a wry smile, "Wouldn't it be inconvenient for to stay? Rao Hua is probably a big Miss now, the three of us squeezed into one cave wouldn't be very convenient, even though I watched her grow up, I still need to avoid suspicion, right?"
"Hmph—!"
As soon as Bai Kai finished speaking, the Old man let out a cold snort, looking disappointed and said, "Don't even ntion her, just ntioning her makes angry!"
"This..." Bai Kai looked puzzled.
Seeing this, the Old man rolled his eyes and said sourly, "Girls grow up and can't be kept at ho. Ever since she found out about Lu Yibei's existence, she's always wanted to et her."
"I told her, Lu Yibei might live a normal life forever, and then the arranged marriage won't count, so she shouldn't bother her."
"But she said, ordinary people should be protected even more. And just recently, she ran off by herself! Leaving , her Grandpa, all alone and lonely. If I die here one day, I'm afraid no one will even collect my body."
"Counting the days..." The Old man calculated with his fingers for a mont, "If she didn't delay on the way, she should have arrived in Hua City long ago."
"Strange, I thought she would go find you, her uncle. I even thought you had already t!"
"Haven't t." Bai Kai shook his head, secretly thinking to himself, "Fortunately, she didn't co!"
When he was learning from his Master, he had already deeply experienced the terror of Nanling Yaohua, that female demon, which almost gave him gynophobia.
Fortunately, the outside world is beautiful, and the girls outside are even more beautiful, giving him the chance to beco the King of the Hua City Night, whose ** is comparable to a dog licking water, and whose finger techniques are as flexible as a devil.
Thinking back to when Nanling Yaohua would grab vipers and put them in his bed, she was only four or five years old. Now, after more than ten years, she has grown into a big Miss and is full of skills. Just thinking about it is terrifying.
"Dang dang—!"
As Bai Kai was thinking, the Old man tapped his red willow staff, the crisp sound interrupting his thoughts.
The Old man raised his eyebrows at him and said pitifully, "How about it, can you stay and keep this old man company now? I'm really lonely, you know!"
Bai Kai's mouth twitched, "Master, please have so self-respect. Although your Spirit Mark is Flying Sky, it's inevitably a bit... *cough*... but if you keep this ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) up, I'll have to take you back for inspection!"
"Hmph! I'm perfectly normal! One word, are you staying or not?!"
"Staying, of course I'm staying!" Bai Kai said helplessly.
Hearing this, the Old man looked happy, "Hehe, then I'll go to the Yellow Earth Mound Village over there and get a sheep."
"Then I'll go get so wine!"
"When you co back, start a fire too!" the Old man added.
"Finally..."
"Sleeping in the sa bed tonight!" The Master and disciple said in unison, looked at each other and smiled, the entire cave entrance filled with a strange atmosphere.
...
Huacheng Institute of Technology, in an office.
Professor Ma sat at his desk, rubbing his aching temples, his face full of worry, muttering sothing to himself.
"Alive, how could this dead person suddenly co back to life? He couldn't be lying to , could he?"
Earlier, a guest had co to Professor Ma's office. It was the young man who had brought him the bamboo slips a few days ago.
Unlike his elegant deanor last ti, this ti he was pale, with thick dark circles under his eyes, as if he had encountered sothing terrifying.
The first thing he said when he saw Professor Ma was, "Uncle Ma, my father is alive."
Professor Ma was stunned for a mont, then laughed, thinking the young man was joking, and comforted him, saying, "Nephew, I think you're missing your father too much, aren't you? This won't do! The deceased is gone, the living..."
"No! I think he really ca back to life!"
The young man interrupted Professor Ma resolutely, then looked around nervously for a while, lowered his voice and said, "You must have heard that in our hotown, there's a tradition of fallen leaves returning to their roots. When soone dies, they are kept beside the ancestral grave for a few days until after the seventh day before being buried."
"My eldest brother handled all these matters, while I was busy fulfilling my father's last wish. I didn't rush back ho until the afternoon before the seventh day. By the ti I arrived, I was exhausted and fell asleep on the bed in the ancestral house's attic."
"Then... then..."
As the young man spoke, he began to tremble all over, his teeth chattering as if he were freezing, and it took him a while to compose himself before continuing.
"I woke up in the middle of the night, gulp! I, I saw my father. He was squatting in the shadow in the corner of the room, still wearing his burial clothes, smiling at . Although it was very dark at the ti, I could actually see his pale face."
"He walked over and stroked my forehead, just like when I was little. I was very scared, but I couldn't move at all. I could feel the warmth of his hand; he wasn't a ghost, he was alive!"
"He whispered in my ear, telling to find you and take the bamboo slips back. Then I fell into a deep sleep until dawn the next day. As soon as I got up, I went to the ancestral hall, ignored my eldest brother and the others' obstruction, and opened the coffin..."
The young man stopped speaking here, falling silent. Although he didn't finish his sentence, Professor Ma had already guessed the general idea; the coffin was most likely empty, otherwise he wouldn't have been so frightened.
After a long ti, he pleaded with a tearful voice, "Uncle Ma, please return that thing to my dad! Otherwise, I..."
Facing such a matter, although Professor Ma felt sothing was strange, out of his friendship with the Old man, he ultimately agreed to the young man's request to return the bamboo slips.
However, before that, he needed two days to completely copy the text on the bamboo slips for future research.
...
"How could it suddenly..."
Recalling the young man's dejected figure, like a walking corpse, as he left the office, Professor Ma was speechless for a mont.
Leaving aside whether the young man was telling the truth, even if he was making it up, Professor Ma felt that since the child was in such a state, out of consideration for his father, he should return the bamboo slips.
"Ah—!"
After a long ti, he sighed heavily, withdrew his thoughts, and walked towards the research lab with a sowhat dazed expression.
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