The rumors grew more intense by the day.
At first they were only scattered bits of idle talk with only a general direction.
Later they acquired specific names.
True Person Feng Xuan.
Yun Qing and his wife.
Yun Zhuo.
Feng Changzhen.
One by one they were like seeds deliberately scattered, taking root and sprouting in the village.
Bai Heng squatted on the rock and listened with pricked ears to the voices carried on the wind.
“Have you heard? That child is called Yun Zhuo. He is the one living with the Qin family right now!”
“That is right! That Feng family? The Feng family among the three great clans? The one who harmed his father and stole his spiritual root is someone from the Feng family. That True Person Feng Xuan is a Nascent Soul stage great expert! In order to pave the way for his own great-grandson he personally dug out that child’s spiritual root.”
Bai Heng’s ears twitched slightly as she took in every sentence.
The details were even more thorough than what she knew.
Clearly someone had carefully crafted the story, polishing every detail of the tragedy until it sounded vivid and convincing.
The corruption within the Qingxu Sect.
Yun Qing and his wife’s forced endurance.
Every detail of Lin Wan’s self-detonation of her Golden Core had been smoothed until it gleamed.
True Person Feng Xuan’s domineering nature sounded as if the speaker had witnessed it personally.
Yet Bai Heng knew better.
Old Widow Wu sat at her doorway basking in the sun, hunched over as usual.
Bai Heng withdrew her gaze and looked toward the small courtyard in the village that stood beside the old locust tree.
The liveliest place in the village was the newly opened inn.
Those rumors carried her share of contribution.
The innkeeper was a merchant from out of town with a round face who loved to smile and spoke in a pleasing manner.
He had somehow hired a professional storyteller who performed every evening in the main hall of the inn.
The story he told was exactly that tale.
The names had been changed and the locations altered, yet anyone with eyes could tell it was the story of the Yun family.
The storyteller’s eloquence was exceptional.
When he spoke of True Person Feng Xuan stealing the spiritual root his voice trembled with emotion.
When he spoke of Lin Wan self-detonating her Golden Core the entire hall sighed in sorrow.
When he spoke of the orphaned child being hidden in a mountain village and enduring humiliation while shouldering heavy burdens everyone felt a pang of regret.
At the end of the story the orphan obtained a fortuitous encounter, took a powerful expert as his master, returned after mastering his skills, and exacted revenge to wash away his hatred.
Cheers and applause rose continuously from the audience below.
Bai Heng listened from afar and felt a trace of感慨 in her heart.
The story had indeed been well crafted — satisfying, cathartic, with good and evil clearly rewarded.
Mortals loved to hear it.
Even cultivators felt a certain sense of relief upon listening.
Yet reality was never so simple.
The cultivators’ reactions were far more complicated than those of the mortals.
For one thing, many people in this village already knew some of the inside story.
They knew who Yun Qing was.
They knew who Yun Zhuo was.
They also knew about the secret realm matter.
But the spiritual root theft was something they were truly hearing for the first time.
If the rumors were true then many things suddenly made sense.
Why had Yun Qing sealed his son’s memories?
Why had he preferred to entrust the child to an ordinary hunter rather than bring him back to the Qingxu Sect?
Why had Yun Qing hidden his son in this remote mountain village?
Why had he placed a seal on him?
He feared his son would suffer.
He feared even more that his son would be killed.
The way the cultivators looked at Qin Yun grew even more complicated.
Yun Qing’s relics.
The key to the secret realm.
If these rumors were true then Yun Qing’s guilt toward his son must be heavier than the heavens.
If he had truly left anything behind, to whom would he have left it?
The answer was obvious.
The scouts from the Qingxu Sect and the Feng Clan reacted the fastest.
That Chen-named scholar from the Qingxu Sect left the village on the third day after the rumors began to spread.
He claimed he was going to the prefectural city to visit friends, yet Bai Heng knew he had gone to deliver a report.
The Wang-named widow from the Feng Clan did not leave.
She continued hanging laundry and cooking in her courtyard as usual.
Yet Bai Heng could tell with a single thought that she had certainly sent word upward as well, only her methods were more concealed.
As expected, two days later new people arrived in the village.
They came openly and aboveboard.
Two cultivators, one man and one woman.
The man was a middle-aged Daoist with a lean face wearing the robes of the Qingxu Sect and a long sword at his waist.
The woman was a young lady with delicate features and luxurious clothing whose attire marked her as someone from the Feng Clan.
Both were at the Golden Core stage.
When they entered the village they made no attempt to conceal their cultivation.
The faint pressure of Golden Core cultivators spread out and the entire village fell silent for an instant.
Bai Heng understood.
Granny Jiang’s words had come true.
Those rumors had forced the people in the shadows out into the open.
The village head gathered his courage and stepped forward to ask what the two immortal masters had come for.
Bai Heng squatted on the rock and watched those two figures walk into the village, a thought stirring in her heart.
The middle-aged Daoist spoke in a calm tone.
He said that Yun Zhuo, son of the Qingxu Sect elder Yun Qing, was here.
He had come on the orders of the sect master to bring him back to the mountain.
The young woman also nodded slightly and said that the Feng Clan had heard the rumors and had come specifically to clarify matters.
The spiritual root theft was pure slander.
The Feng Clan was willing to work together with the Qingxu Sect to investigate the truth and give Yun Zhuo the justice he deserved.
Bai Heng listened to these words and thought to herself: How beautifully spoken.
Yet she saw that behind the middle-aged Daoist several Foundation Establishment stage disciples had followed.
Behind the young woman several Feng Clan cultivators had also arrived.
Were they here to retrieve him or to lock him away?
To clarify or to silence him?
Qin Shi and his wife were terrified.
They were only ordinary mortals.
When had they ever seen such a formation?
Two immortal masters had brought many people and said they wanted to take their son away.
Qin Yun stood in the courtyard, his face pale yet showing no sign of retreat.
“I am not going.”
He spoke, his voice trembling slightly yet very firm.
“My father and mother are here. My younger sister is here. I am not going anywhere.”
The middle-aged Daoist looked at him with a complicated gaze.
“You are the son of Yun Qing. Your father was an elder of the Qingxu Sect. You should return to the Qingxu Sect.”
Qin Yun shook his head.
“I do not know any Yun Qing. My name is Qin Yun. I am the son of the Qin family.”
He paused.
“I do not remember any of the things you spoke of. I only know that my father is called Qin Shi, my mother is called Li Lianhua, and my younger sister is called Qin Yu.”
The middle-aged Daoist was silent for a moment and sighed.
“You do not remember because your memories were sealed. Whether that seal was placed by your father or by someone else we do not know. Yet your identity is beyond doubt.”
He glanced at Qin Yun.
“Come back with us. Once the seal is undone you will know everything.”
Qin Yun did not speak.
He simply stood there and refused to move.
Li Lianhua stood to the side, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
Qin Shi held her hand, his face ashen, yet he did not know what to say.
Qin Yu shrank behind Qin Yun and called softly, “Brother.”
Qin Yun turned to look at her.
Then he turned back to face the middle-aged Daoist and spoke one word at a time.
“I am not going.”
The atmosphere froze.
Qin Yun shook his head.
The young woman spoke, her voice gentle and refined.
“Young Master Yun need not worry. Both the Qingxu Sect and the Feng Clan will investigate clearly. No one will be allowed to harm you. You will be protected in every way.”
“I am not going anywhere.”
After he finished speaking he turned and walked into the house.
Li Lianhua followed him inside.
Qin Shi stood at the doorway and blocked anyone from entering.
The middle-aged Daoist and the young woman exchanged a glance yet both acted with perfect decorum and did not make any further moves.
Mu Xuejun stood outside the crowd and watched this scene, her brows slightly furrowed.
She turned and walked up the mountain.
Bai Heng squatted on the rock and watched the commotion in the village from afar, still thinking about Granny Jiang’s words.
Those people had indeed come.
They had come faster than expected.
She gently flicked her tail and withdrew her gaze.
Footsteps sounded in the forest.
Mu Xuejun emerged from behind the bushes and sat down beside her.
Bai Heng nodded.
Mu Xuejun was silent for a moment.
“That child refuses to go.”
Bai Heng did not speak.
She paused.
Mu Xuejun gazed at the distant village and sighed.
“Those people claim they came to take him away. If it were me I would not go either. Yet who knows what they are truly planning.”
Bai Heng’s tail paused slightly.
Mu Xuejun looked at her and suddenly asked, “Little White sister, did you already know it would turn out like this?”
Bai Heng did not answer.
Mu Xuejun did not press further and simply said, “No matter what, I will keep an eye on that child.”
Bai Heng nodded.
The two of them sat like that and watched the village below the mountain.
Dusk gradually thickened and lights lit up one after another.
The lamp in the Qin family courtyard remained lit throughout the entire night.