He and It Chapter 213: Inquire Here (41)

Chapter 213:  Inquire Here (41)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Weakness was evil, and avoidance was also evil.

However, what room did Yan Huan have for weakness or avoidance? He turned around, prepared to face Liu Fuguang’s criticism and disappointment.

To his surprise, Liu Fuguang was no longer looking at him. He was speaking with Jin Cuixu, his long, jade-like hand gently resting on the other’s shoulder, an encouraging smile on his face.

In an instant, Yan Huan’s emotions shifted from fear to intense jealousy and rage.

He could endure anything, every bit of hatred, every bit of pain, every tear as burning as a fiery blade, all that Liu Fuguang had given him. Yet there was one thing he could not bear no matter what.

That was Liu Fuguang’s indifference, combined with the attention that should have been his being generously given to someone else!

…And he could do nothing about it.

He composed himself, hid his grimace, and approached them with a forced smile.

“…You have such aspirations. That’s good,” Liu Fuguang said as he looked at Jin Cuixu. Only Yan Huan could see the underlying concern in his smile. “However, such grand ambitions are truly difficult to achieve…”

Jin Cuixu grinned and raised a fist with vigor. “It’s all about effort! Taking one step at a time, and there will eventually be results, right? There are many women like Yue Niang in the mundane world. They are women, and I am a woman too! I have the strength and time, so if someone like me, a cultivator, doesn’t stand up for them, who will?”

Liu Fuguang nodded and returned the Songwen Sword to her, as he said gently, “You are a good child.”

Jin Cuixu’s face turned red. She scratched her head and chuckled, “It’s been a long time since I left. I should return to report to my sect! Brother Fuguang, Brother Yan, thank you both for helping with the issue of the Nine Sons’ Mother Goddess!”

She leaned in and whispered, “I know you’re not ordinary cultivators, right? I won’t tell my sect about you. Some of them…” 

Her expression dimmed for a moment, then she smiled again. “Some of them are quite unreasonable. They would definitely come and bother you, and then I’d be repaying kindness with enmity, wouldn’t I?”

Liu Fuguang smiled and said, “All right. As you say.”

Jin Cuixu waved goodbye one last time, skipped through the moonlight on the ground, then took off on her flying sword with a whoosh.

Cultivators parting ways without lingering farewells after a brief encounter was something Liu Fuguang was accustomed to. Yan Huan pretended to be indifferent and asked, “Why are you worried about her?”

“…She’s still young,” Liu Fuguang said, as he put away his smile and gazed at the streaks of sword energy that tore through the clouds. “She actually said she wants to help all women in the world, so they no longer suffer or endure hardship…”

Yan Huan was about to burst out laughing, but remembered to keep his composure, and quickly silenced himself. He briefly said, “She doesn’t understand.”

“She indeed doesn’t understand,” Liu Fuguang said softly. “Among cultivators, respect is often given to the strong, and this can somewhat alleviate the situation. However, in the mortal world, how many rites and rules are rooted in the suffering and exploitation of women?”

“A ruler controls the lives of subjects, parents control the lives of children, husbands control the lives of wives and concubines, and masters control the lives of servants. Are some people inherently more noble than others? These are all forms of malevolence and karmic debt. Those who are oppressed are bound to harbor resentment, and if they dare not vent this resentment upwards, it will be vented upon those lower than themselves.”

Yan Huan spoke slowly, “If you count the most marginalized in the world…”

“—Wives, concubines, daughters, servants, and courtesans,” Liu Fuguang said with a bitter smile. “Talent goes unappreciated, innate gifts are disregarded, personal freedom is nonexistent, dignity and life are withered away under confinement and servitude…For thousands of years, such massive karmic burdens—who can possibly resolve them?”

He said quietly, “Even as someone embodying virtue, I wouldn’t dare to make such an audacious claim. If Jin Cuixu were a man, I would definitely criticize him for being so ignorant of the world’s realities…”

Yan Huan was silent for a moment and said, “This is her chosen path. If she’s not willing, no one can decide for her.”

Liu Fuguang lowered his head in silence. He casually cast a spell to restore the destroyed houses and streets, while he absentmindedly examined the divine tablet that Yue Niang had given him, using the moonlight to scrutinize it.

He suddenly stopped, surprise in his eyes.

“Hmm?”

Yan Huan quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”

Liu Fuguang held up the divine tablet, with a frown. “This thing…”

Yan Huan took it and looked. The divine tablet wasn’t exaggerated or ornate, and hardly needed both hands to hold. It was small, very simple and compact. It was about four fingers wide and a palm’s length long, thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges. It was engraved with the words “Nine Sons’ Mother Goddess” but had been soaked in blood and malevolence for so long that its original appearance was unrecognizable. Only the evenly spaced pine patterns were still faintly visible.

Yan Huan said, “Hmm, it’s four fingers wide, which is the standard size of a sword.”

“Then you think like I do,” Liu Fuguang said. “This thing does look like it was cut from a sword.”

What sword?

As Liu Fuguang stared at the pattern on the divine tablet, he was reminded of the sword he had held earlier—a newer, sharper sword.

The Pine Pattern Seven Star Sword.

“Let’s check elsewhere,” Liu Fuguang said. “A mere Yue Niang is not a significant anchor point for the struggle between good and evil.”

A few days later, the two traversed mountains and plains. When they heard of a powerful demon causing havoc by a riverbank and killing many people, they decided to investigate.

As he stood on a cloud and observed from afar, Liu Fuguang saw the great river’s surging waters roll like a white ribbon on the horizon. As they got closer, he was astonished to see a massive demon standing in the river’s center, looming like a giant tower. The demon had a spiral shell, demonic energy that soared to the sky, and countless whip-like tentacles that extended from its shell, as it mocked and tormented the cultivator who fought it in mid-air.

Compared to the enormous demon, the cultivator on their flying swords appeared like a tiny insect, who was struggling and barely holding their ground.

Liu Fuguang suddenly felt puzzled. “Where is that crying sound coming from?”

Indeed, even the roaring river and the demon’s raucous laughter couldn’t drown out the continuous crying. It wasn’t the sound of just a few people, it was a sharp, endless cacophony of thousands of voices; like chilling hailstorms raining down it caused one’s blood to surge and heart to tremble.

Yan Huan hurriedly covered Liu Fuguang’s eyes. “Fuguang, don’t look. I’ll take care of it soon…”

Liu Fuguang frowned and pushed his hand away.

—That’s when he saw the truth. The demon’s spiral shell wasn’t perfectly smooth, it was covered with the faces of countless wronged women. One on top of the other, packed tightly, layer upon layer, endlessly. As the demon’s movements became more violent, the tortured souls were crushed and shoved around. Their mouths gaped wide as they cried out in agony.

Liu Fuguang, “…”

He moved his lips, and the next moment, he vomited.

Yan Huan was horrified and flustered. After a moment of panic, he decided to address the source of the problem directly. He swiftly transformed into his true form, opened his enormous mouth, and swallowed the problem and once and for all without even chewing.

The demon suddenly felt darkness envelop it. It struggled uselessly in the dragon’s maw, but found itself crushed as the heavens and earth converged. Its spiral shell turned to dust, its flesh turned to mush, and its millennia of demonic essence transformed into a torrent of blood.

The thousands of sacrificed souls surged towards the sky, engulfed the heavens in darkness, blocked out the sun and moon, and caused a violent thunderstorm to break out.

Yan Huan returned to his human form and intended to rejoin his partner, but suddenly had a premonition. He looked down and saw an unlucky cultivator who had been fighting the demon who was still struggling in the turbulent river.

With a thought towards Liu Fuguang’s recent indifference towards him, Yan Huan decided to do a good deed for once. He beckoned and rescued the unfortunate cultivator, and, with some amusement, planned to take him back to Liu Fuguang.

To his surprise, when the cultivator was brought up…

“Qing…Fuguang!” Yan Huan exclaimed. “Look who this is.”

Liu Fuguang was deeply concerned as he looked at Jin Cuixu, drenched and pale, as she continued to involuntarily cough up water. 

“Foolish!” he exclaimed, and quickly stood up to channel spiritual energy into her, and protected her severely injured heart veins. “How dare someone at the Foundation Establishment stage confront a Nascent Soul-level demon!”

The sky was overcast, with the thunderstorms continuing unabated. Liu Fuguang found a clean spot in the forest and landed the cloud. He cast a water-clearing spell and had Yan Huan summon a hot summer wind to dry Jin Cuixu’s soaked clothes. After he wrapped her in a thick blanket, he also crushed half a commonly used pill and mixed it with clean water, which he administered to Jin Cuixu.

In no time, the young Taoist opened her eyes.

“Brother Fuguang…?” Jin Cuixu murmured, her vision still hazy. “And…uh, who…? Am I dreaming…?”

The moment she mentioned “who” Yan Huan’s face fell dramatically.

“This isn’t a dream,” Liu Fuguang said sternly. “You’re fortunate to have run into us. Tell me, how did you end up here, alone, battling a major demon?”

Jin Cuixu came to her senses and glanced at Liu Fuguang, then cautiously at Yan Huan, and realized she wasn’t dreaming.

She lowered her head, bit her lip and remained silent.

When he observed her face, Liu Fuguang could see that the pallor was indeed due to injury, but the melancholy and faint dark circles under her eyes were not caused by a demon. 

“Half a month ago, you were searching for Yue Niang. Now, you’ve come to confront this—”

“—The Lord of the River,” Jin Cuixu said. “It calls itself the Lord of the River, but it lives off human sacrifices. During the fishing seasons of spring and autumn, it occupies the river and demands offerings from fishermen. It doesn’t want young boys or girls, it prefers virginal girls around sixteen or seventeen years old, and uses their essence to cultivate.”

Her voice lowered, “If those girls are lucky…they are swallowed alive after being defiled.”

“So, there are unlucky cases?” Yan Huan asked. “From your tone, it seems that being mistreated is a common occurrence?”

Liu Fuguang warned, “Yan Huan.”

The Dragon God quieted down, and licked the taste of the demon shell from his mouth.

“Alright,” Liu Fuguang continued. “Half a month ago, you were searching for Yue Niang, and now you’re challenging the so-called Lord of the River. What’s next for you?”

Jin Cuixu hesitated. “I…I’m following the orders of my sect. I cannot disobey…”

“Orders from your sect?” Liu Fuguang was furious. “If your sect told you to go after a Ghost Dragon, would you foolishly go as well?”

Yan Huan choked, and stayed silent.

“I don’t know what a Ghost Dragon is,” Jin Cuixu said timidly. “My sect has entrusted me with important tasks. I cannot let them down. They say it’s for my own good. My talents are extraordinary, and they can no longer teach me anything new. Staying in the sect means only managing mundane affairs. It’s better to gain experience outside…”

Yan Huan was amused, and muttered to himself, “Indeed, if they can’t find a way to make you die once, they’ll quickly find another way. They’re really paying too much attention to you. I can’t complain.”

Liu Fuguang was silent for a long moment, then stood up, fetched a cup of water and handed it to Yan Huan.

“You just swallowed a demon whole. Rinse your mouth quickly to check if there are any fragments of the shell…” he said. “Hurry up.”

Yan Huan stared at the cup of water and felt deeply touched. 

This…this was the first time Fuguang had personally handed him water in many years! And he even cared if there were any fragments of the shell stuck in his mouth!

The Dragon God was overwhelmed with emotion, held back tears of warmth, and obediently went to rinse his mouth.

Suddenly, with the water in his mouth, his expression changed to one of confusion. 

Yan Huan turned around, eyes wide, as he tried to catch Liu Fuguang’s attention.

“Mmm, mmm, mmm…ugh!” he gestured. “Mmm!”

Liu Fuguang’s face was a mask of disbelief as he examined the tiny, rusted fragments of the Sword of Pine Pattern Seven Stars that Yan Huan had spit on the ground. The fragments, worn and corroded by water and stomach acid, revealed their identity only when scrutinized closely.

“This is…” Liu Fuguang could hardly believe his eyes. “This is the young lady’s sword.”

Yan Huan, with a grave expression, nudged the remnants with his foot. “How many times has she died? Or rather, how many versions of her have perished here?”

Liu Fuguang, deeply troubled, turned to Jin Cuixu, who was still disoriented. He crouched in front of her and asked, “Where is your sword?”

Jin Cuixu, confused, pulled out the Pine Pattern Seven Stars Sword and showed it to Liu Fuguang. “It’s here.”

“Who gave you this sword?” Liu Fuguang pressed.

Jin Cuixu thought for a moment and replied, “It was given to me personally by my Great Uncle before he entered closed-door training. He has always cared for me, and my sect has been good to me.”

“So, apart from you, no one else has used this sword?” Liu Fuguang asked, his gaze intense.

Jin Cuixu nodded, puzzled by his questions.

Liu Fuguang’s expression softened as he looked at the young woman. Then a realization came to him.

 

This world’s anchor of good and evil, the point of contention between yin and yang, is undoubtedly you, Liu Fuguang thought, feeling a deep sense of responsibility and concern for the young Taoist.