73: My Godly Father (Part 4)

In the Eastern Region, within an unknown deep mountain forest, a figure was flung out by turbulent spatial currents, crashing heavily onto the ground.

As the silver light dissipated, Xiaoyu coughed up a mouthful of blood, her face deathly pale.

By reversing her Cultivation Technique and burning her Origin, her Foundation had completely shattered, and her vitality was rapidly fading away.

She felt her body becoming weightless, as if it could dissipate at any moment.

Yet, she dared not collapse.

The infant in her arms let out a weak cry, the sound stimulating her fading consciousness.

She clutched the swaddling clothes tightly and, using every last ounce of her strength, crawled up from the ground.

Dragging her severely injured body and holding Quan Yun, she struggled forward, step by agonizing step.

She did not know how long she had walked, but after passing through the dense forest, a faint light finally appeared ahead.

It was a lonely little courtyard.

"It is smoke and fire... there are people..."

A glimmer of hope ignited in Xiaoyu's eyes; she quickened her pace, but the burden on her body reached its limit at that very moment.

"Thud."

She could no longer hold on, her body falling forward and slamming heavily against the tightly closed wooden gate.

Yet, at the final moment before collapsing, she still used her body to protect the child in her arms, her hands tightly securing the swaddling clothes to her chest.

Inside the courtyard, the lamp flickered.

The sound of the gate being struck startled the people inside the house.

"Who is it?"

A female voice rang out, asking with vigilance.

With a creak, the wooden gate was pulled open from within.

A middle-aged woman dressed in simple linen clothing stepped out; she was holding a shoe sole she had been stitching, looking no different from an ordinary village woman.

However, when she saw the scene outside the gate, a Killing Intent surfaced in those eyes that should have been dim.

"Where did this little girl come from?"

She crouched down, checked Xiaoyu's breath, and glanced at the infant, who was being tightly protected in her arms.

"So severely injured..."

The woman's brow furrowed.

At this moment, a figure walked out from behind her, limping—a middle-aged man with a face full of vicissitudes.

His expression was dejected and listless.

"An injury like this was likely caused by someone extraordinary."

The man said indifferently.

"Old woman, it is best not to meddle in other people's business, lest we invite trouble."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged woman's face instantly filled with anger.

"Who are you calling an old woman!"

She turned back and glared at the man, but his words also made her hesitate.

She could sense that the power inside this girl was in complete chaos and her Foundation was utterly destroyed—it was clearly the work of a Cultivator. Saving her could indeed invite massive trouble.

Given their current circumstances, they really should not cause any more complications.

The man did not speak again and turned to walk back into the house, as if the two people lying at the gate did not exist at all.

The woman watched his back, then looked down at the unconscious Xiaoyu and the weak life in the swaddling clothes; she turned halfway, intending to give up.

Yet, just as she was about to close the door, she suddenly stopped.

She spoke coldly.

"Madman Li."

The man's footsteps halted, but he did not turn around.

"Seeing someone die and not saving them, worrying about this and that," the woman said, staring at his back, "are you not afraid that your sword heart, which you are so proud of, will be completely sealed by this dust?"

The man's body trembled slightly.

Sword Heart.

What a distant, yet familiar word.

Yes.

Once upon a time, he too was magnificent, a man who, with a single sword, dared to demand the sun and moon change the sky.

When did he begin to become so timid, so afraid of death?

What had worn down his edges, and what had caused his sword to be stained with dust?

For a long time.

He did not turn around, only leaving behind a sentence.

"Wait until their injuries improve, then let them leave."

Having said that, he walked into the dark house.

The woman watched his disappearing back, her eyes brightening.

This was the man she knew.

The Sword God of the past, who with one sword could hold off a million troops.

She no longer hesitated and laboriously half-carried, half-dragged Xiaoyu into the house, settling her onto a simple bed.

The woman brought hot water and medicine, carefully tending to Xiaoyu's wounds.

But the more she examined her, the more her heart sank.

This girl's Foundation was shattered too completely; her internal organs were failing, and she was only hanging on by a single Qi. It was a miracle she had lived until today.

"This little girl, I fear she could die at any moment."

She looked at the quiet infant in the swaddling clothes and sighed.

"How could I really bear to let a baby who is still nursing drift on the streets?"

Her maternal instincts were touched.

Perhaps having heard her voice, Xiaoyu on the bed struggled to open her eyes.

Her vision was already blurred, yet she still stared fixedly at the woman.

"Please... please..."

"Save the child..."

"This child... is named Quan Yun..."

After saying these few words, she lapsed into unconsciousness again, her breathing becoming increasingly weak.

"Quan Yun?"

The woman murmured the name, her heart stirring.

Quan?

Could it be that family?

She subconsciously probed the infant's body with a wisp of spiritual power, only to discover that his body was completely empty, his Meridians blocked; he was clearly just the most ordinary Mortal Body.

She smiled self-deprecatingly.

She had overthought it.

How could the Bloodline of that family possibly end up in a place like this?

...

Six years, gone in the snap of a finger.

At the village entrance, several women were sitting under a large tree chatting, while several children were chasing and playing nearby.

A little boy in tattered clothes, covered in blood, was staggering down from the mountain path in the distance.

His body was covered in scratches and bruises, yet he tightly clutched a few herbs still covered in soil in his hands.

"Hey, look, that little fool is back."

A woman pursed her lips.

"Tsk tsk, covered in injuries again; I'm afraid he went to the back mountain to pick herbs for his dying sister again."

"What a fool; Dr. Li said that his sister's illness cannot be cured even by gods, that she is just prolonging her life with her own vitality, yet he still runs to that dangerous back mountain every day."

"Indeed, with no father or mother, relying on The Cripple Li and Widow He at the end of the village to raise him, and he's still so troublesome."

The discussion was not loud, but it clearly reached the boy's ears.

The boy was none other than Quan Yun.

He ignored those piercing voices, just lowered his head, quickened his pace, and ran toward the lonely little courtyard at the end of the village.

Suddenly, an older child blocked his path.

"Hey, little fool! That sickly sister of yours, she hasn't died yet today?" the child mocked, "Even if you picked every herb from the back mountain, she won't live much longer; don't waste your effort!"

Several children nearby also joined in the laughter.

"Little fool, leave the herbs!" The leading child stepped forward and reached out to snatch the herbs from his arms.

Quan Yun held onto them tightly, refusing to let go.

"No! These are for my sister!" he shouted.

Fists and kicks landed on his body; he gritted his teeth and did not make a sound. The children could not snatch the herbs, so they hit harder and harder.

Quan Yun fell to the ground, curling his body up. But he still protected the herbs in his arms tightly.

However, the roots of the herbs were grabbed by one of the children, who was pulling hard.

"Let go! Without the medicine, my sister will die!"

Quan Yun cried out.

"What does your sister's life or death have to do with me?"

The child mocked, laughing.

With a rip.

The herbs were torn into two pieces, and with the force suddenly released, Quan Yun's head slammed directly onto a stone, and he passed out completely.

"Lit... little fool?"

"Is he alright? He shouldn't be dead, right?"

"You all saw it; he bumped into it himself, it has nothing to do with me."

...

The sounds from the outside world began to become noisy.

Quan Yun felt his consciousness gradually fading.

"Cannot sleep... no medicine... sister will die..."

"Wake up..."

Something was awakening in his mind; Quan Yun felt as if his head were about to explode.

Accompanied by the intense pain in his mind, the dim little pagoda inside his body also began to flicker.