The Peach Blossoms Bloom in Splendor—Finally Found
The Peach Blossoms Bloom in Splendor—Finally Found
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
Starting from the Wonder Domain, all the way to the several great domains beyond the Water Domain where Yue Mingkong was located, Gu Changge had sent people to search them all.
First, using the process of elimination, any Cultivator over the age of thirty could be ruled out, which saved him some time.
In the process, Gu Changge actually found quite a few Cultivators with fairly high Fortuity.
Although they weren’t quite Fortuitous Ones, they could barely be considered people of great Fortuity.
Under his instructions, the Illusion Gates’ influence grew ever stronger, and word of their wide recruitment of disciples even spread to the other domains.
So much so that versions of the story emerged claiming the Exalted Immortal was taking disciples to bring them up to the Beyond, drawing countless young prodigies rushing over, and even causing some old fossils to show themselves.
Gu Changge couldn’t be bothered to correct any of it, and didn’t even show his face.
The more muddled this matter became, the harder it was for anyone to discern his true purpose.
After all, only in muddy waters could one catch fish.
As a result, rumors spread that the Exalted Immortal had a solitary and aloof temperament, and that only those with heaven-defying talent, peerless throughout the ages, could catch his eye.
After that, Gu Changge set off directly, choosing to head for the Sky Domain, the farthest from the Wonder Domain.
In his view, that was the very center of this Overworld map, the place where the Dragon Veins and Fortuity converged.
Finding no news of the Reincarnation of the Mortal One in the other domains didn’t surprise him in the slightest; on the contrary, he felt the greatest possibility lay in the Sky Domain.
Although this method of searching was slow, its strength lay in its thoroughness—there would be no major oversights.
At the same time, he was closely monitoring Yue Mingkong’s movements, and knew that her search for news of the Reincarnation of the Mortal One had turned up just as empty as his own.
If anything, she had stirred up some trouble, nearly allowing certain forces to detect her origins from the Beyond.
In the end, it was Gu Changge who stepped in and plugged those leaks for her.
All of this made Gu Changge sigh faintly.
That fool Yue Mingkong—did she really think that foreknowledge made her invincible?
If he hadn’t come along, with her meager skills, she probably wouldn’t even be able to find where the Reincarnation of the Mortal One was, let alone deal with him.
If anything, she would only land herself in an extremely dangerous situation.
Gu Changge decided that once they returned to the Beyond, he would have to teach Yue Mingkong a lesson and make her understand one principle.
Whatever the matter, she had to discuss it with him, her husband, first—and only act after he agreed.
Soon, after several detours along the way and passing through quite a few Transportation Arrays.
In a certain location in the Sky Domain of the Heavenly Star Realm, Gu Changge’s figure appeared.
He was still alone, with no intention of bringing a large entourage. In the Heavenly Star Realm, a crowd of followers would be less useful than a single Sacred Lord Realm puppet he could casually pull out.
At this thought, the void warped.
A tall puppet with a sallow, waxen face, looking no different from an ordinary person, appeared beside Gu Changge and respectfully called out, “Master.”
“Playing the role of a servant will be more than enough.”
Gu Changge nodded slightly. A Sacred Lord Realm servant—if word got out, every Cultivator and living being in the entire Heavenly Star Realm would probably be scared witless.
Then, master and servant left the area, heading toward more populated regions.
The Sky Domain was different from the other domains; the overall cultivation level here was considerably higher. The Holy Lands of the other domains could only rank as first-rate or second-rate powers in the Sky Domain.
Not long after arriving in the Sky Domain, just as he was about to find a place to settle down first.
Gu Changge suddenly heard the System’s notification sound once more.
<*Ding!* A Reincarnation-type Fortuitous One questline has been triggered. A hint is available.>
“Do you accept?”
Gu Changge’s expression turned somewhat peculiar as he nodded. “Accept.”
It seemed that as his own Fortuity Points increased, the range within which the System could sense Fortuitous Ones expanded as well.
Of course, the more likely reason was that Gu Changge’s current location wasn’t far from the person involved in this questline.
And as Gu Changge chose to accept the hint.
Weng!!
The scene before his eyes grew blurry.
A dazzling, resplendent Peach Tree spread open within a sea of chaos, as bolts of divine lightning of order, thick as mountain ranges, crashed down upon it—earth-shattering and terrifying in momentum.
In the end, this divine lightning of order became a sight as vast and unending as an Astral River.
Every wisp of lightning seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth apart, of shattering the entire universe—terrifying to the extreme.
And this Peach Tree faced that divine lightning of order head-on, rising and falling within it, as if undergoing a complete rebirth.
Finally, the scene shifted.
The vision vanished. The Peach Tree was charred black and broken all over, as if it had lost all vitality, and fell from the cosmos.
And within it was a hazy ball of light, falling down toward some unknown, boundless place.
“A baby girl?”
Gu Changge saw it clearly—that hazy ball of light was unmistakably wrapped around a little infant girl.
This made him frown.
The moment he saw this Peach Tree, his first reaction was the Peach Tree in Peach Village, where Gu Xianer had once lived.
After all, according to Gu Xianer’s destiny template, that Peach Tree’s origins were certainly extraordinary—perhaps it was even an Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit from the most ancient era.
On this point, Gu Changge had never had any doubts.
And now, seeing this scene, especially that mysterious baby girl, Gu Changge couldn’t help but connect it to other things.
A Reincarnation-type Fortuitous One—that clearly referred to the Reincarnation of the Mortal One.
In that case, this mysterious baby girl was also connected to the Fortuitous One, the Mortal One?
Very quickly, a guess faintly formed in Gu Changge’s mind.
“Of course, I’ll still need to confirm it.”
He smiled, his expression carrying a certain depth.
Hong!
Bringing the puppet along, his figure streaked across the region toward a nearby ancient city.
At the same time, beneath his gaze, the many flows of Fortuity across this terrain all manifested before him.
With this, Gu Changge could narrow down the scope.
Judging from the scene in the System’s hint, that mysterious baby girl should have fallen somewhere around here.
Since she was connected to the Reincarnation of the Mortal One, going by age, she shouldn’t be very old.
......
“Grandma, big brother didn’t come back again today. It’s already been a year.”
“Do you think he’s forgotten about Yao Yao?”
In a remote village called Northern Mountain Village.
A little girl with her hair in twin horn-braids, her face smeared with mud, was gazing toward the village entrance, asking the hunched, silver-haired old woman beside her.
The little girl’s clothes were very old.
Many places were patched, but they were clean, and her black-and-white eyes were like the most flawless, purest gemstones.
Her face was deliberately smeared with dirt, and she looked no more than four or five years old.
But everyone in the village who knew the little girl well knew that her true age was more than four or five years.
The little girl was very sensible, and very pitiful.
She had a strange illness—all these years, she hadn’t grown at all, her appearance forever stuck at four or five years old.
“How could that be? Even if your big brother forgot everyone else, he could never forget Yao Yao!”
“Yao Yao, don’t you worry!”
“Your big brother was just taken away by Cultivators. He’ll finish his training and come back very soon. By then, he’ll be a Cultivator who can fly through the sky and burrow through the earth, and he can take you flying everywhere, and take you to eat lots of tasty things, just like candied hawthorns...”
Hearing this, the old woman revealed a kindly smile and said to the little girl.
“Mm-hm, I’ll listen to Grandma. I’ll wait in the village for big brother to come back.”
“Wait for him to take me flying through the sky like a Cultivator, and to eat yummy food.”
The little girl named Yao Yao nodded obediently and sensibly, but she couldn’t help glancing toward the village entrance once more, a look of longing on her face.
All these years, it had been her big brother taking care of her sick grandmother and her young self.
Now her big brother had been noticed by a great master and taken away to cultivate. It had been over a year, yet not a single word had come back.
Though she looked young, she actually understood everything in her heart. Every time she came to the village entrance for a look, besides missing him, how could it not also be worry?
The outside world was very dangerous. Although her big brother had been taken away by a great master, that didn’t necessarily mean he would be safe.
Since she was little, she had heard many stories about the cultivation world—Cultivators killing people and seizing their treasures at the slightest disagreement, taking lives as casually as eating and drinking.
“Yao Yao, don’t worry about your big brother. According to that great master, he comes from the Celestia Holy Land.”
“And your big brother’s physique is one of the very impressive kinds in the cultivation world. He’ll receive the sect’s full nurturing. He must be busy cultivating right now, which is why he has no time to come back and see us.”
Seeing the little girl still wearing that expression, the silver-haired old woman couldn’t help but smile and comfort her thus.
Back then, beneath a Peach Tree in full, glorious bloom, she had discovered this baby girl.
At the time, a layer of hazy light enveloped her, looking most extraordinary.
But it seemed more like she had been abandoned there.
The peach blossoms bloom in splendor, brilliant in their glory.
The scene at the time matched those words perfectly, so she took the child in and, incidentally, named her Yao Yao.
She raised her all these years, yet Yao Yao simply remained stuck at the appearance of four or five years old, never growing up.
This left the silver-haired old woman helpless. She tried many methods, but none had the slightest effect.
It was as if the heavens had played a joke on this little girl.
And Yao Yao was very sensible, never causing her any worry.
The other child she had taken in was also promising.
A year ago, he caught the eye of a great master from the Celestia Holy Land passing through the area, and was taken into their sect to cultivate, his future boundless.
Thinking of this, the smile on the old woman’s face deepened.
Trembling with each step, she led the little girl back toward home.
Northern Mountain Village was remote in location, with mountains to the north, from which demonic beasts would occasionally dart out and run into the village to wreak havoc.
To the south lay a great desert, where bandits could often be seen roaming about, plundering the villages of their meat and some Spiritual Stones.
The various villages suffered deeply from this, living in misery.
Otherwise, the old woman wouldn’t have smeared mud on Yao Yao’s face—it was precisely out of fear that those deranged bandits would take notice of her.
The little girl Yao Yao followed her grandma, greeting the familiar villagers along the way as they made their way home.
The villagers of Northern Mountain Village were all quite fond of Yao Yao, that well-behaved, obedient little girl.
Rumble rumble!
Yet just then, the sound of thundering hooves suddenly rang out from beyond the village, like a charging army of thousands upon thousands of soldiers and horses.
The commotion shook the heavens, utterly terrifying.
From far away, one could already see a dreadful surge of blood qi rising into the sky between heaven and earth, horrifying beyond measure.
“This is bad—it’s bandits! The bandits are charging toward the village! Women, children, and the elderly, hurry back inside your homes, and whatever you do, don’t show yourselves!”
“Damn it all! Didn’t we just hand over our Spiritual Stones? Why are these bandits here again?”
“Those faithless, double-crossing brigands! Everyone, grab your weapons!”
This scene left everyone in Northern Mountain Village stunned on the spot.
Soon, they snapped back to their senses.
Every face changed drastically, turning deathly pale, as they shouted for the elderly and those with weaker constitutions to hurry back inside their houses.
The young and able-bodied, along with those who had trained in cultivation, picked up their weapons and converged at the village entrance.
Bandits pillaging the various villages—such a thing was all too common, and no one could expect them to honor any sort of friendship or trust.
“Grandma, the bandits are here again...”
The expression on Yao Yao’s face was a little frightened.
The bandits were notorious for killing without batting an eye.
“Don’t be afraid, Yao Yao. Grandma is here.”
The silver-haired old woman, by contrast, was much calmer. She gripped Yao Yao’s hand tightly and comforted her.
Still, there was a trace of worry in her eyes. After all, judging by the commotion, this band of bandits seemed rather different from the ones before.
Rumble rumble!
Accompanied by yellow sand filling the sky.
At the entrance of Northern Mountain Village, a great mass of bandits mounted on ferocious beasts—a dark, swarming horde—was rushing toward them.
The bandits seated atop the ferocious beasts were all exceptionally fierce and menacing, their killing intent astonishing, divine radiance flickering about them, their faces cold and cruel.
Their auras were powerful, their blood qi astonishing—far beyond ordinary people and Cultivators. Ordinary bandits could never possess such momentum.
These were men who had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
“Th-this... how is this possible...”
“That’s... the Black Storm Gang!”
“The Black... Storm Gang—that’s the most powerful bandit gang in the region! Many great sects and powers that came to subjugate them were all forcefully slaughtered by them!”
“It’s said their chief is an exalted Enlightened Noble Realm being!”
“How can this be? Why would the Black Storm Gang come to our village? This is completely impossible!”
Recognizing the identity of these bandits, every villager of Northern Mountain Village was dumbstruck, scared so badly their faces turned white.
Some couldn’t take it at all—their legs gave out and they collapsed limply to the ground.
The group of villagers who had just been holding weapons, preparing to confront these bandits, no longer had any courage left at this moment. They were nearly scared out of their wits.
That sky-flooding blood qi alone was enough to drown them, to suffocate them.
Some of the more timid ones rolled their eyes back, unable to withstand the pressure, and fainted on the spot.
“The Black Storm Gang—why would they come here... Even if it’s just one squad, how could an ordinary village possibly resist them...”
The silver-haired old woman’s expression also shifted slightly, filled with disbelief and shock.
“Grandma, they all say the chief of the Black Storm Gang eats people, and that he loves eating little children the most...” Fear surfaced in Yao Yao’s big eyes.
At the end of the day, she was still just a little girl.
Though she was more sensible than her peers, how could she not be afraid in the face of the Black Storm Gang, who killed without blinking and even took pleasure in eating people?
“Don’t be afraid, Yao Yao. Those are all stories adults made up to scare you children. With Grandma here, no one can hurt you.”
The silver-haired old woman gritted her teeth slightly and shielded Yao Yao behind her, keeping the distant Black Storm Gang from seeing her.
She herself had no idea why a powerful bandit force like the Black Storm Gang would send a squad all the way to their remote little village.
········
In this area, besides Northern Mountain Village, there were only Black Stone Village, Leaning Bull Village, and a few others—could it be that those villages had also been plundered?
What could Northern Mountain Village possibly have that was worth their attention?
Just as all sorts of thoughts flashed through the silver-haired old woman’s mind—
At the village entrance, a bandit with a powerful aura spoke up. His face was hideous, with a scar running across it.
His cultivation alone had reached the Mighty-Transcendent Realm, enough to sweep through the surrounding lands unopposed and do as he pleased!
“Tell your village chief to get out here!”
He said coldly, wearing the expression of one looking down upon ants.
The many bandits behind him wore equally cold expressions, seated atop their ferocious beasts, looking entirely ready to slaughter the village at the slightest sign of noncompliance.
When had the villagers of Northern Mountain Village ever witnessed such a terrifying display? Their faces were bloodlessly pale, and they couldn’t even speak.
“This humble old man is the village chief of Northern Mountain Village. Greetings to all you daren!”
Amid a flurry of panic,
a trembling old man walked out, his face full of fear as he spoke.
It was none other than the chief of Northern Mountain Village.
In his youth, he had trained and adventured outside, but after damaging his foundation, he returned to the village and took up the position of village chief.
On ordinary days, he would also guide the villagers in tempering their muscles and bones to strengthen their bodies.
But before such ferocious Black Storm Gang bandits, they were no different from paper dolls.
“Oh? So you’re actually a Cultivator. But you haven’t even reached the Spiritual Palace Realm—what use is that?”
The leading bandit glanced at him and sneered.
The old village chief’s face went white, and he dared not talk back.
Then, before all the villagers’ reverent, worried, fearful, and terrified gazes,
the bandit coldly swept his eyes over everyone and slowly spoke: “Our chief has issued an order. From all the nearby villages, every girl no older than fifteen must be offered up! He wants them all!”
“Three days from now, I’ll bring men to collect them. If anyone dares to run or resist, then we will... slaughter the village! Leave no one alive!”
The corner of his mouth split into a savage grin.
Words like these, paired with that appearance, carried a horrifying, overwhelming intimidation.
Waaah!
Immediately, quite a few children burst into tears from fright.
Never mind the children—at this moment, even the adults looked badly shaken, their expressions filled with utter terror.
....................
Some clutched their children tightly, in utter despair.
Who would dare defy the words of the Black Storm Gang? Defiance meant certain death.
Did this mean they had to hand over their children now? How could they be willing?
The Black Storm Gang’s reputation over the years had been bad, but they had never been known to snatch children! And now they were specifically demanding girls under fifteen.
This drove many to despair, reminding them of the rumor that the Black Storm Gang’s chief ate people!
And after saying these words, the Black Storm Gang members before them departed in a grand, sweeping procession.
Carrying sky-high clouds of yellow dust, with tremendous momentum, they headed toward the other villages.
Leaving behind a crowd of despairing, terrified Northern Mountain Village villagers.
“Why?! Damn the Black Storm Gang—on what grounds do they take our children?!”
“Even if I die, I’ll never hand them over!”
Soon, waves of sobbing and unwilling, furious roars rang out through the village.
Many villagers were howling.
The old village chief’s face was full of despair as he slumped to the ground.
Never mind the Black Storm Gang—even ordinary bandits far weaker than them were not something a tiny village like theirs could contend with.
What did defying the Black Storm Gang’s order mean?
It meant the slaughter of the village—no one left alive!
Flee? Relocate?
In three days, how could a group of ordinary people like them outrun the Black Storm Gang mounted on ferocious beasts?
“Grandma, I’m scared...”
Within Northern Mountain Village, Yao Yao had naturally heard the words of that Black Storm Gang leader too. Her little dirt-smudged face had gone somewhat pale.
Girls under fifteen—didn’t that include her?
She thought again of the rumor that the Black Storm Gang’s chief ate people, and she bit her lip in fright.
“I don’t want to be eaten.”
“Don’t be afraid, Yao Yao. With Grandma here, no one can take you away!”
The silver-haired old woman’s voice trembled slightly as she hugged her tightly.
There was a firmness in her tone, as if she held some great hidden trump card.
Meanwhile, as the Black Storm Gang appeared at the various nearby villages, demanding their tributes—
At the Black Storm Gang’s stronghold, atop a pitch-black peak exuding a sinister aura,
a towering palace stood.
Within it, the current chief of the Black Storm Gang
was bowing with a face full of humility, flattery, and caution, pointing at the crowd of unconscious girls captured below as he reported to the young man above, who stood with his hands clasped behind his back, facing away from him: “Reporting to daren—these girls were all captured from the nearby villages and towns, exactly as you instructed.”
“Are you satisfied with them?”
“They’re all useless. Don’t harm them—let them go back.”
Hearing this, the young man with his back to the Black Storm Gang chief did not answer, but shook his head slightly.
There was an inscrutable note in his tone.
At these words, the Black Storm Gang chief’s face showed some confusion. After going to all this trouble, they were just letting them go?
Could he be searching for someone?
But he dared not ask the reason, and hurriedly replied, “Please rest assured, daren. Their lives will not be harmed.”
With that, he quickly led the crowd of girls below away, not daring to linger.
Some time ago, this incomparably mysterious young man had appeared out of thin air at the place where he cultivated, demanding that he handle matters for him.
At the time, he had been utterly shocked and hadn’t even reacted before he saw the servant beside the young man cast a cold glance his way.
The pressure of a Great Sage crushed down upon him!
He had been scared out of his wits on the spot, nearly frightened out of his very soul—his Dao Heart had almost shattered.
As for the rumors now circulating outside that he ate people, the Black Storm Gang chief could only feel helpless and bitter.
It was a rumor he had no choice but to accept.
Who told this young daren to order it so?
And now, throughout the entire Black Storm Gang, apart from himself, no one knew of this young daren’s existence.
“Could my deduction of the location have been wrong?”
Meanwhile, in the great hall, after the Black Storm Gang chief had left,
Gu Changge finally furrowed his brow, pondering in his heart whether something had gone wrong somewhere.
He had already narrowed the range down this far—yet he still hadn’t found that infant girl. That shouldn’t be right.
“I suppose I can wait a little longer.”
Gu Changge closed his eyes and sank into thought.
Over these past days, none of the girls captured by the Black Storm Gang had shown the slightest trace of Fortuity points, nor anything out of the ordinary.
But he trusted his own deduction.
And soon, three days passed.
A piece of news piqued Gu Changge’s interest: a squad sent out by the Black Storm Gang had actually been annihilated.
“It seems they’ve finally been found.”
Almost in an instant, Gu Changge figured it out, and a smile couldn’t help but appear on his face.