MOF Chapter 69
by VolareXie Yiling pursed his lips and swallowed…
So Nangong Ci simply flew on his sword, squeezing onto Azurefall with Xie Yiling, who was equally filthy. After enduring two hours, they finally reached the foot of Southern Return Mountain.
At the foot of Southern Return Mountain was a stream called the Wuding River. The river was usually only three or four meters wide, but at this moment, it refracted the sunlight, a golden ribbon flowing out of a mountain crevice.
This river did not pass through any residential areas, so they didn’t have to worry about affecting others.
Xie Yiling finally washed away the dirt from his body. Nangong Ci raised his hand and used his spiritual power to vaporize the moisture on his body. He squatted by the river, feeling the change in the humidity of his clothes, and looked up at Nangong Ci with a smile, “Thank you, Sixth Brother.”
Splashing the cool river water a couple of times, Xie Yiling unconsciously looked up the river. Suddenly, his gaze froze, and he stood up and said, “Sixth Brother, is there something over there?”
Nangong Ci followed his gaze and saw a dark lump lying by the river, part on the ground and part in the water.
Xie Yiling hurried over. As he got closer, he recognized it as a child. “Sixth Brother, it’s a child!”
He bent down and checked the child’s nose, and there was still a faint breath. Nangong Ci and he each lifted the child’s legs, which were submerged in the water, and moved him ashore.
Xie Yiling was puzzled, “How could there be a child here?”
Nangong Ci shook his head, indicating he didn’t know. “Maybe he got lost, or was abandoned here.”
The child’s hair was wet and covered half of his face. Xie Yiling carefully brushed it aside, revealing a thin face. Xie Yiling frowned. “This child is too thin. When I lifted his legs just now, I felt nothing but bones. Sixth Brother, can we take him back?”
“We can.” Nangong Ci placed his palm on the child’s chest and sent a strand of spiritual power to probe his pulse. “Fortunately, his life is not in danger. Give him to me.”
Xie Yiling “Ah-ed” in surprise, his thoughts diverted by Nangong Ci’s words, “You want to, how will you carry him?”
The child showed no signs of drowning, he had simply fainted from hunger. Nangong Ci used his spiritual power to dry the child’s dripping clothes, then gently lifted him from the ground and held him around the waist.
“Let’s go,” he said.
For the final stretch, Nangong Ci still flew on his sword. Xie Yiling’s time with not sending was too short. Although he understood the Way of Sword Flight, he had not yet practiced it and dared not take the risk.
The news of Xie Yiling’s journey to Guaiya Peak with Fufeng Daoist had already spread throughout the Southern Return Heavenly Pavilion, so their return garnered countless gazes.
Si Yuan happened to be near the entrance teaching Nangong Ningan some basic spiritual spells. Seeing Xie Yiling and them return, he patted Nangong Ningan’s shoulder, “You practice hard first, I’ll check on you when I get back.”
As soon as Xie Yiling landed, he took two steps forward, then turned around and raised his arms, “Sixth Brother, give him to me to hold.”
The child in his arms had his eyes closed and remained unconscious throughout the journey back.
Nangong Ci said, “You take him back to your room first, I’ll go see the sect leader and come find you later.”
Xie Yiling responded, took the child, and headed towards his residence. Si Yuan appeared beside him at some point, walking alongside him. “Hey, Senior Brother Xie, you and Fufeng Daoist went out for a trip, how did you end up with a child?”
What kind of talk was that?
Xie Yiling glanced at him, quickened his pace, wanting to leave him behind. But Si Yuan did not let him get his way, keeping pace with him. “Why did you come back so quickly? What kind of monster was there at Guaiya Peak?”
“A weasel spirit.”
“What, a weasel spirit?” Si Yuan opened his mouth, moved closer, and asked, “Was it smelly?”
Xie Yiling said seriously, “Incredibly smelly.”
Si Yuan made a disgusted “Ew” sound, and then asked, “Then what about this child?”
Xie Yiling reached the disciples’ residence, and Si Yuan very obligingly opened the door for him.
“Found him.” After entering the room, Xie Yiling bent over and gently placed the child on the pillow, touching his cheek. Thanks to the spiritual power Nangong Ci had infused earlier, the cold air in the child’s body had almost dissipated, and he felt like a normal person’s temperature.
Although the child was thin, his skin was delicate and soft due to his youth. Xie Yiling couldn’t help but touch it a few more times before stopping. “He’ll probably want to eat something when he wakes up. I’ll go get some from the refectory. You don’t have anything to do anyway, so stay here and watch him for me.”
Si Yuan had only come over out of curiosity, but was told to stay and watch the child. Xie Yiling walked so quickly and urgently that when he wanted to stop him, he only saw the empty doorway open, a corner of his robe disappearing by the door.
“Watch, then.” Si Yuan pulled up a stool and sat down in front of the bed. “I must say, this child has delicate features. Looking at him with Senior Brother Xie, they really do have a few similarities.”
He stared at the child’s face intently, suddenly meeting a pair of dark, black eyes. For a moment, his heart stopped for two seconds.
Si Yuan almost bit his tongue, “Y-You’re awake?”
The child stared blankly at him, his eyes dazed. Si Yuan saw that his expression was not good and quickly touched his head, asking, “What’s wrong? Is there something uncomfortable?”
Just as he was asking, Xie Yiling came in carrying a food tray, “Awake?”
He put the food on the table, “This child is terribly hungry and can’t eat too much in a short time. I picked a few kinds of medicinal porridge, you him…”
“Whoosh” As soon as he smelled the fragrance, the child who had been like a wooden chicken, motionless, pushed away Si Yuan and pounced towards the table.
Xie Yiling was quick-witted and blocked him, cushioning the impact, “Don’t rush, don’t rush.” He patted the child’s round head a couple of times, arranged the food, and handed him chopsticks.
As soon as the sound “Eat” came out of his mouth, the child immediately buried himself in the bowl, gulping down the porridge in two mouthfuls before turning to pick up the second bowl.
Si Yuan was stunned, “This, how is he like a hungry ghost reincarnated?”
Xie Yiling said, “Don’t talk nonsense, he’s just terribly hungry.”
He sat down and watched the child drink three bowls of porridge in one breath. When he was about to pick up the fourth bowl, he held down his small hands.
The child looked at him with black eyes that seemed to have been washed with water, with incomprehension and pleading in his eyes.
“You can’t eat too much,” Xie Yiling’s voice was rarely gentle. “What’s your name? How old are you? Why were you playing by the river alone?”
The child licked his lips, his eyes never leaving the fourth bowl of porridge. He heard Xie Yiling’s question clearly and answered truthfully, “I don’t have a name, three years old… four years old, I don’t know. In the river… there are fish in the river. I’m hungry, I want to eat… want to eat.”
He said he wanted to eat twice, and finally willing to look up at Xie Yiling the second time.
Xie Yiling sighed and reached out to touch the child’s stomach, finding that it wasn’t bulging or distended. He realized that he had a naturally large appetite, so he had to say, “Eat, eat, it’s the last bowl anyway.”
Who knew that when the child heard this, he didn’t eat. He swallowed, tangled for a long time, before finally opening his mouth, “Can I take it away? I want to keep it to eat when I’m hungry next time.”
Xie Yiling said, “Don’t keep it, there will be more next time.”
Si Yuan finally found a chance to speak, “How could such a big Southern Return Heavenly Pavilion starve a little kid like you? Open your stomach and eat as much as you want.”
Hearing this, a look of relaxation finally appeared on the child’s face. He looked back and forth between Xie Yiling and Si Yuan, not devouring his food like before.
While the child was drinking porridge, Si Yuan asked in a low voice, “Senior Brother Xie, what do we do about this?”
“What what do we do?” Xie Yiling said, “Just raise him for now. If he was lost by someone, we’ll naturally know in a short time. But the way he looks, he seems like a…”
Without father or mother.
Xie Yiling pursed his lips, swallowing the words that would hurt others and himself.
After the meal, Xie Yiling took the child to find Nangong Ci, and the two met halfway.
Before he could speak, Nangong Ci said, “I’ve already reported the child’s matter to the sect leader, let him stay in Southern Return for the time being.”
Xie Yiling smiled, wanting to ask more questions. Nangong Ci continued, “I’ve also told the sect leader about going to Mo City, we’ll set off in three days.”
“Hey,” Xie Yiling’s expression paused for a moment, and he said, “The one who knows me best is Southern Return Fufeng.”
Nangong Ci showed a hint of a smile because of his words, “Stop being glib. Did you ask about this child’s background?”
“It’s the same whether I ask or not, he can’t say anything useful,” Xie Yiling said, “Poor thing, he doesn’t even have a name. Why don’t I give him one? I can’t keep calling him child, child, can I?”
Nangong Ci thought it was reasonable, “Then give him one first.”
Whenever it came to these nuanced matters of wording, Xie Yiling frowned and looked troubled. He racked his brains for a long time, finally clapping his hands, “Got it.”
Nangong Ci quietly watched him.
“Let’s call him A Si.”
Nangong Ci laughed, “You’re really good at being lazy.”
Xie Yiling was not ashamed but proud, he pinched A Si’s face, pinching out a little soft flesh, “From now on, you’ll be called A Si, understand? If you hear someone call you A Si, you have to answer, you can’t be silent.”
After instructing him, he immediately shouted, “A Si!”
“Mm.” A Si nodded, answering loudly.
“Good, good, good.” Xie Yiling smiled kindly.
In the following days, Xie Yiling would take A Si to the back mountain to meditate after finishing his daily practice, under the guise of: absorbing the spiritual power of heaven and earth.
A Si was young and couldn’t sit still, so he would lean to one side when Xie Yiling wasn’t paying attention. Seeing that no one cared, he became even more audacious, burrowing into the dense peach blossom forest.
Xie Yiling scared him twice with “no food,” finding it effective, but short-lived.
A Si was still the same A Si, the one who couldn’t sit still on his butt and couldn’t fill his bottomless stomach.
Although three days were short, Xie Yiling spent them peacefully. For some reason, Lu Jinnian and the others didn’t come to provoke him.
Three days later, Xie Yiling was going to Mo City with Nangong Ci, and he entrusted A Si to Nangong Ningan early.
Si Yuan was going with them this time, so Xie Yiling lost his first choice of babysitter.
Mo City was a two- or three-day sword flight journey from Jin City. Xie Yiling and Si Yuan were riding their swords for the first time, both curious and nervous, but fortunately nothing went wrong along the way. Because they weren’t in a hurry, the three of them found an inn to stay overnight, and continued on their journey the next morning.
The day they arrived at Mo City was the first day of the Seven Days of Gathering Righteousness Festival. Before Xie Yiling landed, he heard the deafening noise filling Mo City.