Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 359 The Great Good Man

Heading east from Dapan Mountain, the closest place to the sea is Dongdan City. Xue Baoping and E Meifeng inquired along the way, gradually learning what it was like.

The city is situated both by the sea and by a river. The sea is the Chuliao Sea, with numerous islands and shallow waters near the mainland. Because of its northern location, the seawater is cold, resulting in particularly fresh and sweet seafood. The river is the Yalu River—which flows into the sea here, its surface quite wide. It gets its name from the emerald green color of its upper reaches, resembling the color of a wild duck's head.

Compared to the Central Plains, Dongdan City is considered relatively remote. However, due to the abundance of swimming crabs and large yellow clams in the sea, and noodlefish in the river, there are many fishermen here, and most of their catch is sent to nearby large cities for sale.

Li Yunxin asked E Meifeng to take Xue Baoping to the Eastern Continent. Xiao E also said that she could swim very fast in the sea. However, Xue Baoping felt that it would be better to go to Dongdan City to buy a small boat, load it with some daily necessities and food, and then cross the sea with Xiao E.

Xu Pianpian said that the Five Mountains True Form Sect had created many small islands between the Central Continent and the Eastern Continent, allowing people to cross the sea using these islands. However, she had inquired about this on the road these past few days, and it was said that the closest point between the Eastern Continent and the Central Continent was more than two thousand li away. Even if the True Form Sect had created islands, they should be quite far apart, only providing resting places for powerful demons like Xu Zhen and Xu Pianpian at the Nascent Soul stage. She and E Meifeng, one at the Qi Refining stage and the other having just formed their demon core, would likely die at sea if they didn't prepare anything.

However, these are all things that will be done after they arrive in Dongdan City. The two of them have only traveled for four days. When they climbed the mountain ridge and looked back, they could even vaguely see the top of Dapan Mountain.

Today, the two arrived at the territory of Yehuang Island. The place name comes from Donghuang Taiyi Li Ye—when he was still an emperor, he once ascended a small island to offer sacrifices to the sea, and that island was named Yehuang Island. However, over the past three thousand years, the Chuliao Sea has slowly receded eastward, and the former island has become part of the mainland. Now, it has become a town far from the sea.

Yehuang Island is surrounded by mountains on all sides. Only after passing through this city can one enter the plains west of the Chuliao Sea. Therefore, this city is considered an essential route to Dongdan, and it was once a very prosperous place.

When Xue Baoping and E Meifeng arrived near Yehuang Island, they found it deserted. The city walls were still there, but they had been blackened by smoke. Half of the city gate tower had collapsed, and the city gate itself had been burned down, indicating that a great battle had taken place there.

This must be a war between a large sect and one or more other sects.

The people of the world now seem to be divided into two groups. One group consists of the old-established immortal sects like the Thirty-Six Sects and the Six Departments of the Mysterious Sect, which have always been high and mighty and rarely interfered in worldly affairs. The other group consists of the independent cultivators and ordinary people. Many of these independent cultivators have transformed into sects, either falsely claiming to be some kind of deity or actually worshipping something from the sacred mountain, gathering ordinary people to fight each other, much like they were before the establishment of the Ye Dynasty.

After seeing the burned-out city, the two stopped and observed for about an hour. They noticed that people were still walking on the road leading into the city. Some were clearly bandits, some were refugees, and others were probably members of some religious sect. They were all dressed uniformly and formed small groups, as if they were going to war.

Of the three, refugees were the most numerous; nearly a hundred had passed by in the past hour. These people were probably heading towards the sea—the sea still had resources, and finding food there would be much easier than inland.

After understanding the situation on the road, the human and the demon descended the mountain and joined the main road.

The road is now overgrown with weeds, with only tire tracks remaining in the middle. People on the road keep a great distance from each other, their expressions extremely wary, as if they are both wary of others stealing their food and observing who is easier to bully, perhaps they too can steal some.

But after they saw Xue Baoping and E Meifeng, they all avoided looking at them and stopped scrutinizing them.

These two looked like formidable opponents—one a young woman in her early twenties, the other a girl of thirteen or fourteen. They were impeccably dressed, wearing the soft armor of the Shangchi Sect, and carrying weapons. At this time of year, anyone who still cared about their cleanliness while out in public was undoubtedly a cultivator, and a highly skilled one at that.

As they walked along the road, they talked about what they should bring back after arriving in Dongdan and whether people were allowed to enter the city there.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, as they gradually came into view of the collapsed city gate tower, they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves behind them.

When the sound was heard, the refugees walking far ahead of them couldn't help but turn around, their faces filled with shock. Xue Baoping, however, only reacted after a moment—the sound of hooves…a horse!? Someone was riding a horse at this hour!?
She immediately turned to look as well.

However, she only tilted her head slightly to look. At this time, she was wearing a straw hat that she had found, with black gauze curtains hanging from the edges. It was quite difficult for the other person to see her if she looked back through the gaps in the gauze curtains.

Then she saw a white horse. It was very tall, entirely white except for some dust on the heels of its hooves. A middle-aged man sat on it, dressed in a narrow-sleeved gray outfit, his face half-covered, and a knife at his waist. On either side of the horse's back were large bundles, almost touching the ground, containing what appeared to be everyday utensils, tents, and bedding.

In this world, seeing a horse is already a very surprising thing. But when Xue Baoping saw this person's face, she paused for a moment and almost tripped over herself.

The man on horseback looked very familiar. Judging from his eyebrows and eyes alone, he was probably in his forties, perhaps approaching fifty. Wrinkles were already visible at the corners of his eyes, and the bags under his eyes appeared quite large. There were also fine lines on his forehead, which became more pronounced when he frowned slightly.

—If Li Wuxiang had not cultivated and had lived as a mortal to this age, he would probably look like this, right?
This person looks exactly like Li Wuxiang—at least the exposed upper half of his face is very similar!

He seemed preoccupied. His eyes were fixed on the city wall ahead, but his gaze was somewhat lost. His brow furrowed and relaxed intermittently, as if he were pondering something that troubled him greatly. Therefore, he didn't notice that others were watching him, much less Xue Baoping's gaze—or perhaps he simply didn't care at all.

The white horse walked much faster than a person, its hooves approaching from afar and quickly catching up. Xue Baoping pulled E Meifeng aside to make way for him, and the pedestrians in front quickly moved aside, as if commoners had encountered some high-ranking official on a journey.

However, two people didn't avoid her—a mother and daughter. The mother looked to be only in her early twenties, thin and sallow, dressed in tattered clothes, leaning on a cane and limping along. The daughter looked only five or six years old, even thinner than a little monkey, wearing only blackened scraps of cloth. The child was walking alone; her mother neither carried her nor held her on her back.

Because the mother herself could barely walk, she was swaying and staggering, as if she were about to fall at any moment. She could only hold her child's hand and occasionally ask her to lean on her legs for a few steps to get some support.

The two women had nothing on them, so no one bothered with them. They looked like they were about to collapse and die on the road. Whatever they wanted to do could wait until after they died; why waste their energy now?

The two women heard the sound of hooves and tried to get away. Actually, the horse wasn't coming very fast; it was just walking briskly. But the mother and daughter were too weak. They were already struggling to move forward slowly and keep from falling. When they tried to get away, they collapsed.

The mother fell, pulling the child down with her. Neither of them seemed inclined to get up—the little girl lay motionless on the ground, perhaps unconscious. The mother lay on her back, eyes fixed on the sky, breathing heavily with her mouth slightly open. Xue Baoping assumed she was utterly exhausted. She had only been walking because of a numb, inertial feeling. Now that she had fallen, she simply didn't have the strength, nor the will, to get up.

As the man walked past the mother and child, holding the reins, he glanced down at them, and the mother looked back at him. But there was nothing in their eyes—neither fear nor any indication of seeking help.

The middle-aged man's eyes were similar—his gaze was also blank, probably because he had seen this kind of thing far too often.

Their eyes met briefly before they looked away, and the white horse continued on its way. But after a dozen or so steps, the man pulled on the reins, and the horse stopped. He then pulled it back, turned its head, and rode back to the mother and daughter.

The woman stopped looking at him and stared at the sky. The man leaped off his horse, facing away from the horse and the two women, and drew a dagger from his waist, as if cutting something in his arms.

Then Xue Baoping smelled blood—the man had sheathed his dagger and now held a piece of meat in his hand. He squatted down, grabbed the meat with both hands, and squeezed it. The meat was very fresh; as he squeezed, blood dripped out. The woman's mouth was half-open, and as soon as a drop of blood entered, her eyes lit up.

But Liang didn't seem human; she seemed more like a wild beast. She reached out to grab the man's hand, but he had already released it, and a fist-sized piece of flesh fell into the woman's hand. She immediately grabbed the raw meat, tilted her head back, and chewed it up. After swallowing a few bites, she turned over and fed the child mouth-to-mouth, completely forgetting to express her gratitude to the man.

The man didn't care about any of that. He grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground, rubbed the blood off his hands, and then mounted his horse again.

E Meifeng swallowed hard, and whispered to Xue Baoping, "Sigh, I want to eat too, sigh!"

Xue Baoping pulled her: "Come on, let's follow them."

She wanted to satisfy her curiosity and see how much this person resembled Li Wuxiang. Such curiosity was usually inappropriate, but since this person had given meat to the mother and daughter, it meant he wasn't a bad person. In fact, in this situation, he was almost saintly. Judging from his appearance, he was also heading towards Dongdan City. If possible, Xue Baoping wanted to travel with him for a while, just in case she and E Meifeng encountered any formidable opponents.

The man mounted his horse and continued on his way. Xue Baoping pulled Xiao E along, hurrying a few steps to catch up. They were almost there, but as they passed the mother and daughter on the ground, she stopped. The daughter was awake, and the mother was still eating, chewing some for herself and then feeding the rest to her daughter. The pieces of meat, about the size of a fist and raw, were quite troublesome to eat. So from then on, she stopped chewing and simply tore off chunks of meat with her teeth and swallowed them.

Xue Baoping knew that she was eating so quickly not just because she was hungry, but also because of the gazes directed at her from afar. Her brief pause beside them was also for this reason.

After she swallowed the last bit, Xue Baoping pulled Xiao E along and chased after them. The man who had been on horseback earlier had noticed them stop and glanced back. Hearing hurried footsteps behind him, he turned back again. Xue Baoping immediately called out, "Fellow Daoist, please wait!"

The man tugged on the reins, and the horse stopped.

Xue Baoping tugged at E Meifeng's hand, telling her to stay where she was. She then took six or seven steps to the white horse's side: "Fellow Daoist, you..."

She paused, momentarily speechless—of course, she couldn't just say, "Fellow Daoist, you want me to look at your face?" In that brief moment of stunned silence, she smelled blood again. It was faint, emanating from the man on horseback. Smelling the scent, and then looking closer, she noticed a slight dampness on the man's chest, as if from a wound.

Xue Baoping was stunned for a moment—

That piece of meat just now...

He didn't cut off his own flesh to feed that mother and daughter, did he?

The man on horseback tilted his body slightly towards her and lowered his head slightly: "Hmm?"

His voice was calm and friendly. Xue Baoping thought for a moment, then quickly said, "Fellow Daoist, are you... are you going to Dongdan City?"

"Yes." The man raised his hand and pulled off the black cloth covering his face. This gesture seemed to be a sign of politeness and goodwill—he felt it wasn't appropriate to speak to someone through a veil. "Is there something you need?"

Then Xue Baoping saw his face.

She felt a slight buzzing in her head.

It's so similar! This person looks just like Li Wuxiang! If Li Wuxiang were almost fifty years old, he would probably look like this!

She opened her eyes wide in surprise: "You... Fellow Daoist, is your surname Li?"

Then another thought popped into my head—he is Li Wuxiang! He came looking for me in this form!?
"You... Li Wuxiang, is that you?"

The man on horseback laughed: "You recognize him? But you've mistaken him for someone else. My surname is Li, but my name is Li Guichen."

He paused for a moment, looked Xue Baoping up and down, then smiled: "Oh, you're Xue Baoping, aren't you? You do have a mole on your brow."

(End of this chapter)