Mortal: Traveling Between Two Realms with Mei Ning to Pick Up Trash

Zhou Yu couldn't count them all. His gaze pierced through the phantoms of the fire beasts, landing on the area where the fog was thickest and the fire beasts were gathering fastest.

there.

"Over there," Zhou Yu pointed with his sword, "there's something there. I'll go break it. You guys guard this place."

"I'll go with you!" Mei Feng said immediately.

"No need." Zhou Yu glanced at him. "You stay, Miss Liu. You're skilled in movement techniques; clear the way for me."

Mei Feng opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but looking at Zhou Yu's eyes, he swallowed back. He nodded, gripped his long sword, and stood beside Hu Biao. Miss Liu didn't speak, but simply twirled the short dagger between her fingers, and with a swift movement, she had already darted in front of Zhou Yu.

"Walk."

The two walked one after the other through the torrent of fire beasts. Miss Liu moved with incredible speed, weaving through the gaps between the fire beasts. Wherever her short dagger passed, the fire beasts shattered, turning into a sky full of sparks.

Zhou Yu followed behind, slashing left and right with his sword, cutting down the fire beasts that pounced from the sides. The light blue sword light drew arcs in the dark red mist.

But there were too many fire beasts. After killing one, two more appeared; after killing ten, twenty more appeared. Miss Liu's speed began to slow down, and the spiritual light on her short dagger dimmed a bit.

A fire wolf pounced from her left, and she dodged it. Then, a firebird swooped down from above her head. She had no time to dodge and could only raise her hand to block. Her dagger collided with the firebird, and the firebird exploded. Sparks flew onto her arm, leaving red marks. She groaned and staggered.

Zhou Yu stepped forward, slashing his sword diagonally. The sword light split into four beams, shattering all the fire beasts within several feet of him. "Watch what's behind me."

Without hesitation, Miss Liu retreated behind Zhou Yu, holding her short dagger horizontally in front of her to protect his back.

Zhou Yu no longer held back, channeling his spiritual power into the horizontal blade. The silver-white light on the blade grew brighter and brighter, and the azure blade light at the tip of the blade surged from about a foot to three feet.

He took a step forward, sweeping his sword horizontally. The sword light split into four streaks, not aimed at the fire beast, but at the faintly visible crimson bead deep in the mist.

Four beams of light pierced through the layers of fire beasts, drawing four silver-white trails in the dark red mist, like four sharp swords, stabbing straight at the bead.

The fire beasts went berserk. They stopped attacking others and turned around to rush towards the four blades of light, trying to stop them in mid-air.

The first blade of light struck the bead, and the red light on the bead suddenly dimmed. The second and third blades followed closely behind, and the bead began to tremble violently. A crack appeared on its surface. The fourth blade of light struck the bead, and the bead emitted a piercing buzzing sound. Dark red light surged out from the crack, and the bead shattered.

Fragments scattered everywhere. The overwhelming fire beasts froze the moment the bead shattered, then collapsed like sand from the edges, turning into countless sparks that drifted down and then went out.

The fog dissipated, the dark red color faded, and the white fog also disappeared, leaving behind scattered dark red crystals, each about the size of a thumb, with distinct edges.

Mei Feng plopped down on the ground, panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat. "Damn it... what kind of hellhole is this? How could a Golden Core cultivator set up such a formation?"

Hu Biao was in no better shape; he was leaning against the stone wall, his legs trembling. Miss Liu put away her dagger, squatted down, picked up a red crystal, and examined it over and over in her hand.

"Fire Fiend Crystal," Zhou Yu said, "put away all the valuables."

The four of them squatted down and picked up the red crystals one by one. Zhou Yu picked up about twenty, Mei Feng picked up more than a dozen, and Hu Biao and Miss Liu each picked up about ten.

Hu Biao held the fire crystals, grinning from ear to ear. His previous fear had vanished completely. "Good stuff! Good stuff! These alone are worth the price of admission!"

Zhou Yu's brows remained furrowed. "This doesn't seem like an array that a Golden Core cultivator could set up. This is an array that has already lost its power, and it's only the outer layer."

Upon hearing this, Mei Feng's smile faded. "Then what should we do?"

Zhou Yu looked back at the way he came; the fog had not yet dissipated. "It seems the owner of this place has made special arrangements. If we come in, we can only keep going; the way back is probably blocked."

"Let's keep moving forward."

Mei Feng tightened his grip on the spear and nodded.

They continued walking forward and came to a passageway.

The passageway was wide, with smooth, mirror-like walls devoid of any patterns.

But Zhou Yu sensed something was wrong after taking a few steps. His footsteps made a sound on the ground, but it wasn't a normal echo; instead, it was a distorted sound, altered by something.

"Everyone, don't stray too far apart," Zhou Yu said. "Something's not right here."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the scene before him suddenly changed.

The passageway vanished, the stone wall vanished, and Mei Feng, Hu Biao, and Miss Liu vanished as well.

Zhou Yu discovered that the stone slabs beneath his feet had turned into cement, and the walls had disappeared, replaced by a snow-white wall with a faded certificate that read "Excellent Student." The name on the certificate was smudged and illegible.

The air smelled of laundry detergent, musty old books, and scallions wafting from the kitchen. The sky outside the window was hazy, casting a blurry shadow on the ground through the old newspapers pasted on the glass.

This is Earth.

His home.

The lights in the room were on; they were the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs with low wattage.

Several dishes and three bowls of rice were laid out on the table: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised pork, and stir-fried tofu with greens. The braised pork had stopped steaming, so it must have been cooked for quite a while.

Two people were sitting at the table. One of them had his head down and was holding an unfinished sweater in his hand, the knitting needles flying between his fingers.

Zhou Yu was stunned for a moment.

One of them looked up, revealing a very familiar face. She wasn't pretty, and even looked a little haggard. When she saw Zhou Yu, her eyes crinkled, and she smiled naturally.

"You're back?" she said, standing up and pulling out a chair. "Sit down, the food's getting cold."

Zhou Yu shook his head slightly, feeling as if he had forgotten something.

My sister's voice rang out again, "What are you standing there for? Wash your hands and eat."

Zhou Yu opened his mouth, as if to say something, but the words vanished before he could finish.

He walked over, sat down at the table, picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in his mouth. It was fatty but not greasy, and melted in his mouth.

There was a little too much soy sauce, so the saltiness overpowered the sweetness, but it was just right—the taste he'd been eating since childhood.

"Is it good?" the person across from me asked. It wasn't my sister, it was my mother.

She sat across the table, her hair mostly white, and her face more wrinkled than I remembered. She wore a faded cotton-padded jacket with frayed cuffs and a patch on the collar that she had sewn herself.

Looking at the patch, Zhou Yu suddenly remembered something: when he was a child, his family was poor and couldn't afford new clothes, so his mother would always alter his older siblings' outgrown clothes for him to wear.

He was very careful when he made the alterations, sewing every stitch tightly, saying, "Wear it inside, no one will see it."

"It's delicious," Zhou Yu said.

He lowered his head, took a bite of rice. The rice was cooked until soft, which was his mother's habit. She always said that cooking rice softer was better for the stomach.

She has a bad stomach and takes stomach medicine all year round. She always keeps a few bottles in her drawer and takes two pills when she is in pain.

Zhou Yu didn't know this when he was a child, but he learned it when he grew up.

My sister sat down next to me, her knitting needles still flying between her fingers.

The yarn is dark blue and very thick. The pattern it produces is simple, the most common kind of plain knit.

"Aren't your hands tired from knitting so much?" Zhou Yu asked.

The older sister didn't even look up, her hands never stopping. "I'm not tired, I'm used to it."

Her fingers were very skillful; the knitting needles flew between her fingers, and the yarn wrapped around and around.

Zhou Yu noticed a white band-aid wrapped around her right index finger, the edges of which were curled up, probably from being pricked by a needle while knitting.

Her hands have many small scars, from chopping vegetables, being pricked with needles, and being scalded by hot water.

Mom glanced at it and said, "Your sister caught a cold a few days ago. She had a sore throat and a cough. I told her to rest, but she wouldn't listen. She insisted on finishing this scarf, saying it was for you because she was worried you'd be cold in the winter." Her voice wasn't loud, carrying a hint of reproach, but more than anything, it was filled with heartache.

The older sister finally looked up, glanced at her mother, then lowered her head again and continued knitting. "I'm fine, just a little dry throat. I'll stop knitting after I finish this one."

Looking at the band-aid on her hand and her slightly bent back, Zhou Yu suddenly felt a pang of sadness. It wasn't sadness, but a feeling that was hard to describe, like something was stuck in his chest, something he couldn't swallow or spit out.

He lowered his head and continued eating.

The light outside the window dimmed, as if it were about to rain.

My sister stood up and went to close the window. She walked to the window, reached out to pull the latch, but couldn't reach it. She had to stand on tiptoe to reach it.

As Zhou Yu watched her tiptoeing, he suddenly remembered that she had done the same thing when she was a child. If she couldn't reach something high up, she would tiptoe, and if she still couldn't reach it by tiptoeing, she would jump. She was young then.

"Sister, I'll do it," Zhou Yu stood up, walked over, and reached out to close the window.

The window latch was a bit tight, and he had to use some force to fasten it. Outside the window was a narrow alley, and at the entrance of the alley stood a tree with most of its leaves fallen, leaving only bare branches.

There was a stone stool under the tree, and an old man was sitting on it, smoking. The smoke rose up and was blown away by the wind.

The older sister turned around, walked back to the table, sat down, and continued knitting.

His mother had already put two pieces of braised pork in his bowl, mostly fatty and not much lean.

When Zhou Yu was a child, he loved to eat fatty foods. His mother remembered this and kept putting fatty foods on his plate. Actually, his tastes changed when he grew up, and he found fatty foods greasy, but he never said anything about it.

"Eat more," Mom said. "You can't get this kind of food outside."

Zhou Yu paused for a moment with his chopsticks.

outside.

He suddenly felt that the word was a bit strange, as if it were in a very far place, yet also very close. He couldn't remember how long he had been outside, how he got back, what kind of car he took, or what route he took. He didn't remember any of these things.