Chapter 288: A Dust Covered Letter

“How about letting me take a look at your wooden sculpture? Perhaps I could be of assistance to you?”

Song Tingyu gazed at Qin Lie, her face full of anticipation. She took the initiative and stuck out her hand as she said in a sincere tone, “Relax, I will help keep your secret. Besides, weren’t you the one who wanted to find your grandfather? Didn’t you want to know anything that could possibly be connected to him?”

Qin Lie gripped his wooden sculpture, his brows furrowing as he inwardly hesitated.

After pondering for quite a while, he once again looked deeply into Song Tingyu’s eyes and then finally handed the wooden sculpture over to her. “Be careful.”

“Relax, relax.” Song Tingyu’s eyes brightened. Having received Qin Lie’s trust, she was extremely happy as she received the wooden sculpture. After slightly adjusting her position, she attempted to use her mind consciousness to delve into it.

Qin Lie began to tense up as he looked at her unwaveringly, hoping she would find something.

However, a moment later, he saw Song Tingyu’s smile stiffen.

“What’s wrong?” Qin Lie asked in surprise.

Traces of rosiness emerged on Song Tingyu’s porcelain cheeks as her expression became slightly embarrassed. “It seems… it seems my mind consciousness cannot even enter it. Let me try again…”

Song Tingyu stubbornly tried again.

She condensed another wisp of mind intent, but as soon as it touched the wooden sculpture, it was once again blown away by some invisible force.

It seemed as if her mind intent was blown away as soon as it neared the wooden sculpture because it wasn’t recognized. She was not able to penetrate into the sculpture with her mind intent at all.

After trying and failing several times, a bitter smile emerged on Song Tingyu’s pretty face. She handed the wooden sculpture back to Qin Lie and helplessly said, “It seems I am unable to help you because this wooden sculpture has some seal on it which only allows your mind consciousness to enter…”

Hints of surprise surfaced in Qin Lie’s eyes as he silently held the wooden sculpture.

Half a day later, Qin Lie stored the wooden sculpture back into his spatial ring and mindlessly wandered around Herb Mountain once more. After finding no irregularities, he had Song Tingyu bring him back to Ling Town.

Walking through the empty streets of Ling Town and looking around at the continuous rows of small houses, Qin Lie sighed.

All of the members of the Ling Family had moved to Icestone City during the conflicts between martial practitioners and the spirit beasts of the Arctic Mountain Range.

Then, because he had killed Du Haitian and his entire family, the Ling Family had been forced to leave Icestone City and move to the territory of Seven Fiends Valley.

Currently, having been expelled from their homes and forced to rely on others, the days of the Ling Family in Seven Fiends Valley were naturally quite difficult.

Qin Lie walked all the way to the small house which had been his. Pushing open the dusty little door, he stepped into the cobweb filled house. His mood began to worsen.

Years ago, this had been the place where he had convinced Ling Yushi to leave him and go to Seven Fiends Valley with Jiu Liuyu. At the time, he had felt that his decision was correct as he believed that Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan would be able to live more splendid lives if they followed Jiu Liuyu to the Black Iron Seven Fiends Valley.

Fast forward several years and the Ling Family was now a ghost of its former self. Moreover, Jiu Liuyu had died at his hands, causing the members of Seven Fiends Valley to despise Ling Yushi and Ling Xuanxuan because of their connection to him.

Now that he had returned here, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the decision that he made that year. He couldn’t decide whether he had been right or wrong for persuading Ling Yushi all those years ago.

He had spent seven years living in this little house. During the last two of those years, a girl had appeared within it…

Even though he was considered a fool, the girl had still come and cleaned for him, washed his clothes, and filled the water for his baths. Although she was wordy and spent entire days speaking to herself, the girl was kind-hearted and had never done anything malicious to him.

Scenes of the past depicting two people alone together suddenly began to flash through his mind.

Within the house, Qin Lie suddenly became startled.

A long while later, he finally arrived beside the little wooden bed that he used to sleep in. There he saw a letter atop the edge of the bed, one which was completely covered in dust. However, he could still make out the familiar characters in the letter.

Somewhat stunned, Qin Lie picked up the letter and opened it. Concentrating, he began to read the contents of the letter.

“Qin Lie, after leaving Icestone City, just where did you go? I searched for you for a very long time, traveling to Icestone City, then the stone forest mentioned by Gao Yu, then the Arctic Mountain Range, then Herb Mountain…

“I went to all of the places that you could have gone, but I was still unable to find you.

“I hope that you are okay and that you are still alive and well. I hope that you remember the words you once said to me.

“In this very place, you once told me that you would one day come to Dark Fiend Valley and find me.

“Master is becoming increasingly irritated and worried, so I must return to Dark Fiend Valley now, but remember that I will always be waiting for you.

“I will wait for the day where you fulfill your promise to me. I will forever wait in Dark Fiend Valley until the day comes where you reappear in my life.

“You must come for me.

“Remember, there will be someone waiting for you—someone who has been waiting all this time and will still be waiting for you…”

This letter had been left here by Ling Yushi after Qin Lie had gone missing following the events which occurred in Ling Town. She had ignored the disapproval of her master and secretly left Dark Fiend Valley by herself to bitterly search for him in the area surrounding Icestone City, the stone forest, the Arctic Mountain Range, and Ling Town.

From the letter, Qin Lie could sense just how long Ling Yushi had searched for him, unknowing that he had been cultivating underground in the depths of the Arctic Mountain Range the entire time.

In the end, she had been forced to return due to Jiu Liuyu’s increasingly irritated orders. However, before she had returned, she had come to this wooden house where the two of them had made so many memories and stayed for a while.

Here, she had written her letter and left it behind.

She hoped that, one day, Qin Lie would find and read it.

Today, Qin Lie had finally returned to his roots and, although a few years late, finally saw this letter.

This letter hadn’t contained any sentimental phrases of love, yet intense feelings of affection still arose from each paragraph, sentence, and word, revealing the writer’s deep love and worry…

Within the little house, Qin Lie gripped the letter as scenes of the past once again began to flash through his mind. Subconsciously, he began to tightly clench the letter in his hands.

A very long time later, he stored the letter away into his spatial ring, treating it like a treasure. With large steps, he walked out of the wooden room and rushed outside. To Song Tingyu who was standing outside, he said, “Quickly bring me to Dark Fiend Valley!”

……

“Li Zhongzheng! Bu Xiang! What have you two come here for?”

Within the Ling Family residence in a town outside of Dark Fiend Valley, Ling Xuanxuan was angrily shouting.

Gold Fiend Valley’s Li Zhongzheng and Fire Fiend Valley’s Bu Xiong had clearly agreed to come here together.

Numerous martial practitioners from Gold Fiend Valley and Fire Fiend Valley stood outside. Their arms were crossed and they all had cold smiles on their faces as their eyes greedily looked in.

“I’ve come to visit my concubine.” Bu Xiang was quite fat and had a mole right by his mouth. A light of lust flickered within his small eyes as he looked at Ling Xuanxuan’s tender, sensual body. “You’re quite spicy. Recently, I can’t help but always dream of you. Today I planned to go to Dark Fiend Valley to find you, but since you weren’t there, I could only come here.”

“Yushi, I came to visit you,” Li Zhongzheng politely said in a loud voice.

Upon hearing Li Zhongzheng’s loud cry, an expression of disgust emerged on the beautiful face of Ling Yushi who was in the backyard.

Nonetheless, she still walked out of the backyard. Arriving in the front yard, she saw Bu Xiang pestering Ling Xuanxuan and her eyes suddenly went cold. She shouted, “Senior Brother Bu! Please have some self-control!”

“Self-control?” Bu Xiang grinned and laughed wickedly, “I say, sister, Xuanxuan will be my concubine in just a few more days. Whatever I want to do, I will be able to do it. Even if it’s you, you will still not be qualified enough to control me.”

“Shut your mouth! Who ever agreed to your terms?” Ling Xuanxuan cursed, “Stupid fatty, you better stop dreaming. Even if I die, I will never marry you!”

Bu Xiang’s expression suddenly became sinister as he began to laugh coldly. He glanced at the Ling Family members who were emerging from the backyard and said, “If you two sisters dare to resist, not only will you two die, but your entire Ling Family will follow!

An indifferent smile also emerged atop the face of Li Zhongzheng, who was currently standing off to the side. Only… his smile also contained traces of malevolence.

As Bu Xiang’s threats resounded in the yard, all of the Ling Family members suddenly went silent.

“Yushi, it’s not that we want to threaten you. This matter… has already been decided by our superiors. It was approved by all of the major valley masters. Moreover, if not for me desperately fighting for your cause, your Ling Family would have been unable to remain within Seven Fiends Valley. They wouldn’t have even been able to leave alive,” Li Zhongzheng earnestly said.

“Your desperate efforts were not just so I would become your concubine?” Ling Yushi said coldly, her eyes dim.

“That… if it were a year ago and Granny Liu was still alive, you could have been my main wife.” Li Zhongzheng shrugged, then helplessly chuckled and said, “However, at the time, you refused. Because of that Qin Lie or whatever, you refused to marry me. At this moment, your status is no longer enough. To be my concubine… is already after my struggles and desperate efforts, and can be considered to be a great boon. To be honest, based on what my master said, you are currently not even fit to be my concubine…”

“Ling Xuanxuan, do you truly believe you can be a concubine?” Bu Xiang wickedly grinned and began to cackle as his lust filled eyes fell onto Ling Xuanxuan’s exquisite figure. He chuckled and said, “If not for your pure spirit energy, your cultivation of a fire type spirit art, and the fact that your body will help my cultivation, do you believe that you would still be my concubine? To be honest, me taking you as my concubine is only so that I can use your body to help further my cultivation. When you are no longer of any worth to me, I will directly put you to rest so that you can’t even be a concubine anymore!”

“Bu Xiang! I’m going to f*cking kill you!” Ling Xuanxuan crazily shouted.

As her emotions experienced such great change, her long, shiny, black hair quickly became a deep purple. A faint purple color also emerged within her eyes.

As she circulated her spirit art, she suddenly began to feel as if the blood in her body was boiling. Within her blood vessels, an extremely strange power which she had never experienced before emerged. The power was dark and evil and caused her to feel extremely restless.

A fireball condensed within her palm. What used to be a scarlet colored fireball was now suddenly a deep purple.

As soon as the deep purple fireball appeared, an extremely terrifying and overbearing power immediately burst out.

This power was ghastly and horrifying, not even Ling Xuanxuan herself was able to control it!”

“Swish!”

The fiercely blazing purple fireball suddenly flew out from Ling Xuanxuan’s palm amidst her rage and directly enveloped Bu Xiang right when he opened his mouth to call for help!

The little fireball had almost instantly turned into a raging sea of purple flames. Bu Xiang’s fat body immediately began to burn intensely.

Bu Xiang suddenly began to shout in terror as he wretchedly rolled around within the sea of flames and tried to extinguish the purple flames on his body.

At this moment, all of the Ling Family members became stunned. They watched blankly as Bu Xiang became submerged within all of the raging purple flames. They also observed Ling Xuanxuan who had been shocked into a daze by her own display of power.

Ling Xuanxuan had actually dared to kill someone!

At this moment, practically all of the members of the Ling Family became distraught as they thought of the great calamity which was about to befall the Ling Family.

“Ahhh! Save me! Save me, ahhh! You little whore, I’m going to kill you!!!”

Bu Xiang desperately shouted as he rolled on the ground.

The mass of Fire Fiend Valley practitioners quickly streamed in from outside, carrying buckets as they continuously threw water onto Bu Xiang and tried to put out the purple flames on his body.

Strangely, the purple flames were not extinguished by the water and continued to blaze.

As for Bu Xiang’s wretched cries, they gradually stopped. He had quickly been reduced to a black husk of charcoal.

—And like this, Bu Xiang died a wretched death.

……