readsfreenovel Chapter 67 Kindness
Chapter 67 Kindness
In the central part of the Daotian Continent, there is a mountain range.
Forty-eight days had passed since Zhang Yunling began his breakthrough to the Golden Core stage. Fortunately, he had not encountered any danger during these past few weeks. After successfully consuming the prepared pills one by one, Zhang Yunling completed ninety percent of the refinement of the Profound Purple Pill within his body.
However, Ren Jixing was not having an easy time. For more than a month, he had been staying by Zhang Yunling's side. Although a cultivator of his level could already abstain from grains and only needed to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to meet his nutritional needs.
But after days of constantly being on edge and patrolling the surroundings, and with no one else passing by in this desolate wilderness, Ren Jixing was also running out of energy without women to replenish his strength.
Sometimes Ren Jixing would turn around and ask Zhang Yunling how much longer it would take, but he never received a response.
However, he quickly persevered again. If he couldn't even endure this little bit of hardship, how could he possibly continue on the path of cultivation?
As luck would have it, just as Ren Jixing was once again on the verge of fainting due to excessive mental exertion, someone walked over from not far away.
Upon entering Ren Jixing's range of spiritual perception, he immediately opened his eyes, which were already covered with dark circles, and stared intently at the figure that was slowly walking towards him. It turned out to be a girl.
The girl looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. She was dressed in coarse linen clothes and had a bamboo basket on her back filled with all sorts of herbs. It seemed she was on her way home.
"Strange, when did this person appear?"
He had never sensed anyone passing by before, but the sudden appearance of this girl made him a little wary.
Seeing that the other person looked like a village girl, Ren Jixing didn't pay much attention to her. However, after the girl saw Zhang and Ren at the foot of the mountain, she quickly walked towards them.
"Hey! You two kind folks, could you...?"
Before the girl could finish speaking, Ren Jixing sprang to his feet, his natal sword materializing in his hand, its tip pointing directly at her startled face, and he shouted:
"Who are you? Can't you tell we're cultivators?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to bother you. I know you're cultivators, that's why I came here to ask you for a favor, please, sir!... Waaaaah..."
As he spoke, the village girl began to sob in fear. Seeing her large, watery eyes, Ren Jixing sighed in relief, sheathed his sword, and asked:
"You go first, what is it?"
Seeing that the other party hadn't killed her, the little girl was overjoyed. She took off the bamboo basket from her back, placed it on the ground, and said to Ren Jixing:
"Sir, my mother is sick at home, and my father was beaten to death by the village bully. I'm the only one who can take care of her... I went alone to a distant forest to gather herbs, hoping to go back and cure my mother..."
"I know that cultivators are all very powerful immortals. If you could come back with me to save my mother, I would definitely repay you!"
Seeing the little girl in front of him crying her heart out, even Ren Jixing, who was indifferent to all worldly emotions, couldn't help but be moved.
“But… it’s not that I don’t want to help you, the person behind me is my junior brother, and he’s at a very critical moment right now. I have to protect him… Could you ask your mother to wait for me for one more day, until my junior brother successfully breaks through, then I’ll take him with me to rescue your mother.”
Upon hearing this, the little girl's joyful expression immediately faded, and her big eyes filled with tears again, which uncontrollably slid down her cheeks.
"Uh...okay...alright." Ren Jixing frowned. He hadn't actually experienced too many of the cruel things in the cultivation world, and his heart was kinder than most people's.
Ren Jixing glanced back at Zhang Yunling and saw that his junior brother was still focused on breaking through. He then nodded in agreement: "Okay, I will save your mother, but I will have to wait a while. I need to take some safety precautions before leaving my junior brother."
As he spoke, Ren Jixing walked towards Zhang Yunling, patted his storage bag with his left hand, and several magical swords flew out from it. Driven by Ren Jixing's spiritual power, they landed around Zhang Yunling, surrounding him.
"Lock!" Ren Jixing shouted, his hands forming a magic seal. Runes appeared on the flying swords, gradually emitting a pale golden light. A thin golden line grew from the hilt of each sword, pulling it towards the next sword, until all the swords were connected by the thin line, finally forming a semi-circular protective circle.
"Once he completes his breakthrough, he will naturally shatter this magic array. Come on, little girl, take me to see your mother."
Because he had maintained the flag's protective shield for a long time, he didn't have much spiritual energy left in his body. However, since he was only going to save a mortal woman, he didn't need to use any supernatural powers or spells. So, Ren Jixing followed the village girl towards her village.
They encountered no bandits or monsters along the way, and the journey was very peaceful. The little girl was also very happy. As they walked, Ren Jixing asked, "Little girl, are there any village bullies in your village?"
Mentioning the village bullies, the little girl said angrily, "Of course! Those village bullies are all bastards! They commit all sorts of evil deeds, including arson, murder, and robbery! They forcibly come to our homes to collect protection money. Every month we have to hand over a lot of silver, and if we don't pay, they'll beat us up!"
"My dad gets beaten up every time he sees them because he can't pay protection money! In the end...in the end...waaaaah..."
When the topic of sadness came up, the little girl started sobbing again, tears streaming down her face.
Seeing this, Ren Jixing realized that he shouldn't bring this up again, so he immediately came over to comfort him and said, "It's alright, it's alright. Since your village has been bullied by these people for so long, after I heal your mother today, I'll take the opportunity to eliminate the evil and kill them all to avenge your father!"
"Really... Thank you, sir! I will definitely repay you when I grow up! I... I will offer myself to you!"
Hearing the village girl's words, Ren Jixing scratched his head awkwardly. "You don't need to repay me with your body. Where did you learn that word? Just remember my kindness. You can repay me when you have the chance to see me again."
"Yes! You're so kind, sir!" The little girl nodded excitedly, hugging Ren Jixing's tall figure tightly, her tears and snot sticking to his black robe.
"Alright, alright, let's go." Ren Jixing patted the little girl's head, comforted her briefly, and then took her little hand and walked forward together.
After only a short while, the dirt road came to an end, and a small village appeared before them.
"My home is over here, please come with me, sir!" The little girl grabbed Ren Jixing's hand and ran quickly toward a thatched hut.
Ren Jixing looked around and found that the village was indeed poor and destitute. All the villagers' houses were thatched huts, the ground was covered with withered grass and rotten leaves, and there was not even a single livestock to be seen.
Entering the little girl's home, the room was empty. The broken iron pot placed against the wall was already rusty. Walking into the inner room, a thin young woman was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) made of yellow earth.
Ren Jixing glanced at the woman; her face was sallow and emaciated, she was almost lifeless, and seemed about to die at any moment. The little girl put down the bamboo basket behind her, and the tears she had just wiped away flowed again as she rushed to her mother's side and cried bitterly.
"Mom! Waaah... Your child has found medicinal herbs to cure your illness... and even invited a venerable cultivator, he will surely save you!"
But the woman no longer had the strength to speak. She could only raise her arm with difficulty, slowly embrace the girl's head, and cry along with her.
Ren Jixing couldn't bear to see such a pitiful scene, so he didn't say much and went straight forward, using his right hand to cast a spell to heal the woman.
“Young lady, I must say, the herbs you found are quite good; they do have a therapeutic effect. However, now that I am here, your mother’s illness can be cured with just a snap of my fingers.”
After hearing Ren Jixing's words, the little girl didn't pay attention to the herbs; she just excitedly shouted to her mother, "Great! Mom, you're saved!"
After saying that, she turned around and knelt down on both knees, kowtowing and thanking him, "Thank you for saving me, sir!"
Ren Jixing helped the girl up, smiled and shook his head, then continued to use healing spells to restore the woman's injuries until her complexion regained some color, at which point he stopped.
"Okay... your mother is fine now, but I..."
Before Ren Jixing could finish speaking, a commotion suddenly arose outside. Upon hearing this, the little girl's smile instantly froze, replaced by terror, and she trembled as she said:
"It's...it's them!"