They spent several days selling off the materials in bits and pieces. To avoid drawing too much attention, they used anonymous auction houses and traveled through several different towns. Wuyi followed them obediently, waiting patiently and never crying or making a fuss like he had on the first day. It seemed his earlier outburst had simply been a matter of not yet adjusting his emotions; after all, he was still just a child.
He felt a bit timid about being in human territory, but he couldn't hide his curiosity, often peeking and peering from behind Xuan Yang to look around. Shen Yan still rarely spoke to him, so Wuyi didn't dare get too close to him. However, after a few days, he was at least not as terrified of him as he had been at the start.
"By the way, I heard the news a few days early, which is why I went looking for you. Did the people in your village not hear that calamity beasts would be appearing recently?" Xuan Yang asked Wuyi without any reservation, his social awareness being somewhat lacking.
Fortunately, Wuyi was not overly sensitive. Now that he was far removed from that nightmarish disaster, he didn't mind being asked at all. He shook his head candidly and replied, "We never heard anything about such things. The people in the village don't go out much; hunting and gathering herbs are all done nearby. Only a few uncles would occasionally go to Flower City to buy supplies."
"Are those uncles your mother's...?"
"Ah, no. All the children in our village call our elders that. Everyone is of the same clan, so we're all one family."
"I see..." Having traveled all over the world with Nie Shiyun and the others since he was small, the life of such a sequestered little village was something Xuan Yang didn't understand.
"If only everyone is safe and sound," Wuyi said piously.
"I'm sure they will be."
Hearing their conversation, Shen Yan walked away with an expression that said he had nothing to add. Wuyi looked at Xuan Yang with some concern, but the latter only whispered, "It's fine, he's just being moody! I'll go talk him around."
Wuyi showed an expression of admiration. "Brother Xuan Yang, you understand him so well. You're amazing. He's usually so cold; I'm so afraid of making him angry that I don't even dare speak to him..."
Although Xuan Yang felt he didn't actually understand Shen Yan that well, Wuyi's first sentence still made him feel quite smug.
Later that evening, they stopped to rest at an inn. Once out of Wuyi's sight, Xuan Yang's smugness vanished completely.
"Why are you in a bad mood again?" Xuan Yang asked Shen Yan uncertainly.
"I'm not," Shen Yan replied casually. "We'll have finished dealing with the items on hand by tomorrow. We can head south then. Have you thought about where you want to go first?"
Xuan Yang was easily diverted by the change of subject. "Like I said before, let's go back to the original site of the village. Maybe they've happened to return there?"
"You're being too optimistic," Shen Yan pointed out.
"The road will appear when we reach the mountain... Besides, I was originally supposed to follow you wherever you went. Even though it started because you scammed me out of my storage ring, I'm a magnanimous person! I don't mind anymore! Because I'm very tolerant," Xuan Yang clarified loudly at the end, as if trying to cover something up.
"Why bring that up all of a sudden?"
"Because... if you really hate the idea of escorting a kid home, I can go by myself," Xuan Yang scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Anyway, I can't just dump him halfway. He was right there in front of me with a breath left in him; since I found him, I couldn't just pretend I didn't see him."
Shen Yan sighed. "...Nie Shiyun and the others really did a thorough job of raising you. I suppose it makes sense. A child raised like that would definitely turn out to be a good person."
"Hmph, why are you talking like an elder?" Xuan Yang muttered dissatisfiedly.
"Because when I first met you, you really were just a three-year-old little radish head. Although we haven't met many times since then, I've more or less watched you grow up," Shen Yan said as if it were a matter of course.
"Uh..." Xuan Yang couldn't argue, but he instinctively and urgently wanted to throw off this label of being a junior. However, before he could think of a reason, Shen Yan continued.
"Don't worry. I'll go with you. But I won't be helping this time. I want to see how a half-grown brat like you manages to take care of an even smaller brat."
"I'm already an adult!"
"I know," Shen Yan humored him dismissively. Given that the protest came from such a youthful-looking face, even though twenty years had indeed passed, it was still hard for Shen Yan to equate him with an adult.
Xuan Yang glared resentfully at his own short arms and legs, thinking indignantly: *I'm just developing a bit slowly. In another twenty years... no, ten! I'll definitely surpass him in height, at least.*
The topic shifted from impatience with the child to age, and Xuan Yang soon completely forgot his original plan to "comfort Shen Yan." Wuyi was sleeping soundly in the inner room. The two of them sat in the cultivation room, trading barbs back and forth. Though their words were often sharp, it was just like their daily routine over the past few months—deeply reassuring.
The next day, the three of them set out. Although Wuyi had seen what a flying sword was while they were moving between towns recently, he still gasped in amazement when Xuan Yang summoned his blade.
He shifted back into his original form, clinging firmly to Xuan Yang's shoulder as a little crow, his eyes full of excitement. He could fly, of course, but how could his physical wings ever experience such speed? Moreover, as long as one had enough spiritual power, one could fly tirelessly for a long distance in one go, which was a real eye-opener for Wuyi.
"Let's go!"
Since he was handling everything, Xuan Yang was quite excited. Shen Yan let him stay in high spirits, having made up his mind not to help Xuan Yang with directions anymore, nor did he intend to interfere with arranging places to rest or the timing of their travel. If this journey went smoothly, Shen Yan felt it would be about time to let Xuan Yang travel independently. Once Wuyi was settled, he could report back to Nie Shiyun and the others, then return to his old solitary life.
If it had been a few months ago, Shen Yan would have thought it impossible for him to spend so much time with anyone. In fact, during this period, he had several times thought, *What a pain, I should never have taken this job.* But by now, he realized with some surprise that he hadn't thought that way in a long time.
Though he was just a noisy junior who lacked common sense, Xuan Yang had indeed added some color to Shen Yan's near-zero experience of getting along with others.
*But it's been long enough,* Shen Yan thought.
The three of them didn't travel very fast. Although the flying sword was quick, Wuyi needed sleep. Xuan Yang was afraid that if they traveled while the boy was sound asleep, they might miss a landmark he recognized, so he coordinated with Wuyi's schedule and rested for a full night every evening.
"Is it because I need to sleep that we have to wait..." Wuyi felt a bit embarrassed. Every time his eyelids were too heavy to stay open, Xuan Yang and Shen Yan still looked full of energy. When he woke up every morning, the two of them were basically never sleeping; at most, they were meditating and cultivating, or resting with their eyes closed.
"When your cultivation isn't high, you really do need to eat and sleep often. You won't have to once you become powerful!"
"As powerful as Brother Xuan Yang?" Wuyi asked, tilting his head.
"That's not necessary. As long as you're about half as powerful as me... that should be enough, right?"
Neither of them really knew what level that actually was, but hearing this, Wuyi laughed and nodded vigorously. "Then I'll work hard!"
Shen Yan looked at the two carefree and oblivious children. He thought to himself that unlike the exceptionally talented Xuan Yang, it was a pity that with Wuyi's aptitude, it was hard to say if he could ever reach half of Xuan Yang's level in his entire life. However, he had likely been influenced by these two during this time; he wouldn't say such blunt truths that no one would be happy to hear anymore.
Finally, ten days later, they returned to the ruins of the village.
Unfortunately, they didn't see a single living soul there.
After Xuan Yang and Shen Yan had left in a hurry, other outside cultivators searching for calamity beasts had indeed heard the rumors and rushed over, but they were a step too late. Someone had already beaten them to the punch. Judging from the scene, there were no signs of a struggle other than fire damage, so they had no way of knowing who the prize had fallen to. As for the completely destroyed village, those cultivators had no interest in it; they all left after a quick search of the area.
Now that the group of cultivators had dispersed one after another, the place was truly deserted and ignored by all.
Seeing the place where he used to laugh and play with his peers now barren, and his former home turned into debris of stones and wooden planks, Wuyi, who had long since adjusted his mood, couldn't help but feel distressed again. The laughing and chatting he had done with Xuan Yang along the way vanished.
Xuan Yang stood dazed for a moment before finally remembering to comfort him. "Don't be sad. Let's look around the area. Or we can go to other villages and towns to ask?"
"Mm..." Wuyi's voice trembled slightly. Although he knew it wouldn't be easy, he couldn't help but imagine on the way that when they returned to the original site, his clansmen would have already come back and everyone could be reunited.
Shen Yan watched coldly as Wuyi sniffled, held back his tears, and walked back to the entrance of his ruined home. He stepped firmly onto the dirt and began to rummage through the debris for his things.
As he searched, Wuyi's expression changed slightly. He sniffed the air, and his dejected look became hopeful again.
"What is it?"
"Maybe my parents have already been back! I don't remember everything perfectly... but several of our belongings are missing. My parents definitely wouldn't have left them behind. The Rain Flower Stones I picked up for my little brother when he was born, kept in a small jar... they're gone too."
"You mean your clansmen have already been back once, but they decided to leave the original site and settle down somewhere else?"
Shen Yan and Xuan Yang looked at each other. Although other cultivators had been there, after asking Wuyi about more of the missing belongings, they were certain that no cultivator would pilfer such junk. Some things might have special meaning to a family, but to a human cultivator, they wouldn't take them even if they were free, as they would just take up storage space.
"They're really not here..." Together, they searched through the ruins again. Wuyi sniffed carefully once more. "I can faintly smell a familiar scent, but whether it was left recently or has always been here, I don't know..."
Xuan Yang patted Wuyi like an elder and thumped his chest. "This is good news! Buck up, we'll take you around the nearby area. Your
