Chapter 3: Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 The other party (Zuo Jingyuan) said it so clearly, even if he (Zhou Yin), wanted to, he could not shirk (escape).

 Zhou Yin has no interest in the so-called sect elder position, but his ability to Build a Foundation so quickly is indeed inseparable from those spirit stones and Yuan Pei Pill.

 He (Zhou Yin) acts as he pleases, but also disdain to owe favor..

 "En."

 Zou Jingyuan was quite satisfied with his answer, nodded and said with a smile: "You have just advanced to the Formation Building Stage, and your Foundation is not yet solid. Don't rush to enter secluded cultivation and practice (1). You can walk around, and if you need spiritual stones, you can come to talk to me."

 Zhou Yin asked an irrelevant question: "Anyang country has been destroyed ?"

 "I heard that the capital Songzhou hasn't been breached, but it is not far (2)from being conquered." Zou Jingyuan remembered that his (Zhou Yin) parents were from Anyang country, and comforted: "You don't need to worry too much, although there are military disasters and wars, I heard that the Dongyue country's military discipline is strict and normal. The common people (3) should be free from any harm."

 Zhou Yin said, "I want to go back and have a look."

 "Alright, filial piety, as it should be." Zou Jingyuan paused, "It's just that you have now completed your Qi Refining Stage, and are in the early Stage of Foundation Building, if there is no accident, your lifespan should be 200 years,  your were born from the parents who  are both mortals. Even if you can prolong your life, it will only be about a hundred years. " This is everyone’s fate, so don’t be too obsessed with your cultivation.”

Zhou Yin cultivated to the point of almost  becoming a god in his previous life, so he naturally had the magic weapon he was used to (magic weapon he used) But before he will form a Core , he can't open the cave that he had placed restrictions on in his previous life, so what he could rely on now was the gift from the Jinghai Sect. That is, the Rong Shui (Melt Water) sword bestowed (given) by the Jinghai Sect. 

 Now that he has successfully Established the Foundation and has been recognized (affirmed) by the sect master, his status in the sect is different from before, and he gets more spiritual stones and pills every month than before. Zhou Yin then used these spirit stones to go to the Yunzhou market where cultivators gathered to buy cinnabar talisman paper (4). Zhou Yin wrote (created) twelve low-level talismans, and poured (infused) spiritual power to prepare them for emergencies.

——He has always been like this. He will not entrust his life to a certain person or a magic weapon. In this world there are people beyond the people, and there are Heavens beyond the Heavens (5). Only his own reactions and judgments are the most reliable.

When he arrived in Yunzhou, he realized that the situation had really turned upside down. Although Yunzhou was only the original capital of Anyang, it was merged into Dongyue Kingdom with the collapse of Anyang Kingdom. The special geographical location of Yunzhou also made the atmosphere of this city very subtle.

 In the streets and alleys, one can see Dongyue soldiers patrolling everywhere. They are all heavily armored and holding halberds. In such a scene, ordinary (common) people are frightened, but cultivators will not take it seriously. The soldiers are also very observant, but when they see that behavior of some people is different from ordinary folks, they can guess that they are cultivators, and they dare not make it difficult for them.

 Zhou Yin has a stern face and a very unusual temperament. Naturally, he will not be mistaken for common folks, so the journey is smooth.

 After making the talismans and leaving Yunzhou, he flew on the sword to Zhoujia Village.

 If one leaves Yunzhou, if one rides a horse, it will take about three days to reach Fulin County, and Zhoujia Village is a small village dozens of miles outside of Fulin County. Although its location is remote, its conditions are unique. 

Not only the mountain is covered with all kinds of herbs and medicines all year round, but one can pick a tree at a  random, and the age of the tree is about a hundred years old, and even there are more fish in the rivers than in others.

 Because of this, after hundreds of years of reproduction, although the number of people in the village is not large, most of them are self-sufficient. In addition, people go to the county town every ten days and every  half a month to go to the market, and from time to time, there are foot travelling merchants who pick things from the county town to come here to sell, so unless the season is freezing and snowing, Zhoujia Village is always lively (6), with a sincere kindness.

 However, when he (Zhou Yin) arrived at Zhoujia Village in the evening, he found out that the village exuded a strange atmosphere from the inside out (7).

 At this time, the sky has gradually darkened. Usually at this time, every household (8) would have lighted oil lamps and smoke from the cooking would have been rising in spirals (would have curled up/waved) but when Zhou Yin entered the village, there was only one feeling.

Dead silence.

 In addition, there is a thick bloody smell that cannot be dissolved.

 After entering the village and walking towards his home, the experience (feeling) of being away from home for seventeen years did not blur his memory.

 Everywhere along the way is a real mountain of ​​corpses and a sea of blood.

 Zhoujia Village originally had hundreds of people, but now almost all of them are dead.

 Some people were pierced by spears in their chests and nailed to the wall, some people had a deep axe mark on their necks, half of their heads were tilted to one side, and only a thin layer of muscles was attached, even four or five-year-old children. They were also torn apart and horribly killed.

 He didn't stop, his eyes swept over the corpses, and he continued to walk until he stopped.

 Even though seventeen years later, Zhou Cai and Ji Shi are obviously much older, but Zhou Yin still  recognized them at a glance.

 The two were cuddled and were lying under the wall. Zhou Chai had a dagger stuck in his back, and Ji Shi was slashed in the chest by a knife.

 The blood had dried up long ago. Like the other villagers, Ji's face didn't show much horror. Instead, she looked peaceful. Only Zhou Cai's eyes were wide open, as if he couldn't rest.

 Zhou Yin looked at all this expressionlessly, squatted down slowly, and stroked his (Zhou Cai) face with his hand.

 "I'm here, I will avenge you. Rest in peace." He whispered. His hand passed by, closing Zhou Cai's eyes.

 Zhou Yin pulled out the dagger from him, which was engraved with a military emblem and the word "Hui" (惠) .

  Zhou Yin recognized the military emblem, he has seen it many times in Yunzhou. It is the symbol of the Dongyue Guoping Southern Army, and the word Hui refers to the Hui Jun, the commander of the Ping An Army. The Pingnan Army is known to be strict in military discipline and invincible in battle.

 Zhou Yin's eyes narrowed, and his face became even colder.

 Although Anyang Kingdom was destroyed, but along the way, the people's daily life is affected (influenced) . If they didn't stand up and resisted, they would not be arrested and killed. Ordinary people only care about their lives. In this chaotic world, changing emperors makes no difference to them, not to mention that the rulers of Anyang are incompetent and will not be supported.

 Now that the people of Yunzhou are safe and sound, is it worth the army to cross the border, and slaughter without leaving a living person in a small remote village?

 These people looked stunned, but did not show fear, which showed that they didn't know they were going to die before they died.

 Since the corpses are all outside the house, it can't be the massacre after being drugged and becoming bewildered and confused, but...

 It looks like someone summoned them all (villagers), and they were instantly killed by the cultivator with a spell.

 After death, the wounds were changed into the sword wounds, to create the illusion of them (people)being killed by the army.

 Whether it was really what the Pingnan Army did, or whether someone borrowed a knife to kill someone (9), this whole thing is bound to be inextricably linked with the Pingnan Army.

 There were messy footsteps not far away, and Zhou Yin immediately concealed his breath and hid in the darkness. "Third (10), come and have a look! There's..."

 "Shh, keep your voice down! Aren't you afraid you will attract people?!"

 "What are you afraid of, the village has been slaughtered, and who would come here in the middle of the night !" Ding Da came out of a room, happily carrying the gold and silver things in his arms, glanced out of the corner of his eyes, and saw that from behind of the tree, a well-dressed man walked over and inspected the dead.

 The moonlight reflected the figure behind him, but Ding Da didn't turn his head back and kept moving: "Hey, the third one, look in the house there, I looked carefully through several households during the day over there and all of them  had oil and water... But then again, that person is really ruthless, hundreds of people, not a single one, this is not better than..."

 His words came to an abrupt end, and Ding Da stared at the hand that was choking his neck in horror.

 "Someone came to slaughter the village during the day, did you do it?" the other party asked, in the sound of the voice, there was no trace of warmth.

 Ding Da trembled violently and stammered: "No, no, no, how could it be me? The Lords spared my life, and little I (11) just followed along. I didn't kill people, I didn't kill them!"

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 "Who is it?"

 "No,... No, I don't know. There are a few immortals. Master Yao asked us to follow them. They seem to be looking for something, but they can't find it..."

 "Go on."

"Then they used immortal spells to call out all these people and ask them a question one by one. If they couldn't ask, they killed them..."

 The man in front of him (Ding Da) was dressed in black, his face was pale and indifferent, like a ghost. Compared with these corpses under the moonlight, Ding Da felt even more frightened.

 The other person didn't say anything, just stared at him. Ding Da finally couldn't stand it anymore, and told everything that he knew : "After those immortals killed the villagers, Lord Yao asked us to arrange the knives and scene and put the blame on the Pingnan Army. His Lordship spared my life. I've seen it, I've seen it all, these villagers are all dead, I just arranged the knife, I didn't kill the people, it really wasn't me!"

 "What is the origin of the murderer?"

 "I don't know, I just saw that Lord Yao respected them and called them Immortals."

 "Lord Yao?"

 Ding Da gasped and tried to recall: "Yes, he's  called Yao Xincheng. I heard that he is a big man from the capital of Dongyue. We are all refugees, temporarily hired by him, we obeyed his orders, put on the clothes of the Pingnan Army, and come here..."

 Before he finished speaking, he was too frightened, rolled his eyes, foamed at the mouth, and was scared to death.

 What this person said was roughly the same as what Zhou Yin speculated.

 What is it (What thing is it) that makes those people unable to find it everywhere and kills people?

 He pondered silently, but a bright light suddenly flashed across the sky, like a raging fire connecting the sky, burning half of the night sky red.

 But it only took a moment, the red light disappeared, as if nothing had happened.

 That was the direction of Longying Pond

 Almost without thinking, he immediately flew out of the village with his sword.

 Out of the village, the closer one gets to Longying Pond , the more one can feel a surge of spiritual power coming towards the face. Longing Pond is full of spiritual energy, Zhou Yin has known it for a long time, otherwise he would not have been meditating there before, but now the spiritual energy here is more and more dense and full, and it is a hundred times stronger than before.

 The water flow of the waterfall was still very fast, pouring straight into the deep pool from top to bottom, Zhou Yin approached it, bent down and touched the pool water lightly.

 It is warm.

 Moreover, in the pool of water, there seems to be a wonderful power that connects with his palm and rushes straight into his mind.

 His heart moved, he put his hand in the water, stared at Longying Pond for a moment, and suddenly jumped in.

 Longying Pond is bottomless. Zhou Yin once stayed underwater. It is speculated that the water here may be connected to a certain sea outlet. However, back then he didn't even have the cultivation of Qi Refining Stage , so naturally he couldn't stay in the water for too long. After a long time, he is now in the Foundation Building Stage, and he has no problem in holding his breath for an hour.

 The water in the pool was clear and sparkling, with water plants and small fish passing by from time to time. Zhou Yin didn't even look at it, and swam to the source of spiritual power.

 The water temperature is no longer cold, and the warmth wrappers around one's body, making people relaxed and comfortable.

 After about half a stick of incense downstream, he pushed through the layers of stones and moss, and he finally found the culprit that caused the astronomical phenomenon (this bright red light). 

 An oval gray-black stone similar to an egg.

Notes:

(1) also cultivation/training/practise

(2) 差不多了

almost / nearly / more or less / about the same / good enough / not bad

(3) 百姓 

common/ordinary people

Literally:

百-100

性- family name/surname

(4)

符 talisman/symbol/mark/written charm

纸 paper

朱砂 cinnabar

(5)人外有人，天外有天

No matter how good you think you are, there is always someone out there that is better. 

 

 (6) 热热闹闹

Buzzing with excitement, bustling

(7)从内到外

From inside to outside 

(8) 家家户户

Each and every family (idiom) 

家 family

户 household/door/family

(9) 借刀杀人 (idiom) 

to frame someone

to attack using the strength of another 

to get sb else to do one's dirty work

(10) 老三 Lao San 

They way one calls someone they know 

*Old tree

(11) 小的

Polite way of speaking 

When one talks about yourself in the third person or before someone of the higher rank/someone you respect/are afraid of 

**Pingan Army = Southern Ping Army

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