Qiushui Town, located in the southeast of Zhao State, had poor land and rampant bandits, and even officials exiled by the court were unwilling to come here. Except for some old, weak, women, and children, the younger people had all moved away from here.
Mr. Yang, now seventy-six years old, used to be a bodyguard when he was young, traveling north and south with his escort. Compared to the residents of Qiushui Town, he had seen more of the world. But that was all in the past. Old people always tend to be nostalgic. So Mr. Yang quit the job arranged for him by the escort and returned to Qiushui Town, where he was born and raised.
The sun was setting.
The setting sun cast a blood-red reflection on the flagstones of the street, giving the whole town an air of decline.
Mr. Yang sat on a small wooden chair by the door, smoking a pipe.
Every day at this time, Mr. Yang would sit here and take a couple of puffs. It was a habit and a way of reminiscing about the past.
Soot.
After Mr. Yang took a puff, a pungent smell lingered in his throat and went deep into his lungs.
"Hmm?" After finishing a bag of tobacco, Mr. Yang tapped the pipe and, when he looked up again, he found someone standing in front of him he hadn't noticed before.
It was a teenager, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with somewhat delicate features, wearing only a thin blue robe. In Mr. Yang's memory, only bookish young men dressed like this.
"Old man, do you know about Yishui?" the young man asked, revealing a set of white teeth as he spoke.
"Yishui? Are you talking about the small village to the south? That place was abandoned three years ago. Apart from the graves, there's not a soul to be seen," Mr. Yang said in confusion.
Yishui was a village not far from Qiushui. The population of the village was only a few dozen families, and few people were aware of it. Mr. Yang had passed through that place in the past, so he remembered it.
Knowing the location of Yishui, the young man was initially rejoiced, but after hearing what Mr. Yang said, he was at a loss and asked, "How could it have been abandoned? What about the villagers who lived in Yishui?"
Mr. Yang glanced at the young man and didn't answer immediately. Instead, he picked up his pipe, loaded it with tobacco, lit it, and took a puff.
After a while, Mr. Yang spoke again, "Three years ago, a caravan passed through Yishui, and since then, the village has been abandoned. It turned into ruins, and it's said that everyone in the village died."
Died?
The young man stood there dumbfounded.
The young man was Ding Yan.
After entering the Daoist World Array, Ding Yan discovered that the world inside the array was much larger than he had imagined. It was like another world altogether, with no end in sight. Even the rumored dozens of mortal countries were vast in territory and would take him half a year to fly over at his speed.
Half a month ago, Fang Yuyao bid farewell to Ding Yan and set out for her own hometown.
Both he and Fang Yuyao came from within the borders of Zhao State, but neither of them remembered the specific location very clearly. Plus, after ten years, many places had changed, with many towns turning into ruins and villages turning into graveyards.
After they separated, Ding Yan spent seven or eight days before finally finding this town from his memories.
"I hope that after you are reborn, you can take care of my younger sister in my place. She's just a mortal, with only a few decades to live..."
Ding Yan recalled the words of his original body's owner before he died.
Seeing this, Mr. Yang, feeling compassion, put down his pipe and asked: "Young man, are you from Yishui?"
Seeing that Ding Yan seemed to be still lost in thought, Mr. Yang shook his head and sighed.
"What a sinful world..."
Gathering his thoughts, Ding Yan asked again, "How do I get to Yishui?"
Shaking his head, Mr. Yang eventually told him the way to Yishui, seeing Ding Yan's persistence.
After leaving Qiushui Town, Ding Yan's figure flickered and turned into a stream of light, disappearing into the sky...
Half an hour later, at the former site of Yishui, a figure appeared.
What used to take half a day, Ding Yan was able to arrive in half an hour through aerial flight.
By this time, the sun had completely set, and a new moon appeared on the horizon.
Standing on the ruins, faint remnants of blackened shattered walls can still be seen, and the old banyan tree at the village entrance, devoid of any vitality due to being scorched by flames, only a charred half of its trunk leaning in the soil, at the end of its withered branches, old crows cawing, adding to the desolation.
Looking at the shattered walls, the hazy memories gradually became clear.
A surge of emotion swept over Ding Yan's heart.
"This is the village chief's home," Ding Yan walked to the edge of the broken wall.
With a wave of his sleeve, he swept away the surface debris to reveal a fractured stone tablet hidden underneath, although scorched by fire, the ancient Sanskrit characters for 'Yi Shui' could still be faintly seen.
Past life, present life!
Reincarnation is like a dream!
Spiritual transmigration is a kind of supernatural power, as well as a continuation of life. After being reborn, Ding Yan inherited all the memories of the original owner of his body, including the indelible bitter childhood. After a long time, Ding Yan finally found the location where he and his little sister had built a thatched hut at the edge of the ruins. However, due to the big fire, nothing was left.
Walking on the scorched earth, Ding Yan felt lost for a moment.
Yi Shui is a tranquil little village.
Ten years ago, when Ding Yan was seven and Ding Ling was six, they were washed up here in a big rain. The two, on the verge of starvation, were saved with the help of kind villagers. Later, with the help of the villagers, they built a rudimentary thatched hut. In Ding Yan's memory, that hut was his first home.
He remembered the night when little Ling sat in front of the door, holding her chin in her hands, gazing at the stars.
"Brother, where are father and mother?"
"Father and mother have gone to a faraway place. When little Ling grows up, they will come back to see you," Ding Yan comforted his sister, patting her head.
...
"Brother, little Ling is very hungry."
"Ling, be patient. Tomorrow, when you wake up, brother will make you delicious food...," a famished Ding Yan coaxed his little sister to sleep.
"Yes, Ling wants to eat lots and lots of flatbreads and porridge!"
...
The years pass by, lives are fleeting like grass!
The parents had long passed away, and in the chaotic world, the siblings depended on each other for survival.
Six months later.
Ding Yan, at the age of seven and a half, met Lu Renxing, a wandering recluse, at the village entrance. Lu Renxing took him away, beyond the mundane world. Ding Yan still vividly remembered little Ling, kneeling at the village entrance, in tears, when he was taken away by Lu Renxing.
"When I become a proficient practitioner, I will never let little Ling suffer! Anyone who bullies little Ling will be my enemy!" the eleven-year-old Ding Yan vowed while standing in the Lianhua Valley.
That year, Ding Yan, in the dead of night, discovered an ancient well in an unnamed village, and encountered a soul hidden within.
That soul was also called Ding Yan!