No demons in all realms

Chapter 29 Two Years' Journey

Su Yang walked very slowly, without stopping for a single step.

He walked around Wanjian Manor, asking every disciple he could find, along with Ye Qing.

No one knew who Ye Qing's fiancé was, and no one cared about a childhood betrothal whose name was unknown.

As it was getting dark, Su Yang led Ye Qing to the main gate of the manor.

"Have you searched everything?" the gatekeeper asked.

"I've looked everywhere." Ye Qing nodded, somewhat disappointed.

"Then you should go. It's getting dark, be careful going down the mountain."

Su Yang stepped over the threshold and down the stone steps. The big yellow dog ran out of the door, circled his legs twice, and whimpered twice.

Su Yang didn't lower his head or stop. He just leaned on his bamboo cane and walked down the stone steps one by one. After walking a dozen steps, a voice came from behind him.

"Hello!"

Su Yang did not turn around.

"What's your name?"

He recognized the voice all too well; it was Chen Luoluo's voice.

Su Yang didn't answer or stop, but just kept walking down the steps, the only sound being the tapping of his bamboo cane on the stone steps.

Are you really him?

Su Yang's figure grew farther and farther away.

"Say something!"

The sound of the bamboo cane grew fainter and fainter, fading into the twilight.

Chen Luoluo stood at the door, motionless, as the wind blew down from the mountain, making her eyes red.

She didn't know if it was the sand and dust in her eyes, or something else.

"Senior Sister Luo Luo," the gatekeeper said cautiously, "should we investigate that person's background?"

Chen Luoluo remained silent for a long time.

"No."

Because she knew he wasn't him, she turned around and walked through the gate of the villa.

The big yellow dog squatted at the door, looking in the direction Su Yang had disappeared, whimpered, and its ears drooped.

The path down the mountain is easier than the path up.

Su Yang walked at the same pace, neither fast nor slow, steadily and quietly, with Ye Qing following beside him without saying a word.

She could tell that something was wrong with Su Yang, but she didn't know what to say.

The two walked for about half an hour until it was completely dark.

"Little blind man," Ye Qing suddenly spoke.

"Um."

"you……"

"Don't ask anymore."

Ye Qing opened her mouth, but swallowed the words that were about to come out.

She looked at Su Yang's profile, at his eyes covered with gauze, and at his tightly pursed lips.

"Then I won't ask," she said.

Su Yang did not speak again.

When he reached the foot of the mountain, Su Yang suddenly stopped, turned around, and faced the direction of Wanjian Manor.

"What's wrong?" Ye Qing asked.

Su Yang did not answer.

He stood there, leaning on his bamboo cane, facing the brightly lit mountain, for a long time.

"Let's go." Su Yang turned around and continued walking forward.

Ye Qing followed beside him.

"Little blind man."

"Um."

Were you sad just now?

Su Yang paused for a moment.

"I'm not sad."

"Stubborn!"

Su Yang didn't speak, and Ye Qing didn't ask any more questions. The two walked along the mountain path, the moonlight illuminating the path brightly.

"Now that you've found your family, you don't need to follow me anymore. Go home."

"No, I'll go with you."

"I told you, it would be dangerous if you came with me."

"So you've made it this far without encountering any danger?"

"If you encounter a danger that I cannot handle, you should go home."

"I'm not going back, my home is too far away." Ye Qing said, lowering her head and falling silent.

"Then let's travel ten thousand miles together. When you get tired, I'll take you back to Guanghan Academy," Su Yang broke the silence between them.

The two did not mention going home again.

After that night, Ye Qing seemed to have forgotten about it, eating and drinking as usual, following Su Yang wherever he went, and occasionally tugging at his sleeve to take a few steps forward if she thought he was walking too slowly.

Su Yang didn't say anything and let her pull him.

Su Yang used to think that traveling ten thousand miles was just a saying. "Reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles" were phrases that scholars often used. But when he actually went on the road, he realized that the words in the books were dead, while the mud on the road was alive.

He can't see it, but he can feel it.

When I arrived in Jiangnan, the air was full of moisture, the stone slabs under my feet were slippery, and even the sound of my bamboo cane tapping on them was distorted.

When we reached the northern frontier, the wind felt like knives on our faces, the ground beneath our feet was hard as a rock, the sound of our bamboo canes hitting the ground was muffled, and the air was so dry that our throats felt tight, and even breathing felt stinging.

When Ye Qing couldn't walk anymore, she would squat down, and Su Yang would stop and wait for her. Once she had rested enough, she would get up and tug on his sleeve to continue walking.

"Little blind boy, where are you going after walking so far?"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Then what's the point of just walking like this?"

"Leaving means it."

Ye Qing felt that he was just giving her a perfunctory answer, so she snorted and stopped asking.

But Su Yang was telling the truth. He used to think that studying was enough, that all the principles in the world were written in books, but those principles belonged to others, and no matter how well he memorized them, they were still someone else's.

He gradually came to understand that those principles only truly belong to him after he had experienced them firsthand and lived through them himself.

Along the way, he encountered bandits, cultivators who blocked his path, and ordinary people who asked him for help. He would lend a hand to those he could. Sometimes Ye Qing felt that he was meddling in other people's business, but other times he felt that although he was blind, he was not blind at heart.

After traveling for almost a year, the two stopped to rest on a mountain road. Su Yang sat down against a tree and suddenly felt a movement in his chest.

It wasn't the deliberate process of cultivation; it was very natural, as natural as breathing, and that righteous energy started moving on its own.

It no longer charged headlong into his body like before, nor did it erupt suddenly like when fighting with someone. Instead, it flowed slowly and steadily through his body, like water flowing from high to low, like branches growing towards the sky, naturally finding its place.

Su Yang didn't do anything special. He just leaned against the tree trunk, listening to the sound of the wind passing through the leaves, the sound of the stream flowing over the stones in the distance, and the sound of Ye Qing eating dry food next to him.

The energy grew more stable and solid as it progressed.

When he stood up from the ground, he felt as if nothing had changed, yet everything seemed different.

Ye Qing looked up at him, still chewing on dry rations, and mumbled, "Little blind man, you seem... to have become more handsome?"

What does it mean to become handsome?

"Yes, it's that feeling I can't quite put my finger on, it's like your aura has changed."

Su Yang smiled but didn't explain.

His righteous spirit no longer needs to be consciously mobilized; it exists naturally within him, as always as breathing.

He didn't know what realm he was at now, but he was confident that he wouldn't be at a disadvantage if he encountered that mid-stage Qi Transformation cultivator again.

They've been together for two years.

Su Yang couldn't remember how many places they had been, nor could Ye Qing. She only remembered that she had worn out several pairs of shoes, developed calluses on her feet, and no longer complained of being tired after walking just a few steps like before.

"Shall we go back to Guanghan Academy?"

"Back to the academy?"

"Yeah, I'm tired."

"You get tired too?"

Su Yang did not answer, but turned around and walked towards Guanghan Academy.

Ye Qing opened her mouth, wanting to say, "Didn't you say you wanted to travel ten thousand miles? Didn't you say you wanted to take me very far?" but she swallowed the words back.

She could tell that Su Yang wasn't really tired; he just felt it was time to go back.

So she simply stopped asking.

The return journey was much faster than the journey out, because Su Yang had already traveled the route once and remembered clearly which parts were easy to walk and which were difficult.

Ye Qing discovered that Su Yang's memory was frighteningly good. He remembered every step of the road he had walked once, where there was a tree, where there was a rock, where there was a downhill slope. He knew it better than anyone who could see.

How do you remember all of this?

"Because you can't see it, you can remember it."

Ye Qing pondered the words for a moment, feeling that they made some sense, yet also felt a little sad.