Beyond the wondrous heavens and earth, there exists the ordinary mundane world.
While the Flower-Fruit Mountain was shrouded in darkness, laughter echoed joyfully across a green meadow.
“Haha… Mother, I want to go over there and see the sights,” a boy of about eleven or twelve giggled, not waiting for his mother’s permission before running off in the direction he pointed. Despite his young age, he wore a scholar’s cap, a symbol of scholarly status, which accentuated his rosy lips and white teeth, making him irresistibly adorable.
“Qiao San, come back! That place is the Ghost Forest, you can’t go there!”
The joyful expression on the boy’s mother’s face vanished instantly. Urgently, she ordered her servants to chase after the young master. At the thought of the terrifying legends of the Ghost Forest, the beautiful woman, whose charm could rival the finest blossoms, ran with uncharacteristic haste. “Qiao San, come back—”
Moments later, the young Qiao San, running ahead on his own, didn’t witness any marvels but instead stumbled upon a tragic scene.
Beside the gloomy Ghost Forest, a group of vicious bandits were tossing several corpses into the woods, their gleaming steel blades still dripping with blood.
Though young, Qiao San was intelligent and instinctively clapped his small hands over his mouth, crouching low and preparing to sneak away.
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching cry caught his attention. Hidden in the tall grass, he focused his gaze and saw, about ten meters away from the bandits, a teenage girl and a woman in her thirties. From the way the bandits were threatening them, their identities were easy to guess.
The child halted his escape, his innocent face glowing with a sense of justice. The words of ancient sages echoed in the young scholar’s heart. With a determined look, he began his heroic endeavor using a child’s method.
“Whoosh—”
His slingshot aimed at one of the bandits guarding the two women with a knife. Don’t underestimate the slingshot—its sharp stone shot out with incredible speed, precision, and force.
“Aaah—” The unfortunate bandit clutched his eye and rolled on the ground, screaming like a slaughtered pig. Qiao San immediately crouched low and slipped away, his small frame well hidden in the grass.
Meanwhile, the two women seized the opportunity to flee toward the main road. Unfortunately, despite the bandits still being a dozen meters away, their once-proud bound feet now became their greatest burden.
“Damn it! They still want to escape!” The bandits dropped the corpses and quickly caught up. The gang leader roared with a sinister laugh, “We’ll have our way with you right now!”
“Aaah—” A sudden scream of despair and hatred rang out, even making the escaping Qiao San shudder.
“Damn! What a pain!” The gang leader angrily kicked the two women’s corpses. He hadn’t expected them to be so determined, throwing themselves onto the blades when unguarded.
Qiao San silently sighed, realizing he couldn’t save the poor women. Now it was time for him to escape for his own life.
“Qiao San, come back—” Reality was so cruel. Just as Qiao San was about to escape the danger, his mother arrived with servants, the graceful lady panting and still unaware of the dozen bandits now turning their eyes toward her.
“Gaga… another beauty arrives, what great luck! Brothers, let’s go—”
Blades flashed, blood sprayed, more corpses fell to the ground, and Qiao San and his mother were trapped in each other’s arms, with nowhere to run.
“Help—” Clutching her son tightly, Qiao San’s mother kept retreating, her once-flushed cheeks now pale, her delicate body trembling from fear, her cherry lips drained of color.
Qiao San’s youthful face hid between his mother’s bosom, his lips just inches from her trembling breasts.
Though the scene was picturesque, the only thing filling the air was a heavy gloom.
Even at his young age, Qiao San was extraordinary. He still found the courage to comfort his mother, his innocent eyes brimming with hope, longing for the legendary heroes or gods who always appeared in times of peril. “Mother, don’t be afraid! Surely, the immortals will come to save us!”
“Hehe…a deity? Haha…” The bandits laughed maniacally, the leader no longer in a hurry to kill, but instead mockingly waving his knife. “Little brat, let me tell you—no deity will come to save you, even if I kill you a thousand times!”
“Son, run! I’ll hold them off!” Driven by maternal love, Qiao San’s mother forgot her fear of death and the modesty of worldly life, standing bravely with her graceful figure.
“No! I won’t leave!” Whether it was childishness, the influence of books, or his inherently upright nature, Qiao San stood tall and firm before the blades. “Mother, the sages said: One must not yield to force! Heaven has eyes; surely someone will come to our rescue!”
Mother and son tightly embraced each other. Qiao San instinctively pressed his small face into his mother’s chest, shielding her from the lustful gazes of the bandits with his tiny body.
The glow of maternal love and the dream of justice enabled the mother and son to stand fearlessly before the blades. But… would the merciful deity truly come? Would the deity actually arrive to save them?
“Little brat, die!” The shaken bandit grew furious, hating this feeling more than anything. The gang leader’s weapon no longer hesitated, like a venomous snake, aiming straight for the boy’s heart, while he planned to keep the beautiful woman for later enjoyment.
“Aaah—” A scream marked the tragedy. The fatal blow pierced—Qiao San’s mother’s heart. Her soul departed, her spirit drifting away, only a single soul thread floated out from her body, gazing with confusion at her son rolling on the ground.
When the blade struck, Qiao San was pushed aside by his mother. Though he temporarily escaped death, he didn’t see the compassionate immortal he had hoped for, only his mother’s bloodied figure.
“Mother—”
A soul-piercing cry echoed across the plains. Even the nearby Ghost Forest seemed to tremble, but it couldn’t soften the merciless hearts of the bandits.
“Damn it! She’s dead!” The bandit leader, enraged by the accidental killing of the beauty, struck even more fiercely, piercing the child’s chest.
“Yaa—” Qiao San’s final cry wasn’t one of pain but of endless hatred and questioning—hatred for the injustice of the world, questioning the fairness of heaven and earth!
Even in death, his young soul doubted—why was this world so different from what the sages taught? Why did good deeds not bring good fortune?! Why…
——You damned old sky!
“Boom—” At the moment Qiao San’s blood stained the earth and his resentment pierced the heavens, whether Heaven was ignited by his hatred or not, half the sky suddenly turned crimson. A red beam of light descended from the sky, striking Qiao San directly. With a deafening roar, smoke and dust filled the air, obscuring everything from sight!
Time passed leisurely, and the sun gradually set.
The dust finally settled, returning to the embrace of the earth.
The strange scene came clearly into view.
Within a radius of ten zhang where the tragedy occurred, not a blade of grass remained. Only a circular crater existed, with no trace of the heartless bandits, the pitiful servants, or the fragrant departed Lady Qiao.
Only Qiao San lay alone at the center of the deep pit.
Several different rays of light flowed like water across his body, finally “whooshing” into his heart with a strange sound.
He moved! The dead Qiao San actually moved! If not for the knife wound still on his chest, anyone would think it was merely a nightmare. Unfortunately…
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