Shaojun riding the sea

Chapter 226 Take Them Home

After Kuang Heng issued a hunting order against the Feng family, Feng Jiuyue, with nowhere else to go, secretly found Yue Zhiqing with the family head token in his pocket.

"Brother Yue, please, let my brother go, let my people go, please give them a chance to live..."

When he handed the patriarch token to her, he promised to do something for her. However, Feng Jiyue knew that Yue Zhiqing would agree to her request for ordinary things, but the request she made now was difficult for him to do.

After all, isn't it wishful thinking to ask a general who is loyal to Kuang Heng and a founding general of Dongmu to let go of the "traitor" who has defected abroad?
Sure enough, Yue Zhiqing remained silent for a long time. He neither agreed nor refused, nor did he take away the patriarch token.

He just clenched the sword in his hand and said to Feng Jiyue in a deep voice: "I may not be able to come to Yunzhou Island for a long time, but I will not miss your birthday. When that day comes, I will definitely come to see you. You wait for me."

Yue Zhiqing left in a hurry, leaving Feng Jiyue in despair. She knew that he was leading his troops to encircle and hunt down the Feng family members who were living outside, following the orders given to him by Kuang Heng.

Sure enough, he did not set foot on Yunzhou Island for a long time afterwards. Feng Jiyue, who had already lived in Feng Tower at that time, had no way to fight against Kuang Heng in order to protect the remaining tribesmen. She could only worry day and night, waking up from one bloody dream after another. No one knew how scared she was at that time. She was afraid that the calamity and the overthrow of the Manchu tribe would really come true!
It was not until later that she used ancient secret techniques to enter her brother's dream that she learned that her brother was still alive. He and some of the remaining tribesmen fell off a cliff, escaped death, and hid in the Qingli Mountains.

This result was a blessing in disguise. Feng Jiyue did not dare to leak any information, for fear that Kuang Heng, Yue Zhiqing and others would find out and continue to pursue the Feng family and kill them all.

She just pretended to know nothing and looked worried until her birthday, when Yue Zhiqing rushed back exhausted.

At that time, she was burning incense and praying in a small Buddhist temple specially set up in Fenglou, reciting scriptures for the deceased members of the Feng clan, to help them pass away and guide their souls back to their hometown.

Hearing the footsteps behind her, she knew that Yue Zhiqing had come to keep the appointment, but she still did not turn around. From head to toe, every strand of her hair exuded coldness and alienation.

After all, Yue Zhiqing led his troops to kill so many members of the Feng clan. If it wasn't for protecting Fenglou, she wouldn't have to keep playing nice with them.

Yue Zhiqing could naturally sense her hostility, but he said nothing. He just walked towards her step by step and handed something to her.

"Jiyue, I give this to you. I just hope you can... still smile like you used to."

Yue Zhiqing was introverted by nature and not good at speaking. After coming all the way to deliver a birthday gift, he could only utter such a simple blessing.

But when Feng Jiyue saw what he had given her, she was stunned.

It turned out to be a lifelike wood carving. A woman with fluttering clothes was pulling a bow on the edge of a cliff. She had a beautiful face and a smile as beautiful as a flower. She was like an immortal. Wasn't that exactly... the woman who used to perform the double bow skills on the top of the cliff with her brother?
The past reappeared before his eyes, but everything had changed and could never go back. Feng Jiyue felt a pain in his heart and his eyes turned red. He did not take the wooden sculpture, but turned aside and sent the guest away coldly:

"Thank you for the gift, General Yue Da. Unfortunately, there is no High Priest Ji Yue in the world anymore. No, even the Feng family no longer exists. I am now just the head of this Feng Tower. There is no need to mention the past. General Yue Da, please leave. I still have to pray for the souls of the dead who are wandering outside today. It is inconvenient for me to entertain guests. Please forgive me."

She ordered them to leave, but the tall figure beside her did not move. After a long time, he lowered his head slightly and said in a hoarse voice: "Your brother and the rest of the tribesmen fled to the cliff. I watched them jump down with my own eyes, and then I withdrew my troops and returned to the palace to report. But don't be sad, because they-"

Yue Zhiqing moved closer as he spoke. His hoarse voice became even lower, and every word was clearly heard by Feng Jiyue: "They are not dead at all. There is a stone platform extending from the bottom of the cliff, which is blocked by the mountain clouds and dense vines. They all landed safely on it, and the pursuers did not find them. Qi Yun just led his people to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff. Although I saw through the mystery, I did not make it public. Don't worry, no one knows about it except me. I have also returned to the palace to report. His Majesty has withdrawn the killing order. They will no longer have to worry about their lives in the future..."

In the secret room, Shi Xuanling's face changed drastically when she heard this, and she was extremely shocked: "It turns out that Yue Zhiqing knew about the stone platform long ago, but he didn't expose it and didn't kill all the Feng family members..."

According to what Pei Shixi had told Shi Xuanling, there was indeed a hidden stone platform under the cliff. Feng Qiyun thought that he and his clansmen had put on a good show in front of Yue Zhiqing, and that they could deceive the world and survive. But in fact, his plan had been seen through long ago, and Yue Zhiqing was just deliberately playing along with him. Just as Feng Jiuyue had pleaded, Yue Zhiqing was soft-hearted in the end and gave Feng Qiyun and the Feng clan members a way to live!
"The truth is far more than that. In fact, the main force that hunted down the Feng family was not Yue Zhiqing, but the relatives and subordinates of the deceased General Deng Chixuan. Although Yue Zhiqing took the order and participated in the hunt, he actually showed mercy everywhere and secretly let Feng Qiyun and the Feng family go many times. It can be said that if it weren't for him, the tribesmen who followed Feng Qiyun to leave Yunzhou Island would have fulfilled the result of the hexagram long ago. They would have been slaughtered and the entire family would have been destroyed, including Feng Qiyun himself!"

"In addition, there is another force that is secretly protecting the fleeing Feng family. That is the troops sent by Zhongli Fu. As a result, the pursuers were delayed many times, and the encirclement and suppression plan was repeatedly disrupted. Otherwise, how could Feng Qiyun fight against countless pursuers with his own strength, and how could he lead his people to hold on for so long?"

"Yue Zhiqing and Zhongli Fu had discussed and planned long ago, to do their best to protect the Feng family. One of them was in the open, the other in the dark, and they worked together to finally break the deadlock on the chessboard and gave Feng Qiyun and his people a way out. However, Feng Qiyun was completely unaware of these hidden secrets. He didn't know that his sworn brothers on the battlefield had not abandoned him. He didn't care about wealth and power, he just wanted to follow his own path. Did they care about him?"

"Feng Qiyun is not the only one in the world who has feelings and righteousness. It's just that they have different standpoints and each has his own bright future in his heart. But the battles they fought together, the fireworks they watched together on the rooftop, the vows they made together to eliminate the tyrant, quell the chaos, take the people of the world as their responsibility, and create a peaceful new dynasty with clear waters and peaceful seas, all of these will never change. Feng Qiyun remembers them, and they remember them too."

Feng Shuxing's voice was so calm, yet it contained endless power, like a vast ocean surging in and striking the deepest part of people's hearts.

Shi Xuanling's body was trembling slightly, her breathing was completely disordered, and her eyes were already red, with crystal tears flashing, filled with endless touch:
"So, the Yue family is not the enemy of the Feng family. On the contrary, the ancestors of the Yue family have saved our people time and time again. And the Zhongli family has also been secretly protecting the Feng family from being hunted down. So the truth is this..."

Shi Xuanling's reaction now is exactly the same as Feng Jiyue's when he first learned the truth.

At that time, she looked at Yue Zhiqing in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes and trembling unspeakably, but he just stuffed the wooden sculpture into her hands and said in a low voice:
"When Ah Heng and I came to Yunzhou Island to seek an alliance, we stood together at the bow. When you pulled the divine bow on the top of the cliff, it was not only Ah Heng who saw it... but also me."

After saying this, Yue Zhiqing left without looking back. From then on, every year on his birthday, he would go to the Feng Tower with gifts, rain or shine. Some things are better left unsaid than revealed. If he understood and she understood, that was enough.

After learning the whole truth, Feng Jiyue again and again opened the secret art of entering dreams, wanting to tell her brother Feng Qiyun everything. However, her brother did not want to see her and resolutely broke off relations with her. She never entered his dreams again in her life. In the end, the mysterious Qingli Mountain was only a name left, and they could not find its specific location. She regretted it for the rest of her life. The only thing she could do was to record it all, so that the descendants of the Feng family who were stranded outside could one day return to Yunzhou Island and understand the full picture of the facts of the year clearly, so that the truth hidden in the long river of time could completely surface.

"I also searched through all the ancient books in Fenglou to treat Madam Wan, and I accidentally discovered these. You came to me today to seek an answer. I dare not talk about guidance. I can only tell you the final destination of the Feng family."

"Finally, the final destination?"

"Yes." Feng Shuxing nodded, his eyes long, as if he saw through Shi Xuanling and looked into the distance, "Leaves return to their roots, and generations continue. The Feng family should return to where they were born. The hexagram calculated by Ancestor Ji Yue showed that the final destination of the Feng family can only be Yunzhou Island, and it will definitely be Yunzhou Island."

"Miss Shi, I know that you are extraordinary. It is no coincidence that you can learn the art of summoning all spirits. There is a destiny in the dark. Madam Wan said that you are the destined person of the Feng family. What the ancestor Ji Yue failed to do, you may be able to achieve. I only hope that one day, when the sun rises over the sea, you can stand on the bow, look at your homeland from afar, and bring those members of the clan who are stranded outside back to Yunzhou Island, bring them... home."