The Spirit World

Chapter 764: Birds for a Living
[If a person dies thousands of miles away, how can you feel no pity or compassion? How can you have love and loyalty?

It is easy to talk nonsense but hard to have a down-to-earth original intention. 】

April 4, 2013, Empire, heavy snow in Bailing Mountain.

The Taoist boy sweeping the floor was quite sighing. April 4th, which sounds almost the same as the Chinese word for death, was a bit unlucky. And it was the spring when a heavy snowstorm came, making the mountains closed and difficult to travel. He complained a lot.

"It was sunny and windy yesterday, but it's snowing heavily today. I'm afraid something strange has happened. I asked around and found out that the maple leaves that bloomed in October last year have bloomed again today!" The Taoist boy who was sweeping the floor smiled and said to the strong man who was sweeping the floor next to him: "Uncle Li, if something serious happens today, you have to return the three gold coins you owe me."

The boy rubbed his hands and tilted the broom in his arms. He looked at the strong man sweeping the snow without saying a word. The boy was anxious and took two steps forward and said, "You can't blame me... It's all my father's money, you can't blame me, otherwise, I will be hungry in the spring."

After saying this, Uncle Li, who was sweeping the floor, slowly stopped. The Taoist child had sharp eyes and came over. Seeing Uncle Li taking money out of his pocket, he smiled happily and rubbed his hands even more excitedly.

"I owe you three gold coins, and now I'm going to pay you two kilograms. I really don't have anything else." Uncle Li spread out two gold coins in his hand, and the Taoist boy grabbed them and said with an excited smile: "Well, well, you have to pay me back, don't you think? You have been in Bailing Mountain for so many years, you must have seen many wonders, and today, you paid me back, which is also rare. And I have to thank this snow for letting me sweep it with you. If it were any other day, I would have no idea where you were!"

The Taoist boy put the gold coins in his arms, patted them, picked up the broom excitedly, and ran up the stairs step by step.

"Aren't you going to sweep anymore?" Uncle Li frowned and saw the Taoist boy going up without looking back and saying nothing.

He shook his head and sighed, looking down at the thousand-foot steps of Bailing Mountain. The snow was thick and white. Birds flew out like black dots and disappeared. He was the only one sweeping the snow.

The snow was falling yesterday and stopped today, catching everyone off guard. Fortunately, it was the beginning of spring and there was a wave of cold snaps, so we managed to get through it a little bit because we hadn't washed our clothes and had to hide them away.

"You come to Bailing Mountain to be more or less pure-hearted, sweeping the floor to practice, dreaming about money. Why don't you go down the mountain? Why are you looking for immortals here?" Uncle Li sighed, and the broom with branches and leaves scraped across the granite steps, making a crackling sound.

The disciples on the mountain have already woken up. They are amazed by the snow and the noise it makes, which makes the sounds less resonable.

The sound was quite lonely and could only echo slowly among the mountains.

Suddenly, there was a strange sound, ethereal and joyful, like the leaping of a bird, and then it stopped after three sounds.

Snow in April is not uncommon, and the maple leaves in October turn red like wildfires overnight, which is truly amazing. All the spring flowers have to hide from the cold, and only the late-blooming plum blossoms stand proudly, emitting a faint fragrance.

The chirping of birds, the fragrance of plum blossoms and the fiery maple leaves all appeared on this day, making people stop and marvel.

Uncle Li went down following the sound, and saw birds flying joyfully. When they stopped, the fragrance of plum blossoms was intoxicating. The thousand-foot-high steps were long and stretched out. At the place where the birds gathered at the foot of the mountain, there was a flashing golden light that dazzled Uncle Li's eyes.

He hurried down and ran down the mountain, only then could he see clearly what the light was.

It was a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.

The baby tightly grasped his hand, shivering uncontrollably, perhaps because it was too cold. The birds were originally shielding him from the cold wind from the mountain, and they were also like lullabies, soothing the child to sleep. The swaddling clothes were snow-white, and under the sunlight, they really shone brightly.

Has anyone left their son or daughter at the foot of the mountain?
Uncle Li ran over and picked up the baby. He saw that the baby in the cradle was shaking uncontrollably and his forehead had turned blue from the cold. Uncle Li was really scared.

Uncle Li used his spiritual power and placed his palm on the baby's head, releasing a slight heat to make him feel less uncomfortable. The warm current flowed to the baby, which made him feel much more comfortable.

Uncle Li looked down the mountain and around him, and saw birds still chirping, this time flying around him.

But there was no visible human figure nearby, so this was most likely an abandoned baby left at the foot of the mountain.

This phenomenon of abandoning children is not uncommon around Bailing Mountain. The Ning family of Bailing Mountain is one of the five major families chosen by the empire and is very famous. Bailing Mountain is also wealthy and powerful, and is the official mountain for spiritual practice in the empire. Many parents who have children but do not raise them or cannot afford to raise them leave their babies at the foot of Bailing Mountain, and Bailing Mountain will not ignore them.

The parents of abandoned babies often come and go quietly, and many of their babies have a hard time surviving. It is hard to say what it will take to see them survive if their parents abandon them.

It’s just that it snowed heavily last night and it’s very cold today, which is quite a sin.

"What a sin..." Uncle Li looked at the baby. There was a vermilion plum blossom mark on the baby's forehead. Besides being petite and cute, he also had some spirituality of heaven and earth. No wonder these birds were circling around him.

Uncle Li stopped sweeping the floor and ran up the mountain holding the baby. The birds followed Uncle Li up the mountain, as if they had to know where the baby was going before they were willing to leave.

Uncle Li's spiritual power was not strong, and he couldn't help but panting as he ran up the mountain in two steps at a time.

He carried the baby to the meeting hall of Bailing Mountain, looking for Tan Mingqiu, the head of Bailing Mountain.

Although Bailing Mountain was founded by the Ning family, one of the five major families, the reputation of the two generations of family heads was not very good. In the end, the emperor of the empire sent the general manager Tan Mingqiu to assist the Ning family's branch in managing Bailing Mountain.

However, after all, he was appointed by the emperor himself, so the General Administration Office naturally held all the power and all matters were decided by Tan Mingqiu.

Tan Mingqiu is a centenarian. The Chinese people in the empire have a long lifespan because of their practice of cultivating immortals. In the empire, a hundred years old is nothing more than the sixty years of age for humans.

There is an abandoned baby at the foot of the mountain. Tan Mingqiu does not need to make a decision on the matter. He can just hand it over to Ning Xuefan, the director of Bailing Mountain. However, Uncle Li thinks that this child is too different from others, so he still wants to ask Tan Mingqiu himself.

However, when he arrived at the meeting hall, Uncle Li was turned away.

Today, Manager Tan was not in the hall, but was out inspecting the disciples of the Golden Rank.

Uncle Li could only come to find the director of the Earth Level, Ning Xuefan. Ning Xuefan was a young man wearing glasses. He usually dealt with disciples of the Earth Level and had a bad temper. When he saw Uncle Li sweeping the floor, he held the picture book he wanted to read in his hand and did not put it down. He just coughed lightly and did not even look at Uncle Li. He just glanced at the baby in the cradle and waved his hand, asking Li Qiu to leave.

(End of this chapter)