Starting with the titmouse, seventy-two transformations

Chapter 345 Deduction: Even Old Friends with White Hair Still Hold Swords, One Cannot Completely Discard One's Heart (Part 2)

[In the fifth hundred years, you have spent more than two hundred years in seclusion in the mountains, but your cultivation has not increased in the slightest.]

You know, it's because the time isn't right yet.

After more than two hundred years of development, the "White Ape Manor" outside the mountain has now become the top martial arts force in the Yue Kingdom.

Starting with the old woodcutter's generation, the family has been passed down for more than a dozen generations.

They still make pilgrimages to the mountain every year with utmost respect, and the number of visitors has repeatedly reached new highs, from the earliest father and son to the current nearly one hundred male members of the entire clan, making it a grand and impressive event.

With the current status of "White Ape Manor" in the martial arts world, it can shake the world with a stomp of its foot. Its bloodline has spread and branches have spread, and the awe it once felt for the woodcutter and his son is gone.

It's more of a routine matter than a genuine commitment.

When flowers bloom in abundance and oil is poured into a raging fire, there will inevitably be calamities.

So, starting fifty years ago, you stopped showing up and avoided me.

...

In the 530th year, White Ape Manor suffered a disaster and was burned to the ground.

The woodcutter's only remaining descendant, covered in blood, rushed into the mountains, begging you to take in the baby girl in his arms, before committing suicide on the spot.

The girl was abandoned under a blue stone.

Mountains may collapse, rivers may run dry, and birth, aging, sickness, and death are natural occurrences.

This applies to living beings, organizations, and especially families.

Back then, the woodcutter was just an ordinary person, but because of your kindness, your clan prospered and enjoyed wealth and honor for over two hundred years—that's long enough.

Therefore, you are unwilling to pay attention to her and intend to let the baby girl fend for herself in the wilderness.

But being kind-hearted, you still adopted her.

Just consider it as a way to...

Opportunity.

...

In the 546th year, the girl from back then had grown into a graceful young woman.

You named it Aqing because of that blue stone.

For the past sixteen years, you have taught her to absorb the essence of the sun and moon, passed on martial arts to her, enabling her to climb mountains and wade through rivers as if walking on flat ground, and to deal with mountain spirits and monsters.

She loved longswords, so you casually created a sword technique and taught it to her, called "White Ape Secret Sword".

But children always grow up and become curious about their origins and the world outside the mountains.

You did not hide anything from her; you told her everything about her background and took her to pay respects at her father's grave.

Not long after, she bid you farewell, intending to leave the mountain to seek revenge.

If you had known this day would come, and knew you couldn't stop her by force, you would have given her a spiritual fruit, forged a wooden sword by hand, and sent her away.

In the 547th year, Aqing returned.

She was no longer wearing the tiger-skin skirt, bear coat, and deerskin boots you had sewn for her when she left the mountain, but rather a coarse cloth garment with solid workmanship.

She brings roast chicken and fine wine, and tells you about her experiences this year.

Full of enthusiasm and high morale.

They also said they had found clues about the massacre of their family years ago.

...

In the 552nd year, Aqing returned wearing brocade.

She tells you that she met a scholar surnamed Fan, who was also from the Yue Kingdom and was determined to restore his country and defeat the despicable Wu Kingdom.

You learn from her that when the Wu Kingdom invaded the capital of the Yue Kingdom, they plundered and killed countless people.

As a powerful force in the Yue Kingdom's martial arts world, White Ape Manor served the country, thus incurring the wrath of the King of Wu and suffering the calamity of being wiped out.

Now that the King of Yue has been released and returned to his country, he is determined to make a comeback and avenge his previous humiliation. She has now joined the ranks of the King of Yue.

She said that the King of Yue sent his most beautiful concubine to the palace of Wu to serve the King of Wu, where she received great favor...

You didn't speak, you just listened to her speak silently.

...

In the 572nd year, Aqing was over forty years old.

For the past twenty years, she has returned every year, bringing you fine wine and delicacies, and telling you about things outside the mountains.

She comprehended the "White Ape Secret Sword" you taught her, became a grandmaster of martial arts, and served as the chief instructor of the Yue Kingdom's armored soldiers.

Through her, you learn that for the past twenty years, King Yue has endured hardship and humiliation, recuperated and worked diligently to govern the country. He ate coarse rice, personally tilled the land, and had only the Queen serving him.

For twenty years, it has remained unchanged.

This is a ruthless person, both towards himself and towards his enemies.

You saw admiration and love in her eyes.

If you try to dissuade him, once you enter the palace, it's like entering a deep sea, especially with such a cold-hearted and ambitious emperor, who is not a good person to entrust yourself to.

But the arising and ceasing of conditions, the cessation and the birth of conditions, cannot be forced in the end.

So you remained silent and told her to be careful in everything.

In the 573rd year, taking advantage of the King of Wu's trip north to a meeting, the King of Yue launched a surprise attack, his banners obscuring the sun and his warships as numerous as a woven tapestry.

Aqing served as the vanguard of the army, single-handedly wielding her sword and slaying three thousand Wu soldiers, greatly boosting morale.

Taking advantage of the momentum, the Yue army launched a fierce attack, their morale soaring, winning battle after battle and becoming invincible. By the time the King of Wu hurriedly returned, the Yue army had already besieged the capital of Wu.

The King of Wu sent envoys to sue for peace, recounting the story of the King of Yue's capture years ago, and also sent his most beautiful concubine back to him.

Unexpectedly, the King of Yue beheaded the envoy and killed the queen, saying that he harbored a deep grudge from years ago when he tasted her excrement, and would surely destroy her ancestral temple and destroy her kingdom.

However, the Kingdom of Wu was originally a hegemon, with high walls, wide cities, and ample food supplies.

Thus, the two countries faced off beneath the city walls, besieging it for days on end. The fighting was fierce and dangerous, resulting in countless deaths and injuries.

In the 574th year, the Vietnamese army failed to capture the city after repeated attacks, and their morale was low.

King Yue fell ill with anger, and A Qing was worried, so she returned to the mountain to seek your help.

He refused, so he knelt on the mountain for seven days and seven nights, weeping blood, and fainted beside the blue stone.

Just like that rainy night more than forty years ago...

You finally softened and went down the mountain to help, breaking through the city gate at night and then returning to the mountain.

The Yue army broke through the city, killed the king, destroyed the ancestral temples, cut off the bloodline, and scattered the former Wu people to the four sides.

Then it perished.

Afterwards, the King of Yue convened a meeting of the feudal lords and became the hegemon of his time.

In the 575th year, the King of Yue led his people into the mountains, wishing to meet you.

If you don't see it, then return.

Several months later, the Queen of Yue died, and A Qing was married and made Queen.

A prime minister surnamed Fan led a group of people to present gifts: ten thousand catties of gold, one hundred thousand catties of silver, one million catties of copper, and ten million catties of iron.

You accepted it with a smile, and said to Prime Minister Fan, "Do you know the saying 'The rabbit is killed and the dog is cooked'?"
The prime minister was sweating profusely and kowtowed in gratitude.

Not long after returning home, he resigned from his official post and went far away to engage in commerce, amassing immense wealth.

He is known to the world as Tao Zhugong.

...

In the 585th year, ten years after Aqing was made empress, she lived deep in the palace and gradually had less contact with others.

When you sit in the mountains and your heart is constantly surging with emotion, you know that an opportunity is about to arrive.

One day, Aqing arrived in a light carriage, saying that King Yue's lifespan was nearing its end and he begged Aqing to grant him a method to prolong his life.

You were born of nature, how could you know anything about methods to prolong life?

He refused.

Ah Qing begged you again to bestow your essence and blood, hoping to refine elixirs to prolong her life, kowtowing and pleading repeatedly.

He did not respond, and then left.

...

In the 590th year, after years of preparation, the King of Yue convened a meeting of all the states, enticing them with the promise of longevity and immortality. He then mobilized a million elite soldiers from all the states to attack the mountain...

Ah Qing, be the vanguard!

Compared to your sixteen years of nurturing and teaching her skills, she ultimately chose her husband and children.

This situation is understandable, but this principle is unacceptable.

The world is like a prison, and human nature is driven by greed. Even innocent children are like this, let alone adults.

Your demonic blood boils within you, and you realize that your destiny has arrived.

The course of Heaven is constant; it does not exist for Yao, nor does it perish for Jie.

Of course—

The cycle of Heaven is cyclical; cause and effect are sown early, and this calamity is inevitable.

If one can overcome this tribulation, one will surely be promoted to a great demon, and one's cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds.

So you sit in the mountains, unmoved by swords and magic attacks.

After that, they uprooted mountains and threw them at each other, slaughtered thousands of soldiers, and destroyed all the kings.

Kill Aqing under the green stone of that year.

More than three hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Now, the dream has awakened.

You stand atop the mountain, look up at the sky and roar, shedding the shackles of many years, your cultivation advances bravely and rapidly, growing ever stronger, your body expanding to a thousand feet.

Two heads sprouted from beside your neck, and four arms grew from under your armpits, giving you three heads and six arms, thus creating a great demon.

But you felt no joy in your heart, only that fate was like a knife, that time was fleeting and the past had become ashes.

The world is so terrible, so tragic, so hateful.

It is better to go back.

Why not go back!

Just like that—

Do not say that the human world is far away.

On the journey of a traveler, I will eventually become dust in both my hometown and my homeland.

Even old friends, though old, still hold their swords; one cannot completely abandon one's heart.

(End of this chapter)