Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 212 Burning Baishui Village

According to the boy, they were robbed by bandits shortly after crossing the river.

His father was killed on the spot, his mother was taken away and her whereabouts are unknown. His younger sister was also imprisoned in the water dungeon, but two days ago, a rat gnawed on her face while she was sleeping, and she developed a high fever and did not survive that night. Her body was also thrown out.

“Mother said she would wait until Uncle went south to escort goods before heading north together, but Father refused and insisted on leaving first, so…”

He's still just a child; when talking about these things, he doesn't even know who to vent his resentment on.

The boy seemed to have a decent background; he was articulate and spoke clearly: "The robbers were a different group. I saw them at the time, and they brought us here later, saying they wanted to contact brokers to sell us."

Having roughly understood the boy's situation, Sun Ping then asked the remaining people, "What about you?"

Several disheveled women barely responded to Sun Ping's questions, while others cowered in a corner and barely managed to answer.

Sun Ping used brute force to break the bars of the water dungeon cage one by one, and said to the crowd, "If you have somewhere to go, you may leave. If you have nowhere to go, come with me, and I will find you a place to go."

After saying that, he took out all the kudzu root soup he was carrying and distributed it to everyone.

The boy had been fed several bottles of kudzu root soup by Sun Ping. His eyes suddenly stung, and then tears mixed with blood streamed from his empty eye sockets. Before long, his eyes miraculously grew back. Apart from the discomfort that made him want to rub his eyes all the time, he was no different from before.

The boy touched his eyes in disbelief, stared intently at Sun Ping, then knelt down with a thud and cried out, "Great hero! Your skills are extraordinary! Please take me as your disciple!"

Sun Ping smiled and shook his head, refusing to accept the offer, saying, "My skills are not high enough to accept a disciple."

The White Stone Immortal Sect forbids anyone who hasn't gone through the Immortal Fate Assembly from becoming its disciples. Even if these disciples themselves take on disciples, it's not allowed. Besides, Sun Ping has no intention of raising such troublesome "disciples."

The young man, however, was still persistent, and said earnestly, "Great hero, I am very capable! I don't eat much! Please take me in!"

Sun Ping said good-naturedly, "I can take you to Huiyou Escort Agency to find your uncle, but it's impossible for him to take you on as a disciple, so don't think about it too much."

The boy simply crawled forward on his knees, grabbed Sun Ping's leg, and insisted, "I don't want to look for my uncle anymore, I want to learn skills from you, the great hero!"

Sun Ping tried to pull his leg out—but couldn't. He was afraid of hurting the child again if he used his spiritual power, so he said helplessly, "I really don't have any skills, and I'm no great hero. If you really want to learn skills..."

Sun Ping suddenly remembered his senior brother Chang Ping'an, who was teaching immortality at the Taiyue Sword Sect, and then advised him, "If you really want to learn skills, you should go to the Taiyue Sword Sect. The skills you can learn there are much better than what you can learn from me."

Having said that, he lost patience with coaxing the child. He immediately used his spiritual power to shake the boy away and led everyone out of the water prison.

Seeing that the "great hero" was truly unwilling to accept him, the young man became somewhat dejected, and kept talking throughout the journey, constantly trying to probe—

"Great hero, I can fish and farm, I'm very capable!"

"I can run really fast! The martial arts instructors in our town all say I have a talent for light-footed skills!"

"Unfortunately, my father and mother wouldn't allow me to practice martial arts..."

"If I were to practice martial arts, I would surely become extremely powerful. Great hero, please accept me as your disciple!"

The incessant chatter only ceased when everyone stepped out of the house and into the sunlight. A faint smell of blood, mixed with the stench of water and urine, filled the air, making Sun Ping even somewhat nostalgic for the dampness and decay of the water prison.

"Great hero, they were all... you killed them all?"

The boy's voice trembled slightly as he spoke.

Sun Ping glanced at the boy, said nothing, and walked out of the village. The others had no choice but to follow him closely.

He had only taken a few steps when a chirping swallow began to circle above Sun Ping's head.

Then, the "hero" simply stretched out his hand, and the swallow landed in his palm, turning into a paper bird that lay quietly.

Those who lagged behind didn't see any of this clearly, but the boy who had been following Sun Ping all along saw it all clearly. He stared wide-eyed at Sun Ping in disbelief, then at the paper bird in Sun Ping's palm, speechless with astonishment.

Sun Ping had no interest in looking after a child. He simply put the paper bird back into his Qiankun bag and walked out of the village.

When the boy passed by Dong Sihai, he immediately ran a few steps forward and rummaged through Dong Sihai's pouch, clothes, and even the soles of his shoes and crotch, and actually found a lot of gold and silver leaves and copper coins.

The boy didn't stand on ceremony and stuffed everything into his sleeves. He then ran a few steps and caught up with Sun Ping.

Once everyone had left the village gate, Sun Pingfang flipped his hands, rubbed out a few sparks, and threw them into the village.

The village is mostly built of wood, with some thatched houses mixed with a small amount of soil and stones.

The wind was quite strong in the mountains in the afternoon, and the fire was quickly ignited.

Sun Ping stood at the entrance of the village, still silent. The crowd dared not say anything more, and simply stood aside, supporting each other, waiting for Sun Ping to burn down the village.

Not long after, screams and the "burnt aroma" of burning flesh came from behind the gate. Even though he knew it was human flesh, the boy's stomach rumbled with the aroma.

Watching the fire grow ever stronger, and as the screams from the village gradually subsided, Sun Ping stepped back a few paces and looked at the people emerging from the water dungeon.

Most of them were very thin, their legs and feet were white and swollen from being soaked in water, and the flesh on the legs of some of the older ones was rotting.

Sun Ping then took out some more "Die Da San" from his Qiankun bag.

Looking at the terrified faces of the crowd, Sun Ping gave the boy the [Trauma Powder] and said succinctly, "Help them apply the medicine. It can cure any external injury. Once they're healed, you can continue your journey faster."

Only then did the young man belatedly realize just how ruthless this "hero" was. He dared not linger any longer, and simply responded, quickly taking the [Trauma Powder] and obediently helping the others apply the medicine.

After the medicine was applied, its effects were immediate. Even the person whose foot had been rotting recovered completely in just a few breaths. The young man watched this and his expression grew increasingly dejected.

"Let's go. I'll take you to Hanoi County. After that, where you go is none of my business."

As Sun Ping spoke, he took the lead in leaving Baishui Village, which was still engulfed in flames.

(End of this chapter)