I am Guhuoniao, not an umbrella demon, please do not disturb me.

Walking on the muddy road, the silt stuck to the soles of their shoes felt like carrying a heavy stone, making each step feel exceptionally heavy. Bai Qingyu was alright, as there was no sewage or silt on her shoes, but it was tough on the two children.

Changsheng treated it as a form of training without complaining, while Dongqing pouted, unable to express her bitterness.

It was indeed difficult, but the scenery along the way made her keep all her words to herself.

We had just experienced a heavy rain, and before that, there had been a flash flood. Along the way, there were many scattered corpses, bloated and white from being submerged in water. It was impossible to tell whether they were men, women, young or old. The corpses were indeed quite terrifying from being submerged in water, and they emitted a foul stench.

If Bai Qingyu hadn't used her wings to shield Dongqing's eyes, the little girl would have vomited countless times that morning.

Along the way, they saw some strange creatures that had become spirits. One rat was bigger than a cat and about the size of a dog. It was lying on a corpse, tearing at the rotting flesh. When it noticed Bai Qingyu and her group, it turned around and revealed a fierce look. Its small, scarlet eyes were terrifying no matter how you looked at it.

Bai Qingyu dared not use the umbrella, fearing it would be defiled. He plucked a feather from his wing and nailed the rat demon to death from a distance.

There are far too many such scenes.

As Bai Qingyu passed by the river, she saw someone floating on the water, with a coffin beneath them. Before she could even call for help, a crocodile that seemed to have come to life burst from the water, biting the coffin in half and dragging the person into the river.

"Natural disasters and man-made calamities are like New Year's Day to these monsters. They have more food than they can eat. They're okay now, but if another flash flood comes, these monsters will definitely come ashore and eat people."

Bai Qingyu shook her head, turned around, and continued on her way.

Behind her, on the book box, Zhen Tiangao tilted her head back, seemingly swallowing or spitting out something. In her words, she could absorb the power of the plague. Of course, she herself could not unleash the plague. If she really had this skill, the hunters who were chasing her would have been infected with the plague and died long ago without her knowing.

The river was turbid and surging. Dongqing wanted to suggest getting rid of these monsters first, but he swallowed the words back. The current was too rapid, and who knew how many monsters that had become spirits lived in the river.

In fact, these monsters are all very weak. Back then, the river god of Peach Blossom Town could have taken on a whole group of them by himself.

"Wait here for me a moment, I'm going to check out the village ahead, I'll be right back!"

Bai Qingyu could see from afar that something seemed wrong with the village; if he wasn't mistaken, the village appeared to have been washed away by a flood.

A night of torrential rain shouldn't have caused this.

Carrying a book box on her back, Bai Qingyu walked on air at an extremely fast speed, arriving above the village in the blink of an eye.

Zhen Tian and Bai Qingyu looked down together and saw that the entire village had been washed away by the flood. The thatched houses and wooden houses were as fragile as paper in the face of the flood. Apart from the scattered pieces of wood floating on the water, there were only roofs and some messy things, such as pots, pans and wooden buckets. Bai Qingyu also saw bedding in a wooden basin, which was obviously for babies.

When a natural disaster strikes, this may be the last thing a desperate mother can do, but unfortunately, her child did not survive.

“There are no survivors left,” Zhen Tian said.

"There should have been some preparation beforehand, and some people were evacuated." In the distance, there were large patches of messy, shallow footprints in the mud; some people had left the village, while others were buried here forever.

Bai Qingyu nodded, "It seems we can only go to that town you mentioned first and see if everything is alright there."

He turned and flew back. Bai Qingyu didn't want to waste any more time on the rest of the journey. By the time he reached the town, it was already completely dark.

It transformed back into its original form halfway through, grabbed the book box, and swooped down at the two cubs from a distance. When it reached a suitable altitude, it grabbed the two children from the left and right and flew towards the town with flapping its wings.

With both rebels and flash floods, I just hope this town will be alright.

Bai Qingyu's arrival was perfectly timed; not only was everything alright in Kangshan Town, but a great joyous occasion was also on the horizon.

The Li family's son became the top scholar in the imperial examination and is now an official in the capital. He will be returning soon to bring his elderly parents to the capital.

Volume 1: Chapter 43 True Heaven's Old Friends

A flash flood erupted, and the poor people suffered the most. No one could have imagined that a night of torrential rain would cause such a massive flash flood. Bai Qingyu flew in the sky and could see the hellish scene below. This small village was not large, and it was swept away by the flash flood, which made people feel sorry for it.

What happened down there?

Holly gazed at the small village below, her eyes filled with reluctance. Even though she was held in his claws, she could still clearly see the scene below.

Bai Qingyu did not answer, and Zhen Tian remained silent as well.

Changsheng opened his eyes and roughly understood what had happened. This village was built along a large river. After the flash flood, the water rushed into the river and spread rapidly, so this small village suffered.

However, with the village built right next to the river, Changsheng felt that something bad was bound to happen sooner or later. Even without a flash flood, water monsters would come ashore and slaughter the village, just like the river god of Peach Blossom Town back then.

If my aunt hadn't intervened back then, the river god would have wanted to eat more after eating the child, and it would have been inevitable that he would have come ashore to eat people.

"There are people ahead, let's land further away."

Bai Qingyu increased his flight altitude and could see a group of dozens of people, resembling refugees, carrying bundles of various sizes, heading towards the town. If he wasn't mistaken, these people were from the small village. They had traveled all night, their clothes soaked by the rain, and every step they took was incredibly difficult.

Bai Qingyu quickly passed by them, with no intention of going down to help.

She couldn't possibly capture all these people and take them to the town one by one. Let alone going down, even if she flew a little lower, people would probably say that a bird demon had appeared and wanted to harm people.

Bai Qingyu flew until she could no longer see the villagers before slowly landing. She placed the two children on the ground and transformed back into her petite figure, just over 1.5 meters tall. Her feathered robes changed into a blue and white fitted outfit, and her hair was tied in a low ponytail, giving her a dashing and heroic look.

This outfit is mainly suitable for walking on muddy roads; a long skirt would definitely drag and get covered in mud.

"The town is just ahead, we'll walk a little further." Bai Qingyu picked up the book box with one hand, used his demonic power to clean off the mud, and carried it on his back as he continued on his way.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Qingyu suddenly stopped. "Zhentian, take the blanket off the back and cover yourself with it. Otherwise, you'll be watched again when we get to town. There should be people in this town who know you, right?"

"Okay, I understand." Zhen Tian used his paws to untie the blanket, tucked the four corners into the book box, and then covered himself with the blanket.

"There should still be people in the town who know I exist. Sigh, thank you, Sister Bai."

"No need. By the way, what's the name of this scholar you mentioned? We can ask him when we get into town. Three years has passed; whether he passed the exam or not, we should have some results by now."

"His name is Li Zhou, and he lives on the south side of the town."

“Li Zhou…”

Bai Qingyu gazed at the town from afar; it seemed quite lively.

The town was spared from the flash flood, even though there was a mountain nearby.

The flooded village and this town are only a dozen kilometers apart, yet they seem like two completely different worlds. It had just rained, and Bai Qingyu saw a herb gatherer running frantically from the direction of the mountains and forests. He might have thought some ferocious beast was chasing him.

Bai Qingyu had excellent hearing and, with a gentle breeze, heard the herb gatherer muttering something.

"There's a ghost! There's a ghost!"

"Ghosts?" Bai Qingyu frowned. With such a flash flood, so many people died, there must be far too many wronged souls and wandering ghosts. During the day, there were usually none, but if you went out for a stroll at night, even the most daring man would be scared sick.

Whether they were killed by the rebels, drowned, or died of plague by the roadside, each one was more terrifying than the last.

"Can you encounter ghosts in broad daylight? Auntie, have you ever seen what ghosts look like?" After a while, the herb gatherer ran past her, and Dongqing heard what he was muttering and couldn't help but ask.

"I've seen it, but ghosts do only come out at night. The yang energy is too strong during the day, and ordinary ghosts can't stand it. If a ghost can come out during the day, its resentment or obsession must be very strong, extremely strong."

During her years in Peach Blossom Town, a drought struck, and she served as a Taoist priest for a time, guiding wandering ghosts and spirits through the town to reincarnate.

"Auntie, can we go up the mountain to take a look?"

"No."

"Ok."

With Bai Qingyu's main body accelerating, the group quickly entered the town.

Bai Qingyu had grown accustomed to being stared at. Wherever she went, as long as she stood on the street, many people would inevitably turn around to look at her. There was nothing she could do about it; that was the rule of the world—female demons, after transforming into human form, were mostly alluring.

In reality, this was Bai Qingyu's stereotype. Female demons in human form are not necessarily seductive; there are many who are ugly and deformed. It's just that those demons who like to absorb people's life essence will use their magic to transform themselves into seductive forms to lure men. As they have appeared in the human world more often and the stories have spread more, female demons have become this kind of person in people's minds.

Everyone thought that female demons would be incredibly beautiful after transforming into human form, but little did they know that most demons couldn't even maintain a completely human form after transforming, retaining only parts of their demonic bodies. Many people thought that snake spirits were gorgeous, but in the end, they discovered that these snake spirits actually had snake heads.

Wow, candied hawthorn berries!

As soon as they entered the town and arrived at the market, Dongqing couldn't contain herself any longer. She ran to a small stall on the side of the street and stared longingly at the candied hawthorns on display.

Seeing how adorable Dongqing was, the woman behind the stall took out a candied hawthorn and said with a smile, "Little girl, is this what you want?"

Dongqing turned around and looked at Bai Qingyu with eyes full of longing and pleading, almost saying, "Buy one, Auntie, look how pitiful your child is."

Bai Qingyu chuckled and shook her head, then walked over and said, "I'd like four skewers of candied hawthorns."

He gave himself one skewer and his two sons one skewer each, and handed the last skewer to Zhentian, who was under the quilt in the book box.

He whispered a thank you, and Zhen Tian peeked out from under the covers. Seeing the familiar streets, he couldn't help but feel emotional. He had never imagined he would be back so soon in the past three years.

The little girl looked left and right at the market. There were beautiful dresses and pretty hair accessories everywhere. The small town seemed even more lively than the county town yesterday. Unfortunately, her aunt didn't give her much money.

The little girl ran back and forth between the various stalls, while Bai Qingyu arrived at a fortune-telling stall.

"Old sir, may I ask you something? Has the scholar Li Zhou from the east side of town returned in recent years?"

The old man felt a refreshing fragrance waft towards him, and upon hearing this, he looked up and was immediately awestruck.

"Young lady, you must be from out of town."

"Yes, I came from Qingshanzhou. Li Zhou is the son of my friend, and I came here specifically to visit him." Bai Qingyu lied without batting an eye.

Upon hearing this, the old man immediately understood, and a hint of disappointment appeared in his eyes. Everyone knew that the eldest son of the Li family had become successful, so was this beautiful woman also here to claim kinship? Perhaps she had come to be a concubine.

That Li Zhou is a scoundrel; if the girl goes there, she's sure to end up in a bad situation.

Two consecutive updates, please vote! I'm doing a handstand for everyone!

Volume 1: Chapter 44 The Scholar and the Female Ghost

The old man in front of her suddenly looked disgusted after she brought up the matter. Bai Qingyu was a little confused. After some inquiries, she learned that the legendary Li Lang had already become the top scholar in the imperial examination. Not only did he become the top scholar and become an official in the capital, but he was also going to return in three days to bring his elderly parents to the capital in a grand manner.

After saying this, the old man said with great sorrow, "Young lady, listen to my advice. Why waste your precious youth like this? A caged bird may have enough to eat and wear, but it will ultimately lose the beauty of life and be manipulated by others. True freedom is what matters."

Bai Qingyu didn't understand why the old man suddenly said that, but after thinking about it carefully, she finally realized that he thought she was going to be someone's concubine? A surprise visit, huh?

"Sir, you've misunderstood. I did come to see him because of something, but it's definitely not what you're thinking. Besides, I already have children; why would I come to someone's door to do such a thing?"

"Already have children?" Upon hearing this, the old man frowned and stared at Bai Qingyu carefully.

Bai Qingyu looked to be no more than sixteen or seventeen years old; I've seen people of that age get married and have children before.

Before she could speak, Bai Qingyu pointed to Dongqing, who was hesitating between the butterfly hair accessory and the peach blossom hair accessory, and said, "That's my daughter."

Clang!

Even the peach wood sword in his hand fell to the ground. The old man adjusted his hat, sweat beading on his forehead.

You wouldn't believe it until you look closely; the little girl next to her really does look like the woman in front of you, especially their eyes, which are practically identical. I thought they were sisters, but it turns out they are mother and daughter.

"Auntie, young lady, there's some money in this bowl. You can take it all. I'm old and all alone, and I don't have much money, just this much. You can use it to buy some good food for the children."

Good heavens! To witness such an outrageous act in broad daylight! If I ever have the chance to meet this child's father, I will definitely take him to the authorities.

The old man's reaction surprised Bai Qingyu. It is said that people's hearts are treacherous and that bad people come from poor and remote places. In fact, besides bad people, there are also many simple and kind people.

"No need, sir, that child is my adopted one." Bai Qingyu placed a few copper coins into the old man's bowl. "Thank you for telling me, sir."

"Please wait, young lady!" The old man called out to Bai Qingyu as she was about to leave.