From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

Because of the Yellow Wind, his wife died of illness, and his son also fell ill. So he settled here to recuperate his son. He also learned that there were many monsters in this place, so he gathered the men of the village, taught them swordsmanship, and formed the Desert Swordsmen's Corps. Every two days, he would personally lead a patrol outside the village, which would also give them early warnings...

Chapter 1407 Is it acceptable to be an accomplice to a tyrant?

Upon hearing about the swordsman's past, Jiang Liu became interested: "Could you introduce me? I am proficient in a variety of weapons and also have some medical skills. If I can cure him, it would be a great achievement."

"The monk wants to save people? But he's too late."

The village chief chuckled, "The swordsman's son has recovered most of his health. He can talk and laugh, run and play, and often plays with the village children."

That being said, the village chief ordered the villagers to entertain Kui Lang, Bai Hua Ai, and the others, while he himself led Jiang Liu to find the swordsman, and Fu De and Lu Zhen stayed behind to look after Ba Jing Ma.

"Swordsman, open the door, a mage has arrived."

The swordsman's home was simple. When he saw the village chief arrive, he hurried out to greet him. However, he paused for a moment when he saw Jiang Liu, showing a slight wariness, but he remained calm and asked, "Village chief, who is this?"

“He is Master Guyu Yuanjue, a descendant of Sun Wukong from Huaguo Mountain. He is going west to cultivate, subduing demons and monsters along the way. He intends to subdue the demons in Huangfeng Ridge for us, so I brought him to find you,” the village chief said succinctly.

Upon hearing this, the swordsman remained vigilant in the slightest, but still invited the two into the house, poured them tea, and was about to get straight to the point and see Jiang Liu's abilities when the other party spoke first, saying, "Your mind has been bewitched by demons. If you continue to associate with demons, you may become a vengeful ghost and have difficulty being reborn."

For a moment, both the village chief and the swordsman stood there dumbfounded.

In the end, it was the swordsman who came to his senses first, coldly saying, "I am different from those great witches, and I have never colluded with monsters! Don't make false accusations!"

"If you don't believe me, go ask the Mo Dao Wu in the manor. When I go out on patrol, I always take about ten men with me to support each other. How could they not know whether I am colluding with demons?" The swordsman glared at Jiang Liu, furious.

"Indeed, a swordsman with superb skills would never associate with monsters."

The village chief didn't believe it either.

With the swordsman's skills, if he had associated with monsters, the villagers would have already perished.

Furthermore, on several occasions when monsters attacked the village, it was the swordsman who led the village's able-bodied men to repel them.

Moreover, the swordsmen are different from those great shamans. They do not look down on the villagers because of their great abilities. On the contrary, they often help them and would never associate with monsters!

"It's not the monster outside, but the monster in this manor."

Facing the swordsman's glare, Jiang Liu remained unfazed and asked, "I heard from the village chief that your child was injured by Huang Feng, and has he recovered now?"

"So what?"

The swordsman grew increasingly wary, suspecting that the monkey demon was trying to abduct his child.

"I have heard of the monster on Huangfeng Ridge. It is called the Great Sage of Huangfeng. It is a yellow-haired weasel that has become a spirit. It is good at using the Samadhi Divine Wind, which can darken the sky and make ghosts and gods tremble. The wind blows into a person's body through the fontanelle, passes through the five internal organs and the six viscera, and can disrupt a person's essence, energy and spirit."

Jiang Liu did not answer, but explained the power of the Samadhi Divine Wind, "It's just that the weasel's skills are not good enough. It can only use the wind and sand to increase its power. Otherwise, let alone your child, even someone like you who practices martial arts, would have his bones and flesh disintegrated and his spirit scattered if he got even a little bit of it."

The swordsman was horrified, but he forced himself to stay alert and asked, "Why are you saying all this? Are you trying to scare me? I've been traveling the martial world for many years, and I've seen plenty of charlatans like you!"

Jiang Liu ignored him and asked the village chief, "When the wind first blew, did any of the villagers faint?"

"Yes, there is some, but after drinking some well water, it will be fine the next day."

The village chief answered truthfully.

"Where are the children in the village?"

Jiang Liu asked again.

"Young children are physically weaker, but they recover in three to five days."

After thinking for a moment, the village chief gave an approximate time.

"May I ask, brother, how long has your child been ill? Has he been drinking the water from this village?" Jiang Liu then asked the swordsman.

The swordsman frowned, glanced at the village chief, but still replied, "I only came here a year ago, and my condition has only improved in the last half month."

"Do you know why the villagers in this village are immune to that yellow wind?" Jiang Liu asked with a smile.

"I don't know."

The swordsman shook his head.

"Have you ever heard the saying that the people are shaped by the environment they live in?"

Jiang Liu's words revealed the crux of the matter, making the swordsman suddenly understand: "Ever since that yellow-haired weasel returned and began practicing the Samadhi Divine Wind, a foul wind has been blowing."

Affected by the foul winds, the people here have survived for generations, drinking the water from the village's well, and their bodies have gradually adapted.

Once the sable truly began its cultivation, occasionally emitting the Samadhi Wind, the local people were affected immediately, but were able to adapt in a short period of time.

But you are an outsider.

"Practicing martial arts has strengthened your qi and blood, making you able to resist the yellow wind, but your child is young and weak. Even if he drinks that well water every day, he won't survive a year."

The swordsman's eyes narrowed instantly.

The village chief was old and shrewd, but his eyesight was still sharp, and he noticed that something was wrong with the swordsman.

"Do you know why the well water was able to help the villagers gradually adapt to the yellow winds here?"

Before the swordsman could answer, Jiang Liu said, "There's a tiger demon in that well..."

"That's not a tiger demon, it's a tiger god!"

The swordsman was furious and interrupted the flow of the river, but then realized he had lost his composure. He tried to adjust his breathing and calm his mind, but he could not calm down.

There are two reasons.

Firstly, the tiger in the well had done him a favor by using the wine from a magic gourd to improve the child's condition.

Secondly, he himself couldn't explain it clearly, as if he could no longer calm down. Once he heard someone say something bad about the Tiger God in the Well, he would inexplicably feel a surge of anger.

"Om!"

Jiang Liu chanted a spell to calm the swordsman's mind, clearing his consciousness as if from a dream. Recalling the words of the tiger demon in the well, cold sweat broke out on his back. He quickly got up from the stool, bowed to Jiang Liu, and kowtowed, saying, "Thank you, Master, for saving my life. Otherwise, I would have regretted it too late!"

"Stand up and speak."

Jiang Liu bowed to the swordsman, helped him up, pressed him back to his seat, and pointed to the village chief, saying, "Now, besides you, me, and the village chief, there is no one else. Tell me what happened before."

The swordsman had regained his senses and no longer concealed anything. What he said was not much different from what the village chief had said, except for some added details.

The swordsman was indeed a江湖人士 (jianghu person, a person of the martial arts world), but he abandoned his old profession for the sake of the woman he loved, intending to honestly make a living in the city.

Unexpectedly, when the yellow wind blew, his wife and children all fell ill...

He heard that a Bodhisattva named Lingji was practicing in this area, so he brought his wife and daughter to search for him, hoping that the Bodhisattva would have great compassion and save the lives of his wife and children.

He had only been in the village a short time when his wife fell ill and passed away, leaving behind only their young child…

He asked the villagers to take care of his son, while he himself resumed his martial arts and gradually became proficient in swordsmanship. This was both to enable Dingfeng Village to resist the monsters and to find the Bodhisattva Lingji, asking him to save his child.

For a year, he had not been able to find any trace of Lingji Bodhisattva... Disheartened, he went to the well in the village to fetch water, but unknowingly heard a tiger's roar.

He looked down and saw that the scene in the well was different from before, forming its own space. So he went down to explore and saw a tiger demon standing upright.

“The tiger demon didn’t kill me. He claimed to be the tiger god and tricked me into bringing my child to him to see… My child was on the verge of dying, so I had no choice but to seek any treatment I could find.”

The swordsman beat his chest and stamped his feet, filled with regret...

Chapter 1408 The Tiger Demon Descends at Midnight

"The tiger demon took out a gourd with a copper coin tied to it and five skulls at the bottom, as if they were integrated into the gourd."

The swordsman continued, "My child drank the wine from the gourd, and his condition did improve. He was even able to play with the other children in the village."

But the tiger demon insisted that the drinking must continue...

I was out of my mind at the time, but now I realize that the tiger demon had my weakness exploited, and that it must have used its magic to gradually bewitch me!

Having said that, he took a deep breath, knelt down before the village chief, and kowtowed repeatedly.

What are you doing?

The village chief tried to help, but couldn't pull him up, and just stood there anxiously.

But the swordsman said, "Village chief, please forgive me first, then I will get up. If you don't forgive me, I will remain kneeling here forever!"

Although the village chief of Dingfeng Village was old, who in the village would dare to treat him like this? He was stunned and could only say "forgive me" three times.

The swordsman then raised his head, his eyes red, and said, "Just now, that monster tricked me, saying that he had been harmed by an evil wind, and that if he could eat some living people, he could regain his supernatural powers, stop the sandstorm, and cure my child's wind-related illness..."

Village chief, the village has taken my son and me in, but I had previously considered ruthlessly deceiving the villagers!

If it weren't for Master Yuanjue, I fear I would have unknowingly become an accomplice to a tyrant!

As a swordsman, he roamed the martial world in his early years and possessed a chivalrous spirit. While he didn't claim to be helping the country, he believed he was always upholding justice and eliminating evil.

Even after getting married and having children, he chose to leave the world of swords and chivalry, but he never crossed the line.

But now—

Seeing the swordsman shed tears, the village chief sighed, helped him up, and comforted him, saying, "As the ancients said, 'A man does not easily shed tears.' You are such a strong and upright man, and now you are fortunate enough to have met Master Yuanjue, who removed the evil magic from your body. You should not cry."

The man wiped away his tears, bowed to Jiang Liu in gratitude again, and asked, "Master, can you save my child's life?"

“Take me to your child.”

Upon hearing this, the swordsman was overjoyed, but also worried. "I only hope that you know, Master, that much of my wealth accumulated in my early years has been exhausted, and I cannot give you any money."

"The Buddha said: Saving a life is worse than building a seven-story pagoda. If you really want to thank me, why don't you help me subdue the tiger demon in the well and the weasel in Yellow Wind Ridge? How about that?"

"Though I am weak, I am willing to serve you like a dog or a horse!"

The swordsman glanced at the two-meter-long sword hanging on the wall, his eyes filled with unwavering determination. "In this world, if I want my child to grow up safely, I must eliminate all the demons and monsters in the mountains."

"It is easy to eliminate evil spirits in the mountains, but difficult to eliminate wickedness in people's hearts."

Jiang Liu's words were loaded with meaning.

The swordsman, who had roamed the martial world for many years, laughed and replied, "If a person does evil, he is a demon; if a demon does good, he is a person."

"good."

Although it is a binary opposition of good and evil, it is still much more open-minded than the idea of ​​"those who are not of our kind must have different hearts" that arose from "species discrimination" on the ancient land.

The three went out and found the swordsman's son playing eagle catching chicks with the other children in the open space of the village.

"father!"

Upon seeing the swordsman, one of the adorable children ran over, grabbed his hand, but fixed his eyes on Jiang Liu—compared to the fierce and menacing Tiger God, Jiang Liu, the chosen one, was actually too "gentle" in appearance; even among humans, he possessed a unique kind of beauty.

"Dao'er, your father has found you a real miracle doctor."