Be a legal businessman in Liyue!

Wang Que bowed slightly and said, "I am Wang Que, and this is my junior sister Yaoyao."

The old Taoist nodded slightly: "Wang Que... well, I heard Chongyun talk about you."

The truth was revealed as soon as he opened his mouth.

It is undoubtedly the alchemist Tianheng.

"So it's you, Senior." Wang Que bowed again, then spoke, "But, I don't know what drama you are singing about?"

While he was speaking, Yaoyao had already run over and picked up Xiaobai again.

He probably already had some guesses.

What happened sixty years ago was definitely not as beautiful as the old man said, with playing games and leaving behind precious pearls.

But the old man doesn't seem to be a bad person.

The ones who really did it should be the old man's parents.

The old Taoist sighed slightly: "You should have heard the story told by Thirteenth Boy."

Wang Que nodded slightly: "I heard it."

"Then you should also understand that the real story is not that beautiful."

The old alchemist, with a hint of helplessness, told what happened back then...

-

Sixty years ago.

In the dawn mist of Tianheng Mountain, seven-year-old Thirteenth Boy huddled in a wooden house, his pale face flushed with sickly color due to violent coughing.

My parents, both alchemists, knelt in front of a magic circle in the corner of the room. The ancient book spread out before them recorded the secret technique of "the life bead of the spirit can reshape the bones". The yellowed pages were stained with the mother's tears.

"Boss, I'm afraid Little Thirteen won't survive this year."

The young woman's voice was hoarse and her face was sad.

The man nodded solemnly: "I have already set up the magic circle. Tonight, I will change Thirteen's fate."

"Okay." The woman nodded heavily.

That night.

My father clenched his fists, and the refreshing fragrance in the cracks of the rocks was shattered by the smell of blood - they used their own blood and essence as a guide to set up a soul-binding formation under the waterfall.

Trembling, my mother buried the last talisman into the rock. The flowing pattern of the rosy light looked like an open spider web.

When the morning mist transformed into a snow-colored raccoon and jumped into the trap, blood suddenly burst out from the ground.

The monster rushed towards the barrier in panic, but solidified into a solid body the moment it touched the talisman.

The mother choked with sobs and made hand gestures. The formation turned into thousands of blood needles that pierced into the spirit of the monster. The white life bead on its neck fell off, and a circle of blood mist was shaken when it fell to the ground.

He glanced at the spirit that gradually disintegrated into ordinary clouds and mist,

A hint of apology appeared in the father's eyes: "I'm sorry, I will save it."

Then he picked up the life bead and pressed it on Thirteenth Baby's chest, watching the beads turn into streams of light and seep into the child's meridians.

Seeing the child's face turn rosy, a hint of joy appeared in his eyes.

But there was no time to celebrate as they watched the monster disintegrate into mist.

My father took a step forward and cut his wrist, and a lot of blood splattered.

The blood sacrifice array under his feet started to work again, forcibly reuniting the scattered form of the monster.

"My magic power is insufficient. It will probably take sixty or seventy years for you to regain your physical form."

"By that time, Thirteen's body should have fully recovered."

"Let General Thirteen return the Life Pearl to you."

The apology in his father's eyes was hard to suppress.

He was clearly an alchemist who exorcised demons and eliminated harm for the people, but he used the evil method of blood sacrifice to take away souls.

The condemnation in his heart was hard to calm down.

……

-

"Later, Thirteenth Baby's parents passed away early because of the blood sacrifice."

There was regret in the old alchemist's eyes.

"I don't know when Thirteenth Boy learned the truth, but he no longer wanted to learn the art of alchemy. He just became a woodcutter, waiting for the spirit to return in the mountains every day."

After a pause, the old Taoist priest continued, "Recently, many people have been frightened by spirits, so I knew Thirteenth Boy would probably take action, so I waited here long ago."

Wang Que finally understood the whole story: "So his childhood memories are all fake?"

Pointed at the old man.

"Well, those were fabricated memories his parents created through magic, which they used in their dreams every day."

"It's to prevent the children from having any psychological trauma."

The old alchemist nodded directly.

Next to him, the white-haired Thirteenth Boy's face was covered with tears.

Wang Que turned his gaze to Xiaobai.

In the whole story, Xiaobai is probably the most wronged one.

As a mountain monster, he had his life pearl taken away from him and now he has sealed it himself.

After explaining the whole story, the old Taoist looked at Wang Que and Yaoyao: "So, you two, what do you think Thirteen should do?"

Yaoyao looked at Wang Que blankly.

Although she is smart, she doesn't quite understand when it comes to life and death.

Wang Que didn't care and said directly: "It's owed in the first place, of course I have to pay it back."

In his opinion, no matter how much fatherly love, motherly love, and family affection are mixed in the story.

But in essence, it was their family that took away Xiaobai's life pearl.

This is what needs to be paid back.

"But according to your story, since he returned the life bead, he shouldn't be in any trouble, right?"

He remembered that in the story just now, "father" said that he could pay it back when Thirteen was well again.

The old alchemist shook his head helplessly: "I don't even know where that secret method came from, how could such a good thing be possible."

He looked at the magic circle at his feet with complicated eyes: "According to my research over the years, even if this magic circle is used to return the life pearl, Thirteen will still die."

"In other words, either the Cloud and Mist Monster dies, or Thirteen dies. That secret technique is a scam."

Hearing this, Wang Que frowned: "It's a scam... My parents died young, hurting the cloud and mist spirit, and in return, the old man has been healthy for most of his life..."

Wang Que couldn't tell whether this was a scam or not.

But for those parents who died young, it should be worth it as their children can live healthy for most of their lives.

It’s just that ‘Xiaobai’ is really miserable.

Therefore, Wang Que still said: "This monster is innocent."

Hearing this, the old Taoist sighed and said, "Well, the Thirteenth Child will be left to you."

The old man suddenly became alert, and inserted his withered fingers into the cracks in the rock. The ochre layer of rock peeled off, revealing the remains of the soul-binding blood sacrifice array that had been buried for sixty years.

Biting the tip of his tongue, mixed with the sweet and fishy blood foam in his throat, he carved reverse patterns on the altar - each crimson ravine was steaming with tiny blood rays under the moonlight, just like the thousands of blood needles that his parents had pierced into the spirit body of the monster back then, reflected in the pool of blood.

"Give it back to you"

He tore off the beads around his neck, and the instant the white life bead fell into the center of the formation, a roar of broken chains came from the depths.

The seventy-year-old man's spine suddenly became hunched, and his arms, with knotted muscles, were covered with purple veins, like the stems of a Qingxin flower that had been drained of water.

Wang Que stretched out his hand and removed the seal on Xiaobai.

Xiaobai suddenly jumped up and swallowed the life bead in one gulp.

The vigorous clouds emanating from it make it seem as if its vitality is exceptionally strong.

With a move of his body, he turned into a cloud dragon and soared into the sky. Then he suddenly swooped down and turned into a white cat and landed at Yaoyao's feet.

"Thank you." It can speak now, and its voice is very clear.

Yaoyao happily picked it up and held it close to her.

And on the other side,

Having lost his life bead, the old man fell directly onto the blood sacrifice array.

The breath is weak.

But he had a smile on his face: "Dad, Mom, the baby is here."

After a moment, close your eyes.

The old Taoist sighed slightly, walked forward, and picked up the old man's body: "Your family still needs an old man like me to clean up the mess. You really are not a good son."

As he spoke, his eyes turned slightly red, but he recovered quickly.

Looking at Wang Que and the other two people, he said, "Everyone, it's a dark and windy night. Why don't you go to our place and rest for a night?"

He extended an invitation.

Wang Que was about to refuse when he heard the other party say, "It's a good opportunity to talk about Boss Wang's business."

Business!

Wang Que, who wanted to refuse, immediately became interested: "Okay."

"Then please follow me." The old alchemist turned around and led the way.

Wang Que's eyes finally swept across the magic circle.

...

Tianheng Mountain Ancient Village.

If the old alchemist hadn't led the way, Wang Que would never have imagined that there was such a beautiful village hidden in Tianheng Mountain.

"Most of the disciples in the clan are used to quiet cultivation, so few outsiders come here."

The old alchemist led the way while talking.

From time to time, a few young people passing by would stop and salute the old alchemist respectfully.

Previously, Wang Que came into contact with these Tianheng alchemists through Chongyun, but the results were not very good.

He also planned to look for the twelve clans of Chenyu Valley.

As a result, by chance, I actually came directly to the alchemist's territory.

Several people came to a guest room.

"Please stay overnight. I'm going to take care of Thirteenth Baby's funeral first."

The old alchemist looked slightly heavy.

Wang Que nodded: "Okay."

The old alchemist turned and left.

Wang Que brought Yaoyao into the house, and Yaoyao was holding Yuegui and Xiaobai.

The room is not small, with a master bedroom and a second bedroom. It looks very clean, so it must be cleaned regularly.

Yaoyao was very polite and gave the master bedroom to Wang Que.

Wang Que also began to make the bed for Yaoyao.

He will pamper this little junior sister.

"Yaoyao, you often walk in the mountains. Have you ever met the Taoist priest Tianheng?" Wang Que asked as he made the bed for Yaoyao.

Yaoyao was playing with Yuegui and Xiaobai in her arms. When she heard Wang Que's question, she said directly, "We often run into each other in the mountains. There are many ancient villages in Tianheng Mountain, and most of these villages are related to the Tianheng alchemists..."