RIIDMDR chapter 41

 

The middle-aged man carried his son on his back. In the pitch darkness, the group pushed open the small courtyard gate and walked into the dark forest.

The sound of chirping insects and birds filled their ears, and the roar of wild beasts echoed in the distance. Nan Xu followed Tingchuan, holding a tinder he had just bought from the mall. No one spoke along the way. Only the sound of their footsteps rustling through the grass and broken branches and the slowly moving moon in the sky could be heard. After an unknown amount of time, Tingchuan stopped.

They weren’t at the top of the mountain yet, but the moonlight showed that they were quite high up and that the air was cooler than on the mountainside.

“Just go up here. This mountain path leads to the entrance of the formation.” Tingchuan raised his head slightly and looked ahead.

Nanxu followed his gaze. There wasn’t actually an obvious path. There was only a gap about half a person’s width in the dense vegetation. If Tingchuan hadn’t pointed it out, Nanxu wouldn’t have known that this was the entrance to the formation on Zhuyu Mountain’s main peak.

He turned and looked at the Bai couple. Before he could finish speaking, they exchanged a glance, seemingly resolving something.

“Let’s take Xing’er in with us. Thank you both for your help this time,” the couple said to Nanxu and Tingchuan.

Tingchuan’s deep eyes reflected the figures of the three of them. After two seconds of silence, he said, “You can’t leave at all.”

He didn’t like to meddle in other people’s business, so offering this reminder was the greatest kindness he could give.

Nanxu also had mixed emotions upon hearing this. He was undoubtedly terrified of this unfamiliar place. He had come to the mountain for no apparent reason. He had never seen the outside world and had only encountered a few demons. As he walked along the mountain path, he thought that if he went in today, he might never get out. He didn’t know what kind of severity lurked within that terrified all the demons.

Just when he had made up his mind to take a gamble, the Bai couple said they wanted to take the child in themselves, which gave Nanxu room to retreat.

“If there’s a way to save the child, we’d all like to try. However, this battle is dangerous, and we don’t want to implicate our benefactor. I’m sure Xing’er wouldn’t want to be involved either.” The woman took Zhixing’s icy hand. After regaining her composure, she returned to her usual whisper, but her tone was resolute.

She was introverted and timid, having lived for two thousand years without daring to speak loudly in front of others. But for this child, she and her husband traveled extensively throughout the demon world, visiting various demon tribes. They had faced so many hopes and disappointments that they had become numb. Yet, she had never considered involving an innocent person in order to save her child’s life. This was their sincere heart and tacit understanding.

“Madam, what you said is exactly what I was thinking. This is a disaster for our Bai family, and we shouldn’t let our benefactor get involved. If we’re lucky enough to rescue Xing’er, my wife and I will serve you,” the middle-aged man agreed.

Zhuyu Mountain is Nan Xu’s territory. Given the unknown fate of the child, his willingness to show them the way is already a great favor.

Nan Xu didn’t respond. He was staring intently at his system, dazed. He had just asked 006 if he could escape safely by taking Zhixing in. Instead of answering his question, 006 displayed a fortune-telling bucket.

Nan Xu: “…

After looking at the electronic fortune-telling bucket on the homepage, Nan Xu was speechless for a moment. He was looking for an answer, not a fortune. When was the system launched? What kind of feudal superstition was this?

But the bucket was already out, and Nan Xu couldn’t wait to shake it.

[Fortune and misfortune lurk in the shadows.]

Looking at the lottery, Nan Xu was bewildered. He understood the meaning of this often-quoted saying, but the ambiguous answer left him confused again in this situation.

He asked 006 again, “What if someone else went in?”

This time, the system didn’t make him draw another slip. Instead, it gave him a clear answer: Fall.

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, the Bai couple, accompanied by Zhixing, passed by Nan Xu and were about to enter the forest.

“Wait!” Nan Xu called out, coming back to his senses. “I know you don’t want to trouble others, but if you take Zhixing in, you’ll risk your lives and prevent Zhixing from ever getting out. So, are you still going to do this for the sake of your good intentions?”

The Bai couple, the two demons, were both stunned. They looked at Nan Xu as if trying to discern the truth from his expression.

At that moment, Tingchuan said, “Let me try. I’ve been inside this formation before, before it was fully formed.”

Nan Xu was surprised that Tingchuan had such experience and even more astonished that he could be so helpful, given his personality. He had lived so long and knew the dangers better than anyone else.

So why was Tingchuan acting so abnormally today?

As soon as this thought entered Nan Xu’s mind, he suppressed it. The mountain wind blew, the surroundings were eerily quiet, and Zhixing was in imminent danger. Now was not the time to dwell on such matters.

However, the system said that anyone else entering would risk death, so Tingchuan couldn’t accompany them on this trip.

Nan Xu shook his head. “The remaining mountains are my territory. Those mountain formations won’t embarrass me.”

To be honest, Nan Xu wasn’t sure either. He was just saying this for others to hear.

It was funny. Not only was Tingchuan acting strangely tonight, but Nan Xu was too. His thoughts weren’t going the way he wanted them to.

Nan Xu’s gaze fell on Zhi Xing’s face on the man’s back. The youth’s face was drained of color, fragile and almost transparent, as if it would vanish at the slightest touch. Having lived so long, Nan Xu knew best how to exploit opportunities and avoid danger. Yet, he didn’t know where he found the courage; he simply wanted to save him.

Advancing into the formation was risky, but apart from him, no one else could save Zhi Xing. He couldn’t possibly watch the Bai family of three die without trying to stop them, knowing the outcome.

“But…” The woman pinched her fingers, her heart tormented.

“You just wait outside,” Nan Xu promised. “As long as there’s even a slight chance, I won’t give up on him.”

The middle-aged man hurriedly explained, “That’s not what we meant. We just can’t let our benefactor handle something so life-threatening.”

Nan Xu waved his hand. “I’ve made up my mind. Let’s not delay any longer. If twelve hours pass, no one can save him.”

The couple looked at each other and finally reached a tacit understanding. The man carefully lowered Zhixing from his back. Nan Xu stepped forward and took him, carrying him on his back.

The firelight illuminated Nan Xu’s youthful face. He always smiled when he met people, and now that smile remained; he had a more determined air about him.

The man’s eyes reddened as he looked at Nan Xu, as if he were trying desperately to suppress some emotion. “We, the Bai family, will never forget your great kindness. If you are in danger during the formation…”

He paused, his lips trembling. Looking deeply into his child’s eyes, he said, “Please prioritize your own safety.”

Nan Xu felt a sudden sense of heaviness. He wondered what kind of mental preparation the man had undergone to ask him to abandon his child in such a desperate situation.

Nan Xu nodded silently and walked toward the formation’s entrance. The woman behind him was already sobbing softly.

As he passed Tingchuan, Nan Xu stopped and looked at the demon he had spent the most time with in the demon world.

He didn’t really have much to tell him, but he wanted to say something. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before he said, “I’m going in.”

Tingchuan didn’t respond. Nan Xu pursed his lips and started to walk away when he heard Tingchuan whisper, “Okay, I’ll wait here for you guys.”

The voice was right next to him, and Nan Xu felt strangely relaxed. He raised his head and gave the other man a brilliant smile. “Okay.”

The bond between them couldn’t really be called deep. In Ting Chuan’s thousands of years of demon life, two or three months amounted to nothing. But for Nan Xu, he had wandered as a child and struggled to make a living as an adult. He’d never had any friends, let alone someone he could spend every day with. Tingchuan was the first person he’d spent so much time with, especially in these desolate mountains. It was impossible to say he had no feelings for Tingchuan.

So he paused and seemingly meaningless told Tingchuan that if he couldn’t get out, this would be a farewell.

Nan Xu continued walking, carrying Zhixing on his back. The nearly untrodden mountain path was difficult, but he took each step with sure footing. As he felt the early morning breeze, he glanced up at the barely brightening sky and smiled.

He thought, when he arrived here from the human world, he was hit on the head by a stone, leaving him no time to say goodbye. But even if he had had the chance, it seemed he wouldn’t have had anyone to say goodbye to. Now, whether it was real or not, he heard the words, “Wait for me to return.”

His strength increased, and Zhixing behind him felt weightless. Nan Xu wondered why he wanted to save this boy so badly. Was it because he couldn’t bear to see people die? But that was clearly not the case. He had grown up without any ties and didn’t have much compassion. Yet, he was willing to do it. Maybe he was destined to try to save this boy.

After walking a few dozen more steps, the road ahead remained unchanged. Nan Xu, as if struck by something, glanced back. Behind him, a vast white mist stretched out, with no sign of Tingchuan and the others. He entered the formation.

The mountain breeze was chilly, and Zhixing, behind him, was cold, too. Nothing could offer warmth. Nan Xu briefly opened the system, but the electronic map was completely dark, rendering it useless.

Remembering what the system had said about the hot spring at the summit, Nanxu continued up the mountain path, carrying Zhixing on his back.

His heartbeat raced as he kept walking. He had no idea what the danger was, so he kept a vigilant eye on his surroundings. But time ticked by, and the hands of his watch seemed frozen. He mentally counted the seconds: one minute, ten minutes, half an hour, an hour. Nan Xu was almost disoriented. It seemed as if more than two hours had passed, yet the sky was still dark, and the fire in his hand had burned out.

There was no sound, no light in sight. Nan Xu stopped and took another step.

I’ve been walking for so long; it should be dawn. But why haven’t I reached that hot spring yet? Why didn’t I wait until dawn?

Nan Xu reached out and touched a tree. After buying a lighted tinderbox at the mall, he rested for a few minutes before continuing on his way.

Two hours later, he stopped again. Feeling tired, he took Zhixing off his back and found a place to sit down and rest. He took out the dry biscuits he had prepared earlier, ate two, and realized he was still as hungry as ever. Moreover, the ten minutes or so of rest hadn’t reduced his fatigue at all.