Longevity Candle

Chapter 32 A Great Famine Occurred, and People Ate Each Other

Yao Yao carried the water vat back and forth, exchanging it for what she needed.

She encountered spying again; those people watched from a distance, not daring to follow.

Yao Yao ignored them and returned to the village without incident.

Now that she had the necessary items, she no longer left the village and focused on practicing her martial arts.

A year has passed, and she can now walk on air, though her flight time is still limited.

According to the Seven Star Sword Manual, she has now achieved minor mastery.

The golden light within her body not only did not decrease, but actually increased.

Because golden light flew out of the well and merged into the golden light within her body.

She tried to apply the golden light to her sword, making it indestructible, incomparably sharp, and capable of cutting through iron like mud.

She had a new idea: to forge seven divine swords to use in the Seven Star Sword Formation, gathering the light of the sun and moon.

The village is now quite prosperous, with plenty of poultry.

She carried two vats of water, led the big fat pig, and went to the county town again.

This time, however, they encountered more than ten people on the way. They were searching for something, and when they saw Yaoyao, they turned and ran.

Yao Yao sensed something was wrong and grabbed one of the people to question him.

"It was the local gentry in the county who ordered it. They wanted to seize your water source. We were just doing our job for money."

"I haven't been out for a long time, are you still looking for me?"

"They think that since you haven't shown up for so long, you must have left. People in the martial arts world travel all over the country and don't stay in one place for long..."

Yao Yao's face was gloomy. She killed the person in front of her, picked up the water vat, and led the big fat pig to the county town.

Upon arriving in the city, everyone stared at her, especially the big, fat pig.

But when she went to sell water and pigs, everyone offered her very low prices, even less than before the disaster.

A beggar secretly told her that the local gentry had banded together to lower her prices.

If she doesn't reveal the source of the water, she won't be able to sell her goods normally.

Yao Yao experienced the evil of human nature once again. She had never provoked those people, yet she was still oppressed by them.

Instead of going back, she went to the blacksmith's shop and told him that she had forged seven swords.

The blacksmith hesitated and dared not accept her gift.

Yao Yao felt that many people were staring at this place, and those people's faces were despicable.

She held the sword to the blacksmith's neck: "If you don't fight, you'll die now."

The blacksmith was afraid and had no choice but to agree.

She sat outside the blacksmith's shop, and no one dared to bother her.

As night fell, she got up.

The blacksmith watched as brilliant sword lights flashed across the street, and figures fell from the rooftops.

A dense barrage of arrows rained down from the sky, yet they could not penetrate her protective aura.

The pungent smell of blood permeated the entire county.

The blacksmith dared not go anywhere, and worked diligently at forging iron, while the big fat pig tied up outside the door grunted.

He suddenly realized that those landlords and gentry were no different from the fat pigs at the gate.

The entire county was ablaze with flames, and the piercing screams continued until the early morning of the next day.

As dawn broke, Yaoyao returned, still sitting at the entrance of the blacksmith's shop. There was not a trace of blood on her sword; it gleamed as new.

There was no blood on her body, as if it had nothing to do with her.

“An ordinary iron sword will do, with peach blossom markings and the names of the seven stars carved on it. This pig and two vats of water, is that enough?” Yao Yao said, her voice somewhat cold, completely different from before.

"That's enough. If it's just an ordinary iron sword, you can come and pick it up in a month," the blacksmith said quickly.

"Alright, I'll come back for the sword in a month."

Yao Yao left, flying away like a celestial fairy, leaving everyone stunned.

After she left, everyone rushed to the homes of the landlords and gentry, where they found grain, stored vegetables, land deeds, house deeds, and gold and silver.

Everyone cursed the landlords and gentry, but their actions spoke volumes as they fought over the valuables. Several blacksmiths also arrived, their eyes gleaming with desire for pork, and offered their treasured ore for the forging.

The blacksmith agreed, and Yaoyao said she wanted an ordinary iron sword, but he dared not actually give her an ordinary one.

The blacksmiths also helped.

Back in the village, Yaoyao told her mother what had happened. Her mother didn't scold her, but just hugged her tightly: "The world is in chaos, and those gentry are so oppressive. You did the right thing."

"Mother, I miss Father." Yao Yao hugged her mother. When her father was around, she didn't need to worry about anything. She was carefree.

With tears streaming down her face, the mother hugged him even tighter: "Things are much better in the village now. Go find your father."

“I’m not going. I’ll stay with Mother,” Yao Yao said.

“Mother misses him too, but Mother can’t walk anymore.” Mother wiped away her tears: “Your martial arts have improved, you can go and bring your father back. Don’t let your father become a lonely and helpless wandering soul.”

Yao Yao remained silent for a long time before saying, "I will teach them martial arts. Once they have achieved some skill, I will go to find my father."

She couldn't let go of her mother, nor could she let go of Taoyuan Village, but she also wanted her father to come back.

Whether he lives or dies, we must know; we must bring our father back.

"Go practice your skills."

Yao Yao practiced her skills even harder and began to teach the children in the village martial arts, instructing them to protect the village.

The next day, she took away the big fat pig again and had them forge several swords, only to find out that the gentry's wealth had caused chaos.

Yao Yao's appearance frightened everyone so much that they dared not fight over it anymore, and those who had managed to snatch the items even returned them.

Life in the village was already prosperous, but she was not greedy. She distributed her wealth among the city dwellers and secretly gave some extra to the beggar.

Although her distribution caused dissatisfaction among those who were originally vying for more, they dared not show it.

In an instant, almost everyone in the entire county was grateful to Yao Yao.

The county magistrate's officers not only dared not arrest her, but also hurriedly avoided her.

The seven swords were forged, all of them fine swords, and a sword case was prepared for her. She then gave the blacksmiths the large, fat pig she had brought with her.

She only wanted fair trade and didn't want to take advantage of them by relying on force.

Yao Yao carried the sword box back to the village, and would retrieve the new sword a month later.

Children are not as talented as her, and their progress in martial arts is slow.

Yao Yao secluded herself in the peach grove for half a year, breaking down the Seven Star Sword Technique so that each person could practice one sword technique.

Children find it easy to begin practicing, and their progress is relatively fast.

In the blink of an eye, Yao Yao turned twenty-six, and the children had achieved something.

Looking at her mother's full head of white hair, she felt a strange worry rising in her heart. She was afraid that her mother would grow old and be buried in the ground like her grandmother.

She wanted to stay with her mother, but her mother kept calling out her father's name.

At this moment, her martial arts skills were already very advanced. She had mastered the Seven Star Sword Technique and could easily unleash a four-zhang (approximately 10 meters) sword beam.

Carrying her sword case, she unleashed thirty-seven consecutive sword strikes outside the village, carving out a deep abyss that isolated Peach Blossom Village from the outside world.

She connected the two sides with chains, allowing the village's warriors to leave by stepping on the chains.

The children in the village have grown up and are now able to go to the county town to marry wives.

The drought has become even more severe, and she often delivers water and food to the city, saving many lives. The officials of the imperial court are filled with awe for her.

She chose wives for the children and also brought the blacksmith to the village.

After doing all this, she put the black ball into the wooden box, handed it to her mother, and said that if there was a flood in the future, she could take it out and throw it into the air. After finding out her father's direction, she rode her horse north.

Those who joined the army back then all went to the north. The northern grasslands invaded, and the Qian Kingdom has lost more than ten cities, and countless people and grains have been plundered.

Far from the county town, heading north, as far as the eye could see, there was no life; the parched land, the dried-up riverbeds, and the piles of white bones silently illustrated the horror of the natural disaster.

After about a month of walking, she finally met a family of three who were grilling meat.

The child sat by the fire, drooling.

The parents looked at the meat on the fire, tears streaming down their faces, with the child's tattered clothes beside them.

Yao Yao suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, and she heard her mother's voice in her ear: "In times of great famine, people eat each other."

(End of this chapter)