The years I was in the human world

In the first five years, Peacock could hardly move in the ghost town where evil spirits were rampant and miasma was rampant. The ancient battlefield was filled with resentment and there was almost no spiritual energy that could be used to protect the body. The evil and resentment invaded her body unhindered and rampaged through her limbs.

"Junior Master, it hurts so much." Peacock knelt down unable to continue, his face pale and his expression showing a bit of hopelessness.

"This is just the beginning." Wei Ruge changed his past gentle indulgence and forcefully lifted Peacock up from the ground. He tried his best to deal with the evil spirits rushing from all directions and protected Peacock tightly under his wings. "You have to know that opportunities from the way of heaven are not so easy to take after all."

In the tenth year, after countless failures and fruitless attempts in the previous years, Peacock gradually became able to endure the pain of resentment running through his flesh and blood, and he was even able to kill one or two evil spirits through the gaps that Wei Ruge intentionally left.

"Uncle Junior Master, are you accompanying me?" Wei Ruge blocked most of the dangers, leaving only one ten-thousandth for Peacock to hone. He never concealed it, and Peacock was moved by it. "You could have done it yourself--"

"Don't feel burdened." Wei Ruge suddenly interrupted Kong Que's self-blaming words, and with a sword he broke through the miasma that was coming towards him. He looked back at Kong Que with an earnest and sincere look, as if he was afraid that she would not believe him. The young man suddenly smiled, shook the long sword in his left hand, and said in a casual tone,

"Little nephew, I am not here to accompany you. I changed my cultivation to be ruthless in order to kill and eliminate all the compassion in my heart. Only by clearing the mind and character that were tempered by the past can I truly let go of the past and start over. Each time I start over, it is also a test for me."

……

In the tenth year, Kong Que was able to come out from Wei Ruge's protection and kill ordinary evil ghosts on his own. However, Luo Cheng's swordsmanship had not improved at all and he could only linger in the outer circle of the ghost den. If he went deeper, he was still unable to resist and even had to take care of Wei Ruge, who had lost his right hand and was unable to take care of himself.

She tried to break through the inner circle of the ghost den once, but almost lost her life due to her strength and was possessed by an evil ghost. It was Wei Ruge who used his strength to attract thunder from the sky, which barely saved her life. His spine was broken by the thunder, and he climbed out of the ghost den with his own hands, carrying Peacock, who was unconscious due to the possession of the evil ghost.

The nails on all ten fingers were broken, his hands were bloody and his bones were injured. He couldn't hold a sword for more than three months. When Kong Que woke up, he looked at the boy's tightly wrapped hands and couldn't help but mutter in unbearable sadness: "Uncle Wei, I'm a burden to you... I'm a burden to you."

Her unwavering belief made her feel painful at this moment. She thought of the dead Lu Zhouxue and Baili Changqing's disappointed eyes. She hesitated, wondering if she really would not regret it?

Wei Ruge seemed to see through her wavering heart through her misty tearful eyes. He sighed silently, bit off the bandage on his hand, revealing his fingertips that were just beginning to grow tender flesh, and gently wiped away the tears from Peacock's cheek.

He rested his hand on her forehead and supported the back of Kong Que's head with one hand. Wei Ruge was not good at sweet talk. All he could say was a clumsy and straightforward reassurance: "How can you be a burden? It's my fault. I haven't learned even one ten-thousandth of what Master has learned, so I can't teach you."

"Junior Master, does it hurt?" Peacock looked down at Wei Ruge's scarred fingertips, his voice trembling.

"It hurts, it hurts so much." Wei Ruge curled his lips, looking extremely aggrieved, but he changed the subject and forced a smile, saying, "Little nephew, the more it hurts, the more we can't give up. There is no turning back."

In the twentieth year, Kong Que could already move freely around the outskirts of the ghost den by herself. Wherever she went, all the ghosts were afraid of her. Since the time when she almost lost her life, she temporarily stopped thinking about quick success and instant benefits. However, she felt despair every time she failed to comprehend the sword skills.

In the early winter of this year, there was no snow in the courtyard. It was also the twentieth winter that the Peacock Sword Technique had stagnated. She hesitated and put down the sword. Finally, she broke into Wei Ruge's study and asked anxiously, "Uncle Junior Master, are we still in time?"

Wei Ruge was thirty-eight years old this year. He had failed to advance to the Void Refining Realm that year, and he originally had a lot of life ahead of him, but because of the life-and-death experience in the ghost den, he aged overnight. Although he is not old now, he is not as young as he used to be. He is still handsome, but there are fine lines of age at the corners of his eyes.

The young man had grown old. He put down the book he had been reluctant to read, looked up at the peacock calmly, and was as tolerant as ever. With infinite courage, he calmed down all of the peacock's hesitation with just one sentence: "It's not too late. We are still young."

No, that's not right. Peacock suddenly corrected his illusion. Wei Ruge was still the young man he was before, full of courage and dashing like a meteor.

In the thirty-fifth year of the fighting in the ghost den, Wei Ruge had to return to Zhongting because of the recurrence of his old injury. Kong Que had mastered all the Luocheng sword techniques and held the Zhaoyang sword in his hand. His glory was no less than that of Zhu Huang back then. Even without Wei Ruge's help, he could come and go freely in the center of the ghost den where evil spirits were rampant.

She insisted on staying alone in the ghost den under Wei Ruge's worried eyes. Facing her uncle who was always worried about her, she smiled at him softly, showing a different intimacy from that in front of outsiders: "Little uncle, don't worry, I'm not that useless."

"You never want anyone to worry about you, so it's Uncle who is useless." Wei Ruge sighed, and said with some guilt, "I should have taken good care of you, but now because of your injury, I have no choice but to leave you alone in the ghost den."

Wei Ruge returned to Zhongting. Without someone to accompany him attentively, the days of fighting alone in the den of ghosts were long and boring. But when he thought that the goal was within reach, it didn't seem so hard to endure.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival on earth, the flickering lights of thousands of houses are the most lively. Zhongting claims to be superior to ordinary people, but he can't let go of the mundane world. On this day, he also learns from ordinary people to hang lanterns and stroll along the streets.

Peacock did not go back. To her, Zhongting was not her home. Her mother had passed away and her brother did not love her, so there was no reunion. She just sat on the dilapidated roof of the deserted village, looking at the mountains in the distance and the bright moon on the mountains. She couldn't help feeling lonely.

An old man passing by at the foot of the mountain gave her a jar of strong liquor that burned her throat. In the dead of night, she sat alone with the jar in her arms, lost in thought. In her thirty-five years of life, she might have been hesitant at the beginning, but now she had no other thoughts.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival of the year when her mother died, the Phoenix Terrace was deserted, but there was Lu Zhouxue. The man directed and acted out a scene in which he buried a jar of wine, and then took her to dig it out personally. He also cooked a table of unremarkable meals with a face as clear as the breeze and as bright as the moon.

She only tried one bite of the dishes on the table, and the taste was so indescribable that she put down her chopsticks after taking one bite. Xiao Fengzhuo finished the rest of the dishes silently, then rolled up his sleeves and made a new meal. Only then did they spend that Mid-Autumn Festival peacefully.

There was nothing special about that Mid-Autumn Festival, and it wasn't lively with just the three of us. But compared with every lonely Mid-Autumn Festival in the following 35 years, the sight of three strangers huddled together under the same roof for warmth seemed extremely precious.

Later, Lu Zhouxue died, Xiao Fengzhuo disappeared, and Kong Que's life was a mess. It was hard to say that she did not regret every time she recalled the past. She even covered her face and cried in her dreams at midnight. However, she had no chance to make amends and could only move forward with gritted teeth.

Kong Que raised his head and took a sip of wine. The Qiang wine in the desert was indeed like a knife cutting his throat. It was not as good as the Zui Hua Yin wine he drank with Lu Zhou Xue that year. The taste was lingering. After three or two sips, he became drunk and lost his mind. In his hazy mind, he seemed to see Wei Ruge who was supposed to be recuperating in Zhongting.

"This Qiang wine is intoxicating. Could it be that it can cause hallucinations?" Peacock was very drunk and regarded the man who hurried over as an illusion. He muttered softly and rolled down from the roof. Wei Ruge was shocked when he saw this. He ran over in two or three steps and caught the man who fell down in his arms.

"How can you be so drunk alone?" Wei Ruge held the person firmly in his arms, and whispered a little rebuke with a little concern. Peacock looked up at him with drunken eyes, but the next second he hugged his neck and burst into tears.

"Junior Master, I was wrong. I shouldn't have made that choice." She buried her face in Wei Ruge's shoulder and expressed her regret in a hoarse voice.

Wei Ruge stared blankly at the girl who was crying bitterly in his arms, with a look of bewilderment on his face. However, he still raised his hand and stroked Peacock's back, and asked softly, "Did anyone bully you?"

After saying this, he realized that his question was a bit foolish, and he clumsily wiped away Kong Que's tears, while hurriedly saying, "Don't cry, tell your uncle what happened, and your uncle will cover for you."

Wei Ruge's words were full of encouragement, causing the drunk Peacock to forget what day it was and what kind of devastating blow the thing she had concealed would bring to her relationship with Wei Ruge. Without thinking any more, she blurted out the secret:

"Master Junior, I was the one who killed Lu Zhouxue. Yaoguang said that only when Xuefeng died would my mother have a chance to be resurrected. But now I don't know whether it is right or wrong to kill him in exchange for my mother's life. Master Junior, this road is so tiring."

"What?" Wei Ruge cried out in surprise. His first reaction was disbelief. He wanted to ask something else, but Peacock had already fallen asleep in his arms. The atmosphere fell silent. He stood there woodenly holding the person. He had a sense of absurdity in his heart and for a moment he didn't know what to do.

When Kong Que woke up, she had returned to her bamboo house outside the ghost cave. Her memory of what happened after she got drunk was not very clear. She only vaguely remembered that she seemed to have seen Wei Ruge before she passed out. She sat up from the bed, looked around, and tentatively called out, "Little Master?"

"Are you awake? Come and drink this bowl of medicine." Wei Ruge came in from outside the bamboo house holding a medicine jar with a rag. He poured the medicine into the bowls and plates on the table with his hands, but he always deliberately avoided Peacock's gaze.

Kong Que felt that her master was a little strange today, but she didn't think much about it. She got up from the bed, picked up the dark, bitter-smelling medicine in the bowl and drank it all, while making a joke: "My little master doesn't love me anymore. He made me drink medicine as soon as I came."

"..." The man who always told her to stop talking nonsense was silent, but he took away the empty medicine bowl silently, and even the sweet dates he usually gave her. Kong Que realized something and turned to look at Wei Ruge, asking tentatively: "Little Master, are you unhappy?"

"...No." Wei Ruge had a gloomy face, and his unhappiness was almost written on his face, but he still said stubbornly that he didn't. He was indeed a little angry, but when his eyes met the concerned eyes of Peacock, he softened his heart, "It's not good to have the ghost energy entering your body. Remember to take the medicine in time, don't let me urge you every time."

"I see, Junior Uncle-Master, you are becoming more and more wordy." Peacock said. His words were meant to be sarcastic, but they might not be untrue. Wei Ruge was a reckless boy who didn't care about details in his early years, but now that he has grown older, he has become more wordy.

"Who am I nagging about?" Wei Ruge knocked on Kong Que's head in annoyance, then changed the subject and said seriously, "Seriously, I have to go and check some old things these days, so I don't have time to look after you. Please be careful."

"What old matter is this? Do you need my help?" Peacock asked naturally without thinking much about it.

"It's not a big deal if you practice your sword well." Wei Ruge didn't want to explain any more. He put away the medicine bowl and went out. What he wanted to check was naturally what Peacock said when he was drunk last night. It was actually not a secret. Monk Zhongting had already spread the rumor in private, but it was not made public due to some reasons.

Wei Ruge put down the things in his hand. He was so troubled that he couldn't sleep the whole night. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked very worried. Since Kong Que said that, it must be true. He didn't know about it before, but now that he knows, how should he face it?

Kong Que is an orphan with a miserable life, but Xue Feng, who was harmed by her, was innocent. Lu Zhouxue was someone Wei Ruge had met before, and he had a big fight with Baili Changqing because of the hasty revelation of Zhu Huang's unjust case. It can be seen that he is a gentleman with a clear conscience.

It was because of this that Wei Ruge didn't know what to do. He felt sorry for Kong Que, but on the other hand he couldn't turn a blind eye to what she did against his conscience and principles. No one had taught him what to do in this situation.

"What are those two doing recently?" The abnormality on their side was not obvious, but it was enough to attract Yaoguang's attention. This equally ambitious woman would never easily ignore trivial details. "I heard that Wei Ruge has started investigating old cases again recently?"

"Your Majesty, please be at ease. Back then, he investigated the matter in a rush, but it ended in a hasty manner. Now the world is different, what can he do?" A female cultivator handed a teacup to Yaoguang and flattered her with fawning words, as if she only followed Yaoguang's lead.

"Just because Wei Ruge was able to find out about the Southern Dynasty Xie family, he should not be underestimated. You are so foolish to be so dismissive and arbitrary!" Yaoguang put down the tea in her hand heavily, and her sharp eyes fell on the female cultivator beside her. She calmed down and said slowly,

"Since he wants to investigate, let him do it. Go find Qi Nankuo and ask him to tell Wei Ruge what happened in the snowy mountains. This will also let him know what his beloved niece did. Anyway, the girl is not obedient now."

Yaoguang paused here and continued, "Aren't there a few outstanding children in the sect under the Ye family? Pick one with a clean background, disguise him and send him to that girl. Try to make them alienated, so that they won't jump up and down every day and bother me."