Main Text, Volume Two, Chapter Ninety: Parting

The black-clad figure led the three of them all the way down to the roadside before descending to the ground.

That flight had left a sheen of sweat on her brow; clearly, carrying three people at once was no easy matter for her. And that was with all three of them capable of flight themselves. Had it been only Yu Mu alone, as in the past, she might have found it even more taxing.

After a brief recovery of her spiritual energy, the black-clad woman said, “I will see you only this far. This route lies between Free City and Bird-Eagle City, and is relatively safe. For your own protection, I suggest you wait here until a caravan passes by, then travel onward together.”

With that, she glanced once more at Ye Yu, sighed, and drifted away.

“Big Sister Yu, did you notice? Her eyes are exactly like yours. Could she be some relative of yours?” As soon as the woman in black left, Yan Xiaosan voiced the same question that was on Yu Mu’s mind.

Ye Yu tilted her head and thought for a long while before saying, “I don’t have any such relative. I also feel that woman seems strangely familiar. How odd.”

After all the trouble, they were hungry too. The three of them found a clean spot, sat down, and ate while resting.

Around noon, the sound of hoofbeats came from the road leading out of Free City. Amid the rhythm of the hooves, two riders slowly approached.

At the sight of Yu Mu and the others, the pair immediately became wary. They reined in their mounts and called out, “May I ask who the three of you are, and why are you lingering here?”

Ye Yu had the most experience with this sort of thing. She stepped forward, first offering a polite bow, then said, “We were separated from our companions and have temporarily lost our support. We had no choice but to wait here for passersby, hoping to travel with others for safety.”

Yu Mu found it amusing; this woman really was adept at changing her face to suit the moment. When she needed something from others, she became courteous and spoke nothing but smooth lies. Once back on her own turf, she turned into an icy figure who kept strangers at arm’s length.

The two men remained uncertain, but seeing that the speaker was a young woman, much of their vigilance faded. Then they looked at the three of them more closely and their misgivings disappeared entirely.

One of them produced a talisman and flicked it aside, whereupon it turned to ash. Not long after, another man arrived flying on a magical artifact. He was a red-faced giant of a man, extremely broad and imposing.

As soon as he landed, he first glanced at the three of them, then asked the mounted pair, “What is going on?”

“Brother Fang, these three were separated from their companions and want to travel with us. What do you think?”

Brother Fang looked at the three again. “You three are cultivators as well, so traveling together is fine. But let me say this first: if we encounter bandits, you must assist with all your strength. Can you do that?”

“Of course.” The three of them agreed.

Such situations were already commonplace along this road and had become an unwritten rule.

Brother Fang asked them a few more questions, and at that moment a caravan came slowly into view. Brother Fang led the three of them into the caravan.

Throughout the journey, Yu Mu made inquiries and learned the details of the group. Brother Fang was named Fang Lu, an ordinary leader within the Brothers Mercenary Corps, with late-Core Formation cultivation.

The Brothers Mercenary Corps was the force assigned to protect this caravan. It was a relatively small mercenary band, with just over a hundred members in total. Their leader was a middle-aged man at the mid-Nascent Soul stage, and the corps also had two vice leaders at the early Nascent Soul stage.

Fang Lu was in charge of scouting, so Yu Mu and the others simply followed him, traveling everywhere each day to inspect the route.

The journey was uneventful. Half a month passed, and they were now only one day’s travel from Bird-Eagle City.

That night, the caravan set up camp to rest. After dinner, Fang Lu took the three of them out on reconnaissance, and Ye Yu intentionally grouped herself with Yu Mu.

The two of them came to a lake and found a fallen tree trunk to sit on. Yu Mu did not understand why Ye Yu’s behavior today seemed rather strange, nor what she had brought him here for.

After they sat down, Ye Yu did not speak for a long while. She only stared blankly at the lake water. Yu Mu, too, did not know what to say, and could only gaze at the water in silence.

“Yu Mu, after tomorrow, I’m afraid you and I will have to part ways. When I return, I must refine pills to save my mother, and I likely won’t be able to go out for a very long time. On the road ahead, you must take care of yourself.”

Yu Mu felt an inexplicable sorrow upon hearing this. They had spent more than a month together, through life and death, through hardship and peril; the grievances of the past had long since faded into mist.

Along the way, the three of them had already formed a deep friendship. Especially between the two of them, there was also something intangible and difficult to define.

Although Ye Yu still did not know of the enmity between him and Ye Yun, the hatred between them, bitter as water and fire, and the matter of the withered vine in Ye Wentian’s hands, were destined to prevent any lasting peace between them.

Yu Mu did not know how to face the Ye Yu of the future, but at this moment, when it came to saying goodbye, his heart was filled with a thousand tangled emotions.

In that mood, Yu Mu took out a peach and said, “I don’t know what illness Auntie has. Though I can’t say whether this will help, take this peach as a small gift from me to honor her.”

Ye Yu did not refuse. She had seen the peach’s miraculous effects with her own eyes, and her mother was exactly in need of such a heavenly treasure.

Taking the peach, she sighed and said, “My mother suffers from a loss-of-mind affliction, and has for many years. Over the years, I have devoted myself to finding a cure, but sadly there has been no progress at all. The long torment of illness has left her body increasingly frail and exhausted. Alas, I only hope this time it will restore her to health.”

Loss of mind. Yu Mu was secretly startled. Was that not madness?

How could the noble lady who was the mistress of the Fire-Poison Way, wife of a Great Sage, have gone mad? And if even the alchemy of the Fire-Poison Way could not cure her, it only showed how difficult this illness was.

Yu Mu consoled her, saying, “Now that you have obtained the divine remedy, the Rebirth Fruit, Auntie will surely recover. I wish you success in advance.”

“I hope so.” Ye Yu gave Yu Mu a lingering look and said, “Come to think of it, I should thank you.”

“Thank me for what?” Yu Mu was surprised. He had not really helped much in obtaining the Rebirth Fruit.

“For helping me obtain that pill cauldron,” Ye Yu said. “You have no idea how important it is to me. It is a magical pill furnace; without it, I would never be able to refine the spiritual medicine. Even if I obtained the Rebirth Fruit, it would all be in vain. Yu Mu, thank you.”

As she spoke, Ye Yu rested her cheek on one hand and looked at him with tenderness.

“Oh, so that little cauldron was a pill furnace,” Yu Mu said at last, recalling the scene in the Saint King’s tomb.

He had not expected the little cauldron to be a magical artifact, let alone something of such importance to Ye Yu. No wonder she had fought so desperately for it.

Seeing the kind of gaze that could melt a person, Yu Mu hastily changed the subject. “You’re too kind. It was a treasure you discovered to begin with, so of course it should have belonged to you.”

Ye Yu looked at him meaningfully, then quietly sighed. Once more turning her eyes to the lake, she said softly, “At first, I accidentally obtained a pill formula that could cure my mother’s illness. Over the years, I have gathered everything else needed, and only the Rebirth Fruit and a pill furnace capable of refining the medicine remained. Fortunately, this wish has finally come true. It must be heaven taking pity on us mother and daughter, and your help is owed a great deal of the credit.”

Her words were filled with sorrow, desolation, helplessness, and loneliness.

Yu Mu listened, and his heart ached. An unfamiliar sadness welled up inside him. Unable to restrain himself, he took her delicate hand and said softly, “If anything happens in the future, you can come to me. If it lies within my power, I will do everything I can.”

Having said that, he released her hand and drew out a handful of fresh herbs from his breast. “Keep these medicinal herbs. They’ll be of greater use in your hands, and let them serve as a keepsake between us when we part.”

Ye Yu looked at the hand he had withdrawn, feeling a trace of disappointment in her heart. Then, seeing the herbs, she was startled. “How could I? Aren’t these your friend’s things? And they’ve already taken root in you; how could I possibly accept them?”

Ye Yu had personally seen Yu Mu and the others gather these herbs. Though she did not know how they had taken root in Yu Mu’s body, she knew they belonged to that large black fellow.

Yu Mu smiled faintly. “The spirit-grass on my body belongs to Brother Meng, so I naturally can’t give it to you. But these are medicinal herbs I gathered on Devil’s Slope. Take them; there’s no harm in it.”

“Ah!” Ye Yu’s face was full of doubt. “You actually collected those herbs from Devil’s Slope? How come I never saw that?”

“I only gathered the ones that were close to me at the time. I didn’t have time to move them all.”

“Ah!”

In fact, before Devil’s Slope, at the very moment he had turned into a tree body, Yu Mu had already been preparing to gather these spirit-grasses and immortal grasses.

Before he returned to his bear form, he had already used his roots to draw every blade of spirit-grass and immortal grass within range into his body.