Chapter 186 - Zhou Botong
Chapter 186: Zhou Botong
“Wait, the thing that resonated the most with the Black Dragon Swamp doesn’t seem to be the Flood Dragon Bloodline.
“Rather, it’s the Dragon Aura…”
Ji Ye sensed it carefully.
It seemed that, to a large extent, the Flood Dragon Blood wasn’t the one that resonated with the swamp. Instead, it was the Dragon Aura that transformed from the Rank-7 Stone of Civilization.
“According to the description of the Black Dragon Swamp, one of the Dragon Aura’s functions is that it can transform things that it has ‘tainted’ into objects that can be controlled by the Flood Dragon Bloodline?”
Ji Ye’s heart stirred.
However, the Black Dragon Swamp was only Extraordinary, and it was in the Battlefield of Providence.
Obviously, it wouldn’t have Transcendent objects like the resource points in the Land of Inheritance.
“Stop it!
“Lord Duan, you’ve forced me out in such a barbaric way. What’s that about?”
After the swamp shook for over a minute, a person finally showed up.
The elderly woman had a head full of white hair and a resentful look on her face. Her features suggested that she used to be a beautiful woman, but her voice was rather harsh.
“I’m not nearly capable of doing that. Mr. Ji here is the one with the amazing skill!”
Reverend Yideng had yet to recover from the shock when he replied, shaking his head.
He then realized that he sounded as if he had put the blame on Ji Ye, so he gave him an apologetic look.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Ji Ye smiled.
“Heh, you won’t fool me. You’re trying to have a young man take the fall.”
The old lady looked suspiciously at Ji Ye.
The young man was in his early twenties at most, so she didn’t believe that he could have done that.
However, what happened just then was indeed beyond her understanding, and even Reverend Yideng, the once Lord Duan, wouldn’t be able to achieve it, so she had to believe the explanation.
Was this young man really capable of doing that?
“Aw, aw…”
Two small white heads stuck out from behind her, and they were none other than the pair of Nine-tailed Foxes. Their beady eyes were darting around.
“Wheeze!”
Seeing Ji Ye, one of them waved a front paw and screeched angrily.
With the look in its eyes, it was obviously complaining to its “parent”.
“Are you saying that he caught you last night? So, it really was him…”
Having been living with the two foxes for all these years, the old lady could roughly figure out what they meant.
But she had to believe Reverend Yideng now.
Because Nine-tailed Foxes were extremely swift and nimble. Even those with great alacrity skills wouldn’t catch up with them so easily, let alone catch them.
“Lord Duan, what on earth are you doing here?”
After realizing how incredible Ji Ye was, the old lady ignored the fox’s complaint and turned to Reverend Yideng instead.
“Let the past stay in the past. I’ve forgotten about my old self already. Ying, do you recognize this man?”
Reverend Yideng heaved a sigh.
He then pointed at Qiu Qianren.
The white-headed old lady was known as “Aunt Ying” now.
Back when Reverend Yideng was still the king of Dali Kingdom, Ying was one of his wives. Zhou Botong, the “Old Kid”, visited Dali with Wang Chongyang. Ying had an affair with Zhou Botong and gave birth to an illegitimate son.
Before the second Sword Contest on Mount Hua, Qiu Qianren injured the baby with his Iron Fist Art, trying to drain Yideng’s energy by forcing him to cure the baby. That way, Yideng wouldn’t have the energy to compete with him for the Nine Yin Sutra.
However, out of jealousy, the king didn’t do it, which led to the baby’s death. The regret made the king convert to Buddhism, and later on, he became Reverend Yideng.
Distraught, Ying was almost driven mad by the fact that she could neither kill Qiu Qianren nor find Zhou Botong. She had been living in the Black Dragon Swamp ever since.
Because of that, Qiu Qianren, who was now the monk Cien, wanted to beg for Aunt Ying’s forgiveness before his death. Reverend Yideng brought him here eight days ago and had been making the request every single day, but Aunt Ying just wouldn’t show up.
That was until today when Ji Ye made so much noise that she was forced to come out.
“What? He’s Qiu Qianren… Hmph! I’ll never forgive him!”
After being told why the two monks were here, Aunt Ying naturally refused the request.
She wouldn’t kill him herself, for she wanted him to die in regret.
“Senior Ying, I don’t know about your old grudges, but Reverend Cien is about to pass away, and I hate the idea of seeing him die with regret. I’m sorry, but I have to meddle.”
Ji Ye had heard the story from Elder Meng.
Following Elder Meng’s instruction, he decided to step up and be the “bad guy”.
“You…”
Aunt Ying’s face turned livid after hearing Ji Ye’s words.
After the scene he created in the Black Dragon Swamp, and the fact that Ji Ye was able to catch the fox, Aunt Ying already knew that she wasn’t going to be Ji Ye’s match.
Not only did the young man force her to come out, but he had also taken her enemy’s side!
An idea seemed to have struck her. She sat down on the ground and started crying.
“You couldn’t beg me to come out, so you forced me. And now, you’re making me give up my hatred, but you said nothing about that man, who won’t see me.”
As it turned out, Aunt Ying had lived in seclusion here in the Black Dragon Swamp for Zhou Botong, the Old Kid, who resided about 50 km away.
However, Zhou Botong still felt guilty for what he had done back then and wouldn’t see her no matter what.
Forced by Ji Ye, Aunt Ying was filled with sorrow, so she yelled at the three men.
“Fine! If you bring that man to me and let him talk to me, I’ll forgive this man!”
That made things a lot easier.
“Argh! Do you mean the Old Kid? He and I get along very well. I’ll go get him!”
Yang Guo knew Zhou Botong, so he immediately agreed.
“I’m known as Aunt Ying, and you have to make that clear to him before bringing him to me. Otherwise, he’ll run away as soon as he sees me, and I’ll never find him again. I’ll forgive Qiu Qianren as long as he comes!”
She then blushed and let Reverend Yideng tell the others about their past.
“The Hundred Flowers Valley is 50 km away, and the round trip will take us half a day. I know a thing or two about medicine, so how about I treat Reverend Cien first, so that he’ll be strong enough for us to come back with Senior Zhou?”
Ji Ye made the suggestion to Reverend Yideng before he set off with Yang Guo.
“Well…”
Yideng looked from Qiu Qianren, who was barely breathing, to Aunt Ying, and hesitated.
“Master Ji is an excellent doctor! One of the masters of the Manor of Beasts was injured, and the fox’s blood is the only thing that could cure him. But Master Ji has stabilized him with little effort.”
Yang Guo added.
“Hmph! Do whatever you want! If you can bring him to me, I can give you both foxes.
“But if you can’t, even if you cure this man now, I’m still going to kill him later!”
Aunt Ying now understood why the young man wanted to catch her fox, so she snorted and said those words.
“Amitabha. Thank you, Mr. Ji.”
Hearing that, Reverend Yideng nodded.
Of course, he didn’t have much hope in what Ji Ye had promised.
Because he was an excellent doctor himself, and his Congenital Power and Yiyang Finger had made him the most capable master in curing internal injuries. However, there was nothing he could do to help Qiu Qianren.
But since Ji Ye wanted to help, it would be impolite to say no.
“…”
Qiu Qianren was hanging on his last breath and didn’t react to Ji Ye’s help at all.
Finally, while the others watched curiously, healing white light rose from Ji Ye’s hand and covered Cien.
About a minute later, Ji Ye said, “I’m afraid that Reverend Cien’s injury is simply too severe, and he’s determined to die. I can only stabilize him for a few hours.
“Brother Yang, let’s hurry up. We better bring Senior Zhou back before sundown!”
After that, Ji Ye shook his head at Aunt Ying, feigning a look of resignation.
What happened next wasn’t worth much mentioning. Following Aunt Ying’s instruction, Ji Ye and Yang Guo found Zhou Botong, the Old Kid, who had been living away from the crowd in the Hundred Flowers Valley.
Because of Yang Guo, Zhou Botong didn’t turn them away.
“No, I’m not going!”
However, Zhou Botong still felt sorry for what he did to Lord Duan and was too ashamed to see Aunt Ying.
No matter what Yang Guo said, he just wouldn’t go.
“What? I had a son?!”
He cried out after Ji Ye told him about the baby Aunt Ying had.
The Old Kid was probably the character with the most innocent heart in the book, so he was struck by the news and filled with complicated feelings.
After that, when he heard the hardship Aunt Ying had gone through during the past decades, he couldn’t help but go back to the Black Dragon Swamp with the other two.
“You… you’ve finally agreed to see me!”
Aunt Ying was over the moon to see that they had brought Zhou Botong back.
“So, my boy took after me… What a pity. He’s gone…”
The conversation later was filled with sorrow and happiness.
“Lord Duan, I stole your wife, and you wouldn’t save my son. I’ll say that we’re even. The past is in the past!”
Zhou Botong told Reverend Yideng after that.
“This is the killer of your son. You can kill him now!”
Reverend Yideng was well-versed in Buddhist scriptures, and he was ready to accept the fact, so he gestured at Qiu Qianren.
“Ying, you do it!”
Zhou Botong shook his head and told Aunt Ying.
“If it weren’t for him, I may never meet him again in this lifetime. Plus, we can’t bring the dead ones back. Let’s just forget what happened in the past.”
Aunt Ying heaved a sigh.
“Sure. If you say so, we’ll forgive him!”
The Old Kid nodded.
“Thank you so much.”
Qiu Qianren was indeed very severely injured.
His life was hanging on his last streak of True Qi.
Right now, he was finally relieved when he heard that both Zhou Botong and Aunt Ying would forgive him for killing their son.
“Master, thank you for making this happen!”
He told Reverend Yideng.
He then closed his eyes and let the True Qi dissipate. He was ready to die.
However…
“Huh?”
After that, he found his injury greatly relieved.
He should have died right away.
However, the moment never came.
That was awkward…