Chapter 143 – 128 Qiankun
Outside Yu City.
Within a patch of desolate woods, Chen Mu followed his memories, weaving his way through. After passing the familiar Mass Burial Mound, he reached a slightly more even area within the forest.
His gaze swept across the surroundings, looking over each low grave until he quickly found a relatively newer grave hill.
That was the grave of his father, as well as his mother, Liu Ping.
Originally, the two graves were not located together. When Liu Ping was buried, Chen Mu’s father, who was then a Prefecture Chief, made proper arrangements. By the time Chen Mu’s father passed away, the burial was done rather hastily.
It was not until Chen Mu became the Prefecture Chief of Wutong Grove District that he finally found some time to relocate and bury both in the same place and erected a stele in his name.
Although he came into this world after both had passed away and, in a sense, he didn’t feel the parental affection for either, having only memories, he was living as Chen Mu, and thus inevitably had to face the consequences.
Chen Mu brought along wine and water.
He walked up to the new grave and paid his respects.
Xu Hongyu followed by his side throughout and, after everything was done, she looked at the grave and whispered softly, “You’ve changed so much since those days. Do you want to move them to a better place later on?”
Chen Mu shook his head and sighed lightly, “Let’s leave it as is; there’s no need to disturb them further.”
In today’s chaotic world, what was the point in refurbishing a tomb? It might even attract grave robbers. It was better to leave the graves here undisturbed, especially since the two were already buried together.
Xu Hongyu nodded gently and followed Chen Mu out of the woods.
Looking not far away, they could see the towering walls of Yu City. Standing rooted to the spot and looking up, Chen Mu felt rather contemplative. In the past, when he carried bodies in and out of Yu City as a Prefecture Chief, he only marveled at the height of the walls, which almost surpassed that of some old Imperial Cities he saw in his previous life.
Now, looking at the towering walls once more, they no longer gave him a sense of awe.
Little Lotus and a group of people were waiting outside. Seeing that Chen Mu and Xu Hongyu had come out, they all followed along. The group soon entered the city through the southern gate and went straight into the Inner City.
They arrived at the Yu Family residence.
Chen Mu and Xu Hongyu parted ways for the time being, with Xu Hongyu going to the main family compound in the east, whereas Chen Mu headed north and soon returned to the small courtyard where he had previously lived.
The servants along the way seemed to have already heard about his deeds in safeguarding Yu County, and their gazes towards him were even more respectful.
“Brother is back.”
In the yard, Chen Yue was practicing swordsmanship. Suddenly, seeing Chen Mu walking in, her face lit up with joy. The sword in her hand was put away, and she ran towards Chen Mu.
With a faint smile, Chen Mu was about to say something when he saw Chen Yue suddenly leap onto him, clinging to him as she did when she was younger. Only now, she was a full-grown girl and it was somewhat awkward, especially since she hadn’t done this for the past two years.
“A young lady ought to be more composed,” Chen Mu admonished as he let her down with slight irritation.
Chen Yue grinned and said, “No one will see us here anyhow… Oh, by the way, I’ve entered the Body Refinement Realm.”
“Hmm, good,” Chen Mu nodded slightly, which explained why she felt more solid when she threw herself at him just now.
It took her just over two years to progress from Skin Toughening to Body Refinement, which was relatively fast among many martial artists. After all, she was at the Yu Family Martial Arts Institute where resources were plentiful. Moreover, she was his sister and regularly used some precious tonics and medicines.
If she could perfect the First Realm of Body Refinement within two years and then enter the Tendon Changing Realm within another year, her progress would be comparable to Xu Hongyu’s – except her swordsmanship lagged far behind.
After all, Chen Yue, who began Body Refining Techniques around the age of fifteen—much like other children from prominent families—couldn’t match Xu Hongyu, who had been practicing swordsmanship from a much younger age and only started Body Refining alongside it.
“You didn’t get into any trouble while I was away, did you?” Chen Mu asked as he walked into the house, glancing at Chen Yue.
Chen Yue blinked and said, “Well… I made Yu Yun cry a while ago.”
Chen Mu quickly remembered who Yu Yun was, shook his head with a chuckle; he knew Chen Yue was not the type to cause trouble. Even though she had grown up and became livelier than before, like him, she had a solid sense of what was important. Having experienced hardship, she knew the value of even a single grain of rice.
His question was mostly to check whether Chen Yue was being bullied at the Yu Family’s residence. It seemed she was doing fine, so he didn’t need to worry much. Besides, after this incident, it was unlikely anyone at the Yu family would dare to bully Chen Yue again.
After catching up on what had happened during his absence from the Inner City,
Little Lotus came to the courtyard.
“Sister Ning.”
Chen Yue ran out of the room excitedly and greeted Little Lotus. When Chen Mu initially brought her to the Yu Family, she knew no one and was led by Little Lotus, who introduced her to Yu Ru and had been taking care of her ever since.
Little Lotus cupped Chen Yue’s cheeks in her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze, then she looked at Chen Mu and nodded slightly, “The family head invites you.”
“Yue’er, I’m going over there for a bit,” Chen Mu said calmly to Chen Yue, and then he followed Little Lotus out of the courtyard.
On the way, Chen Mu inquired about Xu Hongyu and learned that she had already left the Yu Family residence and gone to the Demon-Slaying Office to tally her merits, which essentially meant she was going to exchange them for Bone Tempering Pills while Yu County was still relatively stable.