My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting-Chapter 653 - Unrivaled in the World, A Friend’s Grave in the Cold Earth - Part 1

Chapter 653 - Unrivaled in the World, A Friend’s Grave in the Cold Earth - Part 1

The wheels clattered as the cart jolted over the yellow clay road. Inside the carriage, sixteen children were crammed together, six boys and ten girls.

Some of the girls were crying softly. Others rubbed their eyes while mumbling for their mothers or older brothers.

It was clear enough. In this world, boys were far more valuable than girls. If a family had both, the daughter would often be the one cast out, sent away to become a so-called immortal offering child. And if there weren’t such a fate waiting, then in harder times, the girl would still be sold off. That was what human traffickers were for. Where those girls ended up? No one liked to talk about it.

That was why there were more girls than boys in the cart.

Li Yuan sat quietly, watching one of the crying girls beside him.

She looked about nine years old, small and thin like a squirrel, her skin sallow and waxy. Her sobs were full of heartbreak.

Li Yuan gave her a nudge. When she turned toward him in surprise, he pulled a funny face.

The girl blinked. Her crying stopped immediately as she stared at him, bewildered.

“My name’s Li Yu.” He grinned.

Just a few simple words, but somehow they wrapped the girl in a fragile sense of comfort.

She wiped her eyes and said, “I’m Xiao Zhen.”

Li Yuan gently soothed her, then started chatting idly. Where they were from, who was in their families, how they ended up in this cart.

As it turned out, most of the children came from the villages around Herderton. Xiao Zhen was from the same fishing village as Li Yuan, though her home was farther out. They hadn’t really met before.

“You’re...you’re that boy Uncle Hei Niu adopted, right?” Xiao Zhen finally recognized him, though she hesitated over the word “boy,” as if unsure it fit.

Li Yuan nodded. “Yeah. Uncle Hei Niu and Auntie Wu Niang are good people.”

“My dad said Uncle Hei Niu is amazing at fishing. He said you’re pretty capable too. Still so young, and already helping him sell fish in town,” Xiao Zhen added. Then she went on, studying him with wide eyes. “I always thought we were about the same age. But you seem so much older now, like a real big brother.”

She paused, then asked, “But...why aren’t you sad at all?”

“The road is long, and we’re always moving forward. Instead of stopping to cry, it’s better to take in the view,” Li Yuan said,

Xiao Zhen didn’t quite understand what he meant. She tilted her head. “Big Brother, you can read and write?”

Li Yuan looked at the scrawny little girl and smiled gently. He chatted with her some more, though his mind drifted a bit.

That couple had truly treated him well.

Before leaving, he’d left them a generous amount of gold and silver, enough for Hei Niu and Wu Niang to live out their days in comfort.

He could still remember the scene when Wu Niang first found him, standing in the reeds, asking softly, “Whose child are you?”

He remembered how she took his hand and led him home, her voice warm and gentle: “From now on, you’ll live with us.”

He remembered too how Hei Niu and Wu Niang once took him along to Herderton to sell fish. How Hei Niu brought him to the local magistrate’s office to get him officially registered, bowing and nodding through the process with humble deference. Night had fallen by the time they were done, and the three of them squeezed onto one narrow bed, huddled together like a real family.

After that, he lived with them peacefully. Life was simple, but they were kind, and they treated him well.

And yet...he didn’t feel any longing for it now.

His heart had long since quieted.

Sitting in this cold, dark prison wagon, he didn’t feel troubled at all. To roam freely between heaven and earth. To come and go without clinging. To let peace dwell in the heart.

Even in a prison cart, it was as if he were resting in a land of luxury, or sitting beneath a clear sky and bright moon.

That calm of his began to settle over the other children too.

And with his sturdy build and quiet presence, the others gradually began to take him as their anchor.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A month passed.

The sound of weeping had faded from the carriage.

The children had all paired off, sitting in small clusters, whispering among themselves or staring blankly out of the small window set into the wooden wall.

Xiao Zhen and a boy named Xiao Hu now sat on either side of Li Yuan, chattering away nonstop.

Xiao Zhen was recounting stories of chopping firewood for her family, mostly as a way to complain about her hard life.

Xiao Hu was bragging about swimming in the lake, laying it on thick with a smug attitude.

Xiao Zhen called him a liar. “That lake’s full of poisonous fish!”

Xiao Hu flushed red, but doubled down. “Not where I swim!”

“Yes it is,” Xiao Zhen insisted.

“So what if there are poisonous fish?” Xiao Hu shot back. “Only cowards are afraid to swim!”

Xiao Zhen stuck out her tongue. “Liar! Liar! No shame!”

“I’m not lying!” Xiao Hu yelled, fuming.

The two bickered across Li Yuan, looking like they’d start throwing punches if he weren’t sitting between them.

Then suddenly, Li Yuan’s expression changed. His arms moved like a gust of wind as he stretched them out, hands landing on each of their heads, pulling them toward him as he shouted, “Cover your heads!”

Xiao Zhen and Xiao Hu froze in confusion, but before they could ask what was happening, the entire world turned upside down.

They were flying. The carriage had launched into the air. That sharp, gut-dropping sensation of weightlessness struck like a hammer, and their hearts thundered in panic.

“Ahhh!!”

“AAAAHH!!”

The children screamed instinctively.

Outside, the horses pulling the wagon neighed in terror.

And then, a violent crash. The impact slammed through the carriage like a tidal wave. A deafening boom shook the earth. Children were thrown in every direction, tumbling and rolling, heads knocking against wood and against each other. Some were left bloodied.

Those who had followed Li Yuan’s shout and shielded their heads fared a little better.

As for Xiao Zhen and Xiao Hu, Li Yuan had pulled them close just in time. The two were entirely unscathed, though they sat frozen, stunned speechless by what had just happened.

They turned to look at Li Yuan and saw that he was calm as ever.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan was already turning his gaze toward the front of the carriage.

From outside came the unmistakable clash of steel, the chaos of battle.

And mixed within it, angry voices shouting curses.

“Damn that dog emperor!”

“Depose the tyrant!”

“Die, you bastards!”

The fighting lasted for about the time it takes half a stick of incense to burn.

Then the carriage door was yanked open by a burly man with a face full of scars and a head like a boulder. He scratched his head when he saw the children inside staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

Before the big man could say a word, a woman in green shoved him aside. She was striking, lively eyes, bright clothes, and a sharpness to her that said she didn’t take nonsense from anyone.

Clapping her hands, she flashed a cheerful smile. “Don’t be scared. We’re here to rescue you. That bastard emperor wasn’t planning to turn you into some immortal attendants. He was going to toss you into a furnace to be refined into pills.”

The children's faces went white as sheets. Not one of them dared make a sound.

The green-clad woman’s eyes swept over the group. “We’re with the rebel army of Skyscale Mountain. We’re taking you somewhere safe.”

Then her gaze stopped abruptly and locked onto Li Yuan.

He stuck out like a sore thumb among the other kids, so of course, her scan ended with him.

“You...” she started.

“I’m nine,” Li Yuan answered, calm as ever.

Xiao Zhen, sitting beside him, quickly chimed in, “We’re from the same village! Big Brother really is nine!”

Xiao Hu nodded furiously in agreement.

The woman hesitated for a second. A child trafficker wouldn’t bother taking someone who wasn’t a real boy, after all, so nine seemed plausible. Still, she couldn’t hide her surprise. “You’re built like that at nine? Have you trained in martial arts or something?”

Before he could reply, someone outside shouted, “Guo Qin! We can’t stay here! Move!”

The woman, Guo Qin, turned back with a reassuring smile. “Don’t be afraid.”

Then she shut the carriage door again.

Moments later, the carriage was hoisted back up, hitched to a new team of horses, and turned off the road in a new direction.

Li Yuan let out a sigh. He wasn’t in any particular rush. He’d lived long enough not to be bothered by a few bumps along the road.

But piecing together what he’d heard from Guo Qin and what he’d picked up over the years selling fish, he now had a fairly clear idea of what sort of emperor this Ying Mo really was.

Just over 50 years, and the great Ying Clan had already been reduced to this?

The world that Zhen’er and Ying An had spent their whole lives trying to rebuild, was it really so fragile that one generation of fools could waste it all?

A chill stirred in Li Yuan’s chest.

Because if this emperor really was of Ying An’s bloodline, then he too carried Li Yuan’s blood in his veins.

Now that there was a rebel army in motion, Li Yuan figured he might as well take a closer look.

For one, where there was rebellion, there would be fighting, and that meant a higher chance of encountering the supernatural.

And for another, the rebels probably knew more about what was really going on in this world.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A few days later.

On the summit of Skyscale Mountain, banners flapped in the wind as the 86 children Guo Qin and her group rescued stood in neat rows beneath the flags.

“If you want to stay, you can stay,” a swordsman in a blue headscarf said, standing before them. “But let’s be clear, staying doesn’t mean lounging around. You’ll work. If you want to leave, we’ll get you to the nearest town and try to find you a caravan heading home. After that, you’re on your own.”

The children stood still, dazed and uncertain.

But none of them chose to leave.

Even the dullest among them knew there was no going back.

The swordsman in the blue headscarf glanced over the silent crowd of children and gave a satisfied nod.

“Good.” Then he added, “Since no one objects, you’ll all stay. For the first six months, you’ll work the fields in the village. After that, we’ll test your aptitude for martial arts. If you’ve got potential, you’ll get the chance to train.”

At his signal, a few soldiers stepped forward to lead the children away toward the back of the mountain.

There, two ox-drawn carts stood waiting to carry them deep into the mountains, to a remote village that served as the rear base of the Tianheng rebel army.

Xiao Zhen and Xiao Hu followed behind Li Yuan, timid and nervous but with a glimmer of uncertain hope in their eyes.

They had always suspected that this immortal child business was a lie. Now, not only had they escaped with their lives, but they were being given a chance, however modest, to survive and start over. That, in itself, was more than they’d dared hope for.

And more than that, along this harrowing road, they had found a friend. They weren’t alone anymore.

But then, just a few steps in, Li Yuan stopped.

He turned to the blue-headscarfed swordsman and said, “I’ve had some martial training.”

The swordsman gave him a cursory glance, then simply jerked his chin toward something off to the side.

Li Yuan followed the gesture and saw a crude weapons rack, just a few standard-issue blades and swords resting on it.

“Come at me,” the man said casually.

Li Yuan didn’t waste time.

Back in the village, he’d had no reason to show what he was capable of. Power without a place only brought trouble. But here, in the rebel army, he was now one of them. That changed the equation.

His heart was calm, his mind at peace. He would go where the wind blew.

If wearing this rebel badge gave him a chance to explore the world as it was now, maybe even stir up whatever forces lurked behind the curtain, well, that was worth a try.

With that thought, he reached for a sword. His hand closed smoothly around the hilt. With a flick of his wrist, the scabbard slipped free. He strode toward the blue-scarfed swordsman without hesitation.

The nearby rebel soldiers, and even some of the children who hadn’t yet left, turned to watch, surprised by the sudden spectacle.

Xiao Zhen and Xiao Hu stared at Li Yuan, worried.

A rebel soldier called out, “Old Wang, go easy! He’s still a kid!” 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The swordsman, apparently named Old Wang, found the whole thing a little funny himself. He smiled as he looked at the boy walking toward him, just about to make a teasing remark, when suddenly something in him seized up.

It wasn’t the aura of a feral beast. It wasn’t flashy footwork or dazzling moves.

But something in the way this boy approached sparked a deep, inexplicable sense of reverence in Old Wang’s chest, an instinctive awareness that he stood before something vast, unknowable.

Li Yuan stopped in front of him and raised his eyes.

Old Wang flinched. Without thinking, he drew his sword and lunged first, striking like a spring-loaded trap.

A rebel shouted, “Old Wang! What the hell? You’re attacking first?”

Even as the words left his mouth, the clash of steel rang out.

A sharp metallic klang split the air.

Old Wang’s sword flew from his hands, spinning through the air in wild circles before landing blade-first in the dirt.

He stared at the boy in horror.

Li Yuan calmly brought his hands together in salute and said, “Thank you for the match.”

The blue-headscarfed swordsman swallowed hard. After a long pause, he finally lifted his hand in return and said, “Thank you for the match.”

Silence fell across the courtyard. The outcome had caught everyone completely off guard.

And then, from the distance, came a booming voice.

“Well done!”

A man burst through the crowd in a blur, moving with such speed that one blink and he was already standing front and center.

He had a thick, bristling beard and eyes that gleamed with sharpness, radiating a fierce energy. His gaze locked onto Li Yuan. “Kid, who taught you?”

The blue-scarfed swordsman quickly stepped aside, bowing slightly. “Vice-Leader!”

The bearded man, clearly someone of high rank, waved him off without a glance and focused entirely on Li Yuan. His eyes burned with curiosity and excitement. “Let’s have a go.”

Li Yuan nodded.

The two stepped apart, taking their positions.