Chapter 43 Luobei-Searching for Relatives
Luo Bei thought for a moment, but in the end he couldn't stand the obsession in his heart and sighed:
"Master Ghost Messenger, is everything you said true? Can you really help me fulfill my last wish?"
Ye Jie nodded: "I will help you, but it's not free. It will cost you the Yin De. Once you have no Yin De, you can only be reborn in an inferior state..."
Ye Jie told Luo Bei about the matters related to reincarnation. Luo Bei fell silent after listening. After a while, he said: "Two thousand Yin De, that is all I have. I wonder if these Yin De can make the ghost messenger help me find my child and my husband. I want to know if they are safe..."
"That's enough. Do you still remember where you lived before?" Ye Jie asked.
Luo Bei nodded and replied, "I lived in a small town at the foot of Hengshan Mountain. My husband and I lived in harmony and had a happy family. But since that day, everything ended. My child had just been born, and they wanted to take him away. I refused to give him, and in the end, he was beaten to death..."
Ye Jie was stunned. "Hengshan? Heng as in horizontal and vertical? Could it be that the one who snatched your child was the Hengshan bandit who robbed babies and committed countless evil deeds?"
Luo Bei frowned. "Who is the Hengshan Bandit? I've lived at the foot of Hengshan for so many years and have never heard of that person."
Ye Jie deduced, "The rise of the Hengshan Bandit must have occurred after your death. I heard that the Hengshan Bandit plundered babies from all over the country as he made his way south, killing countless people along the way. So, it seems your death must be related to the Hengshan Bandit."
"Compared to my death, I care more about my children and my husband Jiang Xin. Are they safe? Or are they the same as me..." Luo Bei said in a trembling voice.
Ye Jie was silent for a while before he said, "If they are still alive, I will help you find them."
Luo Bei wiped her tears silently. The strong resentment at the time of death once turned her into a ghost, but the longing in her heart could not be erased no matter what.
Returning to the clinic with Luo Bei, Ye Jie saw Hua Xiaomei and Fuling who were recuperating there, as well as Nan Linghe who was taking care of them.
"If you ask me, this is how the Xuanying Step should be practiced. Nan Linghe, try to speed up your pace, the faster the better. Don't worry about where each step lands, just focus on landing quickly. As long as your speed is fast, you will naturally master the Xuanying Step." On the hospital bed, Hua Xiaomei was flipping through the classics while guiding Nan Linghe to learn the exercises.
Fuling waved her folding fan. "That's definitely not how you practice. Every step of the Xuanying Step must be timed perfectly. What's the point of blindly pursuing speed? Don't listen to her anymore."
After being taught by the two, Nan Linghe felt a little dizzy, and his steps became more and more unsteady and disordered, and finally he fell to the ground with a cry.
After getting up, Nan Linghe muttered a few words, but then he saw a familiar figure and immediately said with a smile: "Brother Jie, you're back."
Ye Jie patted the dust behind her and said, "Yes, I'm back. Are you practicing the Xuanying Step?"
Nan Linghe nodded like a chick pecking at rice. "Mysterious Shadow Step is incredibly difficult. We've been researching the secrets of cultivation together, trying to figure out how to get started, but we can't come up with anything. Even the lower-grade Earth-level techniques are so difficult, how can we possibly master the higher-grade techniques?"
Ye Jie smiled and pointed behind him: "Don't worry, the lower-grade earth-level skills are obscure and difficult to understand. Often, even after years of study, there is no progress. You are still young, so practice slowly. But before that, there is something I need your help with."
Following Ye Jie's direction, Nan Linghe also saw the pale wandering soul following behind him, and subconsciously opened his mouth wide: "She, she is the evil spirit from before..."
"Oh? Has she regained consciousness?" Upon hearing this, Hua Xiaomei sat up and looked around.
"Thanks to Sister Lan's help, I was able to clear her heart of resentment." Ye Jie nodded and looked at Nan Linghe. "Her name is Luo Bei. She did good deeds in her life, but died unjustly. Now her last wish is to find her lost children and husband. Are you willing to help her?"
"Of course I do!" Nan Linghe agreed without hesitation.
When they returned home, Lucy was still writing and drawing on the sand table. The area against the wall was full of miscellaneous items. Ye Jie scratched his head. He remembered that the place was empty not long ago.
Nan Linghe explained: "Sister Mei asked me to move those here."
"She has quite a lot of furniture." Ye Jie commented. Unlike him who used to make the world his home, Hua Xiaomei moved quite a lot of things. There were five or six boxes alone. Did she move all her belongings here?
Arriving in front of the map, Nan Linghe picked up the bow and arrow, and looked at Ye Jie expectantly, which made Ye Jie a little confused. He asked, "What are you doing?"
Nan Linghe puffed out his lips, raised his hands and placed them in front of his eyes.
Ye Jie immediately understood what she meant and rubbed his hands together. A black mist appeared from his palms and covered her eyes. The black mist enveloped her eyes and she could not see anything.
"Okay, is this okay now? Whether her last wish can be fulfilled depends on you." Ye Jie said with a smile.
Nan Linghe drew her bow and arrow. After many training sessions, her aim was obviously much more stable. Her back was straight and her steps were steady. At first glance, she looked really good.
The arrow flew out of his hand and accurately hit a corner of the map. Looking at the location shown on the map, Ye Jie was stunned: "Wait... Isn't this the dilapidated temple where Xia Wei stayed overnight? It's only ten miles away from Qingshi Town. Could it be..."
Ye Jie took a deep breath and removed the cloud covering Nan Linghe's eyes, allowing her to continue taking care of the two injured people. Then he took out the Shrinking Stone and the Qingming Branch, and went to the ruined temple shown on the map with Luo Bei.
Soon, Ye Jie returned to his old place. The smoke-stained rabbit hole on the hillside not far away was still clearly visible. However, this time, the situation was very different. The ruined temple was surrounded by a bustling crowd, and tents were set up all over the open space. It looked like a campsite, with a bonfire burning in the center of the campsite.
"Oh no... It's the bandits from Hengshan. They've already arrived here. At this rate, they'll attack Qingshi Town within a day!"
Ye Jie was shocked. Time was running out for Xia Wei. With her current strength, facing a late-stage third-order Hengshan bandit, she would be doomed. Nan Linghe's seemingly random arrow also sounded a wake-up call for Ye Jie.
"Master Ghost Messenger, where is this? And who are they..." Luo Bei looked around, looking confused.
Ye Jie gestured for her to relax: "Don't worry, you are a spirit body now, they can't see you."
Suddenly, a baby's cry was heard in the distance. Ye Jie looked closely and saw a large tent at the back of the camp that was spacious enough to accommodate hundreds of people. The crying sound came from there.
"Follow me." Ye Jie's expression brightened up, and he waved to Luo Bei again, sneaking towards the large tent.
Luo Bei walked and watched, waving to a passing bandit, muttering something, but no one could see her, and no one could hear her voice. After a while, she finally accepted this reality and hurriedly followed Ye Jie.
The cries of babies from the front grew louder, one above the other, rising and falling. I opened the curtains and stepped into the tent. The temperature suddenly rose. The icy wind was gone, replaced by a warm kang. Rows of swaddled babies lay on the kang, tended by a handful of women.
"here it is……"
Ye Jie was stunned. After a rough count, he found that there were at least a hundred babies here. The scene was extremely spectacular. Whenever a baby started crying loudly, the babies around him would also start crying. At this time, the woman would take the crying baby away, feed him some medicine, and then send him back. The baby would have fallen into a deep sleep.
Looking around, Luo Bei's expression lit up with joy, and he hurriedly asked, "Could it be that my two children are here too? But... there are so many babies here, and none of them have brand names on them. Which one is my child?"
Ye Jie said, "Don't worry. With the help of the Book of Life and Death, I can find out the name of each baby. It won't take much time. What are your children's names?"
Luo Bei quickly replied: "My children, their names are..."
Before she finished speaking, her expression suddenly changed. She looked down and saw that the dark soul-binding rope had wrapped around her body. Not only her, but Ye Jie who was standing beside her was also bound by the soul-binding rope.
With a burst of huge force, the two men were dragged out of the tent uncontrollably and thrown out like broken sacks, knocking over the neatly arranged weapons racks on the roadside, causing nearby soldiers to exclaim in surprise.
"Hmph, I was wondering who would dare sneak into my territory at a time like this. Turns out it's you, this lazy ghost messenger! Are you tired of living?"
After getting up from the ground, Ye Jie rubbed his back which was sore from the collision, and a cold snort sounded in his ears.
A tall and burly demon ghost stood in front of him, looking down at him condescendingly. The demon ghost was red all over, with a single horn on its head. Its muscles were bulging all over its body. It was more than ten feet tall, like a small mountain rising from the ground, making Ye Jie completely breathless.
Whether it was the soldiers who ran over to organize the weapons racks, or the women who came out of the tent to check after hearing the noise, they all ignored the red demon and Ye Jie, as if they did not exist at all.
"Ghost Chai Ba! Why are you here?" Ye Jie said with an ugly look.
"Hmph! Why am I here? I wanted to ask you something! Everyone in the Guangwang Palace knows that I have reserved the soul of the Hengshan thief. All the credit and glory belong to me. Do you want to snatch it from me? Ask my fist first!" Guichaba looked at Ye Jie with contempt, and made a gesture to beat Ye Jie away.
"Wait..." Ye Jie hurriedly explained, "I'm not here to steal your credit. I'm here to look for someone. Her name is Luo Bei, and her child..."
"Hmph, shut up! I don't care what you're doing here. This is my territory. If you don't want to be torn to pieces, get out of here!"
Ghost Messenger Ba roared angrily, grabbed Ye Jie from the ground with his big hand, and threw him far out of the camp. He flew in the air for a long distance before landing. He looked at Luo Bei with an unfriendly look: "Hmph, do you want to leave by yourself, or do you want me to send you away?"
Luo Bei shrank his neck and ran out of the camp. It took him a while to find Ye Jie lying in the snow pit by following the direction he was thrown.
"Master Ghost Messenger, what should we do now..." Luo Bei asked in a trembling voice after helping Ye Jie up.
Ye Jie rubbed his aching body. "What else can I do? Not to mention you now, even if you were still holding a grudge, with your strength at the early stage of the third stage, you would be blown to pieces by Ghost Messenger Ba with one punch. Using force won't work no matter what. As long as Ghost Messenger Ba is still guarding here, you won't be able to see the child..."
Hearing this, Luo Bei's expression was filled with sorrow. The hope that had been stirred up in his heart with great difficulty was now shattered. He sobbed, "My child... wuwu..."
Ye Jie couldn't bear to see her crying so hard and comforted her, "Don't worry, the Ghost Messenger Tyrant is guarding here because it's eyeing the soul of the Hengshan Bandit. Once the Hengshan Bandit dies, it will have no reason to stay here. You will still have a chance to see the child then. Besides, in a few days, it will be the day of the Ghost Messenger Fengyun Festival. It will definitely not miss this event. That will be your chance."
With Ye Jie's comfort, Luo Bei's expression improved. He trembled and said, "Really? I still have a chance to see the child..."
Ye Jie nodded, took out the soul-summoning banner, and said, "Until then, all you have to do is wait patiently. Do you want to stay in the underworld, or in the soul-summoning banner? The underworld is absolutely safe, and you don't have to worry about anything. In the soul-summoning banner, you don't have freedom, but you can get the news first."
Luo Bei answered without hesitation: "I am willing to stay in the soul-calling banner, just to see my child sooner..."
After the soul-calling banner was opened, Luo Bei turned into a gray-white mist and drilled into it, disappearing without a trace.
Ye Jie put away the magic weapon and looked back at the camp in front of the ruined temple. He was very anxious. He took out the black stone and hit the ground. He moved away and came to the lightning-filled Thunder Lake. He soon saw Xia Wei who was practicing there.
Xia Wei stood in front of the steep rock wall, her eyes sharp, her brows furrowed, and she let out a soft cry from time to time, while her fists slammed on the solid rock wall like hammers.
The rock wall had experienced the baptism of time and the bombardment of thunder and lightning, and had long become extremely hard. However, under Xia Wei's repeated bombardment, it was still shattered into pieces. Her fists left deep fist marks on the rock wall, and the entire rock wall was shaken by her.
"Xia Wei."
Hearing the call of her master, Xia Wei took a deep breath and threw a final punch. This punch gathered all the strength contained in her limbs and bones, and even her mind was thoroughly immersed in it, bringing up a fierce punch wind like a thunderclap.
With one punch, the earth shook and the mountains trembled. Her entire arm seemed to have penetrated into the mountain wall. The broken cracks spread two feet high above the mountain wall. The punch was so powerful that even Ye Jie couldn't help but secretly smack his lips in amazement.
After retracting her fist, Xia Wei ran to her master with a look of joy on her face, and said on tiptoe, "Master, I've made a breakthrough in my Turtle Hand. I'm ready to challenge the Shrimp-Headed Man!"
There were still some undried blood stains on the back of Xia Wei's hand, especially on the finger bones, where a thick layer of blood scabs had formed. However, under the repair of the Hundred Refining Body, it soon became as white as usual.
Seeing Xia Wei's determination to fight, Ye Jie praised her, "A mastered Turtle Hand can unleash the strength of three oxen and three horses when exercising. A mid-stage third-order Humane cultivator can possess the strength of five oxen and five horses at any given moment. Adding your innate magical powers and the encouragement of Magnolia's music, your power on paper is not inferior to that of the Shrimp Head Man..."
Xia Wei's face lit up with joy as she urged, "Then what are we waiting for? Master, let's go and avenge Brother Qi Feng now!"