No demons in all realms

Chapter 19 Money 9 Days

The inn was quiet for a while, then there were whispers.

"Who is this Qian Jiuri? How can he be so arrogant?"

"He said he was from the Immortal Sect, so he's probably a disciple of a prestigious sect."

"That blind scholar is really something, he's already in such a state, why does he still meddle in other people's business..."

Su Yang stood still, his hand still in the same position as when he had reached out to stop him.

He slowly lowered his hand.

The waitress had appeared beside him at some point, her voice still trembling slightly: "Sir, are you... are you alright?"

"It's nothing." Su Yang's voice was calm, revealing no emotion.

That bully is dead. That man named Qian Jiuri killed someone, and it seems that not a single word of his reasoning was heeded.

What kind of situation is this? Su Yang couldn't explain it either.

He found his way back to his seat, sat down, and finished the rest of the noodles. The noodles were cold and clumped together, but he still ate them bite by bite, even drinking the soup clean.

"Sir, how about I waive your room fee?" the woman said softly. "Thank you so much for earlier."

Su Yang shook his head: "You don't need to thank me, I didn't accomplish anything."

"At least you tried to help me," the woman said softly. "You're better than those who just watch and don't say anything."

Su Yang was silent for a moment, then asked, "Are you a local?"

"Yes, I live in this town."

"How come a woman like you is working as a waitress in an inn?"

The woman gave a bitter smile: "My family is poor, my parents died early, and I don't have any skills. I'm lucky if I can find any work. The shopkeeper took pity on me and took me in to help out here. He provides food and lodging and pays me a few copper coins a month."

Su Yang felt uneasy listening to this.

Another student from a poor family.

He taught in Qingniu Village for ten years and saw too many children like this. Their families were too poor to afford school, so they could only do manual labor when they grew up, and then their children would continue to be poor, unable to afford school, and their lives would be forever ruined.

"Do you want to study?" Su Yang asked calmly.

The woman paused for a moment, then asked, "Huh?"

"I'm asking you, do you want to learn to read and study?"

The woman remained silent for a long while, her voice becoming somewhat hoarse: "I do want to... but I'm already this old, who's going to teach me?"

"I'll teach you."

"You?" The woman's voice was filled with surprise and doubt. "You...you're not..."

"A blind man?" Su Yang said it for her, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Blind men can teach. I taught in Qingniu Village for ten years and taught hundreds of students. If you don't believe me, you can ask around."

The woman was speechless, unsure of what to say.

Su Yang took out a token from his bundle and handed it over. "Take this. This is your Guanghan Academy student token. Whenever you want to study, take this to Qingniu Village, find Guanghan Academy, and just give them my name."

The woman took the sign, turned it over and touched it a couple of times, and suddenly exclaimed "Eh!"

"This sign... the lettering is raised?"

"Hmm," Su Yang said, "It was made by a blind man so he could easily feel it himself."

The woman clutched the sign, remaining silent for a long time.

Su Yang stood up, picked up his bamboo cane, and prepared to go upstairs to rest.

After taking a couple of steps, he suddenly stopped. "By the way, what's your name?"

A woman's voice came from behind: "Su Xiaoxiao."

Su Yang was stunned for a moment.

"Your surname is Su?"

"Yes, Su Xiaoxiao."

Su Yang had his back to her, and a slight smile played on his lips. What a coincidence.

At night, Su Yang lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. It wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable; although it was a bit hard, it was much better than the wooden plank bed he had slept on for ten years in Qingniu Village.

The words of the man in white kept echoing in his mind: "A blind man, dares to speak the words of a sage to me?"

Su Yang wasn't angry.

He thought the guy was right.

A blind man who can't even heal his own eyes, what right does he have to reason with others? A pseudo-cultivator at the Core Formation stage who can't even stop a bully, what right does he have to teach others how to be a person?

The logic is correct, but it seems to be of little use.

None of the道理 (principles/reasoning) he preached today came in handy. The bully still died, the man in white still killed someone, and he could only stand by, unable to do anything.

I've read countless books, yet I still feel so powerless in the end.

Perhaps this is the meaning of traveling thousands of miles, as described in the book.

Su Yang turned over and buried his face in the pillow.

The pillow had a faint scent, which I couldn't quite put my finger on. It smelled like the fresh scent of grass and trees, or perhaps like the scent of frost and snow.

This is Su Xiaoxiao's room. The inn only has this one room left, so Su Xiaoxiao gave him her room and went to the woodshed to spend the night.

A girl who didn't know him gave her room to a blind man and slept in the woodshed herself.

There are still good people in this world.

Su Yang thought to himself, then closed his eyes in a daze.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he suddenly opened his eyes. A surge of righteous energy coursed through his body—someone was there!

The person's aura was so faint, almost nonexistent, that if it weren't for the righteous energy's extremely keen perception of the surrounding environment, he wouldn't have been able to detect it at all.

Su Yang didn't move, not even his breathing changed. He lay there quietly, using his righteous energy to sense the other person's location.

The person stood by the window, motionless, as if watching him.

Su Yang's heartbeat calmed down.

He thought to himself, if they had come to kill him, they would have done it already. Since they hadn't, either they hadn't made up their minds, or they weren't there to kill him at all.

"Stop pretending now that you're awake."

A voice rang out in the room, carrying a hint of indescribable emotion.

Su Yang was stunned; it was the same voice of Qian Jiuri from earlier that day.

"Fellow Daoist Qian?" Su Yang asked tentatively.

"Kid, you're still too green." Qian Jiuri's voice was weary and weathered. "The current state of the martial world is just like what's happening today. Put away your pathetic, saintly heart."

Qian Jiuri slowly walked towards Su Yang, his cultivation level rapidly increasing with each step, from the peak of the Qi Transformation Realm to the early stage of the Nourishing Yuan Realm... finally stopping steadily at the early stage of the Tribulation Transcending Realm.

"Senior," Su Yang said, his heart filled with shock, but his expression remained calm. "What guidance do you have for me?"

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

"I'm not afraid."

"Oh? What if I said I came to kill you?"

"You are at the Tribulation Transcending Realm. Killing me is just a matter of a thought for you. I can't escape, so I'm not afraid."

The fact that he remained calm even when Mount Tai collapsed before him was a testament to his composure, which Qian Jiuri greatly admired.

"Hahahaha." Qian Jiuri laughed loudly, "No need to be so formal, and no need to call me senior. I am twenty-seven years older than you, so I should be your peer."

Seeing that the newcomer showed no murderous intent, Su Yang breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his brow and asked, "What brings you here, fellow Daoist?"

Qian Jiuri suddenly said seriously, "Old Jin told me to find you, because only you can help me. He said your identity is extraordinary."

"What can I do to help you? Do you expect me to kill someone for you?" Su Yang said jokingly.

"That's right, it's about helping me kill people..."