The thick muscles on his chest and the rock-like abdominal muscles on his stomach emerged slowly from the water. Regardless of his age, he was simply a very strong man, full of masculine aura.
Yu Qing and Mu Aotie were truly shocked. Was this really the mummy from just now? There was no denying it, as they had witnessed it with their own eyes.
A mummy that should logically be dead beyond death could instantly recover into a living, breathing man just by soaking in water, which was truly a massive shock to their understanding.
Yu Qing subconsciously rubbed a bit of the “Blue Enchantress” onto his eyelids, afraid he was seeing things. The result was that he saw the vitality of a living person, and a very vigorous one at that. He was indeed a truly living man.
The old man was nearly naked, with only some rotted rags wrapped around his waist and hips, and more rags from his body floating and sinking on the water surface. He walked ashore step by step with bare legs and feet, standing right in front of the man in black. Yu Qing and Mu Aotie subconsciously stepped back a little, their hands ready to draw their swords at any moment.
The man in black was visibly somewhat agitated. He plopped down and knelt before the old man, calling out, “Father.”
Father? Yu and Mu were stunned again. Was this person, reanimated from soaking the mummy, this guy’s father?
The old man was still dripping water. He reached out and rubbed the top of the man in black’s head, his voice low and deep, “Why did you wake me in front of outsiders?”
Clearly, although he did not look directly at Yu and Mu, it did not mean he did not take them seriously. It even caused a hidden grimness in his tone of a long-awaited reunion.
“Wait a moment, Father.” The man in black left these words, scrambled up, and then sprinted away, rushing up the cliff face and disappearing in a flash.
Thus, only the two martial brothers were left at the scene, facing this inexplicable person before them.
Mu Aotie rarely spoke to begin with, so there was no hope for him to liven up the atmosphere. Yu Qing wanted to make small talk to probe for information, but realised he did not even know the man in black’s name, making it hard to strike up a conversation. Not knowing what temper this strange man had, he also held back, only muttering endlessly in his heart.
The old man ignored the two of them as well, acting more like he did not even consider them worth his attention, or rather, looking at them as if they were two dead men, and went about exercising his body on his own.
He turned his head, his neck joints making cracking sounds. He then moved his waist and limbs, his joints constantly cracking, showing that he had indeed been stiff for too long.
After waiting for quite a while, a figure fell from the sky, splashing down into the pool.
Amidst the bursting splashes, the excited and thrilled loud laughter of a boy rang out, sounding very happy.
As the splashes settled, they saw the man in black in the pool carrying a little boy with bright, spirited eyes as he walked ashore.
Yu Qing had seen this little boy before and knew he was the man in black’s son. Although Mu Aotie had not seen him, he had heard of him.
Whether it was the little boy, the man in black, or the old man, there was a certain resemblance among the three in their facial features, especially that head of black, shoulder-length hair. The old man stared blankly at the innocent and freely laughing little boy, probably having already guessed the boy’s relationship to him.
The little boy also saw the people on the shore. After biting his finger, he suddenly pointed at Yu Qing, “Him!”
Yu Qing smiled. It seemed the little guy still remembered him. He nodded slightly in greeting, while simultaneously looking down at the boy’s feet. One look and he was instantly stunned. He had intended to see how the wound on the boy’s foot was doing, only to find that there was not even a single scar on his feet. What was going on?
As soon as the little boy landed on the shore, he immediately wanted to turn his head to play in the water again, but the man in black grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back, directly pressing him to his knees in front of the old man, and admonished, “This is your grandfather. Hurry up and call him grandfather.”
The old man’s expression was moved, and his gaze toward the little boy instantly revealed kindness.
Although the little boy was forcibly pressed to his knees, he did not speak. He looked at the old man with a very unfamiliar and vigilant gaze. Seeing the other party’s attempt to touch him, he instead let out a very fierce “Huh” at him.
Seeing this, the old man did not force the issue. He signalled his son to let his grandson stand up, and said with much emotion, “You already have a child. How many years have I been asleep this time?”
“Three hundred and seventy-seven years.” After the man in black replied, he pointed to the little boy who had stood up and hidden behind him, saying, “His name is Xiao Hei. He is six years old this year. He usually has no one to talk to, is clumsy with words, and has very poor language communication skills. Please do not blame him.”
Hearing this, a trace of sadness flowed in the old man’s eyes as he looked at the little boy. However, he quickly regained his imposing manner and asked the previous question again, “Why did you wake me in front of outsiders?”
“Father, please change your clothes first.” The man in black shook out the clothes he had brought draped over his arm, presenting them to the old man with both hands.
The old man publicly tore off the tattered rags on his waist and hips, changing clothes right there in public.
This was a bit awkward. Yu Qing and Mu Aotie immediately turned around to look away and avoid watching.
Once the old man finished changing, the man in black slowly knelt before him again. “Father, Uncle is dead. His yellow halberd has fallen into their hands,” pointing to the two martial brothers on the other side.
Uncle? The two martial brothers were shocked by this title. Who was he referring to? Was it the sleeper in that stone chamber?
The old man was stunned and asked in confusion, “How did he die? Did an expert from outside the domain make a move?”
The man in black said, “No, he was killed by them by sheer coincidence.”
The old man said indifferently, “Is your uncle the kind of person who can be killed by someone getting lucky?”
The man in black turned his head to look at the two martial brothers. “How did you get the yellow halberd? Please trouble yourselves to explain the whole story to my father.”
Yu Qing could not help but scratch his little beard. “Uh, where should I start?”
The man in black said, “If you feel it is inconvenient to talk about your background, then do not say it. If you feel it is convenient, you can start from when we first met.”
“Alright!” Yu Qing nodded in agreement. He organised his thoughts and brewed his words for a moment, then pointed at the little boy. “Senior, I got to know your son starting with your grandson. That day I had just arrived at the Rift Valley Manor. Being new, I was wandering around. While visiting the underground ditches beneath the vineyards, I accidentally discovered your grandson had fallen into a trap…”
He recounted the whole process, from saving the little boy, to the man in black coming to express his verbal thanks, to the inexplicable arrival of Ning Chaoyi and the others, the consecutive deaths at the Rift Valley Manor, all the way to obtaining the golden halberd in the underground stone chamber, then slaying the sleeper in the chamber, and finally arriving here. The whole story was roughly explained from beginning to end.
Throughout the whole story, the old man just listened quietly. After listening without a ripple of emotion, he stared at the kneeling man in black and said a sentence that struck right at the key point, “Heizi, you want to enter the Golden Ruins?”
Hearing this, Yu Qing had the urge to roll his eyes. Since communicating with this side, he had finally heard the two words “Golden Ruins”, and finally heard someone daring to directly say the words “Golden Ruins”.
The man in black turned around, reached out, pulled his son who was hiding behind him to the front, hugged him in his arms, and solemnly informed, “Father, I want to take Xiao Hei inside with me.”
The old man asked, “Go inside to do what?”
The man in black said gloomily, “We do not want this kind of immortality. We want to cleanse our bodies to become normal people like them.”
Immortality? This word shocked the two martial brothers who were listening on the side. Could it be true that the legend of gaining immortality in the Golden Ruins was real?
The old man finally frowned. “Immortality is desired by so many people, yet you actually want to give it up?”
The man in black said sorrowfully, “Father, do you really think this kind of immortality has any meaning for me or for Xiao Hei? You have the mission to guard the Golden Ruins, but we do not. We also do not want to continue this inexplicable mission anymore.”
“Insolent!” The old man’s angry shout exploded like a thunderclap, shaking the valley. He glared fiercely, his long hair moving without wind, and the imposing aura he emitted was terrifying.
“Huh!” The frightened little boy immediately responded fiercely, baring his teeth and brandishing his claws in a ferocious manner.
Seeing his grandson’s reaction, the old man’s angry expression seemed to retract bit by bit in some embarrassment.
Yu Qing and Mu Aotie, on the other hand, looked like two foolish birds, with a dazed and foolish appearance. The two were shocked again. This old man, reanimated by soaking in water, was actually the guardian of the Golden Ruins. Could this be the so-called halberd-wielding guard on the jade page of the Little Cloud Realm?
The man in black held onto his son, not letting him act wildly, but he himself gave a stubborn response. “Father, you know what my birth meant to my mother. My gestation exhausted my mother’s life. My birth was my mother’s death. When you see Xiao Hei, you should also know what Xiao Hei’s mother went through.
You only lost a wife. Do you know what a mother means to a son? Not only did I lose a beloved wife because of myself, but I also lost a mother because of myself. My pain is double yours, a pain you cannot understand.
Father, let it end with us. Do not let Xiao Hei lose his beloved wife anymore, otherwise he will hate us in the future. Do you dare guarantee that our descendants will not do something out of hatred? Father, let it end. Let this tragic fate end right here!”
A man full of wildness was now kneeling there with tears streaming down his face, sobbing uncontrollably.
The little boy instinctively realised that his father’s crying was caused by the old man in front of him, so he kept fiercely growling “Huh, huh” at the old man.
The old man’s chest was heaving, his breathing slightly rapid, the corners of his lips tightened, but he still gave a sentence. “Heizi, a mission is a mission. If people lose their sense of responsibility and accountability, and give up even the most basic loyalty, everything will fall into chaos. I will not force you and your son. You can fly far away, but do not make things difficult for me!”
The man in black shouted loudly, “Father, the secret of the Golden Ruins has been leaked. It can no longer be guarded!” He pointed a finger at Yu Qing and the other. “They, and another group of people, all know the secret of the Golden Ruins. Father, the entrance and exit of the Little Cloud Realm have been found by someone and have been opened. They have already learned the secret of the Golden Ruins from the Little Cloud Realm, hence they came looking. Father, if we do not take advantage of the present moment, you should know what the consequences will be when those powerful families force their way in. Your strength and Uncle’s have been consumed over so many years, consumed too much, and are no longer what they used to be. It cannot be guarded, and the result can only be a dereliction of duty!”
The old man was moved by these words. He stared at Yu Qing and the other, and said in a deep voice, “You have been inside the Little Cloud Realm?”
“Yes.” The two nodded.
The old man asked, “What does the inside of the Little Cloud Realm look like?”
This question was clearly probing whether the two had really been inside the Little Cloud Realm.