Chapter 1027 - Fire Mulberry Trees Still the Same
The Fire Mulberry Trees were still the same, red like the clouds of sunrise.
When watching from the distance, large amounts of trees carried fiery light, sparkling and translucent, occupying a vast area, red and sparkling, extremely eye-grabbing.
When he approached this place, heat immediately hit his face. The Fire Mulberry Trees’ flames flowed with scarlet red color, the temperature not low at all.
It was just like the scene in the past. The girls were busy working around these mulberry trees, all of them having some cultivation, but not high. Every one of them had a bamboo basket behind them and wore a rough hemp garment, their appearances rather plain and simple.
There weren’t many people, and they all lived rather simply. Their foreheads were covered in sweat. Because the temperature here was rather high, even those with some cultivation would sweat continuously.
On the mulberry tree, there were a few red diamond-like silkworms. These were rare bugs, the silk they released material that could be used to make precious clothes.
s.h.i.+ Hao walked inside the forest alone, the rustling sounds of Flame Silkworms chewing on leaves sounding all around him. Strings of fiery light surged from time to time, making this place look rather pretty.
When s.h.i.+ Hao came here in the past, he didn’t discover anything at first, only when he turned around did he meet his old friend.
Now that he was revisiting his memories, he carefully looked around, observing these girls who were working around the mulberry trees. However, he didn’t find anything.
The Fire Mulberry Forest was calm, scarlet multicolored light flickering about, fiery radiance pulsing.
s.h.i.+ Hao walked through the forest, continuing forward based on his memories. He knew that that place wasn’t that far.
A single separation took several years. He didn’t know how she was now.
The large and tall Fire Mulberry Trees, some had already grown for several hundred years, even over a thousand years. They were thick and powerful, overflowing with fiery light.
s.h.i.+ Hao found it difficult to calm down. Several years had pa.s.sed, the Fire Mulberry Tree Forest was still here, but he was a bit nervous. Not much time had pa.s.sed, yet it was enough to change many things.
He finally got closer, arriving at this familiar place.
A clear spring flowed past, the water flowing over smooth cobblestone. There were fish that occasionally leapt out, a natural and harmonious scene.
The depths of the Fire Mulberry Forest was extremely peaceful. There was a bamboo forest here, as well as a small river that helped alleviate the heat.
s.h.i.+ Hao moved quickly, entering the forest, rus.h.i.+ng forward to look inside.
In that instant, his expression froze.
There should be a thatched cottage there, a small courtyard, a few wooden blocks, as well as some flowers. However now, all of it was gone.
There was only a scorched black expanse, the earth completely dried up, filled with burn traces.
The small courtyard disappeared, the past peacefulness broken, no plants visible. There were only ashes here.
Why? s.h.i.+ Hao quickly rushed over!
His eyes were flickering with light, penetrating like a blade as they swept over this place, carefully examining every corner of this place!
He never expected that in just those few years, everything would no longer exist, end up being destroyed.
Huo Ling’er, where did she go?
In that instant, a shadow loomed over s.h.i.+ Hao’s mind. He immediately felt a bad feeling.
He came to look for Huo Ling’er, yet in the end, he saw this type of scene. It was clear that an unforeseen event had taken place here, someone burning this place down.
s.h.i.+ Hao was confident that it wasn’t Huo Ling’er who did this. Even if she left, there was no need to burn down her beloved little courtyard, leaving this place in such a miserable state.
“Who was it?” s.h.i.+ Hao was angry, and at the same time, his mind trembled, feeling incomparable worry.
What exactly happened to Huo Ling’er? Where was she? Why did this type of thing happen?
s.h.i.+ Hao’s mind was in a mess, filled with worry. He hurried over here expecting a reunion, not expecting that he would be this disappointed, seeing this kind of scene.
He opened his Heavenly Eyes, wis.h.i.+ng to find some clues.
“En?”
s.h.i.+ Hao was shocked. He opened his Heavenly Eyes, seeing a few damaged articles in the ashes that were smashed to pieces.
His hand moved about, sending black-colored earth and stone flying. A bone s.h.i.+eld appeared, but it had long been smashed into many pieces. There were traces on it, within it some dark black substance.
It was blood that had solidified a long time ago!
s.h.i.+ Hao’s mind immediately trembled, a wave of anger surging, and even more so a type of panic. He feared that something truly bad had happened, a situation he couldn’t redeem no matter how great his abilities were!
“How could it be like this? Who is it that came here, taking action against a helpless young lady?” s.h.i.+ Hao clenched his fists, his expression ashen.
Huo Ling’er didn’t have any enemies, no relations.h.i.+p with the outside world. Her hiding here could be said to be separating herself from the rest of the world, so why did this kind of thing happen?
Was it because of him? If that was the case, then the other party’s methods were too vicious, their nose too keen, even able to find this type of place.
s.h.i.+ Hao thought again and again, feeling that Huo Ling’er wouldn’t incur hatred on her own. If anything unexpected happened, it would have most likely happened because of him.
In that instant, s.h.i.+ Hao’s heart felt cold, feeling a wave of responsibility and regret. If Huo Ling’er suffered from something unexpected because of this, then he would feel bad about it for the rest of his life.
“Didn’t I tell you to leave and not stay here in order to avoid danger?” s.h.i.+ Hao’s voice was trembling a bit, not certain.
Back then, he had thought about it too. To avoid having anyone act too viciously, not letting anything go, following the spider’s thread and horse tracks to this place, s.h.i.+ Hao had previously advised Huo Ling’er to change to a different place.
It seemed like a battle had broken out here, an intense conflict.
s.h.i.+ Hao’s heart immediately sank. He carefully searched every part of this place, but in the end, he still didn’t find anything, not knowing what happened back then.
In that moment, s.h.i.+ Hao turned into a streak of rainbow light, wandering about this place. His Heavenly Eyes were opened, sweeping over every inch of this area, wanting to find some kind of clue.
However, he was left disappointed. There were no other clues.
“No!” s.h.i.+ Hao shouted, his heart feeling a bit of pain. He feared that something unexpected had happened. If that was the case, then he would regret it for the rest of his life.
For one day and one night, s.h.i.+ Hao searched through this place, not leaving the scorched black remains.
In the end, he became silent, ending up empty-handed.
There were two small mulberry trees planted at the front of the courtyard. Even though they suffered from the flames as well, they tenaciously grew, because they were fire attribute themselves, not fearing fire.
s.h.i.+ Hao still remembered planting them with Huo Ling’er back then before leaving, those scenes appearing before him one after another.
However, after many years had pa.s.sed, the small tree grew, now even much taller than him. Only, the one he was looking for wasnt here.
s.h.i.+ Hao couldn’t accept this reality. He traveled ten thousand zhang, quickly leaving this place, heading towards the nearest city.
Li Fire City, a place with many Fire Mulberry Trees around it, this place carrying scarlet multicolored light. A few thousand year old ancient trees even more so had flames jumping about them, waves of heat spreading.
Fire Clan, a place that used flames as the foundation, establis.h.i.+ng their sect around fire.
This region belonged to the higher realms’ Fire Clan, so they were naturally close to fire. That was why there were these types of old trees planted nearby.
s.h.i.+ Hao was unwilling to accept this, rus.h.i.+ng into this city. His divine senses swept about in search of powerful cultivators, wis.h.i.+ng to understand the situation from their mouths.
Soon after, he learned of a few things.
It was because for the sake of obtaining news faster, he didn’t hesitate to directly take action, taking several city lords into custody and forcefully searching their sea of consciousness, unexpectedly learning about a few things.
Sure enough, there were a few people who came here several years ago in search of something, making their way through the Fire Mulberry Tree Forest outside the city. In addition, there were some who haven’t left yet even now, wandering about.
“Absolutely intolerable!” s.h.i.+ Hao was furious, his face full of killing intent, anger overflowing!
This was sinner’s blood clans’ terrain, and it wasn’t some important place, quite remote, which was why news from the outside world arrived rather slowly.
Everyone already knew that Immortal Ancient Remains had split open, now bordering the three thousand provinces, and they knew that those geniuses returned. However, they didn’t know what exactly happened in Immortal Ancient during those years.
In summary, the information here lagged behind a bit. Everyone only roughly knew about a few things.
s.h.i.+ Hao’s hair stood up in anger, rus.h.i.+ng outside the city, heading towards the Fire Mulberry Tree Forest again. This time, he coincidentally ran into those suspicious individuals as well.
“So many years have already pa.s.sed, what are we even standing guard here for?”
“I heard the Immortal Ancient battle already ended. Did that youth come out alive or did he die in Immortal Ancient Remains? Why isn’t there anyone who came to inform us?”
“In this sinner’s blood territory, we’ve already been forgotten. No one has come to call for our return for several years already!”
s.h.i.+ Hao walked over step by step, his face overcast as he approached them.
Those individuals had no idea, continuing as usual, walking towards the burned down cottage remains.
“That chick back then really was good! Even though they say she’s a sinner’s blood descendant, she really was super hot!” One of them said frivolously.
“I wonder if she’s dead yet. What a pity it is that she didn’t end up in our hands.” Someone said regretfully while laughing.
Pu!
Immediately afterwards, the two of them felt their legs erupt with intense pain, their entire bodies falling down, b.l.o.o.d.y light flas.h.i.+ng. Their legs had already exploded.
“Who-?” These individuals cried out in alarm, all of them turning around.
They only saw a youth walk over. Their expressions immediately changed, because they recognized that person’s appearance.
“It’s you, Huang!”
Pu!
s.h.i.+ Hao pointed forward. A golden beam of light shot out from the end of his finger. Those individuals all cried out loudly, the lower halves of their bodies exploding, their upper halves flying outwards.
“Speak, what happened back then?” s.h.i.+ Hao shouted angrily.
“Don’t kill us, we will tell you everything!” One of them shouted loudly.
“We are insignificant, not even knowing that you came back, not receiving any information from the higher ups! We were completely forgotten here! Don’t kill us!”
They were incomparably scared, quickly telling him everything.
Back then, these people received orders precisely to come for Huo Ling’er, to capture her. However, they were a step late.
Huo Ling’er’s father was previously the Human Emperor of the lower realm. When he returned and learned that his daughter had met with s.h.i.+ Hao, he immediately brought her away.
“You all didn’t find them?” s.h.i.+ Hao’s mind loosened up a bit.
“We obtained a few clues later on that there was as pursuit afterwards, but we didn’t receive any more messages.” They replied honestly. On the contrary, it was the Fire Emperor that came here to unleash a great slaughter.
Soon after, s.h.i.+ Hao understood these people’s origins. They were people from Sword Valley, Fire Cloud Cavern, Luofu True Valley and others, sure enough, the great sects who took it upon themselves to suppress sinner’s blood.
At the same time, something else that made his eyes go cold was that there were previously two Celestial Clan cultivators who had partic.i.p.ated in this.
“Fire Cloud Cavern, Luofu True Valley, and Celestial Clan, you all bully others too far!” s.h.i.+ Hao burned with anger. He vowed to pay them a visit in the future.
He learned what he wanted to know from these people’s mouths. In the end, with a wave of his hand, he dealt with them, not showing any mercy.
s.h.i.+ Hao released a sigh. The world was so large, where was he to go to find Huo Ling’er? He hoped that she was alright.
In the following few days, he continued to wander about this place. He thought back to the past, the events in the lower realm, releasing a sigh.
This Fire Mulberry Tree Forest was extremely large, but s.h.i.+ Hao had pretty much seen everything in these past few days. He wanted to see the place Huo Ling’er had previously worked at and carefully observe everything.
“En?”
On the fourth day, s.h.i.+ Hao’s mind shook, his eyes focusing forward.
This place was already quite far from the thatched cottage, at the border of the Fire Mulberry Tree Forest.
There was someone who was picking at the mulberry trees, a young lady wearing rough hemp garments, beautiful hair scattering down, forehead full of sweat.
Her figure was extremely good, only, her appearance was too plain. On her back was a bamboo basket, gathering mulberry leaves here.
Previously, s.h.i.+ Hao had never seen her appearance, but when he saw her eyes, his mind jumped, almost not daring to believe what he was seeing. Those eyes were extremely familiar.
s.h.i.+ Hao walked over step by step. That young lady turned around, the bamboo basket in her hands immediately falling, her eyes immediately full of watery mist, vision becoming blurry.
“It’s… you!” her voice was trembling.
Even though her appearance was changed, s.h.i.+ Hao still recognized that this was Huo Ling’er. She unexpectedly never left, always staying in the Fire Mulberry Tree Forest, always waiting here!