Outside the Shaolin temple, the moon and stars illuminated the sky. Su Qin decided to leave the Shaolin temple at dawn to avoid missing out on his daily opportunity to sign in. As long as Su Qin managed to rush back to the temple before nightfall the next day, he would not have missed out on anything.
‘The last time I saw her was fifteen years ago, I wonder what my sister’s like now…’
To Su Qin, she would always be that snotty little kid that never left his side. His sister was called Su Yueyi and she was seven years younger than him. When Su Qin entered the Shaolin temple, she was only three years old. She was eighteen years old now.
Women usually get married when they turned sixteen. It was considered ‘late’ for Su Yueyi to be getting married only at eighteen.
‘There’s something I need to settle before I head back.’
Su Qin suddenly stopped in his tracks and gazed off toward another direction.
Fifteen years ago, a great enemy of the Su family launched an attack on them. To preserve the family bloodline, all the male descendants of the Su family were sent into hiding.
That was how Su Qin ended up as a disciple in the Shaolin temple. The only way he could have been safe was if he entered the Shaolin temple for their protection.
In the end, the Su family managed to fend off the attack of their enemy and reestablish the family. However, that great enemy of theirs was still alive.
Over the years, Su Qin was busy signing in to the system at the Shaolin temple to increase his power. Since the Su family was doing well, he never bothered about that enemy of theirs. However, he decided to take advantage of the fact that he was out of the temple to thoroughly deal with the threat of the enemy.
‘According to all the letters the Su family sent me over the years, this enemy’s name is ‘Yama Huo[1]’. He was a disciple of the Evil sect and recently became the Dharma protector of the Evil sect in this generation.’
Thoughts raced through Su Qin’s mind. Due to the new development, the Su family patriarch expressed his concern in the letter to Su Qin. He was concerned about the great enemy taking advantage of the force of the Evil sect to attack the Su family once again.
‘The Evil sect?’ A cold light flashed across Su Qin’s eyes.
…
Out of all the eighteen provinces in the Tang Dynasty, the Yong Province was the domain of the Evil sect. The Evil sect’s chief presided here.
The Tang Dynasty territories were overrun by demons causing destruction and mayhem. Ever since the previous Sect Master of the Evil sect died during his Closed-Door Meditation, the Evil sect was on the losing end in the battle between those of the Evil sect and the Noble Path.
Decades ago, the Evil sect had control over three provinces. Yet now, they were only left with one territory, the Yong Province. After years of being suppressed by the Noble Path forces.
The Tang Dynasty’s attitude to the warring between the forces of the Noble Path and the Evil Path was to stay on the sidelines. They had no intention of mediating the situation. In the eyes of the Tang Dynasty, whether it was the Noble Path side or the Evil sect side, they were all criminals and rule-breakers. It would have been better if more of them died in battle. Hence, why would the government want to get involved?
Many of the disputes between the two sides were spurred on by the Tang Dynasty!
At that moment, in the Wunan Mountain area of the Yong Province, a little boy dressed in a thick cotton coat looked up happily into the sky and watched the snowfall.
“Grandpa, it’s snowing so heavily!” said the little boy as he looked at the old man beside him. He happily made a snowball.
“That’s right. I’ve never seen such a heavy snowfall in several decades.” The old man looked moved, deep in his memories.
Suddenly, a gentle voice called out, “Is this Wunan Mountain?”
It was a young monk dressed in a gray robe. He smiled at the duo. The young monk was Su Qin.
The Shaolin temple was located thousands and thousands of miles away from the Yong Province. It took an ordinary person countless months, perhaps even up to a year to travel such a distance. Even a martial artist needed about a month.
However, it only took Su Qin a couple of hours to get there from the Shaolin temple. That also included all the time that Su Qin spent stopping along the way to see if he could sign in at various locations. If he did not waste time stopping, he would have been there earlier.
“Yes, it is. It’s right ahead,” answered the little boy as he looked at Su Qin. He thought that Su Qin looked a little odd but he nodded his head and continued, “There’s a lot of evil energy in Wunan Mountain and…”
The little boy paused, looked around him before he said softly, “Grandpa told me that there are immortals there. If you have no reason to go there, you should stay away from that place…”
“Immortals?”
Su Qin was shocked. However, he quickly recovered. The ‘Immortals’ mentioned by the little boy must refer to the martial artists of the Evil sect. The Evil sect headquarters was located in the depths of the Wunan Mountain and the martial artists of the Evil sect frequently passed through the area.
For an ordinary little boy, these powerful warriors seemed like ‘Immortals’!
“There’s going to be a snowstorm later today, you should head back soon,” said Su Qin as he glanced at the two of them. After that, he leisurely started walking in the direction of Wunan Mountain.
“A snowstorm? You’re not an immortal, how can you tell if there’s going to be a snowstorm?” mumbled the little boy.
Even though it was still snowing, the snowfall slowed down. It should have stopped snowing once the sun rose. How could there be a snowstorm later today?
“Grandpa, are you alright? Why are you so quiet?” The little boy suddenly realized that his grandfather was silent and turned to look at him.
“Be quiet!” The old man’s face was pale and his hands trembled uncontrollably.
“Are you alright, Grandpa?” The little boy sensed that something was wrong and he quickly ran toward the old man.
“You…Don’t you know that we’ve just seen a ghost!?” said the old man as glared at the little boy. He laughed bitterly.
“Huh? A ghost?” the little boy looked confused. “Are you talking about that boy we just saw, grandpa?”
The old man looked even more frightened when he heard the little boy’s words. He looked in the direction that Su Qin left. “Do you see anything odd this?”
“What’s so odd?”
The old man sighed. He knelt and asked the little boy, “What’s this?”
“A footprint?” answered the little boy. He was flabbergasted.
“Why are there footprints?”
The little boy rolled his eyes and said, “Grandpa, do you think I’m stupid? It’s snowing now and the ground’s covered in snow. If we step on it, of course, there’ll be footprints…”
“Look at the path the man walked on. There are no footprints,” said the old man with a wavering voice after he took a deep breath.
The little boy frowned and turned his head to look.
“Huh!?” The little boy was shocked. It was because as far as he could see, the white snow on the path was undisturbed. “There’s no…no footprints…” The little boy turned pale like he just saw a ghost.
The snowfall that year was really heavy. Days earlier, the snow that accumulated on the ground was already several feet deep. Any ordinary person who walked on the snowy path would have left footprints. However, that little boy did not even see a hint of a footprint.
“There’s something else,” The old man gathered himself and continued to speak, “Did you see any snow on him?”
As soon as the little boy heard his words, a shiver ran down his back. That was true. He did feel like something was odd about Su Qin when he first saw him. However, he did not think too much about it then. However, now that the old man mentioned it, the little boy realized that both he and the old man were covered head to toe in snow.
It was only natural since it was snowing and they were outdoors. Of course, there would have been snow on them.
Yet, that young monk was different.
There was not a speck of snow on him.
Not even a snowflake.
[1] Yama Huo or Yan Huo (阎火) can be translated to Yama Fire. Yama is the Hindu and Buddhist god of death, dharma, and the underworld.