Chapter 196: No Evolution, Only Death
Yu Sang felt an itch in his mouth, so he licked the roof of his palate. Immediately, a layer of mucus detached from his palate as his tongue slid across it.
He spat out the layer of mucus and found it was intact.
Then, his lower jaw also began to itch. He licked it again with his tongue, and immediately another layer of mucus detached from his jaw as his tongue slid across it.
He spat out the layer of mucus and found it was still intact.
Then, his nose began to itch, followed by his eyes and ears. He raised his hand to wipe his face, then opened his hand to find his eyebrows had fallen onto it.
┗|｀O′|┛ Aoo~~
Yu Sang roared, and the eagle beneath him ascended rapidly. In a moment, it pierced through the clouds and disappeared.
Yun Ce and the Red Date Horse waited until dawn. After confirming with Doggy multiple times that the old demon Yu Sang had left, they emerged from the riverbed.
Both Yun Ce and the Red Date Horse were visibly larger than before.
It was unavoidable; they had been bloated by the water. Anyone would look like this after being submerged for three to four hours.
“Has the old demon Yu Sang really left?”
Even though he was soaked and freezing, if the old demon Yu Sang were still nearby, Yun Ce would have preferred to remain submerged.
“He’s gone, he’s really gone.”
“Can we assume the radioactive source harmed his body? Otherwise, such a powerful old demon wouldn’t easily abandon his objective.”
“Many literary works are fond of portraying elderly characters as willing to be stepping stones and make sacrifices for the younger generation’s development.
In reality, such sacrifices and the stepping stone mentality only occur between parents and children. The older people get, the more they fear death. If it’s someone else’s son, old people will do everything they can to trick them, especially when facing life and death. I guarantee that if selling out a young person could let them live for another minute, the old folks would rush to betray the youngsters.
The old demon Yu Sang is like that. He claims to be avenging Yu Zhu, but in reality, it’s only because Yu Zhu is dead and he’s lost face. That’s why he came to kill you to regain some of it.
Radiation damage is irreversible. He won’t have a chance to trouble you again.”
Yun Ce started a bonfire in the wilderness and, along with the Red Date Horse, huddled around it to warm themselves. In the meantime, Yun Ce took a large pot of bean porridge from the Dragon Pearl, cooked it, and shared it with the Red Date Horse.
Only then did some of the chill in his body dissipate. After he ate his fill and sat down to circulate his internal breath a few times, the chill in his body completely vanished.
The pebble in his hand crumbled into powder. This was the strength of a Thousand-man General. According to Zhang Min, the next step would be to nip iron and leave a mark, which seemed to be the strength of a Ten-thousand-man General.
Yun Ce squeezed the blade of the Horse Spear he took from the Dragon Pearl, but nothing happened. Instead, two clear fingerprints were left behind.
What kind of person could nip iron and leave a mark? It sounded incredibly difficult. However, for some reason, Yun Ce knew that old fellow Yu Sang was definitely capable of it.
He had traveled a great distance last night and Yun Ce wasn’t sure of his exact location. However, the Qingshui River was here, and by tracing upstream, he would eventually return to the Yun Clan Villa.
He had disappeared without a word, and who knew how worried E Ji and the others would be.
Thinking of this, Yun Ce regretted getting married too early.
The banks of this stretch of the Qingshui River were deserted. The riverbanks were piled high with stones of various sizes. Some stones were beautiful, with patterns resembling landscape paintings, while others had a jade-like luster.
Previously, Yun Ce had two rare Yellow River stones in his office. One had a red sun on it, which Yun Ce interpreted as the rising sun. Another stone had a brown line that closely matched the route the Yellow River flowed through Baiyin City. He named it Yellow River 258, symbolizing the 258 kilometers the Yellow River flowed within Baiyin.
In the past, when people were starving, no one paid attention to such things. Since they had enough to eat, even stones had become treasures.
This brush with death made Yun Ce begin to reflect on his actions over the past year.
Some things filled him with shame, while others made him feel proud. Yet, it was the things that shamed him that he remembered most clearly. The things he could be proud of, he couldn’t recall unless he actively thought about them.
Yun Ce was still lost in the past when Cao Kun, riding an Albatross, found him.
“The old thief Yu Sang has fled, like a stray dog.”
Yun Ce looked at Cao Kun in confusion. When he himself had fled, he had heard Cao Kun begging for his life on his knees. How could the mighty Yu Sang have become a stray dog overnight?
“I gave Yu Sang a box containing the radioactive source you mentioned. He opened it and examined it so carefully that his face turned greenish from the radiation.”
“You carried that thing with you?”
“Don’t worry, I had Huo Minggong and the others test it carefully. As long as the radioactive source is kept in a lead box, it can be shielded, and one won’t be harmed by it.
Now, my bedroom walls are lined with lead plates.”
Yun Ce nodded, understanding. This fellow was afraid of others harming him with radioactive sources, so he decorated his house with lead plates. It was foreseeable that Cao Kun’s family would never produce another descendant as intelligent as himself.
He knew that radioactive sources were harmful, but he didn’t realize that lead itself was also a potent poison.
Cao Kun didn’t mention that Yun Ce had led Yu Sang to harm him, and Yun Ce naturally wouldn’t bring it up. He just knew he had to be even more vigilant towards Cao Kun. After all, when habitually tricking each other becomes the norm among close brothers, there’s no need for apologies when they next try to kill each other.
“Do you want to watch some excitement?” Cao Kun asked Yun Ce with a smile.
Yun Ce immediately shook his head like a rattle drum.
“Zhao Shu, the former Great Wall Grand Governor, has finally met his end.”
Yun Ce frowned. “Who would kill this pile of dog excrement? Aren’t they afraid of getting covered in a stench?”
“Lian Cheng Bi, the Garrison Commander of Dong Quan Pass.”
“Huh, is your family scheming against Dong Quan Pass again?”
“Don’t make my family sound so evil. Lian Cheng Bi is just a brute. He’s been misled by someone into believing Zhao Shu wronged him in the past. Now that Zhao Shu is in decline and begging him for help, this fellow is utterly humiliating Zhao Shu.
It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but then he noticed that one of Zhao Shu’s granddaughters was stunningly beautiful, and he developed wicked intentions.”
Yun Ce blinked. “Zhao Shu’s granddaughter is stunningly beautiful? Who said that? I met Zhao Shu’s entire family at Jingkou Pass and didn’t see any so-called beauty of unparalleled loveliness.”
Cao Kun abruptly dropped his lewd smile and stared blankly at Yun Ce. “This time, don’t you owe me a life?”
Yun Ce shook his head. “That’s not true. I was eating peacefully at the guesthouse, and you came looking for me yourself.”
Seeing that Yun Ce, as Uncle had predicted, refused to admit it, Cao Kun sighed. “I even knelt down to beg for my life. For a moment there, I thought I was already dead.”
Yun Ce sniffed. “I knelt too and did the same thing as you.”
Hearing Yun Ce’s frankness, Cao Kun’s face lit up with a smile again. “We can put the matter of Lian Cheng Bi aside. Don’t you want to pursue Yu Sang?
I’ve found out that there are twelve elders among the Gui Fang people, and Yu Sang ranks eighth. If we can take his head, our brothers’ reputation will surely shake the Great Han.”
Yun Ce shook his head. “Only a madman would chase after someone carrying two boxes of radioactive sources.”
Cao Kun pondered for a moment. “I didn’t see you collecting radioactive sources.”
Yun Ce replied, “I obtained them when I first entered Eddy Bay.”
Cao Kun subtly took two steps back. “Do you glow at night?”
Yun Ce shook his head. “No.”
Cao Kun said seriously, “The bodies of those who excavated and transported radioactive sources glowed in the dark after they died.”
Seeing Cao Kun finish speaking quickly and ride off on his Albatross, Yun Ce felt that his friendship with Cao Kun might be coming to an end. After all, no one wanted to be friends with someone who glowed at night.
As for Zhao Shu’s beautiful daughter, Lian Cheng Bi’s ferocity and tyranny, or the supreme glory of killing Yu Sang, none of it compared to the threat posed by someone who glowed at night.
Yun Ce rode his Red Date Horse and continued tracing the Qingshui River upstream. It was now Flower Festival Month, and wildflowers bloomed sporadically on both sides of the Qingshui River. These unadorned flowers now spread out like a carpet towards the horizon, so beautiful it made one wish to sleep there forever.
What Yun Ce didn’t know was that at the end of this floral carpet, Yu Sang was tearfully watching the eagle that had accompanied him his entire life. The eagle was using its sharp beak to pluck out its own feathers one by one. Despite the unbearable pain, the eagle continued plucking.
Seeing that the eagle didn’t spare even the feathers on its backside and was cleaning itself thoroughly, Yu Sang closed his eyes, and two streams of bloody tears flowed down his cheeks.
When he opened his eyes and looked at the bald eagle, he took out the box Yun Ce had given him. He opened it and let the bald eagle’s body bask in the radioactive source.
Only by doing this every day could the eagle calm down and stop harming itself.
Yu Sang vaguely felt that the items Yun Ce and Cao Kun had given him were somehow improper. However, he had checked them countless times with his internal breath but could detect no danger from the contents of the box.
He wanted to return to Gui Fang as soon as possible and consult with the clan’s Third Elder, who was most familiar with such items. Now that the eagle had plucked out its own feathers and he himself had developed problems, returning to Gui Fang early had become a vain hope.
In the evening, Yu Sang saw the eagle shivering from the cold and wanted to start a fire. He then noticed that the eagle’s body was slowly emitting a green light. The green light pulsed within the eagle’s body like a flame, looking very beautiful.
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