Chapter 273 - 170: Sound of All Things

Chapter 273: Chapter 170: Sound of All Things

Zheng Xiu, of course, understood.

Chu Chengfeng had said, "If you don’t like what you hear, don’t take it to heart." ’But what if I *do* find it agreeable?’

’Who on earth is Chu Chengfeng?’

Zheng Xiu had a vague idea why Chu Chengfeng was willing to stay in Yunhe Village.

’Does he want to follow the path of the Founding Emperor of Daqian?’

’Start here, build an empire from nothing, and contend for the throne?’

But in the era Zheng Xiu came from, the world was clearly at peace, and the people lived and worked contentedly. The Daqian of two hundred years later was not as terrible as Chu Chengfeng imagined. And two hundred years later, the Heavens had not changed, nor had the dynasty been replaced.

"What in the world happened?"

Zheng Xiu muttered to himself.

「The next morning.」

First thing in the morning, Xiaotao knocked on his door to attend to him.

First, she dutifully helped Zheng Xiu change his clothes.

After Zheng Xiu stripped naked, Xiaotao, blushing, removed his bandages. After wiping the black, sticky ointment from his skin, Xiaotao reached out with a dazed look in her eyes and caressed Zheng Xiu’s chest.

"What... are you doing?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Xiaotao snapped out of her daze, jumping up like a frightened rabbit. She kept her head down, not daring to meet Zheng Xiu’s puzzled gaze, and waved her hands frantically. "I was just worried, Young Master, about how your injuries were healing."

"It doesn’t hurt anymore. Actually, I don’t need to apply any more medicine starting today." Zheng Xiu moved his arms through a wide range of motion. The pull on his muscles and bones caused only a faint, itchy pain in his chest. ’For all I know,’ he thought, ’that itchy feeling might just be the lingering discomfort from Xiaotao’s random groping.’

Yunhe Village was exceptionally quiet in the early morning. Zheng Xiu stepped out of his room and looked down.

A shiny bald head and a big-bearded man were sparring furiously in the courtyard. Both were bare-chested, their clashing fists and feet radiating pure testosterone as they dripped with sweat.

Every time their fists met, a bright light shone in their eyes as they looked at each other, tinged with what looked like a reluctance to part.

’They’ve clearly developed an emotional bond through fighting.’

Zheng Xiu looked at the familiar bald head and covered his eyes in exasperation.

’I wonder what Ruchen will think when he regains his memories and remembers this scene.’

’Oh, Monk, my dear Monk. You’ll just have to put up with this for now.’

’I’ll focus on figuring things out with Feng Bei first.’

As these vexing thoughts ran through his mind, Zheng Xiu expertly shouldered his bamboo basket and started walking up the mountain.

Xie Luohe was already waiting at the summit. Back when the flowers had not yet withered, she would occasionally water them or tend to their petals.

Now that the flowers had wilted, Xie Luohe just stood there motionlessly every morning, waiting.

Zheng Xiu gazed at Xie Luohe’s back and sighed inwardly, then sat down and silently began to paint a picture he called "Her Back".

Xiaotao followed Zheng Xiu like a shadow, grinding the ink with a swaying motion, her technique improving by the day.

This seemed to have become a daily routine for the three of them.

For some unknown reason, Xie Luohe never told Zheng Xiu to stop his strange behavior.

Zheng Xiu found his experience points increasing faster and faster. He knew that once he surpassed a certain threshold, he would be able to see through the secrets of the Cannibal Painting. So, since Xie Luohe didn’t say anything, he continued to play dumb, reveling in the joy of farming his EXP.

He was now certain that the flow of time within the Cannibal Painting was different from the outside world.

One night, Zheng Xiu had secretly slipped into an unguarded, empty cage, once again passing between the two realms and returning to the Zheng Residence in his Spirit form. He found that his own posture, and the way Zizi was lying, hadn’t changed at all after more than a month had passed inside the painting. It was then he became certain that the Cannibal Painting operated on a time dilation principle, like the classic "a day in the outside world is a hundred years in the painting," and that the flow of time in the two places was simply incomparable.

Understanding this, Zheng Xiu settled down to stay in the painting, striving to become a true Painter.

Once the painting was finished, Zheng Xiu had completed his daily task. As he was about to leave, he remembered something and asked Xie Luohe for the Four Seasons Map.

He had only seen the Four Seasons Map once, and Chu Chengfeng’s drunken words from the previous night had reminded him of it.

The relationship between Xie Luohe and Zheng Xiu was currently very complicated. They understood their shared "past and present lives," yet they were also sulking with each other. When he was painting, they were more like a Painter and his model, and they rarely spoke otherwise. So when Zheng Xiu took the initiative to ask her for the two scrolls of the Four Seasons Map today, Xie Luohe just scoffed.

"What, with a physique like yours? Did that Chu fellow actually convince you to go contend for the throne?"

Xie Luohe said disdainfully.

Zheng Xiu was stunned.

"How did you know?"

Xie Luohe smiled.

"You know about Feng Bei’s hand, don’t you?"

After more than two months, this was the first time Xie Luohe had brought up Feng Bei herself.

"Of course I do. What else would we have a bet on?"

Zheng Xiu rolled his eyes at her words.

Xie Luohe pointed to her ear. "The sound of you two talking last night was very loud."

Zheng Xiu was astonished. "You heard us whispering?"

Xie Luohe smiled. "Yes. I can hear sounds."

After a brief pause, Xie Luohe closed her eyes.

"Throughout the world,"

"The Sound of All Things."