Chapter 49: Willow Village

Inside the Mission Hall, buzzing with activity, one of the disciples behind the counter looked up at Gu Yuan and said, "There are no missions available within the sect right now."

At those disappointing words, Gu Yuan turned to leave, intending to return later. But the disciple quickly added, "There is a simple task near the sect. Would you like to take it?"

Gu Yuan hesitated, ready to refuse, then he changed his mind and asked, "What kind of task?"

"Perform a routine check on Redleaf Town."

The Black Desolation Sect had several towns and cities affiliated with it.

In name, these places belonged to the Great Han Kingdom, but that was only in name. In reality, they did not answer to the kingdom, but to the Black Desolation Sect instead.

Checking on such a town was a very easy mission... that was, if there were no problems happening there.

After pondering for a moment, Gu Yuan still nodded, "Then I’ll take this mission."

He was willing to take such a small risk.

"You made the right choice, junior brother."

The disciple gave him a smile, the kind a merchant might show after successfully selling something, before completing the necessary procedures.

-----

Flying out of the sect for the third time now, Gu Yuan felt calmer than before. He steadily made his way toward Redleaf Town.

He traveled unhurriedly, a relaxed expression on his face. After some time, however, he suddenly paused and turned his head to the side.

In the direction of his gaze there was no enemy... only a mortal village.

It was a village he knew too well. He had lived there for twelve years.

Willow Village... his hometown.

Back when he had left the village, a deacon from the Outer Sect had brought him away, and he hadn’t had the time to look around or even properly remember the route he had taken.

After that, he had never bothered looking for the location of his old village. That was why he had never known where it was.

Now, unexpectedly, he had come across it.

It was just a village that had nothing to do with him anymore. He doesn’t have anyone to care for there... that was what Gu Yuan told himself.

Yet, his body had already changed direction.

He descended to the ground and slowly walked toward the village.

Willow Village looked much the same as he remembered it. Simple wooden and mud-brick houses were scattered along the uneven roads, with patches of farmland stretching out beyond them.

Gu Yuan watched the familiar scene in silence. It had been years since he had last seen it.

Memories he thought had long since been buried stirred faintly, each corner of the village carrying echoes of his childhood laughter and struggle, the scent of tilled earth and the warmth of simpler days lingering in the air.

When he got close enough for the villagers to notice him, no one recognized his identity. Instead, the villagers who saw him immediately froze.

"Mighty immortal..."

"An immortal has come to our village!"

"Quick, pay your respects!"

The villagers hurriedly knelt on the ground, their faces filled with reverence and fear as they bowed toward him.

Looking at them, Gu Yuan noticed details he had never paid attention to before.

The villagers wore rough and shabby clothes, their faces and hands darkened by the dirt of their daily work. Their clothes were stained with soil, and some still had traces of mud on their shoes and trousers from working in the fields. Their lives were simple, and it showed in their appearance.

Gu Yuan, on the other hand, was completely different.

Although he had completely restrained his cultivation and wasn’t displaying the slightest trace of spiritual pressure, his appearance alone set him apart. His robe was clean and well-kept, his body carried none of the grime of manual labor, and there was an indescribable temperament about him that ordinary villagers simply didn’t possess.

He was no longer one of them.

If he told them to stand up, they would probably become even more frightened. So, Gu Yuan left them kneeling and continued toward his home...

His previous home.

He stopped in front of a small, shabby house made of wood.

Gu Yuan raised his hand to knock, but for some reason, it seemed unwilling to fall.

When his hand finally touched the door, a voice came from inside.

"Please wait, I’m coming."

The door opened, revealing a young woman.

For a moment, Gu Yuan wondered if she was a sister he didn’t know about.

No.

Just by looking at her, he knew she wasn’t his sister.

"Hello, madam. Do the Gu couple still live here?"

"Gu couple?" the woman repeated, looking confused.

Then she quickly turned around and called out, "Please wait. Let me ask my husband."

Gu Yuan stood outside and waited.

A short while later a thin, weak-looking man appeared. His pale complexion and unsteady movements made it clear that he wasn’t in good health.

"Greetings, mighty immortal."

The man immediately knelt.

"What about the Gu couple who used to live here? Do you know where they are now?"

The man became flustered at the question. Under Gu Yuan’s steady gaze, however, he could not bring himself to lie.

"The Gu couple... had already died. This house had been left empty, so I repaired it and came to live here with my wife."

"Are they people you knew?"

Gu Yuan didn’t seem to hear anything after the word "died."

He simply stood there, frozen.

His parents had him when they were young. His mother had only been sixteen when she gave birth to him. Now he was thirty, which meant she should only be forty-six. His father was around the same age.

Even if mortals die early, by no means should they have died yet.

"H-how? How did they die?"

Even as he asked, Gu Yuan still found it difficult to believe what he had heard.

"Both of them caught a disease and died. It’s been more than ten years now."