The smile on Bai Fanlu's lips that was naturally caused by the children only lasted for only a second, before it faded.

He took a decisive step and left for the backyard.

The herdsman uncle had already arranged the firewood in the shed, and the bamboo basket with the little chicks was temporarily placed on a higher place, so that the children would not be able to reach it.

The chicks inside were probably very frightened, given that the bamboo basket swayed visibly. Fortunately, the herdsman took it down after a while.

"We’ll just take a look. We promise not to grab them.” The little girl named Huan Yinyin pleaded, and the other children nodded vigorously, with a finger pressed against their lips, the kids glanced at each other and went, "Shhh..."

The herdsman uncle probably attempted to quieten them down once earlier. The smart kids did this to please him and increase their chances of seeing the chicks.

Bai Fanlu was in a better mood once more, and instead of thinking about the person outside, he joined the children in looking at the little chicks.

The chirping yellow ones looked like dumplings that were yellow and hairy, all huddled together, with their red beaks moving. They were adorable indeed.

Bai Fanlu squatted there and watched for a while, then walked through the back door to the kitchen to see if his help was needed.

Aunt Zhang was busy in front of the stove. Although there was a chimney, the fumes were still thick and heavy here. Seeing her carrying a baby on her back, Bai Fanlu asked to take care of her for a while. Aunt Zhang naturally agreed.

Bai Fanlu hugged the little baby and sat by the window, where the ventilation was better. He swayed to coax her while talking to Aunt Zhang.

"Each time before I cook, I’ll put her on the bed. The day before yesterday, she rolled down and cried for a long time. Since then, I didn’t dare to let her leave my side... The children outside are so mischievous so I can’t let them be around her. And those two old ones won’t be able to manage with this baby.”

"Sigh... This little baby is an orphan, and has no breast milk to drink. I find her so pitiful. I want to treat her better so I carry her around all day long. This way, I feel more at ease. She likes being carried around too.”

Bai Fanlu listened to Aunt Zhang and thought to buy her a cradle. There should be some available for purchase in the town that was a distance away. After all, this was not a good solution. Staying in a smoky kitchen was not good for a young child.
As he was deep in thought, Aunt Zhang had already hollered to the noisy children outside to help serve the food. Originally, she wanted to invite the herdsman uncle to stay for dinner but he came over after eating. So, the man left the little chicks behind and went home.

Bai Fanlu wanted to find an excuse to leave as well, but when he was thinking about it, Yinyin hurriedly rushed to the kitchen and cried out, “Xiao Liu Gege has suddenly disappeared! I can’t find him anywhere!”

Yinyin grabbed Bai Fanlu's hand and dragged him out, "Lu Fan Gege, please help me find him! Where can he go? He said he would play with us for a few more days!”

"..." Bai Fanlu didn't want to move but was still slowly dragged out.

Another boy panicked at this moment, "I heard uncle said that there have been many monsters around recently. Would Xiao Liu Gege be captured by these monsters?”

Bai Fanlu's heart skipped slightly. He was about to act, but thought that this would not be possible. How could someone as capable of him be caught by a monster? It’s probably the other way round.

Regardless, he went to check the yard. There were no traces of fighting nor demonic energy. The man should have left on his own accord.

Very good! He’s quite sensible.

At the unanimous request of the children, Bai Fanlu pretended to go around the house. Naturally, he couldn't find the person they wanted.

But to disappoint them, Bai Fanlu had to give them a white lie, "I found Xiao Liu. He said he has something urgent to attend to, but he will come again tomorrow. Don't worry.”

Hearing what Yinyin said earlier, Yun Zhan planned to stay here for a few more days, and he only stayed here for one night before leaving, so they could perfectly avoid each other.

It was expected that Yun Zhan would think the same way. In fact, the person who was deceived was himself. He was so arrogant before, but now he was afraid to face him? Was that a show of guilty conscience?

Bai Fanlu mocked in his heart, but in fact he was dissatisfied. So he ignored him and didn't even apologise? How hateful!

But if he really apologised, did he expect him to respond "It's okay"?

Sigh! Such entanglement! I should just ignore him like I decided to a long time ago. He can do what he likes.

In this short period of time, Bai Fanlu's heart went about in circles a thousand times. From the initial awareness of this person to the abhorrence of him afterwards, yet, he didn't notice any inconsistencies.

And his apparently lousy excuse was enough to coax the children and they soon became happy again.

Before the sky got dark, the tables along with a few stools were set up in the courtyard. Everyone sat down and the meal consisted of stir-fried wild vegetables, eggs, and there were even steamed buns specially made for the occasion. The dishes were simple, but everyone had a delightful time.

And there was an extra item — roasted sweet potatoes.

Bai Fanlu didn't know where the small iron bucket used to roast the sweet potatoes came from. But that man always had bright ideas.

Now that someone came to mind, he noticed a subtle difference in the atmosphere in his absence. But the main reason was that there were fewer people talking.

Although it was said that having a table full of food would make people talk less, the situation was very different here. There were children happily chattering and it was inevitable that the adults followed.

Bai Fanlu felt that the food was a bit tasteless. He simply attributed it to the good food he was served at Shen Lanshan’s place, and the contrast was too great.

Looking at the simple bun in his hand, he couldn't help but think back to the days when he was building the house. Everyone found a place to sit amidst the messy wood pile. Most of the time, their meals consisted of just one simple bun…

There were also some rare times when they had meat which they termed ‘Xiao Liu’s Secret Recipe Meat’. But no matter whether there was meat or not, those buns weren't as difficult to swallow back then as compared to now.

And that guy would always pay attention to his expression. If he saw Bai Fanlu with an almost unsatisfied expression, he would rush over, and deliberately hand over a bun that he only had one tiny bite out of.

"Hey, you can have this but you must have me too. Want it?”

"No!”

"I’m hurt...Gege, in the future...If I get hurt for real...what would you do?”

This sentence that suddenly struck his mind shocked Bai Fanlu. He took a bite of dry bun but couldn’t seem to swallow it down his throat.

He covered his mouth, choked and waved to the rest. Then, he hurriedly ran to the kitchen to gulp down a large scoop of water. He gathered his breath and clung on the edge of the water vat, still in shock.

The voice just now…

Again... Just like the last time he heard. How come this monologue sounds so much like that person's voice?

How come only he can hear it?

The water in the water tank returned to stillness after a while. The kitchen was dimly lit and the water tank was dark. Bai Fanlu stared at the water in a daze. Suddenly he noticed a purple light flickered for a brief moment on his forehead.

He raised his hand and stroked his forehead, the exact spot where his Shizen touched and felt the existence of Ice Silk. He remembered the words his Shizun had told him, "Mo'er, you must remember never to remove this Ice Silk, but in a critical moment of life and death, removing it can greatly increase your strength, but at the same time your identity will be exposed. If that time comes, kill anyone who sees you and don't let anyone threaten you with it.”

Since waking up, Bai Fanlu had never seen his current appearance through reflection, nor had he paid attention to this matter. Now he had doubts, he reached his finger towards the water surface, sending ripples in the water vat and a person's reflection gradually appeared inside.

It seemed that it was still his own face, nothing special at all. But he thought what Shen Lanshan and his Shidi mentioned earlier was weird. What do they mean? He had changed? What’s changed?

"Lu Fan Gege! How are you doing?”

Someone was calling, Bai Fanlu realised he left them for a little too long. He quickly replied, tidied up the clothes that got wet from the splashes, and then went out.

That night, Bai Fanlu rested on the haystack outside the house. He could have slept in the house, for there were three rooms, but it hadn't been peaceful recently, so he felt it was safer to guard outside.

Bai Fanlu couldn’t fall asleep. He hadn't experienced insomnia for a long time but just didn't know why this night, when there was nothing on his mind, he tossed and turned.

He closed his eyes, and didn't know how long it had been before, sensing a bright light passing through his eyelids. He thought to himself, 'It's morning so soon?'

But when he opened his eyes, he saw that there seemed to be a fire blasting into the sky in the far southeast corner, and half of the dark sky was illuminated. He jumped up and flew in that direction.

He remembered that it was a small settlement, about a few households, over there. and it was the most densely populated place at the northern foot of Ercang Mountain.

A distance away, the fire could already be seen blazing fiercely. As if there were more than one source of fire, those houses burned up appearing like a huge fire dragon in the whistling mountain wind, and at any moment, it was about to spread into the dark woods.

Bai Fanlu was shocked, and thoughts were flashing in his mind even before he arrived. The fire was burning like this, and there was no water source nearby. Using a water spirit technique would be useless…

The top priority was not to put out the fire, but to rescue the people inside!

He was about to rush over when he heard a voice in a place below.

"Let's go, such a big fire must have burned everyone to death, no one will know..."

"Don't worry, take a look again… Shizun said that this plan must be foolproof. We can’t let anyone escape… It will only cause trouble for us..."

Bai Fanlu's heart leapt, he struck a water spirit technique to protect his body, flew from the top of the trees and jumped into the fire.

“Ah! Shixiong! Someone just went in!”

Bai Fanlu heard one of the two shouting.

The temperature of the surrounding flames was extremely high, and Bai Fanlu searched house by house. Unfortunately, the fire had been burning for too long, and the houses were burned to the point where only the structure was left.

Bai Fanlu quickly passed over through the streets, waved away the collapsed beam and forcibly endured the burning smell and billowing smoke in the air. He suppressed his extreme discomfort seeing some tragic deaths, and did not give up attempting to find survivors inside.

The more he explored, the more hopeless he became. Finally, Bai Fanlu gave up on these places and went straight to the furthest house. The fire should have spread over the latest and at this time, smoke came from the windows but it wasn’t completely swallowed in flames.

Bai Fanlu rushed in directly through the window. Sure enough, there were two people lying next to it, a man and a woman. There were no obvious signs of burns on their bodies and they both had a pulse. They must have fainted from smoke inhalation not too long ago.

Before it was too late, he forcefully picked up the two of them and flew out of the window.
But as soon as he landed, there was a fiery sound behind him and a heat wave rushed out, as the house instantly sank into a ball of fire.

“Rescue came so soon?” someone spoke.

Bai Fanlu's heart shuddered, and he quickly raised his hand to cover his face with a veiled hat.

"Who’s behind such vile acts?”

"Who are you!”

It was the two who he had passed by. Through the veil, Bai Fanlu saw that the two men were wearing thick robes, and he immediately guessed their identity.

In the novel, these were disciples of Shubei Sect in the north, because the immortal sect was located in an extremely cold place, they were all dressed in special clothes made of reed grass. The attire also looked like rain-proof clothes, so Shubei Sect was also known as the Raincoat Sect.

"You two are also cultivators. How can you do such things like murder and arson?” Bai Fanlu asked coldly.

The two looked at each other, one of them replied, "Since you witnessed this, I'm sorry, but I have to kill you today!”

After speaking, the two of them simultaneously drew their long swords in their hands and stabbed towards Bai Fanlu. Bai Fanlu turned slightly, as if he wasn’t bothered at all. Next, a whirl of power emerged from his palm as soon as he flicked his wrist.

Seeing that Bai Fanlu didn’t move, the two sneered, thinking he was probably frightened. But before they could laugh, a strange force soon affected their swords. They couldn’t seem to move it at all.

Then, Bai Fanlu closed his five fingers, and with a clanging sound, the two swords broke at the same time, falling like dead leaves in front of the three of them.

"You!” The two Shubei Sect disciples exclaimed in shock, seeing the broken swords suddenly fly into the air, turning and charging towards them like countless silver darts.
All this happened too fast and it was too unbelievable. The two of them couldn't dodge and were hit by these silver blades.

Thud thud!

Thud thud!

In a blink of an eye, the two men were nailed to a tree trunk at the back, and they couldn't move at all.

At the same time, their robes were slashed into pieces.

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