Edited—

Although he had already mentally prepared himself, when Zhou Jiayu heard the townspeople’s accounts of Mount She, he still felt shaken inside.

The town’s residents seemed to have quite a good relationship with the Xu clan of Mount She. Speaking of this matter, their faces were full of regret.

“The night before last, everyone in town heard a huge explosion.” The speaker was the auntie from the hostel. She wore a thick cotton-padded jacket and sighed. “Then black smoke started rising into the sky. It was too dark then, so no one noticed. By the time they realized, it was almost morning…”

“Has the fire been extinguished?” Lin Jue asked.

“It should be. Before, you could still see open flames, but now you can’t see them anymore. Mount She is far from here, and the mountain road is rugged. Even if it caught fire, the firefighters couldn’t get up there in time.” The auntie said, “Right now no one knows what it’s like up there…” She shook her head here. “A few people from the Xu clan came down, but they’re all in the hospital. Most are delirious, so you can’t ask them about the situation up there.”

Lin Jue asked for some more news, then thanked the auntie. The group hurried to the town hospital.

This small town was nestled deep in the mountains. The medical facilities weren’t advanced and could only provide the most basic treatment. After arriving at the hospital, they saw the Xu clan members the auntie had mentioned. Most of these people were quite young; the oldest looked to be only about fourteen or fifteen years old. They lay in hospital beds, all fallen into comas.

“The doctor said they inhaled toxic smoke.” Before entering, Lin Jue had already inquired about these few people’s situation under the identity of a relative. She said, “It shouldn’t just be us who came here. I heard from the doctor that several other groups had come before.”

“Mm.” Lin Zhushui said, “The people closer to here arrived first. They should have already gone up the mountain.” He examined a few of the Xu clan members who appeared to be in comas, confirming that they had indeed inhaled toxic smoke rather than being afflicted by something like evil influence.

“Let’s go too.” Lin Jue said, “Hurry over as soon as possible. After all, not everyone who comes here has good intentions.” The Xu clan’s paper-controlling arts were famous in their industry. Before, when they were powerful, no one dared to get ideas. But now that they had suffered such a great disaster, it was inevitable that some people would get crooked ideas.

“Alright.” Lin Zhushui agreed.

So they immediately decided not to wait any longer and directly hike up the mountain on foot. Fortunately, the temperature wasn’t too low right now. Although snow had fallen, it wasn’t enough to hinder walking.

The group quickly made preparations and began hurrying toward Mount She.

The billowing black smoke became their target landmark. The mountain road was hard to climb, but they didn’t dare slow their pace, because along the roadside they discovered traces of others having passed by. Clearly, someone had already gotten there first and gone up Mount She.

Zhou Jiayu prayed in his heart, hoping there were still survivors on Mount She.

They set out in the morning and finally reached their destination in the afternoon when it was almost getting dark.

When they walked to the end of the winding mountain road and saw that the place where they had once lived had become a ruin, Zhou Jiayu’s footsteps halted, and his breath caught.

Shen Yiqiong and Shen Musi had also come here before. Seeing the scene before their eyes, both showed expressions of unbearable sorrow.

“How could this happen.” Shen Yiqiong said blankly. “Isn’t their paper supposed to be unburnable? How is it all gone…”

The paper houses that should have been able to easily resist fire had now turned into black ashes. Snow fell upon them, mixing with the ashes to form a mottled color that made one’s blood run cold.

The only thing worth being grateful for was that they didn’t see the corpses of Xu clan members in the ashes.

“Since we don’t see people, they might still be alive.” Lin Jue’s expression was complicated. She turned to Zhou Jiayu and said, “Jiayu, ask Xiao Zhi and see if Xiao Zhi has any clues.”

Zhou Jiayu took Xiao Zhi out from his embrace. Xiao Zhi was curled into a ball, sobbing non-stop, looking extremely sad.

“Xiao Zhi.” Zhou Jiayu stroked his head, soothing his emotions. “Xiao Zhi, can you sense where the others are?”

Xiao Zhi shook his head and said in a low voice, “All gone, all gone.”

From the time they arrived at Mount She, he seemed to have been repeating this sentence. Zhou Jiayu opened his mouth, still wanting to say something, but Lin Zhushui gently interrupted him.

“Go look at the Ancestral Tree.” Lin Zhushui said, “The Xu clan’s people, even if they sacrifice their lives, will protect the Ancestral Tree.”

That was true. Zhou Jiayu nodded.

“You all stay here and see if there’s anyone else. Zhou Jiayu and I will go take a look over there.” Lin Zhushui instructed, “That place is the Xu clan’s forbidden ground. Ordinary people had best not enter. You all check the surroundings and see if you can discover anything.”

Lin Jue said, “Go. Be safe.”

Lin Zhushui took Zhou Jiayu and headed in the direction of the Ancestral Tree. Previously when Elder Xu had taken them to the Ancestral Tree, he had paper people pull a sled as transportation. Now without paper people, Lin Zhushui found a few pieces of deadwood in the nearby forest, then took out several sheets of paper from his bosom and folded them into the shape of paper cranes.

The paper cranes flapped their wings and flew up, then flew beneath the deadwood and lifted the wood. Zhou Jiayu sat on the wood and was lifted up together with it.

“Go.” At Lin Zhushui’s command, the paper cranes shot out. Their speed was extremely fast. Zhou Jiayu had to bend down and hug the wood beneath him so he wouldn’t be thrown off.

Lin Zhushui was behind him. The two of them, one in front and one behind, hurried toward the place where the Ancestral Tree was located.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t know how long he had stayed on the wood. In any case, when the wood stopped, his entire face was frozen stiff, and he kept exhaling breath and rubbing his cheeks with his hands.

Lin Zhushui quickly checked the surroundings, then furrowed his brows. “Someone has been here.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Someone went in?”

Lin Zhushui neither confirmed nor denied it, only walking forward.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the cave where the Ancestral Tree was located, which Elder Xu had taken them to a year ago. The moment they reached the entrance, Zhou Jiayu sucked in a cold breath, because the massive iron door that should have been standing at the cave entrance had actually been destroyed. The door looked like it had been forcibly smashed open by something, revealing an irregular hole large enough for two people to pass through.

Xiao Zhi immediately jumped out from Zhou Jiayu’s embrace and rushed toward the inside of the door.

“Xiao Zhi!” Zhou Jiayu didn’t catch him and watched helplessly as he ran forward at an extremely fast speed. Zhou Jiayu broke into a run to chase after him, also entering through the iron door.

Behind the iron door were winding tunnels. Zhou Jiayu remembered that Elder Xu had once said these tunnels were measures to protect the Ancestral Tree. If one took the wrong path, they would never get out again. But Xiao Zhi’s speed was truly too fast. In the blink of an eye, Zhou Jiayu had lost him.

“Xiao Zhi!!” Calling Xiao Zhi’s name, Zhou Jiayu was anxious in his heart. His voice echoed in the tunnels.

A pair of hands gently pressed on his shoulders. Lin Zhushui’s voice came: “Zhou Jiayu.”

“Sir, Xiao Zhi ran off.” Zhou Jiayu said worriedly. “Will he get lost?”

Lin Zhushui said, “He won’t. Xiao Zhi is the Ancestral Tree’s child. He is born with a natural sense of direction and won’t get lost.” He conveniently took Zhou Jiayu’s hand. “Follow me.”

Zhou Jiayu relaxed.

Lin Zhushui led Zhou Jiayu forward. Along the way, Zhou Jiayu didn’t see anything strange. There were no Xu clan members, nor any outsiders. The tunnels were extremely quiet; one could only hear the sound of their footsteps stepping on the ground.

The environment here had extremely high similarity. Everywhere were forked paths. If someone unfamiliar entered, they would definitely get lost in them. But Zhou Jiayu had utmost confidence in Lin Zhushui. He held Lin Zhushui’s hand, following his footsteps, advancing in the correct direction.

After about ten-odd minutes, a somewhat familiar massive rock entered Zhou Jiayu’s view. Zhou Jiayu remembered this rock. It seemed that as long as they went around it, they would see the Ancestral Tree growing in the great pit.

“Xiao Zhi!!” Zhou Jiayu called Xiao Zhi’s name again.

However, when he slowly went around the giant rock and reached the cliff edge where the Ancestral Tree should have been growing, the scene before his eyes made Zhou Jiayu freeze.

He saw that the deep pit where the Ancestral Tree should have been growing was now completely empty. The thick, towering tree was gone, and no trace related to it remained in the surroundings.

“The Ancestral Tree is gone??” Zhou Jiayu’s eyes were full of disbelief. He quickly ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

Beneath the cliff was still pitch-black darkness. One couldn’t see the situation below clearly. But the only thing that could be determined was that the Xu clan’s lifeline, that massive Ancestral Tree, was gone.

Zhou Jiayu stood frozen in place, unable to understand the scene before his eyes for a moment.

Lin Zhushui also walked to Zhou Jiayu’s side. However, he didn’t seem to be directing his attention below the cliff. Instead, he slightly tilted his head, his brows knitting into a rather displeased arc.

“Xu Jinghuo.” Lin Zhushui suddenly spoke.

Zhou Jiayu heard this name and looked in the direction Lin Zhushui was facing. He actually really saw a figure slowly revealing itself in the darkness.

“Long time no see.” Xu Jinghuo’s voice was hoarse. He stood against the light, making it impossible to see his features clearly.

Zhou Jiayu asked sharply, “Xu Jinghuo, did you do all this? Where did you put the Ancestral Tree? Where is Xiao Zhi?!” For the first time, he felt such intense anger toward a person, even wishing he could roll up his sleeves and go beat him up.

Xu Jinghuo laughed loudly upon hearing this. Only this laughter was uglier than crying. He said, “I, Xu Jinghuo, was born a Xu clan person and will die a Xu clan ghost. Every single thing I do is worthy of my Xu clan.”

Lin Zhushui said, “I believe you.”

Zhou Jiayu hadn’t expected Lin Zhushui to say this. He was just about to ask when he heard Lin Zhushui continue: “If you had betrayed the Xu clan, you wouldn’t have had another chance to come back to life.”

So that was it. Zhou Jiayu vaguely remembered that Lin Zhushui had mentioned this matter before, only he had almost completely forgotten.

Just as the few of them were speaking, Xiao Zhi, who had run off to who-knew-where, actually appeared behind Xu Jinghuo. He hugged Xu Jinghuo’s leg and was sobbing, like a wronged child.

“Xiao Zhi—” Zhou Jiayu called out to him worriedly.

Xu Jinghuo heard Zhou Jiayu’s call, reached out and gently patted Xiao Zhi’s head. His voice actually sounded somewhat gentle as he said, “Go.”

Xiao Zhi didn’t move.

“Go.” Xu Jinghuo said, “The Ancestral Tree is already gone. Your father still has the last remaining branch there, enough to support you until you grow up…”

Xiao Zhi heard Xu Jinghuo’s words, opened his mouth and cried a few more times, but finally still slowly moved his steps and walked toward Zhou Jiayu.

Zhou Jiayu hurriedly stepped forward to catch him, holding him tightly in his embrace and saying it was alright.

“The Xu family is gone.” Xu Jinghuo said, “I long ago predicted this day.” His gaze cast toward the bottomless abyss. “But fate is just like this. You know it will happen, yet are powerless.” He said this, revealing a smile. “Man can conquer nature—what a joke.”

Lin Zhushui frowned. “Xu Jinghuo, what did you encounter?”

Xu Jinghuo said, “Mr. Lin, did you calculate that the Xu clan would have this tribulation?”

Lin Zhushui shook his head.

Xu Jinghuo said, “Even you couldn’t calculate this tribulation, yet it happened.” He said, “But I knew long ago; I knew long long ago. I told Elder Xu, and he also knew, but he made the wrong choice.” He roared, “No matter how important the Ancestral Tree is, it’s just a tree. If the people are gone, then everything is gone—so what if the Xu clan can’t control paper? Without paper, can’t they live anymore?” His shoulders shook violently. One could see that his emotions were extremely intense right now.

“Where exactly did the fire seed come from?” Lin Zhushui said.

Xu Jinghuo said, “Fire descending from heaven, heaven destroying the Ancestral Tree.” He said in a hoarse voice, “The Xu clan could have chosen to leave, but they didn’t. They wanted to protect this tree, and in the end died here.” He said this, as if he had figured something out. “Right, this is fate, the Way of Heaven. No wonder no one could calculate it—”

But this fate that should have been unknown to all, had been known by Xu Jinghuo.

Zhou Jiayu listened to the conversation between Xu Jinghuo and Lin Zhushui, feeling that too much information was hidden within it. For a moment his mind was somewhat muddled.

Lin Zhushui let out a light sigh. He said, “Xu Jinghuo, for some clans, losing their roots means losing everything. The Xu clan has controlled paper for a hundred years; paper is their root.” He pointed at Xiao Zhi, who was speechless in Zhou Jiayu’s embrace. “If you saw these paper people turn to ashes before your eyes, what would you do?”

Xu Jinghuo’s expression froze for a long time before his lips finally moved slightly: “Was I wrong?” He looked at Xiao Zhi, then looked at the abyss before him. His entire person’s aura began to become extremely weak, as if he had received some massive blow. This blow even made him lose the desire to keep living.

“Fire came from the heavens, entered the Ancestral Tree, and burned the Xu clan.” Xu Jinghuo said, “Human calamity can be avoided, natural disaster is hard to escape. Seeking the method of creating jiangshi, the body of a merman, the contract of yin spirits—none can be avoided…”

Lin Zhushui frowned. “Even if it was to resolve the Xu clan’s disaster, you have stained your hands with too many human lives.”

“I know.” Xu Jinghuo said, “I know. I did what I should and shouldn’t do, but it was all useless, useless.” After saying this sentence, he took out a transparent bag from his pocket. Zhou Jiayu saw that the bag was full of black ashes, looking like what was formed after paper was completely burned by fire.

“My paper people are gone too.” Xu Jinghuo said, “They followed me for twenty-six years.” He slowly bent down, pressing the bag tightly against his chest. “I am the last adult of the Xu clan. Mr. Lin, I have one thing to entrust to you.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Speak.”

Xu Jinghuo said, “Please, for Elder Xu’s sake, look after the remaining few Xu clan members. They are still young and can integrate into the secular world…”

Lin Zhushui said, “Where are you going?”

Xu Jinghuo didn’t respond.

Lin Zhushui still seemed to want to say something, but the sound of people running came from the depths of the tunnel. Zhou Jiayu looked toward the cave entrance and saw several people wearing Daoist robes appear at the entrance. These people showed surprised expressions when they saw them inside.

“Mr. Lin.” The person leading them had white whiskers and white hair, holding a horsetail whisk. He stepped forward and called out.

“Daoist Zhang.” Lin Zhushui’s tone was somewhat cold.

“Your movements are truly fast.” The person Lin Zhushui called Daoist Zhang slowly walked in and also saw Zhou Jiayu. “Did you discover anything?”

Zhou Jiayu turned his head to look at the place where Xu Jinghuo had originally been standing, only to discover that he, who should have been there, was gone.

“No.” Lin Zhushui said, “Let’s go, Jiayu.”

Zhou Jiayu made an affirmative sound and followed behind Lin Zhushui.

But Daoist Zhang’s gaze turned to Zhou Jiayu. He saw the paper person Zhou Jiayu was holding in his embrace, and his eyes instantly grew fervent: “Could it be that Mr. Lin has found the method of controlling paper?”

Lin Zhushui casually pointed behind him at the broken cliff.

Daoist Zhang said, “What does Mr. Lin mean?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Jump down and you can find it.”

Daoist Zhang: “…” His expression twisted upon hearing this. Clearly he had understood that Lin Zhushui was deliberately mocking him.

“Mr. Lin…” Daoist Zhang still wanted to say something, but Lin Zhushui had already led Zhou Jiayu out. Although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he didn’t dare to confront Lin Zhushui head-on. He could only resentfully instruct his disciples to check the surroundings and see if they could discover any clues about the Xu family’s paper control.

Zhou Jiayu followed Lin Zhushui out of the cave where the Ancestral Tree was located. He said, “Sir, is it alright leaving those people inside?”

“Mm.” Lin Zhushui said, “The Ancestral Tree is already gone. Let them do as they please.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “What exactly do they want to do?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Whenever an ancient clan or great family falls, there are always some people like vultures circling overhead, wanting to get a share. Although these people are hateful, they are unavoidable.”

Zhou Jiayu understood. His impression of those people inside instantly became extremely poor.

After Lin Zhushui brought Zhou Jiayu out of the cave, he went straight to the river connected to the underground river in the cave. In the nearly frozen river, Zhou Jiayu actually saw the corpses of Xu clan members.

Of course, there weren’t many of these corpses. But Zhou Jiayu saw Elder Xu among them, the clan leader who had given Xiao Zhi to him.

The moment Xiao Zhi saw Elder Xu’s corpse, he lay by the riverside and wailed loudly. He cried extremely sorrowfully, large teardrops smashing onto the ground. When leaving the Xu clan, although Xiao Zhi had followed Zhou Jiayu since childhood, this land was after all his source.

Zhou Jiayu stroked him without speaking. He knew that at this time, words were pale.

Lin Zhushui took out a talisman paper from his hand. After lighting it, he directly threw it into the river. The flame on the talisman paper actually didn’t extinguish upon entering the water. Instead, it directly ignited the corpses in the river, then burned them into ashes. Zhou Jiayu watched as those ashes weren’t washed away by the current, but slowly sank to the bottom of the riverbed.

Lin Zhushui’s lips pressed into a straight line. His expression was full of solemnity. Finally, toward the place where the ashes were in the river, he slowly nodded.

“Let’s go.” Lin Zhushui said.

Zhou Jiayu made an affirmative sound.

On the way back, Zhou Jiayu asked Lin Zhushui, saying that the Ancestral Tree was so large. Even if it encountered a fire disaster, shouldn’t there still be some remains or something left?

Lin Zhushui only said the possibility was very small, because as long as branches remained, there would definitely be corresponding paper people still alive. If the paper people were all gone, then the situation where the Ancestral Tree still had remains shouldn’t exist either.

Zhou Jiayu rubbed Xiao Zhi upon hearing this, his mood somewhat complicated. He had previously always felt that the Ancestral Tree branch Elder Xu gave him was too precious. Now thinking about it, he instead felt that Elder Xu had very likely already predicted the Xu clan’s extinction-level disaster today.

Only he didn’t understand what exactly the meaning of “natural disaster” in Xu Jinghuo’s mouth was.

They left the Ancestral Tree and returned to where the Xu clan was located to rendezvous with Lin Jue and the others. Zhou Jiayu hadn’t expected that by the time they returned, there would actually be quite a few more people on this mountaintop. Judging from these people’s clothing, most of them should be from feng shui families. Their hurried expressions clearly showed they had just rushed over.

Lin Jue was talking with someone. Zhou Jiayu looked over and discovered that Xu Ruwang’s family had actually come too. Lin Jue was currently talking with Xu Ruwang’s master, Xu Jian.

“You’re back.” Lin Jue saw them and turned to ask, “Did it go smoothly?”

Lin Zhushui shook his head.

Lin Jue let out a sigh, knowing that something had definitely happened to the Ancestral Tree too. She said, “How could this be…” With the Ancestral Tree gone, the Xu family was completely finished. This clan would be struck from the register of great feng shui families. Although the paper-controlling arts still had folk circulation, the disappearance of the greatest branch was probably already a settled matter. In a few more years, those miraculous paper people would probably only become legends that later generations would half-believe.

“Let’s go. Go to town and see those few children.” Lin Zhushui said.

“Alright.” Lin Jue nodded.

They were just preparing to leave when they were called to a stop by Xu Jian: “Mr. Lin.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Mm.”

Xu Jian said, “Mr. Lin, I have something I want to ask.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Ask.”

Xu Jian said, “The Xu clan’s disaster this time, was it a natural disaster or a human calamity?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Natural disaster.”

His answer made Xu Jian show a surprised expression. Clearly, he hadn’t expected that the Xu clan had actually been exterminated because of a natural disaster. “Could Mr. Lin reveal what kind of natural disaster it was?”

Lin Zhushui slightly raised his eyes: “Can only guess one or two points. Perhaps it was heavenly fire.” But right now what exactly it was wasn’t important anymore. They couldn’t exactly seek revenge from the heavens.

“So that’s how it is,” Xu Jian sighed. “Truly a pity…”

Lin Zhushui nodded to Xu Jian, then prepared to leave. Only the people on the mountain all seemed to want to ask Lin Zhushui something. At first, a few people of higher seniority found Lin Zhushui, and Lin Zhushui still reluctantly dealt with them. When more people crowded around later, Lin Zhushui directly kept a cold face and didn’t say a word, leading his few disciples to continue walking forward.

Lin Jue was also annoyed to no end. On the way down the mountain, she kept cursing in a low voice, saying that eating dead people’s food wasn’t afraid of karmic retribution.

Lin Zhushui didn’t respond, only instructing Lin Jue to contact a hospital outside. He wanted to transfer the remaining underage Xu clan members out for treatment.

Lin Jue made an affirmative sound, only somewhat worried that the people on the mountain wouldn’t agree. After all, these people might hold the Xu clan’s last secrets.

“Do I need their agreement?” Lin Zhushui said with a cold laugh. “I’d like to see who dares come block me.”

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Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu: Good boy, Xiao Zhi, don’t be sad. Pat, pat.

Lin Zhushui: I’m not happy either.

Zhou Jiayu: T-then I’ll help Sir pat too?

Lin Zhushui said: Help me pat where?

Zhou Jiayu’s face instantly turned red.