Chapter 233: The Land of Longing

"Huh? Zhui Ming actually ran into this person?" Wu Qing was shocked to see Zhui Ming mentioned in the diary, and even that Zhui Ming had run into the diary's writer and even challenged him to a light-kung gong competition.

"When I saw the diary's writer arrive in the Song Dynasty, I was thinking about how to find him, but I didn't expect to run into Zhui Ming. What a lucky guy!" "

However, by now, he should have left the capital, so it's a bit too late. I can only find him and make a deal with him when he returns from the Sui Dynasty." Wu Qing couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

She was truly full of anticipation for the Divine Illumination Sutra.

Of course, she knew of Tianshan Tonglao. Through the Divine Marquis Mansion's channels, she knew some basic information about Tianshan Tonglao. She

also knew that due to her demonic possession, Tianshan Tonglao's body had stopped growing, and she only resembled an eight or nine-year-old girl.

Even in the case of the Child-Grandmother of Tianshan, the Divine Illumination Sutra could heal her. Perhaps the Divine Illumination Sutra could heal her legs and allow her to stand again.

Even if the Divine Illumination Sutra isn't effective, there's still the Rama Internal Power created by Master Zhang Sanfeng.

Rama Internal Power, in particular, is so potent it can even regenerate a severed limb. Just like Yue Buqun, who castrated himself to practice swordsmanship, practicing Rama Internal Power might even allow him to grow back his missing third leg.

Even if it's lost, it can still be regrown. Her legs simply have some issues, and Rama Internal Power should be able to allow her to stand again.

Of course, neither the Divine Illumination Sutra nor Rama Internal Power is unique to Ye Xiu.

For example, Ye Xiu learned the Divine Illumination Sutra from Ding Dian, but Ding Dian was from the Ming Dynasty and later lived in seclusion, leaving his whereabouts unknown.

Ye Xiu also passed the Divine Illumination Sutra on to many others, but most of them were not in the Song Dynasty. The only one who was in the Song Dynasty was the Child-Grandmother of Tianshan.

However, obtaining the Divine Illumination Scripture from the Child-Grandmother of Tianshan would be extremely difficult. After all, the Child-Grandmother of Tianshan was a Grandmaster, even one who had reached the Profound Finger Realm.

Six-Five Divine Marquis Zhuge Xiaohua was also a Grandmaster, but honestly, Zhuge's situation wasn't very good either.

It wasn't his physical condition or strength that was weak, but rather his predicament.

The Song Dynasty, from the emperor to the ministers, was largely in disarray.

Zhuge Xiaohua wasn't one to go along with the corrupt, so he wasn't favored by the emperor. Furthermore, the treacherous officials in the court were watching him, waiting for him to reveal a flaw and deliver a fatal blow.

Therefore, Wuqing absolutely refused to allow Zhuge Xiaohua to face off against a Grandmaster like the Child-Grandmother of Tianshan for her sake. Wuqing

had already made up her mind: she would wait for Zhuge Xiaohua's return from the Sui Dynasty. Only then would she meet with her and seek the Divine Illumination Scripture or the Rama Internal Power.

However, both the Divine Illumination Sutra and the Rama Internal Power possessed miraculous healing powers. To obtain such abilities, she feared she would have to pay a price.

Wuqing pondered her own worth, and realized she had nothing worth exchanging.

Her martial arts, inherited from Zhuge Shenhou, could not be passed on without his permission. And her mind-reading abilities, a psychic ability, were innate, and she couldn't pass them on to others. Beyond that, she felt as if she had nothing left. She couldn't trade her broken body for someone else's, could she?

Wuqing glanced down at her legs, a wave of self-loathing washed over her.

Of course, she couldn't give up this chance to stand up again. She had to at least try, even if the chances were slim. Doing

nothing simply because she believed it wouldn't work would only make her even more unwilling.

Wuqing's hand rested on the diary, lost in thought.

"Huh? Wuqing, why is the candle still lit in your room? Did you stay up all night?" Jiaoniang's voice called from outside.

Wuqing was startled by the voice. Only then did she realize that she had been concentrating entirely on her diary. By the time she finished reading, it was almost daybreak. Looking at the candle in the room, it had only burned down to a tiny bit.

"No, Jiaoniang, I just woke up a little early today and couldn't fall asleep before daybreak, so I lit the candle," Wuqing explained.

"Is that so? I thought you hadn't slept all night."

"How could that be—" By the way, Jiaoniang, is Zhui Ming back?" Wuqing asked.

"Zhui Ming, he did come back last night, but it was a little late, so he didn't tell you."

"Okay, I see."

Wuqing decided to ask Zhui Ming about the person he was going to compete with in Qing Gong.

However, Wuqing hesitated for a moment after glancing at the diary in her hand. She decided not to tell Zhuge Shenhou and the others about the diary.

Wuqing knew that once they read the diary and learned that the Divine Illumination Sutra or the Rama Internal Power could restore her to her feet, everyone in the Divine Marquis's mansion would be desperately trying to obtain them.

Wuqing didn't want to burden everyone with such trouble, especially not to make Zhuge Shenhou an enemy for no reason.

With this in mind, Wuqing decided to hide the diary from everyone else.

...

In an ancient tomb that seemed somewhat aloof, even gloomy, a delicate little girl stared curiously at the large black book before her.

"Long'er, what are you reading? It's time for breakfast," Li Mochou said to the three or four-year-old girl, bending down and picking her up.

Looking at the little girl's rosy cheeks, Li Mochou felt that her junior sister was truly adorable and couldn't help but give her a hearty kiss.

"Senior sister, I'm reading this—" The little girl was Xiaolongnu.

However, at this time, Xiaolongnu was clearly very young, her voice only childish.

At this moment, Xiaolongnu couldn't quite capture her later, aloof, otherworldly demeanor.

"Huh? What? Is there anything here? Nothing at all, Long'er. Are you kidding me? Hehe, you're so adorable, Long'er." Li Mochou grinned, kissing Xiaolongnu on the cheek again.

Xiaolongnu's brows furrowed slightly, "It's just—" She found herself unable to articulate the black notebook she'd seen.

"Okay, okay, let's go, Long'er." Li Mochou didn't take Xiaolongnu's appearance too seriously.

It was primarily because she was so young.

Besides the two of them, the ancient tomb also contained the founder, Lin Chaoying, their master, and Granny Sun, who cared for them.

However, because of Wang Chongyang, Lin Chaoying was in seclusion deep within the tomb, attempting to create a martial art that could surpass Wang Chongyang's, even surpassing the Nine Yin Manual he obtained during the Huashan Sword Contest. It hadn't been seen in a long time.

Even though Lin Chaoying was in seclusion, Li Mochou and Xiaolongnu's master remained.

Their master, originally a maidservant, possessed remarkable talent. Later, Lin Chaoying took her in as a disciple and, rumor has it, under her personal guidance, she had now reached the ninth level of the Grandmaster Realm.

So, while Grandmaster Lin Chaoying was in seclusion, with their master, a ninth-level Grandmaster, guarding the ancient tomb, and the tomb itself being heavily fortified, Li Mochou had no concerns about outsiders.

Since there were no outsiders, it was only natural that Xiaolongnu would encounter something special.

Confused, Xiaolongnu glanced again in the direction of the diary before being carried away by Li Mochou.

Xiaolongnu, young as she was, naturally slept more deeply than adults,

and therefore didn't wake up when the diary appeared last night.

Upon waking, she did see the diary, but was once again carried away by her senior sister, Li Mochou.

"

Grandma, take a look at Master Ye's diary. This time, he mentions Wuqing and Xiaolongnu. Could they, like us, be the holders of the diary?" Ah Zhu asked the Child-Grandmother of Tianshan, looking at the diary.

The Child-Grandmother of Tianshan frowned. "That's quite possible. After all, with the exception of a few, most of the women mentioned by Master Ye in his diary have obtained the diary. It's very likely that Wuqing and Xiaolongnu are the holders of the diary, just like us. So, let's go to Tokyo and ask Wuqing for clarification. As for Xiaolongnu—she's just a name, so finding her isn't going to be easy, but I'll have someone look for her."

"Tokyo? Okay, I also want to see if Wuqing, who Master Ye said might look like Yuyan, really does look like Yuyan," Ah Zhu said with a smile to Wang Yuyan beside her.

"I don't think so. Looking like me? After all, I don't have any relationship with Wuqing or Xiaolongnu," Wang Yuyan said softly.

"That's not entirely certain. Your grandmother is quite the woman of pleasure." Tianshan Tonglao sneered, her tone disparaging Li Qiushui.

Wang Yuyan lowered her head and remained silent.

She had long since grown accustomed to Tianshan Tonglao's occasional taunts about her grandmother.

At first, Wang Yuyan was quite offended by her taunts, even though she had never met her.

But since her grandfather, Wuyazi, had been so kind to her, she subconsciously assumed she would be kind to her as well.

However, when Tianshan Tonglao presented Wang Yuyan with the reports she had gathered about Li Qiushui's keeping of concubines, she felt no rebuttal.

After all, in ancient times, if a man had many women, at best, he was considered a playboy. Take Ye Xiu, for example. With so many women around him, no one considered him anything special, nor did they consider him a flawed character.

But when such things happened to a woman, it was completely off-putting.

Not to mention, Li Qiushui had conspired with her husband's disciple, Ding Chunqiu, to throw her husband, Wuyazi, off a cliff, leaving him crippled for years.

Meanwhile, Wang Yuyan knew that Li Qiushui, who should have reached Grandmaster status in her twenties, had been stuck at the ninth level of the Grandmaster realm for decades, her body remaining the size of an eight or nine-year-old girl.

Compared to Li Qiushui's ruthlessness, the Tianshan Child-Lao's mere scolding of Li Qiushui was quite magnanimous.

Seeing Wang Yuyan's silence, the Tianshan Child-Lao's taunts faded. "Go pack! We're heading to Tokyo today."

...

"Finally, we've arrived at the Great Sui Dynasty." Ye Xiu slowed his pace slightly.

He had barely stopped along the way, using his Wind God Leg to travel at high speed. Now that he had finally reached the Great Sui Dynasty, he breathed a sigh of relief.

However, upon arriving, Ye Xiu discovered that the environment, and indeed the lives of its people, were far from perfect.

Of course, it was still slightly better than the Mongols.

The main reason was that within the Mongols, the Han people's status was incredibly low, allowing them to be easily bullied. All sorts of taxes fell heavily on the Han people, suffocating them. Most of them were emaciated and pale, with some even resorting to cannibalism.

Within the Sui Dynasty, life was equally difficult for the people there. Many looked pale.

There were also numerous beggars, refugees, and the like.

But at least, they were still slightly better off than the Han people of the Mongols.

While not many, it was certainly better off.

"It looks like the Great Sui Dynasty is truly doomed," Ye Xiu lamented.

The Great Sui Dynasty, once a prosperous one, had been under the reign of Yang Guang's father, Yang Jian. Everything seemed fine and prosperous.

Even Yang Jian's Sui Dynasty was still largely dependent on the aristocratic families, the powerful clans, and even the Cihang Jingzhai and the Demon Sect. But at least on the surface, things seemed quite good, even vibrant, and everything was heading in the right direction for the Sui Dynasty.

Unfortunately, everything changed after Yang Guang ascended to the throne.

First, Yang Guang disowned Cihang Jingzhai!

Primarily, he didn't want to be Cihang Jingzhai's puppet. He felt that as the emperor, the Son of Heaven, the entire Sui Dynasty should obey him. "

All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people are his subjects. "

Besides disowning Cihang Jingzhai, he also instituted the imperial examination system, attempting to break the aristocratic families' monopoly on talent during the Sui Dynasty. Consequently,

both Cihang Jingzhai and the aristocratic families began to resent Yang Guang.

During Yang Guang's three campaigns against Goryeo, he intended to use the war to severely weaken the power of the aristocratic families. However, the aristocratic families took advantage of the situation and directly drained the entire Sui Dynasty's strength.

Even more surprising to Yang Guang was that Cihang Jingzhai was secretly working to unite all forces opposing Yang Guang and directly target the Sui Dynasty.

After the three expeditions to Goryeo, the Sui Dynasty completely collapsed, becoming the state it is today.

Even after Yang Guang's death, various uprisings arose within the Sui Dynasty. Cihang Jingzhai even began secretly colluding with the Tang Dynasty, attempting to draw it in and completely overrun the Sui Dynasty.

Under these circumstances, the living conditions of the Sui Dynasty's inhabitants were naturally devastating.

Yet, even in this situation, the people here enjoyed a marginally better standard of living than the Han Chinese of the Yuan Dynasty, demonstrating the depths of suffering they endured.

…

Looking at the ragged, pale-faced people, a flicker of pity flashed in Ye Xiu's eyes. He

then used his Qing Gong technique once again, vanishing in a flash.

Since he couldn't bear to see it, and since he had no immediate way to change the situation, he simply stopped watching. If

he couldn't see, he could just pretend he knew nothing, and that would naturally make him feel a little better.

After a long and hasty journey, Ye Xiu finally arrived at a city.

Upon his arrival, he found it surprisingly pleasant.

He even rarely saw beggars or refugees.

Ye Xiu knew this was because the city's inhabitants had driven the beggars and refugees out.

With them gone, there were no more beggars and refugees, and the city's residents naturally didn't see the current world as chaotic.

Ye Xiu offered no comment. Restaurants, teahouses, and even brothels were often the best places to gather intelligence. So, Ye Xiu headed straight for one of the most luxurious pleasure boats.

Such places had always intrigued Ye Xiu, filled with a yearning. 

After all, if one traveled back to ancient times and didn't visit such places a few times, it felt like a wasted trip. 

But until now, Ye Xiu hadn't had the time or the opportunity. 

After all, Ye Xiu's travels were always accompanied by a group of beautiful women. It wouldn't be easy for Ye Xiu to abandon these beauties and head straight for the brothels, right? 

What's more, Ye Xiu didn't think that the women in Qinlou and Chuguan were more attractive than Dongfang Yaoyue and the others. 

So, although Ye Xiu yearned for such a place, he had never taken any action. 

Now, he was the only one going out, and he had the time and opportunity to explore Qinlou and Chuguan. Besides, he really needed a place to collect intelligence, so Ye Xiu came. 

"Oh, sir, you are finally here. The girls here have been missing you for a long time." The old madam, who was in her thirties, still had some beauty and a bit of a middle-aged lady's style, greeted him with a smile after seeing Ye Xiu. 

The old madam said this as if Ye Xiu was an acquaintance here, and Ye Xiu didn't care: "Find me a place with a good view, and find two beautiful girls." 

As he said that, Ye Xiu threw a gold ingot directly into the old madam's towering chest. 

The old madam quickly caught the gold ingot that bounced up by her chest, her face full of smiles: "Sir, a good place is reserved for you, please follow me..."