Chapter 26 - Celebration

After walking for a couple of hours, they found a small wood and decided to search the area. Fortuitously they discovered a cave uninhabited where to spend the night. Therefore Kang told his subordinates that they would camp there for the night.

Although it was not the maximum of comfort, sleeping outside, at least they wouldn’t have to sleep directly exposed to the elements. Furthermore, sleeping in the cave was easier to monitor than sleeping in an open space.

While the various Sons of Underworld’s people split their tasks to prepare everything necessary to spend the night there, Hei took on the task of finding water in the surroundings to preserve as much as possible what they had brought with them.

He volunteered for this task as, in that way, he could take advantage of it to take the buffaloes out for a short walk so that they could eat and drink while the others finished their dinner preparations.

Once he had been given the various empty waterskins that they had, he then went into the woods leading the buffaloes. Obviously, his two little sisters and his mother were with him.

The various animals, hearing them approaching, all hid in their small burrows. It was rare for them to see powerful animals like the buffaloes, not to mention the albino buffalo, which was emanating calm and power at the same time. But in addition to that, they instinctively felt that there was something else they had to hide from, even though they didn't know what.

After all, small animals had to pay attention every day to avoid being devoured, and therefore they knew how to recognize when there was something dangerous nearby. Leaving aside the various tiny insects that approached exploiting the fact of being seemingly insignificant, Hei didn’t encounter any inconvenience while driving the buffaloes.

Eventually, he encountered a pond during his scouting. The buffaloes placed themselves neatly side by side and began to drink to quench their thirst. The water didn’t look clear, and it was a little muddy. However, it wasn’t a problem for them to drink. Ye and Xing also came down from Hei's body to go drink.

Seeing this, Hei scratched his head, unsure about what to do. Drinking water directly could make him ill or so he had learned from his mother. It happened that Bao Bei purified with her spirit power the water she took before giving it to Hei to drink. This was done mostly when the water wasn’t particularly clear.

But now he didn't have to take the water only for himself but also for all the others. So it didn't seem appropriate for him to disturb his mother with such a request. Therefore, he decided trying to purify it himself first.

So, both his hands emerged inside and took some water out. The water in his hands was murky and not attractive.

Trying to concentrate, Hei closed his eyes to perceive only the small amount of water he had in his hands, trying to grasp its essence by activating his spirit power. However, shortly after that, he had to give up because the process quickly consumed the little spirit power he had.

Seeing him dejected from the failure, Bao Bei told him to comfort him,

‘What you tried to do is not something you can grasp immediately. It is an alchemy’s basic technique, but also one of the most difficult: to make one's spirit power resonate with the object in question. With this technique, it is possible to change the property of the object or help it to merge with others. Purifying the water or creating pills that are useful in cultivation are among the things you can do with it, but all this requires precise control and perseverance.'

Hearing this, Hei gave a bitter smile and answered, ‘I understand. I just wanted to give it a try, but I didn't think it was that hard.’

‘Did you want to purify the water to bring it to the others?’ Bao Bei asked, sensing the reasons behind her son's actions.

Seeing that he nodded his head, she came down from Hei's head, and, with the appearance of a tiny spider, she approached the water.

When she came down, the water buffaloes that were drinking suddenly froze. Among them, the albino buffalo was the most shocked of all. Without delay, it unconsciously bent its front legs together with its head as if it wanted to bow. The other buffaloes also followed its example.

At the strange behavior of the albino buffalo, Hei was speechless. He couldn’t understand why it was behaving like that in front of his mother, considering it was the first time it saw her directly.

Bao Bei shifted her gaze to the albino buffalo and raised one of her legs to signal to it to stand up and stared at it for a few moments. Then she looked away and concentrated on the pond.

However, after getting up, the albino buffalo’s eyes shone as if he had just been reinvigorated by something. It had had a similar reaction when Hei told him that he would release him and its companions and unconsciously trusted his words, restoring the vigor that was gradually disappearing from its body.

But now it was different. It seemed as if its whole being was bursting with joy and trepidation. In its gaze, instead, there was a resolute light. It was as if all the suffering it had endured so far was a prelude to this meeting. If a comparison has to be made, it will be as if a person found the purpose of their life.

While Hei, Ye, and Xing were still watching the scene numb, Bao Bei put one of her legs in the water, letting some of her spirit power escape come out.

After a short time, there was a change in the water. A portion of water became clear without the turbidity that was before. After doing this, Bao Bei motioned for Hei to come closer to fill the waterskins.

With his mind still thinking about what had happened, Hei did his job anyway and completed it. Now that he had done what he had to, it was time to go back to the others. But the curiosity was still present in his heart.

Seeing her curious children, Bao Bei smiled inwardly and said to them, ‘Do you want to know why they knelt first? I will tell you, however, only after we have settled into a sect. All right?'

Since their mother had promised to reveal it to them later, the three of them nodded their heads and no longer continued the subject and resumed walking. It didn't take long for them to get into the cave where the others were.

When they arrived, they could smell a slight fragrance flowing from outside the cave. The people there had already started cooking. From the smell, Hei realized that they had caught some wild game nearby.

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At that point, he began arranging the buffaloes just outside the cave entrance as there wasn’t enough space inside. The albino buffalo beckoned that it was all right when Hei tried to apologize for this. Apparently, they wanted to sleep outdoors as they had always been forced to rest and spend most of their time indoors.

After setting the buffaloes, he brought back all the waterskins now full and positioned them in a corner of the cave. When he saw him coming back, Kang approached Hei and patted him on the shoulder.

"You found the water, well done. In that way, we should be good for quite a while. Come on. Dinner is almost ready.” Then he motioned for Hei to follow him.

While following him, Hei saw that the others had placed themselves in a circle around a bonfire above which there was a boiling pot. The fragrance he had perceived came from there. They probably added the prey captured into the pot to create a kind of meat stew, since, on the ground nearby, there were some skins with some meat still attached. Looking after the pot, there was a group of young women who were tasting the stew to see if it was okay.

When Kang made his way through the circle of people, all those present interrupted their conversations and stared at him. Even the women in charge of eating stopped their movements. Hei followed shortly after, and, at Kang's request, he stood beside him.

"Today is a new day for everyone. This morning had started as an ordinary day, yet so many things happened that we never thought could happen so fast."

At that point, he stopped for a moment to look at the listeners. Then he continued in a calm voice, "Dong Zhen is dead as well as his bodyguard. However, even so, we cannot return to Green City. With his death, a power struggle will begin to take his position. In truth, I wanted to take part in this fight, but thanks to Hei, we now have another option. Going to another city and starting from scratch, not like sewer rats but like normal people in a real home of our own. We have enough money to carry out this project. Obviously, anyone is free to join our family if they desire to."

Hearing the last sentence, the former slaves burst into tears at this news. They didn’t expect them to be given the opportunity to join the Sons of Underworld as they were strangers. It was already unbelievable that they had been freed and brought here. This news was, therefore, like a godsend: having fallen into slavery, they could no longer return to their native cities or villages, and they no longer had relatives or friends to rely on.

Seeing them cry, Kang smiled and said, "Cry, cry as much as you want tonight, not out of sadness but out of joy. You are no longer slaves, but Sons’ of Underworld member! But all this couldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for one person. I and all of you will always be indebted to him, but at least for tonight, I want to make a toast to this person. Hei, the one who changed our destiny.” At that point, he took a large bottle of wine from the ground and took a sip of it and then handed it to Hei.

Hei, seeing Kang's determined gaze, took a sip, and then passed it to the person closest to him. Like that, the bottle was passed from person to person, and everyone drank from it to attest their bond.

Ye and Xing wanted to take a sip, but Hei thought it was better not to. After all, even if he didn't care, it didn't mean that other people would be willing to drink from the same bottle from which had drunk two animals. So he promised them that he would make up in the future by buying them a bottle of whatever they wanted to drink.

When the toast was over, it was time for dinner. Since there were no bowls for everyone, for the little ones, glasses were used to put the stew in. They could drink directly from the waterskins anyway.

The surrounding atmosphere didn’t take long to become cheerful and festive as everyone laughed and joked happily. Taking advantage of it, Hei, after putting his bowl down to let Ye and Xing eat first, turned to Kang.

"Kang, I have a question I hope you can answer. With all that happened today, I couldn't ask about it."

Intrigued by that premise, Kanga motioned for the others to move away slightly to leave them more space and privacy as he replied, "Tell me, if it's within my abilities, I'll be happy to help you out."

"Okay. The real reason I came to Green City was to find information about the sects in the surrounding area."

"Sects? Do you want to be part of a sect? I thought... "Surprised Kang was speechless for a moment. With all the mystery that hovered around Hei, he thought this mysterious guy was part of a sect or had some famous relatives belonging to a sect. He didn't expect him to be a wandering cultivator.

"No, I'm not a part of a sect. I would like to join one, but I don't know how many there are and where they are located." Hei replied, pressing Kang to get his answers. They had solved this incident and saved the buffaloes. So now, they had to reach a sect as soon as possible. Only then would his training begin.

"There are several of them nearby, but they are all small sects. The nearest large sect from here would be the Flowers Sect. It was once a sect composed of only women, but their power deteriorated, and therefore, they began to accept male disciples as well. Although they are no longer as renowned as they used to be, their profound knowledge of growing rare flowers and plants still makes them worthy of ranking between the big sects."

Upon hearing the Flower Sect’s description, Hei was immediately attracted. Because he wanted to plant the seeds he had bought, a sect devoted to plant cultivation was the ideal, as there would be more material there about growing rare plants. As for cultivation manuals or techniques that the sect could provide, he wasn’t very interested; after all, his mother had already told him that she would supply everything he needed, and Hei wouldn't have doubted his mother. Therefore he made Kang tell him the direction he should have to follow to reach the sect.

While busy in their discussion, one girl suddenly approached Kang with shyness and asked in a low voice,

"B-boss, could you come and give us a hand? There, as you can see..."

With her voice disappearing from her throat, she timidly pointed to a corner of the cave where a blue-haired girl lay motionless, leaning against the cave wall. Next to her, the other female prisoners of Dong Zhen were trying to make her eat but to no avail.

Since they had run out of ideas, they finally decided to ask Kang about how they should proceed. Understanding the situation, Kang was about to go to their rescue but stopped his tracks, seeing Hei had moved first. Intrigued, he motioned the former slaves to leave the blue-haired girl alone for Hei to resolve the matter.

Hei sat down next to the blue-haired girl and stood there in silence. Then he asked another bowl of stew and placed it on the ground while he ate a bite of it. Meanwhile, he urged Ye and Xing to eat from the same bowl as he knew his two little sisters weren’t yet satisfied.

The girl moved her gaze slightly when she saw a small spider and a small snake eating the stew, but she had no other reaction. This scene continued for quite a while without being disturbed as Kang had given precise instructions.

After about a quarter of an hour, Xing, who didn’t understand why the girl was watching them without eating, stuck a piece of meat with her two pedipalps. Then, she approached the girl by touching her hand with one of her legs.

Surprised by the contact, the girl looked down, and she could see Xing holding this piece of meat, signaling her to take it. Following the example of her sister, Ye also grabbed a piece of meat but with her tail.

At that point, Hei turned to the girl to tell her what his little sisters were trying to do, "They're sharing their food with you, it's not something that happens every day because they're very gluttonous. Please, accept their gifts.” Then he didn't add anything else while waiting for her response.

She, who didn’t respond to what Hei had said, eventually accepted the offered pieces of meat and brought them to her mouth, surprising Hei as he didn't think she would be willing to do it.

Happy to be able to get her to eat, Ye and Xing started bringing her more and more meat, even forgetting to eat. Perhaps it was strange for them to find someone who didn't want to eat, and they wanted to change her mind. But whatever it was, as long as they were fine, Hei wouldn't try to stop them.

The people who were watching took that spectacle took a sigh of relief. In the end, the girl had eaten, but they inwardly thought that it would be difficult in the future if she made a fuss every time they had to eat. Their only hope was she could improve over time.

With the hope for a better future, the celebration for today's success ended to leave room for the night, and for the tomorrow that didn’t have certainties, but that could also reserve many surprises for them.