Lost of Oblivion: Chapter Four

First of all, Wèi WúXiàn flew back to Wěishàn Village, and observed that it was completely empty, not even a single farm animal was left behind.

Like the drill instructor mentioned earlier that the villagers had already packed their belongings, which, fortunately, made the evacuation to be done much faster.

Wèi WúXiàn then proceeded on what brought him here by blowing on Chénqíng so as to summon a large numbers of fierce corpses from the graveyard of the village.

Suddenly, he began to hear some cries, which were undoubtedly made by a baby.

Guided by the cries, Wèi WúXiàn found a baby girl, around three months old, inside of one of the empty houses.

Favouring boys over girls was the only reason that came into Wèi WúXiàn’s mind to explain why the parents of this baby heartlessly abandon their own daughter.

On a table, Wèi WúXiàn noticed a jar of milk, and, by the smell, he determined that it was from a sheep. Leaving this milk was probably the parents’ wish to ease the soul of the baby after death.

Wèi WúXiàn found it rather ironic to care for the soul of the baby rather than the baby herself, letting out a heavy sigh of despair.

He then took a sip of sheep milk in order to ensure its freshness, and quickly warmed it up with his spiritual power. Using a wooden spoon, also found on the table, he began to feed the baby.

However, not only the little baby girl was not familiar with Wèi WúXiàn’s scent, but also she was neither accustomed to the taste of sheep milk, nor was she used to be fed with a spoon. All of this caused her to cry even louder, wanting to be held and breastfed by her mother.

Wèi WúXiàn tried to soothe the crying baby, first by swinging side to side while holding her, then by gently stroking her back, and then by humming some nursery rhymes. However, none of these methods worked.

In the end, the baby got really hungry that she finally let Wèi WúXiàn feed her.

When he was a teenager, Wèi WúXiàn had taken care of his juniors of around six years old. However, he had never looked after a baby before.

So, for fear that he would choke the little baby, Wèi WúXiàn took extra care to fed her. And, after he finished spoon-feeding her, the baby, tired from crying so much, fell deeply asleep.

Wèi WúXiàn then became concerned with the amount of time that took him to deal with the baby.

Without further delay, he took the baby’s blanket and wrapped the little baby, then, holding the baby, he secured the blanket firmly around his torso like a baby wrap carrier, and was ready to go.

Before leaving the house, Wèi WúXiàn put back the waterproof spell that he had removed when he entered into the house, then he flew towards Ankang River, giving orders to the fierce corpses to follow along.

Remembering what Jiāng Yuán said about the Ankang embankment, which was burst by the flood under the reign of the previous dynasty, Wèi WúXiàn intended to build the barrier of fierce corpses at that precise location.

If his assumption was correct, the embankment must have been built where the width of the river was the most narrow, which was what he wanted.

The night had fallen in this dreadful rain, so, Wèi WúXiàn took out few fire-talismans from his sleeve, and ignited them so as to light his way to Ankang River.

Also illuminated by the talismans, Han River beneath was still turbulent, and the level of the water kept on increasing.

Upon reaching Ankang River, Wèi WúXiàn easily spotted the location of his interest, since the embankment had never been repaired, and, furthermore, at that spot, the current ran much faster.

He pulled off Chénqíng, brought it to his lips, but, all the sudden, he paused, appeared to have forgotten something.

He put his flute back on his waist belt, unshielded Suíbiàn, and cut two small and clean pieces of his gown, then, carefully, he plugged the baby’s ears with the two pieces of cloth.

The little baby was still sleeping soundly, putting her tiny little hands on Wèi WúXiàn’s chest.

Wèi WúXiàn noticed it, and the whole scene brought a warm smile on his face.

He then prodded her gently on the cheek, and said, “Young girl, wait that I finish my work here, then I will take you to see my HánGuāng-Jūn. He is the most handsome man in the world. You’re definitely going to like him.”

Then, he pulled off Chénqíng, and began to blow some notes. In response to the sound of the flute, the fierce corpses from Wěishàn Village’s graveyard jumped into the river.

From the riverbed and across the river, a tall wall of fierce corpses was formed, then, countless of water ghouls emerged from water, and scrambled up to fill the gaps between fierce corpses.

Wèi WúXiàn intensified the sound of his flute, which cut through the darkness of the night, spread across the surroundings, and resounded through the sky.

Soon after, more water ghouls came over, and quickly placed themselves on the remnants of the embankment so as to rebuild a new one.

Ever since Wèi WúXiàn had returned from death, this was the first time he used his demonic power on such a large scale.

In this heavy rain, the barrier of fierce corpses and water ghouls was completed, and the Ankang embankment was temporarily repaired with water ghouls.

The downstream flow of water progressively dropped, while, on the other side of the barrier, the coming waves hit violently the newly erected barrier.

At this rate, the barrier would not withstand the pressure much longer, so, Wèi WúXiàn summoned more corpses from far to reinforce the barrier.

However, it was not an easy task to overcome the force of nature, even for Yílíng Lǎozǔ, the founder of demonic cultivation.

At that instance, he felt a violent swing in his golden core vessel, immediately followed by a sharp pain as though his abdomen was ripped open.

“Oh gosh!” exclaimed Wèi WúXiàn, “I haven’t had the time to reconcile my newly formed golden core with my demonic power. Right now, the two opposite powers are clashing with each other.”

Ever since he had been living with Lán WàngJī, Wèi WúXiàn had rarely used his demonic power.

However, right now, not only he overused it, but also the existence of the freshly formed golden core made the situation to be more alarming. So, Wèi WúXiàn didn’t dare to be reckless. Besides, he had promised Lán WàngJī that he would be careful.

The last thing to be done was to use talismans to stabilise the barrier that he had just finished building, then, with the baby girl, he would rejoin Lán WàngJī.

However, all the remains of talismans in his possession were all marked with ‘blasting’ character on them; no more blank talismans left to be used for the barrier.

This inconvenience, however, didn’t stop him from carrying out his last task. He stepped on Suíbiàn, then got close to the barrier, and, up there, he cut his fingers with his sword, and then, using his blood, Wèi WúXiàn began to draw a series of characters on the barrier.

After he had finished marking the whole barrier, a bright red light shone from it like a wildfire blazing across the woods.

In the meantime, however, the pain in his golden core vessel had progressively increased. Now, it became unbearable.

“It’s done.” said to himself. Then, all of a sudden, he got dizzy, and, with the extreme pain in his abdomen, he was no longer able to stand on his sword, and fell on his butt along with his sword on the riverbed presently exhibited.

Using Suíbiàn as a support, and not allowing the silt to dirty the baby’s blanket, Wèi WúXiàn managed to stand up.

Then, he said, “This dizziness is caused by my using too much blood. I’m afraid that this time I have to drink the GūsūLán bitter decoction without complaint.”

At that precise moment, he felt a murderous aura, and, since he had been on the battlefields, facing death countless times, instinctively, Wèi WúXiàn dodged while protecting the baby.

The very next instant of him avoiding the unknown danger, a flash of energy of a sword whizzed past him.

A corner of his sleeve was torn off by the energy of that sword. Furthermore, the ripped cloth was sliced into small pieces, flew a few yards away, and landed scattered on the mud of the riverbed.

Wèi WúXiàn then turned his head towards where the attack came from, and, to his astonishment, he saw Fāng MèngChén.

Fāng MèngChén had left Wěishàn Village along with the rest of the villagers. However, soon after they had reached the main road, a quarrel broke out between the villagers and the youngsters of the YúnmèngJiāng sect.

Soon, the scene became chaotic, and, taking advantage of the conflict, Fāng MèngChén sneaked away with his sword, and flew back to the village. Just as he approached the village, he saw Wèi WúXiàn, who carried a baby, flew towards Ankang City, followed by fierce corpses.

“So, it’s you, who furtively attacked me.” said Wèi WúXiàn.

“Yes, it’s me. Are you surprised to see me?” uttered Fāng MèngChén with a face full of hatred. “I’m here to put an end to your despicable existence.” he added.

After secretly following Wèi WúXiàn, Fāng MèngChén had hidden himself inside the dense woods on one side of the river, waiting for Wèi WúXiàn to exhaust himself, as well as using up all his spiritual power.

Unfortunately for Wèi WúXiàn, there were no more corpses or water ghouls in a radius of several miles that he could summon to fight against Fāng MèngChén.

On the other hand, he could not afford to break the spell of the talismans, and use the fierce corpses that were holding the water of the river back, or use the ghouls that formed the embankment as a flood prevention.

So, bearing the severe pain in his abdomen, Wèi WúXiàn held Suíbiàn on one hand, and shielded the baby with the other hand, he fought and exchanged several attacks with Fāng MèngChén.

For some time, they attacked each other with their spiritual powers without interruption.

Then, as it was advisable for him not to use too much of his spiritual power, came an acute sensation from his abdomen. At that instance, Wèi WúXiàn sensed that some cracks were formed in his golden core, similar to those in a crystal ball.

Trying hard to stand firm on his feet while concealing any flaws, Wèi WúXiàn said, “You are here to avenge the death of your parents, however, your revenge has nothing to do with this baby. So, let me put her on the riverbank.”

Fāng MèngChén snorted, and said sharply, “Why should I spare the life of your evil child?”

Irritated, Wèi WúXiàn said, “Are you mad? This baby is not my child.”

Being as stubborn as a mule, Fāng MèngChén uttered, “If the child is not yours, then why are you protecting her?” As he spoke, Fāng MèngChén gathered a great amount of energy that he transferred to his sword, and struck hard.

Wèi WúXiàn didn’t dare to block the attack. He thrust Suíbiàn into the riverbed, and, with his martial art skills and the support of his sword, he shielded the baby, leaned his body backwards, and avoided the blow.

Looking like a madman, Fāng MèngChén laughed hideously, and said, “Wèi WúXiàn, are you not always going on the rampage? Why do you keep on dodging my attacks, instead of being violent?”

As they carried on fighting, on the other side of the barrier of fierce corpses and water ghouls, the sound of the waves were getting louder; the intense waves kept on crashing against the barrier, and shaking the ground beneath them.

Furthermore, as the time passed by, the red light on the barrier was getting dimmed, as the energy of the talismans progressively weakened.

Anxious, Wèi WúXiàn said, “Wait for a moment that I fix the barrier.”

Fāng MèngChén sneered, “There is no use trying to buy time, since today you won’t escape death. So, if the barrier is about to collapse, then let it collapse.”

Greatly upset, Wèi WúXiàn thundered, “There are common people living downstream!”

Fāng MèngChén shouted back, “It’s none of my concern!”