The reason they came to Molten City was that Wei Zhentu was staying in a village not far from the city. Back then, the other party went to Three Realm Temple with Ruan Jiu’s fragmented soul and Kong Miao personally performed the rites to send Ruan Jiu to the afterlife.
A few years ago, news came from Wei Zhentu that Ruan Jiu's soul was whole again, and he was reincarnated into a farming family.
As such, Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi wanted to take this opportunity to take a look.
However, when they saw Wei Zhentu, they found that the other party was very haggard, and the look in his eyes was less spirited than before.
Seeing old acquaintances, Wei Zhentu showed a faint look of surprise. “A-jing, Qin-zhenjun, you’re here.”
The two were invited into the room. Jing Yue glanced at the furnishings in the room and realized that Wei Zhentu lived alone, so he asked, “Where's Xiaojiu?”
Wei Zhentu fell silent and only said after a while, “He’s with his parents of this life.”
Jing Yue asked curiously, “You didn’t bring him here?”
Wei Zhentu shook his head. “He has no spiritual roots in this life. Even if I take him away, he can only live less than 100 years. Why should I change the cause and effect of his destiny by force?”
“In that case, do you plan to keep guarding him and wait for his next reincarnation?”
Wei Zhentu, “I can at least keep him safe and sound.”
Jing Yue sighed. “I want to see him.”
Of course, Wei Zhentu wouldn’t refuse and led the two to the village.
But when they passed the fields, they saw a group of children surrounding a boy of four or five years old. The boy's eyes were red and swollen, almost out of breath from crying. His appearance was fair and delicate, quite similar to Ruan Jiu's.
The boy said tearfully, “I don't like Sister Xiuxiu. She was the one who wants to play with me.”
The tallest and fattest among the children said, “Bah! Sister Xiuxiu doesn't like you. You pestered her!”
“I didn’t!” The boy retorted tearfully.
“You did! Crybaby! Sissy!”
Seeing Ruan Jiu being bullied, Wei Zhentu was about to step forward to help him when a small black dog suddenly jumped out, guarded in front of the boy, and barked non-stop at the little fatty.
The little fatty took a step back in fright and got angry again. He picked up a stone and threw it at the little black dog.
The little black dog was hit by a stone and howled in pain but didn’t leave.
“Lucky!” The boy exclaimed and rushed up to hug the little black dog.
The little fatty was angry and said to the people beside him, “Throw stones at it!”
Seeing that the dog would only bark and didn't bite at all, the other children agreed cheerfully. They were about to pick up some stones when they heard a muffled sound.
The boy pounced and knocked the little fatty to the ground, scratching and biting, punching his little fists non-stop. His eyes were filled with tears but his actions were ruthless.
Perhaps the little fatty was shocked silly, not only did he not fight back, but he was beaten into crying by that boy.
Others were also dumbfounded. It was not until they heard the cries from the little fatty that they wanted to step forward to help, but three people suddenly stood in front of them.
The children saw that the three were adults, obviously not people they could bully, so they scattered and ran away without any qualms. No one bothered about the little fatty who was still being held down and beaten by the boy.
Jing Yue smothered a laugh and said, “He’s still the Xiaojiu we know.”
After saying this, he suddenly paused. Something flashed in his mind but couldn’t be traced back after he thought about it.
He scooped Ruan Jiu up with one hand and hugged Ruan Jiu by the waist but Ruan Jiu kept twisting and struggling in his arms.
“Don’t fuss. Behave.”
Perhaps because Jing Yue's voice was too gentle, Ruan Jiu miraculously calmed down and began to cry again.
The two children cried one after another, and several people were speechless.
Wei Zhentu stepped forward to help the little fatty, patted off the dirt on his body, and said, “Don’t be a bully again.”
The little fatty was scared and ran away crying.
After the little fatty disappeared, Jing Yue put Ruan Jiu down, and the latter said in a childish voice, “Thank you, Uncle.”
Jing Yue, “…”
Qin Yanzhi, “…”
Wei Zhentu couldn't help laughing out loud, but saw Ruan Jiu's two grape-like eyes staring at him. “Uncle, I've seen you before. You live in the village too.”
Wei Zhentu, “…”
Now it was Jing Yue's turn to laugh. He bent down and said to Ruan Jiu, “What’s your name?”
Ruan Jiu said daintily, “My name is Maomao!”
Thus, Jing Yue fell silent.
Wei Zhentu added in a low voice, “His name is Wei Damao.”
That wasn’t any better, right?
Ruan Jiu widened his eyes in curiosity. “How do you know, Uncle?”
Wei Zhentu, “Uncle… No, Gege knows everything.”
Ruan Jiu wanted to ask more but heard his mother calling him, so he turned around and ran off.
When he was halfway through, he suddenly stopped, turned around again, stared at Wei Zhentu only, and said, “Gege, goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” Wei Zhentu smiled and waved. We would see each other again, forever.
When Ruan Jiu’s small figure finally disappeared, they turned back. Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi sat for a while before they got up and said goodbye.
Before leaving, he said to Wei Zhentu, “Wei-daoyou, don’t forget your cultivation if you stay here.”
Wei Zhentu, “Thanks for the reminder. I won’t.”
Jing Yue smiled and went out first, but Qin Yanzhi stopped.
Wei Zhentu looked puzzled, but heard Qin Yanzhi ask, “Don't you plan to intervene in Ruan Jiu's life?”
Wei Zhentu was startled and nodded hesitantly.
Qin Yanzhi, “He’ll grow up one day, fall in love with someone else, and maybe get married and have children. He doesn't remember you.”
After saying that, Qin Yanzhi followed Jing Yue who was in front of him, leaving Wei Zhentu standing in the same spot. Sunlight sprinkled down on the mottled ground.
On the other side, Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi had just walked out of the village when they saw a sedan with eight people carrying it across the path. The sedan was covered with light gauze on all sides, and the appearance of the person in the sedan could be vaguely seen. From the outline, he really looked similar to Jing Yue.
The person in the sedan said haughtily, “Leave your blue bird behind. I’ll give you 5,000 spirit stones.”
5,000 spirit stones could buy a middle-grade magic weapon, which was dozens of times higher than the previous offer given by the Qi Refining cultivator, but blue phoenix was still dissatisfied. “5,000 spirit stones can’t even buy a phoenix feather!”
Jing Yue thought of all the feathers that Ji-ji had shed everywhere on Whitefog Summit and was speechless for a moment.
At this moment, someone lifted the sedan curtain, and Jing Yue finally saw the face of the other party. There was also a blue bird on the other party’s shoulder, which looks quite intelligent.
Blue phoenix was furious and wanted to rush over. “Not only did they impersonate Jing-jing, but they dare to impersonate Ji-ji too!”
Jing Yue grabbed it and Qin Yanzhi said to the person in the sedan, “I’m afraid you couldn’t afford it.”
Qin Yanzhi was telling the truth. Blue phoenix was a divine beast. If a cultivator with poor luck got it, not only would it not be beneficial, but they would be suppressed by the blue phoenix’s aura, and everything would go wrong.
But the person in the sedan obviously misunderstood him. He only thought that Qin Yanzhi looked down on him. His red lips pursed lightly, and anger appeared in his eyes.
But he dared not make a grab for it because he couldn't tell the cultivation base of the two. He only knew that they could easily kill a Qi Refining cultivator so he looked at a few of his subordinates imperceptibly.
These people were arranged by the Golden Core female cultivator to protect him, and their cultivation base was at least mid-level Foundation Establishment stage.
He thought that no matter how hard the two of them fought, they wouldn't be able to defeat the seven or eight Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Since Jing Moon followed the female cultivator, he had never been belittled in Molten City, so how could he take this lying down?
However, reality dealt Jing Moon a heavy blow. The aloof man waved his sleeves, and the guards didn’t even have time to take action when they fell to the ground. Jing Moon’s heart jolted. He was almost certain that the person in front of him must be a Golden Core cultivator!
It wasn’t that he could only think of Golden Core, but Molten City just wasn’t that big. At least in the past few decades, he had never seen an Amethyst Abode cultivator.
There was only one Golden Core in Molten City—his owner!
Suddenly, Jing Moon heard a small sound, which seemed to be the sound of wood breaking.
Immediately, his whole body dropped, his butt fell to the ground, and wooden planks scattered all around—his sedan collapsed.
At this time, the two parties blocked the only road from the village to the city. Many people watching the fun had gathered around at some point and were snickering at this time.
Jing Moon was embarrassed and annoyed. He took out a token from the Qiankun bag, triggered it a little, and the token glowed.
It didn’t take long before someone shouted from a distance, “Who dares to disrespect my Moony?”
The newcomer was none other than the Golden Core female cultivator that blue phoenix had mentioned earlier.
The other party didn't even look at Jing and Qin, but helped Jing Moon up with one hand. “Moony, are you alright?”
Jing Moon had tears in his eyes but hesitated to speak.
Female cultivator, “Hmph! How daring!”
She turned around slowly and looked at the two in front of her, but she didn't know that Qin Yanzhi had been staring at her from the moment she appeared.
However, before the two parties could fight, hundreds of flying leaves appeared out of thin air. The female cultivator was shocked, grabbed Jing Moon with one hand, and quickly dodged, but she still suffered minor injuries.
The female cultivator was frightened and angry, and was about to make a move when she suddenly remembered something.
She loosened her hold and the person in her arms fell to the ground again, but she stared blankly at the cultivator with a haughty blue bird on his shoulder.
She had seen numerous blue birds but this was the only one that could hurt people with flying leaves, just like the one that belonged to Jing-laozu.
Then, a white light flashed in front of her eyes, and the light was dazzling. Although it didn’t hit her, her eyes lost all brightness.
In the darkness, she heard someone say, “Yanzhi, don't waste time on them. Let's go.”
While everyone was stunned, Jing Yue and Qin Yanzhi flew away on their swords and disappeared into the vast clear sky.
From this day on, Jing Moon, who got his position through impersonation, went jobless.
The reason was unknown.