Celestial Demon Starting from Attribute Points-Chapter 70 - 69: Funeral Oration

North of Xiongshan County, around Chiyue County, near a village...

Snowflakes fly like knives, and people are like fish on a chopping board.

In the desolate world, a shadow walks like an ant crawling on an uncleared village path.

He walks through the dirt path in the middle of the farmland, his eyes roving like a hungry wolf, scanning the village houses near the farmland.

Suddenly, this figure sees smoke from cooking, tightens his tattered cotton clothes, and sniffs the air...

Yet all that fills his nostrils is the sour stench of something unwashed for a long time.

Along with it comes the rumbling of his stomach.

This figure walks toward the smoke, and when he gets close, he presses against the wall, listening to the sounds inside the house.

There seem to be men and women, several people.

But he can’t listen any longer because he smells the aroma, seemingly of dumplings, with meat filling no less.

This figure suddenly remembers, today seems to be New Year’s Eve.

He takes a few deep breaths, suddenly turns to the front door, tiptoes forward, knocks on the door, and quickly slips to the side.

Behind the door, a man’s cautious voice comes: "Who is it?"

Seeing the door not open, the figure croaks, "Just looking for something to eat."

The man hesitates.

But before he could respond.

Suddenly, an intense "bang" resounds from in front of him.

The door slams inward, knocking the man to the ground.

In his eyes, a bearded man, looking like a destitute beggar, swiftly draws a longsword, moving so fast that the man only catches a glimpse of cold metal before feeling a chill in his heart.

The sword has already pierced his chest.

The man stares in shock, seemingly in disbelief.

The bearded man quickly withdraws the sword, rushes forward to kill the boy on the kang bed, then looks at the already collapsing farmwoman.

The farmwoman, admittedly, has some charm.

The bearded man suddenly starts panting heavily, throws away the knife, and pounces on her.

The farmwoman tries to escape but is grabbed back by the bearded man, then slammed onto the kang bed, with him pressing hard on her.

Struggling desperately, the farmwoman is punched and kicked by the bearded man.

Blow after blow, the two entangle tightly.

The bearded man reaches for the dumplings on the table, stuffing them into his mouth while violently assaulting the farmwoman, shouting, "I’ll be your man; from now on, you’re my woman."

The farmwoman bites fiercely, but she is no match for the bearded man.

After a long time, the bearded man finishes, adjusts his belt, looks at the stunned farmwoman, kisses her, saying hoarsely, "Behave, be my woman! In this world, there’s no law! Whoever has the bigger fist eats their fill. I’ll make sure you eat your fill!"

After saying so, he drags the man and the boy outside, expressionless, and buries them hastily in a spot.

But when he returns, he finds that the farmwoman he had just violated has already hanged herself.

The embroidered shoes dangle in the air, and the coarse fabric tied to the beam creaks with sound.

The bearded man sits there woodenly, eating the remaining dumplings clean.

Finishing the last one, he doesn’t care about the corpse hanging above and falls asleep.

Dead bodies... He’s seen too many during this period.

By nightfall, suddenly there is a "bang".

The bearded man grabs his knife, hastily sits up, looking up to see a group of people forcing their way inside against the biting cold of winter.

Flaming torches flicker, illuminating the fierce and evil looks of the group.

He grips the knife tightly.

The leader of the newcomers wears a teasing expression, his eyes flashing with menace, clad in a clearly untailored black silk robe, evidently stolen from somewhere.

The man looks up at the farmwoman still hanging in the air, grins viciously, and asks the bearded man, "Want to join?"

The bearded man croaks, "What for?"

The man replies, "Of course, to plunder wealthy households, take their money, and sleep with their women! Do you know, women from rich families have skin as tender as silk."

The bearded man asks mournfully, "How do you know?"

The man raises his hands, showing off his luxurious robe.

While those around laugh uproariously, echoing him.

Clearly, they’ve just plundered a wealthy household, probably slept with that household’s women too.

"Want in or not?" the man asks.

The bearded man asks, "Can I get to sleep with them?"

The man gives a thumbs up, pointing at himself, saying, "I’m Qu Er, women are like clothes, brothers are like hands-and-feet, clothes... are passed among brothers! Anyone who likes them gets to wear them! Wear them till they’re torn, then switch!"

The bearded man says, "Alright! I’m Kong Tuo, I’ll join you!"

...

...

In the depths of winter, snow quietly spreads across this land.

Li Xuan, wrapped in a fur robe, with the Sparrow Feather Sword on his back, sits inside the carriage.

Driving it is his coachman—Li Shu.

Rose leans close in his embrace, nestling like a cat craving warmth, freezing still.

Tian Yuan has duties to tend to, Wei Yao needs to lead the county soldiers, therefore only Rose could accompany the young master outside.

Being a young master, he’s not used to doing everything himself, hence he always takes a maid along if he can.

The axle turns, swirling icy dust and snow mud, its "squeak-squeak" sounds appearing harsh... and lonely on the deserted road.

Feeling the young master’s loneliness, Rose retrieves a pot of fine wine like magic, pours two cups, and as she hands one to Li Xuan, she whispers in his ear, "Master, have you ever played with women in a carriage? With people around, yet making no sound."

Li Xuan looks at this "Feather Robe Vessel" of the Yu Sect.

It seems she’s become addicted to self-degradation...

He chuckles, "Actually, I’m rather traditional."

Rose laughs, "So am I, Your Servant."

"Dog and scoundrel" clinked their glasses.

Li Xuan lifted the carriage curtain and looked out the window.

In the icy world, desolate and uninhabited, post-epidemic scenes were all to be like this.

His carriage was heading towards the Hundred Flowers Mansion, but here... it was no longer Half-Sky Gorge, and was not far from the mansion city.

Half a year ago, it was very bustling here, but now...

Suddenly, there came a wailing cry from the roadside.

Li Xuan looked out into the distance and saw a little boy wrapped in a tattered cotton coat standing by the roadside, his eyes filled with helplessness and fear, his hair matted and glued together, covered in snow, if not looked at carefully, one might think he was a snowman.

"Stop the carriage," Li Xuan suddenly said.

The carriage came to a halt.

Li Xuan pulled open the curtain and asked, "Why are you here alone?"

The little boy continued to wail.

Li Xuan asked, "Where are your parents?"

The little boy cried, "My dad said he’d come get me soon, my dad said he’d be here right away, my stepmom said that too."

Rose leaned over and venomously said, "Your parents don’t want you anymore, raising you is too troublesome. In these times, even your parents can’t fill their own stomachs, they certainly can’t take a burden like you."

Li Xuan cast a surprised glance at Rose.

And below the carriage, the little boy was dumbfounded.

Rose continued, "And besides, you said it’s your stepmom, not your biological mother. That makes it even more reasonable for them to abandon you, doesn’t it?

But you know what, they didn’t cook and eat you, they just left you here, letting you die early and be reborn sooner, it’s actually not so bad."

The little boy forgot how to cry, his entire being displaying an utter confusion, collapse, and despair.

Li Xuan slightly closed his eyes, but still got up, stepped down from the carriage, looked at the little boy, and said, "My brother is only two years older than you."

From Liu Yingyi, he learned that there was a pill that could alter innate talent in the world, called the "Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill". In the past, it was a very precious elixir in the martial world, but the Prime Minister’s mansion had found a simplified formula, allowing them to cultivate seeds for Secret Martial Arts warriors as long as there were enough pills.

He had magical blood, which could quantifiably create Secret Martial Arts warriors, and he himself could explore the "Secret Martial Arts system."

One cannot only focus on the present.

If one day in the future, the "Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill" and "ordinary magical blood" become easy for him to obtain, what he would lack most is subordinates who are thoroughly loyal and affectionate towards him.

Ghosts cannot cultivate.

A complete reliance on battle to sustain itself may not be reliable either.

He needs to make several arrangements.

A few years, or even ten years, may pass in the blink of an eye, and by then, these children could become the backbone of the Li family, and those with good talent among them could even become Secret Martial Arts warriors.

"What’s your name?" Li Xuan asked.

The little boy finally responded, trembling, "Zuo... Zuo Ci..."

"Be my brother, Zuo Ci," Li Xuan bent down, extended his hand, smiling gently.

The little boy looked up, seeing only sunlight and hope, he pursed his lips, bawling, yet still reaching out, grabbing that ray of sunshine.

Li Xuan picked him up and returned to the carriage.

When the carriage reached the Hundred Flowers Mansion, he adopted two little girls and one little boy.

Li Xuan had Li Shu take the children to get new clothes, while he appeared at the Cao Mansion with Rose.

At the Cao Mansion, some remaining mansion guards were dragging corpses away.

It wasn’t until today that the Cao family members who died tragically from the plague were moved, but what met the eyes were not corpses, rather unrecognizable, decomposed remnants.

One of the bodies was dressed in official robes.

The guard heard the noise, turned back, and saw a gracefully dressed young man in white.

The young man wore a sword, followed by a petite and sweet girl in purple behind him.

The guard rubbed his eyes, suddenly remembering who this young man was.

He sighed, "Young Master Li, it’s good to see you’re unharmed."

Li Xuan’s expression was heavy, he nodded to him and said, "I am here to bury my mentor."

The guard sighed, "You have a good heart, young master."

...

...

The next day.

The carriage dragged the coffin to the banks of the Qing River.

The operations of the canal gang had completely stopped, a few heavy fishing boats lay along the shore, the cold wind biting, howling through all the desolate things between heaven and earth, and in the distance, the low mountains resembled graves, with an indescribable poignancy.

Bang!

Li Xuan got together with the coffin, shouldered it, walked uphill, then found a place with excellent scenery, personally dug the earth, shovel after shovel dug a deep hole, then buried the coffin.

After he completed all this, quite a number of people had gathered not far away.

There were surviving fishermen from around, and some surviving members of the canal gang.

Li Xuan suddenly shouted, "Bring the brush!"

His peripheral gaze scanned the audience around him, yet he did not see familiar faces like Zuo Hong.

On the other side, Rose hurriedly stepped forward, taking a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone from the bundle, then obediently ground the ink stick.

Li Xuan placed the paperweight, anchoring the corners of the paper, and called out mournfully to the sky, "Alas, mournful indeed!"

Then, he picked up the pen and began to write.

As he wrote, he called out, creating a ’Eulogy for Mentor Cao Shuda’.

In the wind and snow, the young man wielded the ink, his voice mournful, like a genial person singing passionately to the sky, his words resonating with the world’s desolation in the past half year.

The crowd unknowingly gathered more and more, silently watching the young man who seemed to be dancing, regardless of their status or identity, their eyes were red because the young man was not only eulogizing Cao Shuda, he was eulogizing their dead relatives, however, eulogizing all life wasn’t something everyone could do, hence the young man eulogized only his mentor. Yet people could hear themselves in his passionate words, feeling a resonance.

The more the young man sang, the faster he wrote, his pen flying like a dragon and serpent, as if he were in a frenzy.

Suddenly, everything came to an end.

His speed slowed down, then he swept aside and exclaimed, "Alas, words have an end, but feelings cannot be exhausted, do you understand? Do you not understand? Alas, mournful indeed!"

He raised his hands, bowed in front of the tombstone, saying, "Respectfully, receive this offering! Spirit, return!"

Those who saw this could not hold back their tears.