C1 A Rootless Man

That year, in the middle of July.

Something big happened in Haojing City.

The urgent order spread to all the mansions in the city within an hour. The eight horses galloped for hundreds of miles in a single day and rushed to every city nearby.

Everyone heard the name of a rootless person.

A few days later, on an official road on the east side of the city called Weiyang, a tall young man carrying a sword hurried over from the east side of the Wei River.

Although the young man looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, he was eight feet tall. Coupled with his thin face and short eyebrows and deep eyes, he looked even taller. His aura was long and his footsteps were very fast. In a short while, he had walked from the distance of the official road to close in.

It was currently noon, and this was the hottest time of the day. Coincidentally, this day was also the hottest day of the year.

The sun was high above, and the harsh sunlight was roasting every inch of the land and everything on it. Even the mud men would be roasted dry, let alone the flesh and blood. The dirt, turbid air, and bad luck of the mortal world had all vanished into nothingness under the high temperature, leaving behind only a heavy aura of death.

There were also layers of corpses.

The scene on both sides of the main road was too horrible to look at. Every once in a while, there were corpses lying all over the yellow land, from the west to the east, stretching for several miles. There were also one or two people with yellow faces and ragged clothes sitting next to some of the corpses. Their faces were full of confusion and despair.

Every time the youth passed a corpse, he would take a moment to take a look. There was a hint of reluctance on his face. When the people next to him saw him, they all looked at him with pleading eyes. However, the young man only sighed silently in his heart, but he did not stop. He still rushed towards the direction of Weiyang City in a hurry.

The world was just a chicken cage, and human lives were as lowly as grass.

Since the end of last year, a great drought had spread across both sides of Wei River for more than ten months. Although this was not common, it was not rare either. In any case, the young man had become numb to it. These were all people who had fled, but they had lost their lives in this place due to exposure to the sun or lack of water and food. The youth knew that he couldn't be saved. So, although he could not bear it, he did not stop.

But after walking a few miles west, a burst of heart-wrenching crying disturbed his mind, causing him to involuntarily stop.

This cry was young yet resounding, and it was extremely clear in the wilderness. It caused one's heart to ache, and one couldn't help but cry because of it.

The owner of this cry was a child that was only eight or nine years old by the side of the road. There were two people lying by his side, and the child was hugging them and wailing loudly.

After a short hesitation, the youth thought of something and finally stopped and walked to the child's side. He lowered his head and looked at the lonely and weak back of the child. Then, he looked at the man and woman who were lying beside the child. A look of pity appeared on his face.

The two of them leaned against each other. Their faces were scorched yellow, and their cheeks were sunken. Their eyes were open lifelessly, and it was clear that they had lost their vitality a long time ago.

The youth let out a long sigh. He looked at the child's thin and desolate back, and he knew that if he didn't take action to save him, then he wouldn't be able to do so. The child would not live more than half a day in a place like this. He touched the water bag at his waist and the few mouthfuls of dried food left in his arms. There was a trace of struggle in his heart.

But in a trance, the lonely figure of the child overlapped with the memory of himself. It was the same loneliness and the same miserable state.

The villainous heavens, human lives shouldn't be so lowly!

The youth's eyes suddenly became determined. He slowly squatted down beside the child and asked softly, "What's your name?"

The child was already out of breath from crying and his consciousness was somewhat unclear. Only then did he realize that there was a person standing behind him. He suddenly stopped crying and stared blankly at the youth. He did not answer, but instead asked: "Who are you?"

The young man answered, "I am Sheng Lianshan, a rootless man."

The child stared at him blankly for a moment. Suddenly, tears welled up in his eyes again. He asked, sobbing, "Then can you save my father and Mother?"

Sheng Lianshan shook his head silently. He did not know how to tell the child. He gently wiped away the tears for the child and sighed. "I can't save them. They have already left the world and won't come back. You better bury them and follow me. Otherwise, you will also be in danger."

"No!" The last trace of hope in the child's eyes instantly dimmed. His cries became louder and more hysterical, "Abba! Mother!

The young and tender voice of a child was filled with grief and misery, and it caused Sheng Lianshan's heart to feel as if something had fiercely tugged at it, causing him to actually feel some indescribable pain. He looked at this child who was about eight or nine years old, and suddenly discovered that he was different from this child. His body was even more confused, but this child was only left with despair.

Sheng Lianshan did not have any intention of comforting the child. He quietly stood there and let the child cry until the noise behind him alerted him.

In the distance, there were five or six strange people walking towards them. They walked among the bodies. Every time they passed by a body, they would go up and feel for it, like a starving beast. When they got close to the two of them, Sheng Lianshan saw them clearly. They were all dressed in rags.

However, they seemed different from ordinary starving people. These people were obviously more agile and capable.

These people also noticed Sheng Lianshan and the child. They seemed not to be afraid. Instead, they quietly surrounded them. Each of them had a strange expression on their faces. Sheng Lianshan became alert. He stood up and protected the child behind him. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the few people in front of him vigilantly.

A thin man with half a goatee walked up to Sheng Lianshan and bowed. He asked with ill intentions, "Young master, what is your name? I don't know where you are rushing to with a child in this hot weather."

Sheng Lianshan did not answer him. Instead, he asked, "Where are you going? "Who are you?"

The man with half a goatee first glanced at the child who was standing behind Sheng Lianshan in a daze, then at the sword on Sheng Lianshan's back. Then, he smiled and said, "We are just villagers and nobodies. We escaped and passed by this place. We heard that the child was crying, so we came to ask if there is anything we can help with."

The people around them were still approaching quietly. Sheng Lianshan coldly snorted and said, "Don't worry. I will take care of this child. If you have nothing else to do, please leave on your own. If you really want to help, why don't you help me find something?"

"What is it?" The goateed man didn't seem to have any intention of leaving. Instead, he asked with a faint smile.

Sheng Lianshan coldly glanced at these people. He slowly exhaled and said two words.

"Five Ghosts."

When these two words came out of his mouth, it was as if he had violated some taboo. The atmosphere suddenly became somewhat cold. Those people froze on the spot at the same time, and they looked at each other in dismay. Their expressions became slightly ugly. Even the child who was sobbing softly behind Sheng Lianshan's back stopped at this time and tightened his little face.

The man with the half-goatee forced a smile and said, "Young Master, don't joke around. It's fine. Why did you look for that scary ghost?"

Sheng Lianshan's eyes swept back and forth across their faces. After a moment of silence, he replied, "A few days ago, my horse was taken away at night. Someone told me that it was done by Five Ghosts. Most of my rations and luggage are on the horse, so I have to find it. If you want to help, why don't you help me find the Five Ghosts? "

The few of them did not make any noise or move. In the end, it was still the half-bearded man who forced a smile and said, " Well, we really can't help you with this, sir. We will leave now. We will leave now. "

He did not wait for Sheng Lianshan to reply. He winked at the others and left the place in a flash.

Sheng Lianshan watched them leave until they had completely disappeared from his sight. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief. He turned his head back and found that the child behind him was staring at him in a daze. He did not know if it was because of what he had just heard that scared him or because he was overwhelmed by sadness.

He shook his head and said to the child, "Stop daydreaming. Let your parents rest in peace. There are many corpses here, and it is even more dangerous at night. It is better for us to leave as soon as possible."

There was no reply. Perhaps the child was tired from crying, or perhaps he had thought it through. In short, he stopped crying and started moving with Sheng Lianshan.

The wilderness returned to dead silence. Only the sound of two people moving the bodies could be heard.

Because there were no tools, Sheng Lianshan and the child could only dig a shallow pit on the ground with their hands. Then, they used gravel and yellow soil to cover it, turning it into a small and crude grave. When he was about to use wood to set up a simple monument, he remembered that the child had not said his name, so he turned back and asked, "What's your name?"

"I don't have a name..." The child looked at his parents' small graves with tears in his eyes. "Father and mother said that I was born in March, so they called me Yinn."

Sheng Lianshan asked again, "What are your parents' names?"

Yinn shook his head, looking confused.

Sheng Lianshan sighed again. He carved the words "Yinn's parents' grave" on the wooden board and placed it in front of the grave.

When the two of them finished their work, the sun was already setting in the west. The setting sun had drawn the shadows of everything in the world into the distance. Sheng Lianshan looked at Yinn kneeling in front of the grave and kowtowing. The lonely and small figure and the small and simple grave made an extremely sad scene. He couldn't help but sigh. "You are the same as me now. You have become a rootless person."

Yinn turned his head and asked, "What is a person without roots?"

"People are raised by their parents. They grew up in their hometown. The bloodline of their ancestors, this is the root." Sheng Lianshan looked at him and said slowly. "A person without a root is a person without a father or mother. His background is unknown, and he does not know his past. People who don't know where the future is. I'm a person without roots, and now you're leaving your hometown. "Now that your parents have passed away, you are also a person without roots."

Yinn did not understand and just looked at him blankly.

Sheng Lianshan looked at the far west and asked, "I am going to a very far place in the west. Do you want to come with me?"

"Where are you going?" Yinn followed his gaze but did not see anything. "Dad, Mother said it is very hot over there. Without water, we can't plant food. " If you go over there, you won't have anything to eat. "If you don't have anything to eat, you will..." He wanted to say that he would be like his parents, but the words stuck in his throat.

Sheng Lianshan knew what Yinn meant. He was silent for a moment and said, "I know, but I must go. There was a place at the end of the west where there was a secret about my background. I want to know if I really have no roots, so I must go."

What place? " Yinn asked him curiously.

Sheng Lianshan narrowed his eyes. He took a deep breath and answered slowly, "Karakorum."

Yinn obviously did not know where Karakorum was. He looked at Sheng Lianshan's face, then at the horizon under the setting sun, and then back at his parents' graves. He seemed to hesitate, but after a long time, he finally walked to Sheng Lianshan's side and held his hand.

Sheng Lianshan smiled in relief. He held Yinn's hand and continued to walk towards the west.

In the wilderness, there was only one person, one sword and one child left.