All Things Are Contracts

In the dead of night, Zhanyue, lying on the bed, wasn’t asleep but was paying close attention to every movement outside with heightened alertness. Sure enough, his vigilance paid off as he heard a faint sound of a door opening.

A sturdy figure passed by Zhanyue’s window, quickly disappearing into the night.

“Where is Yu Dayou going so late?” Zhanyue got up to follow, his movements as ghostly as ever.

The moon in this illusory world was slightly yellow and bright, completely unlike the unbearable blood moon of the Myriad Spirits Realm. Under the moonlight, Yu Dayou moved quickly, his movements agile. However, Zhanyue, with his world-class lightness skill, followed step by step without being noticed by Yu Dayou.

“He’s quite skilled. I didn’t expect someone so burly to be so swift. This Yu Dayou is definitely not an ordinary villager,” Zhanyue became more astonished as he followed. He felt that several times Yu Dayou had almost discovered him, fortunately, there were many trees and large rocks along the way. Even with the world’s best lightness skill, he almost lost track of Yu Dayou, showing how extraordinary the latter’s strength was.

After a while, Zhanyue followed Yu Dayou to the back mountain. The back mountain had long been desolate, with no fields but a graveyard of tombs where generations of Yunmo Village ancestors were buried.

“Coming to a graveyard in the middle of the night, aren’t you afraid of ghosts?” In the moonlight, Zhanyue could clearly see what Yu Dayou was doing. He watched vigilantly around, then took something out from his bosom and walked to a tomb. Under the tombstone of that grave, there was actually a hidden compartment. He put the thing from his bosom into it, then covered the traces with soil and weeds, leaving no sign of disturbance before leaving with relief.

After finishing this, he left directly. However, Zhanyue didn’t rush to the tomb immediately. Sure enough, moments later, Yu Dayou returned, and seeing no one had touched the tomb, he finally left reassured.

“Indeed cautious, but I’m even more so. If I had rushed to get that thing, I might have been caught red-handed,” Zhanyue smiled slightly. After making sure Yu Dayou had really left, Zhanyue appeared in front of the tombstone, took out the item, and restored the original appearance. It was a small wooden box. In the moonlight, Zhanyue opened it. Inside was a piece of silk cloth with what seemed to be a painting, like a map. The map marked a point, and on the edge of the silk cloth were a few words – “Under the ancient locust tree.”

“What is this? A treasure map?” Zhanyue frowned. The treasure map was very complete, one could directly follow it to find that locust tree. If it really hid a treasure, Yu Dayou could have gone to get it himself long ago. But if it wasn’t treasure, what was it?

“Well, let’s go back first,” Zhanyue knew he couldn’t figure it out just by looking. He put away the small wooden box and flew back to Yunmo Village with his supreme lightness skill, returning to his room before Yu Dayou. Then, he naturally lay down, breathing steadily as if asleep.

Soon after, Yu Dayou indeed returned. He leaned against the window of Zhanyue’s room, listening to the steady breathing from inside, confirming he was still in the room, and finally felt relieved. This person shouldn’t have followed him, otherwise, he couldn’t have returned earlier than himself. He was very confident in his own lightness skill. He hadn’t used full speed when going to the graveyard, but was faster on the way back. If an ordinary person had followed him, they would have been exposed, but unfortunately for him, Zhanyue was the Saint of Thieves with unparalleled lightness skill.

Nothing else happened after that. Roosters crowing heralded the sunrise. Mountain people rise early, and by the time Zhanyue came out, many had already gone to work in the fields.

“Brother Zhanyue, come have breakfast,” Yu Dayou called Zhanyue. Mother Yu had already prepared millet porridge for breakfast.

After breakfast, Yu Dayou escorted Zhanyue to the village entrance, kindly reminding him, “Brother Zhanyue, Yunmo Mountain isn’t peaceful lately. You’d better leave early.”

Zhanyue asked, “Brother Yu, I heard you have bandits around here, right?”

Yu Dayou frowned, sighing helplessly, “Yes, I heard the bandits are getting more vicious. Before, they just robbed money and women, now they’ve started massacring villages.”

“Don’t the officials do anything?” Zhanyue pressed.

“Officials? Hmph,” Yu Dayou sneered disdainfully, his laugh tinged with helplessness. “The officials can barely take care of themselves. In the court, rotten wood serves as officials; in the palace, beasts eat official salaries. Our Great Feng Country is plagued by disasters. How can they care about the life and death of us mountain folk? They don’t even send tax collectors anymore. What do you think?”

“The court can’t protect the people and can’t even collect taxes?” Zhanyue’s heart sank. This world was more chaotic than he had imagined, so chaotic that even local officials couldn’t bother to collect taxes.

“With bandits causing havoc, can’t you move away?” Zhanyue asked again.

“Our ancestors have lived here for generations. We have good fields here for our survival. Move away? Would there be no bandits elsewhere? Moreover, we might not find such good fields elsewhere. Relying on these mountain fields, wild fruits, vegetables, and animals from the mountains, we can still support our more than 200 people. If we leave… we might not be able to survive,” Yu Dayou explained.

Zhanyue nodded, knowing that trying to persuade the whole village to move was a fool’s errand. Even if they knew the bandits were dangerous, they had no other choice.

“Brother Zhanyue, you should go now. Head north, don’t go south. You might encounter bandits there,” Yu Dayou said again.

This strong man was quite kind-hearted and had treated him well. Zhanyue sighed, knowing that to get more information, he had to use some tactics. Simply asking wouldn’t get him the answers he needed.

“Before I go, I want to ask Brother Yu, what is this?” Zhanyue took out the silk cloth he had obtained earlier.

Seeing that object, Yu Dayou’s face suddenly changed. He shouted fiercely, “What are you doing? Give that back to me!” He reached out to grab it, but Zhanyue nimbly dodged.

“Good moves! Who exactly are you?” Yu Dayou finally recognized Zhanyue’s prowess.

“In any case, not an enemy. Brother Yu, do you know that bandits will soon attack your village?” Zhanyue said.

“What’s that to you? Quickly return that to me!” Yu Dayou’s eyes were bloodshot, on the verge of going berserk.

“I’m just here to inform Brother Yu that bandits will come to massacre the village in a few days. Please make preparations early. As for this thing… I just want to know what it’s for,” Zhanyue said, then threw the box and silk cloth back.

“You…” Yu Dayou didn’t expect the other party to return it, but he still drew the knife from his waist and attacked Zhanyue, “Knowing this secret, how can I let you leave?” However, no matter how high his martial arts were, he couldn’t touch Zhanyue. Zhanyue dodged with one move and fled. Yu Dayou knew he couldn’t catch up and could only watch Zhanyue escape.

“Damn it! I should have listened to mother!” Yu Dayou gritted his teeth and returned home. Although the map was returned to him, Zhanyue had surely memorized the information on it. What use was it to return it now?

Yu Dayou returned home and immediately knelt before Mother Yu.

“Mother, your son is unfilial. The secret we’ve guarded for so many years has finally been leaked,” Yu Dayou said.

“What happened?” Mother Yu helped her son up, also looking puzzled.

“It’s like this…” Yu Dayou told Mother Yu everything in detail.

Mother Yu became more confused as she listened, “This Zhanyue shouldn’t be with the bandits as you said, and he shouldn’t be from the palace either. He doesn’t even know the secret of the map. You say you leaked the secret, but that’s not quite the case. It seems he doesn’t know anything. But is it really a coincidence that such a skilled person appeared here?”

On top of the room, Zhanyue lay listening to the mother and son’s conversation. He had returned undetected, something Yu Dayou hadn’t anticipated at all.

“I don’t know either. That person’s lightness skill is incredibly high. You said before that this map should be given to General Yue’s people, but we’ve waited for so many years, and General Ye hasn’t sent anyone to find us. I’m afraid…”

“Ah, this was your father’s dying wish. I don’t know why General Yue hasn’t sent anyone. Perhaps you should have gone to find him actively long ago,” Mother Yu said.

“But mother, your legs aren’t good. If I leave, who will take care of you? That matter isn’t something our family alone can bear. If it’s lost in history, that’s the destined outcome. Compared to that, I’d rather stay by your side and take care of you,” Yu Dayou said.

Mother Yu stroked her son’s head. “But this is your father’s last wish. I heard that group of bandits is planning to join the rebel army? Once they leave, Yunmo Village will be safe. Then you should leave here and give the item to General Yue.”

Zhanyue became more confused as he listened. Did these matters have anything to do with his task?

At this moment, a voice shouted loudly, “Not good, the bandits are coming!”

Zhanyue frowned. What was bound to come had finally arrived.

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