Above The Sky Chapter 3

Although the temperature was lower in the north area, the bleak and chilly mode was thinner there.

The Mirror Kingdom fought all its way from the north, where was more prosperous near Mirror City, the capital. The wars made those cities in the south more desolate than the north. Even the official road was not peaceful all the time.

"Yu!" A whinny of horse broke the peace. A face-covered man got in the way on his horse. Other people on the road stopped and did not know what to do. It is the only official road from Nine Song City to north cities. Most of people travelling on the road were in caravans for business, others were citizens migrating from the south to the north. Those businessmen who had gone through robberies like this looked calmer than migrants who took all of their wealth with them.

"What are they doing?" Yun Qing was in the crowd and asked curiously.

He knew there was the Flower City ahead, so he took A Mang to the official road to visit it. Unexpectedly, they just walked on the road, the robbery happened to them.

His sudden voice was clear in the silence. The family near him was scared and walked away from him. A pretty girl standing ahead of him turned around and answered with smile, "It's called wors.h.i.+p the road."

"Wors.h.i.+p the road?" Yun Qing was curious. Although he could not see the tall and graceful girl in blue silk dress with his eyes, he thought her voice was so beautiful.

The girl walked to him and explained, "Wors.h.i.+ping the road was the ceremony before the army march. But now, robberies on this road are called wors.h.i.+p the road too. They are pretty the same. Pay money for safety."

Yun Qing nodded, "aren't you afraid?"

"Aren't you afraid?" the girl asked back smartly.

Yun Qing smiled, "My name is Yun Qing. What about you?" he seemed to be fond of this girl.

"My name is Zhu Yu, style name Wu Xia. You may call me Sister Yu."

"You have such a good name, Zhu Yu Wu Xia (flawless pearl and jade)." Yun Qing could feel the girl's eyesight even his eyes were closed.

Something happened in the front of the line when they were talking.

"The robber broke the rule here. He will be punished." Zhu Yu smiled coldly.

In general, robbers on this road only took money and would not kill pa.s.sengers. But it seemed this one was a green hand. He was so nervous that he killed a man who wanted to escape subconsciously. When the robber was startled, screaming crowd rushed ahead and escaped. Seeing the situation was not good, the robber ride on his horse and wanted to run with money.

"You kill people, people kill you." He was stopped by a voice and a blade. What he saw last was his body without head sitting on the horse.

People only saw a blue flash and the robber was dead. When the blue light moved back, they saw the pretty girl blowing the blade.

"Immortal!" One man dropped to his knees. Then other people followed him one by one.

"Haha! Immortal?" Zhu Yu sneered.

"Are they calling you?" Yun Qing was confused.

"Yup! Oh! You are blind." Zhu Yu was surprised. She did not look at the boy carefully.

"Yes." Yun Qing was not angry, "Why do they call you immortal?"

"Hahaha, I am not them, how can I know why?" Zhu Yu laughed smartly and arrogantly.

She looked at those kneeling people and the north, then said, "I am in a hurry so I will not go with you. See you in the Mirror City."

Yun Qing nodded.

Zhu Yu stepped on her blue sword and flied to the north.

"Be careful, Sister Yu!" Yun Qing shouted.

———————————————————
Autumn rains fell in the Flower City continuously.

In a remote alleyway, a burly man led a mule on which sit a boy.

"Do you know what Sister Yu is, A Mang? I heard from those businessmen that she could fly!" Yun Qing touched the mule and said with desire.

"A Mang, A Mang, will I fly to the sky if I have wings?"

The burly man who was mentally disabled smiled to him without response.

"Can you fly, A Mang?" Yun Qing touched A Mang's face, who nodded and shook head later.

"Hahaha, I don't ask you." Yun Qing tapped his head gently, "I want to fly like Sister Yu."

"Flawless pearl and jade, Sister Yu must be great!"

Another voice broke the peace when Yun Qing was speaking to himself.

"Zhu Wuxia? Little kid, are you talking about Fairy Wuxia from the Destroying Devil's Sect?" The voice was weak but happy, with excitement.

Yun Qing was shocked. He went through the alleyway on his mule, not finding anyone except A Mang and himself.

"I am here! I am here! Little kid, no, little Sir, come here."

A walnut was thrown out from a wall. Hearing the crack, Yun Qing turned to the direction of the wall. A Mang led the mule to the wall.

The stone wall was much solider than those brick walls. But there was a round hole on the wall now, where the voice came.

"Little Sir?" the person in the wall reached the hole and said, "Have you met Fairy Wuxia?"

"If you are talking about Sister Yu who smiles sweetly, yes, I have met her." Yun Qing answered. He wanted to touch the source of the voice but he could not see. So he nearly poked into the man's eye.

"Aiyo!" The man said, "Don't move! Tell me something about her."

"She killed a robber and flied away. I guess she is on her way now." Yun Qing answered honestly.

"What's more?" the man asked anxiously.

"Nothing." Yun Qing thought for a while and could not find more in such a short-time acquaintance.

The man was disappointed at his answer, he sighed, "Fairy Wuxia…"

"Little Sir, I am Xie Yao, the seventh young master of Xie's family…"

Yun Qing broke into laughter before he finished his words, "Your name is Xieyao (luxative)? It is much worse than flawless pearl and jade."

The man's sorrow was dispelled. He shouted angrily, "Shut up! You bad boy! I know I cannot match Fairy Wuxia…"

Xie's family was a family of scholars in G.o.d-blessing Country. But the late master of the house who seemed to be a wimp gave up to the Mirror Kingdom once it attacked. That's how Xie's family survived the war and developed in such a south city.

Xie Yao is the seventh son of present master of Xie's family. His story was as fantastic and old-fas.h.i.+oned as any other love story.

Xie Yao first saw Zhu Yu at a gathering of rich people in spring. When she walked on the surface of the Lingering River towards them like a human G.o.ddess, every man was stunned by her beauty. Zhu Yu stood on the board of their s.h.i.+p, smiling in the dancing willows.

At the next moment, she killed one of those young masters by cutting his head. The dead, the only son of Zhong's family, was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and had ripped many good girl. The blood splash scared all rich young masters who ran away except Xie Yao.

Xie Yao was in a daze and created a poem subconsciously: spring willow dances above water, stunning sword wakes under sun.

"Aren't you afraid?" the beauty's smile was innocent. Yun Qing remembered that she had asked the same sentence to him.

Xia Yao nodded without moving his eyes. It took him a moment to react. He made a bow with hand folded in front and said, "My name is Xie Yao, style name Daoyuan. Can I know your name, immortal?"

Zhu Yu grinned, "Immortal? I am a disciple of Destroying Devil's Sect in charge of law enforcement. My style name is Wuxia. You are an ordinary person so you can call me Zhu Yu. I don't like the man I just killed. If anyone asks you, tell them my name."

She seemed to be busy, so she fled on her sword after saying that.

After that, Xie Yao was not interested in anything but seeking for cultivation. He wanted to meet Zhu Yu again. But his parents did not believe in such stories of immortals and devils. They only expected Xie Yao could work hard and rejuvenate their family. That's why Xie Yao was restricted in the house. Let alone seeking for immortal cultivation, he could not see the views outside the wall.

He spent the whole spring and summer inside the house. When he was going to give up, he heard someone talked about Fairy Wuxia he missed days and nights. So he called Yun Qing.

"Ai…" Xie Yao sighed, "If I could get out of here…"

"Are there really people seeking for Dao?" Yun Qing asked.

"Of course!" Xie Yao was excited and moved his face to the hole.

"Can they all fly like Sister Yu?" Yun Qing frowned curiously.

"Well, cultivators are different in levels too. Experts can do that, like Fairy Wuxia." To be honest, Xie Yao did not know much about seeking for Dao.

Having fallen in love with Fairy Wuxia, he collected many cla.s.sic books in the library and learn something about seeking for Dao. But ordinary people's book always talked about Dao like fairy tales.

"If I could get out of here, maybe I can find celestial's mountains and become an expert Dao seeker like Fairy Wuxia." Xia Yao sighed.

"If I help you out, will you take me to see what Dao is?" Yun Qing said after a second.

"Aha, save your effort. It took me half a year to make such a small hole. How can you get me out?" Xie Yao did not believe that Yun Qing can get him out.

"Promise me first." Yun Qing insisted.

"OK, OK. I promise you…oh!"

Before he finished his perfunctory answer, the wall fell towards him. He moved backward quickly and nearly fell on the ground. Then he saw a burly man in furs stand there. The man was much taller than normal people and handsome as well. However, you can't see any wit in his eyes which is as fierce as beasts.

"Let's go." A childish voice came from the back of the burly man.

Xie Yao saw a ten-year-old child come out on a mule.

"You…you!" Xie Yao pointed at him and could not say a complete sentence.

"I am Yun Qing." Yun Qing got down from the mule. The burly man held him and put him on his shoulder.

Yun Qing pointed at the mule and said to Xie Yao, "Let's go."

Xie Yao has never expected that the turning point of life would come like this. He wanted to escape, but he was confused when he had the opportunity. Is the unknown Dao worth abandoning his family and the secular world?

He remembered the pretty girl standing on the board in the spring. She asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

"No, I am not afraid." After saying this, he ride on the old mule.

"Let's go! I know where the celestial's abode is!" He said to Yun Qing and went out of the dark alleyway.

"Let's go to the Mirror City. The Non-public Mountain, the last one of the Thirteen Barriers, is in the west of Mirror City. It is recorded that there are some sects of cultivators." Xie Yao's mind became clear. He explained to Yun Qing while going north on the mule, "We cannot go on the official road. My family has some informer there. We need to prepare for our trip and buy some supply in the north market, then go out from the north gate before Xie's family reacting."

"We follow your arrangement. If you need to fight, A Mang can do that." Yun Qing kept pace with the mule easily on A Mang's shoulder.

"By the way, I haven't asked you yet. Why do you want to seek for Dao?" Xie Yao looked at the child who set him free and would take him to the way of seeking for Dao. He thought him strange, so he asked.

"I want to see what is above the sky." Yun Qing grinned.

Xie Yao was astonished. He could not contradict his childish answer, but he felt that what is above the sky is different from its literal meaning.

No one knew whether there were Dao or not. No one knew whether they were exerting vain efforts either. However, once they steps ahead, no one will turn back.

There began their long trip.