Rules of Heaven - C54

It was early in the morning after the rain, and it was wet, like the delicate face of a beautiful woman.

It was a bit hot and a bit cold, but not enough.

After taking in a breath of air, a refreshing feeling could be felt even from the depths of his throat. Ding Hong loved this kind of weather the most. It was neither hot nor cold, and it was refreshing.

He didn’t know whether it was because he had slept too deeply last night, but when he woke up, he realized that the wooden bucket he had placed in the room for bathing was gone, and there was a basin of water for washing his face on the wooden shelf beside him. There was a ceramic cup on the table. Inside the cup, there was some water that was made from honeysuckle. It must be used to rinse one’s mouth.

Looking at such a scene, Ding Hong couldn’t help but sigh at the beautiful life he had as a young master.

After washing his face and rinsing his mouth, he walked outside.

It was still early in the morning, but there were already a lot of carpenters coming and going in Cao Manor to repair the damaged building.

Ding Hong suddenly thought, “I wonder if Yan Beihui has left yet.”

Arriving at the front hall, however, there weren’t many people inside. Coincidentally, there was a servant passing by. He called out to him and asked: “Is your old master here?”

The servant was also a young girl in her teens. He was stopped by Ding Hong in an instant. When he heard Ding Hong’s question and saw his attire again, he quickly bowed and replied, “Old Master and Madam took Young Master out a long time ago.”

Gone? He didn’t expect it to be so fast.

The young girl saw that he was lost in thought so she didn’t speak anymore. She stood quietly to the side and was extremely intelligent.

At this point, Ding Hong regained his senses. Seeing that she was still beside him, he smiled apologetically and said, “Nothing else. I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”

He had been wearing a mask the entire time, especially the ‘huan’ character on the right side of his face, which blocked most of his facial features. In the girl’s eyes, when Ding Hong laughed, he could only feel the corners of his mouth moving.

But even so, the young girl still felt a bit absent-minded when she saw this. She wondered what kind of appearance the person in front of her had behind his mask.

Seeing that she did not move, Ding Hong asked curiously, “You have nothing to do?”

“Huh?” The young girl’s face reddened. She saluted and hurriedly left.

Since he had nothing better to do, Ding Hong decided to take a walk around town. There weren’t many pedestrians on the streets, and most of them were merchants busy setting up stalls. However, seeing that each of them was using a broom to clean up the pile of wet yellow paper made Ding Hong feel slightly apologetic.

Many of the roads in the town were paved with bluestone, which lightened the burden on them. If it was a dirt road, he didn’t know how they would be able to clean it up.

“Elder, is this carriage for sale?”

Suddenly hearing a familiar voice, Ding Hong turned around and saw Bai Yi discussing something with an old man by the roadside. Furthermore, beside him, Xu Si, his young mistress, and their young master were all there. He couldn’t help but be surprised.

Arriving beside them, he asked, “You all woke up really early.”

They heard the sound and turned their heads over. Seeing that it was him, Bai Yi smiled and said: “Oh, so it’s Young Noble Feng, you got up early too.”

The young girl also said, “Good morning.”

From the looks of their formation, they were all carrying a small bag on their back, and Xu Si was even carrying a heavy belt. It looks like they want to go now.

However, Bai Yi seemed to have followed Yan Beihui, why was he with them now? He asked curiously: “Isn’t Young Master Bai travelling with Fellow Yan, why …”

Bai Yi said: “Brother Yan wants to bring the Cao family’s young master back to my sect, but I can’t.” So I was going to walk with Sim Ying and the others. ”

Oh, even Siying came out? The relationship progressed …

When Ding Hong thought of this, he could not help but burst out laughing. He said, “The two of you are really fast.”

“What?”

“What?”

It was Bai Yi and the young girl both speaking at the same time. The two of them thought it through and looked at each other, their faces turning red.

“Hehe.” Ding Hong looked at their expressions and found it funny. He asked, “You’re in such a hurry to leave. Where are you planning to go?”

This was a very common question. Where to go, he would naturally say the nine lines. Bai Yi heard his question and was about to reply. However, when the young girl saw that he wanted to answer her, she spoke first. “We’re going to the south!”

Still on guard against him? Ding Hong narrowed his eyes as he looked at the young girl. Because of the sudden incident last night, this young girl still thought that he wanted to snatch something from her hands?

Ding Hong, who was originally not interested, was actually curious to know what she used last night. However, looking at her cautious actions and attitude, Ding Hong also thought that she should be an important person, but was unable to open his mouth to ask. He could only say, “If that’s the case, then I wish you all a pleasant journey.”

Bai Yi smiled and said, “Thank you, young master Xiaofeng. I wonder where young master Xiaofeng is planning to go?”

After hearing Bai Yi’s words, Ding Hong was really confused. Originally, he went to Fu Sang to forge the Ever-Flame Sword because of Wu Lingdao’s guidance, but now that he had been asked to look for it, he did not know the direction.

Bai Yi saw that he was deep in thought and thought it was inconvenient for him to speak, so he didn’t ask. Bai Yi smiled and said: “Young master Feng, we still need to buy some things, so we’ll be leaving first. See you in the future.”

It was still unknown what day it would be when they meet again. Ding Hong smiled and said, “Good day.”

After Xu Si and the young lady both said their goodbyes to him, Ding Hong left and strolled around the streets. He was probably discussing what happened last night. Some of them seemed to know something and made way for Ding Hong out of fear.

After a full circle, Ding Hong returned to Cao Manor. He was ready to pack up and set off on his way. He had just taken a seat in his room when someone knocked on the door and asked, “May I ask if Young Noble Zhuo is in?”

Could it be that Cao Ziren was looking for him?

He opened the door and saw the butler.: “What’s the matter?”

Butler respectfully replied: “Master has come back. He said that you should go to the front hall.”

Ding Hong said, “Okay, I will go now.”

The butler bowed and left. Ding Hong returned to his room to do a little work. After packing up his things and preparing to head to the front hall, he set off on his journey.

When he arrived at the front hall, Cao Ziren was already there waiting for him, holding a long strip of items in his hand. When he saw Ding Hong, he hurriedly stepped forward and passed the items to him, “Young master Xiaofeng, this is the item that I promised you earlier.”

He opened the velvet, and it was the piece of black Sky Wood. Needless to say, when one looked at this piece of wood up close, they would only feel that its surface was smooth and shiny, as if it had been polished. Only after Cao Ziren took it out did Ding Hong think of this item. He didn’t know if he should take it or not.

When he thought about how he had just gotten rid of some naughty monsters, Yan Beihui was the one who put in the most effort. He immediately said, “Mr Cao, this thing is better for fellow daoist. After all, he has put in more effort than me.”

Upon hearing this, Cao Ziren gave a wry smile, “I won’t hide it from you, Young Master. The things that I have given to Great Hero Yan may be even more valuable than this.”

Ding Hongqi said, “What’s the matter?”

Cao Ziren sighed: “I was afraid that when our child grows up, Madam and I would not know each other, so I gave our family’s heirloom to Great Hero Yan for his safekeeping. I also gave Great Hero Yan another item, but I do not know how to explain it, so I hope that Young Master will forgive me.”

Seeing his good intentions, he could not refuse and said: “Thank you very much, Mr. Cao.” After receiving the Sky Wood, Ding Hong thought, ‘How tiring would it be to have such a big thing with me? If I knew the Sumeru Mustard Seed Technique, wouldn’t I be in a bad mood?’

But even if he thought about it, it was all reality. Ding Hong only sighed with emotion.

Suddenly, a thought struck Ding Hong. Cao Ziren was also a knowledgeable person. Since he knew about the matters of ghosts and gods, why didn’t he ask him if there were any places in the Sky Province that matched the eight scenes in the gossip?

Moreover, right now, he was in the southern part of the Heavenly Province, so he should be able to see the scene of the exchange, the exchange, the exchange, and so on.

After pondering for a moment, Ding Hong asked, “I wonder if Mr. Cao knows any of the five elements of the landscape in the Sky Region?” He could not say that he was searching for the Eight Scenes in the Eight Trigrams because of the forging of the sword, and even Cao Ziren might not understand. Ask him if he can have more reference.

“Five Elements Grounds?” Upon hearing his question, Cao Ziren thought for a while and said, “There is a big lake to the west. It is called the Dreamy Cloud Swampland. Is this place considered good enough?”

Dreamy Cloud Swampland? Perhaps it had something to do with the Zerg in his divination. He might as well go and take a look.

Ding Hong smiled and said, “Many thanks, Mr. Cao. But where is this Dreamy Cloud Swampland?”

“The approximate location should be at the border between Ba Shu and Zhou Guo Bei.”

He secretly memorized the location and said, “The matter here is settled. I should leave as well.”

Cao Ziren said, “Of course.” He then clapped his hands, and a servant came from the back. In his hand was a tray with a small bag embroidered with golden threads on it. Cao Ziren picked up the small bag and handed it to Ding Hong, saying, “There are some things in here that you have to give to the young lord as a way to keep him busy. I hope the young lord will not decline.

Thinking that it would be useless even if he turned down the offer, he accepted it. The small bag was quite heavy in his hand and contained many small, hard objects. He did not know what they were, but he could not see them at the moment.

After putting them away, they exchanged a few more pleasantries before Ding Hong left Cao Manor. As he passed by the stables, he bought a horse and prepared to follow the official road to find his way.

This was because Ding Hong had rarely mentioned the date of birth in Jiu Sang, so he had slowly forgotten about it. He only vaguely knew that it was about September. Now that September was approaching, and it was already close to October, Ding Hong couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. He had already reached the age of eighteen.

But in the end, the age of eighteen was still in the year of the dance, and what he had in his heart was enough to swallow. When he read about Heavenly Palace’s Dao Arts Competition two years later, he could not help but feel a bit excited. He thought of forging a few swords as soon as possible and also went to the Heavenly Palace’s Dao Field to show off his skills.

Now that he was out of town, he opened the gold-threaded pouch that Cao Ziren had given him to see what was inside. However, upon seeing it, Ding Hong could not help but be stunned.

Inside, there were actually some high-quality agate and emerald objects. Looking at their bright colors, they were all extremely valuable goods. Looking at these things, Ding Hong couldn’t help but think, just how powerful was Cao Ziren’s family background?

However, this question only flashed in his mind for a moment before disappearing. After all, it was someone else’s business, so he couldn’t think too much about it.

After walking westward for a few days, they reached desolate mountains and wild mountains. The roads also happened to be sporadic, which made Ding Hong miserable. He ran all over the place, and after spending ten days, he finally got out of Mount Baitong.

On this day, Ding Hong walked out of the mountain with dust all over his body, reaching the official road.

At this time of the year, it was already autumn. The weather was getting colder, and the leaves had turned yellow and yellow, and red and red. This made the public road seem a bit more interesting.

There was a small teahouse on the side of the road. In front of the tea shop was a wooden pole about four to five meters long. On the wooden pole was wrapped a triangular flag with the word ‘Tea’ written on it. The appearance of the teahouse only added to the beauty of the official road.

It was also because of this that Ding Hong’s mood improved when the autumn wind blew. Remembering that he still had a little money left, he got off the horse and tied the reins to the post of the tea shop. He entered the tea shop, preparing to drink some tea and enjoy the autumn scenery.

At this moment, the sun was setting in the west.

There weren’t many people in the tea shop. Including Ding Hong, there were a total of five people. One table was for a weak and noble young master, while the other table was for three Daoists. However, the four of them seemed to have a strange relationship. The young master was drinking tea alone with a relaxed expression. As for the three Daoists, their expressions were solemn. Anyone who saw them would know that they had a grudge against him.

The moment Ding Hong entered, the four of them looked at him at the same time. However, seeing his luxurious clothes and the strange mask on his face, they all thought that he was a rich young master, so they did not go and make things difficult for him or interrogate him.

The owner of the tea shop was an old man in a flowery robe. Seeing that there was a guest at the door, he hurriedly walked over and asked, “What do you want to drink?”

What do you want to drink? Ding Hong was really unsure. He asked, “What tea is there?”

The old man smiled, “Bamboo leaf green, Emei green, oolong tea, even the white fur monkeys and Xiang Jin from other places, I have them all.”

Upon hearing this, there were quite a lot of names, and most of them even had names. Upon hearing this, he said, “Give me a bowl of Xiang Jin.”

“Alright, please wait a moment, sir!” The old man turned around and went back to the table. He took out a rough porcelain bowl from a large jar, took out a small jar from a shelf, pinched out some tea, and placed it in the bowl. After soaking it in water for a while, he brought it over for Ding Hong. He was skillful and did not procrastinate. It was unknown how long the old man had been serving tea.

Ding Hong looked at the tea leaves in the bowl. There was a bit of lubricant in the black tea leaves, but he didn’t know if it was good or bad. He picked up the bowl and took a sip. He only felt that the fragrance was plain, slightly burnt and the taste was slightly astringent. It was unknown whether it was the lower grade or the original flavor.

Ding Hong had just taken a sip of his tea when the young master lightly knocked on the table and said, “The bill.”

When the old man heard that the bill was settled, he hurried over to the young master and said, “Thirty copper coins.”

“Why is it so expensive?” He frowned, unwilling to do so. However, he moved his hand to his waist and prepared to pay. However, just as he moved his hand off the table and blocked the three Daoists’ line of sight, he flicked his wrist, took out three silver needles from his sleeve, and threw them towards the three Daoists with the speed of lightning.

When the three silver needles struck out, they actually transformed into three tiny bolts of lightning, instantly flying in front of the three Daoists.

However, when the three Daoists saw the silver needles flying towards them, they did not panic at all. One of them slammed the table with his palm and summoned a few thin ice shards in front of the silver needles. The silver needles hit the ice wall and fell to the ground with a clank.

Seeing this, the noble young master’s expression changed. When he wanted to take out something else, that Taoist who had just made his move said coldly, “Return that thing. We won’t be entangled with you.”

Ding Hong naturally saw the scene. From the Daoist Priest’s words, it was likely that this person with a noble appearance had stolen something from the Daoist priests. He naturally did not want to get involved in such matters. He frowned, took out the least amount of silver from his pocket, drank a mouthful of tea, and got up to leave.

Unexpectedly, just as he stood up, the noble young master suddenly twisted his body like a snake and instantly appeared behind Ding Hong. He used a dagger suffused with green light to point at Ding Hong’s neck.

When the three Daoists saw his actions, they couldn’t help but stand up. A thin faced Daoist shouted, “Li Xiaobai, don’t go overboard!”

The square-faced man frowned and said, “Li Xiaobai, don’t you feel tired after playing so many games along the way?”

So the name of this noble young master was Li Xiaobai.

It wasn’t that Ding Hong couldn’t avoid them, but rather, he harbored a desire to see what these people were up to.