Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1605 - 1598: Lost and Found

Chapter 1605: Chapter 1598: Lost and Found

That year, at the age of ten in Huayu Ting’s life, he met the love of his life. However, their story was not smooth sailing but filled with hardships and perils. It was these trials that made their affection for each other exceptionally strong, no twists and turns could ever separate them.

The next day, Huayu Ting arrived early at the riverside to wait. Although he spoke with feigned loftiness, his body betrayed his true eagerness.

But what he encountered was not the lively little girl from the day before, but a sobbing Fei Yu. The moment she saw Huayu Ting, she felt an overwhelming sense of grievance and couldn’t help but burst into loud tears.

"Why are you crying?" Huayu Ting asked, somewhat at a loss.

"I was bullied." Fei Yu wept openly without any reservations.

"Who bullied you?" Hearing this, Huayu Ting’s tone instantly turned cold.

"Those brutes, they stole your clothes," Fei Yu cried as she wiped her tears.

"Come on, follow me. Let’s go find them," Huayu Ting said as he authoritatively grabbed Fei Yu’s wrist and led her back to settle the score.

Naturally, the outcome goes without saying; these ruffians who bullied Fei Yu, even if they did not recognize Huayu Ting, were no match for this Cultivator. He beat them until they were sent running with their tails between their legs, only after they swore never to bully Fei Yu again were they allowed to leave.

"Satisfied now?" Huayu Ting shooed these people away, then turned his head to ask.

"Yes!" Fei Yu beamed with a smile, hugging his arm and looking up at him.

This long-lost feeling of being relied upon allowed Huayu Ting to find the meaning of Cultivation for the first time. His initially closed-off emotions also slowly began to thaw.

In the following years, whenever Huayu Ting had the chance, he would meet with Fei Yu. The members of the Sect were certainly aware of his behavior. But considering that his cultivation had not only not been delayed but also improved, they turned a blind eye.

These were the happiest days of Huayu Ting’s childhood; he had a childhood friend, even though she was from the Demon Clan, Huayu Ting never disdained her identity. And the innocent Fei Yu, at this time, had not yet become aware of Huayu Ting’s true identity.

"Your ears..." Huayu Ting hesitated as he watched Fei Yu washing her hair by the river.

"Hmm, want to touch them?" Fei Yu tilted her head and asked him.

"Yes!" Huayu Ting said unreservedly.

"My ears are real, you know." Fei Yu said, bowing her head to present her ears to Huayu Ting.

Huayu Ting had never before touched these fuzzy fox ears. Even though they were wet, the texture of the fur was irresistibly soft. He could see the dense network of blood vessels on the ears and when he clutched them tightly, he could feel the warmth belonging to Fei Yu.

"My ears can also twitch, um, but it’s difficult to do it when they’re wet. Quickly squeeze out the water for me," Fei Yu said, shaking her head.

Hearing this, Huayu Ting brushed her ears with his hand, squeezing off the water, and he noticed the fluff inside her earlobes. Wanting to dry the water there as well, he reached in, but as soon as he did, Fei Yu began to shiver.

"You can’t touch the inside," Fei Yu quickly covered her ears and pouted in protest.

Huayu Ting didn’t mind and moved her hand away, trying to blow air inside. The tickling sensation made Fei Yu tremble and she couldn’t help but punch him on the chest, "Meanie!"

Excited by her reaction, Huayu Ting blew again. Fei Yu immediately punched him twice more.

Following that, he blew into her ear again, and this time Fei Yu pounded him three times with her fists.

So he played it smart, grabbing Fei Yu in his arms so she couldn’t struggle, and then kept blowing into her ear. Fei Yu was yelling and desperately trying to fight back, and only after biting him hard did she manage to make him stop.

However, such an interlude did not influence the relationship between them. By the next time they met, Fei Yu had already forgotten the unpleasantness that had transpired previously.

Huayu Ting once believed that his life would continue this way. Cultivating every day, then sneaking out to meet with Fei Yu, living a tranquil life forever.

He thought that his current level of cultivation was enough to protect Fei Yu, so there was no need to advance further, leading him to become lazy. However, his father, Huayu Tong, did not share this view.

For Huayu Tong, cultivating within the Sect was just going round in circles. To become a true high-level cultivator, one not only needs the experience of cultivating Dan, but also practical combat experience.

Thus, under his and the Sect Master’s arrangement, at the age of fourteen, Huayu Ting officially left the Sect under the leadership of his senior brother to venture into the world.

Because he left so hurriedly, he didn’t even have time to bid a proper farewell to Fei Yu. His only chance to open his heart was cut short at the age of fourteen.

Under his senior brother’s leadership, Huayu Ting started to venture into the world. By then, his cultivation had reached the mid-stage of the Jiedan Realm, not the highest but certainly not a nobody. His senior brother’s cultivation was even higher, nearly touching the peak of the Jiedan Realm.

In the years of wandering the Jianghu, Huayu Ting saw too much ugliness. For the first time, he realized that cultivation level does not represent everything. For the first time, he understood that there were not just nine disciplines in the Nine Streams, but hundreds and thousands. For the first time, he knew that apart from his senior brother, he couldn’t fully trust anyone else.

At the age of twenty-one, he finally got the chance to return to his family. To Huayu Tong, Huayu Ting was the hope of the entire Huayu Family. He no longer wanted to live in constant anxiety, praying for his son. So, ignoring the warnings of their master, he finally brought Huayu Ting back home to start managing the family’s business.

He thought that twenty-one years had passed and the curse from back then should have dissipated. But some things are such strange coincidences that everyone starts to believe they are cursed.

After Huayu Ting returned home, the family disaster was just beginning.

At that time, almost everyone in the Huayu Family believed that Huayu Ting would become the next Patriarch. He was entrusted with great expectations and began to assist his father in handling family affairs.

However, Huayu Ting was quite cold to this father. Rather than calling him father, Huayu Ting preferred to address him as Patriarch or Master. After all, Huayu Ting had been sent to the Sect since he was a child and never had the opportunity to bond with Huayu Tong.

One day, as Huayu Ting was in the fields managing the property distributions, the Housekeeper handed him a list for review, and then for his signature. This was a core task, one that Huayu Tong usually oversaw personally, but was now entrusted to Huayu Ting.

Soon after, a family servant led a frail girl to Huayu Ting and said: "Young Master, this slave has no more value for labor. Should we dispose of her?"

On hearing this, Huayu Ting looked up and saw before him a very fragile girl. She seemed so thin that a breeze might knock her over. Her hair, due to malnutrition, was dull and sparse, while her limbs were skeletal, looking grotesque and terrifying.

The girl was dressed in tattered hemp clothes, with shackles on her feet. Every step she took, her body seemed on the verge of collapse, almost falling down at any moment.

Such a slave naturally had no more value for labor, and according to standard practices, ought to be sold or executed directly. However, ever since the Cabinet came into power, it had become more difficult to execute slaves within Kyushu without prior application and review by the government.

Even a glance at such a slave would disgust most people, but to Huayu Ting, it was as if he was struck by lightning; he stared at the slave intently, almost entranced.

He noticed the slave’s fluffy big ears, which, due to disease, were balding in several places, with wounds oozing foul-smelling pus.

"Fei, Fei Yu..." Huayu Ting choked up, almost losing his voice as he called out. He did not cry, but his heart felt as if it was being torn apart in agony, and instead of tears, blood continually flowed out.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.