Chapter 357 – Uncle

The woman revealed a sad expression as she hugged Zhou Ru and looked at her husband for help.

Zhou Ru’s father pondered a bit and said, “Dao Chang, this kid is a mute.”

“Mute? No problem!” The old man flicked his finger and the woman was forced back a few steps. He grabbed Zhou Ru and smiled. “Okay, you come with me!”

Zhou Ru’s face was filled with fear. Her body trembled and tears started streaming down her cheeks. She was only a three-year-old kid, so she was terrified right now.

Zhou Ru’s father clenched his fists and was about to speak when the old man frowned. He looked over and coldly said, “To have your kid picked is your luck. Don’t be noisy!”

At this moment, the elder of the village quickly went to calm Zhou Ru’s parents.

The old man snorted and said, “I’m not here to steal your kid but to give her a good future! You will still have chances to meet in the future!” With that, he held Zhou Ru and walked toward the village exit.

Zhou Ru panicked and began to cry. Her voice was filled with fear.

“Father! Mother!”

A tender voice suddenly came out of her mouth. The old man laughed. “So she isn’t mute. That is even better!”

“Ru Er!” Tears flowed down the woman’s cheeks. She was about to go chase after her daughter when her husband stopped her and said, “It is her luck to be chosen.”

After the old man left the village, the more he looked at Zhou Ru, the happier he became. “A high quality spirit stone! Haha! With it, I can attempt to break through to the mid stage of Foundation Establishment. Little girl, I won’t mistreat you. Once you grow older, I’ll take you as my disciple!”

He was just about to take out the flying sword to return to the sect when Zhou Ru bit his hand. However, how much strength could a three-year-old have?

This still made the old man frown. He snorted and said, “You really don’t know what’s good for you!” With that, he raised his hand to slap Zhou Ru. He wanted to teach her a lesson so she wouldn’t be crying the entire way as if he was stealing someone’s kid.

“You dare!”

The old man had just raised his hand when he felt his body turn cold and sweat covered his back. A white-robed youth mysteriously appeared in front of him.

The old man quickly put down Zhou Ru and respectfully said, “Senior, junior…”

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Wang Lin waved his sleeves and the old man was blown away by a powerful wind.

Wang Lin stared at Zhou Ru. One year ago, he told Tie Yan to return to the Cloud Sky Sect and that he would be personally watching over her. He originally wanted to act earlier but decided to wait for the old man to take Zhou Ru away before appearing.

Looking at Wang Lin, the fear in Zhou Ru’s eyes disappeared and was replaced by confusion.

Zhou Ru said, with her crisp voice, “Un…uncle…”

“Uncle…” Wang Lin let out a sigh and said, “Come with uncle, okay?”

The confusion became even stronger in Zhou Ru’s eyes. She didn’t know why but she sensed a great deal of attachment toward the uncle before her, so she nodded.

Wang Lin revealed a complex expression and picked up Zhou Ru. He covered her in spiritual energy as if he was afraid she would catch a cold from the cold air while flying.

He jumped into the sky and slowly disappeared over the horizon with Zhou Ru in his arms.

Wang Lin appeared under the pagoda with Zhou Ru and built a stone house just like before.

Wang Lin put down Zhou Ru and softly said, “We are home.”

Zhou Ru quietly nodded. Her large eyes looked all around but she didn’t touch anything. Instead, she stood next to Wang Lin.

No matter where Wang Lin went, she would closely follow him. Even when Wang Lin was cultivating, she sat down next to him with a hint of confusion in her eyes.

At night, after Zhou Ru had fallen asleep, Wang Lin stood beside the bed looking at Zhou Ru’s small face and whispered, “Wan Er, right now your Nascent Soul is unstable, so your memories can’t return. Once you turn 19, they will naturally return.”

He stared at Zhou Ru and memories of Li Muwan flashed through his mind.

After letting out a sigh, Wang Lin tucked Zhou Ru in and left the room.

Zhou Ru wasn’t like him, who only needed to cultivate to nourish himself. For a three-year-old, food was the best thing to nourish their body.

Wang Lin built a kitchen and went out to buy a lot of food. Someone who hadn’t cooked in 500 years was now cooking for Zhou Ru.

When Zhou Ru woke up in the morning, the first thing she saw was Wang Lin silently cultivating. She rested her chin on her arm and watched Wang Lin.

Wang Lin opened his eyes, rubbed Zhou Ru’s head, and smiled. “Are you hungry?”

Zhou Ru nodded.

Wang Lin waved his right hand and a bowl of porridge appeared. After he finish feeding Zhou Ru, she asked him, “Uncle, why can this bowl fly?”

Wang Lin faintly smiled. He didn’t speak but closed his eyes and continued to cultivate.

Time slowly passed and Wang Lin became immersed in his life as he slowly watch Zhou Ru grow up. The feeling of when he turned into a mortal appeared in his heart once more.

This was a very calm and peacful feeling.

One night, while Wang Lin was cultivating, a scream suddenly came from within the stone house. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he immediately charged into the room. He saw that little Ru Er had kicked her covers away and her hands were clenched together with a struggling expression on her face.

“Uncle… save me… uncle… father… mother…”

Wang Lin’s right hand touched Zhou Ru’s forehead and he sent in some spiritual energy. Soon, Zhou Ru calmed down and opened her eyes. Her eyes were like the stars.

After seeing Wang Lin, she began to cry and slowly told Wang Lin what happened. He let out a smile. It all turned out to be a dream. She dreamed that she was in a dark place and her father, mother, and even uncle left her, so she was all alone in the darkness.

“Hold this. If something like that ever happens again, just ring this bell.” With that, Wang Lin took out a bell and put it in her hand.

This bell was the one Qiu Siping had given him. After studying it, Wang Lin realized that this bell seemed to have come from the same place as the bell the ancient cultivators gave him.

After researching it, he was able to learn some ways of using the three bells. Wang Lin was very happy with their power.

What was even more valuable was that these three bells had some mysterious connection to each other. As long as one holds one of the bells, no matter where the other ones are, the people holding them will feel something.

Other than that, Wang Lin found another sword sheath inside Qiu Siping’s bag.

The moment Wang Lin saw the sword sheath, he immediately took out the three he already had. Comparing them, the four sword sheaths looked exactly the same, only the patterns on them were different.

In the blink of an eye, two years passed by.

Zhou Ru was now five years old.

Within these two years, Wang Lin didn’t know when to laugh or cry. Zhou Ru had become less quiet and more playful. Whenever he was not around, she would take out the bell and play with it, causing Wang Lin to immediately appear.

Wang Lin was helpless against this and he didn’t tell her to stop. However, Zhou Ru was very smart. After a few times, she no longer rang it and kept it close to her like a treasure.

In these two years, he took her to see her parents once. but it was after they had fallen asleep.

On this day, Wang Lin was cultivating. When he opened his eyes, he saw Zhou Ru secretly walking out of the pagoda with a bowl of porridge in her hand. She stuck out her tongue at Wang Lin and ran up to him. “Uncle, uncle, I saw the fairy elder sister again, but she still won’t eat.”

When Zhou Ru was four years old, she secretly went up the pagoda and saw the female corpse. After that, Zhou Ru began to think about the female corpse and would occasionally go up there to check on her.

One time she even brought the porridge Wang Lin had made for her up there to try to feed the female corpse.

Wang Lin really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he didn’t stop her. After all, she was still young, so he just let her do as she wished.

However, he seriously explained the matter about trying to feed the female corpse, but Zhou Ru still didn’t understand why the white-dress elder sister only slept and didn’t eat.

Wang Lin helplessly said, “Your fairy elder sister doesn’t eat, so don’t bring porridge up there anymore.” Wang Lin felt like this was a bit messy. Zhou Ru called the female corpse elder sister but called him uncle. If one day Zhou Yi comes back and hears this, what kind expression will he make?

“Won’t she be hungry? If I don’t eat for a day, I will be very hungry.” Little Zhou Ru looked at Wang Lin with her big eyes and said, “I’ll leave the porridge next to her and she can eat it when she wakes up. Uncle doesn’t have to worry about me.”

Wang Lin bitterly smiled and was about to say something when his expression suddenly changed. He looked into the distance and said, “Little Ru Er, go inside the pagoda.”

“Okay. Are the bad guys here again? They are so annoying.” Zhou Ru nodded and returned to the pagoda with the bowl of porridge.

One year ago, many cultivators from other countries came here to challenge Ceng Niu.

At the start, Wang Lin completely ignored them. With the domain of the pagoda, they couldn’t even get close. However, they didn’t stop but got more aggressive. They would spy on them from the mountains on the side and wave around their magic treasures.

One night Zhou Ru was sleeping and was awoken by a magic treasure. She was so scared that she ran out crying.

At that moment, Wang Lin went outside. When he returned, there were seven bloody heads on the surrounding mountains. After that, no one dared to make any noise at night.

However, the challengers never stopped coming. There were even famous Soul Formation cultivators among them.

After he started killing, he didn’t go easy on them. Every time a challenger came, he would kill them. People gradually stopped challenging him, but someone would occasionally show up.

A cold voice came from the mountains. It said, “Ceng Niu, Xue Ye’s Liao Fen is here to ask for the feather fan back.”