Chapter 140 Old Bonds Reborn

The grass was pushed aside, and a tiny, furry figure crawled out tremblingly.

It was pitch black all over, the very same puppy that Chen Mu had left at Li Daniu's house and then inexplicably disappeared.

It tilted its head, whimpering helplessly yet stubbornly toward the empty village entrance, a faint golden luster subtly swirling in its eyes.

It was filled with fear, confusion, and an innate sense of urgency to find something.

It did not know why it had come to this village, which was completely foreign to it; it was simply driven by instinct.

Behind it, a larger figure walked unsteadily, swayed, and then fell heavily to the ground.

It was the mother dog.

The mother dog's condition was far more miserable than the puppy's, its body covered in fine wounds.

The most severe injury was its hind leg, which was bent at an unnatural angle, clearly broken.

Its eyes were filled with exhaustion and pain, as well as a trace of relief at finally having reached its destination.

Meanwhile, on the dirt road of the village, a hunched figure was walking slowly, leaning on a bamboo cane.

Blind Li.

He could not sleep, or rather, he dared not sleep; every time he closed his eyes, he seemed to hear the low voice of the Big Black Dog that had accompanied him for decades.

It was aged, pained, yet comforting.

He knew it was his old companion, urging him to live well and to lead the village to live well.

Unable to sleep, he got up to walk around, using eyes that could no longer see to look at this land that it had traded its life for, now returned to peace.

At that moment, the faint whimpering sound precisely pierced his ears.

Blind Li's footsteps stopped abruptly, his bamboo cane tapping on the dirt road, trembling slightly.

"This sound... this feeling..."

A strange sensation instantly swept through his entire body.

It was not fear, nor sadness, but a pull that felt almost like a Bloodline connection, a sense of familiarity that transcended death and species.

Almost by instinct, he walked toward the village entrance, toward the direction from which the whimpering came, his steps unsteady.

The bamboo cane tapped rapidly against the ground, making a dense sound.

"Brother Li, it's so late, where are you going?"

A villager who hadn't yet fallen asleep heard the commotion, opened a window, and asked in a low voice.

Blind Li, however, acted as if he hadn't heard; his entire focus was drawn by that sound. The closer he got to the village entrance, the clearer the sound became, though it also sounded increasingly faint, like a dying breath.

"Who... who is there?"

Blind Li tilted his head to listen. Although he could not see, after surviving the great calamity of the demon infestation, his ears and nose seemed even more sensitive than before.

The whimpering was close at hand.

Blind Li stopped, crouched down with extreme caution, and reached out with the hands that had stroked his old companion's head countless times to grope around.

His fingertips first touched wet, cold, soft fur, with a sticky sensation.

It was blood.

This body was much smaller than his old companion's in his memory; although it was still warm, he could barely sense any breathing.

It was an injured mother dog, not his old companion.

Blind Li sighed and shook his head.

"What a sin... what kind of suffering has it endured..."

He fumbled and took a small pottery bottle from his bosom—it was ordinary hemostatic powder that the village's barefoot doctor had prepared for him in case of emergency. He didn't know if it would be useful for these injuries, but he could only carefully shake out the powder and sprinkle it on the wounds by feel.

The mother dog's body twitched, but it did not resist, making a faint wheezing sound in its throat.

Blind Li then fumbled to take off his outer robe and gently covered the mother dog with it, hoping to help it retain some body heat.

Just then, beside his arm, something smaller, softer, and furry timidly nudged against him.

"Wuu... ao..."

That barely audible whimper was filled with total reliance.

Blind Li's hand froze, then began to tremble even more violently.

He carefully gathered the little thing into his palm.

It was so small that one hand could completely hold it. It was soaking wet, exuding the vitality unique to a young cub, and was squirming uneasily in his palm.

Its little nose sniffed around, and seemingly sensing something, it actually stuck out its pink little tongue and licked his rough fingertips.

In that instant, Blind Li's whole body shuddered.

The warm sensation came from his fingertips, crashing together with a distant scene in his memory.

It was the feeling from many, many years ago, when he had found that little black guy in the mountain hollow, nearly starved to death, and it had tentatively licked his finger.

No, perhaps it was not exactly the same.

The little guy in his palm was softer and more tender, but the unreserved trust and closeness were exactly the same.

"You came... you've come back..."

His voice was hoarse, filled with the wild joy of recovering something lost, as he held the puppy tightly in his arms.

"Heavens... Bodhisattva... thank you, thank you for sending him back..."

Blind Li's tears finally rolled down.

Fate? Karma? He did not know.

He only knew that in this world rampant with demons and ghosts, after losing his old companion of many years, he had unexpectedly encountered this little life that made even his Soul tremble.

It was as if, in the darkness, there was a destined outcome.

"Don't be afraid... don't be afraid..."

Blind Li wiped his face messily with his sleeve and carefully picked up both the weak mother dog and the shivering puppy.

The mother dog was heavy, and he carried it with difficulty, yet steadily.

"Let's go home; once we're home, there will be hope."

He leaned on his cane and walked step by step toward his small hut.

At this moment, far away in Yunmeng City, Chen Mu, in the midst of deep meditation, seemed to sense something; his brows twitched, then calmed down.

...

As the morning light brightened, Chen Mu slowly finished his cultivation, withdrawing the dark golden luster swirling in his eyes, and the slightly overflowing, heavy aura around his body gradually returned to restraint.

At this moment, he looked no different from an ordinary, slightly tired young Martial Artist.

He pushed open the door and stepped out, standing by the well. Closing his eyes to perceive, the movements of every blade of grass and tree within a fifty-zhang radius were reflected in his mind.

The crawling of insects and ants, the dripping of dew, the even breathing of Jiang Huoyu in the next room, and even the circulation of spiritual charm within the black cat could not escape his perception.

This was the tempering effect of the Hunyuan Wuji Calamity Body on the Divine Soul.

Before long, Jiang Huoyu walked out, rubbing her sleepy eyes, holding the pitch-black Moon-Devouring Spirit Cat in her arms.

She yawned and was about to say something, but her gaze suddenly froze.

"You..."

Jiang Huoyu's eyes widened, her sleepiness instantly dissipating as she looked Chen Mu up and down, her eyes full of disbelief.

"What did you do last night? Why has your aura become so... strange?"

She could not describe that feeling. Chen Mu was just standing there, seemingly no different from usual, but the aura around his body was perfectly rounded and unified, heavy and solid as a mountain.

The black cat also raised its head, staring at Chen Mu, making a low purring sound in its throat.

"Just meditation."

"Meditation?"

Jiang Huoyu scoffed.

"You call that meditation? No matter how soundly I was sleeping, I was woken up by that aura of yours that suddenly burst out and then suddenly sank. What on earth did Uncle Xiong give you?"

After all, she came from the Jiang Family of the North and had extraordinary insight; although she could not specifically perceive the profoundness of the Hunyuan Wuji Calamity Body, she could clearly sense a certain transformation in Chen Mu's essence.

After she finished speaking, she paused, a trace of complexity flashing in her eyes.

"Nothing Uncle Xiong gives is easy to digest. Be careful, don't train yourself into nothingness."

Her words ultimately carried a hint of genuine warning.

Chen Mu nodded, acknowledging her good intentions.

Just at this moment, slightly hurried footsteps came from outside the courtyard.