The moon elegantly spreading her shimmering gown on the Sparrow village. She sparkles and shining so brightly... dazzling everyone with her bewitching beauty.
Beautiful!
Uplifting!
Mysterious!
The villagers were holding a feast, the atmosphere is tender and harmonious. They assembled and surrounding the large bonfire. Some were dancing while other telling stories.
Zhu Dingxiang and the caravan group arrived at the Sparrow village before nightfall.
The villagers were wary of their group because caravan groups don't usually stop at their village. However, after Zhu Dingxiang provided the village meats and herbs, the tension dissolves.
They were starving. The adult women and men are skinny, seeming malnourished. People who live outside of a town wall like their village face a considerable risk of being attacked by beasts or slaughtered by demonic cultivators.
Most of their resources and food were given to the village head or talented kids in the village to ensure their survival.
"Gasp*" The elderly village chief inhaled sincerely before he calls out in excitement.
"I-it's foods! IT'S FOODS!"
"Hm?" Zhu Dingxiang was surprised by the sudden cry of the elderly village chief. He didn't though much and only giving out foods to earn karma points; this reaction was unexpected.
"Food?"
"Did someone just said food?"
"Someone's here?"
A lot of villagers, from the elderly to children getting out of their homes and gathering together. A man was moved to tears as he reaches out to Zhu Dingxiang's hand while half-kneeling.
"T-thank you, sir, for giving us something to eat." The man was skinny with a pale complexion and darkish eye circles. A fine baby boy about one-year-old was wrapped in a rough cloth tied to his back.
"Thank you…" The man said in his sincerest tone.
Apparently, the mother already starved to death, and only the child survive.
Qiao Qiuyue witnessing this scene didn't say anything as she silently signals some of the caravan guards to take out some rations and share them with the villagers.
"Here, have some more." Zhu Dingxiang was bending his back lightly and giving the rations to an elderly grandma.
"Well, thank you." The grandma said in a long and worn voice.
After a while, the mood calms down as the villagers munching on the foods.
"Miss Qiao, do you have more rations left?" Zhu Dingxiang spoke in a faint voice to Qiao Qiuyue, who was standing behind him.
"The path to the town is still far away, there would be more villages like this, and we won't have sufficient rations to give everyone." Qiao Qiuyue spoke while observing this man in front of her.
He was bewildered by her words, but then he came back to his sense after thinking about it. He wasn't a saint. Who knew how many mortals were suffering the same fate as these villagers throughout the land?
He already filled their stomach for the moment; should he go as far as to stockpile foods for them?
'She was right! Perhaps I'm too oversentimental.' Zhu Dingxiang was silent as he thought for a while.
"Sorry."
"No, you are just too kind, Doctor Zhu." Qiao Qiuyue said in a nonchalant tone with a slight smile seeing Zhu Dingxiang walk elsewhere.
'Young Miss, we have already given out all of our rations. There isn't any left for us today.' A guard walked over and whispering.
"Then go and prepare the meat of the spiritual beast."
"B-but…"
"I said go!"
"I beg your pardon me." The guard then goes away and giving out orders.
__________
The moon rose till she tasted the horizon.
Squatting next to the bonfire that lights up the warm atmosphere while listening to the echoes of his heart.
"Why have you all not left when life is so hard living in this small village?" Gazing at the glowing flame, Zhu Dingxiang asked one of the villagers.
Crackle*
Crackle*
The middle-aged villager was silent and listening to the crackling sounds of the burning firewood.
"We... we cannot abandon this village; our forefathers reside here." the man stopped for a moment and proceeded. "We will continue to stay here until the day we die," he said in a deep voice.
Hearing those words of the man, Zhu Dingxiang remains quiet. Even though he understood, he wasn't able to perceive the emotion underneath.
"Sir, you are a noble and virtuous person." The man then turns his head and said to Zhu Dingxiang.
"Am I?"
"Yes, you were one of the few who would bother to fill our stomach. When everyone else would just turn away from our village when we begged for help." He spoke while grinning.
'Noble and virtuous.'
'Am I truly that kind of person?' Zhu Dingxiang looked up at the full moon; his cloudy eyes look dull, with no reflection.
'Four months, in this short time, my hands were already tainted with the blood of hundreds of people!'
'Are these words... that fitting for me?' His back seems lonely and desolate. Together with the banished immortal's aura, Zhu Dingxiang looks ethereal and otherworldly.
Unknowingly, Qiao Qiuyue's gaze was attracted to him at this moment, the lonely silhouette of Zhu Dingxiang quietly burning into her heart.
"It's ready!" A child shouted out in excitement while drooling.
Zhu Dingxiang breath in deeply.
The fragrance of roasted meats filled the air.