Twin Dimension Yin-Yang Mirror: Attaining immortality through the martial path
Chapter 278 - 245: Unintentionally Kind, Heart of a Newborn

Chapter 278: Chapter 245: Unintentionally Kind, Heart of a Newborn

"Tell me, how exactly were you injured three days ago?"

Zhou Ping’an had always known that the Red Lotus Sect was very interested in Qingyang City.

Or rather, in Qingyang, East Mountain, and Pinghu counties, this perpetually rebellious sect had set its sights early, laying traps and placing informants, only waiting for the right moment to strike.

However, he hadn’t expected that the first to attack, at the forefront, targeting his own City Guards, would be people from the Blood Shadow Sect.

"Brother Zhou, come with me, and you’ll understand," Tang Lin’er said, his eyes flickering with a hint of anger as he led the way while talking. "Since that day at the entrance of Yinfeng Valley, my men were ordered to thoroughly check whether any children had gone missing from all regions... and indeed, a bizarre incident was discovered."

"I specifically sought out the former Red Lotus informants, and after inquiring extensively, confirmed that within Qingyang Territory, over the past seven to eight years, the number of newborns greatly differs from the number of children currently accounted for."

"How much lower?"

"One in ten survive."

Perhaps because of this situation being too shocking, even after such a long time, Tang Lin’er was still inwardly alarmed.

Zhou Ping’an’s eyelids twitched heavily.

One in ten was far too extreme.

In this world, with the current living conditions and level of technology, raising a child was indeed not easy.

They were often not fed or clothed adequately and were frequently ill.

But for only one in ten children to remain, that was not normal.

"Why haven’t those commoners reported this to the authorities?"

As soon as Zhou Ping’an asked this, he realized he had asked the wrong question.

If reporting to the authorities were effective, the people of Qingyang City wouldn’t be living in such hardship.

Thinking of that "Magistrate Li’s" confusion and incompetence, anyone who went to report would likely end up dealing with more than just missing children.

Adults could hardly survive.

"After discovering this, I immediately dispatched infantry soldiers in disguise to quietly investigate.

But before we could even start, we ran into a gang of beggars secretly abducting children.

Without making any noise, we followed the leads and unexpectedly traced it back to a salt trading caravan..." Tang Lin’er said with a grim face: "This caravan had many experts, and we immediately lost five brothers. Therefore, I mobilized five hundred elite cavalry and rode out overnight, defeated the caravan, and rescued some children."

By this point, they had reached the back camp, which was enclosed by a large courtyard, and the chattering of children could be heard coming from inside.

The scent of food wafted through the air.

And a very gentle voice was saying, "Don’t fight, no one fight, there’s enough for everyone.

Our City Defender Lord is wealthy and kind-hearted, he won’t miss a bit of food for you guys."

Zhou Ping’an turned his head to look at Tang Lin’er.

He now knew exactly what good deed Tang Ergou had done.

It was the rescue of a large number of children.

It seemed like he did not respond directly to the attack, but in reality, he had said everything.

That day, his suspicions had been correct. There had indeed been a large number of children missing, and furthermore, Tang Lin’er had caught the tail of the culprits, killed a bunch of them, and saved some people.

Thus, they were met with fierce retaliation.

They almost wiped out the entire leadership of the City Guards.

If it weren’t for the covert support from a member of the Red Lotus Sect under Green Lady, who was quietly paying attention to the City Guards,

the situation in Qingyang City would have been even worse.

He lifted the curtain.

Zhou Ping’an walked in.

He saw several large torches burning around the perimeter, and under the fierce firelight, a bunch of children who suddenly turned their heads were all covered in panic.

Most of the children didn’t even have shoes or pants, standing barefoot and bare-bottomed on the muddy ground, their faces blackened and emaciated.

Some children, who were better clothed and shod, trembled slightly in fear upon seeing strangers entering.

A teenage boy with about an inch of short hair turned his head and smiled, exhaling deeply.

"Magistrate Zhou is back, everyone is saved."

This was the young monk from Fa Yuan.

His hair had grown out.

Because his body was still not fully grown, at this moment his oversized gray robe hung nearly to the floor, which looked a little comical.

Fa Yuan turned his head and called out loudly, "Don’t be afraid, what is there to fear? This is our City Defender Lord, you are the ones he sent people to rescue.

From now on, you’ll have clothes to wear, food to eat, and opportunities to study and practice martial arts.

For those who miss home, your parents will be notified in a few days, so don’t be afraid."

As Fa Yuan the young monk spoke these words,

Zhou Ping’an was amazed to find that suddenly there were fifty-three threads at the Sea of Consciousness Red Lotus in his forehead.

That was not all.

Within those fifty-three threads, seventeen were light red.

’Such innocent children.’

’Merely empty promises of food and clothing were enough to win their trust, with some even trusting without a doubt.’

Of course, perhaps because they could eat their fill these past few days while taking shelter in the camp, they felt a sense of gratitude.

Previously, he hadn’t come here, and Fa Yuan the young monk hadn’t spoken directly like this, so the children’s emotions of trust hadn’t genuinely attached.

Now that they saw him in person, their emotions burst forth.

This also showed,

that after rescuing these children, the camp’s provision of food did not involve any mistreatment.

But, why was he naked?

"Qian Sanliang, how come there are still children without even a piece of clothing or shoes, what kind of situation is this?"

Zhou Ping’an looked up at the sky.

Although the weather had warmed up, there was still a chilly wind as night approached.

Even though these children might be used to being cold and hungry, not having clothes and shoes could easily make them catch cold and fall ill.

"Magistrate Zhou, the cloth shops and tailor stores in the city have not opened these past few days, and the army barracks don’t have clothes in small sizes, we are currently looking for people to hasten the making," said someone.

The real issue was not actually this.

Ever since these children were rescued, the situation within the city had changed thrice in a single day; people were sporadically attacked and killed in the streets, and the soldiers remaining in the barracks were all panicked. In the midst of this, they had forgotten to urge the tailor shops to prepare clothes and shoes for the children.

But that was not easy to explain, so Qian Sanliang only mentioned it briefly before hastily admitting his mistake.

"My oversight in handling this matter, I will go and urge them right away."

"Urge what? First go to the warehouse and get some adult military uniforms, there’s no helping it with the shoes, just use coarse cloth to wrap their feet. Look at how hungry they are, add some meat to their meals."

With Zhou Ping’an’s order, a soldier immediately brought over a bucket of fragrant meat soup.

Inside there were both large and small chunks of lean meat that hadn’t been fully cooked.

The courtyard immediately filled with the loud sound of swallowing.

The children’s eyes all lit up.

There was no need to ascertain the children’s emotions, as it was all clearly displayed on their faces.

After all, they were all three, four, and at most, not older than six years old; how could they hide their feelings?

Especially since Zhou Ping’an felt a sudden onslaught of forty-one Mind Wish Power Silk Threads in his Sea of Consciousness which suddenly turned red.

The shock in his heart was hardly less than that of the hungry children.

"It turns out to be this simple."

They simply longed for a bite to eat, a piece of clothing, and that was enough for them to wholeheartedly trust, no, it was almost like a faith.

The meridians throughout his body stimulated simultaneously, True Qi surged like a tide from the Weilu, traveling up the spine, rising to the Niwan, and reaching the Queqiao.

As it moved mightily and suddenly accelerated, with a slight motion of his mind, the Queqiao opened, becoming suddenly unobstructed...

The flow of True Qi then grew significantly stronger. This was the first time Zhou Ping’an vividly experienced what ’Gaining Momentum’ truly meant.

The cultivation technique of the Red Lotus Sect was indeed profound.

It directly pointed to the core of this world.

He did not know who had developed this ’Karmic Fire Red Lotus Visualization Method,’ but it must have been someone who had traveled that path, thus, inheriting such a convenient method.

However, as good as the method was, human hearts were hard to obtain.

The most important still was what each person did.

It wasn’t merely about seizing some authority that could gain momentum; in the end, it was about whether people’s hearts were won over and whether their actions were consistent with their words.

Thinking of this,

Zhou Ping’an finally understood why the Green Lady had looked at him with such a strange gaze.

Because, she couldn’t possibly imagine,

why, having only controlled Qingyang City for a brief period, he could increase his cultivation speed so drastically,

while also blessing his followers, especially the few who had exerted great efforts, showing a very noticeable increase in their cultivation levels.

The real reason was not anything else.

It was his governance strategy.

"What exactly have I done during this time?"

"Actually, I haven’t really done any good deeds.

Just not disturbing the people, not exploiting them, and also, allowing those who had lost their livelihoods and were starving to substitute work for relief, to go outside the city to clear the land, build houses, and repair roads..."

That’s all he had done.

Isn’t that the most basic thing?

"In fact, that kind of basic need for survival is seldom achieved by any dynasty, not because they can’t do it, but because they simply don’t want to."

"By doing so, how much momentum did I really gain?"

Zhou Ping’an thought carefully about these days, from Qingyang to the Floating Cloud Mountains, he realized that it was the same everywhere.

It wasn’t that those officials lacked capability.

But their fundamental principles were flawed.

Although he hadn’t intentionally done anything,

having grown up in modern society, he was used to maintaining relative fairness between people.

He wouldn’t truly consider people as nothing, as mere ants.

Instead, from the depths of his heart, he unconsciously regarded them as living beings,

beings on the same level as himself.

But these ancient officials and noble families didn’t think this way.

To them, those commoners might not even be considered human, but rather a kind of production tool.

If a tool was lost, just replace it; there was absolutely no need to worry more about them.

Would they starve to death, freeze to death?

They wouldn’t spare them a second glance.

"Right, even looking at the history of thousands of years in the modern era, even the emperors who should be most concerned about their own realms, merely viewed those commoners as numbers.

What they cared about was whether they could benefit personally, whether the nation could thrive and strengthen, not whether the commoners could survive?

Let alone aiming to improve the lives of the lower tiers, making them more comfortable and better off."