Sun Baolu

1,307 words

"Kingdom of Yuer?" Yang Xiaohai looked confused. He had followed Li-shixiong all this way, but he had never heard of any place called the Kingdom of Yuer.

Seeing the expression on Yang Xiaohai's face, Sun Baolu asked in surprise, "What? You don't know? Siqi and Nanping, they've both been conquered. Wiped out by the Fa Sect."

"They mashed those territories together and called it the Kingdom of Yuer. Word is the state religion is the Fa Sect. Right now the Kingdom of Yuer is at war with the Later Shu. I heard it's intense—even the gods in heaven have come down. If you try to reach Later Shu now, you'll be dead no matter which side you run into."

Hearing this, the childish face of Yang Xiaohai turned grim. He had finally managed to escape back to Qingqiu, and was just about to reach Later Shu when this mess happened.

If he had known this news earlier, he might have waited a few more years in Niu Xin Village. But now that he was already halfway there, turning back was just as impossible as going forward. He was caught in a terrible dilemma.

"And from what I hear from the refugees fleeing Later Shu, those Hui tribes there can't beat the Kingdom of Yuer. Now in Later Shu, any man taller than a cartwheel gets conscripted. Kid, you really can't go."

On hearing this, Yang Xiaohai became visibly nervous and worried. "So all men have to go to war? Does that mean my dad and all my brothers have to go too?"

"Is your dad a Later Shu native? If so, I'm afraid he can't avoid it."

Yang Xiaohai's heart clenched with even more anxiety. He had finally gotten information about his family, only to learn that his family might be about to be wiped out?!

After hesitating for a moment, his expression conflicted, Yang Xiaohai glanced at Zhao Xiumei beside him, then said with firm eyes to Sun Baolu, "Brother Baolu, can you do me a favor? Let my wife stay here for now. I'm going to scout ahead to Later Shu by myself."

"No!"

Two "no"s rang out at the same time—one from Sun Baolu, the other from Zhao Xiumei.

"Marry a rooster, follow a rooster; marry a dog, follow a dog; marry a carrying pole, carry it over the mountain! Since I'm your wife, you're not leaving me behind!"

"Kid, I'm not trying to scare you, but Later Shu right now is truly no place to go! Even the merchant caravans and escort agencies have stopped going there."

"Just listen to me first!!" Yang Xiaohai stood up, his eyes slightly red, his voice overpowering theirs.

"When I was a beggar, do you know how much I envied kids with mothers and fathers? They had parents to buy them wontons and treats, while I had to fight other beggars over the swill!"

"They had parents to buy them beautiful tiger-head shoes and hats, while I could only strip clothes off dead bodies in the mass graves!"

As he spoke, his voice choked up. "Do you even know? I truly want to see my parents again. I want the people who called me a bastard to know that I, Yang Xiaohai, am a child with parents!"

While Yang Xiaohai was speaking, Sun Baolu's mother walked over and silently listened.

Gradually, his voice lowered. "Since my family is in danger, I have to go save them. And if... if my dad and my brothers really are gone, then at least I can bring my mom to Niu Xin Village to live out her old age. I can't let her starve there alone."

"I used to be a beggar. I know. The easiest ones to bully in the beggar gangs are the old beggar women."

Zhao Xiumei watched him with a pained expression. Though her husband had grown some, he was still not that old, just a half-grown kid missing his parents.

"Kid, I know you're worried about your parents, but..." Just as Sun Baolu was about to keep persuading him, his mother tugged at his sleeve and whispered something in his ear.

"Alright. I'll start a fire, then." As Sun Baolu stood up and left, his mother walked over to Yang Xiaohai, pulled him into her arms with compassion, and gently patted his back. "It's all right, child. Let's think of something together."

Soon, Yang Xiaohai witnessed something strange. As Sun Baolu cleared a patch of ground and lit a bonfire, the nearby Qingqiu people began to gather around.

Sun Baolu pointed at Yang Xiaohai and spoke some obscure words in the Qingqiu tongue. Immediately, everyone started chattering and discussing among themselves. They all spoke Qingqiu, and Yang Xiaohai couldn't understand a single word.

"This is a custom here in Qingqiu. I can't really explain it in Qingqiu dialect. Roughly, it means: when someone's in trouble, you light a fire so everyone can borrow the wisdom of Eternal Heaven to help you come up with a plan," Sun Baolu explained to Yang Xiaohai.

"Will it work?" Yang Xiaohai felt uneasy. Truth be told, he didn't really want to charge into a nearly certain death trap in Later Shu. If there was a way to safely see his parents, that would be best.

"Don't you see all those old folks in the crowd? An elder in the house is like a treasure. They have a lot of experience. This method used to work pretty well."

Looking at the withered old Qingqiu men sitting cross-legged on the yellow grass, Yang Xiaohai nodded slightly. He stood to the side, waiting. During this time, he also told Sun Baolu about what had happened since they left Qingqiu.

The blue smoke from the bonfire drifted slowly, but at that moment there was no wind, so the choking smoke spread everywhere, enveloping everyone.

"Cough, cough~!" After inhaling a few mouthfuls of smoke, Yang Xiaohai couldn't help feeling a bit dizzy.

This so-called "borrowing wisdom from Eternal Heaven" felt strange. The smoke from an ordinary bonfire never felt like this.

After listening to the Qingqiu chatter for a while, Yang Xiaohai noticed the sound gradually die down.

"Hei~!" With a simultaneous shout, everyone clapped their hands together. In an instant, the swirling, mist-like smoke cleared.

Sun Baolu leaned in to listen to the old Qingqiu men for a moment, then stood up and said to Yang Xiaohai, "Got a solution. You said your parents are Dan-min who live on the boats, right?"

"That's right."

"Then that does it. Don't go by land—take the water route. The old folks just remembered that there are private boats on the border between Qingqiu and Later Shu. Give the boatman extra silver and have him take you straight to your parents. That way you'll avoid the army on the roads."

"Really?!" Yang Xiaohai's expression lit up with excitement.

"Mm-hmm. The old folks should remember correctly. They said they took those boats ten years ago. Hold on, let them draw you a map and write a letter for the boat captain so they won't drop you off in the middle of nowhere to cheat you."

After Sun Baolu busied himself for a while, Yang Xiaohai finally had a way home, along with a map of the border between Qingqiu and Later Shu.

Staring at the distance on the map, which seemed so close, Yang Xiaohai's heart burned with anticipation. He would see his family soon.

"Brother Baolu, thank you so much. You've really helped me out." Yang Xiaohai held out a heavy gold bar with both hands.

"What's this? You think I'm that kind of person?" Sun Baolu pushed the gold away, then leaned in a little closer and asked, "Hey kid, you said there are still plenty of empty houses in Niu Xin Village?"

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Reading Guide Decoding

A Boy, a Map, and a Bonfire of Hope

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

This chapter features a fascinating, if understated, piece of worldbuilding: the Qingqui bonfire deliberation ritual. The smoke from the fire, which makes Yang Xiaohai dizzy, is explicitly not ordinary smoke—it carries a faintly supernatural quality, binding the participants into a shared cognitive space. The “wisdom of Eternal Heaven” (长生天) is a translated reference to the Mongol/Tengri concept of Eternal Heaven (Möngke Tengri), repurposed here as a local Qingqiu folk practice. This is a wonderful example of Dao Gui Yi Xian’s method: a real-world folkloric practice (Tengri worship, communal deliberation) is twisted into something that almost works like magic, but retains its earthy, ritualistic feel. The elders are not cultivation masters; they are just old people with good memories, and their solution—a smuggler’s boat—is painfully mundane. This is the novel’s genius: it saves its characters not with divine intervention, but with a ten-year-old piece of local knowledge scribbled on paper.

Also note the phrase “Marry a rooster, follow a rooster…” (嫁鸡随鸡嫁狗随狗) Zhao Xiumei uses. This is a traditional Chinese proverb about a wife’s unwavering loyalty to her husband’s fate. In a novel full of cosmic lies and betrayal, this line rings with a simple, stubborn truth that is almost heartbreaking in its sincerity.

Chapter Overview

This chapter pulls back from the cosmic horror and viscera to deliver something far more grounded and heartbreaking: a boy’s determination to find his family in a world that is systematically erasing them. Yang Xiaohai—our former beggar kid with a pragmatic, prematurely aged soul—learns that his parents, living in the war-torn Later Shu region, are about to be swallowed by the Fa Sect’s expanding Kingdom of Yuer. The scene unfolds with painful domestic clarity: a young man arguing with his wife and a friend about whether he’s allowed to walk into a death zone for the slim chance of saying goodbye. Sun Baolu’s mother holds him like her own son. And then, in a beautifully strange narrative pivot, the Qingqiu villagers light a bonfire, chant in their own tongue, and “borrow wisdom from Eternal Heaven” to find him a route. This is not a chapter about power or fighting. It is a chapter about ordinary, helpless longing—and the small, fragile kindnesses that still flicker in a world gone mad.

Key Plot Points

Yang Xiaohai learns from Sun Baolu that Later Shu is at war with the newly formed Kingdom of Yuer (Fa Sect territory) and that all men of conscription age are being forced into the army.
He resolves to go alone to Later Shu to rescue his family, but Zhao Xiumei and Sun Baolu both vehemently object.
Yang Xiaohai delivers an emotional speech about his childhood as a beggar and his desperate need to prove he has parents; Sun Baolu’s mother steps in to comfort him.
Sun Baolu lights a bonfire, triggering a Qingqiu communal ritual where all villagers gather to “borrow wisdom from Eternal Heaven”; the smoke makes Yang Xiaohai dizzy.
The elders recall a secret water route—private boats on the Qingqiu–Later Shu border—offering a way to bypass the war zones entirely.
Sun Baolu secures a map and a letter of introduction for the boat captain, and refuses payment from Yang Xiaohai. He then asks whether Niu Xin Village still has empty houses, hinting at his own possible relocation.

Reading Guide

This chapter is a masterclass in emotional pacing after an action-heavy arc. Notice how the horror here is not in the supernatural—it is in the mundane logistics of war. The threat is a conscription edict, a fighting age requirement (“taller than a cartwheel”), and the fact that a family might be erased by a bureaucracy of violence before a boy can reach them. Pay attention to how Yang Xiaohai’s voice shifts: from the quiet, pragmatic kid we’ve known, to a vulnerable, tearful child confessing his reasons for living. This is the beating heart of the novel—the reminder that even in a world of flesh Buddhas and false heavens, the most terrifying thing can be the simple, human fear of losing the people you love. Also, keep an eye on Sun Baolu’s final question about empty houses in Niu Xin Village. In a world where entire nations are being swallowed, the quiet decision to move one’s family to a safe village becomes a revolutionary act of hope.

FAQ

[FAQ] What is the Kingdom of Yuer (于儿国)? | A newly formed state carved from conquered territories (Siqi, Nanping) by the Fa Sect, currently at war with Later Shu. [FAQ] What does "later Shu" (后蜀) refer to? | A neighboring kingdom that is on the losing side of the war against the Fa Sect; its male population is being forcibly conscripted. [FAQ] Who is Yang Xiaohai? | A former beggar child who now follows Li Huowang; his primary motivation is to reunite with his long-lost parents in Later Shu. [FAQ] What is the "bonfire wisdom" ritual the Qingqiu people perform? | A local folk practice where villagers gather around a fire, inhale its smoke, and share collective knowledge (often from elders) to solve a problem. [FAQ] Are the Qingqiu people human? | Yes, largely; they are a local ethnic group within the Dao-Twisted World with their own language and customs, not separate monsters.

The Weight of Childhood in a Broken World

One of this novel’s most consistent strengths is its handling of child characters. Li Sui is a monster learning humanity. Yang Xiaohai is a human who was forced to learn monstrous pragmatism. This chapter gives us a rare, unguarded look at that pragmatism’s cost. His speech about envying other children their tiger-head shoes—a traditional Chinese baby shoe embroidered with a tiger face, symbolizing protection and health—is devastating precisely because it is so small and specific. He doesn’t want power or revenge. He wants shoes. He wants to be seen as a child with parents. The chapter’s climax is not a battle, but a map drawn by old men who have been carried by a river they remember from a decade ago. This is the novel’s quiet, terrible truth: the universe may be collapsing into lies, but the real tragedy is still the ordinary, aching loneliness of a boy who just wants to go home.

Quick Q&A

Lore recap (TL;DR) drawn from this chapter's Cultural / Xianxia Notes — same text as the FAQ structured data on this page.

What is the Kingdom of Yuer (于儿国)?: A newly formed state carved from conquered territories (Siqi, Nanping) by the Fa Sect, currently at war with Later Shu.
What does "Later Shu" (后蜀) refer to?: A neighboring kingdom that is on the losing side of the war against the Fa Sect; its male population is being forcibly conscripted.
Who is Yang Xiaohai?: A former beggar child who now follows Li Huowang; his primary motivation is to reunite with his long-lost parents in Later Shu.
What is the "bonfire wisdom" ritual the Qingqiu people perform?: A local folk practice where villagers gather around a fire, inhale its smoke, and share collective knowledge (often from elders) to solve a problem.
Are the Qingqiu people human?: Yes, largely; they are a local ethnic group within the Dao-Twisted World with their own language and customs, not separate monsters.