The carriage traveled along the official road, jolting every now and then.

A man, a woman, and Feng Bei. The three of them sat on a pile of straw in the carriage, having come from the south and heading all the way north.

The driver shouted and cracked his whip, the sound sharp and loud.

"Feng Bei, we’re almost there."

Amidst the jolting, the woman with a gentle expression softly patted "Zheng Xiu’s" small face.

Zheng Xiu was in a daze.

"He" not only didn’t shy away but also leaned into the touch.

The man beside them, with a bold and hearty voice, laughed loudly. "I heard from the people in town that there’s a village up ahead called Baili Village. They say the villagers are warm and hospitable, hardworking, and their customs are simple and honest. The three of us in the Feng Family can definitely find a place to settle down in that remote village."

"Mother, Feng Bei is scared."

A childish voice came from "Zheng Xiu’s" mouth.

’Is this... Feng Bei’s memory?’

Zheng Xiu froze. ’What is happening right now?’

"Don’t be scared," the woman said, holding Feng Bei in her arms. "Do you know why Mother named you Feng Bei?"

"I don’t know."

"It’s because we were born in the south, but now we’ve fallen on hard times and have to travel north. But your father and I both hope that you, Feng Bei, even if you are a southern goose flying north, will be able to grow into a great wild goose, unafraid of the north’s bitter cold."

"But Feng Bei is still scared."

"Your daddy’s Swordsmanship is excellent. We won’t be afraid no matter where we go."

The man laughed heartily. "Hey, when you’re older, Dad will teach you a few moves."

He was like a bystander, watching Feng Bei sit with the middle-aged couple on the pile of straw, talking and laughing.

War had broken out in the north. The Emperor had no interest in domestic affairs, and local officials in the south began to act unscrupulously. Exorbitant taxes and rampant bandits made it difficult for many common people to survive, and one by one, they began migrating north.

No one expected the war to drag on for years. The Daqian Kingdom fell into a depression. The middle-aged couple migrated from the south all the way to the north. Along the way, they lived in a town for half a year, where Feng Bei was born.

The Feng couple continued their journey north. Feng Bei grew day by day. This year, she was three years old, toddling and learning to speak.

The scene shifted, and time flowed by. The Feng Family settled down in Baili Village. They opened a butcher shop. The man would go into the mountains to hunt, using his masterful Swordsmanship to cut through sinew and bone. They traded raw meat with the villagers for grain, making a living this way.

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... Mr. Feng, yesterday our neighbor Aunt Li said there have been signs of bandits on the official road outside. The mountain game has become increasingly scarce, frightened away by the bandits. Should we think about moving? And Little Feng Bei’s eye condition has been getting worse lately, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... The village Physician is unable to treat it. We should go to the town."

"Feng Bei’s eye condition isn’t a major problem for now. It’s you who I’m worried about. You’ve caught a cold. We need to go into the city to find a skilled doctor to treat you."

"Mr. Feng, but we... COUGH, COUGH, COUGH."

"Don’t worry. I will find a way. You just focus on getting better."

The scene playing out before Zheng Xiu’s eyes seemed to contain more than just Feng Bei’s memories.

The memory fragments were not continuous, but like flashbacks. In the blink of an eye, Zheng Xiu, from some unknown perspective, saw the man’s receding back as he walked away, carrying a bloody deer leg.

The journey to the city was long. The man was gone for ten days.

During that time, bandits entered the village. The village chief saw that in the Feng Clan’s home, the man was away and the woman was comely and full-figured. Knowing the bandits were vicious and lecherous, he had the woman and Feng Bei hide among the reeds in the river.

Unexpectedly, the bandits feasted and drank in the village for three straight days, eating all of the village’s stored grain.

When the man returned from the city, he brought back only a small packet of medicine and was silent and grim.

Upon returning to the village and seeing the bandits, the man’s face became like a Rakshasa. He drew his saber and slaughtered all the bandits who had invaded Baili Village.

Afterward, he chopped up all the bandits’ flesh and threw it into the river, destroying the bodies to erase all traces.

The woman had been freezing in the water for three days. Her cold grew worse, and she developed a high fever that would not break.

One night, Feng Bei heard her daddy muttering deliriously to himself in his room.

"It’s all their fault. It’s all their fault. It’s all their fault. It’s all their fault..."

"It was them! That deer leg was clearly worth ten taels, but they insisted it was only worth half a tael of silver! Half a tael!"

"Heh heh... It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault!"

Feng Bei watched her father that night, crying one moment and laughing the next. She vaguely understood that her father had been bullied in the city, had carelessly killed someone, and was now wanted throughout the city.

That night, Feng Bei’s right eye bled and went blind. Her whole body was itchy and painful, but she didn’t dare tell her daddy.

Later, the dying woman forced a smile from her sickbed. She said the villagers were all good, kind, and simple people. Since her husband had killed so many bandits, they would surely come back one day to cause trouble for the villagers. She also said, "Even though you’ve put down your saber, don’t forget what it means to be righteous. Aunties San and Liu, and Uncle Dou are all good people. Don’t let them go hungry."

The man held the woman’s hand, choking back sobs as he agreed.

"I, Feng Nantian, swear to Heaven! I will repay their kindness for taking us in! I won’t let them go hungry! I won’t let them go hungry..."

On that day, the man named Feng Nantian made a solemn vow.

Afterward, for some unknown reason, schools of white carp began to appear in the river east of the village, growing to full size in just a few days. The villagers caught them and made soup. The flesh of the Baili was sweet and tender, without any fishy taste. The villagers sighed that Heaven truly had a virtuous love for life and changed the meaning of their home’s name. Baili Village no longer meant ’Hundred-Li Village’ but ’White-Carp Village,’ in the hope that these fish would spawn forever and keep them from starving.

The woman held on for half a month before dying, uncured. The village Physician sighed, "If only they’d had the money for medicine, she would have been fine."

After his wife’s death, Feng Nantian grew even more silent. He went into the mountains to hunt at sunrise and returned at sunset.

Feng Nantian later went out and found a great deal of salt. He used an ancient preservation method on his wife’s remains and kept them in the bedroom.

At first, Feng Bei was afraid, but she gradually got used to it.

Keeping her mother’s corpse for company, she vaguely felt that her mother was still alive, living right there.

One day, Feng Bei woke up from hunger and discovered that her blind right eye could see again. The pain in her body was gone.

But next to her lay a shed human skin.

The face on the skin was hers.

Panicked, Feng Bei ran into the mountains to find her daddy.

The man returned home to find Feng Bei had not come back. He silently picked up his Treasure Saber and went into the mountains to search for her.

In the blink of an eye, Zheng Xiu saw Feng Bei with her hands covered in blood. On the ground was a large amount of minced flesh and vomit, along with a few tufts of blood-stained rabbit fur.

Father Feng found her. He didn’t say much about it, only uttering a single sentence:

"From now on, don’t touch anything."

The young Feng Bei, still shaken, asked tearfully, "Daddy, I can’t touch Daddy either?"

The man shook his head, his tone cold. "No."

And so, Feng Bei never dared to touch another living thing again, except for herself.

A strange pattern had appeared in her right eye. The village children mocked Feng Bei: "Ugly freak! Ugly freak! The Feng Family has an ugly freak!"

Afterward, for some unknown reason, the village crops would no longer grow. Seedlings withered overnight, and there were no more of those white carp in the river.

People in the village began to say that Feng Bei’s eye was the mark of a reincarnated baleful star. They said she was born an Omen, destined to bring misfortune to all her family and friends. They even said that Feng Bei was the one who had cursed her own mother to death.

Some were skeptical.

Until one day, the number of bandits rampaging on the official road grew, and they discovered Baili Village once again. The bandits swarmed into the village. When the man returned, the village was strewn with minced flesh. Feng Bei was huddled in a pool of blood, trembling, as the villagers watched from a distance, their eyes filled with horror.

Feng Bei saw her daddy and wanted a hug, but he pointed the tip of his saber at her and said, "Don’t touch me."

The man silently poured the fragments of the corpses into the river.

"That Feng girl is a reincarnated baleful star!"

"Don’t you dare go near the Feng Family’s kid! She’s just plain evil!"

"This is truly cursed!"

"The Feng Family has it so rough, having such a demonic child. Her mother was definitely cursed to death by her."

"You’re not wrong. Whoever she touches, dies."

"Stay away from that demonic Feng kid! People will die!"

"Just look at her name, it’s unlucky."

"’Bei, bei, bei.’ The Northern Barbarians are no good. A name with ’Bei’ in it is so unlucky."

"Why don’t we drive them out?"

The villagers’ minds were heavy with thoughts.

The next day, schools and schools of white carp appeared in the river again.

The only thing wrong was that the carps’ heads vaguely resembled human faces.

The villagers chopped off the fish heads and ate their fill.

The bandits, knowing the village was cursed, dared not return.

The white carp in the river gradually vanished again.

They finally understood. To raise the white carp, you had to feed them human flesh—fresh human flesh.

They went hungry for ten days.

After ten days, the village chief couldn’t bear it any longer. He secretly put up a sign by the roadside.

Another day, a few travel-worn Officials stopped to rest there.

The village chief, trembling with fear, served the Officials dried and salted white carp.

Late that night, the man dragged his saber out of the butcher shop.

The next day, fish began to grow in the river again.

Lots and lots of white carp.

The heads of the Baili were looking more and more human.

Feng Bei peeked through the crack in the door. Whenever outsiders entered the village, her daddy would go out late at night, chop up flesh and bone on the block, and then go feed the fish.

Feng Bei watched secretly day after day, until one day, her daddy boarded up the door with a wooden plank.

Feng Bei cried and wailed, but her daddy just drove her into her room.

Feng Nantian had a crazed look on his face, muttering, "They’re all dead! All dead! All dead!"

But he didn’t know that the farmhouse’s previous owner had left a small hole in the bedroom wall for a dog to get in and out.

One night, a groggy Feng Bei heard the sound of chopping meat. She took a peek and saw that the hilt of the saber had sprouted bone, like a skeletal claw, gripping her father’s hand tightly and not letting go.

From then on, the man never put down his saber again.

The villagers seemed to forget the Feng Family even existed.

Even when Feng Bei passed by, they acted as if they hadn’t seen her.

Only the Feng Clan dared to kill.

Because the Feng Clan dared to kill, they had fish to eat.

The Feng Clan were the murderers. They were only eating fish. That was all.

When outsiders came, the villagers would welcome them warmly. Late at night, the man would go out with his saber, return home to chop meat, and feed the fish along the river.

People came to the village in an endless stream, and there was always more than enough fish in the river to eat.

Day after day, morning after morning, evening after evening, night after night.

Spring passed, and autumn came.

The man forgot Feng Bei. The villagers forgot Feng Bei.

Even Feng Bei forgot herself, forgot why she was here.

Until one day.

A tall, handsome man called out to Feng Bei.

His smile reminded Feng Bei of her daddy from a long, long, long time ago.

...

"Believe me, I mean you no harm!..."

"I’m Zheng Shan...."

"What’s your name, little girl?"

"Feng... Feng Bei."

"Feng Bei! ’Feng’ for the arriving phoenix, ’Bei’ for the northern goose’s southward flight! A great name!..."

...