Chapter 1490: Little Mute (1/2)

Chapter 1490: Little Mute

In his first life he was a Chosen. In his second life, he reached the pinnacle of the mortal world. His third life ended soaked in blood. His fourth life was, for the most part, a waste.

After dying in the fourth life, his soul flew out, and the fourth of the nine sealing marks glittered radiantly.

The soul entered the cycle of reincarnation, and the fifth life began.

As that happened, Meng Hao’s true self was sitting cross-legged on the leaf of the huge flower, waiting for the flower to bloom.

On the Transcendence Path, Yan’er was struggling forward with gritted teeth. She had passed the third tribulation, and was proceeding toward the fourth. She repeated to herself over and over again that she had to keep going. Based on what she had heard from others who had come back from the Transcendence Path throughout the years, she knew... that her Master was in the fifth tribulation.

And she was getting closer and closer to that very location.

“Master, Yan’er is going to find you.” The intense focus in her eyes grew stronger. Taking a deep breath, she walked on.

The fifth life began amidst winter snowfall, in a town on the fifth continent. The birth of the child brought no happiness to that family, and was in fact met with silence.

A moment or two later, the young father bitterly walked out of the house... and placed the baby down onto the street.

“It’s not that dad and mom don’t want you,” he murmured, “it’s just that you....”

The reason the baby was abandoned was because he was crippled. He was born with only a stump of a tongue, ensuring... that he would never be able to speak. Furthermore, he had a birthmark on his face, making him frighteningly ugly.

The baby’s crying grew more and more hoarse as it echoed out into the freezing cold. Eventually, a middle-aged man appeared, wearing a raincoat and a wide, conical hat. When he heard the crying, he walked up to the baby.

Looking down, he sighed, then picked the baby up into his arms and carried him home. The man lived in a small, cold house, within which swirled a permanent aura of death.

Gradually, a frozen corpse became visible, which apparently the man... had performed an autopsy on.

This man was the town coroner.

“Abandoned, can’t talk, and ugly as a stray dog. I’ll call you Little Mute.” The man looked at the baby and smiled. After taking off his hat, it was revealed that he had a long scar running down his entire face, giving him a very vicious appearance. His smile was somewhat frightening, but his eyes were kind.

Little Mute was raised on the gruel provided him by his father the coroner. He grew slowly; apparently the iciness of winter had seeped into his bones, and he was always weak and fearful of the cold. He never seemed to develop fully, and it always as if a strong enough gust of wind came along, he might be carried away with it.

Because his father was a coroner, he had frequent contact with dead bodies. Any time someone in the area was killed, the corpse would be sent to the coroner for examination. Gradually, Little Mute learned the same skills as his father.

“Remember this type of wound, Little Mute. Usually it indicates that the spleen was punctured.....”

“See, this one was obviously poisoned.”

“Cut the chest open here, Little Mute, and check for tiny white insects. If you see any, make sure not to touch them.”

“Look at this fellow, Little Mute. His head and torso have both been slashed open. What kind of power would do that? Not even warriors could inflict such precise wounds. These injuries were caused by an Immortal. I wonder what he possibly could have done to offend an Immortal.”

At first, Little Mute was afraid. However, thanks to the constant instruction given him, he eventually became quite familiar with examining corpses. By the time he was a teenager, he didn't feel any fear at all, and would sometimes even go behind the coroner’s back to do his own autopsies.

The coroner grew older and weaker. Soon, he wasn’t taking care of Little Mute, instead, Little Mute was taking care of him.

More years passed, and eventually the coroner had trouble seeing, and could no longer perform the duties of his trade. At his recommendation, Little Mute became the new town coroner.

Little Mute was an adult, but was still physically weak, as though he had never fully grown up. The birthmark on his face grew larger, making him unbearably ugly, and he was as mute as ever. Couple that with the fact that he had frequent contact with corpses, and he developed a somewhat sinister air which ensured that no girl would ever want to marry him.

Little Mute didn't really care about that though. He would be like his father, and live single for all his days.

He went about his coroner's work diligently. It was almost as if he were naturally gifted in those arts. Ten years went by in which he came to be known as the best coroner in the area, and was often called out to other towns for consultations.

The old coroner continued to decline. He had no wife to accompany him, only Little Mute. He would often jabber garrulously, whereupon Little Mute would listen quietly and smile.

Although he couldn’t speak, he was able to make some signs with his hands, allowing him to communicate to some degree.

Years passed, and Little Mute became so well-known as a coroner that he came to be frequently summoned to the capital city. The old coroner eventually died. He passed away peacefully, and in no pain. Little Mute wept.

After burying the old man and paying respects, Little Mute left the town and moved to the capital city.