Chapter 53: Gift

(Only this chapter today, six thousand words.)

Carrying the girl, Chen Pingan sprinted away, even faster than when he climbed the mountain earlier, like a flower thief who had snatched a young maiden. Ning Yao suffered considerable internal injuries, and the bumpy ride made her uncomfortable. However, she couldn't care about appearances. If the old ape landed a punch on her now, she and Chen Pingan might really "commit to dying together."

Ning Yao's forehead was covered in sweat as she asked, "How did you survive? Were you not hit by any stones? How did you know the old ape's follow-up move was aimed at you and not me?"

After firing off a barrage of questions, Ning Yao suddenly woke up. "Never mind that for now! While the old ape needs to catch its breath, we need to run as far as we can! I've had that sword entangle the old ape as much as possible, but I doubt it can hold out for too long."

The straw-sandal-wearing youth nodded lightly, his steps swift and nimble as he weaved through the alleyways, like a fish swimming along the bottom of a stream.

After leaving the western street of the town, Chen Pingan still didn't stop, taking the opportunity to explain quietly, "Earlier, in Mud Bottle Alley, I tricked the old ape onto the roof of a dilapidated house, and he fell into a pit. Then, I secretly threw a piece of broken tile onto the roof next to the hole. Sure enough, the old ape thought it was me being careless and revealing my footsteps. He suddenly smashed a tile, breaking through the wall and the roof of the adjacent house. Scared me into a cold sweat."

"Just now, I was actually crouching on that roof, not daring to show my face, afraid of distracting you. I was also wondering if I could get a shot at the old ape. Then I saw the stone the old ape threw at you, hanging in the sky like a fiery serpent. I figured anyone in town could see it if they looked up, so I didn't dare to be careless. At the time, I had a thought, figuring that if it were me, I would definitely use you as bait, hitting the one hiding in the dark first, then turning around to deal with the one in the open. One bait, two fish, how great is that, right? So I took off Liu Xianyang's clothes and threw them out before I dared to rescue you."

Ning Yao's eyes lit up, marveling at his cunning. Then, she inexplicably started settling old scores. "Chen Pingan, where did you learn all these tricks?! You seem so proper, but you're definitely not as honest as you look. Tell me! That time when Land Daoist saved me, at your ancestral home in Mud Bottle Alley, besides removing my veil, did you take advantage of me in any way?"

Chen Pingan was stunned, like he had been smacked in the face by a cow's tail. "Huh?"

The girl didn't continue to press the issue, instead laughing to herself.

Chen Pingan was a money grubber, definitely not a pervert.

Ning Yao firmly believed this, just like she always believed that she would definitely become a great sword immortal in the future, not some rare and exceptional talent, but the only one of her kind.

Ning Yao said softly, "Put me down!"

Chen Pingan asked, "Can you walk on your own?"

Ning Yao said helplessly, "Not yet, but if you keep running like this, my heart, liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys will all be shaken out. If I don't get killed by the old ape's fist, but die hanging on your shoulder like a piece of pork, the old ape would laugh us to death."

Chen Pingan slowed down, his head aching. "What should we do then? Find a place to hide nearby? I originally wanted to leave the town; there's a place that's not easy to find."

Ning Yao suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, "What about that homemade wood-porcelain armor of yours? Why aren't you wearing it?"

Chen Pingan said with a wry smile, "It's not very effective against the old ape; it would only slow me down, so I simply took it off. Luckily I did, or I wouldn't know how to get you away from there, unable to carry you on my shoulders, or on my back, and hugging you is out of the question, just thinking about it gives me a headache."

Ning Yao sighed, making a decision. "Chen Pingan, put me down first, then carry me on your back to that place you mentioned."

Chen Pingan naturally agreed without hesitation. He did as she said, picked up the girl, and continued running, asking, "Miss Ning, where's your saber? Why do you only have the scabbard?"

The girl, holding onto the boy's neck, said unhappily, "Buried in the ground."

Chen Pingan didn't ask any further questions and ran towards a remote place outside the town.

The wilderness was filled with tombs that had long been abandoned by their descendants. The mounds were overgrown with weeds, so lush that they looked like vegetable gardens. The calls of night owls echoed from time to time, rising and falling, which was really creepy. Fortunately, Chen Pingan had a feeling for this place that his peers didn't have, so he didn't feel uncomfortable. After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Chen Pingan carried the girl on his back, passing through countless collapsed statues of deities with missing limbs, and went around to the back of a huge statue. The clay statue was lying on the ground, missing its head for some reason. It was more than two yards tall. One could imagine how majestic this statue must have been when it was seated in a complete state in a temple.

Chen Pingan squatted down, trying to put Ning Yao down first. But after waiting for a moment, she didn't move. Chen Pingan was so scared that he thought Miss Ning had died on the way. Just as Chen Pingan was struck dumb like he had been struck by lightning, the girl, who had been sleeping comfortably all the way, finally woke up, subconsciously wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, and asked groggily, "Are we there yet?"

At this moment, the boy squatting on the ground couldn't even understand himself, almost bursting into tears.

The boy quickly took a deep breath, collected his strange emotions, gently released the girl's legs, and turned to smile. "This is a small hut I built last autumn. I used to bring Gu Can here to play. He kept clamoring to build something, so I used a hatchet to chop some branches and make a frame, then covered it with leaves and grass. It's quite sturdy. The two big snowstorms last winter didn't collapse it."

Ning Yao stood up straight and looked back. The flying sword hadn't returned in a panic, which was a good sign, indicating at least that the old ape hadn't found the direction of their hiding place.

Chen Pingan asked Ning Yao to wait a moment and took the lead in bending over and entering the temporary wooden and grass hut. After tidying it up slightly, he opened the door to welcome her.

Ning Yao sat down in the small hut, which didn't feel narrow or cramped, feeling relieved.

Chen Pingan didn't close the crude wooden door, but sat at the doorway, his back to the girl.

Ning Yao asked, "Why don't you close the door?"

Chen Pingan shook his head. "If the old ape finds this place, it won't make any difference."

Ning Yao, sitting cross-legged, nodded. "That's true."

After a moment of silence, Ning Yao asked, "Don't you have anything you want to ask?"

Chen Pingan really asked, "Did the old ape use up three breaths?"Ning Yao hummed in acknowledgment, "But let me tell you a piece of bad news. That old ape can break the rules at least one more time. Dealing with the two of us injured, it's probably more than enough."

Chen Pingan then asked, "Ning girl, how much of a price do you think that old ape paid for this?"

The small hollow was filled with the fragrance of green grass seeping in from all around, refreshing the heart and lungs. Although the ground was a bit damp, the girl felt she couldn't ask for more.

Ning Yao thought about it carefully, "The old ape made a total of three moves. The first time, from your Mud Bottle Alley to the westernmost part of the town, the old ape was relatively restrained, mainly to test whether you had any backing. After all, it was wary at the time of someone plotting behind the scenes, afraid that someone was targeting the young master of Zheng Yang Mountain it was escorting here. So, it probably only lost three to five years of lifespan. Later, confronting me by the stream, about twenty years. The third time, it's estimated at least fifty years. If it makes a fourth move, it'll be at least a hundred years."

Chen Pingan's eyes sparkled. He bent down, picked a blade of grass, wiped off the dirt, and chewed it in his mouth, happily saying, "Even if it's one hundred and eighty years, it's a great bargain! Even without considering that Cai woman from Yunxia Mountain trying to set me up, ordinary people only live sixty years. That means I've earned two more lifetimes back. Besides, the old ape used nearly two hundred years of lifespan to exchange for my three lifetimes. I think just thinking about that will make it die of anger."

Ning Yao frowned, "Chen Pingan, do you really think your life is so worthless?"

Chen Pingan didn't hesitate, "Compared to a divine immortal monster like the old ape who has lived for thousands of years, I, a commoner from a small town kiln, am naturally worthless. Admitting that doesn't make me lose face."

Ning Yao was choked by Chen Pingan's twisted logic.

Chen Pingan turned his head and smiled, "Of course, thinking about all this, accepting fate is accepting fate, but there will still be resentment in my heart. Think about it, why is it that we all come into this world for a visit, but my life is inherently worthless?"

Ning Yao was about to agree, and then show off a few wise sayings that were both heroic and knowledgeable, but the youth quickly gave the answer himself, earnestly asking himself, "Could it be that I did too few good deeds in my past life? But I haven't had time to do any good deeds in this life either. Doesn't that mean I'm screwed again in the next life? What should I do?"

Ning Yao picked up the empty green scabbard lying across her leg and gently tapped the youth's back with the tip of the scabbard.

The straw sandal youth immediately grimaced, turning his head with an expression of resentment but not daring to speak.

Ning Yao glared, "This life isn't over yet. What are you thinking about the next life for?!"

Chen Pingan quickly held up a finger, signaling Ning Yao not to raise her voice.

The girl quickly shut her mouth.

Chen Pingan moved his butt outwards, trying to get away from the girl and the scabbard.

Ning Yao hesitated, and finally decided to tell the truth to the youth, her voice hoarse, "Chen Pingan, have you ever thought about it? Although it has already lost one hundred and eighty years of lifespan, how long could this Zheng Yang Mountain guardian ape originally live?"

The youth, facing away from the girl and looking at the distant sky, just shook his head.

How could the youth know about such mysterious and obscure things? He probably wouldn't be able to guess the answer even if he racked his brains.

Some things, like the bluestone streets of Fulush Street and Taoye Alley, the youth would never have known that the roads in the world weren't all dirt roads if it hadn't been for the delivery.

Ning Yao sighed, "This type of ferocious beast relic born from天地異象天地異象 (天地異象: abnormal celestial phenomena) has apertures far less wondrous than ours. Although it makes cultivation extremely difficult, the benefit is that the loss of essence, qi, and spirit is also much slower, making it extremely long-lived. The shortest lifespan is five hundred years, and the longest is five thousand years. Mountain moving apes are naturally active and don't like stillness. Without cultivation, their lifespan won't be too long, naturally not as long as turtles and dragons. But mountain moving apes are, after all, former overlords, with lifespans still reaching around two thousand years. Moreover, this guardian ape has obviously cultivated magic and supernatural powers. Once it reaches the upper five realms, plus its ninth realm physique, let alone two thousand years of lifespan, even three thousand or four thousand years isn't impossible."

Ning Yao looked at the gaunt back, "So, don't think you've lived enough."

Chen Pingan didn't say a word.

Ning Yao felt a pang of sadness.

Both were silent. The girl, who had revealed the secrets of heaven, gradually felt some guilt, and racked her brains to find the right words, thinking of comforting the guy.

But just as Ning Yao was racking her brains, she heard a faint snoring sound from the straw sandal youth.

Ning Yao was immediately dumbfounded.

Deep inside Xinghua Alley was a large house, cleaned inside and out, and even the road in front of the courtyard gate was tidier than in front of other people's houses.

An old woman, whose face was absolutely not suited to being kind, picked at the wick of the lamp, making the light in the house brighter, and then looked at her grandson with great affection, starting to nag year after year, day after day, "What are you doing running up to the roof in the middle of the night again? The old saying goes, 'dress warmly in spring and freeze in autumn.' You never listen to advice. You're growing up now. If you really catch a cold, how will grandma live?"

The simple-minded youth grinned.

After the old woman sat down, she sighed and began to chant her difficult scripture, "My good grandson, you don't know. Today, that white-eyed wolf didn't know what kind of meat he smelled. Suddenly, he came to the door with big bags of gifts. You weren't home at the time. You didn't see his face. He was truly a filial son and a loving father. He almost moved grandma to tears."

When she said this, the old woman's face was full of sarcasm. She suddenly spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground, and then regretted it, so she quickly rubbed it with her toe. The old woman looked up at the youth, who had a look of indifference, and was angry, but she couldn't bear to hit him, so she said angrily, "Heartless brat, you don't even know how to feel sorry for grandma. Your real name is Ma Xuan, but you were born by a father but not raised by a mother. Isn't that a hard life? So, grandma added the word '苦 (bitter)' to your name. If you think it's unlucky, you can change it back yourself later. It doesn't matter. You don't have to care about grandma's thoughts. Grandma is just a country bumpkin, a toad in the field, with limited knowledge, destined to suffer for the rest of her life..."

The old woman began to wipe away tears.

The youth, Ma Kuxuan, reached out and placed his hand on the old woman's skinny, bony back of the hand.The old woman glanced at her grandson. Finally seeing a flicker of emotion in the boy's eyes, she smiled contentedly and patted Ma Kuxuan's hand. "Grandma is a woman without fortune. Your grandfather had a good heart but no ability, unreliable. Your father had ability but no conscience, even more unreliable. So, all I have left is you. If you don't amount to anything, all the hardship Grandma has suffered in her life will have been for nothing. Suffering isn't a big deal, just don't end up like me. You must become someone great, someone exceptional! Whoever bullies you, bully them back to death! Don't be a good person. Being bad a few times is fine, just don't go out of your way to hurt others, or you'll suffer retribution. Heaven might be drowsy most of the time, but it still opens its eyes occasionally, right? If you get caught red-handed, oh dear..."

The boy had heard these old stories since he was a child. His ears were not just calloused, but had grown several layers of callouses. However, the boy never pulled his hand away, letting his grandmother hold it gently.

The old woman suddenly asked, "Why do you like that little slut, Zhigui?"

The boy smiled, "She's pretty."

The old woman slapped the back of Ma Kuxuan's hand, scolding, "You heartless little maggot! You won't even tell Grandma the truth?"

The boy chuckled, "Grandma, don't worry, it's a good thing."

The old woman was skeptical, but she suppressed her doubts and changed the subject, "Do you know why your parents didn't want you?"

The boy smiled, "Because the family was poor back then, and couldn't afford to raise me?"

The old woman suddenly raised her voice, screeching, "Poor? Our Ma family has never been poor for seven or eight generations! We're just used to acting like pushovers, that we've forgotten how to be the boss! Our ancestors left a family motto: no matter how rich we are, we can't build our house on Fortune and Prosperity Street, or Peach Leaf Lane. If your parents were poor, would they be wearing gold and silver every day? Eating and drinking the best of everything? They enjoyed every luxury, except for daring to move into the areas where the four noble families and ten clans gathered to show off!"

Every time she talked about her son and daughter-in-law, the old woman's teeth itched with hatred. She sneered, "Those ancestral rules are just things buried in the ground, rotting into mud. How much are they worth now? Grandson, when you become successful in the future, don't take it too seriously. Grandma has lived a long life and has seen both rich and poor people. In the end, only the incompetent become honest people!"

Ma Kuxuan smiled brightly, unsure if he found it reasonable or ridiculous.

This boy had been like this since he was a child: he could endure any loss, any bullying, but when he became stubborn about something, even his grandmother couldn't persuade him.

The old woman thought for a moment, then got up and went outside to check if the courtyard gate was bolted. After returning to the house and sitting down again, she lowered her voice, "Grandson, don't think Grandma has been pretending to be a ghost all these years. Besides being a midwife, I just give people a bowl of talisman water, or shamelessly collect junk. But let me tell you, those old things I've collected are all priceless treasures..."

The boy returned to his lazy demeanor. Obviously, Ma Kuxuan had no interest in his grandmother's big box of junk.

The old woman continued to recount her various tricks and deceptions from her younger years, gleefully.

Ma Kuxuan suddenly asked, "Grandma, Chen Ping'an's father from Mud Bottle Lane, did he die because of..."

The old woman's expression changed drastically. She quickly reached out and covered her grandson's mouth, sternly saying, "Some things can be done, but not said!"

The boy smiled and nodded, no longer digging into the matter.

After that, the old woman lost her interest in showing off her past glories. She became sickly and heavy-hearted, occasionally looking out the window at the night scene.

Ma Kuxuan asked with a smile, "Grandma, you've been a sorceress in our small town for so many years. Everyone in Apricot Blossom Lane says you can cross the boundary between Yin and Yang, and guide the souls of the dead back to the mortal realm..."

The old woman rolled her eyes and said, "You believe those nonsense things too? Grandma is someone who's afraid of thunder. If I really saw a ghost, I'd scare myself to death!"

"Don't be afraid, Grandma."

The boy Ma Kuxuan said softly with a smile, "Humans and ghosts walk different paths, and immortals are different. The Great Way faces the sky, each goes their own way."

At dawn.

Ning Yao slowly opened her eyes inside the small grass hut.

The boy was nowhere to be seen.

She quickly got up, bent over and walked out. With a tap of her toes, she jumped onto the huge shoulder of the reclining, broken statue of a god.

In the distance, the straw-sandaled boy was running towards her, his pace neither hurried nor slow, not like he was being chased. When he saw the dark green-clothed girl, he quickly waved for her to come down.

Ning Yao jumped off the Buddha statue's shoulder and stood in front of the boy.

"The old ape didn't find our side."

After saying that, Chen Ping'an faced the headless statue, put his hands together, bowed his head, and muttered to himself. Ning Yao faintly heard him begging not to be blamed, she rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

After that, Chen Ping'an mysteriously whispered, "I'll take you to see two statues of gods, they're very interesting!"

Ning Yao asked, "Is it a spirit of a god or Bodhisattva, willing to come out and see you? Doesn't that mean sincerity will be rewarded?"

Chen Ping'an awkwardly said, "Miss Ning, the way you put it..."

Ning Yao raised an eyebrow.

Chen Ping'an continued at lightning speed, "Sounds like someone who's well-read!"

Ning Yao instantly changed completely, coughed a few times, and silently chanted, "Be reserved, be reserved."

The boy led the way, and the girl silently followed behind.

Ning Yao subconsciously raised a finger and rubbed her brow.

That was a close call.

The girl struggled with herself for a long time, took a deep breath, and weakly said two words, "Thank you."

The boy had been paying attention to everything around him, so he naturally heard the girl's sudden words of gratitude. Although deep down, he didn't think she needed to thank him, but that he should be the one thanking her.

But Chen Ping'an really didn't know how to start the conversation, so he simply ignored it.

Chen Ping'an suddenly stopped and stared blankly to the south, muttering to himself, "If the old ape has already been expelled from the territory by Mr. Qi, which is why he hasn't chased us, what should we do?"

The girl was speechless.

Chen Ping'an continued forward, showing no sign of anything unusual.

Ning Yao quickened her pace, walked alongside him, and couldn't help asking, "Chen Ping'an, are you alright?"Chen Ping'an shook his head and said, "It's nothing. I know some things are just like this, there's simply no way around it."

The young man had never studied, so he didn't understand the meaning of those words. To put it another way, it would be: human power has its limits.

Ning Yao suddenly stopped, and when the young man turned around with a puzzled look, she pointed to the red mark between her eyebrows. "I know you're curious, but too embarrassed to ask. I might as well tell you the truth. This is Ning Yao's trump card. That old ape of Zheng Yang Mountain is formidable, right? Chasing you and me like stray dogs, wasn't he? But within the acupoint between my eyebrows, I keep a tenth birthday gift from my mother, my natal treasure. Once it appears, not only would that old ape die, but even..."

At this point, the girl cut herself off, skipping directly over it. "The reason I'm telling you this is to let you know that the world is vast, don't underestimate yourself, and don't be discouraged. Aren't you already practicing martial arts? Why not learn swordsmanship as well!"

Chen Ping'an asked, "You can teach swordsmanship?"

Ning Yao said matter-of-factly, "My talent is too good, I learned swordsmanship very early, and my cultivation rises extremely quickly. But when it comes to teaching others swordsmanship, I'm completely useless!"

Chen Ping'an scratched his head.

Ning Yao thought for a moment, then said solemnly, "Even if I wanted to give you that flying sword, it wouldn't agree. And I wouldn't want to humiliate it like that. In my hometown, we believe that swords with spirits are our fellow Daoists."

Ning Yao finally took off the snow-white scabbard from her waist. "But I can give you this scabbard!"

Chen Ping'an was utterly confused. "Why?"

Ning Yao patted Chen Ping'an on the shoulder with great emphasis, and said earnestly, "You even have a scabbard, how far are you from becoming a sword immortal?"

Chen Ping'an foolishly took the empty scabbard, his jaw dropping. "What are you saying?"

Ning Yao strode forward.

At that moment, the girl only felt that she had done something extremely dashing, nothing more.

Chen Ping'an carefully carried the scabbard, wondering where he was going to find a sword to put in it.