Retirement begins with summoning Yuan Tiangang

The moon hid behind the clouds.

The wilderness was plunged into a deathly silence and darkness.

It wasn't the usual darkness of night; the sky seemed to have been splashed with thick ink, seeping through layer upon layer, drowning the stars and moon within it.

The distant mountains are now just blurry silhouettes, like crouching giants, even their breathing has become soft.

The wind stopped.

The insects do not chirp, and the grass does not sway.

In the entire world, only two figures facing each other remained.

Lin Feng was embedded in the mountain wall, his eyelids as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

He tried desperately to open his eyes, but his vision was as blurry as if he were looking through a curtain of water.

He could only see two figures, one black and one gray, moving closer and further away in the darkness, colliding, separating, and colliding again.

Each collision was accompanied by a muffled thunderclap and a flash of light.

"Bang!"

The ground shook.

The pebbles rolled down his side, cold.

A metallic sweetness welled up in his mouth again, trickling down his chin and down his neck, leaving a cool sensation.

He tried to move a finger, but a tearing pain shot through his chest. He felt as if his meridians had snapped and his internal organs were in excruciating pain. He couldn't even move his body in the slightest.

"Master..."

He called out in his heart, his voice as faint as a murmur in a dream.

No one responded.

The Jade Yuan Immortal inside the ring had long since exhausted the power of his remaining soul and had fallen into a deep slumber.

Lin Feng suddenly felt a little wronged.

He was homesick.

I think of that little courtyard in Hexi Town, where the recliner under the grape trellis creaked, and Dad dozed off with his eyes half-closed, his palm-leaf fan idly waving in his hand.

The hot porridge that Aunt Yao brought out had a layer of rice oil floating on the surface, and its aroma was so enticing that it could make your mouth water.

Little Black Uncle was chasing the chickens all over the yard, yelling, "Don't run! I'm going to stew you today!"

I think of Zhang Kai, I think of Liu Xiaohu, and I remember the days in Hexi Town…

My dad said that boys should go out and explore the world.

He went ahead and did it.

But in just a few months, it has turned into this mess.

He struggled to keep his eyes open, preventing his eyelids from closing completely. He was unwilling to accept it; his cultivation technique had been stolen, his master had fainted, his meridians were broken, and he didn't even have the strength to cry.

But he still wanted to see.

Let's see who that man in black is.

Let's see who wins this fight.

In the distance, a loud "boom" resounded.

The man in gray was sent flying backward, his back slamming into a boulder weighing over ten thousand pounds.

The stone shattered with a crack, exploding into dust that filled the air, like a gray snowfall.

He staggered when he landed, his knees bent for a moment, but he straightened up again.

He looked down at his chest.

The fabric was torn, revealing the skin and flesh underneath.

A deep fist mark was imprinted on the skin, with bluish edges and a dark purple center.

The area around the ribs appears slightly sunken.

He reached out and pressed it, hissing as he inhaled the cold air.

Then he laughed.

"Good punches, he's got some serious skills."

His voice was hoarse, but it carried a genuine sense of appreciation.

The man in black did not answer.

He stood still, his aura condensed and unyielding, like a sword sheathed in its sheath.

A sliver of moonlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating his face, revealing his strong features, cold and stern expression, devoid of any discernible emotion.

The man in gray stretched his shoulders, his knuckles cracking.

He took the gourd from his waist, but this time he didn't rush to drink it. Instead, he held it in his hand and rubbed the deep, worn marks on the surface of the gourd with his thumb.

"I haven't been beaten up like this in many years."

He said his tone was surprisingly calm, as if he were talking about something unrelated.

"Last time it was still..."

He thought about it.

"Three hundred years ago, I met an old man fishing on the East China Sea coast. I had been fishing for several days without catching a single fish, so I insisted that he had caught my fish and yelled at him to get lost, or I would beat him up."

He tilted his head back and took a small sip.

"As a result, that old man whipped me thirty times with a fishing rod, and my buttocks were swollen for half a month."

He put down his wine gourd and sighed, "I later learned that the old man was the previous generation's head priest of the Jixia Academy. Even my father had to call him 'senior brother' when he saw him."

The man in black remained silent.

The man in gray didn't care and continued, "So you see, I've always been like this since I was a kid. If I see something I like, I want to take it. If I can't win an argument, I want to fight. If I can't win a fight, I want to run away. My dad says it's called having an unsettled mind, and he's been cursing me for hundreds of years."

He hung the gourd back on his waist, raised his head, and stared directly at the man in black.

"The martial arts technique that kid had just held..."

He says,

"I knew at first glance that the future would be at least at the Heavenly Rank. This kind of cultivation technique falling into the hands of a child at the second level of the Acquired Realm is not a blessing, but a source of disaster."

He paused.

"I didn't intend to kill him. I just wanted to take the cultivation technique first, and then he could come looking for me when he had the ability to protect himself in the future."

The night wind blew from afar, lifting the hem of his tattered clothes.

I know you don't believe me.

He says,

"I wouldn't believe it either."

The man in black finally spoke.

"So you used a hypnotic spell."

It's not a question. It's a statement.

The man in gray remained silent for a moment.

"Yes," he said.

"I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't give it to me."

He gave a wry smile: "I've never learned how to speak properly."

The night wind picked up, bending the wild grass flat.

The moonlight peeked out completely from behind the clouds.

The man in gray raised his head, letting the moonlight shine on his face.

That face was still quite ordinary; you wouldn't notice it in a crowd.

But now, under the moonlight, Lin Feng could see clearly that it wasn't ordinary; it was clean.

A kind of cleanliness, stripped of all artifice.

Like white stones by a stream, like an old teacup that has been used for decades, they are inconspicuous, yet they are full of the warmth and smoothness that comes from the passage of time.

"My name is Yan Shouzhuo," he said.

"My father, Yan Wujiu, was the seventeenth chief priest of the Jixia Academy."

The man in black stopped.

He was very familiar with this surname and this given name.

Yan Wujiu.

He is said to be a contemporary Confucian sage, the pillar of the Jixia Academy, who entered the Eastern Wilderness alone two hundred years ago and used a single volume of the Spring and Autumn Annals to repel a demonic tide of 300,000.

His only son, Yan Shouzhou, was frail from childhood, disliked reading, and preferred traveling.

He left the Jixia Academy a hundred years ago and has been wandering ever since.

did not expect……

Yan Shouzhou smiled as he observed the black-clad man's reaction.

"It seems you've heard of my father," he said.

"That makes things easier."

He took two steps forward.

"I'm not a bad person," he said.

"At least, it's not as bad as you think."

He reached into his robes and pulled out the crimson jade slip, "The Heaven-Burning Technique."

The jade slip gleamed warmly in the moonlight, creating a strange contrast with his disheveled appearance.

"This technique," he said.

"I won't take it."

He squatted down and gently placed the jade slip on a flat bluestone at his feet.

"When that kid wakes up, return it to him for me."

He stood up and took two steps back.

"And also," he paused,

"Apologize for me."

"I did hold back with that punch, but even holding back was pretty bad. I reckon most of my meridians are broken."

He took out a small jade bottle from his bosom and placed it next to the jade slip.

"The Meridian Restoration Pill from Jixia Academy is a seventh-grade healing medicine. One pill can restore severed meridians and further improve one's foundation."

He straightened up and patted the dirt off the corner of his clothes.

"Alright."

He turned and walked into the depths of the wilderness.

The man in black stood still and did not give chase.

He looked down at the jade slip and the small jade bottle.

Under the moonlight, the jade bottle glowed with a faint bluish light, which contrasted with the crimson of the jade slip.

"etc."

Yan Shouzhou stopped but didn't turn around.

"Why didn't you return it yourself?"

silence.

After a long while, Yan Shouzhou's voice came from the night wind:

"I have never bowed my head in my entire life."

"I wanted to lower my head just now, but the words wouldn't come out."

He paused.

"You should do it."

He continued walking forward.

After taking a few steps, he stopped again.

"Oh, right," he said without turning his head.

"Help me find out who that kid's master is."

"I'm very curious about this old guy who can possess a body with a remnant soul and use a physical body to unleash a Heavenly Strike. After all, he's someone who can take a punch from me."

He was facing away from the moonlight, so his expression was obscured, but his tone carried a genuine sense of admiration.

"He's a real man."

After he finished speaking, he stepped into the night.

This time, he didn't look back.

The wilderness returned to silence.

The wind stopped.

The moonlight quietly spilled across the fields, onto the pebbles, the wild grass, and the lonely jade slip lying on the blue stone.

The man in black stood still, watching the gray-clad figure gradually disappear into the darkness.

He suddenly spoke, his voice very soft, it was unclear whether he was speaking to the night wind or to himself:

"Yan Shouzhuo..."

He paused.

"Sanzenin. The Bad Guys."

Yan Shouzhou paused for a moment.

Then he laughed.

"The Bad Guys..." he murmured.

"Looks like we've gotten into trouble again. Sigh! Damn it, I actually ran into the young master going out. I really don't understand why you guys always have to pull these pretentious, face-slapping routines. I'm so tired..."

He didn't turn around.

"I have noted what happened today."

"I'll treat you to a drink sometime when I have time."

He waved his hand, his figure gradually blurring, like a drop of ink falling into the dark night, disappearing in an instant.

Only a very soft murmur could be faintly heard in the night breeze:

"If that's the case, it would be such a waste of that gourd of wine..."

Sanzenin stood still for a long time.

The moonlight shone on his cold, handsome profile, revealing no emotion.

He looked down at the jade slip and medicine bottle on the bluestone.

He looked up again and saw the unconscious boy embedded in the mountain wall.

When the night wind rose again, he bent down to pick up the jade slip and the medicine bottle, and put them into his pocket.

Then he walked to the cliff face and squatted down.

Lin Feng was embedded in the rubble, covered in blood, but his eyes were still open by a slit.

Sanzenin looked into those eyes.

Those eyes were very bright, like two stars immersed in blood.

Despite being so badly injured, and lacking the strength to even move a finger, it stubbornly kept its eyes open, refusing to close them.

Sanzenin recalled a sentence the Great Commander had said long ago:

"Some people are tough, not because they're not afraid of pain, but because they're afraid of losing face."

He was silent for a while.

Then he reached into his robes, took out the jade slip, placed it in Lin Feng's palm, and closed his fingers.

Lin Feng's fingers twitched.

He looked down and saw the familiar crimson stain on his palm.

He opened his mouth, and a hoarse gasp came from his throat:

"No...it's not lost..."

Sanzenin remained silent.

He then took out the small jade bottle and stuffed it into Lin Feng's arms.

Then he stood up and took two steps back.

The night wind blew from behind him.

He looked at the boy embedded in the mountain wall, at those eyes that were gradually becoming unfocused, yet never quite closing completely.

Under the moonlight, he suddenly nodded slightly.

It wasn't a formal greeting, but rather... a form of confirmation.

Then he turned around and took a step forward.

The night swallowed his silhouette.

The wilderness returned to silence.

The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, its clear light like water, spreading over the mountains, over the fields, and over the broken mountain wall.

Lin Feng was embedded in the rubble, motionless.

Only his fingers gently caressed the jade slip in his palm.

It's warm.

It wasn't lost.

A very faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, it was hard to tell whether it was a smile or something else.

Then he closed his eyes.

Lin House.

The main hall was brightly lit.

Sanzenin pushed open the door and knelt on one knee:

"Young master."

Lin Tian sat in the main seat, holding a cup of tea, but didn't drink it.

"How is he?"

"His meridians are all severed, and his dantian is damaged. He has already taken the Meridian Restoration Pill, and his life is out of danger."

Lin Tian nodded.

silence.

The rising steam from the tea blurred his features.

"Where is that person?"

Sanzenin paused.

"Yan Shouzhuo of Jixia Academy."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

This Jixia Academy is not the Jixia Academy of the secular world; the Jixia Academy is a sacred place for scholars.

Long Ao, who was huddled in a corner eating sunflower seeds, trembled upon hearing this, and the seeds fell to the ground.

"Yan... Yan Shouzhuo?" His eyes widened. "The only son of Yan Wujiu, the Confucian sage?"

Sanzenin ignored him.

"He snatched the cultivation manual to keep it safe, not to possess it. He said that for the young master, possessing such a treasure is a curse, not a blessing," he said.

"Afterwards, he returned the jade slip, left behind a 'Pulse-Regenerating Pill,' and asked me to apologize."

He paused.

He said he had never bowed his head in his entire life.

Lin Tian remained silent.

He put down his teacup, stood up, and walked to the window.

The night outside the window is quiet, with branches and leaves swaying gently.

Lin Tian stood by the window and suddenly smiled.

He turned around and looked at Sanzenin.

"Is Raymond Lam awake?"

Not yet.

Lin Tian nodded.

"Return the jade slip to him when he wakes up."

He paused.

"Just say that the person who stole his cultivation technique has already apologized."

"Yes."

Sanzenin withdrew.

Only Lin Tian, ​​Shi Yao, and Long Ao, who was squatting in the corner silently picking up melon seeds, remained in the hall.

Shi Yao asked softly, "Young Master, what about Yan Shouzhuo...?"

"Ignore him," Lin Tian said.

"He's not a bad person."

He paused.

"He's just a stubborn mule who doesn't like to listen to advice."

Shi Yao smiled and didn't ask any more questions.

Lin Tian sat down again, picked up the cup of tea that had gone cold, and slowly drank it all.

The night is deep.

He got up, walked through the corridor, and headed towards the innermost room in the backyard.

Push open the door.

Only a small lamp was lit in the room, casting a dim, yellowish light on the face of the boy on the bed.

Lin Feng is asleep.

He was sleeping soundly, his brows relaxed, and a faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth.

Lin Tian sat down on the edge of the bed.

He looked at his son's face for a long time.

She then looked at the ring on Lin Feng's hand.

Then he reached out and gently placed his hand on Lin Feng's forehead.

My palms were warm, with thin calluses.

"It's alright," he said softly, "I didn't cry."

Moonlight filtered through the cracks in the window and fell on the bedside.

He just sat there, motionless, like a silent stone statue.

Much later, he withdrew his hand.

I got up and closed the door.

The sound of footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor.

"General, I'd like to trouble you to make this trip," Lin Tian muttered to himself as he walked.

Only a small lamp remained in the room, illuminating the boy's peaceful sleeping face.

And the crimson jade slip lying quietly beside my pillow.