Yang Guo: I defied death and reached the heavens in The Return of the Condor Heroes

Seeing her stubborn and unyielding attitude, Yang Guo said nothing more and simply nodded slightly.

He picked up his bowl and chopsticks again, lowered his head, and slowly finished the remaining food in the bowl.

Picking up food, scooping it up, chewing, and swallowing—every action was no different from usual, as if the suggestion to go down the mountain to prepare a congratulatory gift had never been mentioned.

Grandma Sun saw this and assumed he had given up the idea, so she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

She sat quietly on the stone chair for a while longer. Seeing Yang Guo's indifferent expression, she guessed that he was just acting on a whim and had moved on after she stopped him.

After finishing the last bite of his meal, Yang Guo tidied up the food box as usual and handed it to Granny Sun, speaking calmly:

"Thank you, Mother-in-law, the food is very good."

After speaking, he turned around and sat back on the cold jade bed, took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes, as if preparing to continue meditating and cultivating.

Grandma Sun picked up the food box, leaned on her wooden cane, and walked to the stone gate. Suddenly, she stopped and looked back.

The boy in my eyes had a straight back like a pine tree, and the outline of his profile was hazy in the dim light of the oil lamp.

Yang Guo did not open his eyes or make any extra movements. He just sat there quietly, showing no emotion whatsoever, like a calm stone statue.

Beneath that calm exterior, however, lay a subtle, indescribable sense of loneliness.

Grandma Sun stared for a long time, and suddenly a strange feeling of sadness welled up in her heart.

For nearly a month, she watched the young man diligently cultivate every day, never complaining about the cold and dark atmosphere of the ancient tomb, nor making any excessive demands.

He remained quietly in this dark and gloomy graveyard, never even raising his voice.

Even his daily activities were confined to this stone chamber and the outhouse in the passageway outside. The only living person he saw every day was her.

Even though he chose to live here, he was still just a teenager. If someone else had lived here for a long time, they would probably have become depressed.

Now he simply wants to go down the mountain to prepare a birthday gift for Miss Long and express his gratitude.

This intention is so sincere and upright, yet I so heartlessly rejected it outright.

Granny Sun was torn between the two options, struggling to make a decision for a long time.

She worried that Yang Guo would expose his whereabouts and be discovered and captured by the Quanzhen disciples, and she was even more concerned that he might encounter misfortune on his journey and never return.

But she also knew that this child was not reckless or ignorant. Since he dared to bring up this matter, he must have some confidence in it.

If I stubbornly obstruct him, it will only make me seem like I don't trust him at all.

She stood by the door, her fingers gripping the wooden cane tightening and loosening. After a long while, a long sigh echoed through the stone chamber, a sigh mixed with helplessness and a hint of compromise.

"Go first thing tomorrow morning..."

Yang Guo's body trembled slightly. He opened his eyes and looked at Granny Sun at the door, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Grandma Sun turned her head away, refusing to meet his gaze, and said in a deliberately indifferent tone:

"Remember to go quickly and come back quickly, don't make your old woman worry. If you don't return before dark, don't blame your old woman for being heartless and sealing the tomb door so you can never come back."

A genuine smile appeared in Yang Guo's eyes.

He didn't offer many words of gratitude, but simply nodded solemnly and said, word by word:

"Don't worry, Mother-in-law, I will definitely be back before dark."

Grandma Sun snorted, said no more, turned around, and walked into the dark passageway with the food box in her hand.

......

The next morning, before dawn.

Zhongnan Mountain was shrouded in a vast morning mist, the chill of the mountain had not yet dissipated, and the grass and leaves were covered with glistening dewdrops.

A faint glimmer of dawn appeared on the distant horizon, a time when darkness was about to fall and light was about to break.

Inside the ancient tomb, Yang Guo had already awakened.

He changed into a gray coarse cloth short robe, and then put on a tattered sheepskin vest. His long hair hung down over his shoulders, covering most of his face. He then put on an old felt hat, deliberately pulling the brim down.

He looked at his reflection in the basin of water on the stone table. The boy in the mirror was disheveled and looked no different from any other farm boy from the mountains. No one would give him a second glance.

He carefully tucked his accumulated travel funds into his pocket and stepped forward to push open the stone door.

Grandma Sun was already waiting outside the door.

She still leaned on her cane, carrying an oil lamp in her hand. The dim yellow light illuminated the surrounding darkness, and her aged face was sometimes bright and sometimes darkened by the light and shadow.

Seeing Yang Guo come out, she looked him up and down, and nodded slightly, which was considered as her approval of the disguise.

"Come with me."

Granny Sun turned around and led the way, with Yang Guo following closely behind.

The two walked through the long passageway, bypassing several branching passages, and finally stopped in front of a heavy stone door.

Granny Sun pointed to the stone gate and said solemnly:

"After exiting this stone gate, you will enter the dense forest behind the mountain. Then, follow the path through the forest westward for three miles, and you will see the foot of the mountain."

"Remember, never walk on the main road, but take the side paths. Although it is a bit roundabout, you are less likely to encounter other pedestrians."

Yang Guo nodded in agreement and carefully memorized the route.

Granny Sun then raised her hand and pressed it against a raised, dark pattern on the side of the stone door:

"Watch carefully. When you come back, press your palm against this line, first rotate it half a circle to the left, then rotate it one circle to the right, and finally press firmly inward three times. The stone door will open automatically. Got it?"

Yang Guo observed carefully and repeated it in a low voice:

"Turn half a circle to the left, turn one circle to the right, press three times, Grandma, I've got it."

"This mechanism has always been known only to the old woman and Miss Long, but now you're one of them too."

Grandma Sun looked him straight in the eye, her tone becoming exceptionally serious:

"Under no circumstances should anyone else be allowed to learn this method."

Yang Guo replied solemnly:

"Don't worry, Mother-in-law, I promise I will never tell anyone else."

Grandma Sun waved her hand expressionlessly:

"Go ahead, and come back soon."

Yang Guo said no more and reached out to push the stone door open.

The heavy stone door slowly opened, and the stone axle turned, producing a series of dull creaking sounds.

A cool mountain breeze swept in from outside the door, carrying the fresh scent of grass, trees, and earth.

Yang Guo took a deep breath of the mountain air and felt his chest immediately feel much more relaxed. He then stepped out of the ancient tomb.

This is the first time he has seen the light of day since he was buried a month ago.

The sunlight outside was dazzling, and he couldn't help but squint slightly.

Having long been accustomed to the dim, oily light in the ancient tomb, the morning sunlight seemed a bit too bright to him.

After a moment of adjustment, he leaped into the dense forest behind him.

He landed on a pine branch, gazing at the rolling mountains and the plains at their foot shrouded in morning mist.

He determined his location and sped westward along the forest path.

The mountain forest was exceptionally quiet in the morning, with only the babbling of the stream and the occasional echo of birdsong.

Yang Guo moved nimbly, leaping and running among the branches, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.

After running for about fifteen minutes, they suddenly heard voices ahead.

With a thought, he quickly concealed himself among the pine and cypress branches, peeking slightly downwards to look.

On the mountain path ahead, three Quanzhen disciples dressed in blue Taoist robes were walking along the path. Each of them carried a long sword, and they looked tired as they walked and chatted.

"...We've been searching for a whole month, but we haven't even seen a trace of him. We really don't know where that kid has gone."

"Who says otherwise? Uncle Li is almost frantic with worry. He leaves before dawn and doesn't come back until dark every day. He's lost a lot of weight."

"In my opinion, that kid has probably already run down the mountain. We're unlikely to find him anywhere on this mountain..."

"Sigh, enough of this idle talk. Since the sect leader has given the order: we must find the person alive or dead, so let's just start searching."

As the three talked, they passed by the tree where Yang Guo was hiding, about ten feet away, without noticing that there was someone in the tree.

Yang Guo held his breath and waited until the three figures turned the corner of the mountain path before slowly getting up from the tree.

He looked in the direction the other person had left and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, I was on this secluded path; if I had been on the main road, I probably would have run into the Quanzhen Sect members long ago.

However, after listening to what the others said, he was also touched. It turned out that Li Zhichang had not given up searching for his whereabouts for a month, which made him feel a little surprised and grateful.

But he didn't linger and continued to skim down the mountain.