Fifty and Knowing Fate

"Where did vengeful ghosts come from, exactly?"

Zhou Yi put away the precious cauldron and circled the courtyard twice.

There was more than one place in the world littered with corpses. Take the mass grave outside Shenjing, for instance, where countless refugee bodies had been piled up. It was said that the wild dogs nearby had crimson eyes, like vicious ghosts.

People often died in the Heavenly Prison, and there was also a designated place for disposing of corpses.

Over the years, it had become a massive burial pit.

There were only twenty or thirty corpses buried in this courtyard, far fewer than in those two places, yet their yin souls had transformed into vengeful ghosts.

"Those places were thick with sinister yin energy and rarely visited by people. The only difference from this courtyard... was that I wasn't there?"

Zhou Yi kept a low profile and acted cautiously, but he was not so foolish that he lacked self-awareness. The Origin Returning Art was an immortal cultivation technique that gathered the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from the surroundings into his body. Perhaps it caused some mysterious change.

"I should buy another courtyard for cultivation and let outsiders occupy this one. That would also help conceal my identity."

This vengeful ghost had already been reduced to ashes, but there was no telling whether another might gather. If one silently pounced over to possess him while Zhou Yi was immersed in cultivation, that would be trouble.

One had to be careful in all things. If he visited Spring Breeze Pavilion a few years less, he would have enough silver left to buy a courtyard!

Just then.

The sound of someone flying through the air with lightness skill came from outside. A middle-aged man in white, his robes fluttering in the wind, descended into the courtyard beneath the moonlight.

The winter wind was bitterly cold. He carried two jars of wine in one hand and waved a white paper fan in the other.

Zhou Yi raised a brow. "You got here rather quickly, you bastard!"

"Jin Yu came to find me and said an old daoist had arrived."

Lao Bai said, "After so many years, and with you cultivating that wicked art, I thought you'd died somewhere."

"Secluded cultivation was meant to rebuild my foundation and recover a little of my lifespan."

Zhou Yi gave a half-true, half-false excuse. "Chen Ya'er is a good girl. If she believed my words after only one meeting, she'd best not wander the martial world, lest she die for nothing out there."

"It's Jin Yu, meaning the beauty of jade! I specifically sought out a teacher from the Imperial Academy to name her."

Lao Bai poured two bowls of wine. "Ever since you left Shenjing, I haven't found anyone I could drink with so freely!"

Zhou Yi laughed. "The illustrious Thief Saint, said to have friends throughout the world and answerable with a single call across the martial world—"

"It wasn't the same. Since I'd left the martial world, I couldn't have too much to do with it anymore."

Lao Bai shook his head with a sigh. There might have been nostalgia for his former carefree days within it, but even more was relief and gratitude.

"Then I'll drink with you until we're old!"

Zhou Yi had met Lao Bai in prison. In the blink of an eye, more than twenty years had passed, and he had long known that this fellow was the same kind of person as himself.

Lao Bai appeared bold and reckless, having stolen countless treasures, but in truth, he left no loose ends even in trivial matters. At heart, he was as cautious as Zhou Yi. There were countless masters of lightness skill in the martial world, and no few renowned for their nimble-fingered theft, yet only Lao Bai had earned the title of Thief Saint.

That was because the others did not act thoroughly enough or cautiously enough, and eventually stumbled into disaster.

The only mistake Lao Bai had ever made was the robbery at Prince's Manor, and the result was that he had been caught for a lifetime.

Lao Bai shook his head and waved away the disguise covering his face. Crow's feet had already formed at the corners of his eyes. His face was no longer handsome, carrying instead the weathered air of life's storms.

"We're already old!"

At fifty, one came to know fate. It was an age to delight and forget one's worries, to regard honor and disgrace with calm indifference. In this era, that already made one an old man!

Lao Bai was two years older than Zhou Yi. He was already fifty-eight, nearing sixty!

Zhou Yi stood stunned as he watched one of his few friends grow old. He raised his head and drained the wine in his bowl.

"The young disciples of the martial world grow old!"

"Where did Old Zhou learn such sour poetry? Even at our age, we're still irresistible to thousands. Quite a few chivalrous maidens in the martial world admire me and have specially come to the capital to visit."

Lao Bai had long accepted it. "It's you who still can't find yourself a wife even in old age!"

"Admire you? More like paying their respects to you!"

Zhou Yi said disdainfully, "You have too many romantic schemes. You brought the Holy Maiden of the demonic sect into your household—how could the princess endure that?"

Lao Bai said with a shameless grin, "Hehe! That wasn't my fault. Rongchang was the one who proposed it."

"Keep bragging. Go on, keep bragging!"

Zhou Yi said, "If you're so impressive, why haven't I seen that eldest senior sister from some sword sect?"

"Shuwan is thin-skinned and unwilling to come to the capital."

Lao Bai said helplessly, "I can only go to Wuliang Mountain every year and stay for two or three months. After all, she's the sect leader of a prestigious righteous sect. I can't wrong her by making her a concubine in my household."

"..."

Zhou Yi suppressed the urge to smash Lao Bai to death with his cauldron. Every time they talked about women, he was utterly crushed.

No matter how alluring the courtesans of Spring Breeze Pavilion were, they could not compare to a female sword sect leader, a demonic sect Holy Maiden, or a noble-born lady... Perhaps their looks were comparable, but the sense of conquest brought by their identities and status was the difference between clouds and mud in an instant!

"How has the political situation changed over the years? Is Chancellor Zhang dead yet?"

Zhou Yi stiffly changed the subject, secretly comforting himself that once Lao Bai grew too old to move, he would go find him and talk about the beauties of the world.

"In the third year of Jinglong, Chancellor Zhang died of old age in office. He was granted the posthumous title Wenzhong, and His Majesty personally supported his coffin at the funeral as a disciple would!"

Lao Bai said, "As for the rest, nothing major has happened these past years. His Majesty is in the prime of life and has a gentle temperament. All the officials say he has the bearing of Emperor Zhongzong."

"Gentle? Weak would be more accurate!"

After leaving seclusion, Zhou Yi had already learned the outcome of the northern frontier peace talks. Not only had Fengyang Kingdom ceded land and paid reparations, Emperor Jinglong had even swallowed his pride and personally invited the bones of the enemy prince out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

It was precisely because of this that Chancellor Zhang could head north and swiftly settle the peace agreement!

Lao Bai said, "Being weak isn't so bad. His Majesty has been on the throne for ten years and hasn't exterminated nine clans even once. Everyone is living quite well."

"Fengyang Kingdom produced two generations of outstanding figures—Wuzhong and Wenzhong—and turned the declining situation around in one stroke. It seems the dynasty won't collapse anytime soon."

Zhou Yi bore no resentment toward Fengyang Kingdom. He was merely commenting as an observer.

Even if the heavens and earth changed hands someday, it would only mean another group became emperor. As that man had said back then, the scholars had rotted to the core and no one could cure them. There would still be corrupt officials and wrongful cases aplenty.

The two old men, reunited after ten years, had endless things to say as wine loosened their tongues.

When they spoke of the dry bones in the courtyard, Lao Bai wore a mischievous expression.

"Old Zhou, do you know who this person was?"

"Since you're enjoying my misfortune, he wasn't some roadside bandit, could he be..."

Zhou Yi seemed to realize something. "A member of the Zhou clan?"

"You're far too sly. No fun, no fun!"

Lao Bai said, "Two years after you left, this courtyard of yours became a haunted house. Strange cries sounded from it now and then at night, and most of the neighbors nearby were frightened into moving away."

Zhou Yi nodded. "There really was a vengeful ghost. I just slapped it to death!"

"..."

Lao Bai was speechless for a moment, then could not help asking, "Old Zhou, just how high is your martial skill?"

Zhou Yi shrugged. "Only about three or four stories high."

Lao Bai asked again, "Then what floor am I on?"

Zhou Yi considered the gap between them and answered honestly, "You're probably three or four floors underground."

"Go on about the haunted house..."

Lao Bai had never particularly pursued the martial path in his youth. He cultivated lightness skill first because it looked dashing and elegant, and second because it let him flee and save his life. At his age, he had even less desire to compete with others.

"Five years ago, the Zhou family somehow got word and believed you'd died outside, so they came to the capital to claim your house. They were harmed by the vengeful ghost. That man was even your cousin's son, apparently named Zhou Fang."

"He brought it upon himself."

Zhou Yi had long since split from the clan. By law, it was not the Zhou clan's turn to inherit his property.

"I already had them sent away."

Lao Bai said, "Don't stay in seclusion for too long next time, or you'll only be able to burn paper offerings with me."

"I'll remember!"

Zhou Yi nodded slightly.

After that, their conversation ranged from the imperial court to the martial world, from the southern skies to the northern earth, until the rooster crowed three times and the eastern sky began to pale.

"How many times can one enjoy such unrestrained happiness in a lifetime?"

Lao Bai rose to take his leave. He never used the front gate, instead stepping into the air, kicking off the wall, and flying away.

Zhou Yi stood in the courtyard for a long while before sighing softly.

"One day in the mountains, a thousand years in the world!"

He had only just entered the Path of Immortality, yet his secluded cultivation could easily last ten years. Once his cultivation grew profound in the future, when he emerged from a single period of seclusion, several generations in the mortal world might already have lived and died.

With a wave of his hand, Mana crushed the dry bones into ash, which fell beneath the jujube tree and became fertilizer.