Life was like sharing a table for a meal. People constantly came and went. Some ate the finest fare at the table, while others suffered bitterness all their lives. Some were full yet refused to leave; some kept watching longingly; some did not even have a stool and could only stand beside the table with a bowl in hand; some held a great empty bowl and went hungry; some had only a small bowl yet could keep filling it with rice. At this table, people made their powdered-and-painted entrances, delivered opening lines, recited exit poems. Some ate until they burst, some starved to death, some drank themselves unconscious, and some left without saying a word.
Liang Shuang left the residence with Stinky Ailanthus Taoist priest and the Daoist boy Huang Shang. The previously bustling courtyard became home once more to only Gao Mian and Old Man Liu Cheng, the two old friends.
When drinking, one did not fear having common folk at the same table. What one feared most was outsiders.
Now that there were no outsiders, Gao Mian opened the skylight and spoke plainly. "As long as you can hurry up and prove the Dao ascension, everything will be fine. Every problem will yield before the blade, and every hidden danger will vanish on its own. Chen Ping'an is the Yin Guan, and you are an old friend of mine for many years. I will not favor either of you; I am merely stating facts. Iron must be hard before it can be forged. If Liu Laocheng becomes Ascension Realm, both the Great Li Dynasty and Jade Guizong will have to show you some respect."
Old Man Liu Cheng nearly blurted out a curse. He took a swig of wine and said aggrievedly, "Is it that I do not