Back on the little street, the rain had begun to let up. Ning Yao turned to look at Chen Ping'an. His breathing was steady, his expression composed. Though she did not like Old Man Yang, she had to admit the old man was a true master beyond the mortal world.
"Old Man Yang isn't an ordinary man."
Ning Yao paused, then looked back at the unassuming Yang Family Shop. A light rain had softened the street like fine pastry; after the rain, the apothecary's outlines were gentle and hazy with mist. The girl made a small correction to herself. "Old Man Yang is very far from ordinary."
Chen Ping'an heard no difference between the two statements. He simply hummed in acknowledgment and smiled. "I used to think Grandpa Yang was a good man, and fair. Only now do I know he was hiding his abilities all along. Miss Ning, would he count as a cultivator too?"
Ning Yao said something Chen Ping'an could not understand. "Something like that, but not really the same. It makes no difference to you, though."
Now, at the southern end of the Covered Bridge, Chen Ping'an, who had survived his brush with death, looked back at the green-clothed girl. His feelings were entirely different from before.
When she heard their footsteps, she rose with a shy smile. Seeing the straw-sandaled youth and the girl in green robes standing side by side, the ponytailed girl seemed a little uneasy. Chen Ping'an no longer dared regard this girl named Ruan Xiu as an ordinary young woman. Of course, the image of her that remained most vivid in his mind could still be summed up in four words: eating through a mountain of wealth.
Ruan Xiu glanced at Ning Yao's cold face and imposing bearing. She did not