What a Show!

"Xiao San, I'm leaving. Don't look for me. When the time is right, I'll come back on my own. You have to walk your own path. No one else can walk it for you. Take care of yourself. —Dad."

Tang San stared at those few lines for a long time, his fingers unconsciously tightening around the letter.

Gone.

It didn't say where he was going, when he would return, or why he was leaving. He had simply left a letter behind and vanished like a gust of wind.

He thought of the day his father had taken him to the academy in Nuoding City. Tang Hao had drunk half a jar of wine that day, yet, for once, hadn't gotten drunk. On the carriage, he had told him a lot about cultivation, Soul Masters, and the world.

Looking back now, it hadn't sounded like advice so much as a farewell.

"Tang San?" Xiao Wu's voice came from behind him, tinged with worry. "Your father, he..."

"He's gone." Tang San folded the letter and tucked it into his clothes, his voice very calm. "I don't know where. He only left this letter."

Xiao Wu fell silent, unsure what to say.

Tang San stood in the empty main room and looked around. His father's bed was empty, most of the clothes in the cupboard were gone, and many of the tools were missing from the smithy. He must have taken things with him when he left. This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; he had planned it long ago.

Tang San took a deep breath, suppressing the indescribable feelings in his heart, then turned and headed for the door.

"Come on. I'll take you to the back hill."

Xiao Wu glanced at him, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just closed her mouth and obediently followed.

The back hill wasn't far from Tang San's courtyard. They crossed a narrow path and climbed over a low ridge to reach it. There was a small grove, with an open patch in the middle. Unknown wildflowers covered the ground—yellow, white, and purple, scattered like stars. The setting sun's last rays slipped through the trees, gilding the clearing in reddish gold.

Xiao Wu stood in the middle of the clearing and took a deep breath. Her eyes lit up.

"It smells so good."

Tang San didn't answer. He stood opposite Xiao Wu in silence for a long while, as if making up his mind.

Noticing something was off, Xiao Wu tilted her head at him. "What's wrong?"

Tang San raised his head and looked into Xiao Wu's eyes. They shone brightly, as if they held two stars, and were as pure as a clear spring.

"Xiao Wu, would you be willing to be my little sister?"

Huang Fei sat behind a large tree on the back hill. When he heard those words, he almost couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud.

He propped his chin on one hand and peered through a gap in the foliage, wearing the expression of someone watching a riveting show—which, in fact, he was.

He could recite Tang San's lines with his eyes closed. "I really hope I can have another family member," "My family is poor; my father is my only family," "Give me a chance to protect you"—one line after another, exactly like the original story.

Huang Fei couldn't help thinking, No wonder Tang Sect disciples from his past life had such a way with words.

Down the slope, Tang San's speech had reached its climax. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried far through the mountain's stillness.

"Although I can't give you anything yet, I can make you a promise—to protect my little sister is an oath I will never break. For this life and all eternity."

Huang Fei buried his face in his arms, his shoulders shaking—not from crying, but from laughter.

He knew that line.

It was one of the classic lines from the original story, from the moving scene where Tang San took Xiao Wu as his little sister. He'd even been touched when he read it back then. But right now, as an onlooker hiding behind a tree and listening to the childhood neighbor he'd known for years say those words to a girl he'd known for barely a month, he couldn't help thinking...

Never mind. No comment.

Xiao Wu stood where she was, silent for a long time after hearing Tang San's heartfelt declaration.

The wind blew over from the other side of the hill, ruffling her ponytail and lifting the hem of her clothes before letting it fall again. Her head was bowed, making her expression hard to see, but both hands hanging at her sides were clenched tight.

Tang San didn't rush her. He stood there quietly, waiting for her answer.

At last, Xiao Wu raised her head. Her eyes were a little red, but the corners of her mouth were lifted.

"Okay. I'll do it."

Then she changed tack. "But from now on, you have to call me Sister Xiao Wu! In front of other people, I'll call you big brother, but when we're alone, you have to call me big sister! That's the condition!"

Tang San was taken aback, then smiled.

"Okay, Sister Xiao Wu."

Hearing him call her that, Xiao Wu's eyes curved into crescents, and her ponytail swished proudly behind her. She held out her hand, and Tang San took it.

Their hands clasped together. The setting sun stretched their shadows long, overlapping as if they were two branches growing from the same tree.

On the hillside, Huang Fei watched them and smiled silently.

He didn't speak, jump down to interrupt them, or even breathe too loudly. This was a moment for Tang San and Xiao Wu. As an outsider, he shouldn't disturb them.

He simply sat quietly behind the big tree, watching the show from beginning to end. Then, when the two figures walked down the hill side by side, he stood up, brushed the grass from his trousers, and took another path back to the village.

On the way, he stepped on a few dead leaves, crushing them with a faint crackle.

He was thinking about something—

Tang San had sworn to protect his little sister, vowing that "for this life and all eternity," and the promise had been made.

What about him, Huang Fei?

He hadn't sworn anything. No oath, no promise—not even a single serious word. But he knew that if Tang San ever really got into danger, there was no way he would just "lie there." Although the system made him permanently ten levels stronger than Tang San, that wasn't something he'd chosen. It was a rule imposed on him by a passive binding.

Protection didn't need to be spoken aloud.

Huang Fei tucked his hands into his sleeves and ambled toward the village entrance. Old Jack should still be waiting there. He had to go tell the old man he'd be sleeping at his place tonight.

As it turned out, Old Jack was still at the village entrance. The bundles had already been carried back. He'd brought a small stool outside and was sitting at his front door, as if waiting for Huang Fei to return.

"How was it? Get a good look?" Old Jack asked with a beaming smile. He clearly already knew about Tang San and Xiao Wu on the back hill.

As for how he knew, Huang Fei had no idea.

Maybe the old man really was a retired God King in disguise.

Huang Fei went over and sat on the steps beside Old Jack. He didn't say much, just leaned against the wall and gazed at the darkening sky in the distance, the faintest smile on his lips.

"Not bad. It was a good show."

Old Jack didn't know what he meant by "show," but seeing the child happy made him happy too.

The two of them sat there without speaking, watching the red clouds on the horizon fade little by little into blue-gray, then turn from blue-gray to ink-black.

Stars appeared one after another, shining alongside the lights of the village.