Act!

"San, I'm leaving. Don't look for me. When the time comes for me to appear, I will naturally return. You must walk your own path; no one can finish it for you. Take care of yourself. --Father."

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

He was gone.

No mention of where he went, when he would return, or why he left. He had simply left a letter and vanished like a gust of wind.

He recalled how Tang Hao had looked when he sent him to the academy in Nuoding City. That day, Tang Hao had finished half a jug of wine, yet for the first time ever, he hadn't gotten drunk. On the carriage ride, he had said so much—about cultivation, about Spirit Masters, and about this world.

Thinking back on it now, it didn't sound like instructions; it sounded more like a farewell.

"Tang San?" Xiao Wu's voice came from behind, carrying a hint of worry. "Your dad, he..."

"He's gone." Tang San folded the letter and tucked it into his tunic, his voice calm. "I don't know where he went. He just left this letter."

Xiao Wu fell silent, not knowing what to say.

Tang San stood in the empty main room, looking around. His father's bed was bare, most of the clothes in the cabinet were gone, and many of the tools in the smithy were missing. He must have packed his things before leaving, which meant this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision, but something planned long ago.

Tang San took a deep breath, suppressing the indescribable emotions in his heart, and turned toward the door.

"Let's go. I'll take you to the hill behind the village."

Xiao Wu glanced at him, wanting to say something, but she kept her mouth shut and followed obediently.

The hill behind the village wasn't far from Tang San's house; one only had to cross a small path and climb a low slope to reach it. There was a small grove of trees there, and in the center was a clearing covered in nameless wildflowers—yellow, white, and purple, scattered like stars across the ground. The sunset's afterglow filtered through the leaves, gilding the clearing in a golden-red light.

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

"It smells so good."

Tang San didn't respond. He stood opposite her, silent for a long while, as if steeling himself for something.

Noticing his odd behavior, Xiao Wu tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

Tang San looked up into Xiao Wu's eyes. They were bright, as if holding two stars, and as pure as a clear spring.

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

Huang Fei, sitting behind a large tree on the hillside, nearly laughed out loud when he heard that line.

He rested his chin on his hand, peering through the gaps in the foliage. The expression on his face was that of someone watching a brilliant play—which, in truth, it was.

He could recite Tang San's lines with his eyes closed. The "I really hope to have another family member," the "My family is poor, and I only have my father," the "Give me a chance to protect you"—it was all a rehearsed routine, exactly the same as in the original story.

Huang Fei couldn't help but sigh inwardly: Those who come from the Tang Sect really do have a way with words.

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

"Although I cannot give you much yet, I can make you a promise—to protect my younger sister is my eternal vow. Unwavering in this life."

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

He knew this line well.

It was a classic moment from the original work, the touching scene where Tang San accepts Xiao Wu as his sister. He had been moved by it when he first read it. But now, as a bystander hiding behind a tree, listening to his neighbor—whom he'd grown up with—say such things to a girl he'd only known for a month, it just felt...

Never mind, no comment.

Xiao Wu stood where she was, having heard Tang San's heartfelt words, and remained silent for a long time.

The wind blew from across the mountain, ruffling her ponytail and making her clothes flutter. She kept her head down, her expression hidden, but her hands were clenched tightly at her sides.

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

Finally, Xiao Wu looked up. Her eyes were slightly red, but the corners of her mouth were turned up.

"Okay. I promise."

Then, she changed her tone. "But from now on, you have to call me Big Sister Xiao Wu! In front of others, I'll call you brother, but in private, you have to call me sister! That's the condition!"

Tang San froze for a moment, then smiled.

"Alright, Big Sister Xiao Wu."

Hearing this, Xiao Wu's eyes curved into crescent moons, and her ponytail swung triumphantly behind her. She reached out, and Tang San took her hand.

With their hands clasped, the sunset stretched their shadows long and thin, overlapping until they looked like two branches growing from the same tree.

On the hillside, Huang Fei watched this scene and smiled silently.

He didn't make a sound, didn't jump down to interrupt, and even kept his breathing light. This was a moment that belonged to Tang San and Xiao Wu; as an outsider, he shouldn't intrude.

He simply sat quietly behind the tree, watching the play from start to finish. When the two figures walked down the mountain side-by-side, he stood up, brushed the grass from his pants, and took a different path back to the village.

On the way, he stepped on some dry leaves, which crunched softly under his feet.

He was pondering a question—

Tang San had made a vow to protect his sister, "unwavering in this life," and it had succeeded.

What about him, Huang Fei?

He hadn't promised anything. No vows, no pledges, not even a single serious word. But he knew that if Tang San were ever in real danger, he couldn't just "lie there." Even though the system forced him to always be ten levels higher than Tang San, that wasn't a choice he had made; it was a passive rule of his binding.

Some things, like protection, didn't need to be said out loud.

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

By the time they reached the village entrance, Old Jack was indeed still there. The luggage had already been moved back, and he was sitting on a small stool in front of his house, as if waiting for Huang Fei to return.

"How was it? Seen enough?" Old Jack asked with a beaming smile, clearly already aware of what had transpired between Tang San and Xiao Wu at the back mountain.

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

Perhaps this old man really was a retired God King in hiding.

Huang Fei walked over and sat down on the steps beside Old Jack. He didn't say much, simply leaning against the wall and gazing at the darkening sky in the distance, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Not bad. The show was good."

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

The two sat there in silence, watching the red glow on the horizon fade bit by bit into a slate gray, then from slate gray into an inky black.

Stars began to emerge one by one, shimmering in harmony with the lights flickering throughout the village.