Su Li sighed and poured the last of the wine from the flask onto the ground.
"Fsssh—"
The wine seeped into the earth with a faint hiss.
Saina had passed peacefully in this life.
Perhaps because Su Li had constantly used his spiritual energy to tend to her body, she hadn't suffered through illness as she had in her previous life.
At eighty, she'd still been able to get out of bed and pick a couple of cucumbers the day before she passed.
The moon had been quite round that night.
Saina lay in Su Li's arms, her wrinkled face nestled against his still-smooth, firm chest.
"Su Li." Saina's voice was faint, weak with exhaustion. "You're a monster, aren't you?"
Su Li had been combing her sparse white hair. His hand paused. "What are you talking about? I'm your husband."
"What kind of man doesn't age for sixty years?" Saina smiled, a sly look in her eyes. "I figured it out long ago. You're not like the rest of us. You're a cloud in the heavens, and I'm mud on the ground. For this mud to cling to a cloud and fly through two lifetimes, my ancestors must have done something right."
"Don't say that." Su Li felt his throat tighten.
"I have to." Saina grasped his hand, her grip surprisingly strong. "After I'm gone, don't waste away in this village. This wretched place can't hold you. Go out and see the world. See the ocean, see those flying ships. Take my eyes with you, and see just how big this world is."
"All right." Su Li agreed.
Only then did Saina relax. Her cloudy eyes slowly closed.
"In the next life... don't look for me." Those were her last muttered words. "Find yourself a fairy who can give you children. Don't let an ugly old woman like me hog a spot without doing anything."
Su Li said nothing. He only held her a little tighter.
He didn't let go until the body in his arms had gone completely cold.
The mountain breeze swept by, stirring a few withered leaves.
Su Li came back to himself and tossed the empty flask aside.
Clang.
It rolled a few times and stopped beside a clump of wildflowers.
He stood and brushed the dirt from his backside.
His movements were still swift, his back still straight. Sixty years had left not a trace on him. Instead, his otherworldly air had only grown deeper and more composed.
Just standing there, Su Li made the mountains and rivers seem like mere backdrops.
His skin was dazzlingly pale, and his features looked as if they'd been carved from the finest jade, every line seemingly perfect.
His eyes, especially, were black as a bottomless pit. One glance from him could make anyone feel that their every little scheme had been laid bare.
"Time to go."
Su Li didn't look back at the gravestone.
He'd said everything that needed saying and drunk all the wine he needed to drink.
When a person died, they were gone. Any more yearning was just sentimentality.
Though he'd been trapped in Wading Village for sixty years, though his cultivation had remained stuck at that damned bottleneck, he had no regrets.
What was cultivation for, anyway?
Wasn't it all about keeping one's heart clear?
If he abandoned his own wife for the so-called path to immortality, then all his cultivation would make him was a heartless stone.
Su Li walked down the mountain path.
Wading Village had changed again since sixty years ago.
The low thatched huts had long since disappeared, replaced by neat rows of red-brick houses with tiled roofs.
They'd even built a small square at the village entrance, complete with a pointless marble fountain. It often didn't work, but it still looked impressive.
The Su Family Smithy was still there.
But Su Li no longer ran it.
Ten years ago, he'd sold the shop to the grandson of the old Wang family next door.
The boy wasn't especially talented, but he was diligent and capable of keeping the family business going.
Su Li didn't return to the shop. He went straight to the village entrance.
He hadn't brought much with him.
He carried only a small bundle with two changes of clothes and the little iron hammer he'd used for decades without ever managing to dent it.
As for money?
Su Li patted the thick stack of gold notes in his pocket.
It was the fortune he'd amassed over the decades by selling "divine weapons."
Money, looks, strength.
Su Li figured he was pretty much the legendary max-level character rampaging through a beginner village.
As soon as he reached the village entrance, he spotted a few old men playing chess beneath a tree.
He'd watched all of them grow up.
They'd once been little brats with runny noses, racing around the streets. Now they were all old geezers with age spots covering their faces.
"Well, if it isn't Master Su!"
The old men hurried to their feet when they saw Su Li. They bowed and scraped, treating him with more respect than they would their own fathers.
In Wading Village, Su Li was a living legend, a treasure of the town.
Who didn't know that the eternally youthful blacksmith from the Su Family was a remarkable expert?
"Master Su, where are you headed?" asked a toothless old man with a grin. "Going to town to buy supplies? I can have my eldest grandson drive you there!"
Su Li waved a hand.
"I'm not coming back."
He didn't slow down, just tossed the words over his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" The old men stared, dumbfounded.
"To see whether the ocean really goes on forever."
Su Li's voice was light, yet it carried a long way.
The old men looked at one another, watching the straight-backed figure with a small bundle over his shoulder disappear down the road.
Sunlight fell on Su Li, gilding him with a golden edge.
His silhouette looked a little lonely, yet carefree, as if he'd finally been released.
Once he left the boundaries of Wading Village, Su Li immediately felt a difference.
The heaviness that had long pressed on his heart seemed to fade as the distance grew.
The [Sword Spirit Root] inside him suddenly circulated a little faster.
It was only a little, but to Su Li, who'd been stuck for forty years, it felt like rain after a long drought.
"Just as I thought."
Su Li stopped and looked back at the village, now reduced to a tiny black dot.
"This place is too small."
He took a deep breath.
The air still smelled of dust and cow dung, but somehow, he could detect the sweet fragrance of freedom in it.
The main road lay ahead.
The road stretched out beneath the open sky.
The black horse he'd bought for ten Gold Coins had a fine stride.
It looked a little thin, but its hooves flew as it ran, and it didn't have many bad habits.
Su Li rode with the horse's rolling gait.
He barely had to squeeze its flanks, yet the beast seemed almost human. It ran steadily down the middle of the road and even knew to avoid potholes.
The sun climbed higher.
Su Li reached up and pulled the brim of his bamboo hat lower.
He'd picked it up at the village entrance to hide his attention-grabbing face.
It was better to avoid trouble. If some young woman or married lady took a fancy to him along the road and insisted on following him through thick and thin, that would only be a nuisance.
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