Jiang Ding silently watched this last remaining relative of his in the world.
He listened to his hopes;
he listened to his complaints;
he listened to his various arrangements, arranging all manner of affairs for after his departure...
"I'm leaving, and you'll be alone."
"Between heaven and earth, you'll be the last one left in the family."
Lin Yuanwang let out a long sigh. "Don't worry about anything. Cultivators were meant to be alone. I've been this way all these years, and so have you. There's nothing bad about it."
"Keep living, keep living, and you'll get used to it."
"Mm."
Jiang Ding nodded lightly.
The two talked for a long time—about their childhood, about Jiang Yuan, about their grandfather and grandmother, about their uncle and aunt, about Jiang Yuan's daughter Xiao Yun. She had already advanced to the Golden Core realm, enduring much hardship and tempering along the way, and was not particularly close to this side of the family.
After staying for several days, the two waved farewell.
Before parting, Jiang Ding advised Lin Yuanwang not to lose heart and to keep working hard.
Lin Yuanwang agreed, saying that he would not completely sink into decadence. Even while busy nurturing the younger generation, he would continue cultivating.
Amid the roaring wind, Jiang Ding flew through the atmosphere, breaking upward and returning to Heavenly Dipper orbit.
The melancholy in his heart gradually eased.
These centuries of life had not been lived in vain after all. He had gradually come to see some things more clearly.
Of course, an important reason was that he was not someone with narrow-minded notions of bloodline.
In Jiang Ding's heart, there were many people in the Immortal Sect who shared a relationship akin to family. They were all fellow Daoists walking the same