Letter

"Master, don't talk nonsense. You're only fifty-five this year. By a martial artist's standards of vitality and blood, you're in the prime of life."

Su Yueli frowned and interrupted him. Firelight danced, reflecting the stubbornness in her eyes.

Over twenty years of living side by side, Lu Chen had taught her everything he knew. He was not only the one who had guided her onto the martial path, but family as well.

A teacher for a day, a father for life.

She rejected that deathly air, as though he were making arrangements for his final affairs.

Lu Chen looked at her earnest, clear eyes and sighed inwardly.

He knew his own body better than anyone. Twenty years ago, his heart meridians had been shattered. He had only forcibly clung to life with that defective pill, and by now, his lamp had long run dry and his oil exhausted.

The only reason he had endured until now was because Su Yueli had given him hope that his legacy would be passed on.

His body had long been a lamp with no oil left to burn. Now, even the strength to throw a punch was nearly slipping away.

In the end, he merely chuckled. "Fine, I won't talk nonsense. This master still has to watch you shatter the void with your fists."

As he spoke, he seemed to recall something. "Oh, right. Second Pebble spent half the day wandering outside the woods today. He said he had something to discuss with you."

Second Pebble?

Su Yueli rummaged through her memories for quite a while.

Twenty years ago, there had indeed been a child in the village two years younger than her. By now, he should have been in his thirties, a middle-aged man with a family to support.

They had crossed paths a few times in the village back then, but they could hardly be called familiar.

Thinking this, Su Yueli agreed. "I understand. I'll go down the mountain tomorrow."

"Mm. You've cultivated with this master for twenty years now. This trip down will also be a good chance for you to look around." Lu Chen smiled.

"..."

The night deepened.

Su Yueli had no trace of sleepiness. She sat alone at the cliff's edge and looked up at the night sky.

Moonlight lay like cold frost, and the night wind surged like sea waves. The lone moon rose; the years withered and flourished.

After musing for a while, Su Yueli roughly guessed why Second Pebble wanted to see her.

Most likely, Shen Qing'an had sent another letter.

The last time she had received a letter from that fellow had been fifteen years ago. The envelope had been kneaded yellow, and she still carried it on her.

It had merely said that his business in Fengling City was doing well, that life was getting better and better, and that she should not practice until she suffered qi deviation.

"Fifteen years..."

Su Yueli murmured, her voice swiftly scattered by the night wind.

By the count of his age, Shen Qing'an should have been thirty-eight by now. In the mortal world, at that age, he ought to have married and had children. His children might even have been nearing the age to start families of their own.

With that fellow's shrewdness in business, he would surely marry a dependable and virtuous wife and live out the rest of his life in peace.

That was nice.

"I'm so jealous..."

Su Yueli sighed, then glanced below her lower abdomen and felt even worse.

At that moment, a gust of night wind swept across the cliff. She pulled her clothes tighter around herself and looked out at the boundless night, feeling an unbearable stuffiness in her chest.

Everyone in this world was moving forward along the river of time.

Growing stronger, starting families, aging, turning to yellow earth—it seemed only she had been left behind on the riverbank...

The next morning, the mountain mist had yet to disperse.

Su Yueli stepped over withered leaves and emerged from the old forest. Second Pebble, who had been pacing back and forth outside, raised his head at the sound.

Just one glance made this weathered farmer, already nearing forty, freeze.

Or rather, stare dumbly.

That cold and flawless face, untouched by dust, gave him the absurd feeling that time itself had been broken.

Twenty years had passed. He had gone from a youth to a rough, burly man, yet Su Yueli before him looked almost no different from the girl in his memories from twenty years ago.

"Is there a letter for me?"

Su Yueli walked over and looked at the man who had changed so much, breaking the silence.

Second Pebble came back to his senses and hurriedly nodded. "Ah... yes, yes!"

He lowered his head, not daring to look into those cool eyes.

"The letters are being kept at the village entrance. Also... the old village chief didn't make it through yesterday morning. He's gone."

Su Yueli's steps paused slightly.

Gone...

Twenty years had passed. By her reckoning, the old village chief was already ninety-two.

At the bottom rung of this cultivation world, where lives were as cheap as grass, dying peacefully of old age at that age was already an immense blessing for a mortal.

Yet when those words—he's gone—fell upon Su Yueli's ears, they left her feeling a little powerless.

Back in that little mountain village, aside from Shen Qing'an and his brother, the old village chief, who often stuffed coarse-flour paste into her hands, had been the only one who treated her well.

Death always came so calmly and casually to mortals.

Old acquaintances from those days were like hemp-oil lamps burned dry; suddenly, they went out. The hunched old man in her memories had ultimately returned to a handful of yellow earth.

Su Yueli raised her head and looked at the outline of the distant village, pressing her lips together.

"It's time to go see him off."

The two said nothing as they followed the dirt road. The familiar mud walls and thatched cottages of old now carried an unfamiliar feeling of another lifetime in Su Yueli's eyes.

It was not until they neared the village entrance that Second Pebble finally spoke, his face flushed red as though he had held it in all the way.

"Yueli, how come your looks haven't changed at all? Could it be you secretly became an immortal?"

Su Yueli stopped and looked at him, shaking her head. "Martial artists may not live as long as immortals, but they can delay aging somewhat."

"Is that so? I thought you'd really become an immortal, haha..."

Second Pebble scratched his head and laughed awkwardly, seemingly truly believing her.

Su Yueli had merely found an excuse at random. After all, mortals knew little about immortals and martial artists.

Just as when she had wanted to cultivate immortality and practice martial arts, under the barrier of limited information, there had been no trail to follow at all.

They soon reached the village entrance. After telling him to go to the village chief's house, the two parted ways.

Su Yueli went to where the letters were kept. There were three letters inside.

According to Second Pebble, they had been delivered one after another over the past decade or so, but the villagers feared the wild beasts in the mountains and had no easy way to find her.

Thus, they had been delayed here all this time.

Su Yueli picked up the three letters. Some envelopes had yellowed badly and become brittle, while others remained fairly smooth.

She dusted them off and tore open the letter from fifteen years ago.

"Ah Li, seeing this letter is like seeing me:

Let me tell you something. I became the second manager of Fuyuan Trading Company in Fengling City. I have dozens of clerks under me now. Whenever I go out, people have to bow and scrape and call me Master Shen.

Silver in the mortal world isn't as hard to earn as you think. Recently, I closed a huge deal. Once the owner pays out dividends at the end of the year, I'll buy a private courtyard with a well in the inner city.

Oh, right, I heard you started practicing martial arts. But martial arts damage the body, so don't train yourself into some crude savage. Once I buy that courtyard, I'll hire a carriage to pick you up from Blackwind Ridge. In the city, as long as Master Shen has a bite of meat, you'll have a mouthful of soup."

The handwriting was vigorous, each stroke cutting through the page, and every line seemed to reveal the high spirits of youth.

Su Yueli looked at the letter and curled her lips into a smile. That fellow was doing quite well.

She opened the second letter. It was from ten years ago.

"Ah Li:

Let me tell you some good news. My father stepped down as chief manager, and now Fuyuan Trading Company answers to me.

This city is bustling. It has everything, except there are too many social engagements, and all this drinking is uncomfortable. The physician told me to rest and recuperate more.

I originally planned to go back to see you and bring you here this year, but I just took over the company and truly can't get away. You should stop practicing that fist art too. I had someone ask around—mortal martial artists can practice until they die and still won't be able to defeat even a second-realm cultivator.

Rest well in the village. Once I clear the goods on hand, I'll return to see you."

It was clear that the handwriting remained crisp and decisive, yet it seemed to have lost a little of its edge and gained a great deal of steadiness.

For the past twenty years, she had been practicing her fists on the mountain and had never returned to the village, so she had not known Shen Qing'an had sent letters.

Now, she felt as though an entire lifetime had passed.

Su Yueli sat there for a long while before picking up the final letter, which had also been delivered five years ago.

"Ah Li:

Some time ago, I brought people back to the village. I meant to take you to the city, but I never expected you would still be practicing martial arts in the mountains. We searched for a long time but couldn't find you, and the villagers didn't know where you were either.

I stayed in the village for a few days. Everyone has changed a lot, and the village chief has grown much older. I thought you might have married at this age, but I never expected you would still be obsessed with martial arts.

But this winter is truly cold. My legs ache every night. I suppose I've enjoyed too much comfort, and even my bones have become delicate.

As for me, I've put on a whole circle of weight. If you came down the mountain and saw me, you probably wouldn't recognize me.

If you ever come down and see these letters, write back."

Su Yueli put away the letters and pressed her lips together.

Shen Qing'an and his brother were her only close friends. She had accepted much kindness from them before, and seeing that they seemed to be living well now made her happy from the bottom of her heart.

"But thirty-eight years old..."

Su Yueli murmured softly. Raising a hand, she touched her still youthful face. That gentle young man from back then seemed to have become a plump middle-aged man, while she had not changed in the slightest.

Could it be that she had truly gained immortality?

But did this world truly have immortality...?