Farewell, Old Man!

It had to be said that Liu Xing truly was no ordinary child. The greater the pressure to survive, the better he performed, giving the old man immense comfort in his twilight years.

Aside from his inability to cultivate, Liu Xing's performance could only be called perfect!

The old man spoke in meticulous detail for more than three hours before he had explained the whole chain of events to Liu Xing, concealing only his own origins and the glorious deeds of his younger days. Of course, he also never explicitly said how many earth-shaking cultivation arts were recorded in the Jade Slips he had given Liu Xing. All that would have to await a future opportunity.

He withheld these things because he hoped that, should Liu Xing ever return to the outside world, the boy would not invite a fatal disaster through his connection to him.

After all, even with his cultivation at the Nascent Soul Realm, the old man had ended up like this. That alone showed how powerful his enemies were. How could Liu Xing possibly contend with them?

Only after hearing the old man's account did Liu Xing realize that such a vast world lay outside.

After mulling it over, Liu Xing grinned and said, "So you're a lonely old man, and I'm an orphan. We really are a match made in heaven."

The old man gazed at Liu Xing affectionately and said, "With a good grandson like you beside me, my old age hasn't been lonely. Remember, memorize everything in those Jade Slips thoroughly. Once you've memorized one, destroy it. If the opportunity ever comes, those things may prove enormously useful. Heh, only my good grandson can inherit these treasures of mine. Anyone else who wants them can forget it."

Liu Xing smiled. "What's so hard about memorizing them? Old man, when have I ever let you down?"

Though Liu Xing smiled as he spoke, a faint glimmer of tears shone at the corners of his eyes.

The old man stroked Liu Xing's head, straightening his back considerably as he said with a touch of pride, "I roamed the universe all my life, free and unfettered. Naturally, my good grandson is no ordinary soul either. There's nothing you can't accomplish. Boy, I know few can match your innate intelligence, but you still lack experience with the outside world and don't understand its dangers. If you ever get the chance to go out there, remember this warning if you don't want to suffer: the human heart is unfathomable!"

Liu Xing said, "Don't worry about that, old man. I'm the one who gets the better of other people. How could I ever let them get the better of me?"

The old man coughed, then chuckled. "Then I can rest easy. You're as crafty as a devil, boy. It won't be easy for an ordinary person to take advantage of you."

The old man went on talking at length, reminding Liu Xing of all the things he would need to watch out for once he reached the outside world.

That day, the old man was in exceptionally good spirits. He kept Liu Xing beside him and talked for nearly the entire day, from sunrise to sunset, from outside the cave to within...

All the words the old man and Liu Xing had exchanged over the past two years put together were fewer than those spoken that day. Even Liu Xing's daily training was delayed and ultimately skipped.

That night, three great cries of grief rang out from Liu Xing within the cave. The old man's allotted time had come, and he passed away before Liu Xing's eyes.

That final day with Liu Xing had been the old man's last flare of vitality. He had burned through all his remaining life force to give Liu Xing this final, vitally important lesson.

Liu Xing remembered the old man saying that the dead should be laid in the earth to rest, but he could not bear to bury him in the soil. In the end, he seated the old man's body cross-legged in a corner of the cave and covered it with broken stones, building him a stone grave.

For a full day and night, Liu Xing sat motionless before the old man's grave without uttering a word. The ancient melody the old man had so often hummed seemed to keep echoing in his ears.

Having heard it so often, Liu Xing could hum that ancient tune himself, but only now did he begin to grasp a little of the melancholy within it.

The old man had always hummed that tune. Whom had he been missing? His family, or his homeland?

Unfortunately, the old man had never told Liu Xing the story of his life, so Liu Xing did not even know whether he had any family or where his homeland was.

But the old man had once said that humanity originated on Earth in the Solar System. If possible, moving his remains to Earth should count as the fallen leaf returning to its roots, as he had once described it, shouldn't it?

Yet the old man had also said that Earth had been devastated beyond recognition. Whether he would even like such a place was hard to say.

Throughout that day and night of sitting motionless, thoughts churned ceaselessly through Liu Xing's mind. Sometimes he speculated about the old man's life, sometimes he recalled every little moment they had shared, and sometimes, for no apparent reason, he began reciting those strange formulas the old man had taught him, as though terrified of forgetting them...

When the morning sun rose once more, Liu Xing slowly stood and whispered, "Farewell, old man!"

With those words, Liu Xing rushed out of the cave and ran aimlessly with all his strength, as though trying to vent the sorrow in his heart.

Having achieved some success in practicing the Nine Great Wilderness Forms, Liu Xing was like a small human-shaped tank, forcibly carving a narrow trail through the terrain as he hurtled along.

Wherever Liu Xing passed, trees snapped and rocks shattered. Any unlucky beasts that stood in his way naturally met no good end either.

Driven by that pent-up anguish, Liu Xing charged on for hundreds of kilometers before finally collapsing on the ground in exhaustion and gazing up at the sky.

On Connors Star, with its pristine wilderness, the air was naturally pure and free of impurities. The clear sky was as deep blue as the sea, dotted with white clouds, a scene of indescribable tranquility.

Looking at one of those white clouds, Liu Xing suddenly felt as though it had transformed into the white-haired, white-bearded old man, still looking down at him with that same smiling face.

Was this overwhelming longing and sorrow what the old man had meant when he said that only after losing something did you learn to cherish it?

For a moment, Liu Xing felt a desolation like cold water flooding his heart, for he knew that from this day onward, he would be living alone on Connors Star!

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