Li Ping'an smiled. "Do all you can and leave the rest to Heaven. The unhappiest people in this world are those whose fates are thinner than paper, yet whose hearts reach higher than the sky. There's nothing wrong with living an ordinary life."
Pang Jun nodded. "Sir, I've come to terms with it all.
"Back in the Anbei Four Garrisons, I was the most useless of the four of us, yet I got to enter Huailu Academy to cultivate and study.
"Now I have a little Taoist temple, too. I'm quite content."
Time passed quickly as they ate and chatted.
After eating for a while, Xuan Ruo and Wen Ruohai tactfully left the table, leaving Li Ping'an and Pang Jun to catch up.
The candles were replaced twice as their conversation drifted from the Anbei Four Garrisons to their journey south, then to Huailu Academy...
Li Ping'an could not help sinking into his memories.
As he recalled those days in the Anbei Four Garrisons, the sight of Pang Jun, who was already beginning to age, brought him back to reality.
The world was small; in the blink of an eye, they were at opposite ends of it.
The world was vast; when they met again, their hair was white.
As they exchanged drinks, Li Ping'an took the Wine Gourd from his waist.
"Try my wine."
"Oh? Your wine must be good, sir," Pang Jun said with a flushed smile.
Li Ping'an examined Pang Jun's body with his Azure Eyes. His cultivation was at the Fourth Realm.
Yet his foundations were poorly laid, and his body was riddled with lingering ailments and old injuries.
It was like a dilapidated house.
And throughout his years of wandering, he had lacked the resources to sustain his cultivation.
Cultivation was like rowing against the