Before they parted, Hou Niao gave him the three books of Basic Cultivation Methods Chongling had given him. He had discovered that the boy's cultivation depended entirely on raw talent, without proper guidance, something his circumstances had dictated.
Fang Yazi accepted them openly, without the slightest attempt to refuse. In his simple heart, if a friend gave him something, he should just take it!
The two parted, and the boy Fang Yazi turned straight back into the White Poplar Forest without hesitation, taking the very path they had come out by. It seemed this stubborn lad intended to walk it again. His cultivation realm was low, but his resolve was remarkable; his future achievements were beyond measure.
Hou Niao found a carrying basket at a nearby village household, settled the child inside, and carried her on his back. This was the standard arrangement for taking children on long journeys in the countryside. The child still said nothing. She weighed barely a dozen jin, yet the weight left Hou Niao somewhat breathless.
It was as though he carried a mountain.
His horse was gone, and he could not be bothered to buy another. He needed to relax through a good drenching sweat and think over everything that had happened lately.
The battle in the White Poplar Forest had changed him completely, both as a person and in his Dao. He felt he needed to make some proper plans.
He walked and thought, going from a heart full of grief and indignation to gradual calm, from indifference to firm composure.
Some things shattered in his heart, but others began to sprout.
Once he truly began to form his own ideas, the Quanzhen Sect's demonic nature and his role as an undercover agent for the Daoist Sect no longer mattered.
He had walked