It was the height of summer, oppressively hot. Yet, the backroom of this Siheyuan seemed to radiate a gentle coolness.
Seated inside, Luo Chen retrieved from his storage pouch the fifty-year-old Yellow Pear Wine that Yuan Xiaoyue’s Grandpa gifted him on his birthday.
He laid out a few plates of celestial beans, dried beef jerky, and crispy fried snacks.
"Cheers!"
"Mm!"
Clink!
The wine cups collided softly, letting out a faint sound.
The two men, seated across from each other at a wooden table, drank deeply.
After setting down their cups, one radiated vitality like the peak of summer, while the other sat desolate, as though still trapped in the dead of winter.
"Time flies so quickly," Qin Liangchen sighed. "It’s clear as day, the memory of you raising that great mace and chasing me down. But thinking carefully, that was already last year."
Luo Chen sighed as he poured Qin Liangchen another cup of wine.
Qin Liangchen said nothing. He merely drank the wine in silence.
Luo Chen didn’t mind. He refilled his cup again and began talking to himself. "Back then, I was just a rogue cultivator scraping by at the bottom of Dahe Market. To escape my enemies, I gritted my teeth and rented a place in the inner city, a rent I could barely afford.
"Refining pills wasn’t the hardest part, selling them was. You never knew what excuse the next customer would use to haggle, so you had to stay constantly alert, prepared for every kind of trouble.
"On the Debate Platform, I truly envied and admired you all. Even though some fell in battle, the victors, basking in glory, cheered on by thousands, stirred my heart and made me yearn for that feeling.
"Unfortunately, when I finally stepped onto the Debate Platform myself, the initial thrill faded, and I could never quite find the feeling I had longed for. Because they accused me of fixing matches!
"I still remember that Golden Core Banquet at the Zhongding family. You and I were standing around like lackeys. Now, I lead my own society. Who knows? I might one day become the top figure in Dahe Market. Haha! It really proves what I said back then,this is how a true man should live!
"Mi Shuhua, that man... He dragged me into the Poshan Gang, kicking and screaming, but he was also my benefactor. Without his support, I might have made it here eventually,but it would have taken far longer."
"Honestly, when I heard of his death, my feelings were... complicated. Relief, a sense of being unmoored, regret, and sentimentality, it’s hard to describe exactly what I felt."
Luo Chen spoke, and Qin Liangchen listened.
Cup after cup of Yellow Pear Wine went down, filling both their hearts with a burning heat.
Watching Luo Chen reminisce about the past and dream about the future, Qin Liangchen felt both happy for his friend and bitter about his own situation.
Times had changed, and the world was ever fleeting.
He did not interrupt Luo Chen’s excitement. Because he knew,over the past year, and especially in these past two days,Luo Chen had endured much. The suffocating brush with death, the thrill of rebuilding Luo Tian Society.
He knew that Luo Chen needed an outlet. It was just a pity that his own mood was not so light. Otherwise, he would have joined in the conversation.
So be it. Listening to him for a while longer, drinking a few more cups... Perhaps I’ll be able to sleep better afterward.
As for the future? Why think so far ahead? At the very least, I still have my son. His future is bright,that’s something to look forward to.
"To be honest, when I killed Gao Tingyuan, I didn’t feel much relief. The pressure he gave me was nothing compared to the smiling pressure that Mi Shuhua gave me in our daily dealings. When I killed him, all that crossed my mind was,oh, he’s dead."
Luo Chen downed another cup and looked at Qin Liangchen with anticipation.
"Big Brother Qin, have you ever had a moment like that,killing a great enemy? How did you feel back then?"
Qin Liangchen pondered for a moment before responding in a muffled tone. "I’m not the type to make enemies often. If I had to pick, it’d be the time a guy ambushed me in the mountains. I broke both his legs. That... that gave me some satisfaction.
"To be precise, it was more like a surge of pride. A feeling that from now on, no one would dare bully me again.
"But, unfortunately, there are far too many people in this world who can still bully me. So, I gradually stopped caring."
Luo Chen let out a quiet, Oh so that’s how it was?
After that, he chatted about many things,like an old man rambling on.
Even though he was still young, barely thirty.
Qin Liangchen simply listened in silence,until Luo Chen’s eyes finally rested on his hand.
"Haha! Big Brother Qin, that hand of yours,reattached once, severed again,you’re destined to be a one-armed hero for life!"
Qin Liangchen felt a hint of sadness, a touch of embarrassment, but more than anything, he felt the rare comfort of being treated normally,without pity or disdain,hidden within that teasing remark.
He laughed and cursed, "So what if I’m one-armed? I can still teach you a lesson!"
"That’s not certain!" Luo Chen boasted smugly. "I took down two ninth stage Qi-Refining experts in a formation battle. That’s across-realm combat, you know!"
Hearing those words, Qin Liangchen found himself momentarily dazed. Though he hadn’t witnessed that battle, he had later heard about it from Murong Qinglian.
Luo Chen’s strength had exceeded everyone’s expectations.
It was reminiscent of when Wang Yuan had burst onto the scene, defeating opponents across cultivation realms. Fighting at the seventh stage and leveling with the eighth stage, Then, at the eighth stage, crushing ninth stage devil cultivators.
No wonder Wang Yuan had valued Luo Chen as his younger brother.
But on deeper thought, it seemed reasonable. He had sparred with Luo Chen many times. That speed, the innate gift for spellcasting, and his mastery over enchanted artifacts, every trait suggested he was capable of crossing cultivation realms to kill.
Suddenly, a question snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Big Brother Qin, are you going to reattach your hand?"
Qin Liangchen froze. Who wouldn’t want their hand back if it were possible?
But...