（Just this chapter today, six thousand words.)

Carrying the young woman on his back, Chen Pingan dashed away, running even faster than he had climbed the mountain earlier. He looked like a lecherous thief who had snatched a maiden. Ning Yao suffered from severe internal injuries, making the jostling unbearable. However, she couldn’t care less about her image. If the old ape landed a punch on her now, she and Chen Pingan would truly “die for love.”

Sweat beaded on Ning Yao’s forehead as she asked, “How did you survive? Weren’t you hit by the stones? How did you know the old ape’s next move was aimed at you, not me?”

After firing off a barrage of questions, Ning Yao suddenly realized, “Never mind all that. While the old ape needs to catch its breath, let’s run as far as we can! I’ve had that sword entangle the old ape as much as possible, but I doubt it can hold on for long.”

The grass-sandaled boy nodded lightly and moved with nimble strides, navigating the alleys and lanes with practiced ease, like a fish swimming along the bottom of a stream.

After getting away from the small street on the west side of town, Chen Pingan didn’t slow down. Taking a moment, he quietly explained, “Earlier in Mud Bottle Lane, I tricked the old ape onto the roof of a dilapidated house, and it fell into a pit. Then, I secretly placed a broken tile shard near the hole on the roof. Sure enough, the old ape thought I had accidentally revealed my footsteps. It suddenly smashed out a tile, piercing through the wall and the neighboring roof, scaring me into a cold sweat.”

“Just now, I was actually hiding on that roof, afraid to show my face, for fear of distracting you. I was also thinking about whether I could get a shot at the old ape. Then I saw the rock the old ape hurled at you, hanging in the sky like a fiery serpent. I figured everyone in town would see it if they looked up, so I didn’t dare to be careless. A thought occurred to me then: if I were the old ape, I would use you as bait, first attacking the one hiding in the shadows, then dealing with the one in plain sight. It’s a good way to catch two fish with one lure, right? That’s why I first took off Liu Xianyang’s clothes and threw them out before daring to rescue you.”

Ning Yao’s eyes lit up, marveling, but then she inexplicably began to settle old scores. “Chen Pingan, where did you learn all these tricks? You seem so upright, but you’re definitely not as honest as you appear. Tell me! The time Lu Daoren saved me in Mud Bottle Lane at your ancestral home, did you take advantage of me besides taking off my veil?”

Chen Pingan was dumbfounded, about as much as when a cow’s tail had smacked him in the face as a child. “Huh?”

The young woman didn’t press the matter, but instead started laughing to herself.

Chen Pingan was a money-grubber, definitely not a pervert.

Ning Yao firmly believed this, just as she was always certain that she would become a great sword immortal one day. Not just some rare or exceptional one, but the one and only of her kind.

Ning Yao said softly, “Put me down!”

Chen Pingan asked, “Can you walk by yourself?”

Ning Yao said helplessly, “Not yet, but if you keep running like this, my heart, liver, spleen, stomach, and intestines are going to be jostled out. I’d rather not die hanging on your shoulder like a piece of pork after not getting punched to death by the old ape. That would give the old ape a good laugh.”

Chen Pingan slowed down, saying with a headache, “What should we do then? Find a place nearby to hide? I was originally planning to leave town. It’s not easy to find that place.”

Ning Yao suddenly remembered something, asking curiously, “What about your homemade wooden and porcelain armor? Why aren’t you wearing it?”

Chen Pingan said with a wry smile, “It wouldn’t be very useful against the old ape, and it would slow me down. I simply took it off. Luckily I did, or I wouldn’t know how to get you out of there. I couldn’t carry you, I couldn’t piggyback you, and I certainly couldn’t hold you. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.”

Ning Yao sighed, making up her mind. “Chen Pingan, put me down first, then carry me on your back to that place you mentioned.”

Chen Pingan naturally had no objections and did so without hesitation. He picked up the young woman and continued running, asking, “Ning Yao, where’s your saber? Why do you only have the scabbard?”

The young woman, holding onto the boy’s neck, said irritably, “Buried in the ground.”

Chen Pingan didn’t ask further, and headed towards a secluded area outside the town.

The desolate wilderness was surrounded by tombs long forgotten by their descendants. The graves were overgrown with weeds, flourishing like vegetable gardens, and the occasional hooting of owls echoed, making it truly eerie. Fortunately, Chen Pingan had a kind of affinity for this place that his peers didn’t share, so he didn’t feel uncomfortable. After about an incense stick’s worth of time, Chen Pingan, carrying the young woman on his back, passed through countless broken fragments of fallen statues. He went around behind a massive statue. The clay statue had fallen to the ground and, for some reason, was missing its head. It was more than two yards long, making it easy to imagine how imposing this statue must have been when it stood complete in a temple.

Chen Pingan squatted down, trying to put Ning Yao down, but after waiting for a moment and seeing no movement, Chen Pingan was horrified, thinking that Ning Yao had died. When Chen Pingan stood frozen like he had been struck by lightning and couldn’t find words, the young woman, who had comfortably slept through the whole way, finally woke up. She instinctively wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and asked groggily, “Are we there?”

The boy who was squatting on the ground couldn’t understand how he felt, but he almost cried.

The boy quickly took a deep breath, composed himself, gently released the young woman’s thighs, turned, and smiled. “I built this temporary little hut last autumn. I used to bring Gu Can here to play all the time. He kept saying he wanted to do something, so he used a hatchet to chop some branches and make a frame, then covered it with leaves and grass. It’s pretty sturdy. It didn’t collapse even during those two big snowstorms last winter.”

Ning Yao straightened up and looked back. The flying sword hadn’t returned in a sorry state, which was a good sign, indicating that the old ape hadn’t pinpointed their hiding place.

Chen Pingan asked Ning Yao to wait a moment and first bent over and entered the temporary little hut made of wood and grass, tidying it up a bit before opening the door to welcome his guest.

Ning Yao sat down in the little hut that wasn’t as narrow and cramped as it appeared, and felt relieved.

Chen Pingan didn’t close the rough wooden door, but sat in the doorway with his back to the young woman.

Ning Yao asked, “Why don’t you close the door?”

Chen Pingan shook his head. “If the old ape finds this place, it won’t make any difference.”

Ning Yao, who was sitting cross-legged, nodded. “That’s true.”

After a moment of silence, Ning Yao asked, “Don’t you have anything you want to ask?”

Chen Pingan did indeed ask, “Did the old ape use up three breaths?”

Ning Yao hummed in agreement. “But here’s some bad news for you: the old ape can break the rules at least one more time. That’s probably more than enough to deal with the two of us injured people.”

Chen Pingan asked again, “Ning Yao, how much of a price do you think the old ape paid for this?”

The little hut was filled with the fragrance of green grass seeping in from all around, which was refreshing. Although the ground was a little damp, the young woman felt she couldn’t ask for more.

Ning Yao thought carefully. “The old ape made a total of three moves. The first time, from your Mud Bottle Lane to the western edge of town, the old ape was relatively restrained, mainly to test whether you had any backers. After all, it was wary of someone orchestrating things behind the scenes, afraid that someone was targeting the young master of the Zheng Yang Sect it was escorting here, so its lifespan was only reduced by about three to five years. After that, the second time was when it confronted me by the stream, costing it about twenty years. The third time, I’d estimate at least fifty years. If it makes a fourth move, it’ll be a hundred years at the very least.”

Chen Pingan’s eyes shone. He bent down, reached out, pulled out a blade of grass, brushed off the dirt, put it in his mouth, and said happily, “Let’s say it’s a hundred and eighty years, then we’ve made a killing! Even without considering the Cai woman from Cloud Gleam Mountain, the average person only lives for sixty years, so I’ve earned two lifetimes. Besides, the old ape’s nearly two hundred years of lifespan in exchange for my three lifetimes… I think it’ll die of anger just thinking about that.”

Ning Yao frowned. “Chen Pingan, do you really think your life is so worthless?”

Chen Pingan said without hesitation, “Compared to an immortal monster like the old ape who’s lived for thousands of years, I’m just an ordinary townsman from a pottery kiln. Of course my life is worthless. It’s not embarrassing to admit that.”

Ning Yao felt stifled by Chen Pingan’s warped logic.

Chen Pingan turned his head and smiled. “Of course, when I think about these things, I accept my fate, but I still feel resentful in my heart. Think about it: why is it that we all come into this world, but my life is inherently worthless?”

Ning Yao was just about to agree and show off some of her majestic and knowledgeable sage sayings, but the boy quickly gave his own answer, earnestly asking himself, “Could it be that I didn’t do enough good deeds in my previous life? But I haven’t had time to do any good or charitable deeds in this life either. Doesn’t that mean I’m doomed in the next life? What should I do?”

Ning Yao picked up the empty green saber scabbard lying across her lap and lightly poked the boy in the back with the tip of the scabbard.

The grass-sandaled boy grimaced instantly, turning his head with an expression of daring to be angry but not daring to speak out.

Ning Yao glared. “This life isn’t over yet, what are you thinking about the next life for?!”

Chen Pingan quickly held up one finger, signaling Ning Yao not to raise her voice.

The young woman quickly shut her mouth.

Chen Pingan moved his butt outwards, trying to get away from the young woman and the saber scabbard.

Ning Yao wanted to say something but stopped, finally deciding to tell the boy the truth. She said in a hoarse voice, “Chen Pingan, have you ever considered that even though it’s already lost a hundred and eighty years of lifespan, how long could the mountain-protecting ape of Zheng Yang Mountain originally live?”

The boy, looking out at the distant sky with his back to the young woman, simply shook his head.

How could the boy know about such mysterious things? He couldn’t guess the answer even if he racked his brains.

Some things were like the bluestone streets of Fortune and Peach Leaf Lanes. If the boy hadn’t been delivering letters, he wouldn’t have known in this life that not all roads in the world were dirt roads.

Ning Yao sighed. “These types of fierce beasts born from heaven and earth are not as well-endowed with orifices as humans, making it extremely difficult for them to cultivate. However, the benefit is that the loss of their essence, energy, and spirit is much slower, making them extremely long-lived. The shortest lifespan is five hundred years, and the longest can be five thousand years. Mountain-moving apes are naturally active and don’t like stillness. Without cultivation, their lifespan won’t be too long, certainly not as long as turtles or dragons, but mountain-moving apes were once overlords of their domain, and their lifespans are still as long as two thousand years. Moreover, this mountain-protecting ape has clearly cultivated Taoist magic. Once it reaches the upper five realms, combined with its ninth-realm physique, not to mention two thousand years, even three or four thousand years wouldn’t be impossible.”

Ning Yao looked at the thin back. “So don’t think you’ve lived enough.”

Chen Pingan didn’t say a word.

Ning Yao felt a little heartache.

Both were silent. The young woman who had revealed the secrets of heaven gradually felt some guilt, so she searched her mind for words to comfort the boy.

But just when Ning Yao was racking her brains, she heard a slight snoring sound from the grass-sandaled boy.

Ning Yao was stunned.

—————

Deep within Apricot Blossom Lane was a large house that was meticulously cleaned both inside and out. Even the road in front of the gate was much tidier than in front of other people’s houses.

An old woman, whose face was anything but kind, trimmed the lamp wick, making the light in the room brighter. Then, she looked at her grandson with doting eyes, and began to nag, year after year, day after day, “Why did you run up to the roof again in the middle of the night? The old saying goes ‘cover up in spring, freeze in autumn,’ but you never listen to me. It’s when you’re growing, and if you catch a cold, what will grandma do?”

The simple-minded boy grinned.

After the old woman sat down, she sighed, and began to recite her own difficult story. “My good grandson, you don’t know this, but today during the day, that white-eyed wolf didn’t know what he smelled, and suddenly showed up with gifts, big and small. You weren’t home at the time, but you didn’t see his face. He really did look like a filial son and a caring father, almost making me cry with emotion.”

As she said this, the old woman was full of sarcasm, and abruptly spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground. Then, she regretted it a little, and quickly rubbed it with her toe. The old woman looked up at the boy, who was indifferent, and got angry, but she couldn’t bear to hit him, so she just huffed, “You heartless brat, you don’t even know how to care for grandma. Your real name is Ma Xuan, but you were born with a father but no mother. Isn’t that a hard life? So grandma added the word ‘bitter’ to your name. If you don’t like it, you can change it back later, it doesn’t matter, don’t worry about what grandma thinks. Grandma is just a country bumpkin, a frog in the field, with limited knowledge, destined to suffer all her life…”

The old woman began to wipe her tears.

The boy Ma Kuxuan put his hand on the old woman’s bony back of her hand.

The old woman looked at her grandson, whose eyes finally showed some emotion. She smiled contentedly, and patted Ma Kuxuan’s hand in return. “Grandma, I’m not lucky. Your grandpa was kind but incompetent, unreliable. Your son is capable but heartless, also unreliable. So you’re all I have left. If you don’t amount to anything, then all the suffering I’ve endured in this life will be for nothing. Suffering is nothing, just don’t end up like me. You must amount to something in the future, and be successful. Whoever bullies you, you bully them back to death. Never be a good person, and it’s okay to be a bad person a few times, just don’t be obsessed with harming people for no reason, or you’ll suffer retribution, right? Even if God likes to doze off all year round, there’s always a time when he opens his eyes, isn’t there? What if you get caught red-handed, oh…”

The boy had heard these old sayings since he was a child, probably causing calluses on his ears, but he still didn’t take his hand back, letting his grandma hold it gently.

The old woman suddenly asked, “Why do you like that little bitch Zhigui?”

The boy smiled. “Because she’s pretty.”

The old woman hit Ma Kuxuan’s hand a little harder, and scolded, “You heartless little worm! You won’t even tell the truth to grandma?”

The boy smiled, “Don’t worry, grandma, it’s a good thing.”

The old woman was suspicious, and put this question aside for the time being, changing the subject. “Do you know why your parents didn’t want you?”

The boy smiled, “Because the family was poor back then and couldn’t afford to raise me?”

The old woman suddenly raised her voice and shrieked, “Poor? Our Ma family has been wealthy for seven or eight generations, but we’ve just gotten used to playing the fool. If your parents were poor, would they be wearing gold and silver every day? Eating and drinking the best of everything? Except for not daring to move to the areas where the four major clans and ten prominent families cluster to show off, they didn’t miss out on any good things, did they?”

Every time she talked about her son and daughter-in-law, the old woman really hated them. She sneered. “Those ancestral rules are just things buried in the ground that rot into mud. How much are they worth now? Grandson, don’t take them too seriously when you’re successful in the future. I’ve lived a long time and seen a lot of rich and poor people. In the end, only incompetent people are honest!”

Ma Kuxuan smiled brightly, not knowing if he thought it was reasonable or ridiculous.

This boy had been like this since he was a child. He could endure any loss, any bullying, but when he was stubborn about something, even his grandma couldn’t dissuade him.

The old woman thought about it, got up and ran out to check if the courtyard door was bolted. After returning to the house and sitting down again, she lowered her voice. “Grandson, don’t think that grandma has been pretending to be a ghost for so many years. Besides being a midwife and giving people a bowl of talisman water, or shamelessly collecting junk from people, grandma is telling you that those old things we collect are all top-notch treasures…”

The boy returned to his lazy expression, clearly showing that Ma Kuxuan was not interested in his grandma’s big box of junk.

The old woman still talked about the various tricks she had used to deceive people in her early years, gloating.

Ma Kuxuan suddenly asked, “Grandma, Chen Pingan’s father from Mud Bottle Lane, did he die…”

The old woman’s face changed drastically. She quickly reached out to cover her grandson’s mouth, saying sharply, “Some things can be done, but not said!”

The boy smiled and nodded, no longer digging.

After that, the old woman lost her enthusiasm for flaunting her past glory. She was listless, heavy-hearted, and often looked out the window at the night scene.

Ma Kuxuan smiled and asked, “Grandma, you’ve been a sorceress in our town for so many years. Everyone in Apricot Blossom Lane says that you can cross the boundary between yin and yang and guide the spirits of the dead back to the living world…”

The old woman rolled her eyes. “Do you believe in those muddled things? Grandma is afraid of even thunder. If I really saw a ghost, wouldn’t I scare myself to death?”

“Don’t be afraid, grandma.”

The boy Ma Kuxuan smiled softly. “Humans and ghosts have different paths, and gods have different realms. The great road faces the sky, and each goes its own way.”

—————

At daybreak.

Ning Yao slowly opened her eyes in the grass-covered little hut.

The boy was nowhere to be seen.

She quickly got up, bent over and walked out. With a tap of her toes, she jumped onto the massive shoulder of the overturned old statue.

In the distance, the grass-sandaled boy was running towards her, his steps neither hurried nor slow, not looking like he was being chased. When he saw the green-clad young woman, he quickly waved for her to come down.

Ning Yao jumped down from the statue’s shoulder and stood in front of the boy.

“The old ape didn’t find us here.”

After saying that, Chen Pingan faced the headless statue, put his hands together, bowed his head, and muttered to himself. Ning Yao vaguely heard him asking the statue not to blame her. She rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything.

After that, Chen Pingan said mysteriously in a low voice, “I’ll take you to see two statues that are very interesting!”

Ning Yao asked, “Did the gods and Buddhas show their power and want to come out to meet you? Doesn’t that mean that sincerity will be rewarded?”

Chen Pingan said sheepishly, “Ning Yao, the way you say that…”

Ning Yao raised an eyebrow.

Chen Pingan continued at lightning speed, “It’s clear that you’ve been to school!”

Ning Yao changed into a completely different person in an instant, coughing a few times and silently chanting to herself to be reserved.

The boy led the way, and the young woman followed silently behind.

Ning Yao subconsciously reached out a finger and rubbed the red mark on her forehead.

It was really a close call.

The young woman struggled for a long time, took a deep breath, and then said two words weakly, “Thank you.”

The boy had been looking and listening everywhere, so he naturally heard the young woman’s sudden words of gratitude, although deep down, he didn’t think she needed to thank him. On the contrary, he should be the one thanking her.

However, Chen Pingan really didn’t know how to say it, so he simply ignored it.

Chen Pingan suddenly stopped and stared blankly south, muttering to himself, “What should we do if the old ape has already been expelled by Mr. Qi, so it didn’t chase us?”

The young woman was speechless.

Chen Pingan continued to move forward, not showing any sign of change.

Ning Yao quickened her pace and walked alongside him, unable to resist asking, “Chen Pingan, are you okay?”

Chen Pingan shook his head. “I’m okay. I know that some things are just like that, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The boy hadn’t been to school, so he didn’t know what that meant. If you put it another way, it was that human power had its limits.

Ning Yao suddenly stopped. When the boy turned around in confusion, she pointed to the red mark on her forehead. “I know you’re curious, but you’re too embarrassed to ask. I might as well tell you the truth, this is my trump card, Ning Yao’s trump card. The old ape of Zheng Yang Mountain is powerful, right? It chased us like stray dogs, right? But inside the orifice between my eyebrows is a tenth-birthday gift my mother gave me. It’s my natal treasure. As soon as it appears, not only will the old ape die, but even…”

As she said this, the young woman cut off her words and skipped directly. “The reason I’m telling you all this is to tell you not to underestimate yourself, and don’t be discouraged. You’re already practicing martial arts, so why not practice swordsmanship too!”

Chen Pingan asked, “Can you teach me swordsmanship?”

Ning Yao said matter-of-factly, “I’m too talented. I learned swordsmanship very early, and my cultivation has progressed very quickly, but I can’t teach anyone swordsmanship at all!”

Chen Pingan scratched his head.

Ning Yao thought about it and said seriously, “Even if I wanted to give you that flying sword, it wouldn’t agree. And I don’t want to humiliate it like that. In my hometown, swords with spirits are considered our fellow travelers.”

Ning Yao finally took off the snow-white scabbard from her waist. “But I can give you this scabbard!”

Chen Pingan was confused. “Why?”

Ning Yao patted Chen Pingan on the shoulder hard, and said earnestly, “You already have a scabbard, so are you far from becoming a sword immortal?”

Chen Pingan took the empty scabbard blankly, and said in amazement, “What are you talking about?”

Ning Yao strode forward.

The young woman only felt that she had done something extremely dashing. That was all.

Chen Pingan carefully carried the scabbard, wondering where he was going to find a sword.