Meanwhile, Zhi Gui remained standing on the spot in silence, but all of a sudden, a pair of golden pupils appeared in each of her eyes, only to vanish just as abruptly as they had appeared.
Fu Nanhua seemed to have vaguely detected this, and he immediately turned around to inspect his surroundings, but was unable to find anything worthy of note. In the end, he briefly scrutinized Zhi Gui, but didn't discover anything amiss, either. Thus, he could only chalk that inexplicable sense of discomfort that he had just felt down to Cai Jinjian's reckless actions, which had to have drawn the scrutiny of the Sage in the town.
Cai Jinjian was in a much better mood than before, and as a result, she was able to comb through many of the trains of thought that had previously stagnated in her mind.
This was not just some insignificant opportunity.
There were a couple of reasons for her trip to this small town, the first of which was that Dawn Cloud Mountain required a sufficiently powerful immortal treasure to hold in the fortune of the sect, which had been constantly seeping out of late. Furthermore, she also needed to succeed on this trip in order to solidify her status as the heir to the position of mountain master. Otherwise, she would've immediately left this godforsaken place and returned to Dawn Cloud Mountain to go into seclusion for a decade or two.
Cai Jinjian began to make her way toward Zhi Gui, but right at this moment, Chen Ping'an suddenly asked, "Did you do something to me just now?"
"You're being too paranoid, kid," Cai Jinjian replied without even turning her head.
Chen Ping'an fell silent upon hearing this, but Cai Jinjian suddenly turned to him with a smile as she declared, "You only have half a year left to live at most."
Chen Ping'an was dumbfounded by this sudden revelation, and Cai Jinjian was very amused to see this. "I was just kidding! I didn't think you would actually believe me."
Chen Ping'an smiled in response.
In that instant, a hint of disdain welled up in the hearts of both Fu Nanhua and Cai Jinjian. In their eyes, Chen Ping'an was nothing more than an ignorant and powerless ant.
Song Jixin was watching the unfolding scene while squatting on top of the wall, and he was massaging his own temples with a serious look on his face, an expression that was quite rare for him.
Even though Cai Jinjian had already gone to find Gu Can with Zhi Gui, and Chen Ping'an had also returned to his own courtyard, the observant Song Jixin remained squatting on the wall in a daze.
He could see that there was a thin young boy standing on Clay Vase Alley, and he looked on at Cai Jinjian's parting figure for a while before quickly withdrawing his gaze. He then made his way to the gate of his own courtyard, but the gate refused to open even as he pushed on it insistently.
Song Jixin really detested this feeling. In his eyes, Chen Ping'an was completely unremarkable in every way, but sometimes, he was like a rock in a latrine. If it weren't moved, then it would get in the way, but moving it required one to get their hands dirty.
Song Jixin was so caught up in his own thoughts that he failed to hear what Fu Nanhua was saying behind him, and thus, Fu Nanhua was forced to repeat himself. "Song Jixin, did you know that there's a type of people in this world that are completely different from the likes of you and that boy?"
Song Jixin finally returned to his senses, and he remained squatting on top of the wall as he turned around to look down at Fu Nanhua, replying in an indifferent voice, "I do."
Fu Nanhua was expecting a negative response from Song Jixin, upon which he would offer an explanation, so this was quite an unexpected reply. However, he wasn't convinced that Song Jixin was telling the truth, and he smiled as he asked, "Do you really?"
A cold look appeared in Song Jixin's eyes as he sneered, "You want to tell me that there are people who can bring the dead back to life, who can live for all of eternity, and possess limitless power, right?"
Fu Nanhua nodded in response with a pleased expression. "It looks like, in some sense, you and I can be considered to be fellow Daoists."
Song Jixin took a glance at the gate of the neighboring courtyard out of the corner of his eyes, seemingly rather distracted.
Fu Nanhua declared in a candid manner, "Seeing as you're already knowledgeable about such matters, I won't waste any more of our time. Regardless of what you have, as long as you're willing to sell it, just state a price, and I'll buy it even if I have to sell everything that I own!"
Song Jixin was rather perplexed. "I can tell that you possess a loftier status in your clan than that woman does in hers, so why is it that she was treating that boy with such disdain just now, yet you're willing to..."
"Treat you as an equal?" Fu Nanhua asked, concluding Song Jixin's sentence for him.
Song Jixin nodded in response as he praised, "You're a pretty smart guy. It's always easier talking with smart people."
Even though Song Jixin was physically looking down at him and speaking to him in a rather condescending fashion, Fu Nanhua remained completely unbothered.
In stark contrast with Cai Jinjian, who had regarded Chen Ping'an as nothing more than a mere ant, not only did Fu Nanhua feel a sense of intimacy toward Song Jixin, he also felt an inexplicable sense of awe and veneration toward Clay Vase Alley as a whole.
Hence, Fu Nanhua was truly regarding Song Jixin as his equal.
On the path to pursuing the Great Dao, the further one advanced, the less significance there was in things like status, gender, age, and other factors.
Song Jixin jumped down from the wall, then said in a low voice, "Let's talk inside."
Fu Nanhua nodded in response. "After you."
While stepping over the doorstep, Song Jixin asked in a casual manner, "By the way, what's your relationship with that woman from earlier?"
"We're temporarily working together, but we're not walking the same path," Fu Nanhua immediately replied without any hesitation.
Song Jixin nodded in response, then said some rather inexplicable things. "In that case, aren't you beating around the bush too much? I heard that the outside world is filled with demons, gods, immortals, and all manners of bizarre and spectacular things, but all those who pursue the path of cultivation are supposed to settle all differences right away in order to avoid trouble that could arise further down the line. Is that not the case?"
As the eldest young master of an immortal clan from Old Dragon City, Fu Nanhua was shrewd beyond his years, and he immediately understood what Song Jixin wanted, despite the cryptic content of his words.
Hence, he smiled as he asked, "Is there some bad blood between you two?"
Song Jixin's eyes widened as he put on a surprised facade. "What are you talking about?"
He then seemed to have realized that his act wasn't fooling Fu Nanhua at all, so he abandoned his exaggerated display of feigned surprise, and he sat down onto a chair in the room before extending a hand, inviting Fu Nanhua to also take a seat. After that, a serious look appeared on his face as he said, "The name of the boy from the neighboring house is Chen Ping'an, and he lost his parents at a very young age. Even though we've been neighbors for many years, we haven't had even a single argument. You may not believe me, but that's up to you."
Fu Nanhua was instantly able to read between the lines and understand what Song Jixin was insinuating.
He was informing Fu Nanhua that Chen Ping'an was just an orphan with no one to rely on and no ties to this world, so even if he were to die, no one would look into his death.
After arriving at that realization, Fu Nanhua was left feeling a little bemused. It had suddenly occurred to him that fate really did work in some rather absurd ways at times.
It could be said that by intentionally withholding the address of Song Jixin and Zhi Gui from Fu Nanhua, Chen Ping'an had inadvertently brought disaster upon himself, and this was ultimately going to lead to his demise.
Given Song Jixin's privileged background, someone like Chen Ping'an should've been far beneath him, yet here, he was essentially asking Fu Nanhua to have Chen Ping'an killed.
With that in mind, Fu Nanhua couldn't help but be reminded of a saying: "Even as infants, the offspring of tigers and leopards already possess the will to hunt cows."
————
Meanwhile, Gu Can had already been locked in his house, while his mother and the self-proclaimed "true lord" were sitting across from one another.
The old man was scrutinizing his own palm, which was riddled with lines, and shortly thereafter, he folded his palm away with a faint smile as he declared, "It is done."
A puzzled look appeared on the woman's face as she asked, "May I ask what you did to make Chen Ping'an..."
All of a sudden, a cold gleam flashed through the old man's eyes, and the woman was so frightened to see this that she immediately stopped talking.
The old man cast his gaze toward the gate of the courtyard, then gently swept a sleeve through the air, conjuring up a light breeze that swirled around the courtyard incessantly. He then explained, "I have only come here as I'm in a very troublesome predicament and had no choice but to journey to this place. I'm not in any direct danger for now, but the longer I stay here, the more... Just as that boy, Song Jixin, said, too much beating around the bush will only lead to a calamitous outcome. The good thing is that that man has invoked both the resentment of the heavens and the rage of the people.
"Even though he has already made a huge concession, his ultimate demise will still be inevitable. What a pity! He could've ascended to extremely lofty heights, but instead, everything took a drastic turn for the worse for him, and his current situation is one that is truly tragic to behold. Only by taking advantage of this opportunity was I able to make some plans for your son.
"Now, I must see if I can put an end to that boy's life while also avoiding future repercussions by ensuring that no sages or immortals will figure out what's been done here. Only then can I ensure that this new disciple of mine will be able to ascend like the wind on his cultivation journey and ultimately rise to become a dragon."
The woman was sweating profusely as she listened in silence.
The old man smiled as he mused, "You must think it strange that someone like me, who has dedicated himself to cultivation and the pursuit of the Great Dao, would end up being so petty and hostile. In fact, I daresay you're thinking that I'm no better than an uneducated village woman like yourself, isn't that right?"
The woman hurriedly lowered her head as she replied in a trembling voice, "I wouldn't dare to think such insolent things!"
The old man merely smiled and didn't say anything further, waiting in silence for Cai Jinjian's arrival.
On the path of cultivation, there was no limit to the power that one could obtain.
Cai Jinjian regarded the residents of the town as ants, but in the eyes of a true lord, she and Fu Nanhua were nothing more than mere ants themselves, and there was no need for him to reason with an ant that he could easily stomp into the dirt.