"Pwah—!"
How can life be this enjoyable?
At this rate, I might end up getting heavenly retribution someday.
"There's meat… there's alcohol… this is a life of indulgence…"
"Buddy, if you're calling it indulgence, you'd need women too."
"Women, huh…"
It's been half a year since I came out into the martial world, but I haven't embraced a woman yet.
If I wanted to, I could—plenty of times over. I've earned enough money, and with my current means, I could hire two or three courtesans from a brothel at once without breaking a sweat.
"…I don't really feel like it."
But for some reason, I don't have the urge to do it.
Is it an aversion to women who sell their bodies?
No, that's not it. Even then, I've had plenty of chances to hold a woman up till now.
Spending every day in taverns and gambling dens, the atmosphere naturally ripens, and flirtations between men and women come and go.
Some have approached me too—women I could objectively call attractive enough.
Yet all I remember is turning them down.
"…"
Slurp.
Why is it that, at this very moment, that eccentric woman's face pops into my mind?
I finally escaped after ten years and I'm out here living it up just fine.
Aha.
It's because I got too used to that appearance—my standards got too high.
Makes sense. After seeing a woman like that every day for ten years, my eyes aren't exactly normal anymore.
Most women walking the streets look like plain peasants by comparison.
Even after I've come out here, she's still no help at all.
To think she's still interfering with my life like this even after going into secluded training.
"…"
Just a tiny bit.
Just a tiny bit, but—
Tonight, for some reason, my lonely bed feels especially cold.
...
...
Stumble stumble.
"Whoa… Expensive booze really hits different."
Was it called Yeohong or something?
They said it's so pricey that taverns rarely stock it, but since it came in today, I gave it a try—and yeah, it's a whole different beast from the usual cheap liquor.
If it weren't for that silver ingot from the Huashan woman today, even I wouldn't have been able to afford it.
Where'd that old man even get something like that…?
It's so expensive that, unless you're a reckless drunk like me, there'd hardly be any buyers.
Maybe he got it with me in mind from the start.
"Life's so damn fun…"
There's the fun of hearing customers' stories while reading their fortunes. The fun of watching their reactions afterward.
The thrill of making money, drinking, watching the chaos unfold in the tavern, and the rush of the gambling table.
It's the same routine every day, but it's my perfect daily life.
That's why I want to keep living.
In this perilous world, I want to survive as long as I can and keep enjoying these pleasures.
They sure bought it pretty innocently…
It's a lie to make that possible.
A weak trickster like me—who can't even use martial arts or confidently take on a single commoner—needs to stay off the radar of the strong to survive in this world.
I have to live as unassumingly as possible, like a small fry, so no one sees any special value in me.
That treasures and opportunities already have owners preordained by the gods of heaven and earth? That heavenly luck only comes to the prepared?
Lies.
Opportunities are just opportunities, and treasures are just treasures. They're simply sitting there, waiting for whoever finds them to claim them.
This is just a trick to keep people who chase treasures and opportunities away from me, even just a little.
As far as I know, there's no such restriction.
It's not about 'if I can't have it, no one can.'
If it got out that I could tell people the locations of opportunities or treasures, I'd no longer be just a 'slightly skilled fortune teller.'
That's the lie I tell to prevent that.
An act to survive.
The 'Faceless Golden Ghost' of Shaanxi has to be that kind of person.
I can't have too much money—people would think I earned it with my abilities.
I can't be strong—people would think I used my abilities to snag an opportunity.
Well, it's all excuses, really.
In the end, I'm just saying I can't have too much money while I guzzle expensive liquor and blow it all on gambling every night because I want to enjoy life.
Saying I can't be strong while I don't even exercise properly, blaming my broken dantian and frail body.
Because no matter how much wealth or power I build in this world—
In front of the real ones, it'd be nothing more than a child's plaything.
…Well, as long as life's fun, isn't that what matters?
Master, your unworthy disciple is thoroughly enjoying the outside world.
There's so much more to do and so many more people than back in the mountains—it's a blast.
But tonight, for some reason, I miss you.
…Are you doing well?
-Ten Years Ago-
["Uh… Master…? Where should I sleep?"]
["Oh, right. Now that you mention it, there's only one blanket in the house."]
["…What?"]
["Sorry, little one. I came down for some other business and picked you up on a whim without preparing beforehand. Well, the blanket's big enough for two anyway, so just come over here. We'll share it."]
[…]
["What's wrong? Don't tell me you think I'm after your body or something?"]
["…"]
["Don't flatter yourself. To me, you're like a lump of fermented soybeans fallen off a roof."]
It was a ridiculous thing to say, but back then, I think I believed it because of her overwhelming beauty.
If she's that pretty, maybe I really did seem that way to her.
That's what I thought, at least.
["It's about time to get to bed, so I'll warm up the blanket first."]
["Do that."]
And so time passed—
["Master, I'm past my teenage years now. I don't think it's right to keep sharing a blanket with a woman. There's that saying about men and women not sitting together after seven…"]
["Then go chop some firewood or hunt a beast yourself. I'll sell it and buy you a blanket."]
[…]
And more time passed—
["Master, I've been having nightmares lately. Someone ties me up from behind and gropes me. I'm worried it might be a bad omen."]
["It's a ghost. You absolutely mustn't resist—just stay still."]
And more time passed—
…No matter how I think about it, running away was the right choice.