Su Yueli shook her head; these were privileges reserved only for cultivators.
At this thought, she looked up at the rolling clouds on the horizon, unable to help but think of Shen Huai'an, who had already set foot on the immortal path.
Twenty years had passed. She wondered what that guy, who possessed a Supreme Heavenly Bone, looked like now.
Time held no meaning for immortals; twenty years was likely nothing more than a brief period of secluded cultivation to a cultivator.
One was an immortal in the heavens, the other a wealthy merchant in the mortal world, while she...
Su Yueli stood up and patted the dust off the hem of her robes.
After a moment of thought, she smiled. “Oh well. After I pay my respects to the village chief, I'll go see that fellow Shen Qing'an.”
Having made up her mind, Su Yueli arrived outside the mourning hall. The shrill sound of the suona echoed, and the outer courtyard was packed with villagers.
The autumn wind rustled, and fallen leaves returned to their roots.
The old village chief had already been dressed in his burial shroud. He looked very peaceful, seemingly not much different from twenty years ago.
Su Yueli wasn't sure. If she hadn't seen him today, the old village chief's face would have already begun to blur in her memory.
After a long while, on the dirt path of the countryside, the villagers formed a long procession behind the pallbearers, paper money fluttering in the air.
After the village chief was laid to rest, Su Yueli bowed three times in silence, murmuring with a soft smile, “Thank you for taking such good care of me back then, Old Village Chief... May you have a safe journey.”
The villagers also paid their respects and then began returning to the village in groups.
Along the way, Er Shizi caught up with quick steps, keeping his head down, not daring to look at Su Yueli.
After a long silence, he asked cautiously, “Yueli, how have you been all these years on the mountain?”
Su Yueli looked at Er Shizi. Was that... shyness?
She couldn't be sure, so she replied casually, “I've been alright.”
“That's good, that's good.”
The atmosphere was a bit awkward. After another moment, Er Shizi asked, “Yueli, you haven't married yet, right?”
“Uh...”
Su Yueli was momentarily speechless and shook her head.
It was impossible for her to marry. She couldn't overcome the hurdle in her heart, let alone the fact that she bore a deep-seated blood feud.
Yet Er Shizi seemed to cheer up instantly. He chatted for a couple more sentences before taking his leave, leaving Su Yueli completely baffled.
Er Shizi ran all the way home. His father, Old Man Shi, was squatting under the eaves smoking a pipe, startled by the commotion.
“Dad!”
Before Er Shizi could even catch his breath, he shouted with a flushed face, “I want to get married! I want to marry Yueli!”
With a clatter, the pipe fell from Old Man Shi's mouth. He looked excited; his son had finally grown up and wanted to settle down.
But then he froze for a long while, his brow furrowing. “Yueli? Which Yueli?”
“Oh, the one who apprenticed under a martial artist twenty years ago and went up the mountain to practice martial arts, Su Yueli! Dad, she came down the mountain this morning to get her letters.”
Old Man Shi's cloudy eyes rolled as he dug through his memory to find this person.
Suddenly, anger flared within him. He pointed at Er Shizi's nose and scolded, “You useless brat! I was wondering why you refused to meet any of the village girls these past few years. It turns out you've been pinning after that girl!”
“Dad, I really like her! I've liked her since twenty years ago!” Er Shizi stiffened his neck, stubborn to the core.
“Dad, I really like her!”
“Bullshit!”
Angered, Old Man Shi smacked him on the back of the head and snapped, “You call that liking her? You're just lusting after her body! You're despicable!”
Er Shizi's face flushed bright red, and he couldn't squeeze out a single word for a long while.
Seeing this, Old Man Shi sighed helplessly and advised, “Can you use your brain? It's been twenty years! You're almost forty. Shen Huai'an, the second son of the Shen family who is the same age as you, has already become an immortal. If that Su girl is still alive, she'd be an old maid pushing forty! What did you say she looks like just now?”
“Well...” Er Shizi stammered in protest, “She looks... exactly the same as twenty years ago.”
“Then she's a monster!”
Old Man Shi slapped his thigh, his expression turning tense. “How can a mortal not age? She must be a fox spirit in disguise, here specifically to suck out our yang qi!”
“Dad, don't talk nonsense! She practices martial arts. Martial artists have vigorous blood qi, so isn't it normal for them to age slowly?”
“What's the use of that!” Old Man Shi was furious.
“She spends all her days throwing punches and practicing martial arts in the mountains. Does she know how to farm? Can she weave or cook? If you marry an ancestor just to serve her every day, how long will our few acres of poor land feed us?”
“No, absolutely not! Tomorrow, I'll have your aunt go matchmake for you. Hurry up and marry a practical, hard-working girl. Marrying someone who practices martial arts all day will only starve you to death!”
Hearing his old father's scolding, Er Shizi's eyes turned red, and he gritted his teeth and rushed out.
...
Meanwhile, Su Yueli had just returned to the village.
The crowd was gradually growing, and as she walked down the road, she was met with unfamiliar faces.
The elders she had been familiar with back then had already turned to dust, and those now running the village were all of the younger generation.
However, because she made no effort to hide her presence, her beautiful face had become an anomaly in the eyes of the villagers.
The familiar elders of her past had long since turned to dust. Those who now held sway in the village were all of a new generation—either still in swaddling clothes back then, or not even born yet.
“Did you see her? That's her... She came down to get her letters!”
“She doesn't look old at all. My dad said she looked exactly like this twenty years ago, and she still does now...”
“Shh, keep your voice down! She's not an immortal. How can a human have no illnesses, no disasters, and not a single wrinkle? What if some filthy thing in the mountains possessed her, and she came down to suck human blood?”
“Exactly, exactly. Hurry up and stay away from her, don't catch her bad luck!”
The quiet whispers were like fine needles, carried by the wind straight into Su Yueli's ears.
Sweeping her gaze around, she saw almost all the villagers behind doors and fences, watching her with the fear and wariness reserved for a monster.
For a brief moment, an inexplicable surge of anger welled up in her heart.
But it quickly subsided. There was no need to explain...
In this mortal village where living to sixty or seventy was considered a long life, not aging was a sin in itself.
Besides, she didn't even understand why she wasn't aging, so how could she explain it to them?
If she couldn't explain it, she was a monster, to be ostracized and treated as an anomaly.
Withdrawing her gaze, Su Yueli looked down at the dirt beneath her feet.
This village, which had once accepted her and given her a few years of peace, was ultimately a place she could no longer stay.
Time had stripped away this haven of hers from years ago.
It was time to leave...
Through her coarse cloth clothes, Su Yueli felt the letters in her bosom.
She murmured softly, “Oh well. I'll go to Fengling City to see Shen Qing'an.”
After all, her master had told her she could wander around during this trip down the mountain. Besides, Shen Qing'an had helped her a lot in the past, and it would be quite rude of her not to reply after he had written four letters.
Soon, Su Yueli left the village along the weed-grown dirt road, her beautiful silhouette gradually fading into the mountain mist.
Half an incense stick's time later.
Er Shizi ran panting to the old locust tree at the village entrance, looking all around, but he still couldn't find her shadow.
Suddenly panicking, he quickly grabbed a passing villager. “Uncle, have you seen Yueli?”
“Her? She left a long time ago, heading toward the big city. She probably won't be coming back,” the villager said, shaking his head.
Er Shizi stood frozen in place, looking at the end of the empty dirt road, a sharp pain in his heart.
He suddenly realized that even if his father hadn't stopped him, he probably wouldn't have been able to keep that woman anyway.
She was like a cloud in the sky, while he was just a handful of dirt on the ground. From that morning twenty years ago, they were destined to belong to different worlds.
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