The Burial Gold White Tiger saw Zhang Ruochen’s current appearance and was startled.
“Go, now you can act!” Zhang Ruochen gazed at the starry sky and said this.
A human-like sadness gradually appeared in the tiger’s eyes. It said, “Are you really alright?”
“I am fine, but I must leave immediately, before Yao Yao comes out. Help me one last time?” Zhang Ruochen’s eyelids drooped, his eyes cloudy, his hands clutching the wooden staff, his body swaying as if about to fall.
The Burial Gold White Tiger could no longer sense what Zhang Ruochen was thinking.
But it could see at a glance that Zhang Ruochen wanted to escape.
Escape to a place where no one could find him, and bury himself.
This way, no one would know he had died!
As long as Chi Yao could not find his body, there would always be hope in her heart.
As long as a person had hope in their heart, they would surely find ways to live on with effort.
He needed to give Chi Yao this sliver of hope.
The Burial Gold White Tiger felt grief in its heart. It said, “Will you come back?”
Zhang Ruochen smiled, his eyes lifeless, as if he had already fallen asleep.
“Awoo!”
The Burial Gold White Tiger let out a long howl and charged out. Its body grew larger and larger, bursting with brilliant golden light as it attacked the two demon clan gods outside the formation.
The tiger’s howl was desolate, seeming to contain anger and sorrow that could tear the heavens and earth apart.
A space chaos worm flew down from Zhang Ruochen’s finger and bit open a space wormhole.
Zhang Ruochen stepped into it and left the planet.
After multiple spatial traversals, who knew where he had arrived? The space chaos worm exhausted its power and turned into a seven-coloured ring, wrapping around Zhang Ruochen’s finger.
Zhang Ruochen then fell onto a blue life planet, lying on the ground, utterly weak. He exerted all his strength to take out an eon sacred medicine that could extend lifespan and swallowed it.
But it was no use.
His lifespan was completely exhausted. Only a small cluster of life flame remained. No medicine could extend his life any longer.
Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes and looked at the blue sky and white clouds. Tender green grass blades were by his face. Dewdrops slid down from the grass, moistening his hair.
“This is fine, let it be here then!”
Zhang Ruochen did not want to move at all. He just wanted to lie quietly on the ground like this, listening to the wind and bird calls, feeling the coolness of nature.
Let go of all affections, let go of guilt in his heart, let go of the exhausting responsibilities, let go of longing, let go of attachments, let go of all the worldly grudges and entanglements. No longer think of the past.
Become a stone, become a piece of dead wood.
Just die quietly in the wilderness, with no one knowing, and no need for anyone to know.
“Gurgle! Gurgle!”
The sound of wheels turning came from far to near.
“Father, there seems to be a person lying there. I will go and see,” a soft and cheerful girl’s voice rang out.
Footsteps arrived by Zhang Ruochen’s side.
A somewhat warm and soft hand first touched his nose tip, then his forehead.
“Father, this old gentleman is still alive. Let us save him!”
…
Zhang Ruochen was lifted onto an ox cart. The cart was piled with various items: ironware, vegetables, fruits, wine jars, and so on.
The ox cart moved slowly forward and arrived at a small town.
The surroundings became lively, gradually filling with all sorts of sounds: hawking calls, ox and horse noises, water sounds, laughter, cries.
Zhang Ruochen’s consciousness had been clear from beginning to end. But he simply did not want to move or speak, so he remained like a vegetable, keeping up the appearance of sleep.
The girl who saved Zhang Ruochen was called Xiao Lin.
Her father was surnamed Mu.
This father and daughter ran the town’s only inn.
It was called an inn, but it was very simple: just a front hall for dining and five side rooms. Now, one of those five rooms was occupied by Zhang Ruochen.
The father and daughter were very kind-hearted and had been taking care of the “comatose” Zhang Ruochen all along.
Every day, Xiao Lin would bring soup medicine and feed it to Zhang Ruochen.
Morning and evening, she would help him wash his face and wipe his hands.
They also invited the town’s physician to check on Zhang Ruochen.
Soon, a month passed!
Zhang Ruochen’s mental power had actually fully recovered. As a mental power god, even in the frail twilight of his fleshly body, he was still very powerful.
He could wake up.
But he did not want to wake up at all!
He kept calculating when the small flame of life in his body would finally extinguish.
This calculation lasted half a year.
Zhang Ruochen had thought he could live at most a few days, and after completely losing his will to survive, he should die even faster. Yet that small flame of life was exceptionally stubborn and refused to go out.
This morning, in the inn’s backyard, a battle broke out.
Two big white geese fought with the yellow ox tied to the cattle pen railing.
The two big white geese were ferocious beyond measure, their attacks fierce like two elephants. Their calls were resounding, their gazes domineering. At times they would flap up and use their flat, long beaks to twist the ox’s thighs and soft belly flesh.
They could twist off a large clump of cow hair.
As the ancients said, “Better to be bitten by a dog than twisted by a goose.”
One could see the ferocity and attack power of geese.
The top position in combat power among domestic fowl and livestock was unshakable. Just their resounding calls could intimidate and repel ordinary opponents like cats and ducks.
Facing the assault of the two big white geese, the yellow ox was clearly no match. It could only leap about in rage, circling and running around the railing to escape. Soon, the rope on its nose got tangled on the railing from its blind running.
White steam snorted from its nostrils. It could not move and could only let the geese slaughter it.
Fortunately, Xiao Lin arrived in time and scolded the two big white geese away. Only then was it saved.
Looking at its pathetic, foolish appearance after the miserable defeat, it had lost not only the fight but also face.
As Xiao Lin untied the rope for it, she said, “You are the most cowardly. Such a big body, yet you cannot beat two geese. If not for needing you to pull the cart, I would have dragged you off to slaughter for hotpot beef this New Year.”
Zhang Ruochen, sitting by the window, had been watching for a long time and could not help laughing out loud.
Hearing the laughter, Xiao Lin looked up.
Joy appeared in her clear, bright eyes. Without bothering to retie the yellow ox, she ran straight to the front hall, cheering, “Father, Father, he woke up, he woke up…”
“Who woke up?”
“The old man woke up!”
“You mean the old gentleman we picked up by the roadside half a year ago? Quick, quick, let us go see.”
…
Old Mu and Xiao Lin hurried upstairs.
But Zhang Ruochen was still staring at the backyard. That yellow ox was like a fool. Even untied, it stood in place without moving, not knowing to run. It was quite comical.
Old Mu pushed open the door and walked in. Looking at Zhang Ruochen sitting by the window, he said, “He really woke up. Thank the heavens.”
Zhang Ruochen stood up and said, “Thank you both.”
Xiao Lin poked out her small face from behind, with two pigtails, very cute. She smiled at Zhang Ruochen and said, “You are the one we picked up by the roadside half a year ago, old man. What is your name? Where is your home? How did you end up collapsed in such a remote wilderness?”
Zhang Ruochen had let go of everything, but her word “home” hooked it all back up again. His gaze dimmed somewhat. He said, “I… have no home!”
Xiao Lin was about to ask more, but was scolded by Old Mu, making her stick out her tongue in fright.
Old Mu said, “No home? No matter. From now on, this place is your home.”
“Then you must help out. There is too much work in the inn. I cannot manage it all,” Xiao Lin said.
Old Mu said, “Xiao Lin, the old gentleman’s body is still very weak.”
“No matter. I am almost fully recovered. I can handle some chores. Innkeeper, do not call me old gentleman. I cannot bear it. My surname is Zhang…”
“Then we will call you Old Zhang,” Xiao Lin said.
Zhang Ruochen smiled. “Fine!”
And so, the Lin Xing Inn in the small town gained a helper called “Old Zhang”.
It was called an inn, but before, there had only been Old Mu and Xiao Lin.
There were not many guests staying, but plenty dining in the hall.
It would get busy at mealtimes.
Zhang Ruochen could do few things: just clear and collect bowls and chopsticks, add firewood, fetch water, and feed the yellow ox and the two big white geese.
Old Mu was a jack of all trades: he could brew wine, do carpentry, repair walls and roofs, cook dishes. In his free time, he could strike a wooden clapper and sing a segment of tune with a沧桑 flavour.
“A hundred years like a drunken haze, heart full of spring.
Reclining on East Mountain, a patch of cloud.
Anger at right and wrong brushing the face like dust, wearing away all, the endless people of ancient and modern times.”
…
The wooden clapper was an instrument made of a round stick and a rectangular wooden slat. When struck, it made a deep, muffled sound.
In his idle moments, Zhang Ruochen also learned the wooden clapper and the tune.
Reciting a few lines with ups and downs each day was quite enjoyable.
Time flowed like water, years passing.
Xiao Lin was sixteen, growing tall and graceful. She learned makeup, learned to dress up, and fell in love with a youth surnamed Yun in the town.
At the age of sixteen, which girl does not feel the stir of emotions?
They pledged lifelong commitment under the big locust tree outside the inn, leaned against each other under the moonlight, and carved their two names on the stone wall.
These were the best things, the best years.
It naturally affected Zhang Ruochen. The work he needed to do increased compared to before!
Until that one dusk, when the youth surnamed Yun came to the inn to bid Xiao Lin farewell. He was going to a sect a thousand miles away to apprentice in martial arts. He promised that once he entered the sect, he would come fetch Xiao Lin.
But after he left, he never returned.
According to the Yun family, the youth had successfully entered the sect and become a disciple under an elder. Now his future was bright, focused on martial arts. He contacted his family rarely, sending only one family letter each year.
But Xiao Lin had great faith in that youth. Every dusk, she would wait under the big locust tree, gazing towards the sunset, towards the most beautiful place of the evening glow.
Ten years like a day.
In these ten years, Old Mu had multiple times asked matchmakers to find suitable families for Xiao Lin. Quite a few were found, all with excellent conditions, but all were rejected by Xiao Lin.
No matter how good the family, how could it compare to the evening glow of ten years ago?
She firmly believed that one day, the youth in her heart would come riding a splendid carriage from under the sunset, in the most gorgeous dusk glow, to take her away. This was their vow!
Just like this, another ten years passed.
Old Mu, like Zhang Ruochen, was now white-haired and苍苍, bedridden with serious illness. He could no longer cook or sing tunes.
Zhang Ruochen sat by the bed, holding his hand, and asked, “Old Mu, if there was a chance to heal your serious illness, even let you live to a hundred or two hundred years, would you want it?”
Old Mu shook his head with closed eyes, weakly saying, “No need. Living to this age, I have lived enough! Besides Xiao Lin, I have no more attachments in this life. I do not want to hope for more. Old fellow, it is you who can live… Xiao Lin… Xiao Lin ah… Father cannot… accompany you… anymore…”
Xiao Lin was actually no longer little Xiao Lin.
This year, she was thirty-six and had become the new innkeeper.
Old Zhang was still that Old Zhang. In over twenty years, he had not died. His life force was astonishingly tenacious. Even the two big white geese and old yellow ox he tended had lived as long as him.
