Every so often, Long Ruzhen would come to stay on Soul-shaking Mountain for a while.
Sometimes she would stay for a few days, other times she would keep Du Youqian company for a month or two.
The sun rose and fell, the seasons turned.
Until one day, Long Ruzhen came to Soul-shaking Mountain once more.
Snowflakes danced across the sky, an exceedingly rare sight in the Wu Kingdom.
South of Woniushan, it rarely ever snowed.
Du Youqian stood in the snow, and the snowflakes seemed almost Spiritual.
Though they danced playfully, painting the world in silver frost, they reverently swirled around him, not daring to land upon his body.
Du Youqian watched quietly as Long Ruzhen drew closer, her tiny figure gradually growing to its normal size.
He could clearly see the joyful smile on her face and the snowflakes clinging to her temples.
When she stood before him, Du Youqian gently pulled her into his arms and raised a hand, wanting to brush away the offending snowflakes.
Yet, the hair at her temples remained tinged with frost.
The former number one beauty of the Southeast Martial World, her smile was as charming as ever.
But the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were now as dense as the tight stitches on the clothes she had hand-knit for him.
She smiled and said, "Brother Ying, I've gotten old."
A tremor went through Du Youqian's heart.
'It's true.'
'It feels like it's only been the blink of an eye.'
'But thinking back, so much time has slipped away without me even noticing.'
Thirty years had passed since they rescued Liao Leizhong from Cyan Bamboo Castle.
Liao Leizhong's son had already begun his journey in the Jianghu ten years ago.
Under Long Ruzhen's careful guidance and nurtured by the Miracle Elixirs Du Youqian provided, he reached Postnatal Peak at a young age. He came to be hailed as the foremost of the "Four Young Masters" of the Wu Kingdom's Martial World.
As for Liao Leizhong, although he had resolved to live a low-key life after his rescue thirty years ago, believing simplicity was true happiness, his accumulated mental fortitude, coupled with Du Youqian's seemingly endless supply of Elixirs, allowed him to reach the Innate realm in just ten short years, at the age of thirty.
How could such a young Innate Master possibly remain low-key, even if he wanted to?
As an Innate Grandmaster, he was naturally a titan of the Wu Kingdom's Martial World.
Now, Liao Leizhong was fifty years old and a grandfather.
And Long Ruzhen... Du Youqian looked at the woman in his arms, once the greatest beauty of the Southeast Martial World.
She was seventy-three years old this year.
'And me?'
Du Youqian did the math. 'Eighteen, I think.'
'Yes, exactly eighteen.'
He gently stroked Long Ruzhen's hair, no longer as smooth as silk, and smiled. "I still remember you at your youngest and most beautiful."
"Then, you must remember it well. Remember it forever."
Du Youqian looked directly into the eyes of the beauty in his arms.
Her gentle gaze was as intoxicating as it had always been.
"I will remember forever. Forever."
Long Ruzhen stayed for three straight months without any mention of leaving.
Instead, it was the Monkey that suddenly vanished.
Du Youqian went to ask the old Daoist, but Elder Tao just smiled without a word.
「One day.」
Du Youqian finished his Cultivation and casually asked her over dinner, "You've been here quite a while this time. When are you planning to leave?"
Long Ruzhen was silent for a long time before she looked up. "I'm not leaving this time, okay?"
"You're never leaving?"
"That's right. Lei'Er... doesn't need me anymore. Brother Ying, I've spent too little time with you in this life. I owe you so much. I want to stay by your side from now on."
Seeing the cautiousness in her eyes, the fear of being rejected, Du Youqian smiled. "Then stay. Until I see you off, or you see me off."
"Brother Ying, you are destined for Becoming an Immortal. It will definitely be you who sees me off. And I hope it is. Because if you were to go before me, there would be no meaning left in my life. You're stronger than I am, so let me be the one to go first."
Du Youqian looked back at her gently. "Alright."
Despite this conversation, Long Ruzhen was still a long, long way from the end of her life.
Although she had roamed the Jianghu in her youth, she had never experienced any brutal battles.
Her body bore no hidden injuries.
Furthermore, Du Youqian had been using his Magical Power to cleanse her meridians over the years and occasionally giving her life-extending Elixirs. As a result, her body was in far better condition than that of ordinary Jianghu People.
After examining her, Du Youqian concluded that it wouldn't be at all surprising if she lived to be a hundred.
Elder Tao, on the other hand, suddenly stopped his seated meditation and energy Circulation one day.
Although Du Youqian made it a daily habit to pay his respects to Elder Tao, it took him quite a few days to notice this change.
Strangely, despite having stopped his Cultivation, Elder Tao's complexion didn't worsen in the slightest.
「Then one day.」
Du Youqian went to pay his respects to Elder Tao but found he wasn't there.
He found it strange and looked around for a bit, but when he couldn't find him, he gave up.
As a disciple, he had no right to demand that Elder Tao report his whereabouts.
Still, Elder Tao's routine had been regular for decades. He never acted mysteriously.
But perhaps the old man had simply acted on a sudden whim. That was always possible.
「Several more days passed.」
In the early morning, Du Youqian was in his room, reclining as he pondered the Dao of Arrays.
His skills in Alchemy and Arrays had already reached Tier One Peak.
Although he had yet to obtain a Tier Two Inheritance for either, he wasn't in a hurry to learn other Immortal Cultivation Techniques.
The Dao of Arrays and the Dao of Alchemy were both vast and profound.
He had initially started learning them for pragmatic reasons, knowing that even if he were to be reincarnated, the knowledge of these skills would not be lost.
These skills would be the foundation for his rapid rise after reincarnation.
However, after decades of dedicated study, his utilitarian mindset had long since faded.
It was like studying for a math olympiad to get into college, only to later find that studying mathematics and solving problems had become a genuine hobby.
For Du Youqian, Arrays and Alchemy had become the same.
Even though he hadn't yet obtained the next stage of Inheritance, pondering new Pill Formulas, trying to construct Tier Two Arrays in his mind, and racking his brain for new knowledge to verify his own theories had become one of his greatest pleasures.
Long Ruzhen sat beside Du Youqian, patiently mending clothes.
Every now and then, she would glance at him with a smile or pause to rub her lower back.
The room was silent, yet it didn't feel cold or lonely.
Instead, there was a faint, warm atmosphere.
In this Daoist Temple, which was dilapidated yet filled with the rhythm of the Dao, the human touch in this small room did not feel abrupt or out of place at all.
On the contrary, it was a perfect embellishment.
"Disciple, come outside for a moment," Elder Tao's voice called out.
"Yes." Du Youqian walked out the door and immediately saw that Elder Tao, having returned from who-knows-where, had a face flushed with vigor and was radiating energy.
Du Youqian understood at once.
Four words, 'a final, brilliant resurgence,' almost formed a sound, echoing in his mind.
The sound grew louder and louder, roaring until it was so clamorous he could barely hold back his tears.