68: Chapter 54, First Love!
68: Chapter 54, First Love!
The old man saw Tang Fei and Little Fatty return, and he exploded in a tirade, pointing at Tang Fei he said, “You little rascal, you still know to co back, huh?
Even a dog knows to whine for when it leaves, but you didn’t say a word and just ran off…
Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you two?
Do you know how worried I was?”
He didn’t scold Little Fatty, knowing that the boy was easily led astray, simply following along after being cajoled by Tang Fei.
“Didn’t I leave you a note?” Tang Fei glanced at the old man and spoke up.
“Note?
What note?
I didn’t see any,” the old man refused to admit there was such a thing as the note.
“You’re just pissed because I ran off and couldn’t hunt or cook for you, and Little Fatty couldn’t smash stones for you, right?” Tang Fei knew the old man’s personality like the back of his hand and continued, “We’ve been slaving away for you for so many years, we deserve a few days off.
Work a year for a day off, we should have over a dozen holidays…”
“How can you think so lowly of ?
Am I that kind of person?” The old man looked heartbroken and aggrieved as he said, “Is this about resting or not?
Even when we don’t go hunting, don’t you get to rest?
I’m worried about your safety; you two ran off silently…
How could I know where you went?
The world is such a ss, what if you ran into bad people?”
“Would have smashed them,” Little Fatty said with a grin.
The old man’s expression darkened, and he asked in a lower voice, “Did you really run into trouble?”
“Let us sit down and catch our breath first,” Tang Fei said, holding onto his chest as he entered.
His breastbone had been broken by the energy in the Tongyou Realm, and he had run such a long distance without stopping; his chest was still burning with pain.
“My brother’s hurt,” Little Fatty said, following behind with a bag of dry food as he spoke to the old man.
“Serves you right!” the old man exclaid.
But he imdiately rushed to Tang Fei’s side, feeling around his chest.
After a while, with a grim expression, he said, “Two ribs are broken.
Luckily, you took so dicine, otherwise, you could have died of pain on the road…”
He rushed back into the house and brought out a small porcelain bottle, pouring out two black pills and said, “Eat these first.”
Tang Fei didn’t hesitate and threw the black pills into his mouth.
Though the old man had a disagreeable character, there was no chance he would harm him.
“I’ll give you a massage tonight.
There’s a concentration of blood stasis that needs to be broken up.”
“Alright,” Tang Fei agreed.
The old man then brought out two large bowls of water, giving one to each Tang Fei and Little Fatty.
After watching them drink it all, he finally spoke up, “Now, tell where you went.
Who did you run into?
Who beat you up like this?”
Tang Fei looked to Little Fatty and said, “I don’t have the strength, you tell him.”
Little Fatty, after hesitating for a long ti, said, “We went tomb raiding, ran into an Evil God…
and encountered people from the New Star…
Big brother got injured when they ganged up on him.”
The old man looked at Little Fatty and asked, “Do you think I can understand that?”
Little Fatty shook his head, “No.”
“Forget it, don’t trouble him.
I’ll tell it,” Tang Fei interrupted, sparing Little Fatty from storytelling, which indeed seed too demanding.
“Phoenix left a map.
When I saw that map, I thought that after such an incident, the King’s Tomb must have remained untouched, so I took Little Fatty there…”
Tang Fei recounted their tomb raiding adventures, all the way until they encountered the Adventurers from the New Star, and then how Little Fatty had hamred them…
The old man’s expression turned serious as he asked, “The hamr?”
Little Fatty opened the dry food bag and said, “It’s inside.”
The old man picked up the Skull Hamr, and his eyes imdiately turned blood red, his malevolence soaring…
He spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
The deeper the hatred in his heart, the more severe the backlash he suffered.
The old man had harbored hatred his whole life, deep as mountains and seas.
Amplified by the Skull Hamr, his body simply couldn’t bear it.
Little Fatty widened his eyes at the old man and said, “You’re just like big brother…
He also picked up the hamr for a mont, then couldn’t stop vomiting…”
The old man adjusted his breathing until his heart was calm, only then did his eyes gleam as he looked at the hamr in Little Fatty’s hand.
“Lift it up, let see,” the old man said.
So, Little Fatty lifted the Skull Hamr.
“Swing it a few tis.”
Like a live strear showcasing products upon request, Little Fatty swung the hamr through the air in the courtyard, stirring up a whirlwind.
The old man gazed into Little Fatty’s eyes and took note of his ntal state, then said with a mixture of emotions, “Fools have fools’ luck; this hamr seems tailor-made for you.”
“Is this the legendary Divine Artifact?” Tang Fei asked out loud.
“Very likely,” the old man nodded and added, “I haven’t seen it before, but a hamr this sinister could be unique in the whole world.”
“So why can’t we use it?
Is it because we have desires in our heart?”
“The malevolence is too strong, and our power too weak, susceptible to its backlash,” the old man stated.
“What does that an?” Tang Fei inquired.
“It ans if you think too much and don’t have the strength to resist the hamr, you’ll be controlled by it,” the old man explained.
“You an to say, if soone is strong enough, they can control this hamr?”
“Of course.
The greater the power, the higher the realm, the more formidable the hamr…
Right now, you two can’t even begin to unlock the hamr’s true power; all Little Fatty can wield is a sliver of its malevolent thought.”
The old man nodded again and said, “It’s also possible that the higher soone’s realm, the greater their desires, making it even easier for the hamr to take control…”
“…”
Isn’t that stating the obvious?
You’ve covered all the possibilities, but which one is the truth?
Of course, Tang Fei knew that the old man didn’t understand the hamr all that well either; he could only speculate based on its demonstrated characteristics, which were exactly the sa as his own guesses…
What kind of hamr this really was – that was sothing Little Fatty would have to slowly uncover on his own.
“Little Fatty’s mind was blank, and even the hamr couldn’t control him.
That’s why he could safely pick it up…”
“What about him killing in the Tongyou Realm…
What’s that about?”
“He thought you were dead, which intensified the ferocity and hatred in his heart, so the hamr took control of him…” said the old man.
“Does the hamr have its own consciousness?” Tang Fei asked.
The old man shook his head and said, “Do you think it’s human?
With its own thoughts?
It simply contains ferocity and so powers that even I can’t discern…”
Looking at Little Fatty, the old man said, “So, if Little Fatty wants to control the hamr, he has to find a way to increase his strength…
If he really can’t improve, then let it take the lead.
Anyway, it’s not a bad thing…
Whoever is hamred doesn’t matter; just make sure not to hamr one’s own people…”
“…”
Tang Fei looked at the old man and asked, “What’s Little Fatty’s situation now?
What level of strength does he belong to?”
“It’s up to fate,” the old man said out loud.
“What do you an?”
“At a life-or-death mont, if he can explode in power, then perhaps he could kill soone in the Ruyi Realm.”
Tang Fei was speechless.
A person who doesn’t understand cultivation, relying rely on a hamr to kill soone in the Ruyi Realm…
How fierce and heaven-defying is that?
He too wished to be a simple young man.
“And if he can’t explode in power?”
“What do you think?”
“…”
Tang Fei knew that when Phoenix left, the old man must have been eavesdropping on the conversation between Phoenix and him.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so annoyingly coy and sing-songy when he said the words “you guess.”
“In our absence…” Tang Fei looked at the old man and asked, “Has anyone from New Star co over?”
“No.
Why?
Still thinking about that girl?”
“Of course not!” Tang Fei imdiately denied, saying, “It’s about the things she promised …
She said she would send them to once she got back.
It’s been so many days now, and there hasn’t even been a shadow.”
“Maybe she has forgotten about you by now,” the old man said.
“Who is she?
The Empire Princess of the Phoenix Empire, after all.
Once she got back, wouldn’t thousands be chasing after her…
Who would rember so guy who doesn’t wash his face and is pining for her on the Old Land?”
“I told you, I’m not pining, I’m concerned about the supplies.
It’s the supplies that she promised .”
“You’re just in denial, that’s all.
When you asked if anyone from New Star had co, you clearly took a deep breath…
Were you nervous?”
“Go away, I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“Hehehe…” The old man chuckled as he looked at Tang Fei and said, “First love is a brief joy, but it rarely lasts wholly committed.”
“So just take good care of yourself.
Once you’re healed, hunt, grab water, release the birds into the sky…
Life is still the sa as before, not much different.
That’s our fate as people.”
“Is it fate?” Tang Fei looked up at the sky and muttered to himself.
It didn’t seem bad before, but now…
Once you’ve opened the door and seen the world, it’s hard to close that door again.
——-
Phoenix Palace.
Phoenix wore a white, irregularly pleated long dress, and on her feet she had a pair of soft, flat black leather shoes.
Little white socks just covered her ankles, looking comfy and cute.
Her black hair was neatly combed, simply held back with a butterfly hair clip, a very Mori-girl style.
Bright eyes, white teeth, simple and casual, she didn’t seem like an Empire Princess, more like a girl next door.
Phoenix knew what her father needed wasn’t a princess, but a warm-hearted daughter.
When you focus too much on the princess identity, the color of the daughter fades.
And when the bond of father and daughter lightens, the significance of being a princess diminishes.
Phoenix knew what she needed.
Just like the lyrics of that song:
For this eting,
Even the breath during negotiations
I had practiced over and over.
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