The young magistrate remained unfazed by the man's sarcastic remarks. He simply looked at the man and said with a smile, "All these years of hiding, not even going to see that Princess one last time, don't you think it's all rather pointless?"
The man said nothing, simply staring at the young magistrate in silence, unknown what he was thinking.
The young magistrate smiled and said, "If you can't figure it out, then don't bother. Why make things difficult for yourself?"
The man replied, "Makes sense."
The young magistrate continued, "Zhou Xianshan, I didn't come here to reminisce about the past with you."
Hearing this familiar yet distant name, the man fell silent for a long time. It seemed as though, in that span of time, long-buried memories and things he had hidden deep within his mind began to resurface.
It had been a very, very long time since anyone had spoken that name. Even among the old acquaintances in the Divine Capital, there likely were not many who still remembered his name.
Time has always been fair. As it moves forward, it inevitably leaves many things behind.
Memories are no exception.
The man said self-deprecatingly, "There's no Zhou Xianshan left in this world."
The young magistrate nodded with a smile. "Indeed. If those guys from the foreign lands knew you were still alive, you'd undoubtedly have to die all over again."
The man countered, "Since you've gone to such lengths to uncover this, it seems you must have put in a great deal of effort. What is it you want from me?"
In his lifetime, the man had never had many friends, he could count them on one hand. Among those few, the young magistrate before him certainly was not one of them. If they were not friends, the implications were clear enough.
"I want to ask you a question. You don't need to be in a rush to tell me your answer, take your time to think it through. But you must understand, if you tell a lie, your identity and your whereabouts might soon become widely known to many people."
The young magistrate spoke slowly, his words carrying an undisguised tone of threat.
The man ignored him, glancing instead toward the sky. In the distance, the already sparse rain clouds were beginning to disperse even further.
Would the rain give way to clear skies, or would it lead to an even heavier downpour?
It was hard to say.
"After so many years of living a quiet, idle life, isn't it better to just keep on living that way? Why insist on getting involved in those things?"
The young magistrate smiled. "Aren't you afraid that it will end up like back then again, implicating countless people?"
The young magistrate said, "You should know..."
Before he could finish, the man had already stood up from the threshold, taking a step forward to appear right in front of him. Then, he reached out with one hand. The young magistrate frowned slightly, his robes rippling like the surface of a tranquil lake suddenly disturbed by waves.
But it was precisely this disturbance that allowed him to evade the man's grasp.
As he retreated, the young magistrate said calm and collectedly, "Brother Zhou, your cultivation has progressed well over the years, but it's still lacking a little."
The man let out an "Oh" and then took a heavy step forward, slamming into the young magistrate's chest. The latter reached out to press down on the man's shoulder, intending to casually push the man away. Yet, to his surprise, the collision carried an irresistible might. Unable to resist, he was dragged along, crashing toward the courtyard door opposite.
With a loud boom, a wooden door shattered instantly, sending splinters flying in all directions.
The young magistrate's expression darkened as he was forced backward, finally coming to a stop when he collided with a support beam of the house. But before he could react, the man in front of him had already thrown a punch at his face.
The man who had not fought anyone in years sighed emotionally, "I'm a little out of practice."
The young magistrate reacted, striking out with a palm toward the man's shoulder. The man retreated several steps, evading the blow.
The young magistrate frowned slightly, catching his breath as he remarked with some curiosity, "I didn't expect your spirit to remain undiminished. To think, after all these years of hiding in alleys and marketplaces, you've managed to take a few steps forward."
Cultivation was not easy, especially at this realm. With unresolved matters weighing on the heart, achieving Nepenthe was almost impossible.
The young magistrate clearly understood what the man before him had gone through, which was why he found it hard to believe that this man had truly reached that realm and become what one might call a Nepenthe.
Yet, the reality was right in front of him.
The young magistrate felt a tinge of disappointment but more so anger.
Back in the academy, this man had overshadowed him in every way. After all these years, with the passage of time, he had assumed they would now be worlds apart. Yet, to his dismay, meeting again today revealed they were still evenly matched.
The man raised an eyebrow and said, "It seems I'm starting to figure something out. But I'm too lazy to think it through. I'll just peel off that face of yours and I'll know."
The young magistrate chuckled, "Oh?"
The man gave a slight nod, glanced around, then twisted his neck with a faint smile and said, "Back then, I was indeed a bookish scholar with no strength to truss a chicken. But that was back then..."
"Now, it's different..."