At some nameless tea stall in the north, a middle-aged woman dressed like a wealthy matron was thoroughly enjoying the tea served by the waiter. Beside her, a youth who looked like a servant was swallowing the tea with a look of extreme disgust.
Why did he look disgusted? Because the servant's brow was furrowed into a small mountain!
"Is this the tea stall you kept raving about from back in the day? Did the owner change or something?"
"Probably. Back then it was an elderly man; the current owner looks like he must be a descendant."
The matron and the servant were naturally Wan Li and Xiao Yao, who had set out to wander the jianghu. Two years had passed since Wan Li resigned as head of the family, and the two of them had been traveling the mortal realm in a carriage ever since. The carriage, which had once been rather luxurious, was now battered and worn after two years of wind and rain, and the horse, once plump and strong, could only be described as skin and bones.
Looking at the tea stall before her, Wan Li felt a lingering sense of things remaining the same while people change. More than once during their two years of travel, she had experienced this feeling. The tea stall was constructed of a wooden frame and sun-woven canvas; forty years ago, it hadn't been nearly so refined. On that canvas, a variety of carefully selected teas and beverages were written in black ink, and the exposed warm-toned wooden structure curved gracefully, casting its shadow upon the ground to form a natural and lovely corner. Simple yet exquisite beaded curtains hung down, swaying with a melodious tune carrying the fragrance of tea and the freshness of the breeze. Forty years ago, there was only a simple character for "tea" here, offering nothing more than large bowls of herbal tea, with none of this variety.
The stall owner stood in front of his counter, looking approachable and smiling warmly, like a friendly old friend. His hands had long since grown remarkably adept; his left hand held the tea leaves while his right tilted the kettle, his technique practiced yet unassuming. The teacups, teapots, and teaspoons did not look flimsy at all; on the contrary, they seemed to possess a unique charm. The teacups stood slender and upright, bright and handsome, emitting a gentle radiance. The teapots resembled miniature antiques, concealing boundless treasures within, presented in a posture both soft and noble. None of this had existed forty years ago.
As for the taste, it was naturally much better than it had been forty years back. As for Xiao Yao's grumbling, it could be ignored entirely—this fellow had never really drunk much tea anyway. Back in the Wan Family, the grade of tea Wan Li used was the absolute best, which was certainly far superior to anything at this roadside stall.
Wan Li finished paying for the tea and was just about to take Xiao Yao and leave when a sudden commotion broke out behind them. A brief listen made it clear what was happening: two brothers were arguing over the support of their aging parents, each insisting that the parents favored the other and that the other should therefore bear the duty of supporting them.
Xiao Yao had originally intended to stay out of it, but seeing that Wan Li was staring intently and had no intention of leaving, he sighed, walked up silently, and separated the two parties. Too lazy to reason with them, he simply settled the matter with one punch to each man.
Although Xiao Yao had not seriously practiced martial arts, cultivators were nourished daily by the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, and their bodies were long since incomparable to those of ordinary martial artists. To an ordinary person, a punch from him was no different than being struck by a heavy club.
When the onlookers saw this, they couldn't help gasping in admiration and crying out "Expert!", suspecting that Xiao Yao had practiced legendary secret manuals like the Vajra Cover or the Invincible Vajra Divine Skill. Quite a few people expressed a desire to become his apprentice, giving Xiao Yao such a headache that he ultimately fled in a panic.
The carriage moved slowly. Xiao Yao gave the skinny horse a half-hearted lash with the reins, and the poor, bony creature snorted in protest, but it was all to no avail.
The carriage drove slowly into the deep forest. Xiao Yao took a map from his bosom and drew a circle on it. Looking closely, the map, which was not large to begin with, was already densely covered with circles.
Before they set out on their travels, Xiao Yao had asked Wan Li where she wanted to go. Wan Li hadn't answered; instead, she just kept drawing circle after circle on the map. Once, Xiao Yao had casually complained that with so many places to visit, what would they do if they couldn't finish them all? Wan Li had calmly replied:
"No matter how many places are worth remembering, eventually you will walk through them slowly. And if you really can't finish them all, we'll just walk them in the next life!"
From then on, Xiao Yao never mentioned anything of the sort again. He simply accompanied Wan Li to one circled location after another, acting as a servant, a bodyguard, and a friend.
Xiao Yao had also hinted a few times that he hoped Wan Li could step back onto the path of cultivation. If she were lucky enough to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, living another century or two would be absolutely no problem. Even though Wan Li's cultivation was low right now, with a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator like himself to protect her, going to some secret realms frequented by Qi Condensation stage cultivators to seek fortuitous encounters generally wouldn't pose any safety issues.
"Even with sufficient resources, given my current physical condition, the hope of breaking through before my limit arrives is surely very slim."
Wan Li had once asked this, and Xiao Yao had not dared to answer. Silence was perhaps the best reply. Theoretically, reaching Foundation Establishment in ten years and Core Formation in a hundred was rarely seen in the cultivation world, but it wasn't exactly rare either. Throughout history, various sects and factions had more or less produced such geniuses, or people with great fortune and great affinity.
Wan Li didn't care much about this. Though deep down she hadn't completely stopped thinking about returning to an immortal sect, she knew very well that she possessed neither the aptitude nor the resources required for cultivation, and none of these things could be easily met.
It was entirely possible that after spending thirty years in mediocrity, she would finally turn into a patch of loess. Rather than that, it would be far better to make use of this remaining time to thoroughly enjoy herself in this lifetime, alongside a like-minded friend.
Seeing Xiao Yao repeatedly hinting that she should look for some longevity-extending methods, Wan Li smiled faintly. Her senior brother probably thought he was hiding it very well, but his ability to read people and situations was truly a bit naive!
Not wanting to hurt his pride, Wan Li asked Xiao Yao to teach her some methods for strengthening the body. After practicing for a while, she couldn't help secretly marveling: although it was of no use for immortal cultivation, her physical condition really did feel much better. She could even leap over a three-zhang-high wall in a single bound—she was a genuine martial arts expert!
Consequently, a legend spread throughout the mortal jianghu:
"One master, one servant, one black horse; a thousand hands, a thousand eyes, one divine dragon."
It was said that whenever one encountered the combination of a master, a servant, and an old horse, one must never provoke them. These two people were unfathomable: one seemed to possess a thousand hands, executing moves with extreme speed, capable of fending off even a thousand troops single-handedly. The other seemed to possess clairvoyance, able to anticipate attacks from any direction beforehand, leaving them completely impervious to harm. As for the scrawny, wretched old horse, legend had it that it possessed the miraculous ability to travel ten thousand li in a single day, rivaling the legendary divine dragon.
Even after hundreds of years, this legend continued to circulate in the jianghu, prompting countless people to scramble to imitate them. It even caused the price of black horses to skyrocket, with quite a few unscrupulous merchants actually painting white horses black to sell them.