Li Lianzhong hurried on his journey without a moment's rest, and finally returned to the village just as darkness fell.
The entire village was pitch black and dead silent. Only the occasional distant barking of a dog broke the oppressive quiet.
People in this era were poor, unable to even afford enough food to eat, let alone the luxury of lighting lamps. Every household toiled away during the day, hurried home before the sun set, ate whatever meager scraps they had, and went straight to sleep—which perhaps explained why every family in those days had so many children.
Once night fell, people hid inside their homes, too afraid to venture out. After all, the surrounding mountains were densely wooded, and venomous insects and fierce beasts frequently roamed in the dark. No one wanted to become food for those creatures.
When Li Lianzhong arrived in front of his dilapidated wooden hut, a sudden surge of emotion overcame him.
"After all, I've managed to cheat death and come back."
"Tap, tap, tap..."
"Tap-tap, tap."
Li Lianzhong knocked on the door, calling out, "Dad, Mom. Open the door, I'm back."
From inside came the sound of rustling. Using his Divine Sense, Li Lianzhong scanned the room and saw that his parents were already up, his mother gripping a wooden club in her hand.
"Who is it? Who's calling outside?" a voice asked, filled with caution.
Li Lianzhong quickly replied, "Dad, Mom, open the door! It's me! Your son, I've come back."
With a creak, the wooden door swung open to reveal Liu Ermei, her face etched with exhaustion.
Li Lianzhong was startled and asked, "Mom, why do you look so pale? What happened? Are you sick?"
Li Lianzhong leaning on his cane also hobbled to the doorway.
Upon confirming that it truly was Li Lianzhong, the elderly couple hurriedly pulled him inside.
Liu Ermei let out a wail and burst into tears.
"Lian'er, you scared your mother to death! I thought you'd fallen to your death and that we, old parents, would have to bury our own child. How were we supposed to go on living after that?"
Li Lianzhong pounded his cane on the floor and scolded, "You rascal, took you long enough to remember your way home! Where the hell have you been?"
Li Lianzhong hurriedly soothed them, "Dad, Mom, calm down. Didn't I come back safe and sound? Look at me, I'm completely fine! Not only am I not dead, I don't even have a single scratch. If you don't believe me, feel for yourself."
Coming to her senses, Liu Ermei forgot all about the pitch-black night and immediately reached out to pat him here and pinch him there.
Muttering under her breath, she said, "Good, good, good. As long as you're safe, as long as you're safe."
A thought crossed Li Lianzhong's mind. It was miserable trying to see anything in this pitch blackness.
He spoke up, "You two sit down first, and I'll tell you all about what happened these past few days from the beginning."
Supporting his parents, Li Lianzhong had them sit on the bed. Then, with a thought in his mind, a large, luminous night pearl appeared in his palm.
In an instant, the entire room lit up as bright as day. The sudden glare stunned both Li Lianzhong and Liu Ermei so much that they couldn't stay seated and sprang right back to their feet.
Just at that moment, with a bang, the door was pushed open. A round-faced girl with her hair tied up in twin buns appeared in the doorway.
Who else could it be but Li Tong?
Before anyone could react, she lunged forward, threw her arms around Li Lianzhong, and burst into loud sobs.
"Wah!"
"Wah-wah..."
"Wah-wah-wah!"
She cried so bitterly and uncontrollably that her tears and snot smeared all over Li Lianzhong's tattered cotton-padded jacket.
Li Lianzhong couldn't help but smile wryly as he comforted her, "Stop crying, Tong'er. Didn't your brother come back safe and sound? If you keep crying, you won't be pretty anymore—you'll turn into a little kitten."
Sniffling, Li Tong laughed through her tears and scolded, "Humph, you're the little kitten, a little puppy yourself!"
Seeing this, Li Lianzhong couldn't help interjecting, "As long as you're back, that's enough. Stop standing here bawling like a bunch of crybabies. What kind of sight is that?"
Li Tong stuck out her tongue and made a face at him, "Bleh, bleh, bleh!"
Li Lianzhong knew his father was not a man of many words. From the look in the old man's eyes, he could tell how worried he had been and that he wanted to come over and take a good look at him, but his father's nature was simply that deep and reserved.
He only knew how to protect them silently. "A father's love is silent, yet as lofty as a mountain."
Having vented their emotions, everyone gradually calmed down.
Li Lianzhong had his younger sister Li Tong sit on the bed as well.
Then, he began to recount everything from the moment he went herding cattle, when he ran into Li Tiansheng, Li Huahua, and Li Hu; to the thunderstorm breaking out, the cattle bolting, and him going up the mountain to look for them before falling off a cliff while trying to pick that fruit.
The others had already heard all about it from Erniu, Huzi, and Tiansheng, so his retelling matched the actual events without the slightest discrepancy.
Li Lianzhong also knew the old couple wanted to know what happened afterward.
Pausing for a moment, he thought it over.
He decided to conceal certain details for now; after all, some things were simply too unbelievable for ordinary people. He was even more afraid of bringing trouble and hidden danger to his parents.
Therefore, Li Lianzhong continued, "After I fell off the cliff, I was miraculously caught in the branches of a tree and wasn't in any danger. I just got lost in the mountains and couldn't find my way home. It took me several days of searching just to find a way out, and that's why I hurried back as fast as I could. I wasn't just out there playing around."
Li Lianzhong, Liu Ermei, and Li Tong exchanged looks of utter disbelief.
Liu Ermei scolded him, "You child, if you're going to make up a story, at least come up with a decent excuse! Looking for a way out for days? Spring is already here—today is the nineteenth day of the third month in the year 4024 of the Tianyuan Continent calendar."
Li Lianzhong froze, dumbfounded. His jaw dropped so wide it looked as though he could fit a Monstrous Beast egg inside.
He remembered that when he went out to herd cattle, the weather was still very cold—it must have been deep winter. Did that mean more than four months had passed?
Seeing him remain silent, Li Tong spoke up, "Brother, you've been gone for a full hundred and twenty-nine days. I've counted every single day, waiting and hoping. There's no way I'm wrong."
"Brother, do you know? Ever since we heard you fell off the cliff, Mom hasn't been able to eat or sleep. She kept running to Sunset Mountain to look for you until her voice went completely hoarse."
Thinking back to how haggard his mother had looked when he first came home, Li Lianzhong realized he was the one who had caused it all. He truly hadn't expected time to fly by so quickly—more than four months had passed.
And yet he hadn't starved or died of thirst? How bizarre.
Li Lianzhong could only offer an explanation, "I suppose I must have lost track of time while practicing martial arts. I met a martial arts master in the mountains and followed him to become his apprentice, and he only allowed me to come back down the mountain once my training was complete."
The three people opposite him exchanged another round of bewildered glances.
Li Lianzhong scolded, "You rascal! Why can't you keep that mouth of yours under control? Spouting such nonsense—each story is more outrageous than the last. I'm going to beat some sense into you."
With that, he ruthlessly swung his cane down. Li Lianzhong instinctively raised his arm to block.
Li Lianzhong's cane, which he had used for over a dozen years, struck his son's arm.
With a snap, the cane broke into two pieces, while Li Lianzhong stood completely unmoving.
This left the three of them staring in stunned silence.
Looking heartbroken, Li Lianzhong muttered, "I've used it for over a dozen years, so it must have grown brittle and couldn't hurt you. Consider yourself lucky, kid."
Li Lianzhong stood up, walked over to a corner of the room, and picked up a millstone-sized rock. Carrying it back in front of the three of them, he applied force with both hands.
The rock shattered right before their eyes as if it were made of tofu, leaving them completely dumbfounded. Was he even human?
Liu Ermei was the first to snap out of it. Still unable to believe it, she asked, "You really know martial arts now?"
She pointed to the broken cane and the shattered rock on the ground.
"Are all of these real?" Her face was filled with astonishment.
Li Lianzhong nodded firmly.
By this time, Li Lianzhong no longer doubted it. After all, he had served in the army and gone to the battlefield in the past, where he had witnessed a few martial arts experts.
For instance, their immediate superior, Deputy General Han, was a martial arts master capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks.
And the city lord of Biancheng, the city under their direct jurisdiction, was an peerless expert.
He couldn't help saying, "Well, it seems it might be true. Back when I was on the battlefield, I saw a few martial arts masters. Each of them could fight a hundred enemies alone—they were terrifyingly powerful."
Having finally made his family believe him, Li Lianzhong couldn't help letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
This was for the best. If he had told them the absolute truth about residual souls, cultivation, and Monstrous Beasts, they would have been frightened out of their wits. Sometimes, a well-intentioned lie made things easier for the family to accept, and that in itself was a good outcome.
Li Lianzhong handed the luminous night pearl to Liu Ermei with both hands and said, "This is also a gift from my master. It's worth a fortune, Mom. Keep it—this is your son showing his filial respect to you."
"No, no, this is far too precious. I can't take it, keep it for yourself, child." Liu Ermei repeatedly waved her hands in refusal.
A mischievous light danced in Li Lianzhong's eyes. "Mom, just take it. I have more! You wait right here."
With that, he shoved the night pearl into Liu Ermei's hands, pulled open the door, and bolted out like a gust of wind, vanishing from sight.