Chapter 156

Under the scorching sun, Xu Shulou felt very warm. She closed her eyes comfortably and drank the fifty-cent and ten-cent rice wine that she had just ordered.

A black sheep sat beside her, and he was stroking a painting in his hand.

"How have you been these years?" Xu Shulou asked with a smile.

"Not bad," Xuan Yang said, "A few years ago, war broke out again in the mortal world, and I took the opportunity to absorb the pain and ate it with great satisfaction."

“…”

"Strangely, I don't like this feeling very much," Xuan Yang thought for a moment, "I don't know if it's because of human emotions that I've been infected."

"..." Xu Shulou was silent for a moment, then asked, "Is the painting okay?"

"Very good. For the past hundred years, I have been carrying this painting you gave me." Xuan Yang smiled. "Speaking of which, I still don't know why you gave it to me, but this painting is quite talkative. I am not lonely when I walk around the world with it."

Being able to feel loneliness means that he is becoming more and more like a human. Xu Shulou looked at him and said, "Except for your appearance, you look no different from a human."

“Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”

"It's hard to say," Xu Shulou asked again, "Has the painting swallowed anyone else?"

"No, according to what you said, it is probably becoming more and more like a human," Xuan Yang said, "We used to perform together in the human world. One time, I pretended to be a fairy in a painting and painted on it. It cooperated with me. As soon as I put pen to paper, it changed the picture. I fooled many people and earned some money."

"Stop talking!" The canvas unfolded and hurriedly spoke to stop him.

"Why?" Xuan Yang asked curiously.

"I was so powerful in front of Xu Shulou back then, and I devoured a bunch of great cultivators in a row. How could I let her know that I have fallen to the point of performing for money?!"

"..." Xuan Yang couldn't understand this worry. After all, he had never been arrogant in front of Xu Shulou. "Aren't we performing to buy the new picture frame you like?"

Xu Shulou laughed: "I also made an appointment with Xiao Ya, will you meet me later?"

"No," Xuan Yang waved his hand, "I will continue to travel around the world."

He walked away in a carefree manner, waved to Xu Shulou, and jumped down from the roof. Wearing a bamboo hat and holding the scroll, he disappeared into the crowd at the end of the long street.

After he left, Xu Shulou was basking in the sun. After he drank the last sip of wine in the pot, Xiao Ya arrived as promised.

"I can't believe it," Xiao Ya had already received the news, but was still a little surprised. She circled around her, "The Ascended One can actually come back. If this gets out, the cultivation world will be in turmoil again."

"I don't want to cause any waves in the cultivation world," Xu Shulou smiled bitterly, "Not many people know that I'm back."

"Do you want me to keep it a secret?" Xiao Ya thought for a moment, "It doesn't really make any difference. With your style, you'll always make something big and let the world know."

Xu Shulou smiled.

"By the way, is the fairy world fun?"

"There's nothing wrong with the fairyland. It's full of spiritual energy and very suitable for cultivation." Xu Shulou briefly recounted some of his experiences.

"If that's good, do you have anything special to do when you return to the human world?"

Xu Shulou shook his head: "Looking at the flowers and the sea, is that special?"

Xiao Ya laughed without any surprise: "Sure enough."

Xu Shulou turned and asked: "Are you still in Lingxiaomen?"

Xiao Ya nodded: "Yes, my third brother and I are still here. After all, we have been here for so many years and have some feelings for the sect. We don't want to change sects easily."

"It's not easy for Lingxiaomen now."

"It's not easy, it's not as glorious as it was back then," Xiao Ya turned her head to look at her, "but we are immortal cultivators, so what's there to be afraid of if we suffer a little?"

Xu Shulou shook his empty wine glass: "I wanted to toast you for saying this, but I don't have any more wine."

"I brought some wine," Xiao Ya raised her eyebrows proudly and took out a jar from her Qiankun Ring, "I knew you were the type who couldn't live without wine."

Xu Shulou took it with a smile, poured a glass for each of them, and put it under his nose and sniffed: "Good wine."

After they drank three rounds of wine, Xu Shulou finally asked, "How are you doing with Xiao Guo?"

"Xiao Kingdom... During that period, I didn't intervene," Xiao Ya sighed, "Do you think I don't know? Those cultivators made the Huashan Law, wasn't it just to restrict me when they saw that the war was starting again in the human world?"

“…”

"During that time, many people advised me that a cultivator should have seen through the secular world long ago," Xiao Ya lowered her eyes, "It's easy to say, but how can we do it?"

Xu Shulou gave her a silent hug.

Xiao Ya said softly: "During that time, I missed you very much and wanted to find you to ask the answer to this question."

"I can't give you an answer," Xu Shulou thought about it seriously, "This world of mortals is probably not meant to be seen through."

Xiao Ya looked at her curiously: "This is the first time I've heard of this kind of argument."

"What do you mean by that? I'm just saying it casually," Xu Shulou smiled. "Seeing through the world is something that saints do. I'm just an ordinary person who is attached to it."

"Even you can't see through it?"

"If I had seen through it, I wouldn't have tried so hard to return to this world."

Xiao Ya fell silent, unable to tell whether she was disappointed with the answer.

After a while, she asked again: "How can I dispel my resentment?"

"Time, only time," Xu Shulou drank a glass of wine, "time can dissolve everything."

“…”

"In fact, my pain is not that deep. After all, we are from the same clan after several generations, but we have never met each other, so our feelings are not that deep," Xiao Ya said frankly. "I am more angry and resentful of the enemy country, and the kind of loneliness that makes me scared and crazy... I just feel that my country is gone, my home is gone, and from now on, I am alone."

"I see."

Of course you understand... Xiao Ya didn't say something like she finally truly understood Xu Shulou's feelings back then. She always felt that it would be a bit pretentious to say this, and she didn't need to say these things - Xu Shulou always understood.

"Luckily you're back. With you here, I can still keep you company," Xiao Ya said. "For a while, I was very worried about losing you. I was afraid that after my third brother ascended, I would be truly alone."

"Don't worry about having no close friends on the road ahead," Xu Shulou toasted her, "As long as you are willing, you will always make new friends."

If someone else said this, it would probably sound like perfunctory consolation, but since it came from Xu Shulou, Xiao Ya clinked glasses with her and joked, "I won't make friends with the princess of the new dynasty."

Xu Shulou laughed.

After finishing the wine in the jar, the two prepared to say goodbye. Their friendship was like that of gentlemen, who never spent a particularly long time together, nor did they meet very frequently. They always left after seeing each other for a short while.

Xiao Ya asked: "Where are you going next?"

Xu Shulou stood up and patted the dust off his clothes: "The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon. My junior sister said she wants to make rice dumplings today and told me to remember to go back and eat them. I hope they are filled with red bean paste. I don't like meat dumplings."

Xiao Ya saw a bit of warmth in her slow movements.

That's why she always liked meeting Xu Shulou, because he always had this inexhaustible warmth.

She took a deep breath and stretched in the sun, as if she was also infected by the warmth.