Evening.
On the plaza of the Earth Tiger Stronghold, three roaring bonfires stretched toward the sky, illuminating the entire square.
Over a hundred people sat on the ground around the flames. Roars of laughter, playful curses, and the shouts of drinking games mingled together into a bustling cacophony.
Lu Li and Li Chenghu's group sat around the central bonfire. Several wine jars and plates of cold dishes rested in front of each person. The firelight flushed Lu Li's face; amid the joyous laughter, he felt as though he had returned to the harvest season in Dashi Village.
Every harvest, the villagers of Dashi Village would light a bonfire on the threshing ground. The adults would drink and chat, while the children played and laughed on the sidelines.
"Mud Monkey, what did you throw on my back? It stinks!" Qin Shouren, running for his life, suddenly turned his head to glare at Lu Li.
"Hahaha, it's shit! It's shit, hahaha..."
"Ah? See if I don't beat you to death..."
"..."
Lu Li almost saw Qin Shouren waving his fists and charging toward him. He smiled, but two streams of clear tears suddenly spilled from his eyes...
"Brother Lu, what's wrong?"
The young woman in a ruqun dress beside him tilted her head to look at Lu Li, asking softly.
"Ah, it's-it's nothing." Lu Li hurriedly wiped his face.
"Did you... remember something sad?" Lei Xiaoman stared blankly at Lu Li. "Are you missing your mother? Whenever I think of my mother, I get very sad..."
As she spoke, Lei Xiaoman pulled out a light blue embroidered handkerchief and offered it to him. "Here."
"I just remembered some things from the past." Lu Li took the handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and handed it back. "Thank you."
Lei Xiaoman shook her head and smiled sweetly. "Keep it."
Lu Li was slightly stunned by her smile. He nodded and tucked it away.
Nearby, Li Chenghu and Lei Ming were already dead drunk, clinging to their wine jars. They slung their arms over each other's shoulders, swaying and mumbling incoherently.
Chu Fankong was still relatively sober, but seeing Lu Li and Lei Xiaoman sitting together, he didn't intrude.
Lu Li excused himself to Lei Xiaoman, then shifted over to Chu Fankong. He raised his wine bowl and said, "Brother, I toast you."
"Good, drink!" Chu Fankong seemed to have his own heavy thoughts stirred. With glazed eyes, he downed the bowl in one gulp.
Lu Li suppressed his grimace, held his breath, and downed his drink in a single breath. Then, tossing image aside, he plunged his hand straight into the cold dishes, grabbed a handful of appetizers, and stuffed them into his mouth to mask the burning taste of the harsh liquor.
"Little brother, don't force yourself. Only drink as much as your tolerance allows," Chu Fankong sighed.
"You speak truly, brother."
"Mm, you're a smart person. Much smarter than this older brother of yours. But I still must give you a few words of advice. When traveling outside, it's best to keep a low profile... fighting over mere face is entirely meaningless."
Saying this, he fished out a dull gray, square jade token from his robes. He looked at it with a trace of reluctance before handing it to Lu Li. "I'm old now, and I have no desire to take risks anymore. This thing... I'll give it to you. If you ever have the inclination, you can go take a look."
The front of the jade token was carved with a small sword, while the back bore the character for 'Wasteland'.
Lu Li blanked. "This is?"
Chu Fankong sighed. "I heard this is a key to the Sword God Tomb. There are eight in total, and each one is engraved with one of the eight characters: Heaven, Earth, Profound, Yellow, Universe, Cosmos, Flood, and Wasteland."
"The Sword God Tomb appears once every fifty years. All eight keys must be gathered to open the tomb gates and obtain the Sword God's inheritance... When I first acquired it, I was still young, and my cultivation was pitifully low, so I didn't dare go during its last appearance. Now... although my cultivation has improved somewhat, I've lost the heart to contend with the world... What a pity. A true pity..."
The Sword God Tomb.
It sounded incredibly formidable, didn't it?
Lu Li hastily accepted the jade token. "Brother treats me so well. If I can truly obtain the inheritance from inside one day, I will definitely not forget you."
"Ah, good. Good."
Chu Fankong nodded in gratification, downed another bowl by himself, and said,
"Counting the time, the Sword God Tomb's next appearance should be in ten years. Given your current speed of growth, you might actually have a chance. But I stand by my earlier words: don't force anything... otherwise, I'll have only brought you harm."
Lu Li nodded, his expression serious. "I'll remember."
Carefully storing the jade token away in his spatial palace, Lu Li inquired further about the Sword God Tomb.
Unfortunately, Chu Fankong didn't know much about it himself.
He only knew that the Sword God Tomb appeared once every fifty years in the Myriad Sword Valley of Yunzhou, lasting for three months before vanishing once more.
Beyond that, legends claimed the tomb held a heaven-defying Sword Dao inheritance that allowed one to cleave mountains and sunder seas. It sounded extraordinary, but it was all just rumors piling upon rumors. Chu Fankong even suspected it was a deliberate ploy-a trick designed to lure the key holders into opening the secret realm.
When Chu Fankong first obtained this key forty years ago, he was twenty-five years old and only at the third level of Qi Refining. Because his cultivation was too low, the cautious man had only taken a distant glance at the Sword God Tomb before leaving.
He had thought to wait for the next fifty-year cycle to try again.
But now, he no longer had the courage. The older a person grew, the more they feared death.
He merely wanted to progress steadily within the Earth Tiger Stronghold, or perhaps, simply pass the rest of his life in peace.
By this time, a large portion of the plaza was dead drunk and collapsed on the ground.
Even the few who remained sober had flushed cheeks.
Lu Li shook his head. He chatted a bit longer with Chu Fankong before standing up, preparing to return to Bihu Yuan.
Seeing this, Lei Xiaoman also hurriedly stood up and walked over. "Brother Lu, are you going back to rest?"
"En, it's getting late. I have no desire to sleep on the plaza."
"Oh." Lei Xiaoman hesitated, but finally mustered her courage. Taking a Storage Bag from her waist, she handed it to Lu Li and said with a look of eager anticipation, "Brother Lu, you said that if I gave you ten thousand True Essence Pills, you would protect me... Take a look."
"Ah?"
Lu Li stared at Lei Xiaoman with a bizarre expression. Back then, he had only casually bluffed her; he hadn't expected her to take it seriously. He smiled and shook his head. "Little girl, I was just joking with you. Where did you even get so many True Essence Pills?"
"I... I borrowed them from Uncle Li."
"Borrowed?" Lu Li's eyes widened. He pushed the bag straight back into her hands. "Hurry up and return them. I was just teasing you, yet you actually took it seriously."
"Just teasing..." The smile on Lei Xiaoman's face vanished instantly. Clutching the Storage Bag with both hands, her face filled with profound disappointment, she muttered, "I understand." Without giving Lu Li a chance to speak, she suddenly turned and ran off.
She ran all the way home before finally squatting down in her courtyard and bursting into loud sobs.
Although Lu Li hadn't drunk many bowls of wine, he still felt a bit lightheaded. Seeing Lei Xiaoman leave, he didn't think much of it and headed straight back to Bihu Yuan.
Xiao He was still standing guard at the courtyard gates. Seeing Lu Li return, she immediately jogged over to support him. "Young Master, did you drink a lot of wine? Why are you swaying when you walk?"
"Am I?" Lu Li paused, thinking to himself that he didn't feel like it.
Xiao He giggled. "You certainly are. Please slow down, Young Master, or you'll walk right into a wall."