“What a great bath!”

She came out refreshed and happy. She breathed in the cool night air outside and stretched out her limbs.

Relic saw the happy smile on the ‘girl’s’ face and it instantly warmed his heart.

“Was the bath enjoyable?” he asked

.”En!” she nodded.

“Your father is busy right now, so I’m unable to communicate with him at this moment. I will try again in the morning and we will see how things will be handled then.”

“Oh, ok” She did not even suspect Relic was lying and took it as the truth. Nothing he has done so far made her think of him as anything less than what he said he was.

“I think it is time for bed, come, I will lead you to your bed.”

Pascal followed Relic back to the house towards the only bed.

“Uncle, there is only one bed here!”

“That’s right, this bed will be yours.”

“What about you, uncle?”

“I’ll be on the floor right next to you.”

Hearing that, she made a worried expression.

“Uncle, I can’t possible take this bed. This is your home and I’m only a guest, you are also very old, I can’t possible let you sleep on the floor.”

Relic’s countenance instantly fell. “Old! In terms of average mortals I’m definitely old, but my image should only be that of the average 20 year old! “

“Pascal, you should know this uncle is only 26 this year. I’m definitely not old!”

“But that is still 20 years older than me, if that is not old, then are you young?”

His expression got worse. “What kind of logic is that!”

“To a 5 year old, a 26 year time period was definitely a very long time. To her, he was already alive for a very long time, and her dad always told her she must respect her elders.

“But I….”

“You see….”

“Actually….”

Relic couldn’t think of anything to refute her as he couldn’t apply regular logic to her statement.

“Good, good, even though your table manners are atrocious, I see your father still taught you to at least respect your elders.” He spoke in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

Pascal instantly became embarrassed. Her eating was definitely without any manners or etiquette. If her dad had been here, he would definitely punish her.

“Uncle, that’s…..”

He saw her face turn slightly red and gave a hearty laugh. “Haha, I’m just teasing. You are only a child, what manners do you need? Although uncle is a lot older than you, I’m still very sturdy. You are very young, and have also been poisoned; the only person suited for this bed is you.”

She was too embarrassed to refute and nodded in agreement.

Entering the bed, she fell into a deep slumber almost immediately.

Relic laid on the floor, pondering on what his next steps were. “What should I say? I can’t keep her here forever, she will miss her family. And what if she asks to speak to her father, I have no reason to deny her.”

He was worried on what his next steps were. Although she was just a child, one slip up could mean exposing the entire lie.

The night passed by fast and the sun had already been up for a couple of hours.

She woke up stretching her limbs and basked her body in the sun light shining through the window.

“Good morning Pascal.” She turned to see Relic who was sitting on the table drinking tea.

“Good morning uncle Relic.” She happily replied. “Has my father contacted you?”

“He has, and we have discussed that it would be too dangerous for you to return right now.” He gave her a very solemn look. “Your father has a lot of enemies. However, he is very powerful and they are unable to harm him. That is why they targeted you instead. Thankfully, your father was able to get to you before they made off with you, but at that point you were already poisoned. Currently, your father is still unsure who it was that poisoned you and so we both agreed it would be better for you to stay here, just until we are sure your poison has no major negative effects.”

“Oh…. Is my sister safe at least?” She asked worriedly.

“This girl….”

Relic hated her older sister as she was part of the reason why Pascal eventually turned her back on him. Yet, at this age she still cared for her sister like they were the best of friends.

“Yes…. Your father said it was only you that was targeted.”

She felt relieved.

“Your father also said that it would be best if you both do no keep in contact. He is worried enemies may employ a tracking treasure to pin point our location.”

“Then, I won’t see or be able to speak with father or sister for a very long time?” Her eye’s seemed to carry a lonely expression.

“Yes, but this town we are located at is a pretty fun place. Everyone here is very friendly and the food here is great!”

“En!” She loved her dad but he was a bit strict and would tell her to only focus on cultivation. In her entire 5 years of life, she had stayed in the sect. Now she could go to a new place to meet new people!

“Come, let us go for breakfast.” He took Pascal’s hands and together they treaded down the hill.

Walking through town, many people greeted Bao Liu and Pascal.

“My, my, Pascal, is that you? You are looking great!” A middle aged lady came over from her food cart and stared at her.

“Umm, hello auntie.” Pascal didn’t know why this lady knew her but she tried to be polite.

“Auntie?” Now the middle age lady was confused. Pascal was obviously a lot older than her, why did she call her auntie? However, the middle aged lady did not take it to heart as Pascal was very old and no one would fault her for misplacing words..

“Pascal, I don’t know what changed since yesterday, but you look 5 years younger! Tell me your secret, okay?”

It was Pascal’s turn to be shocked. Wasn’t she just 5? If she was 5 years younger, that would mean she was 0! Just as she was about to open her mouth, Relic suddenly shouted.

“Miss Hou, do you mind if I have a few words in private?” He dragged the middle aged lady forcefully to the side while Pascal stood in the middle of the street confused.

“Mister Astor, is there a problem?” she was slightly frightened as this was the first time she had seen him be so forceful.

“Yes, I’m afraid my grandmother has had an accident and lost some of her memory.”

“Oh dear! How serious is it?” She had a genuinely worried expression.

“Her body is fine but her mind is not. She currently believes that she is a child of 5 years and does not remember anyone.”

The middle aged lady was shaken. She turned to Pascal and gave her a sad looking expression.

Pascal tilted her head in confusion. Seeing that, the lady confirmed what Relic had said.

“Very sad, how can I help?” she asked.

“I would appreciate it if you can treat her as if it was the first time you have met. Also, it would be helpful if you think of her as no more than just 5 years old.” He was just about to turn away when he suddenly remembered something important. “Ah, also please act as if I’m her uncle.”

“Understood!” She nodded sternly.

“Ah, sweetie, auntie here was just playing a joke! Your uncle has already mentioned you to me and I thought it would be funny to mess around a little, please don’t take auntie’s joke too serious.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Good girl, here, have a chicken skewer.” She handed Pascal a skewer from her cart.

“Wah, thank you!” Pascal happily accepted.

The lady smiled wryly at the old grandmother acting like a 5 year old child.

The two soon waved good bye to the lady but not before Relic whispered something to the Lady.

“Please help me spread this message around town.”

The lady nodded in agreement.

The town wasn’t too big, maybe only 10 thousand people lived here. Thus, news of Pascal spread very quickly.

The two soon reached the restaurant Relic and Pascal had eaten at every morning for the past few years. 

Inside, there were a mass of children who were looking at Relic.

“Uncle Relic, are you going to continue the story of how you saved the people of Ice back Mountain or the one where you robbed the hidden treasure from the king of the woods?” asked one of the little boys.

Relic gave a smile to the children surrounding him and told them to wait and see. However, just as he was about to sit down at their regular table the manager of the restaurant shouted at them.

“Relic, Granny Pascal! You guys are here late, all the kids have been waiting for a long time!“ The manager was pleasantly walking towards them but Relic quickly dragged him to the side.

It wasn’t long before the two returned and the manager stared at Pascal and said, “Ah little Pascal, it’s truly been a long time. I think I haven’t seen you since you were but a baby.”

“Uncle knows me?” She asked surprisingly.

“Indeed, back then, your uncle Relic brought you here to eat while your father was dealing with other issues. Naturally, when I saw you, you were the cutest baby I have ever seen! Truly, you turned out to be a beautiful girl.”

“En, Thanks Uncle!” She was quite happy. Although she was 5, her dad made her and her sister focus of cultivation, so she never was able to talk to many people. However, now she was getting to meet a lot of people and they were always complementing her. She couldn’t help but put on a bright smile.

At the same time, Relic was going through the crowds explaining the situation to the parents who would then restrain their kids from speaking out.

Relic let out a breath of relief as he finally sat down at the table. They ordered their usual breakfast which Pascal enjoyed very much, and Relic continued to tell his stories. Her eye glowed intensely from the amazing adventures Relic had experienced, and before long, Relic stopped his story and all the kids’ moaned displeasure.

 The two walked through the town where Pascal continued to meet new and interesting people. Ever since they walked out of the restaurant, he no longer needed to explain the situation as everyone had already heard about it. They all knew Relic and Pascal over the years and had no problem adjusting themselves to the new situation.

By the time they walked back up the hill the sun had already begun to set.

Their routine finished up and soon, Pascal was in bed.

“Pascal, we will begin your cultivation training tomorrow. Your poison is undetectable and I have no real way to cure it. Thus, it would be better if we can make you strong enough to resist the poison by yourself. ”

“En, okay.“ Her face suddenly had an expression as if she wanted to say something but was holding back.

“Pascal, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just, I’ve been thinking about Uncle’s story from this morning. I was wondering if you could finish it.” She asked shyly.

“Haha, of course, I only stop the story because if I didn’t, the children would never let me go. If it is for Little Pascal then I can finish it completely.”

“Yay! Daddy never reads me stories, and mommy hasn’t read me stories since she left.”

“Left?”

Relic just realized that he didn’t know anything about her mother as she never told him about it. However, it was a secondary issue and so he ignored it.

Relic recounted his story from the beginning and Pascal slowly drifted to sleep.

He stared at her sleeping face. Although to others, it was old and unpleasing to look at, he stared at her as if she was the most important person in the world.

“Master, I will find out who did this to you and I will destroy their entire clan and anyone who was involved!”

His eye’s beamed with rage. This entire time, he forced the thought of revenge to the back of his mind. His greatest concern was his master, and he was not willing to leave her even for a second. However, now that her dantian was fixed and she would be cultivating more regularly, he would be able to go find clues on what truly happened while he was gone.

His head shifted towards the direction of the Thunder Storm sect. Murderous intent radiated outwards from the hut. Spirit beasts with sensitive sense all whimpered in fear and ran away as fast as possible. Those who did not sense it still felt a chilling aura down their spine and shivered.