Ip Nan died later that evening. There were many points leading up to his death where it seemed as if he had died, yet it would turn out he wasn’t. But eventually, he passed. Ip An couldn’t control his sorrow as he collapsed into an uncontrollable breakdown. The old lady tried her best to comfort him, yet even she couldn’t help him.

After news of Ip Nan’s death, everyone outside gave a short moment of silence. Then, everyone left to the pre-determined burial place of Ip Nan. It was a small hill nearby. The very hill that Ip An would find himself dreaming under, the one where he and his grandfather used to talk and laugh.

A couple of the men, which surprisingly included Qin Xiao helped carry his body and buried it right under the single tree at the top of it. The old lady almost voiced herself in protest but stopped herself. It didn’t matter anymore. To stop a person from paying respect to the dead, no matter their prior relationship was considered very inappropriate.

They then inserted a stake in the ground to mark his grave and lit some incense. Everyone gave a short prayer and like that his funeral was done. However, it was very difficult for Ip An to keep himself composed as he fought off waves of tears every second. Every second that passed for anyone else felt like a minute to him. Soon, it finished and everyone left. Except for Ip An. He cried and cried with his head buried in the ground, his teeth clenched, his fists scrunched into balls and his head feeling like it was going to explode. Sweet, familiar memories of his time with his grandfather would appear in his mind every second, sending him further and further into grief and sorrow.

By the time he found himself unable to cry any longer, he found that the sun had already set and the old lady was patiently waiting beside him with the medallion and letter in hand.

Ip An hastily tried to apologise for the inconvenience but she waved it off saying it’s fine. As they were walking down the hill the old lady suddenly offered for him to stay at her house before Ip An departs tomorrow for Peerless Cliff City. Ip An accepted without fighting back, causing a warm smile to form on the old lady’s face.

Once they arrived back at her house, Ip An was given a large, warm meal to eat as he ate along with her and her husband. Her husband didn’t talk much, only giving the odd disgruntled grunt every so often. The old lady was used to this and just talked to Ip An with an energetic voice, trying to shift his mind to other things.

The old lady told many hilarious tales of her husband, though her husband didn’t react no matter what she said. It seemed he was used to it. Finally, after his belly was full and his hunger satiated, he retired into a small guest room the old lady had spare. According to her, she had given birth to five healthy sons and daughters. They all used to live in that one room much to the displeasure of their parents. Once they all grew up, they all got married and swiftly moved out, unable to bear it any longer.

After he closed the door behind him, he jumped onto the straw bed with a thump and let out a long exhale that seemingly contained his stress and worry. He laid the letter on the table beside him and then pulled out the medallion from his pocket and examined the medallion with an unreserved gaze of fascination yet disgust at the strange nature of it, especially the figure of the robed man sitting upon the pile of corpses. He continued to stare at the medallion like this for a whole hour until he eventually fell asleep while hugging it in both arms to his chest.

……

It was the middle of the night in the Fifth-Step Village. It was dead silent as a cold breeze of wind blew over that caused many to unknowingly shudder in their sleep.

Yet, at this moment a shadowy figure was peering into a small house’s back window. Inside, a small boy with tanned skin and a scruffy appearance slept soundly underneath a dirty yellow quilt. He was formed into a tight ball while he seemingly held something tightly in his hands. This boy was in actuality Ip An!

Seeing Ip An asleep, the shadowy figure let out an evil smile before jumping into the room with frightening grace. He somehow landed onto his feet without a sound and seeing that Ip An didn’t wake up or react his heart eased. Frantically, he began searching around the room in search of something.

Quickly, he spotted a white piece of parchment on a bedside table and let out a small chuckle, confident that Ip An wouldn’t wake up to the sound of it. To which he didn’t. The shadowy figure quickly snatched the piece of parchment from the bedside table and silently escaped out the window into the distance with great speed.

Eventually, the figure stopped in front of a particular house on the outskirts of the village. They knocked on the door and shortly waited until an old man opened the door for them. He had a surprisingly thick, healthy head of grey hair still on him. No sign of balding at all. There was but a small hunch in his back as he glared at the figure with squinted, judging eyes.

This person happened to be Uncle Huang!

“Come inside”, Uncle Huang stood aside for the shadowy figure, allowing him inside. Once they were inside he tightly shut the door and sat down in front of some burning incense he had prepared. The surroundings were pitch black, leaving only their very close surroundings visible. The shadowy figure joined him on the opposite side of the incense. After they made themselves comfortable they took off their hood and they were revealed to be a middle-aged man with a thick beard and bun of hair.

The thick-haired middle-aged man stroked his beard for many moments until Uncle Huang perked up, “So…”

He gave a long pause.

“Did you find it?”

The thick-haired man harumphed, “Of course I did. How hard would it be to steal from a bunch of commoners?”

Although Uncle Huang’s heart turn cold due to his rude response, he still gave a warm smile as he was glad that he was able to get the letter.

“That’s good”, Uncle Huang nodded with a sharp look in his eyes.

“What do you think is inside the letter?” The thick-haired man asked with great interest, stroking his beard.

“Why are you asking these types of useless questions? Why can’t you just read it first and then tell me? There is no need to theorise or anything of the sort when it is simply right in front of us”, Uncle Huang replied with a slight frown.

“I am a cautious man, and I do not wish to potentially get involved in any troublesome matters”, the thick-haired man answered with a tone mimicking an intelligent scholar.

Uncle Huang grit his teeth, “What do you mean you’re a cautious person? Don’t you remember when we stole a priceless jade from the Three Star Pavilion? Is this the same person, I, Huang Shu teamed up with that many years ago? Is this truly the legendary thief, Yu Zheng I so dearly remember?”

Yu Zheng’s face twitched in slight annoyance at the mention of that old name he had forgotten long ago. He replied with a regretful tone and pursed lips, “I have never been the same since their patriarch crippled both of our Inner Qi, that includes you too. And since then we’ve been forced to retreat to this village in fear for our lives.”

Silence suddenly hung in the air for a couple of moments, as they both sat in regret at the mention of their past.

Huang Shu let out a long sigh, “Sorry, i didn’t mean to bring up those matters from our youth. This one wasn’t thinking.”

Yu Zheng shook his head, “No, it is fine. Don’t apologise. Now, What do you think is in the letter?”

Huang Shu gave in and answered, “Well, according to what Ip An said, the letter explains how the medallion that the boy possesses gives an opportunity as an apprentice crafter from an establishment at the Peerless Cliff City west from here. Though, there are holes in what he said. Firstly, the medallion looked incredibly demonic-like and bloodthirsty? No person with any sane mind or taste would design a medallion that represents one’s own establishment in such an arrogant way. They are mere crafters! If certain people were to see the medallion they would even see it as a declaration of a challenge to their strength! This would incur many undesirable people to appear at their doorstep, attracting much trouble!”

Yu Zheng rubbed his chin in firm agreement.

“Additionally, the pause he gave in between at a certain point was much too long. And the expression he gave was as if he was in deep thought! No one would require such a pondering expression to think about such things they had just read. Although I admit that boy has quite some capability as he is able to read at just ten years old with just the help of his frail, old grandfather. And that his mannerisms and speech are quite mature and intelligent, even he couldn’t stop this old bag of bones from seeing through his lies.

That is why I am certain there is something that boy is hiding within that letter! It is even more likely to be true due to his grandfather’s mysterious character. Those two flying immortals from so long ago really frightened his one at the time. I had thought Three Star Pavilion had tracked us down with the help of some of their benefactor sect’s immortal disciples”, Huang Shu explained in great detail.

“And finally, what do you intend to do based on the contents of the letter?” Yu Zheng, continuing to stroke his chin. His features were well defined and accentuated due to the incense’s fire.

Huang Shu grinded his teeth before answering with the same tone as last time, though with a hint of surging anger, “This one doesn’t have any truly bad intentions. If the medallion and the is and revealed to be of extremely high value for any kind of purpose, then naturally I and you can simply cooperate to steal it from the boy and use it for ourselves. It will not require any excessive effort. If it is however what he said it was, then, of course, this old man and you will steal it from him. And then i would ask a favour from you to allow me to gift it to my nephew, so he can attain the position Ip An would’ve received as an apprentice crafter. One cannot blame me. The heavens merely decreed for this to occur, such is destiny. Ip An was just misfortunate to bump into me.”

Yu Zheng merely stared at Huang Shu with an incredulous expression before collapsing into laughter, holding his belly with both hands. Huang Shu squinted his eyes in confusion, “Why are you laughing?”

It took Yu Zheng a couple of moments to compose himself. Wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, “I see you are as calculating as ever, The Iron-Skinned Scholar! Creating such schemes and plans against but a child! But I must apologise for touching your sore spot by asking these questions! I just missed your unique facial reactions. They are quite amusing to this one!”

Yu Zheng finally calmed down, “And as for your favour to your nephew in the case of it being as Ip An said, this one will comply without any arguing, it is but a small matter. I am sure we both hope for this medallion and letter to be of high value, enough to boost us out of the sad situation we are in right now. I speculate that the letter just details the use of the medallion, so this letter can be disregarded. I have zero doubt that the boy was lying through his teeth based on what you said. And in the end, all that matters is if we can just get that medallion. Now, allow me to read the letter. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Huang Shu’s heart began to race as he saw him pull the letter out from his pocket. Yet he slightly frowned when Yu Zheng lifted his head back up, looking as if he wanted to say something else.

“What is it? Do you yet again wish to delay this matter?” Huang Shu said with annoyance in his voice and scrunched eyebrows.

“No, no”, Yu Zheng’s lips formed into an uncontainable smirk, “I just find it quite hilarious that the person who is older and seemingly the wiser and intelligent of us two doesn’t know how to read.”

Surprisingly, Huang Shu couldn’t stop a smirk forming on his face, “Hmm, that is quite hilarious indeed.”