Heaven’s Shadow

“You know, sometimes, I really did doubt your identity and origin.”

On the hillside outside the Barren Valley, the two of them were sitting together with a dog. Lu Chen grabbed a chicken leg that Old Ma handed over and ate it heartily, while speaking with an unclear voice.

It was unsure when Old Ma took a lot of food with him. At that time, he took all of them out, and grabbed a fleshy bone, throwing it to Ah Tu. That made the little black dog happy as it gnawed onto the bone at the side. The sounds of chewing were endless.

“This puppy looks pretty good, but it’s a pity that it lost a leg.” Old Ma sighed, then turned around and said to Lu Chen, “What were you saying just now?”

Lu Chen did not even look at him, and murmured again.

Old Ma sneered and claimed, “I am an innocent person by birth. My loyalty, righteousness and courage are facts. What are you doubting me for?!”

Lu Chen glanced at him, and sneered, “I have seen you thoroughly in the past ten years. First, you are fat. Second, you are ugly. Third, you are stupid to the core. You can neither be a businessman, nor a cultivator…”

“Hey!” Old Ma said angrily, “You brat, I don’t mind you calling me fat, what rights do you have for calling me stupid? I have been protecting you for ten years. Without me, you would have died so many times!”

Lu Chen turned a blind eye to Old Ma’s protest, and continued to speak for himself, saying, “You are stupid, fat, and your cultivation is low. However, for more than ten years, you are the well-known Tianlan Zhenjun(天澜真君literally: True sir of the heavens and waves) that can shock the world, but you just didn’t like to believe in anyone. All you wanted was to let yourself hang out with me, alone. If the bald head really didn’t lie, if he really valued me like that, then you identity and origin seems very problematic, no?”

He looked at Old Ma with interest, and “tsk” twice. He continued, “Why does he trust a waste like you so much? Could it be that you are the bald head’s illegitimate child?”

“Get lost!” Old Ma glared and said, “You are eating my food in your mouth. How dare you say such things to slander me? Spit my chicken out!”

Lu Chen casually tossed, and smashed the bare bone of the chicken leg at Old Ma. Old Ma turned his body, and actually avoided it very swiftly.

“Eh, your skills have gotten better.”

Old Ma smiled triumphantly, and said, “How is it? All these years, I’ve been…”

“Oh my!” Before Old Ma finished his words, Lu Chen directly interrupted him. He seemed to have thought of something suddenly. Staring at Old Ma with a strange expression, he spoke, “That damn bald head is a super fat man, but you are just an ordinary fat guy. Is it true that you really are the bald man’s outstanding debt left during his youth?”

“Bah!” Old Ma said angrily, “No more nonsense, otherwise I’ll turn against you!”

Lu Chen laughed, patted his hands, and stretched one hand out in front of Old Ma. He asked, “Got any wine?”

Old Ma threw a wine calabash bottle over. Lu Chen caught it, opened the stopper and took a big sip, then heaved a sigh of relief. He exclaimed, “Good wine!”

Old Ma looked at him. His gaze gradually softened, and he sighed after a long while, “Have you really thought about it? Once we arrive at Kunlun, it’s hard to say whether it’s a blessing or a curse.”

Lu Chen smiled, glanced at Old Ma, “Aren’t you supposed to speak for him and try to persuade me to go?”

Old Ma shrugged and said, “I don’t care anymore. Also, I’ve stayed with you in that village for ten years. To be honest, I don’t want you to take any risks.”

Lu Chen was silent for a moment, and then faintly reassured him, “I’ve thought about it. I want to go there.”