"....are you really sure?" Yuan Jinghua asked.
"Yes...I have no hope for cultivation in this lifetime. But don't worry, I won't forget about your favors! I will repay them."
Saying these words, Yan Ming felt a disgust towards himself.
After a month of thinking, he finally came to this conclusion. It was a hard, but necessary decision.
Even if it was a lie, even if it was for a secret agenda...Yuan Jinghua did help me...what makes me any different if I don't repay her?
"...No need." She walked away. Her smile fell as if the mask she had been wearing was taken off. "I don't need it. If I ever need your help, I would truly be done for."
Yan Ming looked at her figure fade before his eyes.
He sighed and packed his stuff. This wasn't his place. He didn't belong here.
Maybe he could be stubborn and keep cultivating like a fool, but what about a year from now? 5 years? 10 years?
He look at the gate of the Violet Petal sect and muttered:
"This is fine...It was only 3 months." He laughed to himself with hands behind the back of his head. "I'm really not cut out for cultivation."
Because Yan Ming hadn't really learned any skills or techniques from the sect, he wasn't required to destroy his cultivation. If he had gotten out latter when he was in the foundation or later stages, it might have been a more pressing issue, thankfully he only spent around 3 months cultivating an ordinary Qi condensation circulation manual.
He took the same path that he had used when he joined Violet Petal sect and rode back to his home on a carriage. On the way back, he felt more peaceful. His state of mind was no longer chaotic as before–back when Yuan Jinghua...
forget it...in this life, we won't ever meet again.
"Kid, where are you going to?" The coachman asked as he rowed the donkey on course.
"Actually, I used your carriage 3 months ago, do you not remember me?"
"hm?" he leaned in closer and then his eyes widened. "Yan Ming!? You are Yan Ming!? You look a lot more handsome now, hahaha! I almost didn't recognize you!"
"Uh..How did you know my name, I don't think I mentioned it?"
"aiyah~ this is a habit of mine. Think about it, if one day my carriage held a immortal master in the future, wouldn't it be something to brag about!?" He grinned widely, "This is why I take notes on who takes my carriage!"
"Coachman, even if someone becomes a immortal master, they would take 100 years at least. Is it worth the hassle?"
"Of course it is!" The coachman looked back at him. "My stories will pass down to my son, my grandson, and my great grandson–they will continue the story. As long as a immortal rides my carriage, they would bless my family!"
Before he kept talking he remembered something. The mood changed.
"Sigh~ my condolences."
"Hm?"
Yan Ming looked at him strangely which caused a dubious reaction from the coachman.
"Do you not know!? I thought you knew, so you're going back!"
"Know what?"
The coachman opened his mouth but didn't know how to say it. He tried and tried again, but the words just wouldn't come out. Finally he spoke with a slow and calm tone, as if to suggest Yan Ming to be calm and steady.
"1 and a half month ago...Lotus village was ransacked by bandits."
Thud!
"W-what!?"
He stood on his feet, his heart pacing faster and faster by the revelation of the news.
"Are my parents alive!?"
"I...don't know." The coachman looked down. "I've heard that all the residents in Lotus Village either escaped or...have been killed. Since then, I haven't heard of a survivor."
Yan Ming felt weak to his knees and fell to the wooden floor of the carriage. His tear streamed downed his face. He remember his mother glowing face, his proud fathers wide back.
Dead?
"Which bandit was it?"
"K-kid, don't be rash!" The coachman turned towards him quickly. "These aren't ordinary bandits! These are cultivators!"
Yan Ming looked up to the coachman with lifeless eyes. "Cultivators?"
"That's right! If you fight them, you'll die!"
"Am I supposed to just let them go!?"
"If you go, you'll die! If you die, then can you meet your father and mother in the afterlife in peace!?"
"My parents are screaming in pain in the afterlife! How can I simply move on and live as if nothing happened?!"
"When there is life, there is hope!"
Both of them argue back and forth, their heated exchange leaving them panting heavily.
Yan Ming sat down and kept staring at the floor. His hair covering his face. The coachman sighed and also turned back to the road. He felt that he shouldn't push Yan Ming too hard. Yan Ming already had a lot on his plate.