Ying Prefecture, Rainfront County of Changshi Commandery.

As the sun set in the west and dusk approached, the evening glow stretched across the sky like a vivid red ribbon, crimson as blood.

After the old shopkeeper of that small teahouse had sent off his old friend, he had been alone these past few days. Seeing that it was already dusk, the old man stood up and began to brew tea. When he picked up the tea canister from behind the counter, he could tell just by its weight that there was not much tea left inside.

Thinking of this, the already heavily wrinkled face of the old shopkeeper seemed to gain even more lines, layers upon layers, as if they held countless hardships that could not be spoken of.

He reached into the canister, grabbed a handful of tea leaves, and tossed them into a large iron kettle. After covering it, he sat back down again, as if there was no need to worry about the heat. When the time came, he would naturally have a pot of good tea to drink.

But truth be told, the old man had likely spent his entire life brewing tea. Many things had long since been etched into his life and could no longer be changed.

After an unknown amount of time, the old man opened his eyes, waved his hand to gather a wisp of steam and brought it before his nose to smell. Then he frowned slightly and looked toward the door.

There was no oil lamp lit inside the room, relying only on the faint firelight from the boiling tea, making it rather dim. Outside, a trace of twilight still lingered, but at this moment, it was mostly blocked by a figure.

The old man perked up and said with a cheerful smile, “A rare guest, why have you come again?”

The figure stepped into the teahouse and clasped his hands with a smile. “Sorry to trouble you, Senior.”

The old man looked at this young man, whom he had only met once a few days ago, and felt somewhat pleased. Perhaps it was because he was old, seeing people of his own age no longer brought him joy, but encountering young people like this felt interesting.

“Come whenever you like. This old man doesn’t have many skills, but if you come by, offering you a bowl of tea is no trouble.”

The old man stood up, took out two large porcelain bowls, and placed them on the table. Compared to last time, he seemed much less particular now.

The visitor glanced at the tea utensils with some curiosity.

Seeing the young man’s confusion, the old man patiently smiled and said, “Different tea leaves produce different flavors when brewed, so the utensils used to serve them must also differ. Not all tea suits fine teaware, if it doesn’t suit, then even the best is useless.”

The young man sat down and nodded with a smile. “Senior, does that mean even the water used for brewing tea must differ?”

The old man nodded in satisfaction. “Naturally. Some tea leaves can be brewed with well water, while others require mountain spring water. Lake water, stream water, even dew can be used to brew tea. It all depends on which suits the tea best.”

The young man thought for a moment and said, “It seems that 《Classic of Tea》 does not record everything after all.”

The old man snorted. “Even so, after all these years, that Classic of Tea is still the finest book on tea in the world. But the one who wrote it didn’t die after finishing it. Living on, one’s experiences grow. How could the person who wrote it back then compare to the person they later became?”

The young man finally pierced through that thin veil and asked with a smile, “Senior Lu, do you intend to spend your whole life here brewing tea?”

Hearing that form of address, the old man was momentarily lost in thought, but quickly brushed it off and said casually, “You brat, no wonder you can become a Lord Warden Commander. At such a young age, your eyesight is already this sharp. Rare.”

The visitor was naturally Chen Chao who had just left Mount Xi. After making a roundabout journey, he stayed for some time at the Sword Sect, and only then arrived at Ying Prefecture.

“The situation in the north is quite dangerous now?”

The old man raised his head, gesturing for Chen Chao to drink his tea, while he himself picked up a bowl and took a couple of sips first.

Chen Chao said frankly, “The demon race will soon mobilize their entire clan to march south. When that time comes, the situation will be hard to predict.”

The old man nodded. “If that day truly comes, this old life of mine will likely be lost over there. But don’t expect me to accomplish anything, I’ve only ever known how to brew tea in this life. Cultivation was merely to let me brew tea for a few more years. If it really comes to fighting, not to mention that sword user, even you could probably beat me to death here with just a few punches.”

In cultivation, some people sought immortality, while others sought only a bit more time to do other things.

What each person sought was different.

Chen Chao took a sip of tea and said, “To be honest, Senior, I did not come this time only to drink tea. I also wanted to discuss the Dao with you.”

The old man teased, “Discuss the Dao? What Dao could you possibly discuss with an old man like me?”

Chen Chao said seriously, “Since Senior is the Tea Sage, your attainments in the tea dao must be unmatched in this world.”

The old man narrowed his eyes, looked at Chen Chao, and said, “You’ve reached the threshold, you want to take that path of observing the myriad daos of the world to carve out your own road?”

Chen Chao nodded his head.

There was no need for him to hide it, what it was, it was.

The old man did not respond immediately. Instead, he reached into the tea, picked out a piece of tea leaf residue, casually flicked it aside, and then said, “Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, the sword cultivators, the qi refiners, the path of a martial artist, any of these can offer you insight. But my skills in brewing tea are truly of no use. There’s no need to waste time on them.”

As he spoke, there was a trace of bitterness in his tone. The thing he had devoted his entire life to studying was, in truth, not that important.

People could live without drinking tea.

Chen Chao remained silent, unsure what to say.

“If that bastard Cao Chong were here, he could probably talk with you. But that heartless fellow is always appearing and disappearing unpredictably, I can’t find him.”

The old man rubbed his brow, as if just mentioning that person made him want to curse.

Chen Chao smiled and said, “That would be Master Dong, I presume?”

The old man nodded. At this point, there was nothing left to hide.

Chen Chao suddenly asked curiously, “Figures like Senior and Master Dong, there should still be quite a few like that left in the world, right?”

Whether it was the old man or Master Dong, neither belonged to the current dynasty. Before meeting them, most people including Chen Chao had thought they only existed in historical records. But thinking about it later, cultivators outside the mundane world, if their realms were high enough, could live for many years. They secluded themselves in the mountains, unconcerned with the rise and fall of dynasties, so they could not really be said to belong to any particular era. And if people like Master Dong had the right opportunities and cultivated diligently, reaching a certain realm and living for so many years was not impossible.

The old man lowered his head and looked at the tea. After quite a while, he shook his head and said, “Not many. You seem to have forgotten just how difficult it is to break through the Nepenthe Realm. If you can’t break through, even if you live a while longer, it won’t be for long.

“And besides, not everyone is as thick-skinned as I am, or as that heartless fellow is, clinging to life. Whether scholars or generals, most likely have the resolve to perish with their nation.”

The old man drained the bowl in one gulp, slapped the table, and said with a self-mocking tone, “Useless, utterly useless!”

Chen Chao said nothing, simply drinking his tea.

The old man raised his head and looked at the young man before him. After a long while, he suddenly said, as if to himself, “You know, there’s a kind of tea leaf that's extremely ordinary. Many years ago, there was a place called Qing Prefecture Capital, that place was shrouded in mist all year round, with too much moisture. The dock laborers were soaked in water all the time, their bodies filled with cold dampness. So they invented a kind of food called hotpot, filled with chili peppers. It was extremely spicy; far beyond what ordinary people could handle.

Chen Chao looked at the old man in front of him, not understanding what point he was driving at.

The old man glanced at him and continued, “I heard about this, so I personally went to Qing Prefecture Capital and had a meal of hotpot. But I couldn’t handle the spice, it’s not something you can endure just by having a high cultivation level. Still, the tea was excellent. I drank a few cups, then got some tea saplings there and brought them back. After that, I spent twenty years working on those tea plants.”

“The tea plants were indeed easy to grow and had a high yield. No wonder the price never went up.”

At this point, the old man looked at Chen Chao and said with a smile, “Doesn’t it feel like I’ve been talking nonsense all this time?”

Chen Chao did not speak.

The old man smiled. “Later, I processed those tea leaves using a different method, and they produced a rather miraculous effect. Do you want to know what it is?”

Chen Chao asked, “What is it?”

“Entering dreams.”

The old man looked at Chen Chao and smiled. “Sounds like nonsense, doesn’t it? No different from some calming tonic.”

Chen Chao said, “A master like Senior Lu, surely it isn’t that simple.”

The old man nodded with a smile. “Of course it’s not that simple.”

“Since you want to understand my tea dao and see my path, listening to me explain it is useless. There are some things in my mind, if you see them, you might gain something.”

The old man looked at the tea in front of him and said, “Entering dreams, you think it means entering your own dream?”

By now, Chen Chao was already feeling somewhat dizzy, but he still forced himself to ask, “Senior, how did you know my intention from the start?”

The old man looked at him and smiled. “Do you really think this old bag of bones only knows how to brew tea?”