Li Guanqi turned and left, holding the bowl in his hands.
The shop assistant nearby couldn't help grumbling, "Didn't even say thank you. What a strange old man."
Li Guanqi bought a house not far from that cloth shop.
The house was neither large nor lavish, no different from that of an ordinary household.
From then on, Li Guanqi settled down here in Linyan City.
Every day, he carried a river stone he had found, hawking his knife-sharpening services from street to street.
His rates were cheap—one wen per item, whatever it happened to be.
Because the blades he sharpened were both keen and durable, many in the city soon learned of a blind man named Old Li who sharpened blades exceptionally well.
Lying on a rocking chair, the sword spirit spoke softly, "You've decided on their family?"
Li Guanqi cupped a handful of water and poured it over the whetstone. At his feet lay a pile of hoes and other tools.
In a gentle voice, he replied, "Mm. This household... is quite good. They aren't wealthy, but they are well-off enough.
"In the future... the girl won't have to suffer hardship.
"Both parents are living, and they aren't the sort to favor sons over daughters. They have kind faces too.
"I searched their minds with my divine sense; their character is sound.
"The man can endure hard work, but he has an upright temperament and refuses to pass off substandard goods in trade. His business won't ever grow too large, but he's a steady man."
A faint smile touched the corner of the sword spirit's lips. "You've certainly thought of everything," she said softly.
With a flick of her finger, she brushed aside the hair on her forehead and murmured, "Then let it be so."
As she spoke, an Exquisite Pagoda suddenly materialized in her palm. Looking at Li Guanqi, she asked softly, "Have you truly made up your mind?"
Li Guanqi's hands paused slightly. He nodded in silence.
"Mm," he said in a raspy voice. "The bloody storms of the cultivation world... are not suitable for her.
"A healthy, peaceful mortal life might not be such a bad thing after all."
The sword spirit nodded quietly. The pagoda in her hand abruptly shone with a gentle, warm radiance.
A single point of spiritual light shot forth!
Half a month later, Li Guanqi, his hair loosely gathered behind his head, arrived at the cloth shop and called softly, "Yun Xiang, do you have any shears that need sharpening?"
Hearing his voice, Yun Xiang hurried over, unable to conceal the joy on his face.
"Hahaha! Old Li, haven't seen you out much lately!"
"Yes, yes, of course! Let's sharpen all our shears this time! Hahahaha!"
As he handed the shears over, he let out a sudden gasp and slapped his forehead.
"I almost forgot!"
While Li Guanqi stood waiting, the man retrieved a white robe of coarse cloth from behind the counter.
Bringing it before Li Guanqi, he grinned and said, "The fabric isn't top quality, but it's guaranteed to be comfortable."
Li Guanqi looked at the robe in the man's hands. "This is...?"
Yun Xiang laughed heartily. "Hahahaha! Old Li, my wife is pregnant! Hahaha, I'm going to be a father!
"You've always been wearing that purplish-black robe, and it's looking rather worn. Shao Yue kept worrying that the weather was turning cold and fretting over you. Over the last couple of days, she finally finished sewing this for you."
Just then, Shao Yue emerged from the back courtyard, saying warmly, "Old Li, try it on and see if it fits. If it doesn't, I can alter it for you."
Li Guanqi smiled.
Looking at the couple, he clasped his hands and said softly, "Congratulations."
Instead of taking the white robe right away, he looked at the man and made a quiet request. "May I offer a blessing to the child?"
Somewhat taken aback, Yun Xiang nodded hastily. "Of course you can!"
Blushing faintly, the woman murmured in an undertone, "My belly isn't even showing yet..."
Li Guanqi stepped forward gently, his eyes rimmed with red.
Suppressing the scent of blood on his cultivator's robe, he stopped a single chi away from the woman.
Slowly crouching down, he whispered, "Then I wish that... in the days ahead, you will always be happy... always joyful, carefree, and healthy."
With that, Li Guanqi stood and turned around, tearing off a palm-sized piece from the clean white inner lining of his cultivator's robe.
Handing it to the woman, he smiled. "When you sew swaddling clothes, you can stitch this piece over the chest."
The woman was startled, then realized the old man was preparing for the unborn child to have a hundred-families robe!
She solemnly extended both hands to accept the feather-light scrap of fabric.
After Li Guanqi left, the couple examined the cloth for a long time, completely unable to identify what sort of thread had been used to weave it.
Yet they could sense its extraordinary quality. In a low voice, the woman remarked, "Old Li must have come from a remarkable family in the past.
"We should look after him more often from now on."
What Li Guanqi hadn't anticipated was that shortly after he walked away, the couple went along the street, begging scraps of fabric from neighbor to neighbor to make a hundred-families robe.
Sitting on a small stool by his door sharpening shears, Li Guanqi watched it all unfold.
Spring departed and autumn arrived; cold gave way to heat.
Over the course of that year, Li Guanqi sharpened countless blades. Not only did his cultivation realm never regress, but his state of mind grew far calmer with every stroke against the stone.
Though a myriad of regrets still lingered in his heart, he had gradually begun to let them go.
Hanging from the eaves behind him was a two-tiered, purplish-black miniature pagoda.
Li Guanqi raised a hand and shot a concentrated wisp of potent primal energy inside. The faint, muffled wails within grew shrill once more.
The sword spirit appeared behind him and murmured, "Feeling nervous?"
Bundled in a thick padded coat with his hands tucked into his sleeves, Li Guanqi sat at the doorway and chuckled. "A little..."
"Rest assured. In this lifetime... she has no spiritual root."
"Mm."
In the middle of the night, Li Guanqi stood at the corner of an inner courtyard, pacing anxiously with his hands still tucked in his sleeves.
The courtyard was ablaze with lantern light, and everyone inside was bustling in a frenzy.
Several gray-haired elders stood outside the door, craning their necks nervously toward the delivery room.
The man outside was frantic as an ant on a hot pan, clutching his cuffs, lips pressed tight, forehead beaded with sweat.
He had heard that childbirth was always agonizing and filled with heart-rending screams, yet from inside the room, Shao Yue had barely cried out at all.
Suddenly, Li Guanqi felt a chill touch his face as crystal-clear snowflakes drifted gently from the sky.
Before long, a mantle of silver draped over everything.
Li Guanqi murmured softly, "It's snowing."
Looking up toward the courtyard, he whispered, "She mustn't suffer too much..."
Even the midwife was bewildered; she had never in her life seen such a smooth, effortless birth.
Soon, a resonant, lusty cry echoed from the room.
"Waaah—waaah!"
Wrapping the infant in the hundred-families robe, the midwife hurried out, shouting with delight, "It's born! It's a daughter!"
Yun Xiang rushed inside at once, his heart aching as he looked upon his sweat-drenched wife.
He offered her a few gentle words of comfort before standing up to look at the tiny, pink-skinned creature.
Surrounding the bed, several elders chattered excitedly at once, their faces beaming as they watched the little one waving her tiny fists.
They cooed over the baby while checking on the woman resting on the bed.
"Right, Yun'er, you haven't given her a name yet! Hurry and think of one!"
Yun Xiang looked out at the snowflakes falling beyond the doorway and smiled softly. "Let's call her Yun Chuxue—First Snow."
For a fleeting moment, he thought he caught sight of a figure flashing past outside the courtyard, but his attention was quickly pulled back by the elders clamoring around the baby.
"Oh my, this little girl is going to have big, beautiful eyes."
"Such a pretty baby. You can tell at a glance she's blessed."
Whoosh!
The purplish-black miniature pagoda on the eaves swept back into Li Guanqi's waist pouch. With his hands clasped behind his back, he murmured under his breath, "Yun Chuxue... A lovely name."
"Aren't you going to stay a little longer?" the sword spirit asked softly, gazing up at the falling snow.
Li Guanqi shook his head and said quietly, "In this life, she is her own person. I don't want to bring misfortune upon her ever again because of me."
Watching the young man whose posture had gradually regained its former straightness, the sword spirit knew that this knot in his heart would likely take a very long time to untie.
Turning to look back at the quiet, peaceful city of Linyan, she suddenly felt that Li Guanqi's choice might truly have been the right one.
Even if he waited until ascending to the Immortal Realm before sending her into the Yellow Springs Realm... no one could say what reincarnation would make of her. Besides, when that time came, would Li Guanqi truly be able to protect her every single moment?
It was far better to live a new life with a warm home, enveloped in the love of parents and elders.
To marry, have children, and spend a peaceful, happy life.
Chapter 646