7 A Span of Forty Years to Remember

Leaving Tianxing Fourth High School's campus, Shang Xuan raised his head to gaze upon the orange globe of fire setting into the distance. The youth observed the jet streams remaining behind the trails of the commercial planes soaring through the air in silence, his countenance devoid of much inflection.

Students of all three years fanned out on either side of him as they sought freedom from the day of education, merging into the evening life of the city.

Their lips spewed with endless chatter, their motions full of vibrancy and vitality even after the grueling day of education. Their steps light and devoid of worries, the youths embraced the evening of the city, daring to explore its depths without a care for the world.

"Summer will be here in a few days, huh?"

Just like any other high school, Tianxing Fourth High School's school semesters concluded in early July.

However, for the third-year students who had completed the national College Examination Test upon the second week of June, the school permitted them to exemption from the final days of school.

After an additional week of education, the third-year graduates would be allowed to enjoy the summer vacation before their junior peers.

With the lure of three additional weeks of vacation and prolonged rest, the steps and hearts of the graduates were the lightest disregarding their atrocious scores on the miserable tests.

Upholding their youth to the best of their abilities, the graduates truly displayed their ability to forget any misery upon tiding through its aftermath.

Hence, Shang Xuan stood at the school gates of Tianxing Fourth High School, blankly staring at the golden sky of the evening.

Alas, his heart was not on the subject matter regarding the success or fail of his College Examination Test, or the excitement of planning an extended three weeks of vacation. As he prevented his lips from twitching to reveal their discontent, the Flame Ancestor sighed over and over in his mind.

Since his secondary schooling and its mandatory attendance could be considered over for the next two and a half months… he now needed to reconsider a troubling issue.

An issue in the name of a massive debt.

Did the price of four Bloody Mary's per month sound familiar?

"Hah…" Shang Xuan dipped his head, striding away from the school gates with laden steps and a solemn heart unlike that of his classmates.

"Ah, I'm definitely going to be sanctioned if I comply, but I'll be harassed to no end by that girl if I don't comply…"

The youth muttered to himself as he aimlessly strolled into the market district of the city, immersing himself into the raucous chaos that was the streams of stores and shops on either side of the street.

Fragrances and odors of a multitude of sources assaulted his nose, and his ears and eyes became flooded by the rush of people.

Avoiding the nearby pedestrians and walking towards the nearest grocery market, Shang Xuan casually opened his mouth.

"Na-er, what did the parents want for dinner tonight?"

There was a brief pause and the faint tapping of soft fingertips on a smartphone's screen, followed by an intake of breath. Closing his eyes, the youth relaxed his heart to appreciate the lilting voice besides him.

"En… they wanted Ah Xuan to buy some asparagus, garlic, onions, butter, and a pack of mushrooms," Na-er responded in a timid voice.

"Also… they just texted for Ah Xuan to buy some tofu if the market had some freshly stocked."

The usual?

Shang Xuan nodded as he reached out his hand to pat the young girl on the head and compliment her, when he suddenly froze in place. The youth lowered his hand that had barely departed from his coat's pocket to return in a hasty motion, a dissatisfied huff of air departing from his lips.

"Something wrong…?"

Na-er raised her hand to glance towards the youth besides her, and her brows couldn't help but furrow upon noticing the downcast expression on Shang Xuan's countenance. Her hands reaching out to pat the Flame Ancestor's back, the young girl's lips curled into a small pout.

"Ah Xuan?"

"…Na-er, there's nobody who recognizes me in the area, so why are you still hidden?"

The Flame Ancestor huffed in a disgruntled voice, his hand twitching as it lay in the coat pocket. The youth soothed his emotions to convince the young girl, only to receive a quick reply.

"…don't want to."

"Why not?"

Shang Xuan raised an eyebrow, before his lips curled into an enchanting smirk. The youth's walking came to a stop, and he raised his head to bask in the golden rays of the evening sun, his voice inaudible to all but one listener.

"Na-er, if you make yourself hidden to the world all of the time, how am I supposed to pat your head?"

Whoosh!

The air trembled as a young girl's appearance manifested into the world, and Na-er stepped from her conclave to stand besides Shang Xuan with a lowered head.

The young girl was only as tall as his chin, and her black hair trailed to her waist; silky and shimmering as though it were made of gossamer. The milky-white skin dazzled the sky's radiance, and the pair of violet irises gazed upon the world with a profound gaze.

The cute facial features with the soft cheeks that begged to be pinched deeply allured the urges within Shang Xuan, and he couldn't help himself for a moment. As Na-er scowled towards the youth who had teased her the moment she emerged from hiding, the two entered the grocery store to begin searching for ingredients for the Xi Family's dinner.

Fortunately, not many paid attention to Na-er's appearance even after she had removed her camouflage, though the reason was rather complicated.

…although it was simply that the Flame Ancestor's fingers were itching.

-

"Na-er, how do you think I should pay off this debt?"

Shang Xuan lazily spoke as he and Na-er walked through the streets towards the Xi Family's residence, a pair of plastic shopping bags grasped in his hands. The youth tilted his head to the gentle late-spring breeze, his gaze inadvertently landing upon the young girl besides him.

Na-er's hair swayed in tune with the dance of the breeze, the white chiffon blouse combined with a peach blossom skirt producing a mouthwatering sight. The young girl frowned at the Flame Ancestor's question, her soft voice resounding throughout the air a moment later.

"…perhaps at the beginning of summer, when school ends tomorrow?"

"Perhaps that is the time to start repaying this debt to Meng Po… I shouldn't delay the first payment for much longer, right…"

Shang Xuan hung his head to release an exaggerated sigh, earning himself a heavenly pat on the back. The youth quickly swapped the bags to one hand, his right arm latching around Na-er to bring her close.

Following the young girl's startled yelp, the street returned to its tranquility, the two youths walking in silence. Shang Xuan enjoyed the soft mutton-jade sensation racing through his palm as he held the young girl's hand, Na-er playing with his phone with her free hand.

The deal with Meng Po allotted him with a hundred and twenty years of vacation at the minimum, with the monthly rate of four Bloody Mary's. As the time period only began at the moment his soul occupied that of a mortal shell to walk throughout the world, Shang Xuan had roamed throughout the Earth with his soul to his heart's content.

The Flame Ancestor had spent twenty-two years to explore every nook and cranny of the world until he had gotten bored of remaining as an omniscient observer.

Thus, he had drifted into the infantile soul of a youth called Xi Ran upon the moments of his birth, and explored the Earth as a member of its constituents for the next eighteen years. And at the end of his early exploration, Shang Xuan had arrived to a frigid conclusion.

The eighteen years that had been spent as Xi Ran… he now owed a total of eight hundred and sixty-four Bloody Mary's.

That…

"Who!?"

Na-er's startled cry alerted Shang Xuan to his senses, and he narrowed his eyes before him. The youth's countenance became laced with a tinge of coldness, and warmth began to surge throughout his body – ready to be discharged at his command.

"Who are you people?"

A few meters before them stood thirteen muscular men in neat suits of black and white, their features slightly obscured by the sunglasses on their faces.

The men stood in place as they impassively gazed upon the pair of youths, their positions arranged in a formation intent on the protection of a single man at their center.

The man protected by the thirteen bodyguards was a man of thirty years in age, his countenance refined and sharpened by the vicissitudes of society.

Dressed in a similar suit as his bodyguards, the man exuded an unusual aura; austere and dignified, with a hint of volatile sparks underneath.

The man stepped forwards to lower his head into a bow towards the youth, his hand clasped before his chest. Upon his actions, the thirteen bodyguards followed suit, their actions creating a lake of black and white bowed towards a thin youth in a school uniform.

"We greet Master!"

"Master? Who?"

Shang Xuan muttered, taken aback. Upon the helpful squeeze from Na-er's hand and his realization of the faint spiritual fluctuation emanating from the man's body, the Flame Ancestor's eyes contracted as he whispered.

"Ah Hu? What are you doing here?"