I see the blue sky

Zhangsun Shan didn't even hesitate when he grabbed the bowl of porridge from the old lady. He was that hungry. When he ate it, he felt as if he was eating the most delicious stuff in the entire world. Hunger makes people believe that they're eating the grandest stuff in the world, you know.

After eating it whole, he realized that he blindly trusted a random person who gave him porridge. What if it had poison in it? He previously had promised himself that he won't trust people so easily, and yet here he was trusting a person whom he had never met before.

"Your gaze makes it seem like I made some grave mistake by giving you that. Still don't believe me, huh?" The old lady spoke in a disappointed tone.

"Ah, it's not that!" He hadn't realized that his facial expressions were convoluted as well and regretted it.

"My goodness, kid! Learn to take a joke. I'm not hurt by your distrust of me. I mean, it'd be even more suspicious if you were to actually give your complete trust towards me. You see, I could've stolen something important off you." She spoke with a smirk.

"I have nothing important left for me in this world." He looked gloomy as he spoke.

"Is that so? I'm sorry." The old lady apologized for making the atmosphere gloomy.

"Ah, it's fine." He replied. Even though his sect members died, they would never die in his heart. Their soul would always continue to burn through him. So, he had no time to grow sad because of them. He only had time to give peace to those souls.

"By the way, thank you for the porridge—grandma." He spoke. He didn't know her name, so the only way that he could put some respect for her was to call her grandma.

However, the old woman took it as an insult. "This boy! Calling me a grandma, huh? I'm not that old! I'm still young, you know? So, don't call me that. Call me, the young and beautiful Tao Liling!" She said in a haughty tone.

"I see. I'll call you elder sister Liling then." He replied.

"Hmm, that's slightly better." She nodded her head as she spoke "So, how are you feeling? Can you walk?" She asked.

"I won't know until I try!" Zhangsun Shan said as he hopped out of the bed. He seemed fine. At this point, he could walk another ten kilometers with no rest.

"Looks like you're fine now!" Liling gave out a thumbs up as Zhangsun Shan made his way out.

He hadn't noticed this before since he was in no shape to, but the place was eerie. There were houses, however, it didn't seem as if there were anyone in those houses. While Liling's house looked rundown, some of the other houses looked even more rundown than them. The village was in a pathetic state.

"What happened to this place?" He instinctively muttered.

"Well, bandits happened." Liling, who was by his side, replied.

"What?"

"Seems like you're not aware of this place." Liling sighed before continuing. "This is the Noncho village. Previously prosperous, but currently destroyed because of bandits." She explained.

"And the people?" Zhangsun Shan asked.

"Well, most of them migrated the hell away from here. The rest of them were a few people, including me." She replied.

"And? What happened to them?" He enquired.

"Everyone else died one way or the other. Some died of old age, the bandits killed the rest for not giving their offerings. All of them found a way to hell, leaving me her all alone." She sighed as she looked towards the ground.

"Why do you think like that? They could be in heaven right now, you know?" Zhangsun Shan replied, to which Tao Liling went on a laughing fit.

"Who are you kidding? There's no way any human ever set their foot to heaven unless they did so forcefully. Humans are bound to hell, and that's a fact.We are all corrupt, kid. Only thinking about useless things. Only animals have the right to enter heaven because most lead their lives without messing up someone else's." She replied.

Zhangsun Shan's face looked complicated as he looked at the sky. He wondered if Liling's words held some truth. Useless things—is the thought of having revenge a useless thought? Is that what his elders wanted when they allowed him to escape? Or did they just want the remnant of the Taiyi sect to remain in the world? He was truly confused. He didn't expect that the moment of contemplation would come by so soon, even before he planned out his revenge against the Blood Moon Sect.

"You should never look at the sky with that ugly face you're putting up. It'll ruin your cloud watching experience." Liling spoke as she noticed his anguish.

Upon hearing her words, it suddenly threw Zhangsun Shan back into reality. He decided to just not think about such complicated things for now and focused on the beautiful sky.

"The clouds look beautiful, doesn't it? You see there?" She asked as she pointed at a cloud in the sky. "Doesn't that look like a rabbit running around a giraffe? And that other one, doesn't it look like a martial master with Qi force around him? Pretty fun, isn't it? What do you see out there? Don't be shy about it. Tell me whatever you see. I won't judge." She encouraged Zhangsun Shan to speak.

"Hmm, I see the blue sky." He replied with a smile.

He wasn't kidding. That was the only thing he could see. The serene blue clouds that gave him a sense of peace. He couldn't see anything else; he didn't wish to see anything else.

"Too broad of a spectrum, but I understand the poetic nature behind what you just said. For each their own view, eh? That's what makes people so different from each other. That's what makes this world exciting." She replied as she continued staring at the clouds with him. They continued to spend an entire day watching the sky following this.

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