Water Tower City was a maze of alleyways. Some of them were full of life. The lively ones were often used as shortcuts, and so people always rushed through them. Since so many people passed by every day, merchants had opened businesses there. Some of these alleys were filled with tiny restaurants that could hold a maximum of five people at a time, an experience some tourists found unique. However, while some alleys were lively, many others were dead. Not dead ends, but dead with filth, where the homeless huddled to hide from the elements or lay motionless, too drained of energy to move. A few doors in these alleys opened for those seeking specific items, but most remained tightly shut. People would watch from behind closed doors and windows, making a walk through these alleys akin to entering a jungle full of beasts.

In one such alleyway—a relatively silent one, where rats and cockroaches scurried away and buildings blocked the sun, creating a passageway as dark as the moment after sunset—two people walked slowly. One was an old man with a bent back, as if he had spent his youth carrying heavy loads. He had long white hair and wore a straw hat that shadowed his face. In his right hand was a cane, which he used to tap the ground and navigate the street. He wore pink clothes, faded to almost white. Though old, they were surprisingly clean. His pants were the yellow of a ripe banana, with mud and filth clinging to them. Behind him walked a woman in her twenties. Her skin was white and clean, and she wore a dark blue dress, spotless and sparkling. Her dark eyes observed her surroundings like a hawk as she followed the old man in mismatched clothes.

Fang Ruxue wanted to urge him to hurry. She was eager to reach his house and meet his grandson so she could ask him about the pill Liu Xing sought. However, she reined in the urge. The auntie who sold fish had referred her to this blind old man, and after asking around, she confirmed that he and his grandson were the only people in the city with knowledge of the cultivator world who were not connected to the Qing and Jin clans or the academy. The chance that they knew about the pill was small, but she was sure that she could get useful information from them.

Imagining the valuable information she might obtain, Fang Ruxue could not help but flash a small smile. For a moment, the thought of simply carrying the old man to get there faster popped into her mind. If she got some useful information from them, she would finally have leverage to force Liu Xing to teach her and her new family how to become cultivators.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Fang Ruxue asked the old man, who was tapping the edge of a puddle before moving to the side.

"My home is close. We should arrive in about thirty minutes."

Fang Ruxue nodded. Thirty minutes of slow walking was not that far.

As they walked, she observed the slum all around her. Ordinarily, she would be uncomfortable in such a shady area, but many people had assured her that the old man was widely respected. Walking with him was the safest way to traverse this part of the city. He was a healer, a kind one who never extorted people for his services. Sometimes, he even worked for free. A year ago, an arrogant upstart who had tried to start his own gang kicked the old man for walking too slowly. In an instant, nearly all the upstart's bones were broken, and his gang was dispersed.

[As they walked, many people greeted the old, blind healer. Some invited him in for a visit. The old man would reply politely with a smile but always refused, explaining that the lady behind him—her—needed help from him and his grandson, and they were in a hurry. This explanation earned her quite a few gazes. Some sized her up, some smiled at her, and some gave her a look that warned her not to do anything foolish, which she had no intention of doing.

It took them nearly an hour to reach the healer's home. The blind healer had not been wrong about the distance; the place was not far. However, several people needed his help, and he stopped to give them advice and recipes. Fang Ruxue had no problem with the delay. She even helped bandage a man's nasty, likely infected wound on his foot and helped carry the food and gifts that people gave to the old man.

"We're almost there," the old man said when they emerged from an alleyway and arrived at a small river.

A bamboo bridge connected the two sides, and not far from the other end of the bridge stood a little house. A small herb garden grew to one side of it, several chicken coops stood on the other, and a small windmill turned near the river. Fang Ruxue looked up and saw white smoke billowing from a chimney on top of the house. She nodded. They had finally arrived, which meant that inside that house was a person who could give her the information she needed.

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They crossed the little bridge. The old man was greeted by a hen and a dozen of its offspring, and then he led her inside his house. The door was already open, and the inside was surprisingly spacious. Only a single wall separated the kitchen from the main room, where shelves lined with jars, bottles, and gourds covered the wooden walls. There were also several chairs and a small table in the room. However, her eyes focused on a bed where a person was lying. His skin was pale and he was quite thin, with sunken cheeks and shoulder blades that pressed tightly against his skin. He wore gray clothes that seemed two sizes too big for his gaunt frame.

When the man realized someone had entered his house, his lips curled into a smile. He opened his mouth as if to greet his grandfather but soon noticed her standing behind the healer. When he saw her, his mouth froze and his eyes widened, as if he were seeing a fairy of the Frozen Palace Sect descending from the mountains.

"Welcome home, grandpa. You brought a guest?"

"Yes, this young lady created quite a commotion in the market that in the end led her to you," the old man said as he hung his straw hat on the wall. Once the hat was secure, he turned to her. "Young lady, he's my grandson. Feel free to ask him anything. However, make sure you don't get him too excited. His body is very weak."

At that, the old man decided that since he was home early, he would check the hole in one of his chicken coops and the traps he had laid for an annoying fox that had been gobbling up his chickens. Fang Ruxue nodded to him, watched him walk slowly away with his cane, and then turned to the grandson.

He was smiling at her, a kind and soft smile. "I'm sorry I cannot greet you properly, miss. My body is better than it was a year ago, but it's still hard for me to get up."

"Ah, no, it's okay," Fang Ruxue said as she dragged a chair to the side of the bed. They were only an arm's reach apart, and she noticed that his sunken cheeks reddened slightly and his eyes darted about, as if he did not know where to look. She raised an eyebrow at his reaction. She was indeed pretty, with flawless skin and hair. However, she was not the prettiest woman even in this city, and since being kidnapped, she had not had much time to groom herself. She probably did not even smell very good, what with all the constant travel and walking. Perhaps she was his type. If so, Fang Ruxue hoped it would work in her favor, allowing her to dig up quite a lot of information.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Fang Ruxue," she said.

"Nice to meet you, Fang Ruxue. You can call me Brother Rou," he said from the bed. "As I said, I'm sorry I cannot greet you properly. My body is too weak to even get into a sitting position. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Fang Ruxue thought about her next words. "The truth is, I came here to ask several questions. You see, I'm in the middle of a mission."

"A mission?" Brother Rou asked. He narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down again. This time, it was not a shy gaze but an assessing one, as if he were trying to glimpse information about her. "You... you're not a cultivator."

"I am not, though I'm trying to amend that," she said.

"You want to be a cultivator?" he asked. His eyes sharpened, and for a moment, a storm seemed to rampage beneath their surface. A moment later, he inhaled deeply, and his gaze softened. "As a former cultivator myself, I suggest you do not pursue cultivation. It's a path that a normal human cannot take."

"You're a former cultivator?" Fang Ruxue asked. "What do you mean, 'former'?"

Fang Ruxue observed him more carefully. He was pale, thin, and sickly. Even she, a normal person, was stronger and more lively than him. She had never heard of a cultivator reverting to a normal person. It seemed as impossible as changing a bowl of porridge back into a bowl of rice.

Suddenly, she realized why people in the market had referred her to this Brother Rou. If he was indeed a former cultivator, then he must know about the cultivator side of this city.

"I am indeed a former cultivator," he said, balling his hands until his knuckles were white and he gritted his teeth as if his mortal enemy had suddenly appeared before him. "But my cultivation has been shattered and the qi paths inside my body have been broken. When I said I'm a former cultivator, you must have thought that I reverted into a mortal. But the truth is not that. I'm less than a mortal. I am, as the people from the Jin clan said, a cripple." He exhaled deeply. "In the past, I had a little talent for cultivation, and this talent got me accepted by the Jin clan. However, as I said before, I suggest you do not pursue cultivation. It's a path that will only bring you death and suffering. There isn't a single sane cultivator out there."

"That's not true," Fang Ruxue answered. "I know at least one cultivator who is sane. Not only that, but he's also strong and kind. He's the reason I am here."

"He only looks sane. If you dig deeper, you'll find something sinister in him. Every cultivator wants to advance, but not every cultivator has heaven-defying talent. People with common talent cannot advance if they merely cultivate. No, they need to fight tooth and nail for more resources. The higher their realm, the more resources they need to advance. It's a damning cycle that stops only when you're dead. So, Fang Ruxue, I strongly suggest you stop your pursuit."

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