Chapter 13: The Centenarian Sorcerer of a Generation

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It had been exactly three full days since I first met the old man who threw himself into the lake. Over these three days, I had seen him three more times, making a total of four encounters—almost once every day.

The old man was quite leisurely, strolling by the fish pond each day with his hands clasped behind his back. Whenever he had spare time, he would grab a handful of leaves and toss them into the pond. Then, all those leaves would transform into fish swimming away.

This spectacle instantly drew a crowd of onlookers who burst into applause and cheers. Among all the voices, mine was always the loudest: “Grandpa, you’re amazing! How do you do it? Teach me, please!”

Every time he heard my shout, the old man would turn and cast me a cold, piercing glance. His eyes were so sharp that just one look would make me shiver uncontrollably. That old fellow’s gaze was truly terrifying.

I would immediately shut my mouth, too afraid to speak further. At times like this, the old man seemed to lose interest suddenly. He would turn to the crowd and say, “That’s enough for today. If you want to see more of my performance, come early tomorrow.”

After these words, he would leave with a graceful air. Watching his retreating figure, I couldn’t help but feel both amused and frustrated. This old man clearly held a grudge against me. I had wanted to get close to him, but the more I tried, the worse it got. Now it seemed he even hated me. What was I to do?

On the fourth day, the old man appeared at the pond as usual. He wandered with his hands behind his back and was about to gather leaves to perform when he suddenly spotted me and immediately decided not to put on the show.

This distressed the crowd around us: “Grandpa, why stop all of a sudden? Please perform!”

The old man pointed at me and said, “Not with this guy here. You folks get rid of him.”

That was my downfall. Hearing the old man’s words, the crowd suddenly turned hostile, as if I had committed a grave offense. They surged toward me, grabbing and pulling me until I was dragged a hundred meters away from the old man. Then, the performance began, and the pond echoed with cheers.

Looking down at my tattered clothes, I cursed bitterly, “Damn it! What’s so great about it? It’s just a simple trick. Someday, when I’ve studied all the ‘ghost arts,’ I’ll summon a little spirit to scare you to death.”

While swearing, I straightened my clothes. Meanwhile, the old man had finished performing, and the crowd dispersed unhappily. As always, he turned and walked away with his hands behind his back.

I glared in his direction, snatching up a stone from the ground. “You old bastard, remember this. If you ever cross me again, I’ll be the one to kill you.”

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I hurled the stone fiercely, but my strength was weak; it flew less than sixty meters. Watching the stone land, I felt a bit deflated. Just then, not far from where the stone fell, a pair of feet appeared.

Those feet were strange—wearing a pair of long black cloth shoes, looking like something from an ancient time. I was stunned. What sort of crazy world was this? What era was this? Who still wore shoes like that?

Curious, I looked up to see the owner of the feet. When I saw the person, I was stunned again.

The oddness wasn’t just in the shoes; his clothes were bizarre too. He wore an all-black outfit, a one-piece garment that looked like a dress.

Damn it, this guy was a lunatic. I glared at him and cursed inwardly. At that moment, he had his back turned, so I couldn’t see his face.

Suddenly, he started moving, heading in the same direction as the old man had gone.

I was puzzled and couldn’t help but watch him more closely. Like a thief, he moved stealthily, his eyes fixed intently on the old man ahead. When the old man moved, he followed slowly; when the old man stopped, he stopped immediately.

When the old man turned to look, the man in black suddenly dodged to the side.

Was this person following the old man?

I was both shocked and excited. This was my chance. If I warned the old man about the stalker, wouldn’t that bring me closer to him? With this thought, I prepared to shout at the top of my lungs.

But then I held back.

In the words of Elder Xie, this old man was like a god. Honestly, I wouldn’t have believed it without seeing it myself. Now the opportunity was perfect—I’d follow quietly to see what the man in black wanted.

With that, I slipped behind the man dressed in black and followed him silently.

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We walked forward and soon left the fish pond area. Ahead, people grew scarcer, and the landscape turned into desolate hills. At this point, the man in the black dress quickened his pace, no longer trying to hide himself.

Peering past him, I saw the old man leading the way. At that moment, the old man seemed to sense someone following him. He had already stopped and was half-turned, looking back.

In an instant, the atmosphere tensed. This was truly a master—I felt as if the weight of his presence was suffocating.

Meanwhile, the man in black walked faster, closing the distance to less than fifty meters. Suddenly, the old man spun around sharply, staring directly at the man in black.

“So it is the old man from the lake,” the man in black said, crossing his arms as he stopped. “You knew I was following you all along and deliberately led me into the wilderness?”

The old man remained expressionless, his eyes as sharp as knives: “You know I led you here, yet you still dared to come? Seems you have some guts.”

“You’re too arrogant, old man,” the man in black shouted. “I admit you were powerful before. But now, you’re over a hundred years old. You’re old, and this era no longer belongs to you.”

The old man still showed no expression. He stared at the man in black for a long moment before uttering two words: “Is that so?”

The man in black roared, “You’re reckless. I’ve seen you live for over a hundred years. If you keep living, your flesh will rot. Let me send you to hell.”

As he shouted, a cold wind suddenly rose around us. He took out a bamboo flute and blew into it. Immediately, a chorus of barking sounded from all directions.

I turned to look and saw dozens of wild dogs charging out from the forest on the desolate hills.

Damn, was this about to turn into a battle?