Chapter 282: Missing Just One Chance!

Du A’niang never expected Chen Changsheng to come back.

It had been a year since he left. She’d long thought he died in the Demon Realm.

She filled his Wine Gourd with Demon Gall Wine, then brought another pot.

The two of them sat chatting in the empty tavern.

“I heard from Woodcutter, that sword move on that day… was it from the sword?” she asked.

“What day?” Chen Changsheng asked.

“The day you left,” Du A’niang said.

“Yes,” he replied.

“It really was!”

Du A’niang looked astonished. “No wonder Woodcutter always calls you Senior!”

Chen Changsheng laughed helplessly. “Why would I look like a Senior?”

Du A’niang said, “Well, there’s a saying: the more skilled someone is, the simpler they look.”

“Is that so…”

Chen Changsheng chatted with her off and on. Du A’niang wasn’t shouting and cursing in front of him, probably because they weren’t that close yet, still a bit awkward.

Du A’niang suddenly spoke again. “Hey, why don’t you teach me?”

Chen Changsheng paused. “Teach what?”

“That sword move.”

Du A’niang continued, “I’ve actually always wanted to learn something. Look around this city — I’m the only one who knows nothing. Woodcutter won’t let me learn, the others don’t dare teach me. They all just say, let me run the tavern properly. None of them have brains in their heads!”

Chen Changsheng chuckled. “The Divine Domain can’t do without you. After learning the sword, do you want to leave the city and kill demons?”

Du A’niang narrowed her eyes, smiling. “Just a tiny bit will do.”

Chen Changsheng suddenly felt interested. He put down the wine pot and casually picked up a chopstick.

“Look.”

Du A’niang’s gaze fixed on Chen Changsheng’s hand.

Chen Changsheng held the chopstick between his fingers, then raised his hand and gave a slight chop.

A fine strand of Sword Qi shot out, nicking a small groove into the corner of the table.

Du A’niang looked at the little groove. “Ah!” she exclaimed. “It is different from Woodcutter’s!”

She turned to Chen Changsheng. “Teach me? I won’t charge you.”

Chen Changsheng smiled. “I’ve already taught you.”

Du A’niang paused. “Already taught me?”

Chen Changsheng nodded.

Du A’niang said, “But I haven’t learned it yet! So, that doesn’t count as teaching. No, no, I have to charge you!”

Chen Changsheng smiled. “Fine.”

Just as they were talking, a shout came from outside.

“Old widow! More wine!”

Du A’niang’s expression changed instantly upon hearing the voice.

She put her hands on her hips and yelled towards the door. “Woodcutter! Your ancestors for eight generations! Can’t you see I’m busy?!?”

“……”

Chen Changsheng was both amused and exasperated. A woman’s mood sure changes fast, he thought to himself.

Song Gudao walked in. “Ha! What could you possibly be busy…?”

He suddenly froze when he saw the figure sitting with its back to him at the table.

……

Du A’niang brought them two plates of snacks to go with the drinks, then went and sat at a nearby table to study the sword groove.

Chen Changsheng and Song Gudao sat facing each other.

When Chen Changsheng left, it was Huai Xu. Now, in the blink of an eye, it was Huai Xu once again.

“It’s been a year, Elder Chen. Have you been well?” Song Gudao asked.

Chen Changsheng replied, “Well enough. Saw quite a lot of sights in the Demon Realm.”

“Truly different,” Song Gudao said with a laugh. “Someone like me enters the Demon Realm at great risk, yet Senior can come and go freely.”

Chen Changsheng offered a slight smile and moved on. “I take it nothing much happened outside the city walls this year?”

Song Gudao nodded. “Exactly. No demons came. Standing guard on the wall day after day, we’ve all got really bored!”

“Isn’t that good? Should you hope for a fight?” Chen Changsheng asked.

Song Gudao sighed heavily. “Peace is definitely best.”

Their talk was mostly polite chit-chat. Song Gudao couldn’t recall many interesting events; the Divine Domain was a boring place, extremely so.

After a slightly awkward silence fell between them.

Song Gudao spoke up again. “By the way, Elder Chen… do you know how Gou’er is faring these days?”

Chen Changsheng said, “Him…”

Seeing Chen Changsheng hesitate, Song Gudao pressed, “Has something happened to him?”

“No, not exactly.”

Chen Changsheng continued, “He’s not dead. Not only is he alive, he’s actually entered the Thirty-Six Caves.”

Song Gudao visibly froze. “That quickly!?”

Chen Changsheng nodded. “He had an unusual opportunity.”

Song Gudao smiled. “That puts my mind at ease.”

Chen Changsheng looked at him. “You’re scared that if he died, you’d have another regret weighing on your heart.”

Song Gudao waved a hand dismissively but didn’t answer.

Chen Changsheng had indeed hit the nail on the head.

But Chen Changsheng didn’t tell him how Gou’er had managed to enter the Thirty-Six Caves. In Chen Changsheng’s view, Song Gudao might not truly want to know what happened.

The thing is, regrets piling up inside a person… sooner or later, it makes them sick.

Don’t let Song Gudao’s daily bickering with Du A’niang fool you – he was already dangerously ill inside.

Song Gudao then turned to asking about the Demon Realm.

Chen Changsheng said, “Great changes have happened in the Demon Realm. For the next few years, they likely won’t trouble the Divine Domain again.”

Song Gudao was stunned. “Great changes? What kind?”

Chen Changsheng replied, “If a battle was fought right here, outside this city, with both sides going all out… your chances of winning are very high.”

Song Gudao visibly swayed in his seat.

His breathing became noticeably heavier.

But then he seemed to suddenly calm down, frowning in thought.

After a moment of silence.

Song Gudao lifted his head. “But if we charged into the Demon Realm… the outcome would be different, right?”

Chen Changsheng nodded. “The Demon Realm’s terrain is complex. The Thirty-Six Caves are especially easy to defend but hard to attack. With only several hundred men, entering the Demon Realm would mean facing tens of thousands of demons. You might be able to defeat an Eighth-Realm Great Demon. But if just thousands, even at the Fourth or Fifth Realm, swarmed you… even if you alone could kill a thousand, you’d still get exhausted and die in the end.”

After grasping this, Song Gudao let out a long, relieved breath.

He smiled wryly. “Even if the chance came… it’s useless… sigh…”

“You need to wait,” Chen Changsheng said.

Song Gudao agreed, nodding. “Missing just one chance, one opportunity… though I wish that chance would come soon.”

Chen Changsheng suddenly looked directly at him.

Song Gudao met his gaze. A faint, strange smile suddenly appeared on his face.

Chen Changsheng said, “Some things… one shouldn’t gamble on.”

Song Gudao just nodded slightly. It didn’t seem he’d really heeded Chen Changsheng’s words.

This drinking session didn’t last much longer. Chen Changsheng didn’t stay in the Divine Domain. But he didn’t return to the Demon Realm either. He thought about wandering the Mortal World instead.

The tavern grew quiet once more.

Du A’niang was unusually silent today. She kept staring intently at the sword groove on the table, as if she could see something within it.

Song Gudao asked, “What are you staring at, old widow?”

“Learning the sword,” Du A’niang replied.

Song Gudao glanced at the sword groove on the table and understood instantly.

“You?” Song Gudao scoffed.

“Looking down on me?” Du A’niang retorted. “Woodcutter, just wait until I learn it! The first thing I’ll do is chop you up!”

Song Gudao burst out laughing.

“You could stare at it for eight hundred years and still learn nothing.”

Worn out from trading barbs with her, Song Gudao found a seat and started drinking on his own.

As he drank, the topic of the Demon Realm resurfaced in his mind.

“One chance…”

He seemed to be contemplating a plan, but hesitated, unable to decide.