Before he could ponder the interesting aspects of this conversation, the dream faded away as quickly as mountain mist pierced by sunlight and scattered by the wind.

Only a drifting phrase was left at the end:

“Seeing that you understand etiquette and show me respect, I’ll give you one more piece of advice: I see your soul is strong but unstable. You must take care of your health, and it’s best to find a method to calm your soul, so you may find peace.”

In a daze, he woke up.

It was almost dawn.

He was still in the ancestral hall, leaning against the wall, with bricks and rubble beside him. Quite a bit of white powder had fallen on the ground, and his feet were right up against the bluestone slab in front of him. The marks left on the floor tiles by the rolling and sliding of the bluestone were faintly visible in the dim light, yet he himself was completely unharmed.

After a moment of daze, Henry Walton suddenly got up and walked outside.

Sure enough, it was nearly daybreak.

There were already roosters crowing outside.

He saw a figure about knee-high to a person at the base of the wall. In the dim light, it was hard to tell if its color was yellow or gray; all he could tell was that it walked upright like a human, carrying a bundle on its back, and in a flash, it disappeared.

Henry Walton was stunned again.

Then he came to his senses, and couldn’t help but bow deeply in that direction with clasped hands.

But his brows were tightly furrowed, and he was truly puzzled inside—

What kind of world is this, really?

Chapter 4: Where Lies the Immortal Path to Longevity

“Virtue...

“Five energies...

“Method to calm the soul...”

Henry Walton’s mind was hazy as he recalled the events of last night, feeling as if it were both real and illusory, like waking from a dream.

He slowly walked back into the ancestral hall.

It was just before dawn, the sky outside turning blue and whitening in the east, but inside the ancestral hall it was still dim, the floor shrouded in darkness.

Not knowing what to do, he glanced down at random and could vaguely make out debris like bricks and rubble, and perhaps some things left behind by that man from last night. But the ancestral hall was empty to begin with, there was nothing that should be taken away, and no reason to linger, so he didn’t look closely. He picked up his bedding, tucked it under his arm, grabbed his hatchet and oil lamp, and headed out.

His steps felt a bit unsteady.

Leaving the ancestral hall, he walked along the narrow alley outside. Not far after exiting the alley, a door of a nearby house suddenly opened, and someone came out, looking at him in surprise.

“Good lad! You really spent the night?”

“……”

Henry Walton turned to look at the man, whom he didn’t recognize. After thinking for a moment, he realized this must be someone from the Wang family, sent to check if they had really stayed in the ancestral hall overnight, so he replied:

“More or less…”

“I’ll take you to see the old master!”

With that, he reached out and took the things from Henry Walton’s hands. Henry Walton let him take whatever he wanted, and after hearing “come with me,” he followed behind.

With every step, the sky grew brighter.

By the time they returned to the old courtyard of Mr. Wang’s residence, the morning sun had already risen in the east, and the light had crossed the mountains.

Old Master Bennett was already awake, still sitting in the grand master’s chair in the main hall, sipping morning tea as he watched them. After hearing the man report about Henry Walton, he seemed to confirm that he had indeed spent the night in the ancestral hall.

Old Master Bennett looked at Henry Walton in surprise, holding his cup.

“You really slept in there all night?”

“Sir, I did not leave.”

Looking at this Old Master and the spacious main hall, Henry Walton finally came to his senses, emerging from that dreamlike state.

It really felt as if he were still in a dream.

“That man ran off in the middle of the night, and you didn’t run?”

“I didn’t…”

“I really misjudged you!”

“……”

“Why do you look so out of it? Did you not sleep all night, or were you bewitched by something in the ancestral hall?” The old master turned to a woman beside him. “What kind of hospitality is this? Pour our guest a cup of tea.”

“Neither.”

Henry Walton shook his head truthfully.

“Then what happened?”

“It just feels… like a dream…”

“So, you saw that thing last night?” Old Master Bennett put down his teacup.

“I had some dealings with it…” Henry Walton recalled the small figure he saw that morning, and the blurry figure from his dream, now even more forgotten, and shook his head. “I didn’t see its true form.”

“A guest is a guest, don’t just stand there. Sit beside me and tell me in detail about last night—how you made it through.”

“……”

Since there really were monsters and ghosts in this world, this highly respected elder must have seen such things in his long life. So, knowing that a spirit had come to his ancestral hall, he wasn’t too alarmed. But of the three who spent the night there, one was an old scholar who never saw the spirit at all—he might even claim there was no such thing after leaving. Another slept through the night and woke up at dawn. It was likely that even Old Master Bennett didn’t know what kind of being had visited his ancestral hall, or what it looked like.

The woman brought Henry Walton a cup of tea. Henry Walton thanked her, and after a sip, the clear bitterness, chrysanthemum fragrance, and various flavors instantly jolted his senses awake.

“Sir, you needn’t worry. That being already left this morning. I believe your family’s ancestral hall will have no more troubles from now on.”

“Left?”