"Huh?" The old man was quite surprised. "You actually noticed?"
Cheng Zongyang slowly closed his eyes. He recalled how the mine shafts used to collapse from time to time back in the day, seemingly always involving Ape-Demon Race members of roughly the same age.
"Alright. Kid, just wait to be refined in my Alchemy."
Wearing an enigmatic smile, the old man strolled leisurely toward the herb garden, letting out bursts of mocking laughter as he walked.
"All the love and romance in this vast world are ultimately nothing but ethereal illusions, and all grudges and entanglements are merely false facades.
"Only one's own strength, a long Lifespan, and that dreamed-of immortality are unequivocally real! If one cannot achieve immortality, everything in this world is as illusory and ephemeral as drifting smoke."
