Zhao Ya pushed the fruit back. "Auntie Yu, I already have Uncle Yang's share set aside."
She had picked twelve spirit fruits from Star Image Peak and given eight to Auntie Yu and Granny Zhou, keeping four in her spatial ring — she had intended them for Uncle Yang all along.
"What you kept is yours; what I'm giving is mine. They're not the same," Yu Lu insisted.
Zhao Ya thought for a moment, then accepted the two spirit fruits with a soft laugh. "Auntie Yu, why don't you come with us to find Uncle Yang?"
Yu Lu reached out and tapped her forehead. "Silly girl, what nonsense are you talking? It makes sense for you two to go find him — but what would my going amount to?"
"Well then, if we do run into Uncle Yang, is there anything you'd like me to pass along to him?" Zhao Ya asked.
Yu Lu lowered her head in thought for a moment, then shook her head.
The two children set off at last, and even after they had traveled a great, great distance, when they turned to look back, they could still see two figures standing at the entrance to the market, gazing in their direction.
"Xiao Ya, what did Mom call you over to talk about?" Zhao Yebai asked.
Zhao Ya said, "Auntie Yu kept two fruits and asked me to pass them along to Uncle Yang."
Zhao Yebai laughed. "Granny kept two as well and asked me to do the same."
"I wonder how Uncle Yang is doing now." Zhao Ya gazed into the distance. Before Uncle Yang had left, he had left behind an address, but it was a place neither of them had ever heard of. Whether they would be able to meet again on this journey was anyone's guess.
"Xiao Ya, actually there's something I've been really curious about." Zhao Yebai's face was full of confusion, as if something had just occurred to him.
"What's that?" Zhao Ya turned to look at him.
Zhao Yebai said, "What is the Senior's real name, anyway? We spent thirteen years on the mountain, and it seems we never learned his name."
Zhao Ya shook her head. "I don't know either. Master never told us. When the Market Master and the Elders came to pay their respects, they always addressed him as the Grand Elder — no one ever called him by his name."
Zhao Yebai said, "I actually asked Miao Feiping, and he wasn't sure either. But he heard Elder Guan mention offhandedly that the Senior's surname is Yang!"
"The same surname as Uncle Yang?" Zhao Ya was somewhat surprised.
Zhao Yebai chuckled. "Not just the same surname. Have you ever noticed — if you only look at them from behind, the Senior and Uncle Yang look remarkably similar."
Zhao Ya pouted. "But Master doesn't hold a candle to Uncle Yang."
One had taken care of them as though they were his own children; the other had a twisted personality and was always threatening to punish Brother Yebai. How could the two even be compared?
As they traveled and explored, the young pair's horizons steadily broadened. They witnessed all manner of local customs and curious tales.
But for two people who had spent their entire lives on a mountain, their grasp of worldly affairs was lacking, and there were inevitably times they got the short end of the stick.
Along the way, they had helped the weak against the strong, performed acts of chivalry, and even nearly capsized in a ditch of their own making. Zhao Ya's extraordinary beauty drew all sorts of uninvited trouble their way.
Once, at a shady inn, someone slipped them a drug and they were nearly knocked out. In the end, it was Zhao Ya who sensed something was wrong and acted decisively, wiping out everyone in the establishment — but she ended up sleeping for three full days before waking up.
With more experience under their belts, the two gradually grew and matured, coming to understand that not everyone out in the world was as warm and kind as Uncle Yang and the elders on the mountain. Human greed and scheming were the hardest things to guard against.
Green Peak Town. It had taken them over half a year of travel to finally arrive here, covered in dust and road wear.
The reason they had come was that the address Uncle Yang had left behind when he departed Seven Star Market pointed to Green Peak Town.
It seemed his hometown was right in this town.
The town was not particularly large, but it saw frequent visits from martial artists, because a few hundred li away stood the Spirit Sea Palace. The Spirit Sea Palace was considered a first-rate Sect across the entire Void Continent, its Palace Master possessing the formidable cultivation of the second-level Emperor Realm, with two first-level Emperor Realm Elders holding down the fort.
The two entered Green Peak Town and found an inn to stay at. Zhao Yebai eagerly sought out the innkeeper to ask about Uncle Yang, but turned up nothing. Though somewhat disappointed, now that they had arrived in Green Peak Town, it was only a matter of time before they found him.
After resting for the night, the pair began wandering the town, asking everyone they came across — and the taverns and teahouses, those mixing grounds of all sorts, were places they could not afford to miss.
But after days of searching, they had not found even a shred of information.
Everyone in Green Peak Town said they had never heard of anyone named Yang Kai.
Zhao Yebai thought about approaching it from the angle of rice balls. After all, Uncle Yang had run his stall at Seven Star Market for many years and had learned the craft of making rice balls from Granny Zhou. If he had returned to Green Peak Town, it was entirely possible he would have gone back to his old trade to support his family.
Sure enough, this line of inquiry actually yielded something.
Back at the inn, Zhao Yebai rushed in excitedly, pushing open the door. "Xiao Ya, I know where Uncle Yang is!"
"You found him?" Zhao Ya asked, a pleasant surprise in her voice.
"Eight or nine chances out of ten, it's him," Zhao Yebai said with a grin. "Someone told me that about thirty li outside Green Peak Town, there's a household that comes into town every few days to sell rice balls. From what they described, the appearance and age both match perfectly."
"Should we go now?" Zhao Ya looked at him.
Zhao Yebai nodded firmly. Thirteen years — he couldn't wait another moment. He wanted to see Uncle Yang again.