Family Cultivation: I Become a Mirror-Chapter 221 - 205: The Old Man

"Indeed,"

Li Tongya answered softly, and immediately the old man's face lit up with joy. With a gentle tap of his bamboo pole, the boat approached the islet.

Cloaked in a wet straw raincoat heavy with morning dew, the old man's face was honest and regular, his white beard hanging down, his eyes bright and piercing under his conical hat, full of vigor. As Li Tongya boarded the small boat, the old man let out a hearty laugh. With a smooth push of the punt pole, the boat lightly drifted towards the riverbank, and he began:

"This humble one has been poling boats here for more than ten years, my lord can be at ease. Once out of the lake, just follow the Big Fish Creek southward, and the Lichuan Entrance will soon be in sight!"

Li Tongya extended his Spiritual Sense and realized that the man before him was but an ordinary human. Standing at the stern, gazing at the lake scenery, he found the old man unable to contain himself. Raising both hands high, he pushed hard and the small boat sailed steadily and swiftly. The old man glanced at Li Tongya's expression and said cheerfully:

"My lord has a noble countenance and carries himself with a grand magnanimity, clearly a man of great benevolence indeed!"

"Benevolent?"

Li Tongya paused, nearly letting out a laugh, his interest piqued. He touched the sword at his waist and softly said:

"But the boatman has mistaken, my whole family is born of bad seed, we are not good people."

Although he often secluded himself in cultivation, the number of people he had killed since he began cultivating was not few, and the number he had indirectly caused the death of was innumerable; there was no way he could be considered benevolent.

The old man was taken aback, not expecting such a reply from Li Tongya, but he chuckled, pole in hand, and called out:

"The guest must be jesting!"

"Hmm."

Li Tongya retracted his gaze, finding something familiar about the scene before him, and inquired:

"You have a kind face, boatman… have we met before?"

Putting down his punt pole, the old man looked Li Tongya up and down before turning back to pole the boat, laughing as he said:

"Perhaps I have seen the lord once. This humble one was also born into Noble Families, with no worries for food and clothing. In my youth, I wandered along the ancient Lidao and have seen many a figure."

"Noble Families?"

Li Tongya squinted slightly, his expression unchanged, yet suddenly filled with an indescribable feeling; his originally grand and solid aura faded away, causing one's heart to tremble at the sight.

Luckily, the old man, covered by his conical hat, kept poling without turning back and continued to laugh:

"My surname is originally Lu, a clansman from the Lu Family to the west. After the old ancestor of the Lu Family passed away, our connection with the Immortal Sect was severed... And so, we were divided up by the Li and An families, leaving me no choice but to change my name to Liu and fend for myself."

"I see,"

Li Tongya responded, then murmured softly:

"Judging by the boatman's appearance, you seem to be living quite well."

"Alas!"

The old man shrugged, continuing to pole the boat with a smile:

"My lord… there are three great hardships in this world: poling boats, blacksmithing, and grinding tofu; they're all tiring indeed!"

As the boat moved past the turbulent heart of the river and followed the stream, becoming steadier, the Li Family governed with strict discipline, demanding perfection from its members, never involved in annexations or monopolies. With the support of the Shanyue, even the lowest classes lived comfortably. The old man rested his punt pole, lifted the lid of a stove in the middle of the boat, and surprisingly took out a cup of warm rice wine.

He lifted his head to take a sip, exhaled comfortably, and went on:

"Every walk of life has its own hardships, and everyone has their own pain. Understanding this is for the best."

His eyes narrowed in nostalgia, he spoke somewhat whimsically:

"I, as a young man, had great aspirations, a wanderer. In my middle age, I returned home to enjoy my fortune, leading a yellow dog and embracing a beautiful wife, becoming a father. Yet, in my old age, my clan was destroyed in one night, and I was brought to my knees to act the grandson. The wonder of life lies precisely in this!"

"Master, don't think that the Immortal is carefree, they also have their own sorrows. Have you heard about the sons of the Immortal Clan who all left recently? Ah..."

Li Tongya was silent for a while, looked at the old man's appearance, and said softly,

"The Li Family is no good either... Have you ever hated them?"

"Hate?"

The old man paused, set down the oar, picked up the stove to reveal the charcoal underneath, and showed Li Tongya the rice wine, replying,

"I'm just a humble boatman. In springtime, I can use charcoal fire to warm my wine, and though I can't say I drink to my heart's content, I still drink once every three days!"

The old man picked up the oar again, creating a spray of water with each stroke and pointed towards the Western Eastern Shanyue area, exclaiming,

"A tyrannical ruler, slaughtering people like nobody's business, the entire Shanyue tribe devoting their efforts to indulge a single person's extravagance!"

With a gnarled hand full of wrinkles, he then pointed towards Li Xia County and said,

"The whole clan exterminated, the county wiped out, the Immortal Clan remains silent, merely spectators!"

Finally, pointing towards the direction of the Yu Family's Secret Forest County, his voice stern and fierce, he exclaimed,

"The commoners displaced, resorting to infanticide for sustenance, the Noble Families drinking and playing games, joyous and singing, while the common folk weep. The butchers hanging up dog heads, and underneath placing human flesh, the price of human flesh plummeting even more this year, last year it was three coins a pound, now it's only two..."

The old man shed two lines of tears as he said in a low voice,

"Witnessing such suffering among the people, yet I can still drink wine and burn charcoal. The old clan was disbanded, merely removing a scourge, where is there room for hate then?"

Li Tongya was deeply touched, sat down beside him, and let the small boat drift on its own. The old man began to drink again, tears on both cheeks, and said somberly,

"You say the Li Family is no good, but when it comes to good and evil, we must differentiate. I don't have many years left, so let me say some words worth beheading for!"

He gripped the oar, with hair and beard flying, dewdrops cascading down, the old man hissed,

"The Demonic Path, Immortals, Sects, Noble Families, the powerful, even the common people, take them all into account, judging them by their morality, and they all deserve to die!"

A statement from a mortal's mouth made Li Tongya feel an icy chill. The birds, beasts, and insects on the river all fell silent, and then the old man sighed softly and continued,

"But having seen so many things, and so many people, I stopped considering the vile and treacherous as evil, nor the upright as good. In a lawless world, the wretched thrive and the upright perish. If we really were to discuss good and evil, it all comes down to one thing."

"What thing?"

Li Tongya asked quietly, and after taking a sip of his wine, the old man replied,

"If the people under one's rule are joyous and plump-cheeked, it is good; if they are destitute and resort to infanticide for food, it is evil."

"The Li Family disciplined their offspring and managed their household strictly, adept in planning; the lives of those under them were practically like those of immortals', with everyone looking forward to it. Didn't you see, when that young master passed away, every family in the town dressed in mourning? If any sanctimonious hypocrite barks crazily, talking about improper conduct, the people would all spit on him and tap their spines."

As he finished speaking, Li Tongya was deep in thought, the two sitting opposite each other. After the old man stayed motionless for over a dozen breaths, he picked up the oar again, wiped his tears, and said with a smile,

"It seems I have lost my composure."

"I have learned a lot."

Li Tongya bowed solemnly, a sense of tranquility growing in his heart, and said in a low voice,

"My father insisted on setting the clan right before his passing, the elderly have far-reaching thoughts, from which my family has benefited for generations, indefinitely."

The old man listened, perplexed, and turned around to see the stern of the boat empty, the river's surface flowing calmly—no sign of the guest. A void in his heart, he turned back to see a small piece of shiny silver reflecting light on the small table.

The wind on the river's surface picked up, the silver gleaming brightly. The old man drained the remaining wine, sat down slowly, and broke out in a cold sweat.