Chapter 253: A Joyful Reunion of Mother, Father, and Son

Qin Haoxuan’s mother’s gaze lingered on Lan Yan for a moment, and then she said with great enthusiasm, “You two, please come in. Sit down and have a cup of tea. Ah Lan, quickly, brew two cups of tea!”

After welcoming the two guests, she went to her room and took out two new sets of clothes. She walked over to Qin Haoxuan and held them up to him. “I made these two new outfits for you after you left. But I didn’t know where you were cultivating, so I had no way to send them to you. They’ve been sitting at home ever since.”

A warm current flowed through Qin Haoxuan’s heart. He carefully took the two sets of clothes that his mother had personally sewn and put them away, treasuring them as if they were fragile porcelain, afraid of breaking them with the slightest touch.

“You sit for a while. I’m going to make dinner. Your father went up the mountain to chop firewood; he’ll be back soon.” His return had made his mother incredibly happy. It wasn’t even dinnertime yet, but she was already busy in the kitchen, just so her son could have a rich and delicious meal.

After his mother had gone to the kitchen, he stood blankly in the courtyard. Thinking of the happy smile on her face, the joy in his heart was even greater than when he had found a treasure in the Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley.

Before long, the sound of heavy footsteps came from outside the courtyard. Hearing the familiar yet strange sound, he suddenly stood up, his eyes welling with tears as he stared at the main gate.

A man carrying a full bundle of firewood walked in from outside. The vicissitudes of time had carved deep wrinkles on his face, and his complexion was the deep yellow common among mountain folk. This man was his father.

Thud.

The moment he stepped through the gate and saw Qin Haoxuan, the axe in his hand and the firewood on his back all fell to the ground. Just like his wife, his first reaction upon seeing his son was complete shock.

His father, after all, was a man and much more composed than his mother. Tears glinted in his eyes, and he suddenly let out a long sigh. “Xuan’er, it’s good that you’re back. It doesn’t matter if you couldn’t become an immortal. It doesn’t matter… I’ll find you a wife, and we’ll live a down-to-earth life.”

Qin Haoxuan looked at his father’s rough hands and the faint disappointment showing through his honest face. Although he didn’t know why both his parents’ first reaction was to think he had failed in his cultivation, he still smiled and explained, “Father, I am still cultivating. I just missed you both very much, so I took a leave of absence to come back and see you.”

“Really?” His father’s eyes lit up. He knew his son never lied, but he still couldn’t help but ask again.

Qin Haoxuan nodded. “Would I dare to lie to you, father?” After speaking, he introduced Lan Yan and Xing.

His father laughed happily, picked up the firewood and the axe from the ground, and then said to him, “Wait for me to wash my face. Then I’ll go get some wine, and we father and son can have a good drink.”

Seeing his happy smile, Xing said, “I’ll go get the wine!” Before his father could refuse, he had already scurried out the door.

After chatting with his father for a while, his mother’s sumptuous meal was ready. The family of three, who had been separated for nearly two years, finally sat together again, drinking happily and having a reunion dinner. The warmth not only filled the hearts of the father and son but also infected Lan Yan and Xing. In this world, the most contagious thing is the bond of family.

After drinking a bit too much, his parents, their faces still wreathed in happy and contented smiles, were helped to their rooms to rest by Qin Haoxuan. Although he had also drunk some wine, the alcohol had no effect on him.

Sitting in the courtyard, watching the setting sun and the rosy clouds, the smile on his face gradually faded, and his brow furrowed slightly.

“What, are you not happy to see your parents?” Xing asked. “You look so worried. What are you thinking about?”

Qin Haoxuan nodded. “I’m happy. How could I not be? In the year-plus that I’ve been away, I’ve missed home terribly. I just didn’t have the chance to come back, so I’ve been holding it in, holding it in until I almost forgot them. I’m truly unfilial. Now, seeing them again, I once again feel the mercilessness of the immortal path. I am still young; I can have a long life in the future. But my parents have grown old. I am afraid to watch them grow old.”

He looked up at the pile of firewood in the corner of the courtyard. It was what his father had chopped today, not much. He walked over, picked up a few ropes, and prepared to go out.

Seeing his actions, Xing asked with confusion, “Where are you going?”

“To chop firewood.” His home was nearly ten li from Little Islet Mountain. Thinking of his father having to go up the mountain to chop firewood every day made his heart feel uncomfortable. Before, when he had been at home, he had been the one to do all the hard labor. Now that he had gone off to cultivate and seek a long life, the hard work had fallen on his aging father. At this thought, the guilt in his heart grew even heavier.

On the way to the mountain, many acquaintances saw him. They all greeted him with surprise, their gazes a mixture of sympathy, regret, and schadenfreude. In their eyes, he was also a failure who had returned. He paid them no mind. Right now, all he wanted to do was chop more firewood so that his father would have to go less often.

The Heaven-Cleaving Slash, which cultivators used for battle, was now being used by him as a wood-chopping axe. With a rise and fall of his hand, one branch after another was chopped down. He then skillfully cut them into segments, tied them up with hemp rope, and carried them home on his back. Chopping firewood was a chore he had often done before. At that time, there had always been a bit of a feeling of just getting it over with. But now, he was wholeheartedly focused on chopping more. Because for every bundle he chopped, his father would have to chop one less, and make one less trip to the mountain.

For a whole night, he did not sleep. He was on the mountain, chopping firewood, then carrying it home, and then going back up to chop more.

The next morning, his parents woke up. They walked out of their room and saw the firewood piled up in the courtyard like a small mountain. They were completely stunned.

“Xuan’er, you were up all night chopping firewood?” his mother said, looking at him with a pained heart, a hint of reproach in her tone.

He laughed. “Cultivators sleep very little anyway. It’s nothing. You should hurry and make breakfast. I’m hungry.”

Seeing her son’s energetic state, his mother gave him a doting glare and hurried to the kitchen.

For the next few days, he spent his days talking with his parents and his nights chopping firewood on the mountain. He chopped enough to last the family for a full year and even tilled all the land around the house. His mother’s heart ached for him, afraid he would tire himself out, but he felt he could do too little for his family; nothing was ever enough. If not for the fact that the courtyard was not big enough, he really wanted to chop ten years’ worth of firewood. That way, his aging parents could have a more leisurely life.

The villagers of Datian Town learned that he had not been expelled but had come back especially to see his parents, and one by one, they brought gifts. For these few days, the Qin family’s house was always bustling. His parents were not annoyed at all; they welcomed and saw off the guests with smiles. Although it was tiring, they were happy. In their words, “Who told our son to be so promising? Other families don’t even have the chance to be this lively.” The simple words were full of pride. How could he not know that he was his parents’ pride?

The people from the Zhang family also sent someone over to ask about the situation of Zhang Kuang and Zhang Yang. Although he was not on good terms with Zhang Yang, he still told the truth: the two of them were both disciples who were being cultivated as key figures in the sect. When the Zhang family heard this news, they hurried home to hang lanterns and decorate. Even if their own children couldn’t come home, to be valued by the immortals was a cause for celebration.

His father would also pull Xing aside and secretly ask if the two Zhang brothers were more valued by the immortals. And Xing… had the ability to praise someone to death without paying for their life. He boasted about Qin Haoxuan until he was a one-of-a-kind figure in the heavens and on earth, as if he would become the Sect Master tomorrow. Qin Haoxuan, hearing his nonsensical boasting, drove him away and honestly explained the situation to his father, for fear that his family would be misled and become arrogant.

In his spare time, Qin Haoxuan, who had some medical knowledge after cultivating, wrote a few prescriptions for his parents to regulate their bodies. Although it could not grant them a long life, it could reduce their pain and suffering. His father’s chronic leg pain and his mother’s rheumatism were both very severe and stubborn ailments.

These few days, besides chatting with her son, his mother’s needle and thread were never far from her hands. She would often stay up late into the night, mending and sewing under the dim light of a pine oil lamp. After mending his old clothes, she busied herself with making new ones for him.

The thread in the hands of a loving mother, becomes the clothes on a wandering son. His mother’s eyes were nearly squinted into a line, and her hands, which were pricked by the needle until they bled, still refused to stop. The graying mother’s face already had many wrinkles, and each one was filled with an overflowing love for her son.

He still remembered when he was a child, his father’s tall and sturdy figure had been an insurmountable mountain in his eyes. But now, he had grown up, had become a cultivator, and his body had become strong, but his father’s back was bent.

In his childhood, when his father came home from hunting on the mountain, no matter what the harvest, he would always give him a bath. That was because, like other children, he was mischievous and would play outside all day, always coming home covered in dirt. At that time, their family was very poor, and his mother had to wash clothes for the rich families to supplement their income, so the task of bathing him fell to his big and burly father. This big and burly man would always patiently bathe him. The young Qin Haoxuan was mischievous and would always splash the water from the basin, getting his father’s hair and clothes wet. But at most, his father would just pretend to scold him, but the smile on his face was one of happiness.

He could not forget all of this, nor did he dare to. In the few days he was at home, he would draw a basin of water every day and wash his father’s and mother’s feet.

The first time he drew water to wash his mother’s feet, she resolutely refused. “Xuan’er, you are going to be an immortal. How can you wash our feet? Your hands are precious!” Hearing these words, a wave of sadness washed over him. “Mother, there are no immortals here, only your son. Mother and son…”

Under his insistence, he placed her feet in the basin of water. The years had not only left their mark on her face and hands; the skin on her feet had also grown old. As he washed them, his mother lovingly stroked his head, gratified that her son was so promising.

When he washed his father’s feet, he did not refuse. He said with great gratification, “After bathing you, little bastard, for three or four years, it turns out it wasn’t for nothing.” The years of hard labor and the torment of illness had made his father’s feet as dry and hard as old pine bark, and they were rough to the touch. But he held them as if they were as precious as a golden lotus. Just as his father had bathed him when he was a child, he carefully washed them and gently massaged them.

These few days, a vague idea had formed in his mind: he wanted to make his parents live forever too. This idea gradually became clear and finally became a firm resolve. No matter what the price, no matter how much effort it takes, no matter how many difficulties and obstacles there are, I will make my parents live forever! Although there has never been a case in the cultivation world of making a mortal live forever, I must do it! Otherwise, what is the use of cultivating?