Unsheathed

Chen Ping'an looked up at the night sky, not retracting his gaze for a long time.

He was standing under the eaves and holding a charcoal basket in his hand.

Gu Can was crying hysterically, much like a wounded child.

Chen Ping'an had already turned his gaze back to Gu Can, yet he still didn't open his mouth to say anything. Rather, he let Gu Can kneel there and bawl, with tears and snot covering the young boy's face.

Gu Can continued to cry uncontrollably, all the way until his body started to convulse. When he ran out of energy, he started to sob quietly. After recovering some energy, he started to wail hysterically again, seemingly wanting to cry his heart out.

"Why didn't you plead with me?" Chen Ping'an asked slowly. "Is it because you knew it would be futile? Were you unwilling to lose your final chance just like that? After all, pleading for Tan Xue would have meant severing the final strand of relationship with me. My relationship with your Spring Courtyard Mansion, your mother, and you, Gu Can, would have finished once and for all. Is this the reason why you didn't plead with me?

"Did you finally come to the realization that you might not be able to stay alive in Bamboo Scroll Lake even if Tan Xue were here to protect you? That being the case, perhaps it would be better to trade Tan Xue for me, Chen Ping'an, and have me become the door god of the Spring Courtyard Mansion. In this way, you and your mother might still be able to continue living like the past.

"Of course, things will be slightly less satisfying than before, and you'll no longer be able to confidently announce to me that you like to kill people. However, this is still better than being mysteriously slapped to death by a cultivator that you've never met before someday in the future and being made to reunite with your family in the afterlife. Compared to this outcome, you've still come out on top, no?"

Gu Can refused to speak, and he didn't wipe the tears and snot from his face either. He simply stared at Chen Ping'an with a blank expression.

Chen Ping'an sighed and walked over to Gu Can, bending over and handing him the charcoal basket.

Each step through the thick snow caused a loud crunching sound to reverberate through the surroundings.