Finally, it was nightfall. Other than the main streets of Dongchang City, where lanterns were hung, all the streets and alleys were shrouded in darkness. There were a few larger households that were still lit but most of the commoners had retired by sunset.

Bai Fanlu waited in a dark corner, while the young man stood in an illuminated area of the street. He was being led by the little monkey who was surveying the surroundings. Both men kept a short distance between them.

After about ten minutes, Zhizhi sensed something and reacted.

It seemed to have found its target and was no longer jumping up and down aimlessly, but ran in a single direction.

The youth chased after him, and before long, a figure suddenly appeared across the empty street. At that moment, Bai Fanlu heard the shrill voice of a man,"Kiddo, still not giving up?”

The Flower Thief? Humph, this guy sounds weak from his voice. And I thought that he was an imposing character.

Bai Fanlu remained in the shadows and heard the youth confronting the other, "I'll give up after if I catch you today."

"How presumptuous!" The Flower Thief snorted, "Yesterday, I was merciful enough to let you go, but you've come to court death. Fine then, l’ll grant you your wish!"

The Flower Thief didn't draw any weapon, but raised his hand and made a slashing gesture at the youth. Bai Fanlu noticed the strange movement and was surprised to detect that he was no ordinary commoner, but a fellow cultivator.

The youth had a sword with him and tried to draw it to deflect the move. Yet at this moment, he was shoved aside by a strong force from behind. Bai Fanlu moved in to receive the blow from the other party. He summoned his wind barrier and leapt up high. Immediately, he countered with his sword, sending a fierce gust of sword aura towards the Flower Thief.

The Flower Thief did indeed have some skills and sensed right away that Bai Fanlu was a formidable opponent. He swiftly dodged and made a run for it.

His earlier attack was weakened by the distance, and it was not clear as to whether the Flower Thief was a demonic or immortal cultivator. However, that man did have some genuine extraordinary spiritual energy. Although Bai Fanlu was hot in pursuit, he soon lost him for reasons unknown.

Having crossed the city’s boundaries, Bai Fanlu stopped to look around and noticed a sparse patch of forest. At this moment, the moon hung like a silver basin, bright in the night sky. It seemed to be even brighter than it was back in the city.

Bai Fanlu sat down and decided to take a short break, but he didn't dare to take the situation lightly. His eyes were closed but he kept half of his spiritual awareness to keep watch of his surroundings.

Sure enough, something seemed to be approaching...

He abruptly opened his eyes and a white shadow darted into view. It quickly shot behind a scrubby bush not far away and revealed its two large and glistening eyes, cowering as if it was frightened by the murderous aura.

It was Zhizhi, the little white monkey.

"That’s-that’s great! We finally found you!"

The youth came running right behind him. As soon as he saw Bai Fanlu, he stopped and bent down, panting, with both hands on his knees. Then, he decided to just sit directly on the ground and rested for a long while.

"I'm exhausted!"

The youth ranted profusely while the little white monkey hopped between his legs and flopped down, panting too. This duo was oddly in sync.

Bai Fanlu silently retracted his hand from the hilt of his sword, "Why are you here?"

"Why? To help you of course!"

The youth justified himself as he patted his chest to ease his breathing. Then, he suddenly chucked, "Oh right, I was initially worried about you. Now I realize that you don't seem to need my help."

The youth’s words ‘worried about you’ were so straightforward and simplistic that Bai Fanlu froze for a moment, not knowing how to respond.

But the teenager simply continued to share his insights, "It’s no wonder I sensed that you were no ordinary person from the first time I saw you. Seeing you and him in that battle..."

His eyes suddenly lit up, "Young Master, are you by any chance an immortal?"

Bai Fanlu was slightly stunned but smiled and shook his head, not answering his question.

"Wow! You must be an immortal then!"

The youth, who had been slouching wilfully on the grassy patch suddenly straightened up like he obtained a crucial piece of evidence. He gazed at Bai Fanlu with eyes that seemed dazzled with wonder.

"Immortal, are you a hundred years old this year?"

Bai Fanlu looked back at him and replied half in jest and half in earnest, "Yes, and also no."

The book’s Bai Fanlu was four hundred and ninety years old. But he was just twenty-seven.

The teenager's eyes brightened even more, as if he had the entire moon shoved into his pupils. Bai Fanlu had a feeling that this youth seemed more like a big moon than a small sun.

He glowed with a light that wasn't too scorching, and had the ability to dispel the shadows of long, dark nights.

The youth could not tell what was on Bai Fanlu’s mind and excitedly added, "I'm only sixteen and so much younger than you...from now on I'll call you Immortal Gege, okay? Immortal Gege!"

Immortal gege? Bai Fanlu remembered the little beggar boy from before and broke into a smile, "You should call me Immortal Grandfather instead. It might be more appropriate."

"Grandfather? No way! You're so good looking. If I didn't know you were over a hundred years old, I would have thought you were just slightly older than me. And really just a little!"

The youth seemed to have thought of something and moved closer to Bai Fanlu again, "By the way, Immortal Gege, can you be my Shifu?"

He sat here holding both of Bai Fanlu’s hands and smilingly posed the question, looking exactly like how a Samoyed would beg his master for food. If he were to grow a big fluffy tail behind him, this scene would be exactly how Bai Fanlu had imagined.

Bai Fanlu looked at him and then back at the little monkey on his lap. He held back his laughter and shook his head, "No."

"Why not?"

"I haven't even mastered cultivation myself, how can I take on a disciple?"

The crux, however, was that after the Flower Thief had been caught, he would be leaving the city. The youth and himself met purely by chance, and as a mortal, he never belonged to Bai Fanlu’s world in the first place. It was best not to have further involvement with each other.

That was also the reason that Bai Fanlu never asked for the youth’s name all along.

"Then I shall follow you, and when you have mastered cultivation, you can take me in as your disciple!"

"...As you wish." Bai Fanlu thought, provided that he could still keep up by then.

"Heh! It's a deal then!"

There was no telling if the youth had deliberately ignored his perfunctory remark or whether he had taken it literally and seriously. He appeared to be thrilled and laid down on his back with arms stretched wide open on the grass.

It was just a pleasantry. Yet, he was cloud nine.

Bai Fanlu stopped meditating and leaned against the tree trunk behind him. With the youth at his side, the tension from the pending dangers around them unconsciously subsided.

"Immortal Gege, I haven't asked, what's your name?" The youth grabbed a piece of foxtail grass and held it in his mouth, the little monkey laying across his forehead, reached out to play with it.

Bai Fanlu pondered for two seconds, "Lu Fan."

"Oh..." the youth frowned slightly.

Bai Fanlu assumed that he was probably disappointed with the unremarkable name.

Who knew that the youth would break into a chortle and say, "My name is Xiao Liu!"

"Xiao...Liu?" Bai Fanlu froze.

The youth seemed to guess his thoughts and explained "My parents died soon after I was born, but I was the sixth member of my family, so everyone else calls me 'Xiao LiuLittle Six'."

The young boy gleefully described the origins of his name as if he was oblivious to any sorrows.

Bai Fanlu’s heart raced erratically at this. Looking at his face, he felt bitterness at his lips, "...I’m sorry."

Xiao Liu...Xiao Liu...How could there be such a coincidence?

"It’s nothing! Immortal Gege doesn’t have to apologise. Look at me now! I’m doing pretty well, right?"

Bai Fanlu was tongue-tied and the hand in the other’s trembled uncontrollably. He gazed at the youth’s radiant face and emotions buried deep within his heart stirred.

It was not pity that he felt for the youth’s family background, for there were many more in this world who were more pitiful than him. Even the little beggar boy had a more heartbreaking story. 　　

It was how synonymous his background was to someone in Bai Fanlu's memories. He was the same sixth child, the same nickname ‘Xiao Liu’, that identical pair of eyes that dazzled brighter than the moon.

He finally realised where that strange familiarity he had felt when he first met the boy came from.

He was too much like him...too much like that Xiao Liu!

Could it be that his own memories were merged into the plot line when he transmigrated to this world?

Bai Fanlu could not be sure because there was definitely no such character in the original novel.

And judging from the persona, this character did not seem to be powerful enough to have any significant impact on the main plot pertaining to the elimination of the demon. He resembled more closely an extremely passive nobody.

So what exactly was the reason for the appearance of this youth?

Bai Fanlu made some hand seals imperceptibly to confirm if ‘Xiao Liu’ was a mere mortal.

However, before Bai Fanlu could reach Xiao Liu’s right hand, the youth suddenly turned to his side and fiddled at his own waist to pull off a leather pouch and a water bottle.

He had been so thirsty from the mad rush earlier that he threw back his head and gulped all the water in no time.

After that, he shook the tilted bottle at his lips but not a drop was left.

"Wait here, Immortal Gege. I'll go and fetch more water."

Bai Fanlu nodded and discreetly placed his hand back onto his lap.

"Do you want some? I'll fetch some more."

"It’s alright."

Bai Fanlu watched as Xiao Liu went and squatted by the nearby river. After filling up the bottle, he ran into the woods and returned shortly to wash something else in the waters.

When he got back to Bai Fanlu’s side, there were a dozen or so freshly plucked crabapples in his arms.

"My clothes aren’t too clean, I hope Immortal Gege won’t mind."

Xiao Liu had wrapped the fruits in his own outer robe. He proceeded to spread it open on the ground and carefully placed the fruits aside. When he was done, he sat down and scratched his head.

Bai Fanlu knew that scratching his head was a reflexive action for when the youth was shy and nervous.

Xiao Liu grabbed a crabapple in each palm and took bites with great vigour. Zhizhi, on the other hand, held three fruits in his arms. It shoved the first two directly into his cheeks, then clasped the third and gnawed zealously on it.

Staring at the monkey, and its red cheeks, which moved like two bulging balls, he guessed that the peach was hidden in the little monkey’s mouth at yesterday’s performance of ‘Monkey Stealing Peach’.

Noticing Bai Fanlu’s fixation on Zhizhi, Xiao Liu laughed, "I raised him since he was little, he is very cheeky but also terribly smart."

Bai Fanlu thought, Raised from when it was little? They must be quite attached. No wonder the little monkey behaves just like a human.

"Immortal Gege, why won't you eat?"

Bai Fanlu was worried that the crabapples were poisonous, but when he saw that Xiao Liu and Zhizhi had both eaten them, he decided to have one. After he took a nibble and verified that it wasn’t, he took a bigger bite.

It was sweet, sour and juicy. The fruit tasted pretty good.

Crabapples aren’t big. A dozen of them were soon devoured with the last one fought over by Xiao Liu and Zhizhi. The tussle only lasted for a moment as the little monkey swiftly took a bite out of it.

Bai Fanlu watched them and broke into a faint smile. Xiao Liu caught his reaction as he was playing with Zhizhi and suddenly said, "I think you're different from how I imagined immortals to be."

"How different?"

"Other than being good-looking, different in every aspect."

Bai Fanfu smiled in response, "Then do you still want me as your Shifu?"

"Of course! I don't know about the others, but I particularly like you, Immortal Gege."

Bai Fanlu was tempted to use a ruler and slap it on Xiao Liu's palm, for disrespecting and teasing a Shifu should be considered a great sin. But then again, he hadn’t promised to be his Shifu either.

"Can Zhizhi still find the Flower Thief?" Bai Fanlu changed the subject and got down to business.

"Probably not today. This little monkey is a lazy one, you see."

Xiao Liu pouted his lips and gestured to the side. Zhizhi, who was stuffed with food and water, was now sprawled on grass with his belly all puffed out and soundly asleep . It was even blowing snot bubbles with each breath.

Bai Fanlu was secretly worried that he had not prepared well enough and had underestimated his opponent. Tomorrow, he planned to set up a boundary field, before he made any other moves, to prevent the Flower Thief from escaping.

But after what happened today, will the Flower Thief still appear easily?

Should we think of a way to lure him out?

"What kind of woman does the flower thief usually go after?"

"I don't know. Anyone who looks pretty is at risk."

"If only there was a way to roughly estimate his next target," Bai Fanlu pondered with furrowed brows, "so that we could set up a trap in advance.

Xiao Liu gazed at his serious expression and suddenly said, "If I were that Flower Thief, I would have set my next target by now."

"Who would that be?" Bai Fanlu's spirits lifted.

Xiao Liu grinned, "You!"