"Huh? Was that a threat, you little shit?" the man asked.
"Of course," Ning said. "You disrespected my woman. That deserves nothing but the harshest of punishment, but since your father was so kind as to give her a place to stay and a means to earn, I am going to go lenient on you. Which is why you can be glad I'm not killing you."
"Hmph! You sure talk a lot," the man said. "He intruded here, right?"
"Yes, senior. We tried to stop him, but he was too slippery to catch," the guards said.
"Useless bastards, I should have you all fired and hire some better ones. We don't need garbage here," the man said. "Yeah, that's what I'm going to do now. I will give you one chance now. Beat that kid. The one that beats him the hardest gets to stay. Everyone else is getting fired."
As soon as he finished saying that, Ning's arm wrapped around his shoulder as he leaned in close to the man. "Why get the poor guards involved when they were just doing their job? It's not like they have the capabilities to stop me," Ning said.
The young man surnamed Gallow frowned. He did not realize when Ning got so close to him. Also, how did he not sense it at all?
"Ely," Ning called out.
"Yes?" Ely asked.
"Can you go to senior Gallow's place and tell him that you are leaving? I will meet you there after doing this real quick," Ning said.
Ely hesitated. "Just… don't kill him okay?" she said.
"Don't worry, I won't kill him," Ning said. "Alright, see you in a few minutes then."
Ning disappeared as he went somewhere along with the man. Ely was left alone with the guards, but she quickly walked out as per Ning's instruction and went towards the Gallow mansion in the city.
She asked to speak with the old man who spent most of his time cultivating as his weak body could not do anything else. The only way for him to come out of this with a better body was to break through to the Full Immortal realm.
After hearing that Ely had visited him, the old man left his room and went out to the garden to meet her.
"Miss Ely, it has been a while, hasn't it?" the old man said as he walked out with a cane.
"Senior Gallow!" Ely stood up and walked up to him to help him walk.
"It's alright. I can walk," the old man said as he walked on his own. Ely still stayed by his side just in case he needed her.
"Ahh… you haven't come to see me in a while. I thought you had forgotten about me," the old man said.
"Nonsense, I can never forget about a benefactor," Ely said seriously.
"You don't have to be so serious. Ours was a relationship based on exchange. I gave you a place to work and you worked to pay me back. You don't have to be any more thoughtful than you would to a friend," the old man said. "So, why are you here today? I don't suppose you came upon a new blueprint, did you?"
"I have a few new ones, but that is not why I am here," Ely said. "I came to tell you that I will leave this place today."
"Leaving?" the old man asked with a confused look before his eyes narrowed in seriousness. "Not permanently, right?"
"Permanently," Ely said. "My Dao companion returned to me today and I will be leaving with him."
"Your dao companion?" the old man asked. "I thought that was just a small lie you told to stop my idiot son from approaching you."
"No, I have a Dao companion, and I am leaving today," she said.
"Where are you going to go?" the old man asked. "Can't you just stay here?"
"That will depend on my dao companion," Ely said. "However, I doubt he will want to stay here."
"Hmm… sounds like a man who knows what he wants. I would love to meet him," he said.
"He should come by any time soo—"
Ning appeared right at the moment, arriving next to the table. He slumped onto the empty chair next to him and looked towards the old man.
"You must be senior Gallow," he said with a cupped fist. "I am Ning Ruogong. Thank you for taking care of my wife."
"You are her Dao companion?" the man asked. "You are lucky to have ascended to the same plane as her. Most do not have your luck, young man. The heavens are favoring you two, you better keep each other happy."
"Haha, thank you," Ning said.
"Where do you plan on going next?" the man asked.
"I have no concrete goal at the moment," Ning said. "But I'm going to search for a good place where we can settle for a bit. I would like to start a small sect or organization of my own where my people can live without worry."
"I see. I don't think I can say anything other than good luck."
Ning and Ely talked with the old man for a little while before leaving. Ely left behind a handful of blueprints, amongst which Ning added a small scroll of his own.
After they left, the old man opened up the blueprints and sighed to himself. "Such a gem, gone like that. I will have to find someone to replace her," he thought.
The artifact guild he had formed in the city was too great to just give up on after the head artificer left. He needed to find someone quickly if he wanted to keep the occupation going.
"Still, there are so many good blueprints here. I can make another fortu— Hmm?" the old man paused when he saw the scroll. It had words written on it, instead of drawings, which caught his attention.
The old man slowly read through the scroll. At first, he was confused about what the writing was about, but as he read it, his eyes went wide.
"No way!" he said in a soft voice. "This… this can help me heal?"
The scroll he was reading had a cultivation technique written on it that was not only very good to collect a lot of Qi at once, but it also improved one's longevity while improving their healing capabilities.
This was the exact type of cultivation method the old man had been looking for and now he had found it.
"I need to go train immediately," the old man thought. "But what about an artificer? I need to get one too."
Just then, one of the maids walked out in a hurry. "Lord, something's happened to the young lord."
"What?" the old man asked. "What happened to my son?"
The old man rushed as fast as he could to go over to his son, and when he arrived, he saw the young Gallow huddled up in the corner, mumbling incoherent words.
When the old man got closer, he finally heard what he was saying.
"He killed me and healed me. He killed me and healed me. He killed me and healed me."
"Son?" the old man asked.
"He killed me and healed me. He killed me and healed me. He killed me and healed me."
"Son, what's wrong?" the old man asked, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.
"AAHH!" the son jumped up in fear and turned around. When he did, he expected to see a young man with a spear that was ready to cut him down again.
However, this time, he saw none other than his own father. Noticing his father, the young man immediately started crying.
"Father! I was wrong, father. I was wrong. I won't do it ever again," he started shouting. "Please help me, father. I'm a bad man, I want to change, father. I want to become a decent human being again."
"What?" the old man looked at his son in confusion. His son was one that never even looked him in the eyes. In recent days, he had been too haughty and was treating everyone like garbage.
However, for some reason his son had suddenly changed his stance and was now asking to become a decent human.
The old man was surprised and wondered what had happened to his son. He tried asking his son, but his son would not open his mouth.
Later, he would come to find out that it had to do something with Ely's dao companion, but even then nothing fruitful would result from his investigation.
However, even if something did come from investigating, the only thing the old man would do is thank Ning and reward him for what he had done.
After all, that was the day the old man's son changed his ways and became an honorable person that deserved praise and respect from everyone.
The old man's health became better and along with his son, he improved his wealth even more. As an immortal, the old man would go on to live for another few hundred thousand years, dying only to a lightning tribulation that would come when he tries to break through to the Immortal Saint realm.
His son would go on to be just as great as his father, improving their wealth even more and having his own son that would help him in the family.
The Gallow family would continue to prosper for hundreds of thousands of years more, and they would all look back on this fateful day as being the turning point that brought them to where they were.
