Chapter 256 – Coldness

Wang Lin smiled and said, “That’s right. Once uncle has made a lot of money, he will go back and get married.”

Da Niu was about to speak when his father called him. Da Niu responded and said to Wang Lin, with a bitter smile, “I have to do ironworks again.” With that, he helplessly returned home.

From inside the ironworks shop came a few shouts from Da Niu’s father. Wang Lin took a sip of the wine and continued to sit outside. Slowly, snow began to fall and this year’s first snow silently appeared.

The temperature suddenly dropped.

The snowflakes hit Wang Lin’s face and quickly turned into ice water. Wang Lin raised his head and looked at the dim sky. He raised his hand and casually closed it. All of the snowflakes started to gather toward him.

Wang Lin took a deep breath and released his right hand. The snowflakes immediately scattered and drifted in all directions. This happened so quickly that none of the mortals noticed it as they quickly walked through the streets with their heads down.

As the sky darkened, there were less and less people walking around. Soon, there was no one left on the street. Even all the shops had closed down due to the cold. Everyone had gone home to their families to gather around the stove.

This type of warmth, besides the physical warmth, also warmed the soul. This type of warmth from being with the family could expel any coldness.

Slowly, sadness filled Wang Lin’s eyes. The coldness that the snow brought was really nothing to him, but at this moment, when he looked at all of the lights coming from the shops and his shop being the only one dark one, a sliver of coldness appeared in his heart.

This coldness wasn’t anything a fire or technique could help get rid of. This type of coldness came from comprehending the heavens and was a must to experience life.

In order to turn into an immortal, one must first turn into a mortal.

Although it was easy to turn into mortal, how could it be that easy? Right now, Wang Lin was experiencing loneliness. He knew that he needed to keep experiencing it.

This loneliness was nothing compared to years later, when everyone he knows dies one by one until he is the only one left. That is true loneliness

Wang Lin began to ponder. After a long time, he stood up. It seemed as if he had just aged a lot. He slowly picked up the chair, went back into the shop, and slowly closed the door.

After a long time, a fire lit up inside the shop. Although this fire looked like all the other shops’ fires, this one was hollow, and a deep sense of loneliness hid inside it.

Wang Lin sat next to the fire. It was very warm inside the shop, but his heart became even colder. After pondering for a long time, Wang Lin took out a wood carving and put it beside him.

This was a carving of his father.

Looking at the carving, the coldness in Wang Lin’s heart lessened a bit. He then took out the carving of his mother. Then, he gradually took out carvings one by one and placed them near the fireplace.

There were carvings of males and females, young people and old people. All of them were residents of the small village.

Looking at these carvings, Wang Lin let out a smile. Although this smile was filled with satisfaction, if anyone were to see the smile, they would have said, “How is that a smile? It is clearly a silent cry.”

The fire flickered, sometimes lighting Wang Lin’s face, sometimes making it dim. When the light reached the wood carvings, they gave off a strange feeling.

He gently grabbed each carving as the coldness lessened in his heart. Although the coldness lessened, his sadness grew.

Wang Lin muttered to himself, “Can’t let it go, can’t let it go…” In his early years of cultivation, he couldn’t let go of his family. Even now, he still couldn’t let them go.

But this type of feeling was different from back then. In order to turn into an immortal, he first must turn into a mortal. If he had let go of all of his emotions toward his family, then there would be no way for him to turn into a mortal.

Every Soul Formation cultivator was strong not only because of their cultivation, but also because their hearts hid a tiny bit of emotion deep down. They used this bit of emotion to break through the Nascent Soul stage and reach the Soul Formation stage.

It was because of this emotion that Wang Lin didn’t meet with any difficulty turning into a mortal and gradually began to feel like a mortal.

At the moment, he was immersed in thoughts about his parents and silently experiencing this feeling. The spiritual energy in his body started to wildly surge again. This spiritual energy gradually came out of his body. Slivers of spiritual energy came out from all of the wood carvings in the room and swirled along with Wang Lin’s spiritual energy.

Gradually, the swirl of spiritual energy spun even faster and expanded to outside the shop.

When the snowflakes fell on the roof of the shop, they began to swirl as well. They soon turned into swirls of snowflakes and flew off into the distance.

The snow started to come down harder and harder. Gradually, Wang Lin began to awaken and when he awakened, a crack had appeared on some of the wood carvings.

Although these wood carvings gained a crack, their spiritual pressure became even stronger. Even their quality increased.

Wang Lin took a look and took a deep breath.

He stood up, then pushed opened the door. A cold wind mixed with snow hit his face. He looked up into the sky and whispered, “Soul Formation, I, Wang Lin, will obtain it, no matter what!”

The snow started to fall even harder and a thick layer of snow started to gather on the ground. At this moment, the door to the ironworks shop opposite of Wang Lin suddenly opened. Da Niu and his father were about to leave when they saw Wang Lin standing there. They couldn’t help but be startled. Da Niu ran through the snow, making crunching sounds with each step. He arrived next to Wang Lin and shouted, “Uncle Wang, did you know we were going to come?” With that, he entered the room and sat next to the fire.

Da Niu’s father carried a wooden basket and smiled, “Brother Wang, you’re not busy?”

Wang Lin faintly smiled as he moved aside and said, “I’m not busy. Come and talk inside.”

Da Niu’s father entered the room. He looked at the carvings in the room and revealed a look of envy. He placed the wooden basket on the ground, then rubbed his hands. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to start.

At that moment, Da Niu, who was next to the fire, saw the carvings of Wang Lin’s parents and suddenly shouted, “Uncle Wang, how come I have never seen these carvings before? Did you make them recently?”

Wang Lin closed the door. He then sat down and said, “I made them a while ago.”

Da Niu carefully looked at the wood carvings and asked, “Uncle Wang, who are these carvings of?”

Wang Lin’s eyes revealed a look of nostalgia and slowly said, “They are my family.”

Da Niu was startled and no longer kept asking. He walked to the basket and opened it up. Inside were three plates of exquisite dishes and two jugs of fruit wine.

Wang Lin took a look and let out a faint smile as he looked at Da Niu’s father. He had known this man for a long time and this was the first time Wang Lin had seen him like this. Clearly, Da Niu’s father had come to ask for his help, but didn’t know how to ask.

Wang Lin said, “Brother Ceng, if you have anything to say, just say it.”

Da Niu’s father hesitated for a bit. He rubbed his hands and awkwardly said, “Nothing, nothing.”

Da Niu looked at the dishes in the basket. He swallowed hard and his hand reached in. When he noticed his father giving him the look, he quickly pulled his hand back out and disgruntledly said, “It is only borrowing some silver. What’s so embarrassing about it?”

Da Niu’s father’s face suddenly turned red and he scolded his son. “Little brat, wait until we are home.”

Da Niu stuck out his tongue and said, “Since father won’t say it, I’ll say it. Mother wants to buy the shop next to ours to make our shop bigger, but doesn’t have enough money.”

Da Niu’s father let out a sigh. He looked at Wang Lin and helplessly said, “Brother Wang, your sister in law thinks our shop is too small and limits the business we can do. She saw that old Li’s shop is for rent, so she wanted to immediately rent it.”

Wang Lin faintly nodded. He picked up the jug of wine from the basket and drank a gulp, then said, “How much do you need?”

Da Niu’s father hesitated for a while and said, “The shop is pretty big and we have to pay two years’ rent at once, so it would be 50 pieces of silver… er…. 30. 30 pieces of silver is enough.”

Da Niu pouted and whispered, “Mother clearly said 80 pieces of silver…” Before he could finish, his father shot him another vicious stare.

Wang Lin nodded. Without a word, he stood up and walked into the back room. There was a basket there filled with gold and silver. Wang Lin casually picked up some gold and placed it before Da Niu’s father.

When Da Niu’s father saw the piece of gold, he was startled and quickly said, “ I don’t need this much. Brother Wang, quickly take it back. I only want to borrow 30 pieces of silver.” From his point of view, there were at least ten pieces of gold in front of him, far more than he needed.

Wang Lin picked up the jug of wine and smiled, “Brother Ceng, I’m not lending you this money. This is money for wine. From now on, I’d like to buy a jug of your fruit wine every day. That money for 10 years of fruit wine is worth it.”

Da Niu’s father hesitated for a bit. His face revealed an excited expression. He said, “Brother Wang, this…”

Da Niu rolled his eyes and said, “Dad, just take it. Uncle Wang can sell one wood carving for 10 pieces of gold.”

Da Niu’s father stared at Da Niu again. He picked up the jug, took a large gulp, then said, “Brother Wang, what’s 10 years or 8 years? As long as you live here, I’ll send you a jug of wine every day!”

Wang Lin chuckled. Looking at the father and son before him, his heart was no longer cold. He now felt a tiny bit of warmth.

That night, Da Niu’s father drank a lot. Two jugs were clearly not enough. Da Niu served them on the side and it wasn’t until the 10th jug that they had drank enough.

Finally, Da Niu’s father passed out from drinking, but his hand tightly held onto the gold as he was being carried back by Da Niu.

Before they left, Da Niu quietly said to Wang Lin, “Uncle Wang, we have a lot of this wine. My dad won’t let me tell other people, but in truth, there are many large pots of wine in the basement of our house, and it is said that there are even more buried deep down. If it wasn’t for the fact that father refuses to sell the wine, mother wouldn’t have made him come here to borrow money.”