Chapter Eighteen: The Ring

  On New Year's Eve, the Ma family gathering was filled with the sound of children's laughter and playful shouts, causing the snow on the roof to fall off in clumps. Old Mr. Ma held his wine cup, took a sip, savored it, and said to Mr. Zhang across from him, "This pear blossom wine is indeed worth five cents of silver per share, this flavor... (sigh) ...can't be beat." After finishing speaking, he downed another cup. Mr. Zhang seemed slightly drunk as well, ignoring the thin old man in front of him, holding his own wine cup and muttering to himself about the vastness of the world within the wine.

  Seeing Mr. Zhang like this, Old Horse Head chuckled to himself, picked up the small wine cup and downed another glass, listening to the crackling firecrackers outside, he couldn't help but feel delighted in his heart, he's old and doesn't have any other hobbies, just likes this drink, if he could have a pot every day, he wouldn't trade it for being an immortal. He saw Ma Ling'er sneaking out with narrowed eyes, Old Horse Head's eyes rolled around, chuckled a few times, and poured another full cup of wine, "Come on, Mr. Zhang, let's have one more."

  Gan Ping, who was reading a book, heard the door creak open and then close quietly. He couldn't help but smile to himself, thinking "This girl is at it again." A pair of icy small hands covered his eyes from behind, whispering "Guess who I am?" Gan Ping rolled his eyes and said "Aren't you out setting off firecrackers?" As soon as he finished speaking, the hands covering his eyes disappeared, and he was hit hard on the back of the head. Ma Ling'er scolded angrily, "You stubborn mule, either don't speak or say something that won't make people angry!"

  Gan Ping rubbed the back of his head and turned around with a bitter smile, saying: "Aren't I greeting you?" Ma Ling'er said angrily: "You don't even understand when people are joking with you, and every time it's like this. Who else would I hit if not you?" Gan Ping was speechless for a moment. Since he had cultivated the Binghuo Rongyuan Decision, his six senses had become extremely sharp. To him, whether he saw or didn't see made no difference. He had known Ma Ling'er was coming since she walked to the door. This time, he was unjustly scolded.

  Looking at Geping's daze, Malinger blinked and said: "Don't you want to go out and play?" "It doesn't make sense, I won't go out." This was also the truth. Since the beast attacked the village that time, all the villagers, young and old, were very polite to Geping, but Geping felt a sense of alienation from this politeness, and there was a hint of fear. Even if he went out, those children would immediately stop playing and look at him with respect. This made Geping very uncomfortable, so he didn't go out much. Fortunately, people close to him like Mr. Zhang, Mrs. Ma, and Old Horse Head did not look at him with strange eyes, but treated him as usual.

  Ma Ling'er saw that he was a bit unhappy, so she said: "Then I'll keep you company for a while." After finishing speaking, she sat down, one hand propping up her chin, and a pair of bright big eyes blinked blinking, making Gan Ping feel unnatural for a moment. He sighed silently, put down the book in his hand, and asked: "Aren't you going out to set off firecrackers?" "I'm not going, it's good here, my mother said that girls should be like girls, can't always run around, or else..." Ma Ling'er's face suddenly turned red as she said: "Or else... or else they won't get married." Her voice was like a mosquito buzz, almost inaudible, and her blushing face also lowered.

  Gan Ping saw her like this, also a moment of embarrassment. A few days ago, Old Horse Head had just brought up the marriage with Mr. Zhang. At the wine table, Mr. Zhang drank a few more cups and patted his chest to agree. Gan Ping was an orphan, and Mr. Zhang took him in, living and eating together, teaching him with all his heart every day, like a father and son. Although Gan Ping is now different from ordinary people, Mr. Zhang regards Gan Ping as his own son. At that time, he agreed to the engagement in a moment of drunkenness, but the next day after sobering up, he couldn't bring himself to mention it. Looking at Gan Ping's calm and peaceful young face, Mr. Zhang felt a pang of guilt. How could he say that he was drunk and had sold out Gan Ping like this?

  But to let Mr. Zhang do that, he would rather die than think about it. For several days in a row, he didn't dare to go to Old Ma's house for dinner, and every time it was Gan Ping who brought back the meals. But this sudden change around him made Gan Ping confused and bewildered, while Mr. Zhang was flashing with excitement, Mrs. Ma was unusually enthusiastic, and even Old Ma was beaming with joy, not to mention Ma Ling'er, that little girl, who blushed as soon as she saw herself.

  Finally, one day, the truth was revealed from Mali's mouth, and Gan Ping couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. Looking at the little girl in front of him who was as red as an apple, he was also speechless. Gan Ping didn't blame Mr. Zhang for anything, respecting his teacher like a father, since it had been decided there was no way to change it, fortunately, he was still young, and they would talk about it later. However, after the matter was clarified, Mali stuck to him every day, which was annoying and gave him a headache.

  It was just what happened earlier, this little girl had to play several times a day, which made Gan Ping really depressed. Seeing that Ma Ling'er didn't show any intention of leaving, Gan Ping simply put down his book and said: "Well, since you're not going out, let's play chess instead." Ma Ling'er thought for a moment and said: "Okay, but you have to give in to me." Gan Ping had no choice but to pinch his nose and agree, it was better than being stared at blankly by someone.

  Ma Ling'er was extremely bad at chess, and as a hot-headed little girl, she didn't have the patience to play chess every day. But if the person sitting in front of her was Gan Ping, it would be a different story altogether. In mountain villages, girls were married off at the age of 13 or 14, and after the New Year, Ma Ling'er had already turned 12 and understood some things. When she heard that she was engaged to Gan Ping, this little girl was overjoyed. Gan Ping wasn't bad-looking, had a gentle temper, and had even saved the lives of everyone in the village - what girl wouldn't like a hero?

  She sat there, holding the chess piece in her hand, but was distracted and secretly glancing at Gan Ping with the corner of her eye. Who would have thought that the little beggar she saw at the village entrance that day would become her husband? Not to mention, how did she not notice how good-looking he was that day? Ma Ling'er's distraction had put Gan Ping in a difficult spot. Mr. Zhang had once said that Gan Ping played chess like a general on the battlefield, charging forward fearlessly and with great momentum. Unfortunately, this general-like Gan Ping now had to hold back at every turn, making deliberate moves but then pulling back, lest he "accidentally" win against Ma Ling'er, which would be no small trouble.

  Days passed one by one, after the Spring Festival, Old Horse Face sold some of the materials from those monsters and kept the most valuable ones for future use in the village. He used this money to compensate the families who suffered losses and bought stone materials to rebuild the village walls.

  Every month, he would grind some powder from the iron armor of the Kui bull and make it into top-notch weapons to sell. It has to be said that this old horse head indeed had a talent for business. Along with three high-quality weapons made from Kui bull bone powder every month, he gradually spread the reputation of Ma's blacksmithing, and business got better and better.

  But these have nothing to do with Gan Ping, who is still diligently cultivating every day. The Soul Silk Technique is about to reach the realm of gathering souls and forming silk. At that time, he can open the storage ring and explore its secrets.

  In the blink of an eye, six months had passed. It was just the busy farming season. Gan Ping sat by the window, looking at Ma Ling'er and Huo Er playing together outside the window, smiling faintly. Not long after the New Year, Huo Er, who had been sleeping soundly, woke up. At that time, Gan Ping turned this little monkey over and over again to examine it several times, until the little clever ghost was annoyed and bared its teeth. However, Gan Ping didn't find any difference between Huo Er and before, except that its body was a bit smaller, and the greenish-white hair on its head was more vibrant. There were no other changes. Since he couldn't see any changes, Gan Ping let it go. It was good that it could wake up. Without this little guy jumping around by his side, he really wasn't used to it.

  The happiest person after Huo'er woke up was Mali, when Huo'er first fell into a deep sleep, this little girl worried for several days, with tears in her eyes every day, almost making Gan Ping reveal the origin of Huo'er, but thinking again that it would involve too many people, so she had to keep it secret.

  For the past six months, the two little ones who were engaged still went to school and ate together as usual, but with this added connection, their relationship became more subtle. It wasn't some kind of romantic affair between a man and woman, just the joyful feeling of two childhood friends growing up together.

  Looking at Ma Ling'er, Gan Ping smiled faintly. He was becoming more and more like Mr. Zhang, always calm and composed, with a refined air about him that was evident in every gesture. This was something that Mr. Zhang was very pleased with. Two days ago, Gan Ping had already cultivated the Soul Silk Technique to the first level of gathering souls into silk, wrapping the condensed root soul silk around the storage ring left behind by Xuan Mingzi and imprinting a divine soul mark on it.

  Although Gan Ping was well-prepared, he was also dazzled by the treasures accumulated by Xuan Mingzi. This storage ring had an extremely vast space, and it seemed that for someone like Xuan Mingzi, this unassuming storage ring was a third-grade treasure. However, Gan Ping was unaware of this. Inside the ring's space, there were at least 30,000 catties of spiritual jade, which was used by cultivators to create talismans, treasures, and even consumables for battling enemies. It was also the most basic currency in the cultivation world.

  Although the Lingyu is the most basic, the reserve in this ring is also a bit frightening. A jade mine vein can produce more than 100 pieces, which is very good. These tens of thousands of catties make Gan Ping suspect that Xuanmingzi may have dug up some kind of Lingyu mine vein to get these out. Gan Ping's guess is not the truth, but it's not far off either. This Lingyu is actually a small sect's discovered mine vein. Unexpectedly, it attracted Xuanmingzi, this world-class villain, who exterminated the entire sect and directly severed the mine vein, taking away the Ling stone that was born with the Lingyu, and now all of it has been taken advantage of by Gan Ping.

  Due to the previous layout of the Xuan Tian Array by Xuan Mingzi, the number of spirit stones in the ring had decreased significantly. There were only three top-grade spirit stones, over a thousand high-grade spirit stones, and merely a hundred or so mid- and low-grade spirit stones left. To someone like Xuan Mingzi, who was at the same level as him, these mid- and low-grade spirit stones were beneath his notice, and naturally, he couldn't find any trace of them in the ring.

  There were still many unrecognizable materials and elixirs left, a huge amount, but Gān Píng wasn't interested in them. Instead, the secret manuals and strange books inside the ring suited his taste. Inside the ring, there were also many bizarre magical artifacts, but Gān Píng's cultivation was too poor to use them. Among these artifacts, however, Gān Píng found something that piqued his interest.