Ren Yuanhao gently helped the woman up. At this moment, the old woman tossed two towels in, gesturing for him to take them to help the woman clean herself and her hair.
After some cleaning, the woman's demeanor finally settled down a bit, but her eyes still lacked any spark of life.
"What happened? These people were quite ruthless." Ren Yuanhao's inherent kindness flared up, unstoppable.
The woman clasped her hands together, her knuckles turning slightly white. Her damp hair clung to her pale cheeks. While she couldn't be called a beauty, she was tall, and her every move didn't seem like that of an ordinary woman.
"It's nothing, little brother. Thank you." The woman clearly didn't wish to open up. She stood up immediately, thanked him repeatedly, and was about to leave.
Ren Yuanhao's brow furrowed, and he grabbed her, "Since I've gotten involved in this, I'm going to see it through. Aren't you afraid they'll come back?"
Perhaps his words had an effect. The woman's body suddenly trembled, and her tall frame became as pliant as a piece of paper, as if a gust of wind could blow her away.
For a moment, fear, worry, and pain, three different emotions, flickered across the woman's face, merging into an extremely distorted expression.
"Tell me, maybe I can help you."
Ren Yuanhao tried to speak in a gentle tone, attempting to break through the woman's most vulnerable defenses. Although he himself was in dire need of help, it was this very sentiment that allowed him to better understand the woman's feelings.
"I'm sorry, before you help me, I'd like to understand a little. May I ask you three questions?"
The woman was finally willing to talk.
"Yes, go ahead and ask."
The woman hesitated for a moment, as if she had finally mustered her courage. Her eyes, dull as dead ashes, stared intently at Ren Yuanhao. "May I ask, do you have money?"
Ren Yuanhao shook his head.
"Then, do you have any strong connections?"
Ren Yuanhao thought for a moment, considering that he should be able to speak with the Xia and Ouyang families. He nodded.
"Alright then, how strong is your desire to help me? What if I'm just an utterly wicked woman? Would you still help me without hesitation?"
A light that seemed to pierce through the soul shot out from the woman's ashen eyes.
Ren Yuanhao was shaken by her words and, in a daze, understood something.
However, by the time he regained his senses, the woman had vanished. In her place stood the old woman from the small shop.
"Kid, your betel nut."
"Grandma, I want to smoke."
The old woman gave him a meaningful look, then unwrapped the betel nut and handed it to Ren Yuanhao. "Kid, you have something on your mind?"
"Yes."
The old woman popped a piece into her own mouth and sat beside Ren Yuanhao on a bench by the pond in the twilight. She suddenly said, "Tell me about it. Perhaps this old woman, on her last legs, can offer some advice."
Ren Yuanhao tidied his thoughts and spoke in a very perplexed tone, "Grandma, people always say seeing is believing. Just like I saw that woman being held down in the pond by a group of men, it's only natural to think that a group of men were troubling a woman, right?"
"At least, what most people see is indeed the case," the old woman replied.
"Then, what if the truth is the opposite? What if that woman is a great villain?" Ren Yuanhao suddenly looked down at his hands. "I was just thinking, if I had known beforehand that the woman was utterly wicked, would I have still saved her so resolutely?"
The old woman suddenly laughed. The sharpness in her eyes softened considerably. "So that's what's troubling you. Alright, I'll tell you, no matter how many times it happens, you would save her."
"Why?"
"In fact, saving a wicked person is even more commendable than saving a good person. I say this because your reflex to save someone is faster than your thinking process. The moment your eyes capture such a situation, your reflex to save overrides everything, and you save them without hesitation. This is innate kindness, and also immense courage, kid. The reason two people meet in the vast sea of humanity is not without reason; it's fate that you will have some interaction. Rather than overthinking, it's better to act according to your heart."
"Act according to my heart?"
"Yes, acting according to your heart means no self-deception. Sometimes, when you don't want to do something, your mind will automatically conjure a reason to stop you. Once you're convinced by that reason, you lose the courage even to pick up a weapon."
The old woman slowly stood up and walked to the front of the small shop, handing Ren Yuanhao an old oil-paper umbrella.
"The best way to cut through doubt is to act according to your heart. Life doesn't have a second chance. Only by living your true self can you gain enlightenment," the old woman said, a faint smile appearing on her face as if she remembered something, making her look as radiant as the dawn of a new day in her youth.
Ren Yuanhao respectfully accepted the umbrella the old woman had been fiddling with, thinking it must be something she treasured. Just as he was about to refuse, he saw the old woman turn and go back into the small shop, resting her head on a peeling little table, apparently not intending to engage with him further.
"Thank you, Grandma. This junior will take his leave."
Ren Yuanhao carefully held what others might consider 'trash,' and after taking a few steps, the old woman murmured something that only she could hear.
"We will meet again, kid."
...
Ren Yuanhao walked a long distance, aimlessly. Some of the doubts in his heart vanished, and his mood improved considerably. It was at this moment that a rather piercing system sound suddenly assaulted his ears.
"Beep beep, my heavens, Ren Yuanhao, I truly underestimated you. You really melted the glaciers into the sea in one night. How did you do it?"
"The conversion of ice to water is merely a physical phenomenon. I just changed the environmental temperature, and that was it."
"How did you change it?"
"By using the water-attribute true qi from the鲛人泪 (Jiaoren Lei), and mixing it with some fire-attribute true qi from my dantian, then infusing it into the glaciers. It's that simple."
"Simple? This goes against the normal rules of cultivation!"
"Not at all. Don't you have experience boiling water? And no matter how thick the glacier, there are always cracks. Water benefits all things and seeps into every crevice. To put it metaphorically, I just infused hot water into the glacier, and then everything became simple."
"You kid, your way of thinking is indeed different from the norm."