“Uncle Ning, it's my birthday today. What did you buy me?”

“I remember you had a birthday at the old Suns.h.i.+ne Orphanage. How many birthdays do you have a year?” a man's voice asked.

“You're stingy, stingy, stingy…” Li Xiaoyu's voice shouted.

“Hha, it's not your birthday, but I bought you a present,” the man's voice continued.

Su Ya rolled out of bed. Without shoes or clothes on, she ran to the window. Then she flung back the curtain to look out.

Golden suns.h.i.+ne came in from the window and fell on Su Ya. She was wearing only a bra and briefs. Her skin exposed in the air was rendered golden by the dawn, and there was a mysterious beauty.

She saw the man talking and laughing with Li Xiaoyu in the yard. It was Ning Tao. The moment she saw Ning Tao, a feeling of intimacy came at her and entered into her heart without obstruction, like a spring suddenly flowing into a dry field.

Her words, however, were different. “Where have you been these days?”

In the morning light, Ning Tao turned around with a smile on his lips. “Something urgent came up that day and I had to leave. I came back today to celebrate your birthday. Happy birthday! Su Ya.”

That was why he returned to the Sword Pavilion Village from the Sky Clinic in Guan City. The clinic moved that day, and he missed Su Ya's 18th birthday.

Su Ya felt spreading warmth through her heart, but she still said no mercy. “My birthday has gone. Today is not my birthday. How can birthdays be made up? And I don't need you to celebrate my birthday.”

“Uncle Ning, have you heard Sister Su Ya say she doesn't need you to celebrate her birthday?” Li Xiaoyu said. “Why not give me the present you prepared for her birthday?”

And before Ning Tao could say yes, she started rus.h.i.+ng down the hall.

Su Ya tilted her head and saw a ribbon gift box on a row of plastic seats under her window. Watching Li Xiaoyu run. As Li Xiaoyu came running, she jumped out of her room with her hand on the window sill. Then she rushed to the box with even greater speed.

Li Xiaoyu, as a child, her legs were much shorter than Su Ya's. She watched helplessly as Su Ya s.n.a.t.c.hed the gift box away from her. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You said you didn't need Uncle Ning to celebrate your birthday, and you tried to rob me of presents.”

Su Ya unceremoniously retorted, “Why did I give you my birthday present?”

“You don't wear pants. Sham on you. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Li Xiaoyu ran her little finger across her face.

Su Ya was just aware of her dress. She hurriedly looked at Ning Tao, who was smiling at her. Her face went red. Then she turned the window back into her room and drew the curtains. Even so, her heart was still beating violently, and she could not help thinking of Ning Tao's handsome, energetic face and the faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Su Ya opened the box, which contained a bottle of delicate perfumed cream, a Fine Primary Elixir, a pair of New Balance, a Nike tracksuit, and a beautifully wrapped box of chocolates.

Ning Tao's voice came from outside the window. “Su Ya, I'll go downtown and be back at noon.”

Su Ya hurriedly pulled back the curtain and asked, “What are you doing in downtown?”

“I'm going to buy an electric vehicle,” Ning Tao replied.

“Wait, I'll get dressed and go with you,” Su Ya shouted.

“Okay, hurry up.” Ning Tao agreed.

As Su Ya came out in the tracksuit and the New Balance Ning Tao bought her, she exuded youthful vivacity. Before she could say a word to Ning Tao, Ge Ming arrived in his Chang'an.

“Get in, get in, and I'll take you for a ride.” Ge Ming's chubby face was all smiles.

Ning Tao got into the pa.s.senger seat and gave Ge Ming a small cardboard box.

“What is this?” Ge Ming opened the box and saw a crystal clear pill. He was filled with curiosity.

“I made it myself. It's good for you,” Ning Tao responded.

“Is it aphrodisiac? How many times a night does it make a man?” Ge Ming asked.

Ning Tao smacked him on the back of the head. “Su Ya is in the car. What are you talking about?”

Ge Ming smiled awkwardly. He knew that Ning Tao saw Su Ya as his younger sister.

In the back seat, Su Ya had an indifferent expression on her face. “Never mind, never mind. I'm an adult. You can say whatever you want. As an adult, I don't care.”

Ge Ming put the glittering and translucent Fine Primary Elixir into his mouth. After chewing several times, he gave a thumbs-up and said, “Delicious, fragrant and sweet. Tao, do you have any more? Give me some more.”

Ning Tao gave him a stare. “It's a tonic. Do you think it's chocolate? If you take a few more, you'll be killed. Start the car and go.”

The Chang'an left the new Suns.h.i.+ne Orphanage, heading for the direction of the downtown of Shan City.

In addition to giving Su Ya a birthday present, Ning Tao's other purpose this time was to give Su Ya and Ge Ming a Fine Primary Elixir respectively. Although Ge Ming and Su Ya were not his patients, the Fine Primary Elixir would be of great benefit to Su Ya and Ge Ming. After all, the Fine Primary Elixir had the effect of strengthening the body and prolonging life.

In addition, he thought that if he later found the elixir prescription for clearing marrow and renewing muscles, he would refine the elixir for Su Ya and Ge Ming so that they could have their marrow cleared and muscles renewed and became powerful as “martial arts masters” in the martial arts novels.

After entering the downtown, Ning Tao bought a two-wheeled electric vehicle. He actually thought about buying a motorcycle. However, many cities ban motorbikes and required a driver's license to ride them, which he did not have. Buying an electric vehicle as a means of transportation was the most appropriate. Not only did they not need a driver's license, they could be used in any city.

They ate lunch at the Suns.h.i.+ne Orphanage. Lu Nan and Yang Lu were also there, so the lunch was very lively. Yang Lu didn't remember how Ning Tao treated him, but his wife Lu Nan told him a lot about it. He made a point of toasting Ning Tao with some grateful words.

Good people would forget the process of healing in the clinic and the good deeds they had done after they received treatment. However, human nature had not changed, and kind people were always kind. The good things he had done were real, so whether he had forgotten them did not matter much to him.

After lunch, Ning Tao pushed his electric vehicle into the room Ge Ming arranged. Later, he painted a blood lock in the room. Then he opened the door and went back to the convenient door in Guan City.

Back at the Sky Clinic, the first thing Ning Tao did was pull out his cell phone and call Yin Molan.

He dialed the phone three times before it came through.

“What happened? I'm riding on the highway.” Yin Molan's voice was filled with the wind.

“Why did you run up the highway?” Ning Tao asked.

“I've come to meet you. I'm on my way to Guan City. Why did you call me?”

“Is it okay to answer the phone while you're on your motorcycle?” Ning Tao asked.

“I'm not afraid to fall. Just say it.”

Ning Tao laughed, “Hha, I'd like to refine a vehicle too. It's not a motorcycle, but an electric one. I want to know how your motorcycle is refined.”

Yin Molan replied, “That's complicated. Depicting runes, nouris.h.i.+ng with spiritual energy, calcination with spiritual fire, and a lot of other things. It took me three years to make it.”

“Three years?”

“Do you think it could be made in three days?”

“Forget it then. We'll talk when you get here.” Ning Tao hung up the phone, staring a little glumly at the electric vehicle in the clinic.

He thought it would be as easy to refine a motorcycle or an electric car as he made elixirs. But Yin Molan's answer seemed to throw cold water on his head. He didn't know if three years later he had been exploited badly by the fraudful clinic, or if he was still alive. He would not spend three years refining a vehicle.

“Wait… I'm not like him. I am a natural go-between of good and evil, the owner of the Sky Clinic. Except for Chen Pingdao, I am different from all the other pract.i.tioners and demons. It won't work for me to refine my electric vehicle with Yin Molan's way of refining his motorcycle, but I have my own ways.” An idea suddenly occurred to Ning Tao. His eyes fell on the rotten broken tripod on the shelf.

The rotten broken tripod could repair things, and after its repair, the quality of the magic tool would be even better than the original. He might end up producing an electric vehicle that didn't perform as well as Yin Molan's motorcycle, but only if it improved in quality.

The idea struck Ning Tao and he jumped into action. He took the rotten broken tripod and put it in the open s.p.a.ce in the middle of the clinic. Then he began to smash the electric car.

The sound of smas.h.i.+ng was heard in the Sky Clinic, where the intact electric car soon fell apart.

Then Ning Tao started throwing the pieces into the rotten broken tripod.

The rotten broken tripod was not big, so Ning Tao thought it could not hold many pieces. However, as those pieces were thrown in, he found that the rotten broken tripod was never full. Miraculously, when a piece larger than the diameter of the tripod approached its rim, the tripod would produce a wave of energy and the piece would easily fall in.

That energy wave actually shrank the debris.

This was the first time Ning Tao had seen this. He marveled at it. He kept throwing the pieces into the rotten broken tripod, and finally put a whole electric car into it!

In the rotten broken tripod, the jumbled pieces looked like pieces of a toy car. All the pieces had been shrunk.

Ning Tao stared at the pieces and the rotten broken tripod, thinking to himself, “What kind of magic tools are you? Who made you?” Then he sighed. “If only Chen Pingdao were here. In that case, I could ask him…”

Where was Chen Pingdao?

No one knew.

After a little preparation, Ning Tao released the alchemy fire and started refining his electric car.

The cracks in the rotten broken tripod flashed like a river that ran through the earth and nourished all living things. The black and white alchemy fire was burning. Its black and white flame symbolized Yin and Yang, representing the birth of all things…