“Master!” Su Baiyi feigned composure, accompanying his master in “waiting” for barely a moment before wailing in despair, “You said you stole their treasure back then, causing them to search for over a decade. Now that they’ve caught you, won’t they flay you alive…”
“Composure.” Mr. Xie emphasized.
Su Baiyi could only suppress his grimace and said helplessly, “A gentleman does not suffer losses before his eyes.”
“That’s a hero.” Mr. Xie corrected.
“Master, what about that treasure you stole back then?” Su Baiyi naturally changed the topic. “Why don’t you return it and apologize?”
“I don’t have that treasure anymore, I gave it to you a long time ago.” Mr. Xie suddenly smiled slyly.
Su Baiyi was stunned, “How come I don’t know?”
“It’s a martial art that you practice.” Mr. Xie said softly.
“What, that’s what you stole?” Su Baiyi was shocked.
Mr. Xie nodded, “And I burned the manuscript, so the only one who remembers that martial art is you. You are the treasure.”
Su Baiyi pressed his hand to his forehead. “Master, you are truly too kind to your disciple. Qing Yilang turned out like that after practicing just three pages. I’ve practiced half the book; won’t my fate be even worse? What kind of treasure is this? Can’t I just refuse it?”
“He was too impatient.” Mr. Xie walked outside, “Don’t worry, my disciple, we won’t have any trouble. In a while, I will let them take me away on the condition that they let you leave. After I return to Shanglin Heavenly Palace, I will deal with them. If they can’t get the stolen half of the manuscript, they won’t dare to kill me. After you finish your learning, come back and save me, okay?”
Su Baiyi was stunned, his eyes suddenly moistened, “Master, you are sacrificing yourself for me…”
“When did I…” Mr. Xie frowned slightly.
“You must be saying this to make me feel at ease to leave, but when you return to Shanglin Heavenly Palace, you will surely suffer all kinds of torture and die…”
“Can you…” Mr. Xie said helplessly.
“By the way master, you said I should come back and save you after learning, but where should I go to learn? Do you have any arrangements?” Su Baiyi wiped away his tears, sat upright, and said seriously.
“Go to Academy.” Mr. Xie said unhappily, “The Academy has a sage in charge, and Shanglin Heavenly Palace won’t dare to provoke it.”
“The Academy?” Su Baiyi thought of the woman with the umbrella and shivered.
“From today on, you will have to walk the world as my disciple, and you can’t lose face for me. You look quite like me when I was young at first glance, but you have to remember one thing in the future.” Mr. Xie walked to the door and looked at the words “Daxiao Calligraphy School” above.
“Master, please enlighten me.”
“Never talk too much.”
Mr. Xie walked into the courtyard and looked up at the blooming apricot tree. He suddenly smiled and said, “Baiyi, guess what poem I’m thinking of now.”
“This journey is a long farewell, it should be ‘Apricot blossoms bear dewy snow, willow-lined roads bid sad farewells’.” Su Baiyi followed him and answered seriously after a slight thought.
Mr. Xie shook his head. “No.”
“What is it then?”
“Of course it’s ‘Spring spills over the garden wall, a lone apricot blooms bright and tall’.”
“Huh?”
Mr. Xie closed his eyes, smelled the apricot fragrance, and said ecstatically, “You are about to go to the world, and the world is full of spring. In spring, there must be a lone red apricot. Especially in the Academy you are going to, that’s in Qiantang City!”
“What’s so special about Qiantang City?” Su Baiyi asked curiously.
Mr. Xie took a deep breath. “The girls in Qiantang City are very beautiful.”
Su Baiyi smiled, “Master, you have a story to tell. By the way, that girl I mentioned earlier, she seems….”
“Yes, a very long story.” Mr. Xie gently waved his long sleeve, sweeping away the fallen blossoms and dust from the ground. Su Baiyi stopped talking and looked down. There was actually a jar of wine buried there.
“This jar of wine was buried by me when I first came here. Today, I give it to you as a farewell gift.” Mr. Xie bent down and pulled out the jar of apricot blossom wine from the soil, holding it to his nose for a gentle sniff. “To be honest, the days in Apricot Blossom Village were really boring. Fortunately, there was this apricot wine, and fortunately, there was you, my noisy disciple. But today, we are destined to leave.”
“Yes, today you have to leave.” A deep voice suddenly resonated from the doorway.
Su Baiyi turned around abruptly and saw a burly monk slam his crescent spade on the ground and glare at them.
“It seems that our information was not wrong,” the thin masked man walked to the monk’s side, “long time no see, Xie…” He only said half of the sentence, and then suddenly retreated. An apricot blossom flew past his mask, leaving a shallow mark.
Su Baiyi looked at Mr. Xie and whispered, “Master, they are the ones I met earlier.”
Mr. Xie did not speak. He held the jar of wine in one hand and an apricot blossom in the other, thinking about something.
“Master Xie. Since we have come here, you should know that you can’t hide anymore.” The burly monk heavily grounded his crescent spade once more, shaking loose a shower of apricot blossoms from the tree.
“Still the same, always banging that big shovel when you speak. So noisy.” Mr. Xie put the jar of wine on the ground and turned around, “The head of the Punishment and Discipline Courtyard, Master Jie Kong. And – the deputy head of the Thousand Inventions Courtyard, Wen Xi.”
Wen Xi touched the shallow flower mark on his mask and said faintly, “The year Master Xie left, I was but an ordinary disciple in the Thousand Inventions Courtyard. Becoming the deputy head was only last year’s matter. It seems that Master Xie, although hiding from the world, remains well-informed.”
“Baiyi, do you still remember the stories I told you about Shanglin Heavenly Palace?” Mr. Xie smiled.
“I can’t recall all the other stories at once, but I remember you mentioning a tower master in Shanglin Heavenly Palace. His martial arts were unparalleled in the world, his appearance was stunning, he always wore a golden robe and carried a jade sword. Wherever he roamed in the martial world, he captured the hearts of countless women, each crying and pleading to marry him. But he passed through the flowers without touching a leaf, a rare and extraordinary man through all ages.” Su Baiyi replied.
“What tower?”
“The Misty Rain Tower.”
“And the name of the tower master?”
“Xie Kanhua.”
“That’s me.”
With a gentle flick of his wrist, a long sword soared from the spot where the apricot blossom wine had been buried, landing gracefully in Xie Kanhua’s hand.
“It’s been a while.”
A flash of light.
Jie Kong raised his crescent spade suddenly, Wen Xi grabbed the long umbrella from his back, and the dark green canopy snapped open!
But just as quickly, Jie Kong’s crescent spade returned to the ground, and Wen Xi’s umbrella closed once more, as if nothing had happened. Xie Kanhua sheathed his sword and raised his hand slightly. Su Baiyi instantly understood, kicking the wine jar on the ground. It soared over the heads of Jie Kong and Wen Xi, landing neatly in Xie Kanhua’s outstretched hand.
The moment the wine jar landed in Xie Kanhua’s hand, a sharp cracking sound, like an eggshell shattering, echoed through the courtyard. A long fissure appeared on Wen Xi’s white mask. He raised his head slightly, and the mask crumbled into dust, revealing the pale face beneath.
Jie Kong took a deep breath and suppressed the surging internal energy within his chest. His hand holding the crescent spade trembled uncontrollably. He frowned and said in a low voice, “Misty Rain.”