Chapter 313 (2/2)

He looked at the wooden sword as lonely and grim as an old tree and knew that he lost the opportunity to fight with Xia Hou today, for he had a slight miscalculation of that person's speed. After a brief silence, he handed the blade to his sister behind him.

Tang Xiaotang took the blade and no one could see where she had put it.

Xia Hou indifferently glanced at Tang Xiaotang and slowly released the aura on his body that was as cold as rust and as hot as molten steel. And then, he silently retreated more than 100 feet.

He retreated to offer up some s.p.a.ce.

There were very few people in the world who were qualified to make Xia Hou give way to them. But today, there were several qualified people at the foot of the mountain in the northern Hulan Sea.

Ye Su suddenly stood next to the wooden sword, his plain light-colored s.h.i.+rt floating in the cold wind.

He took the wooden sword out from the ground and put it behind his

behind his body. The lonely and grim aura of the wooden sword seemingly returned to him, making his body turn into a lonely old tree.

This was the first time that Ning Que had seen Ye Su, the successor of the Zhishou Abbey.

At this time, he did not know his ident.i.ty, but he guessed that he was certainly a great man.

Many years later, before that battle of life and death, he mentioned this encounter at the foot of Tianqi Mountain to Ye Su. But Ye Su did not have any impression of Ning Que at that time. Ning Que, however, could not forget it.

I've never seen such a lonely person. It's as if he didn't live in this world but in another world. And he seems to have been dead for many years, though he's alive now. More accurately, in my eyes, he seems to be living as well as dead. What a poor man!

Ye Su did not know that a guy, whom he treated as a pa.s.ser-by, was feeling sympathy and pity for him at this time. Ye Su could only see that scholar who wore old cotton shoes and seemed to have no sense of presence.

After a short moment of silence, he thought of something and then calmly said to the one opposite, ”Nice to meet you, Mr. First.”

The Eldest Brother replied, ”Nice to meet you.”

Ye Su turned around and looked at that iron box held in the hands of Xia Hou.

Tang also looked at that iron box.

All the people except for Ye Hongyu looked at the box, for she looked at Ye Su with a complicated expression.

Even the Eldest Brother also looked at the box. But there was not any intention to steal it in his calm and gentle gaze, only a sense of weird curiosity.

Ye Su suddenly said, ”Congratulations, Elder Xia, for recapturing the Tomes of Arcane on behalf of the Taoist sect!”

Tang said, ”The people in the Taoist sect are as shameless as they were many years ago.”

At this time, Xia Hou said indifferently, ”This matter has nothing to do with the Taoist sect.”

Upon hearing this reply, Ye Su kept silent.

In the Tang Empire, the emperor was suspicious of Xia Hou. Besides, Xia Hou rushed into the Wilderness and s.n.a.t.c.hed the Tomes of Arcane, intending to kill the guy sent by the Academy. He would not be able to explain it to the government in Chang'an City afterward. At this time, Xia Hou was surrounded by the others in the Hulan Sea. If he wanted to keep his own reputation and rights, he had to claim his ident.i.ty as the visiting professor of the Divine Hall.

Ye Su's congratulations were to give him a chance to do so. All he needed to do was to exchange the Tomes of Arcane for it, but Xia Hou did not accept this offer.

Ye Su understood why Xia Hou was reluctant to accept it. As a general of the Tang Empire, Xia Hou had to be determined to be completely separated from those experiences in the past. And Xia Hou thought that he still stood a chance under the complicated situation in the Hulan Sea. Most importantly, Mr. First of the Academy still had not shown his att.i.tude.

After returning from the South Sea, the Great Divine Priest of Relation made a prediction that the ”Ming” Handscroll of the Tomes of Arcane would appear in the Wilderness. Everyone in the world believed this, especially Ye Su, who knew that this was definitely the conclusion of the abbey dean.

Because of this prediction, all nations had dispatched people into the Wilderness and tried to enter the Front Gate of the Devil's Doctrine. Ning Que and the others had succeeded in entering the gate. But those who were truly qualified to s.n.a.t.c.h the Tomes of Arcane had been watching in secret.

The Tomes of Arcane were cicadas.

The younger generation, including Ning Que, were mantises.

Xia Hou was an oriole.

Tang and Ye Su were hunters.

The Eldest Brother was not involved in it. In his words, he was just a pa.s.ser-by.

However, when he pa.s.sed by the sh.o.r.e of the Hulan Sea, there was no longer any story about the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

So everyone looked toward that very ordinary scholar.

The Eldest Brother asked Ning Que, ”Do you want that iron box?”

Ning Que shook his head.

Upon hearing the answer, the Eldest Brother did not hesitate and looked at the others, saying softly, ”You do what you want. We were just pa.s.sing by and we must hurry back to Chang'an now. Goodbye.”

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