212 Lucky Chance (2/2)

Sangsang's eyelashes lowered slightly as she calmly asked, ”What can I learn from you?”

The old man looked at her slightly fluttering eyelashes and her common appearance. He said, ”Divine Skill.”

Sangsang asked, ”Is the Divine Skill very powerful?”

The old man nodded and said, ”Very powerful.”

Sangsang lowered her head even more, making her eyelashes look longer. Then she whispered, ”My young master is awesome. Would I be able to help him beat people after I learn the Divine Skill?”

The old man smiled and said, ”Certainly.”

Sangsang raised her head, looking up at the old man with her slightly dark face, and asked bravely, ”Could I... beat you?”

The old man looked at the little girl's small face and her black eyes that were like two deep pools among mountain rocks. There seemed to be no trace of impurity, rather absolute transparency in the depths of those pools. He could not help but utter an internal sigh before saying in a predictably solemn tone, ”Certainly.”

Sangsang asked, ”What is the Divine Skill?”

The old man answered, ”Cultivation focuses on perception and it needs cultivators to manipulate the aura between heaven and earth. Divine Skill is to perceive, understand, and control the Haotian Divine Light. The so-called Divine Light—you have seen it when you wake up early in the morning and when you close your door. You've seen it in summer and in winter snow. In a word, you see it all the time.”

Sangsang slightly frowned and asked, ”What is it?”

It was a quiet night in Chang'an City. There were numerous stars above in the sky, but it was not as clear as the daytime after all. The old man stood in the cramped courtyard and slowly spread his arms, seeming to take on all the light of the world.

”Haotian Divine Light is the sunshine.”

Just when he finished those words, the old man stuck out the front of his right hand from his dirty cotton jacket sleeves, namely the tip of his middle finger, where it suddenly became bright. Some fluorescent lights converged out of nowhere and slowly released flames from the inside just like a bright flower. They covered all the lines on the flesh of his finger, looking holy white and making people feel respect.

The old man looked at the little girl in front of him and calmly said, ”It takes more than 10 years to perceive the Haotian Divine Light. So in the beginning, what is most needed is super forbearance and patience.”

Upon listening to this, Sangsang seemed to understand something. She raised her right hand and lifted up her index finger, putting the slim finger into the dark winter night. That slightly dark finger was gently shaking in the wind and then gave birth to a touch of dim light, as if it were a broken candle in the wind that might be quenched at any time but was never extinguished after all.

The old man was enchanted as he looked at the light in front of her delicate forefinger and felt intoxicated as if he was drunk and did not want to wake up.

In the winter of the 14th year of the Tianqi era, the Great Divine Priest of Light was fleeing from West-Hill Divine Palace and came to Chang'an City because of some mysterious perception. He did not find the shadow of Nightfall, but found his own successor. It was probably some kind of revelation.

...

...

In the northwest border of the Tang Empire, somewhere in the grassland not far from the City of Wei,

a scholar in a cotton jacket was cooking under a winter tree that was going to die.

He calmly and attentively looked at the book held in his left hand. He suddenly remembered something and took the ladle from his waist to scoop some water. He poured the water into a pot that had already had milky white soup in it and slightly suppressed the boiling water in the pot. As he was waiting for the water to boil again, he began to slowly and orderly cut the meat. The lamb that was frozen into a perfect state became pieces of flying meat under his sharp knife, looking just like snowflakes. However, his movements were too slow and the soup began to boil again before he had finished cutting the meat.

The scholar poured another scoop of water into the pot and continued to cut meat. The tall Headmaster of the Academy had long held his chopsticks and a bowl with seasonings inside, eagerly waiting beside the soup pot and angrily uttering anxious sighs from time to time.

”When it comes to fate or Lucky Chance... no one knows what he will see or encounter. And no one knows the meaning of what he sees or encounters. Ideas and reality often reside in opposite worlds. Like the general and the woman we saw in the City of Wei some days ago—maybe they will live forever or withdraw back to the Central Plains next year. However, no matter how they develop, they are not as happy as they look.”

The Headmaster of the Academy used his chopsticks to tap the empty bowl. He shook his head and sighed. ”Unhappiness does not mean that you will certainly remain in bleakness. I don't think that is a sad thing, but I feel it's filled with a sense of drama. Just like the soup and the lamb here—half an hour has passed, but I have not eaten them yet. That doesn't mean that I will continue to be sad like this. Maybe the first bite of lamb later will be the best thing I've ever eaten in my life.”

Every student needed to learn to listen to the true wishes of their teacher through those disguised words. As Eldest Brother of the Academy, the scholar was, of course, the person who could best understand the preferences of the Headmaster of the Academy. So he put the book back into his waist and began to accelerate the speed of cutting meat in order to prevent the teacher from really starting to get angry later.

However, as Chen Pipi had told Ning Que, the elder brother worked really conscientiously and, therefore, very slowly. Although the Headmaster of the Academy was waiting by the soup pot holding his tableware like a beggar, which gave Eldest Brother unprecedented pressure, Eldest Brother still did not improve his speed of cutting meat too much.

In order to distract the teacher to slightly relieve his current mental stress, Eldest Brother asked while cutting the meat, ”Teacher, can't you see the future?”

Upon listening to this question, the Headmaster of the Academy became furious. He pointed to the overcast winter sky and reprimanded him. ”I don't even see the sky. How can I see the future?”