506 Disappointed before Parting (2/2)
The Eldest Brother looked through the tube-like iron object and found that the view was indeed like what the Headmaster had described. The stars in the field of view of the iron tube did not become large, but when he looked at the mountain under the starlight in the distance, it appeared clear and enlarged.
”What's really interesting is that there are so many things that the Youngest Brother knows.”
He smiled, but his expression seemed a little anxious.
The Headmaster looked up at the stars above his head and said. ”In this world, there may be people who were born wise, but there is no omniscient person. Your Youngest Brother knows more things. There will inevitably be quite a lot of things that he doesn't understand. I am also the same. Legend has it that, the seven volumes of Tomes of the Arcane show the successful transformation of Haotian's will. When I was a turquoise robe scholar just like you, I was able to read the remaining six volumes. Now that I have grown old, I still can't even read the words on the 'Ming' Handscroll.”
The Eldest Brother sincerely said, ”I do not understand the Handscroll either.”
”These superfluous words are unclear to the teacher. How do you understand them?”
The Headmaster looked at him, smiled and said,”Since you don't understand it, don't worry about it day and night.”
The Eldest Brother said, ”In a work like this, we have no choice but to worry.”
The Headmaster looked at him sternly and said, ”If this was a story, no one knows how it would develop. You do not know, I do not know, the world does not know, then what do you think must the outcome of the story be?”
Everyone in the back of the mountain of the Academy knew that no matter how adorable Chen Pipi was, or how fierce Ning Que was, the teacher's most beloved apprentice was still the Eldest Brother. The teacher seldom criticized the Eldest Brother. Stern reprimands, like the one that day, had almost never happened.
After a long silence, the Eldest Brother said, ”If I don't worry about tomorrow, I will have to live today in sorrow.”
The Headmaster said, ”You should only worry about today and not tomorrow.”
The Eldest Brother said, ”If you are not worried about future prospects of the world, why would you allow Youngest Brother to go to the Lanke Temple?”
The Headmaster looked at the mountain forest shrouded in silver hues and listened to the faint sound of waterfalls in the distance. He said, ”The night your Youngest Brother killed Xia Hou, I discovered that there was something wrong with Sangsang. It was more serious than I had thought. If we really use the West-Hill Divine Skill, perhaps it will cure the problem but might cause more problems. So, I allowed him to take her to the Lanke Temple and see if there was any Buddhism Sect method that could cure her.”
The Eldest Brother bluntly asked, ”What if the disease cannot be cured?”
The Headmaster turned around, looked at him and said, ”If the disease is not cured, your Youngest Brother will be very sad. So, even if there is only a glimmer of hope, you must put in a hundred times the effort. Moreover, she should not have fallen sick in the first place.”
”What about the Haotian Taoism?”
The Eldest Brother said, ”Sangsang is the inheritor to the Divine Priest of Light of the West-Hill Divine Palace. After knowing that she is seriously ill, the Haotian Taoism will certainly worry about it. They should have their own methods of curing the disease.”
The Headmaster looked at his dearest disciple, and suddenly laughed and said, ”Curing the disease... If the Haotian Taoism could save lives, why would I be so worried? Sometimes I think that when we go to cure diseases, perhaps all we do is cure our own sickness and save ourselves.”
The Eldest Brother was deep in thought.
The Headmaster said with a solemn expression, ”You love all the people in the world, so you are incapable of loving only one person, unlike your Youngest Brother who does not love anyone in the world and only loves one person. Therefore, after killing Xia Hou, his mental state has surely been refreshed. No one knows where to go in the future, and you have to bear the pain of the struggle. If you can't see through the pain, then the gains will be limited.”
The field was quiet.
After a long time had passed, a gentle smile appeared again on the Eldest Brother's face. He said, ”I want to continue worrying like this because an untroubled me isn't me.”
The Headmaster watched him admiringly and said,”I was wrong. Your benevolence for the world does not involve any old conventions and arises from pure intentions. How can it limit your future?”
”Instead of being a teacher who is always an unwavering weed on the wall, I always wanted to follow the wind. Now I don't know where the wind has come from. I don't know what your Youngest Brother will meet, but I believe that if you don't walk, then you will encounter nothing. As long as you walk, you will always meet the future. When we meet, that is, the day we encounter a real future, we will think about what to do with it.”
The Headmaster sighed with emotion and said, ”It's a pity that the fellow I had to curse for three days and three nights over a bowl of braised pork... has already died. I desperately want to ask him what he would do.”
The Second Brother came to the thatched hut and quietly stood beside them, listening to the conversation between the teacher and his Eldest Brother. He did not open his mouth, until finally he could not help but say, ”Teacher, although I do not understand what you and Eldest Brother are talking about, I think I can guess what Youngest Uncle would do.”
The Headmaster's expression changed slightly and he asked, ”What would your Youngest Uncle do?”
Second Brother naturally said, ”Fight.”
The Headmaster found that his disciples were more and more like himself. They had taken everything for granted and assumed that he understood. He was frustrated and asked, ”Fight who?”
Second Brother was also frustrated. After a long pause, he solemnly said, ”It doesn't matter who.”
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