Chapter 156 - Fleeting Reflections (1/2)

All the three years, Goldie almost becomes a settled scenic spot of the Zhongshan Mausoleum.

Exposed to the sun and wind, Goldie’s feathers are s.h.i.+ny as usual. For Goldie whose life span is so long, three years mean nothing. Time is not Goldie’s enemy. Its enemy is the woman in black who sometimes comes and attacks it.

If Goldie didn’t have rapid speed and sharp feathers, it would already become a so-called “elixir” of the woman.

Therefore, Goldie has grown a lot from all these sneak attacks. It is no longer the silly hawk which had a standoff with Li Xi’er, an amateur cultivator, for three days — today’s Goldie can kill Li Xi’er with one strike!

The woman in black hasn’t shown up for half a year. Goldie doesn’t know where the woman has gone. However, it never lets down its guard. The silliness in its eyes is gone, and it looks more and more like a king. Most tourists don’t even dare to take pictures of Goldie anymore.

The golden hawk at Mount Zhong is the king of birds — this has become the common view of citizens of Huaxia.

As time pa.s.ses, Goldie’s popularity doesn’t fade. Instead, smart businessmen have made lots of related products of it.

Goldie has become the representative which awakes the dream of myths deep in every Huaxia citizen’s heart.

What is the mysterious hawk guarding or waiting for at the Zhongshan Mausoleum?

Some portal websites have offered a reward for the accurate answer to this question. The users have made various strange guesses, but no one knows the answer for sure — some people actually know what Goldie is waiting for, yet they despise it.

For example, Huizhu, the superior of the Qingcheng Taoist Temple.

It is a summer afternoon. Huizhu makes some cinnabar and draws a figure. Huizhu looks much older after three years.

“Bang—” He draws a wrong line and the figure paper self-ignited, making some noise. He was supposed to show An how to draw a figure, but he doesn’t know why he made a mistake.

He has drawn the Teleport Figure for thousands of times. This time, he used the best vintage cinnabar and a brush pen made by the hair of a silver wolf. The figure paper was made of the essence of plants. Nothing is wrong with the things he used.

There is only one explanation for the mistake. His heart is uneasy.

He has lived 150 years. Few things can make his heart uneasy. What is this about?

Young master An is having a strange thought. Though it is disrespectful, no one else knows better about what happened three years ago than him. Since Huizhu has made a failed demonstration, An is distracted. He can’t help looking at the direction of Lin’s villa — in fact, what the Superior did was nothing bad. He only stood by and did nothing. However, An is embarra.s.sed, which is the reason why he never visits the Lin family during the past three years.

Huizhu said that as the superior of a school, he doesn’t need too much emotions.

Empathy and mercy are his taboos.

An disagrees, but he doesn’t know how to argue. After all, he is not related to the Lin family. Although An is embarra.s.sed by Huizhu’s actions, he will not argue with his master for the outsiders.

An actually doesn’t have too much impression on Sister Lin.

He knows that Luodong was rescued from the street by Sister Lin and her family members all treat Luodong as one of their own.

During the three months when the Qingcheng Taoist Temple and the Lin family had contacts, the “Sister Lin” An heard from Mr. and Mrs. Lin seemed to be a woman of few words. She was filial and could bear hards.h.i.+p.

The first time he actually met “Sister Lin” was the time when he delivered the book under his master’s order. Sister Lin did talk less, yet she seemed to be moderate with mud on her shoes. An believed that Sister Lin was exactly what the head cultivator of their generation should be like.

The second time he saw Sister Lin was when he went to Lin’s villa to find the woman in black. Sister Lin walked them out… That afternoon, the woman in black had a long conversation with the Superior. An served them tea. They seemed to be in peace. However, when the night fell, the woman and the Superior were in a battle.

An’s wounds at that night have long since healed. There is not even a scar on his body.

However, An feels that he now understands what “reality” means — as the qualified successor of the Qingcheng Taoist Temple, he must keep it real, right?

*********

Things are completely different in the villa on the Fragrant Hills.

The cottage room looks just the same with what Lin Luoran saw years before. However, Master Guo is not here.

It is a summer afternoon. Master Mu is scolding his grandson.

Mu Tiannan seems to be more mature after three years. As a man in his thirties now, of course, he doesn’t act like his old arrogant self anymore. Mu has started to take over some important business of his family. While the business is booming, Mu Tiannan wants to cultivate even more.

But his grandfather doesn’t agree.

The longer Master Mu refuses to let Mu Tiannan cultivate, the stronger the obsessiveness in Mu Tiannan’s heart becomes. During the over twenty years of his life, he never had any interests in cultivation, which was the reason why he gave the opportunity to his sixth younger brother. In fact, Mu Tiannan doesn’t know why he suddenly wants to step on the rough path of cultivation — perhaps he knows deep in his heart but he just doesn’t want to admit.

Mu Tiannan can’t hide his thoughts from his grandfather, yet Master Mu pretends to be ignorant.

“I heard that you bought a villa in R City?”

Mu Tiannan is surprised. He thought he had done this secretly enough, but his grandfather knew about this. Being a businessman for years, Mu Tiannan learns to avoid questions. He talks vaguely and switches the topic.

Master Mu sighs in his heart. However, he can’t bear to blame his grandson.