Chapter 129 - A Tough Question (1/2)
The two Elders blinked and stared at the heap the hut was reduced to. Elder Suo felt cold sweat running down his back.
This … What was this boy thinking?! That was Elder Kong's hut! How dare he! Was he really expecting to become a disciple of the inner sect like this?!
Elder Kong needed a moment longer for his thoughts to catch up. After all, this had been his home for several decades. Standing before its ruins wasn't that easy to cope with. But in the end, he just sighed lightly. He was a practitioner, so he felt like he shouldn't be too attached to such things. The most important thing should always be the sword arts.
Before he had completely gotten used to the idea of not having a roof above his head anymore and, even worse, of having to go to the sect master to request a new dwelling, the two Elders got another shock:
A seemingly young man was flying toward them on a sword. It wasn't so much the fact that he was flying that shocked them because every practitioner would be able to do that as soon as he attained a certain mastery over the art of the sword. It was rather the fact that this seemingly young man looked a bit familiar.
Indeed, it was just a bit familiar because this man was obviously Grandmaster Zhangsun who only ever stepped out of his palace and came to see people when there was some grand occasion. Had they remembered the wrong year? Was it already time for the Gathering of practitioners that was held every seven years? But it seemed that had only been two years ago? Maybe they had identified the wrong person after all? But no. That was the same perpetual frown they had seen for a short moment two years back.
Zhangsun Xun Yi landed on the ground before them but ignored Elder Suo and Elder Kong. Instead, he turned toward Qiu Ling and sized him up.
When in his palace he had felt a formidable sword energy, something that most people would never manage to develop. The only regrettable thing about it was that he had felt quite the sinister aura alongside it. It was something like killing intent just stronger. Extremely unsettling.
”You. Was this your doing?”
Qiu Ling looked at the hut, then at the Grandmaster in front of him. He couldn't confess, right? Then that guy would never take him in. ”Uh … no. It collapsed all on its own.”
Zhangsun Xun Yi frowned even deeper.
Qiu Ling coughed. It seemed his future master wasn't satisfied with that answer? ”Uh … Maybe I had a teeny-tiny bit to do with it. Actually, those two Elders asked me to demonstrate some sword moves. It might have been that … some … stray … strike somehow lead to … this.” He looked in the other direction, just one step away from whistling a tune. It definitely wasn't him! Don't look at him like that!
Grandmaster Zhangsun nodded. ”How old are you?”
Qiu Ling felt like breaking out in cold sweat. What was it with that ruthless question? His age was a sensitive issue, alright?!
Mn, what should he say? He couldn't really remember anyway. It seemed like … it had been some ten thousand years since he took over the throne? No, wait, that might already be more than a hundred thousand years. Or …
In all honesty, Qiu Ling had not even the slightest idea how old he was exactly. He just knew he was older than Jing He by a large margin. Though he always thought that a mature partner was good for someone as insecure as Jing He, he still would have liked it if they were slightly closer in age. Well, that wasn't the point now.
”Uh …” Maybe he should just estimate it? But that also didn't sound that good in front of two mortals. Who knew if he took a number that was outside of a mortals life expectancy? Then how about guessing how old he looked?
”Twenty-ni— seven.” Qiu Ling frowned a little. For someone as vain as him guessing his own age based on his appearance was an even harder task than recalling his true age.
It couldn't be too high or he'd feel like he looked old. Neither could it be too low or he'd feel like he didn't look mature enough. No, a man should be somewhere in between: Mature but not old. It had to be just right.
Thinking of that … Jing He, of course, was also older than a normal mortal could ever hope to become. Especially since the gods aged slower than the dragons before they hit maturity. But appraising him from a mortal's perspective he seemed quite young, probably around twenty-three or twenty-four years of age. Mn, having three or four years between us sounds good. That should make us a little closer, shouldn't it?
Qiu Ling had once again forgotten that his beloved was a child at this moment. And that they would be separated by nearly twenty years if he really was twenty-seven. Not, that that would be a problem for someone who cultivated. Twenty years was next to nothing for these people.