Chapter 278 Thank You, Teacher (2/2)

Xiao Bing gasped. “He attacked you? Why? Aren’t you his teacher?”

Han Huabin smiled wryly while shaking his head. “He was an ambitious man who wanted to have this world all to himself. One reason is that he could not rest well while there was another man who was stronger than him.”

“What’s the other reason?”

“He had been wanting to learn my arts of array and illusion. But I wouldn’t teach him. As the saying goes, the teacher might become jobless once he has taught all the skills to his student. I knew too well about this man’s ambition, as well as his temperament. I’m an old man. If I didn’t have something up my sleeve, I could have been betrayed and killed. Yet I was still stabbed in the back.”

Xiao Bing was confused. “Why didn’t Lord Long kill you?”

“Because he was still eager to learn the arts of array and illusion from me. Besides, he needed a top master to help him and I was willing to do it. You may not understand it. I didn’t see any hope that I could advance, so I only wished to see that my student could achieve it. Lord Long was my only hope, so I chose to help him.”

“I see.” Xiao Bing nodded his head.

Holding his cane, Han Huabin walked to the cottage, his footing wobbly. Xiao Bing and Gao Fei traded a look and intended to leave. Han Huabin suddenly said, “Wait. I’ll fetch you guys something.”

Then Han Huabin walked into the cottage and soon came out, one hand holding the cane while the other holding a book. He held out the book after he approached Xiao Bing.

Xiao Bing took it without hesitation. He opened it and found that it was Han Huabin’s notes on martial arts and the detailed description of how to use the array and illusion.

Xiao Bing was surprised. He knew how dreadful illusions were because he just managed to survive one. Yet he had not expected that Han Huabin would choose him over Lord Long.

Xiao Bing asked in bewilderment, “Why?”

“All my knowledge of martial arts is all written here. If I don’t find another successor, it might need to be buried with me.”

“I know.” Xiao Bing asked, “But why did you choose me?”

“Because you are a prodigy.” Han Huabin sighed. “Maybe we met by grand design. Take it. I might leave here soon and the name Han Huabin will never be mentioned again in this world…”

Xiao Bing grasped the book firmly. It was a priceless treasure for any man who practiced martial arts. No one could have expected that Han Huabin, who had intended to kill Xiao Bing before, wanted Xiao Bing to inherit his legacy. Xiao Bing looked at this old man with complexity in his eyes. He strangely felt sympathetic for this old man, who seemed to be upset. Yet the process of aging is inevitable for any normal human being, no matter if he is a talent or not.

“Go. Don’t leave it untouched. It won’t take long before you become more powerful than me in my prime.”

Holding his cane, Han Huabin headed toward the cottage again. Xiao Bing knew that Han Huabin was saying farewell to him.

All of a sudden, Xiao Bing fell to his knees. Han Huabin paused and whirled around, tears and bewilderment plain in his eyes.

Xiao Bing held the book sternly and said, “Thank you, teacher.”

Han Huabin’s eyes were wet with tears and the hand on the cane trembled. One still regarded him as an enemy after having been his student for seven years while the other became his true pupil in just a moment.

Wobbling, Han Huabin murmured to himself, “Tea… teacher.”

“Alas, maybe it’s a present from God. He allowed me to meet such a young man when I’m at this old age and made him be such a good student of mine.”