Volume 6 Chapter 19 - Chapter Nineteen: Persimmon (1/2)

When Consort Zhao Xiang left, she said to Li Lingjun, “My life is your life, if I die, could you live well in the Chu? Every time you cannot understand, just think more about this.”

On the other side of the mountains and rivers, in a tent in the wind and snow, Ding Ning slowly put down the piles of files in front of him and shook his head.

The beginning of the Min Mountain Sword Trials was the start of the real contest between him and Zheng Xiu. She was in the open, and he was in the shadows, so he had won a few rounds invisibly previously. Yet no matter what happened in Changling, no matter how many people on her side died, everything seemed to be advancing based on her will. Undoubtedly, compared to before, she was much stronger, and more terrifying. She was playing a game of chess as was he.

This world, in the end, has become a game between you and I? Ding Ning looked at the wind and snow outside the tent, and grimaced slightly.

The wind came from the north, blowing the snow towards the south. Some of the snow directly fell onto the plains. Some of the lighter snow, carried by the cold winds, turned to clouds and made it past Yin Mountain.

A cloud drifted past the thousands of Wuzhi tents while Ding Ning grimaced, dropped lots of snow, and slowly moved south. As time passed, when the cloud was far from the Wuzhi plains, and had passed beyond Yin Mountain, Changling was welcoming the new year.

In a slightly cold and large courtyard.

Hearing the explosions of fireworks from the nearby Changling streets, Shen Xuan put a persimmon piece between his lips, and slowly chewed.

Persimmon had the same sound as “matter.” The persimmon was originally fiery red in color. In Changling, the dried persimmons were not just sweets to relieve bitterness when drinking tea, but had the meaning of good luck in all matters.

All matters go well, but how could the matters of the world all go well?

A mountain was by the side of the river. Its lower half was covered in white mist, while the upper half was clear. So it looked to be floating above the river and floating above the mist. It was not far from the Changling. Except for some deliberately picked cultivation geniuses, no one else in Changling could enter here in their lifetime.

This mountain was Spirit Void Sword Sect.

The world knew the Min Mountain Sword Sect and Spirit Void Sword Sect were the two strongest cultivation places in the world. Yet compared to Min Mountain Sword Sect, Spirit Void Sword Sect was more mysterious.

A man with loose hair carried a bag of dried persimmons and slowly climbed up the mountain path.

The mountain was quiet, but there were some disciples training by the path. Seeing the loose haired man idly walking along like he was visiting friends on Changling’s streets, they were slightly shocked. They had never seen this man before. Yet the loose haired man was not surprised at all. He just nodded slightly at them, and continued up.

There was a piece of rock like a naturally lying Buddha by the side of the Wei River. Below was a stone house. The walls and roof of the stone house were covered with moss, some of them even blooming with strange gold yellow flowers. The decor inside the stone house was very simple, but there was a fine tea set, with a complete set of tools.

Hearing the footsteps of the loose haired man, a man in purple robes inside the stone house started to make tea. He was of an ordinary appearance and normal figure, but his skin gave off a transparent light that came in and out as he breathed.

“Senior Sect Brother.”

Seeing the loose haired man come in, the purple robed man nodded and greeted. But the joy in his features quickly turned to coldness. He looked at the bag of dried persimmons the man carried and said, “Senior Sect Brother, what do you mean?”

“We meet only once each year, this is for congratulations,” the loose haired man looked at him and said.

The purple robed man frowned and said, “But Senior Sect Brother should know that I do not like dried persimmons, and do not like even seeing them.”

The loose haired man sat down facing him and said gently, “Why?”