Chapter Eight: The Storm Returns
“Donghu has been very ambiguous these years. Even in the previous fighting, Donghu was not determined to send soldiers,” Ding Ning looked at her and said slowly with a calm expression.
The old woman took a deep breath and nodded. “The emperor is trash.”
Hearing the simple opinion, Ding Ning could not help but laugh, but immediately turned solemn. “Many people from Donghu went to Changling back then, and one lived in the end.”
The old woman stilled in slight surprise.
Ding Ning pulled his hand back, and took out a wood piece to hand to the old woman. “Give this to that person. He will make the Donghu emperor listen to our suggestions.”
There were some faint marks on the common pine wood, but the presence that came off the simple sword marks caused the old woman to feel that her eyes were in slight stabbing pain.
“Sir is so strong, you are really like your teacher,” she looked up at Ding Ning and said after a moment.
“Have a long life,” Ding Ning reached out to pour himself a cup of the butter tea, bowed slightly, and said.
“Sir, thanks for your good wishes.” The old woman smiled emotionally and returned the bow.
**
The night wind was cold. Su Qin coughed. He looked at the stone stairs in front of him, then the building at the top, and smiled in scorn at himself.
This was Celestial Seal Sect. For the rebellion that swept the entire dynasty, this was the center. But after the chaos, this place was actually the calmest, having suffered the least.
The Celestial Seal Sect master did not hold accountable the people who participated in the rebellion, who had disagreed with the master, and tried to trap him on the mountain. It was like nothing had happened before.
As he smiled emotionally and in scorn at himself, clear footsteps came from behind him. He turned around.
A Celestial Seal Sect teacher had starlight under his feet like he was stepping on stars.
“You have come to kill me?” Su Qin’s face paled slightly, the scorn towards himself growing. “Zheng Xiu ordered you to kill me?”
This Celestial Seal Sect teacher smiled in scorn and said, “Just now, you were looking up the mountain, I think you were sighing over the tolerance of important people. How can someone like you predict the thoughts of these important people?”
Su Qin also smiled and said, “It is better you have not come to kill me. I looked up the mountain, not to sigh over the tolerance of important people, but because I was thinking when I could become an important person like them.”
The Celestial Seal Sect teacher smiled until his eyes were a line. “If you are too ambitious, you will die early.”
Su Qin smiled and said, “But I have not died yet.”
“The empress is very displeased with you on the matter of killing Zhang Yi, but is still satisfied with your performance up to now.” The Celestial Seal Sect teacher stopped smiling and looked up coldly, away from him. “So she has given you a chance.” Saying so, he took out a yellow cloth bag, and handed it to Su Qin.
Su Qin’s eyes flashed with an unusual light. Yet when his hands touched the cloth bag, a powerful force charged into his heart and lungs. With a pop, a burst of blood charged out from between his lips.
The starlight glittered. Only the back of the Celestial Seal Sect teacher could be seen. His scornful voice came from the mountain path. “While she has given you a chance, and I cannot go against her and kill you, but if you dare to speak to me with such an attitude, I can easily give you a lesson like training a dog, and add to your injuries.”
Su Qin coughed violently. Purple black pieces of blood came out. He knew these people did not care what he could accomplish, just that Zheng Xiu had orders to have him live. But he still struggled to lift his head and looked at the Celestial Seal Sect teacher, saying, “I know you, I know your name is Han Xinhe.”
The Celestial Seal Sect teacher who was leaving raised his eyebrows. He naturally knew that Su Qin was saying that he would get revenge in the future. But right now, in his eyes, Su Qin was no different from a dog.
So he smiled with even more scorn, and did not speak.
**
The starlight faded, and the sun came out.
A carriage came out of a residence near the Changling imperial palace, and headed to the east of Changling. The carriage was not fast, but as it moved against the rising sunlight, it seemed to melt into the gold light and head into the rising sun.
The one-armed official sitting in the carriage was Shen Xuan.
The Changling officials, and even the military generals feared two people the most. One was Bureau Chief Chen of the Divinity Bureau, and the other Bureau Chief Ye of the Astrology Bureau. But now, this former prison official was above these two people, and became the person the Changling officials feared the most.
Shen Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly, and seemed to enjoy the warm sunlight just like a cat.
The carriage traveled against the rising sun for a long time before changing direction and came in front of a little yard.
There was no rain. Yet multiple black umbrellas were open, and blocking the sun of their heads as well as obscuring the faces of the cultivators below it. They blocked his carriage.
Shen Xuan patted the window for the carriage to stop. Then he said, “I want to meet Bureau Chief Ye.”
“This is Bureau Chief Ye’s private residence, no guests are seen here.” A rude voice came from under the black umbrella.
Shen Xuan was expressionless as he repeated, “I want to see Bureau Chief Ye.”
There was a sneer in the voice coming from under the umbrella. “Bureau Chief Ye does not want to see you.”
Shen Xuan said, “You should understand my status right now. In Changling, I have the power to meet anyone at any time. If you keep stopping me, do you trust that I will kill you?”
There was no response from under the black umbrellas because a voice came from the little courtyard behind. “You see me like this. If you dare to do that, you think I do not dare to kill you?”
The voice was domineering and unreasonable. But Ye Celeng had always been this unreasonable in Changling.
Shen Xuan stood up and walked off the carriage. His gaze moved behind the murderous black umbrellas to the tightly closed door. He made a serious and shallow bow. He said, “It is because too many people want to kill me in Changling that I come to see Bureau Chief Ye.”
Ye Celeng’s cold voice came with slight scorn. “Pity that I also want to kill you greatly.”
“After today, you will change your mind,” Shen Xuan said.
There was no sound from the courtyard. The black umbrellas understood her meaning and made a path.
Shen Xuan opened the closed door, walked behind the privacy barrier, and saw a woman in a white dress that did not seem to match the gray and black Changling.
Ye Celeng stood with her hands behind her back. While she was much shorter than Shen Xuan, she seemed to give off a more powerful presence.
“The empress wants me to live, but there are many on the Holy One’s side that do not want me to live. So you must make sure I will not die,” Shen Xuan looked at her and said.
Ye Celeng glanced at him and said, “Tell me.”
The words were slight, but suddenly, tangible killing intent suddenly formed in the air.
“Someone asked me to bring something back to you from the ancestral mountain.” Shen Xuan said softly, and then he closed his eyes.
The little courtyard was shrouded in water vapor. When he closed his eyes, more water vapor suddenly appeared at a height level with his body. There seemed to be a presence of endless wind and rain.
Ye Celeng’s pupils suddenly contracted.
“This sword manual is very compatible with your One Sky Water. After you receive it, you will be stronger.” Shen Xuan opened his eyes and said as he looked into her eyes, “And you know that I cannot comprehend a sword essence like this.”
Ye Celeng’s brows furrowed and then she said, “So he is not dead?”
Shen Xuan nodded. “So you must make sure I do not die.”
Ye Celeng suddenly laughed after a moment. “I had not thought that I would be on the same side as someone like you.”
Shen Xuan said sincerely, “I also did not expect it.”
