Chapter 174: Starfall (Part 3) (Bonus Chapter)
“Congratulations, Senior!”
“The Flying Sword launched smoothly, and the crisis was successfully resolved!”
In a grimy little tavern not far from Taibai Restaurant, a deep, magnetic voice congratulated him.
“But… may I ask, Senior, why did we agree to meet here?”
The speaker was an elegant middle-aged man in a flowing white robe, his brows tightly furrowed and his thin lips pursed, a hint of disdain in his tone.
His disdain was understandable; the small tavern was dimly lit, and the tables and chairs were covered in a thick layer of grime and grease, so much so that they had developed a slick patina.
In his white robe, he felt awkward, neither wanting to stand nor sit.
“Because you can see Taibai Restaurant from here,” said the other person, a pot-bellied old man in plain cloth, his words accompanied by smacking and chewing sounds.
“Why not go to Taibai Restaurant? That was your… Senior’s…”
“Those were the old days,” the old man waved his hand dismissively, but because the space was too cramped, his greasy hand almost brushed against the man in white, scaring him into shrinking back. “In its current state, it’s not even as good as this little tavern.”
The man in white disagreed, taking out a cushion and placing it on the stool before sitting down. His self-important demeanor made the old man shake his head.
“You’re the same, always strutting around in that white robe? It gets dirty so easily. Look at me, how convenient this is.” The old man said, wiping the grease from his hands on his already oily clothes.
Seeing this, the man in white’s eyebrow twitched, but he dared not complain to the Senior.
“Alright, Xiao Hanzi, I won’t tease you anymore.”
“After all, our Hanshan Jun has been a dashing Young Master in white for over forty years, a model of the white-robed Young Master in Chang’an.” The old man chuckled.
Hanshan Jun raised an eyebrow and said in a deep voice, “Now, I’m afraid I’ll have to step aside…”
“Oh, I heard there’s a kid named Wen Xuanning who also looks great in white.”
“…Yes, Senior’s information is still as well-informed as ever.”
“Getting old, nothing to do but eat, drink, and listen to gossip,” the old man mumbled, taking a bite of roasted chicken and a sip of wine. “I heard that kid has full spiritual potential? Didn’t you think of recruiting him?”
“No, I don’t see any potential in him,” Hanshan Jun said coldly.
If anyone were listening, they would be greatly surprised to hear Hanshan Jun claim that Wen Xuanning, with his full spiritual potential, had no potential.
“Interesting, interesting.” The old man laughed heartily. “Then I’ll introduce you to someone with potential.”
“Here, that girl!” He said, pointing a greasy finger out the window.
Hanshan Jun followed his gaze and saw a petite young girl walking out of Taibai Restaurant, hurrying towards another friend who was clearly waiting for her.
This girl, she seemed somewhat familiar.
“What about this girl?” He still couldn’t recall where he had seen her.
“Someone tried to scheme against her just now, but thankfully she was clever and even took their weird objects. It was truly a case of losing the battle and the war,” the old man chuckled.
“Anything else?” Hanshan Jun knew the old man wouldn’t just base potential on that.
“Oh, also, she’s a Yugui.”
“And just now, she went to Xiao Xiang House.”
The old man saw Hanshan Jun’s eyes widen instantly and nodded, “Yes, she has the Guai Qi of disaster on her. She went to that Dongting Autumn Moon.”
“From Chang’an to Dongting Autumn Moon in the northern desert?” Hanshan Jun found it truly hard to believe.
“I don’t know how she did it, but it shows she has the kind of quality we all want…” The old man narrowed his eyes. “So shouldn’t you contact her?”
“Yes.” Hanshan Jun nodded, watching the girl in the distance board a cloud sedan. Her face happened to be turned towards them, and he finally saw her clearly.
“This, isn’t this Nangong’s student?” Hanshan Jun finally remembered where he had seen her.
“Oh? You’ve already contacted her?” The old man asked in surprise, not expecting these youngsters to be so quick.
“Yes, Nangong has already told us that if she passes the Examination, we can try to recruit her.”
“That’s good. You must keep a close eye on her, don’t miss out and let someone else recruit her…”
“Yes, Senior, rest assured.” Hanshan Jun said seriously.
“The times are changing. This reverse purification is a declaration of war against us…”
Hanshan Jun smiled bitterly: “Yes… We have long anticipated it and are prepared.”
“It’s not enough. We need more young power.” The old man shook his head and sighed, “We are old, our minds are rigid, and we can no longer jump out of this chessboard…”
“We can only introduce new pieces, revitalize this game from the outside, and find a way to break the deadlock…”
The old man finished his wine, placing the jar heavily on the table with a dull thud that sounded exceptionally loud and powerful in the empty little tavern.
Hanshan Jun was intimidated by the old man’s Aura and said no more.
Suddenly, the old man remembered something and changed the subject: “You saw the scene just now, didn’t you?”
“Wh-… what?” Hanshan Jun could barely keep up with the old man’s train of thought.
“The scene of my Flying Sword from a thousand li away just now!”
“…I saw it.” Hanshan Jun wanted to say that he also didn’t want to squat on a nearby rooftop, watching such a lazy Flying Sword.
“That’s good. Remember to draw me handsomely.”
“…Okay.”
“Isn’t the ‘cold and aloof ice mountain sword immortal’ popular now? You make me one.”
“Okay…”
…
Back at Yunxian Residence, Liu Sheng and Wang Dongdong said goodnight and she returned to her room in the west wing. After a quick wash, she was so tired she collapsed onto the bed.
She had made up her mind: from today until the Examination, she would not leave this courtyard for a single step!
If she had just listened to Senior Sister Lin Shuying properly, none of this would have happened.
However, she wondered how Wen Weilan was doing.
If something happened to Wen Weilan, could she still focus on her exam?
Liu Sheng took out her spirit message to check, and seeing that Wen Weilan still hadn’t replied, she couldn’t help but feel worried.
“Sister, are you still thinking about Big Sister?” Ling Xiaoshu popped out, lying next to Liu Sheng, tilting her head and blinking her eyes as she asked.
“Hmm… I don’t know what she’s going to do…” Liu Sheng frowned tightly. “That’s a disaster weird objects, and there are also those second only to disaster. I don’t know how many other Ranks of weird objects there are…”
“And she’s not replying to messages.”
“Perhaps she is simply in a place where spirit message cannot be received.” The world’s voice was always rational and calm.
“You mean? Weird Domain?” Liu Sheng panicked even more.
“Think about all the events today and connect them.”
The messy old man’s work on Taibai Restaurant, and his Flying Sword…
The meteor in the northwest direction…
“Protective formations will be erected at the border, and spirit messages are also blocked outside the national borders… So you mean, she’s in the northern desert?”
“Yes, the Xiao Xiang House in the northern desert is in Sultan City, and it displays the ‘Dongting Autumn Moon Painting’. Dongting Autumn Moon specializes in large-scale transactions, so it’s likely that the reason there are so many weird objects there is because of the trade fair.”
“That’s right, the weird objects we hunted last time were still being purified and hadn’t been sold yet. Wei Lan should have gone to participate in the trade fair.” Liu Sheng nodded in sudden understanding.
“The power of that Flying Sword is enough to resolve all the weird objects we’ve seen. Wen Weilan is safe at this moment.”
“How do you determine that was a Flying Sword and not a meteor?”
“In your world, there are no real meteors.”
“Why?” Liu Sheng felt that this sentence was very important, and her heart felt heavy.
“Beneath the firmament, it cannot be spoken.”
“Riddler, why do you know so much?”
“All information already exists in your mind. Some you obtain directly through conversations, texts, images, and some exist in the background noise of your life, such as Wen Weilan and Cui Cui’s conversations, a casual glance at a roadside poster, or the whispers of passersby. It’s just that your brain deems it useless, so it doesn’t process this chaotic information and stores it deep in your memory.”
“And I can unearth these memories from the depths and deduce from them.”
April is ending! Thank you, darlings, for voting! Thank you for your support!
I’ll continue to work hard on writing in May, and I won’t be going out for the May Day holiday! ヽ(。>д<)ｐ