World of Honor

“Master!” Su Baiyi pretended to be calm and accompanied his master for less than a moment before he couldn’t help but wail, “You said you stole their treasure back then, and they searched for it for more than a decade. Now that they have caught you, they will surely skin you alive…”

“Composure.” Mr. Xie emphasized.

Su Baiyi could only put away his bitter face and reluctantly said, “A gentleman does not suffer losses in front of him.”

“That’s a hero.” Mr. Xie corrected.

“Where is the treasure you stole back then, master?” Su Baiyi naturally changed the topic, “Why don’t you give it back to them and apologize?”

“I don’t have that treasure anymore, I gave it to you a long time ago.” Mr. Xie suddenly smiled slyly.

Su Baiyi was stunned. “How come I don’t know?”

“The martial art you practice is it.” Mr. Xie said faintly.

“What, that’s what you stole?” Su Baiyi was shocked.

Mr. Xie nodded. “And I burned it, so the only one who remembers that martial art is you. You are the treasure.”

Su Baiyi held his forehead, “Master, you are really too good to your disciple. You said Qing Yi Lang became like that after practicing three pages, I practiced half a book, won’t I be worse off in the future? What kind of treasure is this, can’t I refuse it…”

“Xie Xing was too impatient.” Mr. Xie walked outside, “Don’t worry, my disciple, we won’t have any trouble. In a while, I will let them take me away on the condition that they let you leave. After I return to Shanglin Tiangong, I will deal with them. If they can’t get the half of the scroll, they won’t dare to kill me. When you come back after learning, come and save me, okay?”

Su Baiyi was stunned, his eyes suddenly moistened. “Master, you are sacrificing yourself for me…”

“When did I…” Mr. Xie frowned slightly.

“You must be saying this to make me feel at ease to leave, but when you return to Shanglin Tiangong, you will surely suffer all kinds of torture and die…”

“Can you…” Mr. Xie said helplessly.

“By the way master, you said I should come back and save you after learning, but where should I go to learn? Do you have any arrangements?” Su Baiyi wiped away his tears, sat upright, and said seriously.

“Go to Xue Gong.” Mr. Xie said unhappily, “The Academy has a sage in charge, and Shanglin Tiangong won’t dare to provoke it.”

“The Academy?” Su Baiyi thought of the woman with the umbrella and shivered.

“My disciple, from today on, you will have to walk the world as my disciple, and you can’t lose face for me. You look quite like me when I was young at first glance, but you have to remember one thing in the future.” Mr. Xie walked to the door and looked at the four characters “Daxiao Calligraphy School” above.

“Master, please tell me.”

“Never talk too much.”

Mr. Xie walked into the courtyard and looked up at the blooming apricot tree. He suddenly smiled and said, “Baiyi, guess what poem I’m thinking of now.”

“This journey is a long farewell, it should be ‘Apricot blossoms bear dewy snow, willow-lined roads bid sad farewells’.” Su Baiyi followed him and answered seriously after a slight thought.

Mr. Xie shook his head. “No.”

“What is it then?”

“Of course it’s ‘Spring spills over the garden wall, a lone apricot blooms bright and tall’.”

“Huh?”

Mr. Xie closed his eyes, smelled the apricot fragrance, and said ecstatically, “You are about to go to the world, and the world is full of spring. In spring, there must be a lone red apricot. Especially the Academy you are going to, that’s in Qiantang City!”

“What’s so special about Qiantang City?” Su Baiyi asked curiously.

Mr. Xie took a deep breath. “The girls in Qiantang City are very beautiful.”

Su Baiyi smiled. “Master has a story. By the way, the girl I just mentioned, she seemed…”

“Yes, there is a long story.” Mr. Xie waved his sleeve lightly and swept away the fallen flowers and dust on the ground. Su Baiyi stopped talking and looked down. There was actually a jar of wine buried there.

“This jar of wine was buried by me when I first came here. Today I give it to you as a farewell gift.” Mr. Xie bent down and pulled out the jar of apricot blossom Fen wine from the soil. He put it to his mouth and sniffed lightly. “To be honest, the days in Apricot Village were really boring. Fortunately, there was this apricot wine, and fortunately, there was you, my noisy disciple. But today, we are destined to leave.”

“Yes, today you have to leave.” A heavy voice suddenly sounded at the door.

Su Baiyi turned around abruptly and saw a burly monk slam his crescent spade on the ground and glare at them.

“It seems that our information was not wrong.” The thin masked man walked to the monk’s side, “Long time no see, Xie…” He only said half of the sentence, and then suddenly retreated. A apricot blossom flew past his mask, leaving a shallow mark.

Su Baiyi looked at Mr. Xie and whispered, “Master, they are the ones I met earlier.”

Mr. Xie did not speak. He held the jar of wine in one hand and an apricot blossom in the other, thinking about something.

“Xie Louzhu. Since we have come here, you should know that you can’t hide anymore.” The burly monk slammed his crescent spade on the ground again, shaking off half of the apricot flowers.

“Still the same, like to knock that big shovel when talking. So noisy.” Mr. Xie put the jar of wine on the ground and turned around, “The head of the Punishment Department, Master Jiekong. And – the deputy head of the Thousand Inventions Department, Wen Xi.”

Wen Xi touched the shallow flower mark on his mask and said faintly, “When Xie Louzhu left that year, I was just an ordinary disciple in the Thousand Inventions Department. Becoming the deputy head was only last year’s matter. It seems that Xie Louzhu, although hiding from the world, still has good sources of information.” 

“Baiyi, do you still remember the story I told you about Shanglin Tiangong?” Mr. Xie smiled.

“I can hardly recall the other stories now, but I do remember that master told me about Louzhu in Shanglin Tiangong. His martial arts were unparalleled in the world, his appearance was stunning, he always wore a golden robe and held a jade sword. He walked the world and made half of the women fall for him. Everyone cried and shouted to marry him, but he passed through the flowers without touching a leaf. He was a rare man in ancient and modern times.” Su Baiyi replied.

“What is Louzhu’s name?”

“Xie Kanhua.”

“That’s me.”

Xie Kanhua waved his hand lightly, and a long sword flew out from where the apricot wine was buried and landed in his hand.

“Long time no see.”

A flash of silver.

Jiekong lifted his crescent spade suddenly, Wen Xi grabbed the long umbrella from his back, and the dark green canopy snapped open!

But soon, Jiekong’s crescent spade fell back to the ground, and the umbrella closed again, as if nothing had happened. Xie Kanhua sheathed his sword and raised his hand lightly. Su Baiyi immediately understood and kicked the jar of wine on the ground. It soared over Jiekong and his companion and landed in Xie Kanhua’s hand.

The moment the jar of wine fell into Xie Kanhua’s hand, there was a sound of eggshell cracking in the yard. The white mask that Wen Xi was wearing had a long slit. He lifted his head slightly, and the mask shattered instantly, revealing his pale face under the mask.

Jiekong took a deep breath and suppressed the surging internal energy in his chest. His hand holding the crescent spade trembled uncontrollably. He frowned and said in a low voice, “You are chasing mirages.”