Under the moonless, windy night sky, Zhang Ze stealthily dressed and went out for a nighttime stroll, carrying fine wine and good meat as he knocked open the Sword Spirit’s door.
“Is Senior here?”
“Why have you come here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”
The Sword Spirit appeared behind Zhang Ze.
Looking at the Sword Spirit standing outside the Heart Refining Cave, Zhang Ze was somewhat confused.
“Didn’t Senior say you couldn’t leave the Cave? You...”
Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Ze was kicked inside.
“I’m merely confined within ten miles of this place. It’s not as though I’m really sitting in prison.
So, tell me. What are you doing here at night?”
The Sword Spirit floated in front of Zhang Ze and sized up this ridiculous fellow.
“Senior, Master told me everything.” Zhang Ze sat on the ground, poured two cups of wine, and placed them on the silk cloth spread out before him.
“What did he tell you?”
“Everything. That woman...”
“Sigh.” The Sword Spirit let out a long sigh.
【Outer Sect Sole Hidden Quest: Spirit of Bewilderment in progress, completion 85%】
【Side Hidden Quest: Recalling Past Events, completion 15%】
Zhang Ze had received professional training, so when he saw the mission progress bar change, he did not laugh out loud.
In fact, Zhang Ze knew nothing at all.
The two old men kept their mouths sealed as though they had been welded shut.
Old Li was even more irritable, wearing an expression that seemed to say, “Ask one more question, and I’ll show you what the Sect rules say.”
Yet when they turned their backs and gazed at the sky, their sorrow, longing, and grief were impossible to fake.
Their shame and coy awkwardness were exactly like those of a greasy middle-aged man whose public QQ Space literature had been exposed.
Zhang Ze could swear before the ever-burning lamp of the Martial Arts Hall that there was a woman involved in this matter. There absolutely was a woman.
“My Eyes are a measuring ruler. I absolutely cannot be mistaken.”
There had to be an unspoken middle-aged love story here.
Add to that a Sword Spirit who had awakened and advanced because of some woman, then sat meditating in the Cave for a hundred years.
The love and hatred from Three Hundred Years Ago. Where had that woman gone? Had she left the Sword Sect to roam the world with her sword, died young, or become trapped by love...
Zhang Ze felt unable to sleep at night, as though hundreds and thousands of Ants were crawling through his heart.
After Repeatedly Thinking for A long time, he decided to risk everything. Even if Old Li hung him up and beat him for three days afterward, he had to get to the bottom of this matter.
It was all for the task, not for the Bagua.
Zhang Ze felt that neither Old Wang nor Old Li looked like people who would write a Diary.
That meant he could only start with the Sword Spirit.
Senior Sword Spirit looked imposing, but was actually somewhat Purely innocent.
Besides, anyone who had sat alone in the cave for a hundred years must have had plenty to say.
Thus, he boldly tried to trick the Sword Spirit, never expecting it to succeed.
Holding food and drink that he had actually prepared for himself, Zhang Ze entered eating-melon mode.
“That year, I Encountered her.”
That was it. This was exactly the right opening. Zhang Ze took a bite of pig’s head meat.
“At that time, my Spiritual Intelligence had not awakened. I was merely a Low-level Sword Spirit capable of Copying the Cultivation Level of a Qi Refining cultivator.
During my battle with her, I Felt a battle intent I had never experienced before.
Stimulated by her vast battle intent, I Awakened my Spiritual Intelligence.
I will never forget that Feeling for the rest of my life.
This was the grace of Enlightenment.
I wanted to battle her once more as thanks.”
【Outer Sect Sole Hidden Quest: Spirit of Bewilderment, mission completion 99%】
【Side Hidden Quest: Recalling Past Events, mission completion 99%】
Zhang Ze held his wine cup and waited for A Long Time, but the Sword Spirit merely closed its Eyes and recalled the past, never speaking again.
That final 1% was slow to arrive.
“That’s it?” Zhang Ze asked.
“That’s it,” the Sword Spirit replied.
“That’s all?” Zhang Ze felt he had been deceived.
What happened to the promised heroic tenderness, the promised longing for an ancient sword, and the promised hundred-thousand-word ancient-style romance Short Story?
“Then why did Senior suffer a malfunction?”
“Because at the beginning, I was indeed damaged by that woman.”
“Then why did Senior pretend to be malfunctioning when you fought me?”
“You people were annoying. If you discovered I wasn’t broken, I would have had to be your Sparring partner.”
“Then why did Senior recover?”
“Because fighting you was even more annoying.”
“Then what did you want me to ask Elder Li at that time?”
“Ask for that woman’s name. I don’t know what she was called.”
“Then go ask yourself!”
“I’m not Prepared yet. Although I want to battle that woman once more, I’m afraid of being damaged again. An unstable sword heart would affect my Cultivation.”
Zhang Ze was now so empty that he could have directly entered monastic life.
It was like spending an entire day downloading Resources through a tiny network drive connection, assuming you had found a vast, un censored prairie.
Then, at midnight, with All Set, he drew the curtains, opened the player, and Discovered that it really was an un censored prairie.
Ten gigabytes of Windows desktop images.
Looking at the Sword Spirit’s expressionless gaze—one could not call it Purely innocent, only utterly devoid of emotion—Zhang Ze rose and clasped his hands.
“Senior, Rest early. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Come back!” The Sword Spirit floated in front of Zhang Ze and Blocked his path.
“You don’t actually know anything, do you...”
“How could that be? Old Li told me everything.” Zhang Ze walked around the Sword Spirit and hurried toward the cave entrance.
“Stop! You’re trying to trick me?”
The Sword Spirit raised a hand. A Flying Sword formed from Spiritual Energy appeared in front of Zhang Ze, its tip pressed against his forehead.
“I... well... Elder Li... told me... you understand, right? It’s not that we don’t know about this question. It’s just that he...”
“What was that woman called?” The Sword Spirit’s voice rang beside Zhang Ze’s ear. “If you really asked your Master, he couldn’t possibly have failed to tell you.”
Zhang Ze wanted to Quibble, but then decided to forget it.
He struck a pose with his chest thrust out and his rear raised, turning his back to the Sword Spirit.
“Senior, kick me right here. There’s plenty of meat.”
The next day.
Zhang Ze skipped his Morning Class again.
The pain throughout his body was unbearable, and he did not crawl out of bed until the Afternoon.
He could not go to the Martial Arts Hall. If he did, he would have to endure another beating from Elder Li.
The safest place left was Old Wang’s Library Pavilion. He could drink some tea there and organize the new Cultivation Method, Golden Armor Soldiers.
“How are you so well-behaved today, boy? In the past, whenever you came here, you would lie down if you could avoid sitting.”
Old Wang nestled into his recliner and Slurped his hot tea.
“I was Startled awake from a dream last night and Felt that my Cultivation Level was too low, leaving me unworthy of the Sect. Therefore, I got up and cultivated all night, and I’m still savoring the Feeling from At that time.”
Elder Wang looked at Zhang Ze’s limping appearance and chuckled.
“Did you go ask the Sword Spirit, or did you go ask Old Li?”
Zhang Ze tossed aside his brush and handed Old Wang the Cultivation Method booklet he had finished writing while standing.
“I went to ask the Sword Spirit. Senior was delighted and instructed me in the essence of Sword Technique all night.”
After taking the booklet, Elder Wang skimmed through it and decided that aside from the ugly handwriting, there were no problems.
“You’re truly clever for a Lifetime, yet Confused for a moment. Why didn’t you come ask me about this?”
“You knew?”
“Naturally. Even if I didn’t know, I wouldn’t beat you.”
To be honest, Zhang Ze greatly Disbelieved him.
Although this matter had been a plain boiling water plot as far as the Sword Spirit was concerned, the Old man did not even have vital points, after all. It was normal for him to be especially Pure.
But Old Li had been a robust man Three Hundred Years Ago. For him to agonize to that extent, there had to be some Trickery.
As for Grandpa Wang, Zhang Ze looked at Grandpa Wang’s three-layered Chin and felt that he had nothing to do with this middle-aged love story.
Old Wang clasped his hands behind his back and gazed out the window with the bearing of an expert.
“Back then, a saying circulated in the Seventh Sword Pavilion.
Watch the chess game without speaking, and do not startle Jing Chun.
Do you understand?”
Understand my ass, Zhang Ze cursed inwardly.
However, in the next second, he realized it and stared at Old Wang with an expression of disbelief.
【Outer Sect Sole Hidden Quest: Spirit of Bewilderment, mission completion 99.91%.】
【Side Hidden Quest: Recalling Past Events, mission completion 99.91%.】