Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Book 29 - Chapter 10 – Shadow Sank Into The Cold River

Chapter 10 – Shadow Sank Into The Cold River

The carriage speedily entered a Taoist temple. Kou Zhong suppressed his curiosity to take a peek on who would be coming out of the carriage. Hiding in the shadowy lane, he waited patiently.

Sure enough, in less than the time needed to drink half a cup of hot tea later, two shadows separately came out of the Taoist temple and another building across the street, and jumped down onto the clear and cold long street, which, in this quiet night, was quite deserted. Surprisingly, it was two middle-aged Taoist priests. Just by looking at their swift shenfa, Kou Zhong knew that their martial art skill was quite outstanding.

The two Taoist priests looked at each other and laughed. One of them spoke in low voice, “This method has both advantages and disadvantages. During the day, it is more difficult to get rid of the enemy [orig. to skim froth or foam from the surface of a liquid]; in the night, it is easy to see if there is anybody following the track.”

Kou Zhong was shocked inwardly. Hastily crouching down, he stuck his ear to the ground, and was able to faintly caught the sound of hoof beats in the distance. ‘Such a close call!’ he cried inwardly. Winding around the two Taoist priests, he continued to follow.

This was certainly a simple and effective move; from the front gate of the Taoist temple, the carriage went out of the rear gate, plus they had watchmen in hiding to see if there was anybody tailing behind. Fortunately these two demon Taoists were so pleased that they lost their senses and thus revealed their foundation, hence Kou Zhong came to see the truth.

He had just leaped over the roof of a house when the alarm went off in Kou Zhong’s heart. Quickly he crouched down and stayed still, he cried inwardly that he was almost fooled.

He recalled that all the demonic Taoists in the Laojun Guan, not a single one was not a wily old fox, a Jianghu veteran. They jumped down to the street and talked just like that, plus the first remark they made already revealed their secret, it simply did not make any sense; evidently they were playing tricks. If Kou Zhong hastily chase after the carriage, he would certainly fall into their trap.

Moreover, the other party must have realized that in the depth of the night, since there was no other vehicles and horses around, the sound of hoof beats could be easily detected; how could they not think of any countermeasure? For example, using another carriage with the horses’ hoofs wrapped in cloth, or perhaps abandoning the carriage altogether and going in foot. Any one of these methods could be used to easily skim off the tracker.

Kou Zhong secretly wiped his cold sweat; before his eyes was clearly a trap that old demon Rong meticulously plotted to be used against the enemy like he and Xu Ziling, and Kou Zhong was nearly fooled.

The two Taoist priests soared into the air and disappeared behind the wall of the Taoist temple courtyard.

Taking a deep breath, Kou Zhong watched with rapt attention and concentrated will, while ama.s.sing his qi into his dantian. Everything around him immediately became clear. From the reflection of the golden beam of moonlight, to the variation of the airflow due to the night breeze, none could escape his elevated-many-times-over senses.

Right this moment, he heard a barely perceptible sound of fluttering sleeves approaching swiftly from his rear left.

Without the slightest hesitation Kou Zhong leaped down to the street and like a ghost he flew toward the Taoist temple.

Calmly, yet indifferently, Xu Ziling replied, “Das.h.i.+’s proposal, please forgive Xu Ziling for not being able to accept.”

With solemn precious countenance, Liao Kong called one of the many names of Buddha in low voice, he spoke softly, “s.h.i.+zhu only has the way eye and intelligent root [not sure, perhaps Buddhist term, 道眼慧根], could it be that you still cannot see through, and unable to let go?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Xu Ziling replied, “Who can see through? Who can let it go? What I am pursuing is a carefree life; I’ll go whenever I want to go, I’ll stay whenever I want to stay, not being subjected to left and right. If by seeing through and letting it go means being imprisoned in Jingnian Chanyuan, where’s the logic in that?”

A hint of smile escaped from the corner of Liao Kong’s mouth; he spoke softly, “No attachment in life, no fear in death, no Buddha to look for, no demon to be afraid of, that is the meaning of freedom, which can be obtained from one’s own heart. Not only freedom does not have any appearance, it also has no name, no premises. The more one is strongly attached to freedom, the more confusing and complicated it will be, reason and mental state become unclear. No existence, no end, no departing, no staying, no Buddha is in fact Buddha.”

Listening to that, Xu Ziling’s eyebrows were greatly knitted; he could no longer say that Liao Kong’s words were without reason. Sighing, he said, “Xu Ziling is just a piece of obstinate rock, Das.h.i.+ will only waste your time explaining. I will definitely not follow Das.h.i.+ back to the Chanyuan. Each of us has our own attachment; it seems to me that in the end we must use martial art to resolve this matter.”

Liao Kong said, “Only the body is solid and dense, everything else appears in the dust. Does s.h.i.+zhu understand this saying?”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling replied, “Such a profound Dhyana logic, I will have to trouble Das.h.i.+ to explain.”

Liao Kong slowly came near; he said with a smile, “Can we walk and talk?”

Staring blankly, Xu Ziling said, “Are we going to Jingnian Chanyuan?”

Liao Kong laughed, but did not answer; he simply brushed past him.

Xu Ziling had no choice but to walk side by side with him. He heard this holy monk, who had attained the Way, said, “Only the body is solid and dense is the heart of Buddhism. All mortals have Buddha nature, Buddha’s heart is all living things’ body, that is, the heart is Buddha, and this Buddha’s heart is now manifested in everything in the world, it is being released into the world during birth, strong attachment is not strong attachment, everything is in every cun of the heart. As long as s.h.i.+zhu is willing to change your mind, you could exchange weapons of war for gifts of jade and silk. s.h.i.+zhu, what do you think?”

Xu Ziling carefully pondered his advice, imbued with Buddhist allegory. After muttering to himself irresolutely for half a day, he turned to face the brus.h.i.+ng cold wind of the long street, and spoke indifferently, “The dispute in the world is because the heart of the people is different and it grows. I understand Das.h.i.+’s position, but Das.h.i.+ should understand my position as well. How could Xu Ziling be one who rush indiscriminately into using weapons of war?”

Liao Kong led him to turn left into the s.p.a.cious plaza of a magnificent monastery, surrounded all around by old trees. On the other side of the plaza was the Hall of Great Strength [main hall of Buddhist temple], from which came the faint glow of lantern lights.

Xu Ziling halted his steps, with his back leaning against the main entrance. Although his spirited perception far surpa.s.sed ordinary person, upon self-examination, he realized that he had no confidence to determine whether s.h.i.+ Feixuan and the Four Great Holy Monks were hiding inside the temple, hence he simply had to raise his vigilance.

Liao Kong continued walking for ten more paces before stopping in the middle of the plaza, and only then did he turn around. About three paces behind him was a bronze three-legged incense burner, about waist high. He did not know who lighted two incense sticks on the stove, but the smoke was rising in spirals, which was quickly dispersed by the cold wind.

The roof of the temple hall reflected the radiance of the moon and the stars; it flickered brightly. The entire temple courtyard was quiet, without any noise, giving up the impression of a secluded, cold and somber place.

‘Dang!’

Liao Kong shook the small copper [sic] bell in his hand; he spoke with solemn expression, “Wild goose cross over the vast sky, shadow sank into the cold river. Although the wild goose has no intention to leave its trace, the water also lack the intention to sink the shadow; however, the wild goose crossing over and the shadow sinking is a widely known fact. Have Xu s.h.i.+zhu given any thought to the common people under the heavens?”

Now Xu Ziling understood clearly why s.h.i.+ Feixuan did not spare any effort in preventing them, two boys, going to Guanzhong for a treasure hunt. What she was afraid of was not whether the two boys could transport the treasure out, because that was practically impossible. She was worried that the treasure would fall into Li Jiancheng’s hands. Currently Li Jiancheng’s prestige was greatly rising, and this was unfavorable to Li s.h.i.+min, who found himself in the position of brothers going into separate factions and fighting each other.

Xu Ziling wanted very much to tell Liao Kong that he was willing to accompany Kou Zhong taking this risk simply because he was hoping that Kou Zhong would sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat [idiom], and kill his wild schemes of contending over the world, but in the end he did not say anything.

Reviewing his encounter with Shen Luoyan just now, Xu Ziling recalled his understanding and what he learned from experience about illusion and reality; he spoke heavily, “Since Miss s.h.i.+’s immortal self has arrived, why not come out to see me?”

Staying close to the wall, Kou Zhong slipped into the tree garden of the Taoist temple. Crouching low and das.h.i.+ng swiftly, he rounded a hexagonal pavilion. Sweeping his gaze around, he could not help groaning inwardly.

This place was the flower garden on the left side of the Taoist temple. Although it had small bridge over running water, the pavilion [亭台] and the water pavilion [水榭] were furnished, the decoration elegant, but the vegetation was spa.r.s.e bamboo tree planted inside pots; practically there was no hiding place.

In his quick wit, Kou Zhong flashed to the bridge and submerged himself into the water under the bridge. He had just hidden himself well when there was the sound of rus.h.i.+ng wind above; someone was coming into the Taoist temple’s main hall via the side door.

For Kou Zhong, this was a gamble. He was betting that the opposite side thought n.o.body followed, and he took advantage of this moment of negligence to slip through this gap.

Although his senses were not as sensitive as Xu Ziling’s, he had enough confidence that he would be able to sense whether the enemy has detected his presence or not. It appeared that for the time being, he was quite successful.

The person who had just entered the temple must be a martial art master who was responsible in making sure that n.o.body would follow their track. His speed was outstanding; even Kou Zhong had to admit that he was inferior to this person. Perhaps it was someone of Zhu Yuyan or Wanwan’s caliber. If Kou Zhong had tried to slip in after they arrived, his risk would be elevated many times over.

Kou Zhong slowly rose up to the surface of the water and concentrated his power into his ears. The voice of the person in the temple immediately entered his ears.

Rong Jiaojiao’s sweet voice was heard from inside the temple, “Really strange! Where the h.e.l.l are those three G.o.dd.a.m.n guys hiding?”

Kou Zhong came to realize that the person inside the carriage coming here from the Rong Mansion was Rong Jiaojiao and not Pi Chen’s Old Demon Rong disguise. If he had known earlier, he would have made his move along the way to kill this female demon.

Another female voice replied, “Based on Kou Zhong’s character, in no way will he accept defeat, hence Da Xiaojie [big miss] guessed that just like in Nanyang, he might not want to let go and would try to a.s.sa.s.sinate Pi Chen s.h.i.+shu [martial uncle]. But now evidently he has not pursued over; it is indeed unlike his usual style.”

Kou Zhong again wiped his cold sweat, while crying inwardly that Female Demon Wan was really formidable. Turned out Kou Zhong was so easy to see through; no wonder he was almost buried in Nanyang. The speaker was Yin Gui Pai elder Wen Caiting. Her appearance in this place really made Kou Zhong happy, because now he knew for sure that his speculation that Rong Fengxiang and Yin Gui Pai were in cahoots was correct.

This moment, Zhu Yuyan’s voice was heard, “Just consider them very lucky. Or perhaps during the execution of our plan, our timing was off, or perhaps there is something important that they simply have to attend to! Either way, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong has already agreed to cooperate with us; from beginning to end, even if those two grew wings, it will still be difficult to fly.”

Rong Jiaojiao said, “But w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong’s condition is that we have to wait until they send Tuli off before we make our move to deal with them, would s.h.i.+zun [revered master] think this condition is acceptable?”

Inwardly, Kou Zhong was greatly shaken; he did not know that Rong Jiaojiao was another disciple of Zhu Yuyan’s. In this case, Laojun Guan has always been working together with Yin Gui Pai. He could not help feeling so lucky that he came here and overheard such an important and confidential information. Naturally he hated w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong to the bones even more.

Wanwan’s gentle and lovely voice came over, “Quite possibly Luoyang is our last chance to capture those two boys. That old fox w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong is too unreliable, after all, he is an outsider, plus he has misgivings toward us. My thought is that as soon as they expose their whereabouts, we will immediately go all out in making our moves, no need to have any misgivings. s.h.i.+zun, please make the decision.”

Kou Zhong sucked a mouthful of cold air, he nearly sank back to the bottom of the creek.

Just Zhu Yuyan, one person, was enough put him in order with plenty of leftover, not to mention there was also Wanwan.

The ‘Yunyu Shuang Xiu’ Pi Shouxuan said, “Wan’er’s remark is not without any reason. While currently the two boys are still stupid enough not to know that we have arrived at the Eastern Capital, we’ll kill them while they are unprepared. If we waited for s.h.i.+ Feixuan and those four big donkeys [Buddhist monk (derog.)] to rush over, the situation will become even more complicated.”

At this time, Old Demon Pi Chen, using his original voice, said, “Ay! What I am worried about is s.h.i.+ Zhixuan. He warned me not to get involved in those two kids’ affair, which put me in a very difficult situation.”

“Die!” Rong Jiaojiao’s tender voice said, “Now they already killed Ke Feng s.h.i.+shu, how could the situation be the same? Even if s.h.i.+ Zhixuan is so overbearing, he has no choice but to speak about the practices between our two schools.”

Letting out a cold snort, Zhu Yuyan said, “Dao Xiong [brother Taoist], don’t worry, if s.h.i.+ Zhixuan wants to blame you, let him blame me, Zhu Yuyan, first! He does as he pleases more and more! He knew that Sheng Sheli [holy relics] is the object that I want, he still dares to fight over it with me.”

Pi Chen sighed again; obviously because his misgivings toward s.h.i.+ Zhixuan was too deep that he was still worried and sick at heart.

Although the monastery was full of demonic school’s martial art masters, but perhaps only Zhu Yuyan and Wanwan, two persons who would be able to fight against s.h.i.+ Zhixuan for a day, more or less.

Wanwan said, “The a.s.sa.s.sination of Ke Feng s.h.i.+shu, other than those three kids, there was another person involved. If we could find out who this person is, perhaps we could find their hiding place.”

Immediately Kou Zhong’s scalp went numb; inwardly he swore and curse Wanwan, this despicable female demon.

Pi Chen laughed grimly and said, “Who this person is, I already have a good guess. Before the incident, Fu Qian’s man reserved a private room on the upper level of the south hall, but he did not show up. From this, I obtained clues. But in this matter, we cannot act blindly without thinking. This man Fu Qian, in terms of talent, intelligent, and martial art skill, all are deep and immeasurable. The martial art masters under his command are as numerous as the clouds. And then there are those three kids. They are absolutely not easy to deal with. If we fail to subdue them by force, it will destroy our cooperation with w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong instead.”

Zhu Yuyan said, “Dao’er [Taoist] means …”

Pi Chen resolutely said, “w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong and I still have to use each other; if Zhu Zunzhe [honored sir/madam] has no objection, I believe it would be best to be a bit patient for the time being, to hold back our troops without moving, to wait until Tuli leaves tomorrow, and then we can take action against them, two boys. They could not have guessed the subtle relations.h.i.+p between w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong and us.”

Zhu Yuyan muttered to herself irresolutely for half a day before saying, “We will of course respect Dao Xiong’s opinion; let’s do it this way! We’ll meet again tomorrow to discuss the details of this operation.”

Wanwan let out a light sigh; lowering her voice, she said, “Ay! s.h.i.+zun and Zongzhu [head of a clan/school] must not blame Wan’er for thinking too much, but Wan’er’s heart is suddenly filled with ominous foreboding; if we wait until tomorrow, there’s a good chance that they might escape Luoyang. Those who underestimated Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling have never had any good return; Li Mi is the most obvious example. Wan’er naturally understand Pi Zongzhu’s difficulty, but as long as Zongzhu points out to w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong that there is great possibility that they already see through his conspiracy, perhaps w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong would be willing to change his mind.”

Listening to that, Kou Zhong rained curses on her again in his heart; since clearly they had no way out, the only way right now was to inform Fu Qian as soon as possible, and then all of them would have to flee in defeat.

Pi Chen was silent for a moment before speaking heavily, “What Wan’er said is not without any reason. Very well! I will immediately go see w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong to lay out the pros and cons thoroughly; we’ll see whether we can move him or not.”

Immediately Kou Zhong’s spirit was greatly aroused; to a.s.sa.s.sinate Pi Chen, this would be one in a thousand years’ good opportunity.

From the Hall of Great Strength, s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s heavenly voice, which sounded like the sounds of nature, came out, “Since Ziling Xiong wishes to see Feixuan, why not come in to meet me?”

From deep within his heart, a complex emotion, which he himself was unable to understand, welled up in Xu Ziling’s heart. After saluting Liao Kong, he slowly stepped into the Buddhist Hall.

Although Xu Ziling had no idea which Buddhist temple was this temple, but by looking at the magnificent construction of the hall, and the refined and amazing layout, he knew that this temple must be one of the famous Buddhist monasteries in Luoyang.

On the white stone steps opposite the door, there was a giant Buddha statue sitting on double-layer of lotus petals on octagonal Mount Meru seat. Its eyebrows raised, its precious appearance solemn as it looked slightly down, as if it was able to see clearly the suffering of all living things; its bearing was grand. A cloak was draped over one shoulder of its golden body. Its hands were in No Fear Image position, a hint of reserved smile was hanging on the corners of its mouth.

Its left and right sides were lined with heavenly kings and powerful warriors clay images. Not only the poses were all different, their bearing, stance, movement, all the way to the size of their bodies appeared to be random and varied. Many-posture-and-many-color scenery, the changes within it contained some kind of harmony-within-the-contrast unity.

Just now he plainly heard s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s immortal voice from the inside, but as he entered the Hall, her fragrant trace was unclear.

Xu Ziling walked around the Buddha pedestal toward the back. He was just about to step out from the rear door, his eyes were suddenly caught by one of the warrior statues behind the Buddha pedestal. This statue had a short skirt wrapped around its waist, the ornament on its torso was slightly cherry red, its limbs were thick and solid, it had broad shoulders and thick spleen, its muscle and flesh were bulging, its brows and eyes opened up in anger, its imposing manner was tyrannical and extremely fierce.

Xu Ziling suddenly remembered Kou Zhong. Kou Zhong’s wild and fierceness were hidden beneath his somewhat cynic and free and at ease manner, but his overbearing side could be felt in the same manner as this statue.

s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s voice came through again, “Feixuan is waiting respectfully for Ziling Xiong’s honorable self.”

This moment Xu Ziling completely calmed down. Affected by the Buddhist Hall’s withdrawn-from-worldly-affairs atmosphere, he successfully threw out the distracting thoughts in his heart. No attachment in life, no fear in death, no demon to be afraid of. He was well aware that as soon as he stepped over the threshold, he would confront the biggest challenge he had ever faced since his debut, yet he still fearlessly stepped into the flower garden between the Hall of Great Strength and the spa.r.s.ely wooded area behind the Hall.

s.h.i.+ Feixuan was sitting in the small pavilion right in the middle of the garden. The moon sprinkled its golden light all over the garden, gently casting the shadow of the trees, the branches, and the leaves onto the ground, so beautiful like a scroll of landscape painting that was hard for any highly skilled painter to capture.

As long as there was s.h.i.+ Feixuan in it, no matter how intolerably vulgar place would turn peaceful with a bit of immortal aura added onto it, much less this place was a sacred place of an ancient and famous Buddhist temple to begin with.

Under s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s beautiful, penetrating gaze, Xu Ziling sat down across the table.

s.h.i.+ Feixuan smiled and said, “Since we parted at Western Shu [i.e. Sichuan], very quickly several months have pa.s.sed. Ziling Xiong’s elegant manner even surpa.s.ses the past, a clear sign that your cultivation has enjoyed great progress; it is indeed a pleasure to see.”

Xu Ziling, however, responded with a wry smile, “Supposing Miss s.h.i.+’s remark came from a sincere heart, wouldn’t it be a little contradictory? Because if my skill has progressed greatly, it would be comparatively more difficult to capture me alive; am I right?”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s jade countenance was as calm as still water, only the slender, extended-into-her-temples beautiful eyebrows slightly came together, but quickly smoothed out. Smiling gracefully, she said, “Can you not be that uptight? Feixuan only wanted to invite you and your good brother Kou Shao Shuai to temporarily withdraw to hidden mountain forest to pa.s.s a bit of cozy and comfortable life, to cultivate martial art in secret, just like the bird in the forest, the fish in the river; wouldn’t it be free and easy?”

Again, Xu Ziling felt s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s fierce and severe sharp remark, which was as deep and tightly-joined-together as a sword move. In fact, as early as when Xu Ziling stepped into the temple where s.h.i.+ Feixuan was hiding, the two of them had already started their battle.

It appeared to be an idle chitchat of two acquaintances when they met again after separation, but beneath the surface they were seeking for any gap in the opponent’s line of defense, and were striving to s.n.a.t.c.h the initiative.

Xu Ziling wanted to maintain the battle intent, he was fighting for his own freedom and struggle; while s.h.i.+ Feixuan was using her ingenuity to weaken Xu Ziling’s will to risk his life, in order to reach her goal of capturing him alive.

The most delicate thing was that there was great ‘feeling’ between the two, which made the situation even more complicated.

Xu Ziling recovered his calm and composed demeanor; he spoke indifferently, “Miss’s use of the word ‘invite’ is where the problem lies. It all boils down to us submitting obediently to your arrangement. Since we were little, Kou Zhong and I were wild children without any family; we are not accustomed to others exercise control over us. Does Miss understand?”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan suddenly hung down her head and spoke gently, “Of course Feixuan understands. Therefore, I decided to withdraw to the hidden mountain forest together with you. If we do it this way, would you feel a bit better?”

Xu Ziling’s heart was severely shaken. He suddenly remembered Bi Xiuxin and s.h.i.+ Zhixuan’s affair; momentarily he was unable to respond.

s.h.i.+ Feixuan lifted her pretty face to gaze at the enchanting moon in the night sky. Her voice serene, she said, “The Duke Yang’s Treasure has more far-reaching implication than the Jade Annulus of He Clan; not only it affects the struggle over who will unify the world, it also touches the rise and decline of Wulin’s orthodox and heretical sects. Kou Zhong has proven with unshakeable facts that not only he is – other than you – an amazing talent, the top of this generation – in martial art study, he is also a smart and brave-without-equal commander-in-chief. If he is successful in obtaining the Duke Yang’s Treasure for his own, ultimately he and Qin w.a.n.g might become the two forces contending for hegemony, and then the world will be split up for a long time and common people will suffer just like what happens today. Feixuan wants to invite two gentlemen to withdraw from the struggle. Although I am acting against my will, this is the only option.”

Naturally Xu Ziling was very clear about what she wanted, it’s just that since it was spelled out directly from her purple-red lips, outwardly he was still shocked.

Not only the Duke Yang’s Treasure was the key in the struggle between the different factions of the Li Family of Guanzhong, due to the Treasure also included the demonic school’s treasure ‘Xie Di Sheli’ [Demonic Emperor’s Relic], if it fell into the hands of people like Zhu Yuyan or s.h.i.+ Zhixuan, the demonic school would most likely prevail against the Buddhist and Taoist, two schools. The Way would vanish, the demonic would grow, which would lead to precarious situation.

s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s worries were not without any reason. The Duke Yang’s Treasure was brought about by the previous dynasty’s important minister and famous commander Yang Su, to be used to counter Emperor Wen, Yang Jian, when the latter was scheming to deal with him. And he had the number one artisan in the world, Lu Miaozi, helping him in designing the secret place to hide the treasure; therefore, naturally the treasure was not a small matter. No matter into whose hands this treasure would fall into, it would be very difficult to guess what the result would be. It was precisely this kind of unpredictable aftermath that s.h.i.+ Feixuan did not wish to see.

Xu Ziling knew that he was in a disadvantageous position; without any better option, he sighed and said, “Miss thinks that we really have the ability to transport the entire Duke Yang’s Treasure out of Guanzhong? We are not talking about the tiny precious Jade Annulus of He Clan.”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s pair of pretty eyes lit up, she slowly said, “If it were somebody else, Feixuan would definitely think that he is carried away by his wishful thinking. But since it’s Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong, anybody with a little bit of brains would not dare to treat it lightly. Li Mi had to forfeit the rivers and mountains because he did exactly that.”

And then, pursing her lips, she laughed and said, “Your past achievements are too terrifying!”

Seeing her suddenly showing a little girl’s cute and naïve demeanor, Xu Ziling could not help staring blankly at her.

s.h.i.+ Feixuan sighed lightly and said, “Looking back, you’ll see the door that will free yourself from worldly worries, the return of spring brings everything anew. Oh, Xu Ziling! What else do you want Feixuan to say to you?”

Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, “Miss’s painstaking effort to persuade me, Xu Ziling is extremely grateful. But things have come to this, n.o.body is able to turn it back. I have promised Kou Zhong that I will go with him to seek the treasure. If we can’t find it, we will both return home to till the fields; if we find it, we’ll split the goods and go our separate ways. This is my most honest words; originally I did not want to say it, but in the end I still had to say it!”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan calmly asked, “How much confidence does Ziling Xiong have that you will find the Duke Yang’s Treasure?”

“Not even half,” Xu Ziling replied, “We only know the approximate location.”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan spoke word-by-word, “Do you wish for Kou Zhong to succeed in finding the treasure?”

Xu Ziling dejectedly shook his head; discouraged, he said, “I only hope that if he cannot find the treasure, he would kill this ambition.”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan’s pair of eyes flickered with bright light; she said, “But you clearly know that if you divulge the approximate location, Li Yuanji would have a great chance of finding the treasure.”

Xu Ziling replied, “That possibility is indeed very high. Not only Li Yuanji would not need to hide to the left and flee to the right like us, he could also openly carry out large-scale excavation to search for the treasure.”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan solemnly said, “If we invite Shao Shuai to withdraw from this matter, can Xu Ziling sit on the sidelines and pay no attention?”

Chopping the nail and slicing the iron [idiom: resolute and decisive], Xu Ziling replied, “I can’t!”

s.h.i.+ Feixuan rose up gracefully, with a light cry she said, “Where it came from, where it will return. When dreaming, one cannot say it’s nothing; when awake, one cannot say it’s there.”

Looking at her graceful figure disappearing behind the Hall’s door, Xu Ziling knew that finally he broke off his relations with this fairy-like beauty.

He slowly closed his eyes.

The sound of Zen chant entered his ears.

The Four Great Holy Monks were about to make their move.