The woman smiled and said, "Don't be so hung up over it, Lord Song. The first half of your life wasn't like this."
The man in the blue robe looked at the wine bowl in front of him, not answering the question. Instead, he seemed to recall something and asked, "From a life of luxury to making a living by selling wine, often getting harassed by drunken customers every other day, can you endure such a life without any resentment?"
The woman selling wine listened to this and raised her eyebrows slightly, but soon shook her head with a smile, "To say something Lord Song might not like to hear, my current life is actually good enough for me. In the past, despite the appearance of luxury, the daily tasks were not what I wanted to do. Selling wine now, I can't say I dislike it."
The man in the blue robe frowned and finally shook his head, "So be it. People have their own aspirations, and it's not to be forced. Since you're willing to live like this, why should I say more."
The woman selling wine smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying.
However, after a moment, she brought a small pot of wine from behind the counter to the man in the blue robe. She poured him a bowl of wine and then whispered, "Lord Song, if I were you, I would definitely dispel all thoughts now, leave the Divine Capital, and never come back."
The man in the blue robe asked, "Why?"
The woman selling wine said with utmost seriousness, "Because I am very certain, Lord Song, whatever you want to achieve, cannot be accomplished at this moment, at least not right now."
The man in the blue robe looked at the woman in front of him with some strangeness and asked with interest, "How do you know?"
The woman selling wine said, "I don't know Lord Song's plans, but I know two things."
"The first thing is that His Majesty, the Emperor, is not so easily killed. Even if his enemy is the Demon Emperor, if you truly think he's weak, think about that great battle in the past. No one thought he would win."
The woman selling wine was very serious, looking at the man in the blue robe, saying calmly, "The second thing is that Lord Song, you have no allies."
When the woman selling wine mentioned the first thing, the man in the blue robe just smiled faintly. However, when she brought up the second thing, the man's expression finally changed.
The fact that he had no allies was true.
What made his expression change was the implication of not having any allies.
In other words, many people did not believe he could succeed.
The man in the blue robe frowned, "How can that be?"
The woman selling wine said indifferently, "His wife died, so he's heartbroken. Hence, Lord Song saw that he's declining in age. He went to the North, and encountered the Demon Emperor, so Lord Song saw the signs of his death. The Divine Capital fell into chaos, and Lord Song saw an opportunity. But, Lord Song, you were too optimistic."
The man in the blue robe fell into silence.
He spoke softly after an unknown amount of time, "This kind of thing has to be done someday. Do we have to wait until he dies of old age?" "How many years would that take?"
The woman selling wine sighed and stopped speaking. She just took out a wine bowl, sitting across from the man in the blue robe.
The man in the blue robe smiled bitterly, lifted the wine bowl, and said, "Perhaps I'm a bit extreme."
The woman selling wine retorted, correcting, "It's stubbornness."
……
……
Chen Chao did not draw the saber from its sheath, he just looked at the woman.
Teacher Zhang furrowed his brows slightly, and the woman exclaimed angrily, "I wish I could kill you right now, avenge my father by grinding your bones to dust!" She shared a strong bond with Scholar Xie, and at this moment, she believed Scholar Xie was killed by the Left Guard. As the commander of the Left Guard, Chen Chao naturally appeared as the greatest enemy in her eyes. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with speaking in such a manner.
Chen Chao said calmly, "You know that's not what I mean."
The woman screamed, "Then what do you mean?"
"Do you want to kill me too? Leave this child without any kin?"
Upon hearing the word "child," Teacher Zhang's expression turned grim for a moment, and as he looked at Chen Chao, his loathing deepened.
Sensing the sharp gaze, Chen Chao had just lifted his head when the woman screamed again.
Teacher Zhang subconsciously swept his sleeve, and a terrifying aura surged out from his sleeve towards Chen Chao.
In the blink of an eye, Chen Chao suddenly drew the broken saber from his waist.
A bright saber light instantly appeared.
Holding the broken saber, Chen Chao swung it forward, meeting Teacher Zhang.
Teacher Zhang had been cultivating and studying in the academy for years, his cultivation realm profound and his foundation extremely solid. The average Great Beyond Realm cultivator could not compare to him. However, if one assumed that he would definitely be stronger because he cultivated for a longer period of time, that would be illogical. Hence, the saber light effortlessly cut through the aura.
Feeling the boundless saber qi appearing in front of him, in his daze, Teacher Zhang found the youth's figure suddenly appearing in front of him.
He furrowed his brows slightly, not expecting that despite the gap of a major cultivation realm, he could still easily arrive in front of him. Just as he was about to react, Chen Chao had already thrown a punch at his face. Seeing the fist enveloped in a boundless qi, Teacher Zhang contemplated many things but eventually retreated, creating distance between them.
As expected, Chen Chao did not pursue further. But unexpectedly, the saber edge had now landed on the woman's neck.
Seeing this scene, Teacher Zhang erupted in anger, "How dare you?!"
Chen Chao paid no attention to Teacher Zhang, but the saber edge remained at the woman's neck. The broken saber was exceptionally sharp, a slight movement could end a person's life. Placing it against someone's neck sent shivers down the spine.
"There's something that perhaps only by doing this, will Teacher listen."
Chen Chao glanced at the Left Guard officials around. Even if they did not fully understand, they knew what to do now. They gathered around, blocking in front of Chen Chao.
Seeing this scene, Teacher Zhang wore a cold expression, but he made no move. He and Scholar Xie had been good friends for many years. Now that Scholar Xie was dead, since this woman was his biological daughter, she should be protected. Though Chen Chao was the commander of the Left Guard and could not arbitrarily kill civilians, what if?
In this world, no one could bear that "what if."
Chen Chao seemed to understand what Teacher Zhang was thinking, shaking his head. "Actually, Teacher can take action. There's no need to worry that she's of Scholar Xie's bloodline, because she isn't"
As soon as he said this, Teacher Zhang's expression subtly changed, and the woman became even more terrified.
"As a good friend of Scholar Xie, Teacher doesn't know that he was incapable of having children. This implies that your friendship wasn't as strong as Teacher thought."
Chen Chao looked at Teacher Zhang and then said slowly, "However, not many people in this world are aware of this."
Teacher Zhang frowned, "Then why do you know?"
Chen Chao smiled, "Because I have a very good friend." Yes, no matter who it is, as long as they have a good friend named Xie Nandu, things will be much simpler.
So he went to see Xie Nandu. It seemed like he was going to use her to meet the dean, but in reality, there was no such thing from the beginning.
He went to see her.
As a descendant of the Xie Family, it was difficult to keep anything hidden from them in the Divine Capital. They might not know if Scholar Xie was a spy, but they knew that many years ago, when Scholar Xie was still in the academy, he had once let slip a certain matter after getting drunk. It was about a mishap during his earlier years of studying the six arts. He had accidentally fallen from a carriage, injuring a crucial area, which resulted in the impossibility of having children.
Perhaps feeling that this matter was too shameful and worried that he might mention it after drinking, Scholar Xie had stopped drinking since that day and had not mentioned this matter to anyone.
Then, in a subsequent year, Scholar Xie somehow persuaded his wife via some unknown means. Ten months after pretending to be pregnant, they brought back a baby girl.
"The midwife and the doctor knew about this matter back then. Afterward, they received a large sum of money and left the Divine Capital. However, Scholar Xie might have felt that killing them to keep the secret was inappropriate, so he didn't take action, leaving behind a hidden danger for today."
Chen Chao said, "There are no secrets under the heavens. Anything done will eventually be discovered."
"Scholar Xie lost the ability to have children and wanted an heir for the family. What's wrong with that?"
Teacher Zhang said calmly, "It's just human nature."
Chen Chao replied, "Indeed, it's normal, but what if this baby girl was sent to the Divine Capital by a foreign cultivator?"
"What did you say?!"
Teacher Zhang looked at Chen Chao with some disbelief.
Chen Chao did not answer the question. He just looked at the woman in front of him and said, "You killed Scholar Xie too."
The woman's expression was complicated, with countless emotions in her eyes. Finally, she asked, "How did you know?"
Her statement implied that she admitted to the matter.
Chen Chao thought for a moment and shook his head, "You guys concealed it very well how could I know? It's just that you were too deliberate."
The woman frowned.
"A father died, and the daughter wailed loudly, glaring at the so-called enemies. What's deliberate about that?"
Chen Chao nodded, "All of that is true, but when I watched, I kept feeling that it was strange. Later, I figured it out. It's because you never considered Scholar Xie as your father, so I couldn't see any emotions in those tears. If you were just an ordinary baby brought home by Scholar Xie, how could you not have any feelings for him? Therefore, there's only one possibility: you have been in contact with the foreign cultivators all these years. Scholar Xie is just a spy, and you're merely someone watching over him."
The woman did not speak. This matter was indeed exactly as Chen Chao said.
"You really are a terrifying person."
The woman said. "It's hard for me to understand why a young man of your age has such keen judgment."
Chen Chao sighed, "Do you think I wanted this? I didn't want any of this."
The woman did not speak, she just silently looked at the lifeless body over there. Scholar Xie was her father in name, and in reality, he had treated her as his own daughter all these years, never considering her identity as a foreign cultivator.
Thinking of this, a trace of melancholy appeared in the woman's eyes.
