Chapter 82 – Liu Chengzong’s Query
Her consciousness gathered rapidly.
Feeling hostility, she woke up from a deep sleep.
The lass subconsciously grabbed the large sword leaning beside the bedhead, sat up, and swept towards the uninvited guest by the bed.
The powerful blow didn’t hit the target.
The sword came to a halt by a hair’s breadth and stopped next to the visitor’s neck.
However, the sword momentum took a hold of the other party’s hair, white hair.
“Little Zong [1], peeping at other people sleeping isn’t a good habit…” Xue Qilin sighed and moved the sword away from the visitor’s neck.
After putting the large sword away, she looked at the other party again.
The old face looks a bit haggard, the slightly stooped body is wrapped in a dark green gown.
The visitor is an old man who seems about to have a foot in the coffin.
However, no one dares to treat him as an ordinary old man. Because…
There is some kind of starlight deep in his eyes.
That is the life brilliance characteristic of the Earth Realm.
… no one dares to treat an Earth Realm expert as an ordinary person.
“Before coming to pay you a visit, I didn’t expect you to be sleeping this late in the morning, Young Ancestor. So when I arrived and saw you sleeping, I didn’t dare to disturb you, Young Ancestor. I could only wait for you to wake up, Young Ancestor.”
Liu Chengzong is courteous in his speech. But if read between the lines, you can make up ridicule.
Xue Qilin yawned and disregarded the other party’s sarcasm.
“People like to sleep when they grow old.”
“Indeed.”
Liu Chengzong snorted in contempt, showing no respect for his senior.
Speaking of which, Xue Qilin doesn’t have the awareness of a senior.
Perhaps this is a kind of blessing.
“Do you want something?”
Not waiting for Liu Chengzong to speak, Xue Qilin wrinkled her nose and said: “Before anything else, if you came here because of ‘that matter’, then don’t waste your breath.”
The lass didn’t say clearly what that matter is, but she knows that Liu Chengzong must have understood her.
Momentarily, Liu Chengzong looked like he wants to strangle someone.
“I know that you won’t talk about it anymore, Young Ancestor.” He restrained his fury and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth.
“Okay.” Xue Qilin crossed her arms and nodded. Then, she extended her legs from the side of the bed and put on her shoes.
The messy jet-black hair wound around her petite body, causing the lass to frown.
It may take a lot of time to make her hair look the same as before. After a little deliberation, she took a ribbon, tied her long hair simply, and pulled it to the right side of her chest.
Then, she stood up and smoothened the folds in the dress with her hands.
Liu Chengzong watched silently as she sorted out her appearance, giving her the bare minimum of respect.
“Okay, you can speak now.” Xue Qilin sized up her appearance, and then nodded in satisfaction and said.
“I came to ask you something.”
“Whats is it?”
“It’s about Shui Yuner.”
Hearing Shui Yuner’s name from Liu Chengzong, Xue Qilin raised her eyebrows involuntarily.
She sat on the bedside and crossed her legs.
“You want to talk about Little Yun?”
“Yes. What are you going to do with her?”
Suddenly, Xue Qilin appeared to hear the sound of drawing a breath.
She moved her gaze subconsciously, intending to investigate.
“Young Ancestor, do you want to avoid my question?” He spoke in an unhappy tone.
Xue Qilin looking left and right probably made him misunderstand that she was going to brush him off.
“No, I just heard…”
“That’s just an excuse.” Liu Chengzong interrupted the lass crassly.
He won’t believe me no matter what I say? Xue Qilin exhaled, irritated.
“I don’t intend to evade your question, no was it an excuse just now.”
“Then please answer my question, Young Ancestor.”
Xue Qilin crossed her arms, raised her eyebrows, and looked at the other party askance: “So? What do you want to ask? Whether or not I want to accept Little Yun as a disciple?”
She clearly sounds fed up.
“Regardless of whether you want to accept her as a disciple or not, I only have one question.”
“Say it.”
“Do you really have the ability and confidence to solve the problem with her physique?”
Xue Qilin sneered at the pother party’s questioning tone.
“Do you think I don’t have?”
“I’m not here to play word games with you, Young Ancestor. All affairs regarding outer temple are under my jurisdiction. My job is to ensure that there won’t appear a stranger incapable of practicing martial arts.”
After a pause, Liu Chengzong continued coldly: “Or a joke for the other sects to laugh at.”
He spoke matter-of-factly, as if Shui Yuner was already a joke.
Xue Qilin puckered her face, and a look of displeasure appeared on her face for the first time.
“Isn’t that a bit excessive?”
“I’m duty-bound.”
To hell with your duties! You’re just looking for trouble, don’t you? Xue Qilin scolded Liu Chengzong in her heart.
Since she doesn’t want to make the relationship between them even more strained, she didn’t scold him aloud.
The lass took a deep breath as if to expel the foul mood she is in.
“I’m serious about Little Yun.”
“In other words, you have the ability to solve her problem, to unblock her qi passageways?”
“I can’t do that. But…”
“Stop joking around, Young Ancestor.” Liu Chengzong suddenly sighed in disappointment, “Since you can’t unblock her qi passageways, then how can you say you can solve her problem?”
“I can use something else…”
Instead of qi passageways – the second half of her sentence was cut off by Liu Chengzong slapping the table violently.
“Enough!”
Then, there was an angry shout loud enough to pierce the ears.
The anger contained within even made the lass flinch.
“Young Ancestor, I feel like there must be a limit to how laid-back a person can be.” Furious, Liu Chengzong criticized solemnly: “But you are going too far this time!”
What the hell? At a loss, Xue Qilin doesn’t understand what Liu Chengzong means.
“What do you mean?”
“Since the beginning of history, how many people born with congested qi passageways had their dream of becoming a martial practitioner severed?” The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, “Even people at the Grandmaster Realm are helpless before this problem, yet you say there is a way? You say there is a way!”
So that’s what it is. At this moment, Xue Qilin finally understood.
Since the other party doesn’t believe that there is a solution for blocked qi passageways, he doesn’t believe her words.
“Little Zong, hear me out first…”
Xue Qilin sighed, and the anger inside her subsided.
She feels like she can’t fault the other party.
Before the track record of history, the lass’s words carry no weight.
Qi Qiqi believes Xue Qilin probably because she trusts the lass unconditionally.
As for Liu Chengzong…
Xue Qilin knows that the feeling of camaraderie between them isn’t that deep.
Therefore, she tried to explain.
“Although qi passageways are the best channel for true qi, but they are not irreplaceable.”
“Young Ancestor, you mean to say that something can replace qi passageways?”
Xue Qilin nodded.
Liu Chengzong fell silent and looked closely at the petite girl in front of him, presumably trying to figure out whether or not her words are true.
Without cowering, Xue Qilin looked back at him with a firm and sincere gaze.
After a while, Liu Chengzong sighed.
The lass thought it to be a signal that he understood her. However, she was wrong.
“Young Ancestor, you still want to deceive me?”
“…” Xue Qilin is speechless.
He still doesn’t believe her.
“What can replace the qi passageways that we inherited from out parents?”
“Just because you don’t know, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything…” Xue Qilin said in response.
Does she have to start from the beginning with her theory of “magic”?
What’s more, she is really angry this time. If nothing else, she feels like it would be a waste of her breath.
“I understand, Young Ancestor, you can’t stand boredom.” Liu Chengzong advised in earnest, his tone resembling that of a kind old man instructing a child: “But just because you’re bored doesn’t mean that you should play tricks on others to pass the time…”
Playing tricks? Who is playing tricks? Xue Qilin cannot react momentarily.
“Shui Yuner is innocent. Young Ancestor, if you really…”
“Wait, are you saying … that I am toying with Little Yun?” Xue Qilin knit her eyebrows tightly and voiced her guess, uncertain.
Liu Chengzong nodded like he got a weight off his chest and confirmed her speculation.
At this moment, the lass understood.
Liu Chengzong didn’t believe her from the get go.
So whatever she says, he will be skeptical of it, and then deny it. He has no intention to try believe her.
This realization left the lass rather upset and gloomy, and…
Her heart ached as if it was whipped by someone.
Why is he this way? She asked herself, and then quickly answered herself.
It’s due to the matter with Qin Chen.
He is still dwelling on it.
It’s as if there is a thorn lodged deep in his heart.
The stemming from it pain caused him to hate and reject me.
That must be the case – she thought.
At that time, she didn’t know…
“All in all, I have a way to solve Little Yun’s problem.”
Xue Qilin no longer explained. As it will get her nowhere, she chose to end the topic.
“Young Ancestor, it’s not too late to turn around. Don’t delay other people’s life for your own sake!”
Inexplicably upset, the distrust of the other party made her extremely upset.
“Are you done? I gave an explanation, yet you don’t believe me. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to drive Little Yun down the mountain so that you can feel at ease?”
“Young Ancestor, how can I believe you without proof?”
Seeing the weary look on Xue Qilin’s, Liu Chengzong doubled down.
“Or are you saying that you can come up with proof, Young Ancestor? Since you say that there is a way to solve it, then why are you dragging this out?”
Xue Qilin exhaled lightly and pressed down the urge inside her.
“… I still need some time.”
“Young Ancestor, you’re making excuses. How disappointing.”
“Enough!” The lass roared.
Then, she glared at Liu Chengzong.
“Disappointing? Are you saying that I let you down?”
As if a dam has broken, all the pent-up anger poured out.
Disappointing – it is due to this word that she can no longer suppress her mood.
The girl stood up and poked Liu Chengzong in the chest with her finger repeatedly.
“Liu Chengzong, from the beginning, you didn’t believe me, you didn’t even try to believe anything I said, and now you say that I who is trying to explain things am a disappointment? Who has let down whom?”
She is so agitated that she doesn’t notice the old man groan in pain every time her small fingertip falls on his chest.
“You claim that I’m toying with Little Yun. Even if it’s true, does it concern you? What’s the big deal?”
Although this remark was made out of sheer anger. But she doesn’t regret it.
At least not at the time.
“You’re just targeting me! You still hold a grudge because of Qin Chen’s matter! So as soon as you get a chance…”
The scolding stopped abruptly.
The girl suddenly turned her head, and her sharp eyes faced the closed door.
In the next moment, she darted towards the door and slammed it with her hand lightning-fast.
Unable to bear the force coming from the lass’s strike, the door broke away, crashed into a wall, turned into fragments.
The lass came outside and looked around.
In the yard, there are only three frightened female disciples.
The person the lass is looking for isn’t among them.
“Did someone eavesdrop?”
Liu Chengzong’s voice came from inside.
Ignoring the other people’s shocked gazes, Xue Qilin turned around and nodded.
“I heard slightly hurried footsteps suddenly come from outside the door just now.”
Liu Chengzong frowned.
“Was it someone just passing by?”
“If it was, wouldn’t you have noticed?” Bright light flickered inside Xue Qilin’s eyes, “They have restrained their aura. If it wasn’t for the fact that the footsteps were too hurried and intense, I wouldn’t have noticed as well.”
Martial practitioners can enhance the five senses by operating true qi.
However, ordinary martial practitioners won’t specially strengthen the five senses.
Because if the five senses are too sensitive, it will cause a lot of trouble in day-to-day life, and there is really no need for it.
In other words, except for when fighting, the five senses of martial practitioners are no more keen that those of ordinary people.
That being said, martial practitioners are really lazy in thinking that observation ability lies not in the five senses, but in the ability to perceive true qi.
Based on their perception of true qi, they can differentiate other martial practitioners and anticipate sudden attacks.
Therefore, as long as the person eavesdropping conceals the aura of their true qi, and their movement is light enough, then even a Heaven Realm master may find it had to detect their existence.
“Then who was it?”
“How should I know?”
Xue Qilin rolled her eyes.
There are too many possibilities.
She just hopes that they didn’t hear the conversation just now.
[1] – Liu Chengzong, the guy whose “adoptive son” was killed by Luo Qing. He has it out for Xue Qilin for burying Luo Qing in the temple’s cemetery
