Chapter 51 A Scholar Who Has Read Ten Thousand Books

The Confucian scholars of the past said that it was better to walk ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books, and this old Confucian scholar might be the best example. This old scholar who had been to many places was quite learned, which made Li Fuyao admire him.

The rain hadn’t stopped, but the teenage girl finally opened her eyes. Afterward, this girl who slept soundly after drinking some wine soon became sober. She sat straight and then had a look at the tavern’s situation. She didn’t ask but found that it was still raining. Then she sat there and looked calm.

The old Confucian scholar drank a lot but didn’t seem to be drunk. Seeing that the girl woke up, he didn’t pay attention to her but stood up. He pulled that middle-aged woman aside and said something. The woman pondered unwillingly for quite a while before nodding.

The old Confucian scholar returned to his seat and then stated, “In late spring this year, the Daoist assembly which is held once every ten years will begin in Liangxi. Although the Sword Immortal hogged the limelight in the past, it is a grand assembly of the Daoism, and it must be interesting. It is rumored that the gifted Dao cultivator Ye Shengge who is regarded as a treasure by the Daoism would show up in this assembly. Young man, will you go there with me to have a look? You can go to the Sword Mountain at any time, but the Daoist assembly is held only once every ten years.”

Li Fuyao shook his head and glanced at Qing Huai, but the latter was unmoved and didn’t like this old Confucian scholar whose cultivation stage couldn’t be seen.

The old Confucian scholar was refused by Li Fuyao but didn’t feel awkward. After he drank several bowls of wine alone, he said that he would go to sleep. Then he really fell asleep at the table.

This was his second time to sleep before the rain stopped.

Li Fuyao looked at the middle-aged woman and stated seriously all of a sudden, “Although I didn’t help you a lot today, I tried my best. Lady, won’t you give me several pots of wine for free?”

The middle-aged woman was stunned and then covered her mouth as she laughed, “Sir, you are straightforward.”

Li Fuyao was depressed and didn’t say anything.

While Qing Huai suddenly took out something from her pocket and threw it to the middle-aged woman, saying with no emotion, “This pill is enough to cure you of your disease.”

The middle-aged woman caught the small box and opened it. As expected, it was a brownish-grey pill with aroma. Undoubtedly, it was something good and rare.

When this girl in black entered the tavern, the middle-aged woman had a warm feeling. Now that the girl gave her a priceless pill for no reason, the woman felt surprised but more grateful.

Qing Huai expressed impassively, “If you have nowhere to go in this human world, you can go to the demonic land. At least it’s much better than here.”

The middle-aged woman nodded and responded with gratefulness, “If that day comes, I will go.”

Qing Huai didn’t talk much. After saying a few words, she didn’t want to continue talking with this middle-aged woman who was also a snake demon. She just turned to Li Fuyao, “Li Fuyao, you can’t go to the Daoist assembly in Liangxi.”

Hearing that, Li Fuyao who had refused the old scholar was surprised and glanced at Qing Huai, “Why?”

The girl replied angrily, “No why. I have said you can’t go there, so you can’t.”

Li Fuyao responded, “Oh.” He didn’t know that this girl was determined to challenge Ye Shengge at the Daoist assembly in Liangxi and was afraid that if she couldn’t win, she would feel embarrassed after Li Fuyao saw that. Qing Huai subconsciously didn’t want him to know.

So Li Fuyao said what he had said before, “You need to be careful.”

The middle-aged woman looked at the two teenagers and felt it laughable.

In the heavy rain, the troop of dozens of cavalrymen took Liang Shu’s dead body and ran quickly on the official road. The hooves moved rapidly and drops of water splashed.

But soon the middle-aged military officer in armor found a carriage in the front on the official road. The coachman was dressed in a coir raincoat and the carriage moved slowly.

This part of the official road was not wide enough and when two parties met on the way, one party should make way, so the middle-aged military officer shouted, “The North Military Government is handling a case. Anybody irrelevant should get out of the way.”

Generally, at the north border of Yanling, as long as he mentioned the North Military Government, the other party would probably step aside, except that it was a general in a higher position in the North Military Government. This carriage still moved slowly to the roadside, but it seemed that the horse lost temper and refused to go to the roadside, so it wasted some time.

The middle-aged military officer was furious originally and his face darkened as he saw that. While after the coachman drove the horse several times but failed, he stated in a rage regardless of the consequences, “I won’t make way.”

The military officer sneered and was about to curse when the coachman took out a token card from his pocket and threw it away, saying loudly, “The Ministry of Penalty is on a trip. Anybody irrelevant should walk away.”

One was the Ministry of Penalty, one of the six ministries of the Yanling Empire and it could even be one of the top three ministries, while the other was the North Military Government at the north border. Neither of them could be offended.

The military officer caught the token card and found that the identity was true, but he still didn’t want to walk away. When he was about to speak, the coachman reminded indifferently, “A cultivator official from the Ministry of Penalty is in the carriage.”

His voice was low but meaningful.

There was always a saying in the Yanling Empire that in the country, the first-class cultivators were in the Yanling Confucian Temple or other academies, and the second-class ones were in the Ministry of Penalty or the imperial palace, while the third-class ones were in the army or at the border.

Perhaps any cultivator official in the Ministry of Penalty could defeat the cultivator in the army.

The military officer gritted his teeth and ordered his men, “Step aside.”

Dozens of cavalrymen behind him rode their horses and made way, while this military officer on horseback came to the carriage in person and gave the token card back to the coachman.

But before he turned around, there was a voice in the carriage, “How did that man die?”

If he was asked by an ordinary official from the Ministry of Penalty, this military officer could refuse to answer. The army at the border was under the control of the Ministry of War, and other departments didn’t have the power to restrain them, so even if he ignored this question, it was reasonable. However, since a cultivator official from the Ministry of Penalty asked him, he couldn’t reason with him. If the man in the carriage got angry and killed all these cavalrymen, nobody would know what had happened here today.

The military officer bit the bullet to say the words he had prepared and then saluted, “Master, an old Confucian scholar in that tavern is horrible. Mr. Liang was at such a high stage, but he had been killed easily. If you are going there, you need to be careful.”

The man in the carriage laughed, “Since that old master didn’t kill all of you, he can naturally differentiate between good and evil. Liang Shu coveted the demon core, and it’s not a big deal that he died there. I want to have a talk with that old master, and it happens that the tavern is not far away from here. I will just go to take shelter from the rain.”

The military officer said more, but the man in the carriage didn’t care at all. Soon this carriage passed through these cavalrymen and headed to the tavern.

The carriage continued to move slowly, and a girl inside was reading a book. Her voice was not loud, but it was enough to make the scholar who was sitting straight hear.

The scholar looked peaceful.

The girl carefully read every word and sentence of a book chosen by the emperor in person. At last, she looked out of the carriage and suddenly stated gently, “Master, the rain has stopped.”

The blind scholar who couldn’t see anything asked with a smile, “Is this a sentence in the book?”

The girl blushed and looked at this master’s smile, feeling warm.