Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 557 Choosing a Teacher
Soon, Dong Wenshu arrived with a large group of people.

Seeing that his daughter was alright, Dong Wenshu breathed a sigh of relief. Facing the scholar in blue robes quietly turning the pages of a book, he was at a loss for words. He already knew who this person was from his son's words.

As for Shi Chun standing to the side, he didn't know who he was, and there was no need to pay him any attention.

With too many outsiders around, Dong Wenshu couldn't say much, so he turned back to ask Dong Liangyu what was going on.

Dong Liangying said she didn't know what happened either; she was suddenly frozen in place and couldn't see anything.

The next group of people crowded to the other end of the broken window to look inside, chattering and discussing it.

Even those who witnessed the window breaking from the outside couldn't see clearly who was thrown out, simply because the speed was too fast.

At the top of the mountain in the city, the city lord, Li Xianghong, encountered another problem. The city's protective array that she had activated was suddenly shut down. She called the relevant person in charge below to ask for clarification, but the person in charge himself was also confused. Anyway, it just suddenly shut down and then restarted and it was normal again.

The city guards also came over and politely inquired about what had happened. They only noted down the strange events described by the people here and didn't dare to ask any further questions. This was also the order from above, a subtle reminder that there were powerful figures backing them up and that they should not provoke them.

Most people didn't know that the so-called important figure referred to the Demon Queen, because those in the know didn't go around gossiping or spreading rumors, so most people were unaware of the truth, even the city guards.

The victim of the damage to the neighboring house, which resulted in death and injury, ran to the library crying and demanding an explanation.

After the people left the second floor, it returned to peace and quiet.

With no one else around, the scholar in the blue robe put down his book, turned to look at Shi Chun beside him, and asked curiously, "Why are you watching over me?"

Shi Chun was taken aback. "You can walk? Then why did you cast a spell to immobilize me earlier?"

He wanted to ask if he could leave, but then changed his mind and asked instead, "Was that thief killed by you, sir?"

The scholar in the blue robe spoke the truth: "They still ran away."

Shi Chun choked for a moment, subconsciously glancing out the window. Her heart tightened. Could she still go out? Would they just wait there for her?
He knew very well that no matter how he disguised himself or used illusions, the tracking ability of that demonic eye was useless.

Without certainty, he really dared not leave. If this person didn't have any ill intentions, staying by his side should be relatively safe, after all, he was able to drive away that demonic expert.

The scholar in the blue robe suddenly asked, "Judging from your cultivation level, it's not that impressive. Who are you, and why is Demon Sixteen personally hunting you down?"

Shi Chun smiled wryly and said, "Just an unlucky guy. May I ask, sir, who is Demon Sixteen?"

Seeing that he didn't want to tell the truth, the scholar in the blue robe didn't bother to argue anymore. He glanced at the boots on the man's feet again before continuing to read his book.

Shi Chun shamelessly asked again, "May I ask your honorable name, sir? I will set up a longevity tablet for my benefactor when I return."

The scholar in the blue robe didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, and simply said, "Get lost!"

Well, feeling embarrassed, Shi Chun had no choice but to back away and leave, looking back every few steps as if he really was leaving.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of stopping him from leaving, he walked away with peace of mind. He didn't go anywhere else, but went straight to the stairwell area. He ran up to Dong Liangyu and asked in a low voice, "Second Miss, who is that man in blue inside? Your father was being very polite to him, so it seems like he knows him."

The purpose of this question is simply to inquire and understand the situation before making a decision.

Dong Liangyu was also very curious, but things had been so chaotic earlier that she hadn't had a chance to ask. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I don't know either." Then she asked in return, "What happened just now?"

Shi Chun shrugged, "How would I know? I was also immobilized. The person inside suddenly started fighting with someone. They were all experts, and I was quite frightened."

Suddenly, footsteps came from upstairs. It was Dong Liangze, who brought two craftsmen to repair the damaged windows.

Men are men, unlike his two older sisters. He glanced at Shi Chun but didn't see anything amiss. He greeted Dong Liangyu and then led the craftsmen away to their work.

After Dong Liangze left, Shi Chun bowed repeatedly to Dong Liangyu and pleaded in a low voice, "Second Miss, you know I'm just a book lover. I just wanted to come and read some books, I didn't mean anything by it. Please don't tell anyone, okay?"

He dared not easily entertain the idea of ​​silencing anyone now. He dared not leave easily, and there were experts guarding this place. Life is full of dilemmas, and he had run into one.

Dong Liangyu had many questions he wanted to ask, but he was silenced by the other party's previous remarks that knowing too much would only harm them.

Seeing that she remained noncommittal, Shi Chun immediately bowed and thanked her, making it a done deal for her.

Knowing this family's character, or rather, their upbringing, they wouldn't easily go back on their word once they'd made a promise.

He then quickly slipped back to the third floor. Dong Liangyu thought he liked reading, but that was not the case at all. He was actually contacting Wu Jinliang to arrange for a meeting.

Of course, after making contact, since I don't dare to leave now anyway, I'll still flip through some books about the underworld if I can.

Unbeknownst to him, every book he read and put back would silently and quietly slip out of Qi Ping's collection when he wasn't looking...

In a secluded courtyard, the place where Yin Tianlu had previously been controlled, a bloody smell emanated.

A knock sounded at the courtyard gate, and Jiang You'er, who was guarding the door, immediately opened it herself. A person shrouded in a cloak strode in.

After closing the door, Jiang You'er ran ahead to lead the way and whispered, "He came back seriously injured and didn't say anything."

Upon reaching a closed door, the cloaked figure waved him to stop, and someone else opened the door and went inside.

After the door closed, he lifted his cloak, revealing himself to be none other than Huang Ye, the Northern Mountain Lord of the Divine Mountain.

Sniffing the bloody smell inside, he stepped forward and parted the curtain leading to the inner room. Inside, there was a bathtub, and a gray-clad man sat with his hands resting on the tub. His eyes looked dim, and he seemed extremely tired.

Huang Ye asked, "How is it? Have you captured him?"

The man in gray said weakly, "I failed."

Huang Ye exclaimed in surprise, "How is this possible? You personally took action; there's no way you couldn't defeat that guy."

The man in gray said, "It was a trap. He lured me to the Chaoyue Pavilion in Dazhi City, where Fuque was waiting for me."

"Sword Saint Fuque?" Huang Ye was surprised, sniffed the blood, realized something, and immediately walked quickly to the bathtub.

Looking inside, the scene was horrific. The other man's legs were gone, and judging from the gruesome state of the wounds, it didn't look like a sword wound. He immediately asked, "Did you self-destruct?" The gray-clad man replied, "There was no other way. The title of Sword Saint is well-deserved. He used a killing move, and if I didn't use my escape technique, I wouldn't have been able to get away."

Huang Ye frowned and muttered, "How could he be involved with the Sword Saint? I haven't heard any connection whatsoever. Chaoyue Pavilion is no ordinary place. Could it just be a coincidence?"

His suspicions were not without reason. He had received Jiang You'er's previous report, in which Jiang You'er made it very clear that if this guy hadn't been so slow and self-righteous, he would have been caught in the first round of the search, and there would have been no need for the subsequent complications.

If a trap had been prepared, there would have been no need to wait until later.

The man in gray was so angry that he cursed, "Bullshit, I'm not blind. His relationship with Fu Que is not ordinary. The two of them sit together and read the same book. They're practically arm in arm."

He can still recall the mocking look on Shi Chun's face as he looked at him.

Huang Ye paused, realizing that since they had gone this far, it must be true. He then pondered for a moment, "This fellow actually has such connections. In that case, he must have been disturbed during the siege, and then he asked Fu Que for help."

The gray-clad man, looking unwell, didn't want to analyze the matter anymore; it was pointless. He took out a transparent bead containing a drop of blood and handed it to the man, saying, "Find the people to match. I need the blood and essence of three hundred people to heal your wounds."

Huang Ye took the bead and nodded slightly. "That's simple. It's just that we haven't caught this person. I don't know how to explain this to our superiors. With Fu Que protecting him, I'm afraid we can't act rashly."

The man in gray gritted his teeth and said, "I will explain this to my superiors myself; you don't need to worry about it."

That was exactly what he wanted to hear, so Huang Ye immediately agreed and took his leave.

After he came out, Jiang You'er, who had accompanied him to see him off, asked in a low voice, "How was it?"

Huang Ye stopped and looked up at the sky, sighing, "That guy is really hard to catch. Neither soft nor hard methods work."

Jiang You'er was surprised, "He failed even when he tried?"

Huang Ye didn't say much, pulled his hat over his head, and strode away...

After the windows on the second floor of Chaoyue Pavilion were repaired, it was already dusk.

After tidying up the library, it was closed for the day, and dinner was prepared in the backyard.

An extra set of bowls and chopsticks appeared on the table. Dong Wenshu hesitated as the woman in red, who was carrying a wine jar, sat down and said, "Mr. Fu has called me several times, but I haven't come down."

The woman in red gestured to them with her chin, "You can eat your food and don't worry about him. You can't offend him. As long as you've shown your sincerity, that's enough. He won't take any extra enthusiasm seriously, so why make things difficult for yourself?"

Dong Liangyu, who picked up her chopsticks along with the others, remained silent. She now knew who the scholar in the blue robe was; to be precise, her whole family knew.

Of course, the other family members all thought that after closing down the shop, there would only be one scholar in a blue robe on the second floor, but in fact she had allowed someone to stay in the study without driving him away.

She was conflicted, unsure whether it was right or wrong.

Actually, she had always wanted to ask Wang Ping a question: was Wang Ping involved in the exposure of the despicable plot behind her cousin Fan Wuzhe, who was supposed to marry her?

Afterwards, her family heard some things about what happened, such as Huang Yingying witnessing Fan Wuzhe's arrest and learning the secret of Fan Wuzhe's arrival.

Coincidentally, Huang Yingying and Gao He were on good terms, and Gao He was on good terms with Wang Ping.

So she wondered why Wang Ping and the others had exposed Fan Wuzhe's plot.

Dong Wenshu continued, "Ze'er mentioned Mr. Fu taking on apprentices..."

I'd like to ask, is it true?
The woman in red said, "He's a bit picky. Whether he takes a liking to any of you depends on your fate. He'll only take one at most. You siblings should tell each other if there's anyone in the cultivation world you'd like to have a master with. I'll hear your opinions. If my cousin can help with that, I don't think we'll refuse."

The siblings looked at each other, still somewhat unaccustomed to the fact that they could choose their own masters in the cultivation world.

Dong Liangyi, who was silently adding rice to her father's bowl, glanced at the woman in red a few more times. She had knocked on the woman's door that night to deliver some late-night snacks, only to find that no one was in the room at all.

More than once, so she had been observing secretly. She clearly saw people enter the room but not come out, but when she knocked on the door again, no one was there; they had vanished into thin air.

She had also noticed such sudden disappearances during the day.

No one knows what's going on, but since the person has an all-powerful cousin, no one can really investigate.

Just as she was lost in thought, the woman in red suddenly called her by name, "You've all been hesitating, so be clear about it today. What about you, Miss?"

"Huh?" Dong Liangyi was stunned. She glanced at the crowd staring at her, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Sister Jun, will Situ Gu of the Lian Tian Sect still accept disciples?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned, clearly not expecting her to like this line of work.

Dong Wenshu hesitated and said, "Yi'er, although weapon forging is also playing with fire, it is completely different from cooking. That is blacksmithing. There are not many women who forge weapons."

Dong Liangyi bit her lip. It wasn't that she liked weapon crafting; it was the trouble her family had caused that made her see the arrogance of the Extreme Fire Sect. Even the Phoenix Clan had to give them face. And this was only the fourth-ranked sect in the weapon crafting world. What would it be like if it were the number one Refining Heaven Sect?
And she also heard that Situ Gu was the number one person in the weapon refining world!
If she had a choice, she would naturally want to become Situ Gu's apprentice.

With one misfortune after another befalling her family, she, as the eldest daughter, felt compelled to protect and support them.

The woman in red had already brought the wine jar to her lips when her expression froze, unusually, as if she were truly stumped. Her words were also less fluent than usual. "Situ Gu's personality... well, it's hard to say. He's a bit stubborn... I'll have my cousin ask him for you. If it works out, great; if not, we'll try something else..."

As he spoke, his eyes flashed, as if he had remembered something, and he turned to look at the Octagonal Pavilion Library. Then, he changed the subject again, saying, "Anyway, let's do our best."

He turned back to the others and asked, "What about you?"

They lifted the wine jar and poured the wine into it.

Seeing that her eldest sister had taken the lead in speaking, the third young lady, Dong Liangying, suddenly raised her hand and said, "Have you heard of Li Hongjiu? Li Hongjiu of the Yanbao Sect. I want to become his disciple."

"Huh? Pfft..." The woman in red suddenly choked, and a little water still sprayed out from her closed lips, spilling food all over the table.

The group of eyes that had been fixed on Dong Liangying hadn't recovered from their surprise when they all turned to stare at the person who had choked, all looking bewildered. It was the first time they had ever seen her so out of control.

The woman in red swallowed her drink, raised her hand to cover her mouth and nose and coughed lightly. After catching her breath, she asked curiously, "Third Miss, my cousin knows many experts. Why did you choose such a nobody when there are so many famous teachers and experts in the world?"

(End of this chapter)