Nightfall

In the hut, the wind was blowing gently and cheerfully as if it shared the mood of the Headmaster.

Eldest Brother and Second Brother were sitting quietly around the table. One was grinding the ink and the other was making tea.

The Headmaster waved his hands and smiled, “I am happy today. Let’s skip writing.”

Second Brother opened his mouth slightly and was about to say something to show that he approved the Headmaster’s decision.

But he was, after all, a Gentleman. He couldn’t lie in front of his Master. So he continued to grind the ink seriously without saying anything.

Eldest Brother saw the expression of Jun Mo and couldn’t help but smile and shake his head. Then he looked at the Master behind the desk and asked quietly, “What made you so happy?”

The Master laughed and said, “We exchanged Liu Bai’s Dahe Sword with Haoran Sword which doesn’t have the Great Spirit. It is such a great deal. Of course, I should be happy.”

Eldest Brother said with a smile, “It seems so.”

The Headmaster stroked his beard and said, “That sword not only has a shape but also gained some of Liu Bai’s spirit. Your Youngest Brother is a world-renowned calligrapher and he also learned how to decompose a character and remember it using the Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong. He is indeed the most suitable person for this task.”

The Headmaster and Eldest Brother were very happy, but Second Brother was not.

Liu Bai was regarded as the strongest person and gained the name of the Sage of Sword. But in Second Brother’s view, this powerhouse in the South Jin Kingdom was only one of his enemies who would lose to him one day. He was like one of the stairs he would step on during his cultivation. The sword style of Dahe Sword was no match for the Haoran Sword of his Youngest Uncle, even though it didn’t have the Great Spirit.

Second Brother never hid his emotion. His face always revealed all the thoughts on his mind. But because he couldn’t argue with his Headmaster, so he vented his anger on the ink and kept on grinding it faster and faster.

The ink in the inkstone was going to turn into a tiny lake. The ink block was spinning fast in the ink lake, whirling a vortex up, but not even a drop of ink spilled out.

The Headmaster looked at the ink in the inkstone and heaved a sigh, “I have only heard of water making a hole in the stone, but never know that grinding ink could also make a hole in the inkstone.”

Second Brother suddenly realized what he was doing. He stopped and apologized to the Headmaster.

The Headmaster said, “You can tell me whatever you want.”

Second Brother frowned and said, “Liu Bai’s sword style was worth learning, but it is no way as good as Youngest Brother’s Haoran Sword. And Youngest Brother isn’t going to be fair.”

The Headmaster said, “We should get it if it is worth learning.”

Second Brother frowned even more as he thought that the Headmaster sounded like a bully. But then he regretted being so impolite to his master.

“Liu Bai’s Dahe Sword is not necessary to our Academy.”

The Headmaster smiled, “But have you thought about what would happen if he dies? What if the Sword Garret of South Jin Kongdom doesn’t have a successor? Then the Dahe Sword would disappear from the world. What a shame would that be! The reason that the Academy takes his sword is the same as we collect those classics; we are doing it out of the goodwill to pass on our wisdom to our descendants so that it can reappear in the world one day.”

His words reminded Second Brother of the countless books in the cave. He felt so ashamed of his past arrogant thoughts that he kneeled down on the futon and bowed to the Master. He said in a deep voice, “I am wrong. I will visit all the parties and sects to invite their skills back to the Academy.”

The expression on the Headmaster and Eldest Brother’s faces changed and they reached their hands for their tea at the same time. They thought to themselves, if the Academy really asked other parties and sects to give away their cultivation secrets in the name of preserving the wisdom of humankind, they would think we were either lunatics or robbers. Besides, whenever Second Brother thought something was right, he would do it no matter what other people thought of him. If the other parties and sects refused to give their skills to him, he would just force them to, without caring about what they would think of him and the Academy. Then the so-called invitation would turn into a robbery. By then, there would be a bloody war in the cultivation world.

The Master shouted at him, “If I were so shameless, then I would have got Liu Bai back to the Academy as soon as he created the Dahe Sword. Why do I even bother to make your Youngest Brother to exchange with the girl and draw it down? I don’t know what is in your mind.”

Eldest Brother shook his head and seriously said, “We have to get their approval first.”

Second Brother was a little unclear of what the Master really wanted to say. He argued, “But what the Youngest Brother did was not very different from robbery. He is stealing it from Liu Bai.”

The Headmaster felt a little awkward.

Eldest Brother poured the Headmaster’s teacup at an exceptionally quick speed and said respectfully, “Master, please drink tea.”

What he did, lightened the atmosphere immediately. The Headmaster took the teacup over and praised his dearest student, “You are worth teaching.”

Second Brother frowned, he didn’t understand why he was not worth teaching.

…

…

The geese who flew to the Xunyang Lake at Gushan Commandery went back to Chang’an City. They restarted their journey to the warmer Great Lake in the south after circling around the old Buddhist tower for a few days. They wouldn’t come back until the next spring.

The gate of the Old Brush Pen Shop on Lin 47th Street hadn’t opened for a long time. The wild cat was lying under the sun on top of the wall. He looked at the well which had gained dust on it and wondered whether the guy who threw woods at him was long dead now.

A new barbecue stand opened at the mouth of the alley. Mr. Wu, the owner of a shop had an old dog and he walked his dog every morning and evening to vent out the stress his wife had put on him. But as the temperature dropped in the morning and night, he reduced the number of walks to only once a day at noon.

The casino in the western part of the city was still running well. Mr. Qi wore his long silky robe and played the steel balls in his hands. He accepted the accomplishment of his neighbors with a modest attitude of a real millionaire and wondered when Second Brother Chao would be back.

The Taoist who performed Martial Arts of Talisman in the Taoist temple on the Vermilion Bird Avenue was ill. But his Taoist temple had been renovated and attracted a lot more believers reciting the classics and praying.

No matter what season or time, the Tangs in Chang’an always enjoyed their peaceful and happy life. The laughter in the streets and alleys never stopped.

A new object was added to the collection in the back mountain of the Academy. It was a paper sword, which came from the South Jin Kingdom and went to the West-Hill before finally arriving in Tang. The smell of new paint in the mansion near the Yanming Lake had disappeared, and the young people living in the Mansion had furthered their study in cultivation; Sangsang had learned how to use Divine Skills during fights, with her practice of talisman and her discussion with the other two and Ye Hongyu had learned more about the sword style on paper by learning Haoran Sword.

And with a strong opponent like the Taoist Addict as his goal, Ning Que’s improvement was very impressive. He was exceptionally ambitious and he was becoming increasingly powerful.

His state stabilized at the upper side of Seethrough and he was still improving. He was nearer and nearer to the threshold and he even saw it once when he was practicing at the lake under the willow trees. But it was a shame that the threshold was still too high for him to reach.

The spring had gone and the summer was back. Then the summer had gone and the autumn arrived.

When autumn was back to Chang’an City, the Zhenjun General Xia Hou, who had been guarding the border of Tang for more than a decade, was about to come back as well.