25: Looking for people, asking questions, mysterious ways

“Our Lord Wang, the Human Martial Saint, turned a deaf ear to the court's debates. He simply picked up Chen Wenyuan’s article, nodded, and praised, ‘Excellent!’”

“Upon these words, silence fell upon the court. The Three Departments and Six Ministries were all speechless.”

The storyteller glanced at Qin Chuan at this point, his meaning clear—did he want to continue listening? If so, it would cost extra.

Qin Chuan ignored him, stood up, and waved to Su Jun, “Jun’er, let’s go.”

“Oh, oh, alright, Master!”

Strolling through Youzhou City, Qin Chuan led Su Jun through the alleys of the lower city, appearing somewhat distracted.

Su Jun, this simpleton, seemed to have noticed something. She glanced at Qin Chuan’s figure ahead and finally mustered the courage to say,

“Master! Are you thinking about Chen Wenyuan? You guessed right, my second uncle at home was trying to set me up with him.”

“Hmm.”

Qin Chuan looked at her with an expression that said, ‘Are you an idiot?’—you’ve said it so many times, does it still need guessing?

Interestingly, although this naive girl hadn't met Chen Chuan, she unexpectedly encountered Wang Xuan.

Fate, truly wondrous.

“Let’s go.” Qin Chuan didn't dwell on this question for long and continued walking forward.

“Oh!”

Su Jun’s confusion came and went quickly. She felt that by sharing a huge secret with her Master, their distance had grown closer.

She was closer to her goal of receiving divine martial arts, reaching the peak, and living a carefree life in the martial world!

Immediately, she asked, “Master, what are we going to do?”

Qin Chuan replied without turning his head, “Find someone.”

—Although there was still plenty of time, it was better to achieve life goals sooner.

The Human Martial Saint could wait until he cultivated the Taiyi Scripture. After completing the first two, he could choose to return, which was worth a try.

However, both these goals required tracing back over twenty years, which presented him with difficulties.

With difficulties, naturally, there were solutions, such as finding the people from back then—

“We’re here.”

Qin Chuan stopped in his tracks at this moment, looking up at the Taoist temple before him.

Su Jun was still engrossed in her hero dreams and didn't notice Qin Chuan stopping, crashing straight into him.

“Ouch!”

She clutched her head, looked at the Taoist temple before her, and was about to pout and say something when she saw the temple.

“Master, you said you weren’t a Taoist, but here we are…”

Qin Chuan turned and tapped her head, then turned back to walk to the front of the temple.

He announced loudly, “Wang Xuan of Xuanqing Sect, here to visit.”

The temple: ... No one answered.

Qin Chuan frowned and stepped forward to knock on the door.

“Clang, clang, clang!”

After a long while.

Qin Chuan and Su Jun stared at each other.

Su Jun’s clever little brain started working, preparing to show off in front of Qin Chuan!

“Master, let me do it!”

With that, she charged at the tightly shut temple door with a maidenly charge, seemingly intending to ram it open.

However, before she could even reach the door—

“Creak~”

“Ouch! Ouch, ouch, ouch!!!”

The temple door opened, and the person inside, seeing a figure charging, agilely dodged.

And so, Su Jun, the simpleton, crashed directly into the peach tree behind the temple.

“Master…”

Su Jun turned, tears welling up in her eyes, looking at Qin Chuan. Qin Chuan was speechless with this silly girl.

He ignored her and instead looked at the one-meter-five person who opened the door?

Recalling what the Taoist priest had once said, Qin Chuan lowered his head and asked,

“Is this Senior Martial Uncle Xuanxu?”

Although the one-meter-five Taoist was not tall, his expression carried a sense of condescension.

He snorted softly through his nose, scrutinized Qin Chuan for a moment, and then said impatiently,

“Are you that cowardly Xuanqing’s disciple? Why did you think of coming to find me? Can’t you survive in the mountains? Heh…”

Qin Chuan: ...

Qin Chuan recalled how Xuanqing had highly praised this Senior Martial Brother in his memories, only lamenting that they had taken different paths.

But he never expected that this Senior Martial Brother would speak in such a way, always looking down on Xuanqing.

“My Master passed away three years ago. This time, I…”

“What?! Dead?!”

Qin Chuan hadn’t finished speaking when he was interrupted by Xuanxu.

Before he could react, a gentle breeze flowed before him, and then he felt his wrist being tightly gripped.

So fast! So strong! He had no time to react!

Qin Chuan’s heart tightened, and he quickly made a judgment: This Senior Martial Uncle, by convenience, was a master!

Just as Qin Chuan endured the pain in his wrist, preparing to say something, he heard a delicate shout nearby:

“Ah! You shorty, let go of my Master!!!”

Turning his head, he saw Su Jun had recovered from her stunned state and once again charged over with a maidenly rush.

Xuanxu turned to look and commanded, “Bind!”

“Thud!” Su Jun fell straight to the ground again, unable to move.

Fortunately, thanks to her interruption, Xuanxu finally released Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan glanced at his wrist out of the corner of his eye; it was indeed swollen and bruised.

At this moment, Xuanxu looked up at Qin Chuan, his gaze very somber.

“How did he die?”

Whether it was an illusion or not, Qin Chuan distinctly heard a strong killing intent in his words!

—Didn’t even Su Jun, who was squirming on the ground, stop moving out of fear?

Seeing this, Qin Chuan had nothing to hide and immediately described how Taoist Xuanqing had died.

Upon hearing this, Xuanxu fell into a long silence.

It wasn't until Su Jun broke free from the invisible restraint on her and quietly hid behind Qin Chuan that Xuanxu finally came back to his senses.

“He finally reached that point. Heh, daring to face the might of the thunder… That man! He was a coward for most of his life, but in the end, he stood up…”

With that, the harsh expression on his face disappeared. He looked up at Qin Chuan, who was rubbing his wrist, and stepped aside, opening the temple door.

“Come in. A little ointment will make it go down quickly.”

Qin Chuan was not polite. “Thank you, Senior Martial Uncle.”

After entering the courtyard, looking at the frost-covered leaves, Qin Chuan followed him into the main hall of the temple.

Similar to Xuanqing Sect, the main hall’s shrine here also did not worship any living beings, which Qin Chuan was already accustomed to.

Xuanxu: “Wait here.”

With that, he turned and left.

Qin Chuan surveyed the surroundings, which were not much different from Xuanqing Sect. Suddenly, as if sensing something, he turned his head to look.

He saw Su Jun carefully approaching step by step.

Su Jun: Creep! Creep! I’m creeping…

Qin Chuan wondered, “What are you doing?”

Su Jun glanced around twice, then said with lingering fear, “So scary, that short Taoist priest is so scary… Master, why don’t we leave quickly?”

Qin Chuan looked at Su Jun, who was quite frightened, smiled, and patted her head, comforting her,

“It’s alright. I just came to ask Senior Martial Uncle a few questions. We’ll leave soon.”

“Mm-hmm!” Su Jun nodded vigorously.

At this moment, Qin Chuan suddenly felt a strong gust of wind approach.

“Thwack!” He reached out and caught it, finding it was a packet of medicinal powder. He looked up and saw Xuanxu walking in from outside the door.

Xuanxu snorted coldly, “Apply it once in the morning and once in the evening when you go back. It’ll heal in three days, if you don’t want to injure your bones.”

Qin Chuan nodded and put away the ointment—though he felt that with his ‘unusual bone structure,’ he probably wouldn’t need it.

But, getting something for free was always good; why refuse a freebie!

At this moment, Xuanxu finally asked about Qin Chuan’s purpose:

“Why did you come here? Let me tell you now, borrowing money is out of the question, but I can introduce you to some jobs that will keep you from starving.”

Qin Chuan couldn't help but smile wryly, saying, “Of course not to borrow money. I came to ask Senior Martial Uncle… about the events of twenty-one years ago. I heard that you and Master met my mother then.”

“Hmm?! You’re that child?!”

As these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze.