301 The Geniuses’ Conversation at Night and Pursui

The atmosphere of their conversation in the run-down temple during the rainynight was very good. Every cultivator on the long path of cultivation would stumble upondifficulties along the way, left with questions all too difficult for theirpresent selves.. The questions were closely linked to their existences. Eventheir masters would find it exceedingly tough to provide an answer, and thatonly when a long time had been spent contemplating upon it. As for thedifficulty of these questions, it actually represented the level of thecultivator from a certain perspective. In the conversation regarding cultivation, the questions raised by ChenChangsheng were all challenging and quite high up on the totem pole in terms oflevel. Most of the time, Xu Yourong listened quietly, only able to contributewith a few sentences on occasion. However, every sentence was akin to a guidingbonfire at night. It was very enlightening, illuminating the world in front ofhim with radiant light, allowing him to see a completely new path. This made him feel very surprised, followed by admiration shortly thereafter.Her attainment in knowledge in the aspect of cultivation was unfathomable.Although Tang Thirty-Six and Su Moyu both had extremely great talent, hers tookeverything to a whole new level. Amongst all the peers that he had encounteredin his life, only Gou Hanshi could be compared to her, and of course, hissenior Yu Ren who seemed to be incapable of cultivation. Xu Yourong likewise began to feel admiration towards him, because the caliberand ingenuity of his thoughts and the perspective with which he viewed thingswere mirrored in the difficulty of his questions. She thought in her heart thatin all of the cultivators of the younger generation, there was actually nobodywho could compare to her other than senior Qiushan and Gou Hanshi. Even thoughthe Snow Mountain Sect had a legacy of ten thousand years, deep inner secrets,and the fact that it had once experienced unlimited glory, it was still locatedin the northwest after all. It was not like the academies in the capital, norlike the Longevity Sect and the Holy Maiden Peak, which possessed the newestknowledge in the world of cultivation at any time. He actually possessed suchknowledge, experience and capabilities, so he could be said to be exceptionallytalented. The cold rain outside the temple fell harder and harder, the ambient noisemuffling their voices as they conversed, and the hay by the fire became warmerand warmer. The two sat leaning on the wall an inch apart, talking quietly.Once in a while, they would think silently for a moment with their eyebrowsfurrowed. They would be illuminated by the fire in an interesting look.Afterwards, he could articulate a certain conjecture, and she would mentionanother possibility. To be able to go from being unable to cultivate to being the youngestcultivator in history to reach the upper level of Ethereal Opening in a shortyear, of course Chen Changsheng was a genius in cultivation, other than thefact that his master and senior had helped him establish an overly firmfoundation. It must be known that it was definitely impossible to place firstupon the First Banner in the Grand Examination only by relying on extensivereading and memorising of the Daoist Canons. As for Xu Yourong, her talent incultivation was even more self-evident. It must be known that, if viewedclosely, the youngest person to reach the upper level of Ethereal Opening wasnot Chen Changsheng, but rather her, as she was three days younger than him. At this moment, neither of them knew the real identity of the other, but theyboth became more and more certain that the opposing party was a genius incultivation. Geniuses tended to be lonely, as they lacked people of equal levelof intellect to talk to. Although this saying seemed somewhat old, it was verytrue. All geniuses wished that they could meet a companion, a person who couldeasily understand what they were talking about, allowing them to discuss aboutquestions that could not be discussed normally. It was just like an itch onyour back that had itched for many years, and then suddenly, someone helps youscratch your back, scratching the itch just right. How could it not becomfortable? The conversation became more and more enjoyable, and even Xu Yourong, whotended to maintain her calmness, began to grow brighter and brighter in hereyes. Until very late at night, Chen Changsheng mentioned a somewhat contradictoryidea. He mentioned whether the space in the spleen could substitute the secondmeridian. This made Xu Yourong think hard for a very long time, and just whenshe thought of a possibility, she suddenly felt her shoulder become slightlyheavy. Afterwards, she smelt the very faint odor of a body. Looking at Chen Changsheng who slept soundly on her shoulder, she was slightlystartled, and a sliver of slightly shameful annoyance appeared in her eyes. She disliked being so close to men, not to mention being in such a closeposture. On the way here, she was carried by Chen Changsheng, which alreadymade her already feel extremely burdened, not to mention actually being leanedon by him. She extended a finger, and slowly brought it to Chen Changsheng’s forehead.When she was about to push him away, however, for some reason, she did not useany power. A snore like thunder echoed through the run-down temple, which actuallycovered up the sound of rain outside. Xu Yourong looked at the sleeping Chen Changsheng, and thought about how hewas extremely drowsy all the time. Whenever the opportunity presented itself,he would basically fall asleep as soon as he closed his eyes, which should havebeen the side effects of the technique from the Snow Mountain Sect… tonight wasdefinitely not an exception. Earlier, he should have been almost unable to stayawake, but contrary to that, he accompanied her to talk. This made her feel alittle warm. At the same time, she also felt it was somewhat shameful. This was the firsttime she was so close to a male. Of course, she had already been carried on his back for several days, but…that was not on purpose. There was the reason of injury, and it was temporary…in short, she used countless ways to open herself up, to look for excusesbefore, but now, she could not find any excuses at all. He just leaned on hershoulder like that, with his eyes and brows right in front of her eyes,incomparably clear. The ladies in the small town always said stinky men, stinky men. He was notvery stinky, and did not have any particular smell. Alright, looking at the fact that you are so injured, and that I am alsoheavily injured, enough to be unable to move, I will let you be. Xu Yourong thought like that, and then pulled back her finger. Afterwards, sheclosed her eyes, and fell asleep to the sound of the night rain. However, for avery long time, her eyelashes constantly trembled gently. It was unknown whether it was because his snoring was too loud or some otherreason. “What a pair of adulterers.” The rain stopped at an unknown time, and Nanke’s cold voice resounded outsidethe run-down temple. With the sounds of footsteps, she walked into the temple accompanied by theDemon General couple, the zither-playing old man, and the two maids. Her gaze shifted from the already-extinguished fire to the pile of hay on theside of the wall. Looking at the messy hay straws and the marks of beingsquashed by a body, it could be deduced very easily that Xu Yourong and ChenChangsheng should have slept in embrace last night. The two maids knew that, from youth, she strictly adhered to the rules ofetiquette, and viewed herself as a virtuous noble. She viewed the word‘virtuous’ with unbelievable importance, so she did not feel that her currentreaction was weird. The Demon General couple instead could not help but beslightly surprised, before feeling that it was slightly funny. Liu Wan’er said,“They are engaged, so how can it be considered adulterous?” Nanke was speechless for a moment. The strength of the Demon General couplewas very great, and they also were not her subordinates, so she could notpunish them as she did when she punished her maids. However, she still repliedconfidently, “The male and female are not close. Even if they are engaged,before they marry, they must maintain distance. On the way, she let him carryher. That can be explained as being forced due to no alternative, but how canthis be explained?” Liu Wan’er smiled, but did not continue to say anything. Since Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng had already left, the group of demonexperts naturally did not stop for any longer and left after leaving the temple. On the two sides of the White Grass Path, the grassland was filled with the Qiof monsters everywhere. Some monsters were so strong that even the DemonGeneral couple felt slightly scared. Although it could be said that the zither-playing old man could use his zithersounds to control a few low-level monsters, he did not have the power tocontrol such strong monsters, not to mention the fact that the zither wascurrently being carried on his back and not being played at all. However, forsome reason, the great monsters did not attack them, and even had a behaviourthat seemed to slightly show a feeling of servitude. This was because of the piece of black wood in Nanke’s hand. It was unknown what this black wood was, but it constantly gave out some typeof message to the surrounding grasslands. The gaze of the zither-playing old man landed on the piece of black wood. Hethought about his shock a few days ago when he first saw Nanke pull out theblack wood—a piece of black wood that did not seem mystical in any way couldactually compel the monsters within the Plains of the Unsetting Sun to obey herinstructions. Even the most powerful, and at the same time, the most pridefuland brutal, monster felt slightly unsettled in the beginning, before quicklyshowing its servitude. Very obviously, the piece of black wood was the most powerful tool thatMilitary Advisor Black Robe had left for Nanke. Even Nanke had never thoughtthat this piece of black wood would actually have such unbelievable and magicalpowers. Black Robe began to become more and more mysterious and great in thehearts of these demon experts. Just who was he, why did he understand theGarden of Zhou so much, and even why did he have a magical artifact thatobviously belonged to the Garden of Zhou? There were matters that they were unable to understand, and unable to ask.What the zither-playing old man did not understand was why Nanke did not usethis piece of black wood and order the innumerable monsters in the grasslandsto directly destroy Chen Changsheng, and instead contrarily ordered thosemonsters to not attack on their own accord. Just what was she thinking? “For Master to give me this piece of black wood, he must have calculated thatI might walk into this grassland. However, Master has never told me the historyof this piece of black wood, showing that Master has decided in the end for meto finish them off myself. I can use the black wood to kill them, but I canalso pursue a greater dream.” Nanke gazed into the distance of the White Grass Path and did not see the twoof them. However, as if she had seen them, she said indifferently, “Although Idon’t understand how they did it, they obviously know where Zhou Dufu’s tombis. They also know the location of the Sword Pool, so of course they can’t die.” The zither-playing old man said in a low voice, “But we have already found theWhite Grass Path. Why leave them alive?” Nanke said, “If we did not have them, we would never be able to find thisWhite Grass Path in this vast grassland. At the same time, I won’t be able toconfirm what ordeals that must be gone through to enter Zhou Dufu’s tomb. Iwill never use something that I am unconfident in to gamble for something theopposing has already gained. The zither-playing old man understood, and no longer said anything any more.He returned to one side respectfully and submissively. Teng Xiaoming walked outto a certain area of the path, and squatted down. He closely examined thetracks left behind by Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng. He felt great respecttowards Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng, and thought that, to be able to lastuntil now, no wonder they were the most outstanding male and female in theyounger generation of the humans. Nanke raised her head and confirmed the position of the sun after the rain,before continuing onwards. Her leather boots stepped on the white grass, whichwas like frost, leaving behind a clear footprint. The zither-playing old man,the two demon maids, and the couple, Teng Xiaoming and Liu Wan’er, followedbehind. Even more behind them, in the vast grassland, there were countlessmonsters that followed behind quietly like the tide sweeping over pools ofwater and wasteland.