Chapter 25 is no more!

  Following Xuan in his own sect, turning around everywhere, made Ye Wen feel very strange, as if the person in front of him was the master here.

  Especially when walking, Ye Wen found that Xu Xian was very familiar with the surrounding environment and would often notice some details that even Ye Wen hadn't noticed.

  For example, in the dark, Ye Wen was following behind Xun Xian and couldn't see the ground at all. Sometimes, Xun Xian would suddenly take a big step to the side or suddenly jump forward, and at first, he thought it was just Xun Xian's light footwork, but soon he realized that wasn't the case - because his foot had almost slipped and twisted his ankle.

  Ye Wen was not familiar with his own territory, which wasn't strange. Although he had been living on the mountain for half a year, his activity range was limited to a very small area, so he didn't understand much about the place where he spent a lot of silver coins.

  Moreover, these are all very subtle places, and some places even have weeds and the like to cover them up. On the surface, it's hard to see anything unusual, but Xu Xian seems to be very familiar with these places, and every time he can bypass them until later Ye Wen also followed behind Xu Xian, doing whatever he did.

  Two people were about to walk to the edge of the cliff, where the mountain was steep and had a rare precipice. It would be impossible to climb up from here unless one could fly, so Ye Wen naturally wouldn't build any high walls here. Moreover, the scenery here was indeed very good, and standing here made one feel a sense of pride and exhilaration. Additionally, standing here also allowed one to see the distant Book Mountain County town, but that would only be visible during the daytime.

  Xu Xian walked to this place, but didn't go to the mountain wall side. Instead, he went to a inconspicuous mound in front of him, knelt down on the ground, and respectfully kowtowed several times to the mound. Then he quietly knelt for a while before standing up, dusting off his legs, and smiling at Ye Wen said: "Ye Zhangmen must have many questions, right?"

  Ye Wen didn't answer, he just looked at Xu Xian. He had been following Xu Xian for some time and had already guessed some general situation. After seeing Xu Xian kowtowing to a mound of earth, the idea in his mind became clearer, and he also guessed what the mound was - it was clearly a grave.

  In Ye Wen's view, Xue Xian, this famous talented person, was probably here long ago. Moreover, he often comes, otherwise it is impossible to be so clear about those subtle places. In addition, this guy must have had some strange encounter on this mountain, maybe found some secret recipe, or may have met a master.

  Of the two possibilities, Ye Wen was more inclined towards the latter, and he even suspected that Xu Xian had encountered a dying master, learned a set of skills under his tutelage, and then buried the master on this mountain after his death.

  If that's the case, it's not hard to explain why Xu Xian was eager to come and take a look after learning about his sect's mountain gate. Even Ye Wen speculated that Xu Xian must have known long ago that the Shu Shan Sect's mountain gate was here, and even in these six months, he might have come up who knows how many times, but with the high walls surrounding it, this young master Xu could only sigh in admiration from afar.

  "Who knows how long this kid has been secretly scolding me! No wonder he was so excited to see me, turns out he's caught the real culprit!"

  The actual situation was roughly as Ye Wen had guessed. From the moment Xu Xian discovered that a Shu Shan disciple had appeared here, he was very curious and also had some intention of getting to know him. However, with his own martial arts skills and identity as a talented scholar, it wasn't suitable for him to reveal himself, so he hadn't made an open visit yet.

  Xu Xian Ding looked at Ye Wen, seeing that this young master didn't have the slightest hint of urgency on his face, and the hint of nonchalance in his eyes made him understand: "Ye Master has already guessed it!"

  Ye Wen shrugged his shoulders, although this action was not very noticeable in the dark: "Just take a wild guess, whether it's really like that or not is still unknown!"

  Xu Xian nodded and slowly began to speak: "A few years ago, I was just an ordinary bookworm. Although my name had spread far and wide, I always felt that life was dull and uninteresting, so I would often think of ways to sneak out and find something fun."

  "That day, I was extremely bored and wanted to climb the mountain to watch the sunrise. So, taking advantage of my father's outing, I brought some dry rations and water and came to Book Mountain. But what I didn't expect was that this day would completely change my life..."

  "I met an old man, a dying old man, but I didn't know it at the time! He wasn't good to me, scolding and beating me, but I pitied him then, so I didn't hold it against him, and even gave him some dry food and clear water!"

  "This old man is more reasonable than I thought!" Xue Xian smiled, as if he had thought of something interesting. Ye Wen did not disturb him and continued to listen quietly to his words.

  "After I gave him dry rations, the old man suddenly said 'When you receive kindness from others, you should repay it. The old man doesn't have anything good to give, but seeing that your body is too weak, he'll teach you some exercises to strengthen and nourish your body.'"

  "This lesson lasted for a month, and every day during that month I would sneak out of the house to buy enough food for the old man and send it up the mountain. He would then teach me some things. At first, they were just some simple stances, but later he said 'You come back and forth so troublesome every day, I'll just teach you a set of qinggong first!' My qinggong started from that time!"

  Ye Wen laughed too when he heard this. He didn't think Xu Xian's lightness skill was so good, and it turned out to be for this reason. It was actually for the convenience of running away from home and going up and down the mountain.

  Xu Xian seemed to feel that this reason was not very convincing, and after a slight awkwardness, he continued his words: "In the last few days of that month, the old man suddenly became irritable, not only teaching me a lot of things in one go, but also forcing me to memorize all those things, even if I didn't understand them."

  "It wasn't until a month later that I realized the old man had sensed his own mortality and wanted to teach me as much as possible. Unfortunately, at the time I didn't understand his good intentions and was still full of resentment towards him, thinking that even though I delivered food to him, I still got scolded by him - truly the biggest fool in the world!"

  "After that, I didn't come to see the old man for three days. When I thought of coming up again after three days, I only caught a glimpse of the old man's last glance."

  Xu Xian looked at the inconspicuous mound of earth: "At that time, his expression was very relieved, and he only said a sentence: 'You're here!' and then fell silent. I didn't even know what his surname was, and in the end, not even a tombstone could be erected for him!"

  Ye Wen didn't say anything, he simply couldn't evaluate this kind of thing.

  Xu Xian saved the old man's life, and the old man taught Xu Xian martial arts. Originally, it was a matter of two people not owing each other anything. If it weren't for the last period of time they spent together, the old man went crazy wanting to teach Xu Xian more things, as if he wanted to pass on everything to Xu Xian, making Xu Xian feel like a disciple. But at this time, the old man passed away, as if nothing had happened. This strong contrast left an impression that was too intense. Otherwise, this matter would have been just a decorative piece in Xu Xian's life.

  "Afterwards, I often came here to practice the kung fu that old man taught me. Gradually, I also developed an interest in martial arts. Unfortunately, at that time, I didn't study seriously enough, and since I could only secretly practice by myself without guidance, apart from being very familiar with that set of light skills that allowed me to sneak out of the house easily, my progress in palm techniques and internal strength was slow. If I were to use that old man's words to evaluate myself now, I would be just a barely passable small role on the Jianghu!"

  Xu Xian smiled wryly: "I'm really ashamed, people call me a talented scholar, but after all the effort you put into teaching me, I've only learned superficial things!"

  Xu Xian then fell into his own memories, standing quietly there looking at the solitary grave, as if only he himself and this patch of sky in front of him were left between heaven and earth.

  On the other hand, Ye Wen was not concerned about the other party's attitude. Since he had already learned that the other party's intention in coming was to pay respects to his 'master', and not to harbor any malicious intentions towards his Shu Shan Sect, then he didn't need to be on guard against this person anymore.

  He even considered whether he should go back to sleep first and let Xuan mourn his 'master' slowly by himself.

  Fortunately, Xu Xian quickly came back to his senses and smiled: "Let Ye Zhangmen call out in laughter!"

  "No, I just didn't expect that there would be Xu Gongzi's 'old friend' on the mountain of books." He really didn't think that there was someone's grave here, and it was even enclosed by a large wall within the territory of Shushan Sect. "In the future, if Xu Gongzi wants to come and 'pay respects' to his old friend, he is welcome to do so at any time, and the gate of Shushan Sect will always be open to him!" This matter was originally due to his own fault for carelessly enclosing the land, so Ye Wen hurriedly gave the other party a good deal.

  But tonight seems to be a night of unexpected events, perhaps Xu Xian was lost in his memories and absent-minded, and casually said: "Maybe I'll never come again!"

  As soon as this was said, Xu Xian and Ye Wen were both shocked on the spot. After realizing what he had just said, Xu Xian's face turned red with regret, secretly blaming himself for being so careless.

  At a glance, Ye Wen's expression changed, knowing that he must have heard the words clearly, and with Ye Wen's intelligence, he had probably inferred many things.

  Actually, Ye Wen did infer quite a few things.

  "What does it mean? Never come again?" If Xu Xian goes to a foreign land for further study, or even becomes an official in the future, he will still have time to return home. No matter what, when he returns home, he can still find time to visit his hometown. In this case, there is only one possibility: Xu Xian never intends to return to his old home again!

  But Ye Wen's mind was very scattered, and at this time he suddenly thought of the various difficulties that this southern journey would face, especially the fact that the female bandit had vowed to capture Xu Xian. Was there any connection between them? This point, he became more and more convinced of his judgment in Xu Xian's increasingly ugly expression.

  "Damn it! I accidentally overheard something I shouldn't have!"