"Food from the Peak Villa?"
Bing Xian Han Xin frowned and said, "I've heard Old Man Wang brag about it before, saying that all the delicacies in the world can't surpass those of the Peak Villa. I don't know if it's true. Don't be so stingy."
"Oh dear, it's really not possible!"
Tang Guangjun said respectfully, "It's not that I'm not giving Bing Xian face, it's just that... this is special food made by my mountain master's junior brother and Sister Dongcang for me as an offering. It's meant to be offered to the old man before his spirit tablet for him to eat. If Bing Xian eats it, it might be unlucky."
"Oh, I see."
Han Xin smiled faintly and said, "It doesn't matter. I'll be descending to the mortal realm in a few days anyway, and I'll be staying at the Peak Villa. I can eat as much as I want then."
"Ah?"
Tang Guangjun was stunned. For ordinary cultivators at the thirteenth realm to descend to the mortal realm was nothing special, as the cost was not too high. However, for those at the fourteenth realm, it was a big deal. The deeper one's cultivation base, the greater the price to be sacrificed to the rules of heaven and earth. This was also why Ding Muchén and Ming Yuechi rarely descended.
"May I ask for some details?"
Tang Guangjun frowned and said, "Bing Xian descending must be for something important, right?"
"What's the point of telling you?"
Han Xin said with disdain and a smile, "With your brain, Tang Guangjun, how much planning can you comprehend, how much can you deduce? You cultivate a martial aura and a sword intent. Just help out with drawing your sword at Peak Villa. As for planning, that's for smart people. A brute like you should ask less."
"Indeed!"
Tang Guangjun gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Bing Xian speaks the truth. I'll be going then. My old man is still hungry. No one has offered him anything for so many years."
"Who told him his disciple, Li Xin, was so righteous!"
"Alright, alright, Lord Bing Xian, stop talking. You're making me blush."
Tang Guangjun scurried away.
However, after only a few steps, he suddenly turned back, pulled out a paper-wrapped packet of fried dough twists from his embrace, and threw it at Han Xin, saying, "Bing Xian, you haven't had breakfast yet, right? Try this specialty from Xueyu Tianchi!"
"Swish!"
Han Xin caught the fried dough twists with a gentle force, not even breaking a single one. He frowned and looked up, but Tang Guangjun had already disappeared.
This ungrateful scoundrel, trying to bribe me, Han Xin, with a handful of fried food?
He frowned, took a bite, and immediately smiled.
Delicious!
The taste of home. Only someone from Huaiyin could make these fried dough twists!
...
The back mountain of the Ancestral Court of the School of Military Affairs.
Stone tablets stood in a scattered manner throughout the mountain. Among them, the tombs of the military sages listed among the Ten Philosophers of the Martial Temple were all on the mountain peak. These sages who had made contributions to the human race's land and rivers were indeed qualified to overlook the world.
Those listed among the Seventy-Two Generals of the Martial Temple, upon their death in battle, could be buried on the mountainside, their status equally noble.
However, Li Xin's tomb was very close to the foot of the mountain. This was because he had not died in battle but had "dissolved his body" (Bing Jie) to depart. When Tang Guangjun arrived, he saw a tomb covered in weeds, even the tombstone overgrown with vines.
Indeed, it had been many years since anyone had taken care of Li Xin's tomb. Even the people in the Ancestral Court of the School of Military Affairs felt that Li Xin's death was too pathetic. Those responsible for tending to the graves of the former sages simply ignored Li Xin's grave.
Tang Guangjun's eyes immediately reddened. He couldn't blame others; he could only blame himself, his unworthy disciple, for forcing his master down this ignominious path. The principles he didn't understand before, if he still didn't understand them now, he would have truly lived in vain.
He took off his sword and placed it aside, then, with his bare hands, he pulled away the vines and wild grass from the tomb. He even suppressed his killing intent and cultivation, allowing the thorns on the vines to pierce his palms, making his hands bloody, before finally clearing all the weeds from the tomb.
"Old man."
Tang Guangjun knelt before the tombstone and took out the bamboo basket that Dongcang had given him from his storage bag. He then took out several still steaming dishes from the basket, smiling bitterly, "I was too driven by ambition and said many beast-like things before. Now, Tang Guangjun regrets it deeply, but it's too late."
He arranged the dishes one by one and said, "If you have a spirit in heaven, you should know what Tang Guangjun has been through recently. Lord Bing Sheng ordered me to guard Xueyu Tianchi for Lin Baiyi. Lin Zhao is a very, very good person. At first, Tang Guangjun thought he was pedantic and foolish, but it changed later."
Tang Guangjun's nose stung. "Following the Mountain Master, I learned how a person should be and how they shouldn't be. One cannot do ugly and evil deeds and still feel it's justified after their heart has rotted. The previous Tang Guangjun only thought of himself and no one else. If I had even half of you in my heart back then, perhaps it wouldn't have turned out like this..."
His eyes were red. He took out a pot of wine from his embrace and slowly poured it onto the soil. "Old man, the dishes are still warm. Have a bite while they're hot. Drink some wine. This is Miss Dongcang's apricot blossom wine, the best in the world. You loved drinking so much when you were alive, don't miss it."
"Old man..."
Tang Guangjun took a deep breath, said nothing, but slapped himself hard, making one side of his face red. Then he switched sides and continued slapping. After a while, tears began to fall, and he knelt on the ground, burying his head very low. "I was wrong, disciple knows he was wrong..."
When he looked up, the unkempt man's face was covered in tears, and his voice choked with sobs, he said, "When I was young, I was always eager for a fight, causing you to stand up for me again and again, and you, a general among the Seventy-Two Generals of the Martial Temple, were insulted by those who weren't ranked. Disciple knows he was wrong..."
He slapped himself again, crying, "I always hated that your cultivation was too low, I hated that you were not promising, but I forgot that I too was once at a low cultivation level, and I forgot that I had always been protected by you, a Sage of Military Affairs at the tenth realm..."
He knelt on the ground and looked up at the words "Li Xin" on the tombstone, his eyes blurry with tears. "Old man, disciple knows he was wrong. If you can hear me and forgive your disciple Tang Guangjun, could you send a gust of wind to stir the green pines before the grave?"
The back mountain of the Ancestral Court of the School of Military Affairs.
It was covered by complex formations of mountains and rivers. After all, most sages of the School of Military Affairs were skilled in warfare and had countless enemies. The Ancestral Court of the School of Military Affairs was strong and had enough men to defend against revenge, but they worried about people desecrating the tombs of their sages. Therefore, the formations in the back mountain were numerous. It was precisely because the back mountain was airtight that not a single wisp of wind had blown through in eight hundred years.
But at this moment, a wisp of a gentle breeze swept through, and the green pines behind Tang Guangjun slowly swayed.
It was this gust of wind that not only stirred the green pines but also stirred Tang Guangjun's twelfth realm bottleneck. The moment the breeze passed, Tang Guangjun's state of mind seemed to open up, and his inner demons vanished.
Tang Guangjun even saw a battlefield filled with killing intent, with millions of corpses strewn across it, swords and halberds erected, emanating a fierce aura. The entire battlefield was enveloped by a sword intent full of killing intent, a magnificent sight!
At this moment, with just a thought, he could step into the thirteenth realm and become a sword cultivator rarely seen even in the Ancestral Court of the School of Military Affairs.
But Tang Guangjun did not break through immediately; there was no need for it at the moment. After all, he still wanted to return to the Peak Villa and serve under Lin Zhao. After the Battle of Changming Mountain, Tang Guangjun firmly believed that under Lin Zhao's command, he would be at the most dangerous place in the human world. The strongest opponents of the human world could not bypass the Peak Villa.
Therefore, he, Tang Guangjun, should temper his sword path and solidify his cultivation. He should return to the Peak Villa. Moreover, he had long been unable to part with the Peak Villa.
"Old man, thank you..."
Tang Guangjun got up, cupped his fists towards Li Xin's tombstone, and said, "Disciple Tang Guangjun dares not promise anything else, but I will certainly not fail the Ancestral Court of the School of Military Affairs, nor will I fail humanity. Tang Guangjun's blood will be shed for humanity. Please rest assured, old man, disciple will not disappoint!"
With that, he turned and descended the mountain, without looking back.
...
Evening.
Tang Guangjun returned to Xueyu Tianchi.
He went to Peak Villa and reported to Lin Zhao, like clocking in, and went back to work. He was still the gatekeeper of Xueyu Tianchi.
Dinner was a problem again.
Tang Guangjun tucked his sleeves, recalling what little was left in the small wooden house. There was still some noodles, which were employee benefits sent by Dongcang and Liu Liying during the last New Year. So, he just needed a few seasonings, some scallions, garlic, and fresh herbs, and perhaps an egg, or even a chicken leg.
At this time, the young students at Hefeng Academy had already finished their classes and were sent to the entrance by refined young tutors, only to be safely handed over to their parents or guardians.
As for the older students, their classes were still some time away, and they would study until dusk. Some studious individuals even lived directly in the academy and had homework at night.
Tang Guangjun, with his sleeves tucked, walked into the academy. The young tutor in charge of supervising the students glanced at him. He was the town's gatekeeper, so he didn't stop him. This unkempt man was always idling around, but this was the first time he had come to the academy.
In fact, the young tutor had a poor impression of this unkempt man, feeling that the way he looked at the women in the town was not right, as if he wanted to strip them bare with a single glance. However, the young tutor didn't say anything, because the teacher Gu Lingyu had mentioned before that although this man looked unremarkable, he was a great cultivator from the Ancestral Court of the School of Military Affairs.
Furthermore, in the Battle of Changming Mountain, this man, along with teacher Gu Lingyu, had jointly fought against a formidable fourteenth realm cultivator!
It was fine if he wanted to wander around, as long as he didn't cause trouble.
...
Tang Guangjun, with his sleeves tucked, ambled around the academy. Seeing the scallions and garlic planted in the vegetable garden, he discreetly took a little with a gentle sword intent. Soon after, his gaze fell upon the dozen or so old hens kept in the backyard. They looked particularly plump!
"Enough!"
At this moment, a voice echoed in Tang Guangjun's mind, it was Gu Lingyu's voice: "Don't even think about these chickens. They work like you every day, laying eggs. The poor students in the academy rely on this nutrition. I hope Sword Immortal Tang will be a decent person."
"Aha~~~"
Tang Guangjun repeatedly nodded and bowed, "Misunderstanding, misunderstanding... a misunderstanding..."
Just then, he looked up and saw a figure in a green vine-colored robe clinging to a study building like a bat. The person was listening to the young tutor's lecture in the study and was drawing and writing on a small notebook with a graphite pencil.
"Lin Zhujie!"
Tang Guangjun shouted angrily, "Do you have any shame? Do you want to steal someone's knowledge without paying tuition?"
"Oh dear..."
Lin Zhujie's expression was panicked. Who the hell is being nosy!?