Chapter 80

Indeed, as Li Yi said, if he felt that Yu Bo Yun had not yet become Yu Bo Yun, then who was it that he had fallen in love with? By asking this question, Ling Zai Xin felt that she had found a foothold in Li Yi’s overwhelming presence.

A light laugh came from inside the room. Li Yi’s laugh was so soft that one could hardly hear it if they weren’t paying attention, and when they did, it seemed as if nothing was heard at all, making one doubt whether he had laughed at all. This light laugh made Ling Zai Xin pause, as if she could see Li Yi in the room, thinking of that person, and then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Ling Zai Xin couldn’t help but feel an urge to break down the wooden door, as it blocked everything, preventing her from seeing Li Yi’s smile, even though this smile was not for her.

Li Yi said, "Valley Master Ling, have you ever planted flowers?"

Ling Zai Xin suppressed the urge to smash the door. She suddenly felt a bit impatient and said, "Of course I have. Sir, please speak your mind directly."

Li Yi’s voice was always very pleasant, but it had never carried any emotional tone. Now, however, he spoke in a slow and gentle tone, "Valley Master Ling, since you have planted flowers, you must know that seeds need to be planted in the soil to grow. After planting, they need to be watered and the soil loosened. Some may take a season, while others may take several years to bloom into beautiful flowers. Valley Master Ling, I ask you, are the flowers that bloom the same as the seeds they came from?"

Ling Zai Xin thought for a moment and replied, "Although the flowers grow from the seeds, they cannot be considered the same thing!"

Li Yi nodded and said, "Valley Master Ling, my feelings for Yu Bo Yun are like a seed. If we have the right conditions in the future, perhaps it will grow and bloom. If not, it may remain a seed forever. But no matter what happens in the future, I cannot now treat a seed as a blooming flower."

The next day, when Li Yi came to the wooden pavilion to bid farewell, Ling Zai Xin was talking with Yu Bo Yun, and the two were laughing. When they saw Li Yi enter, Yu Bo Yun let out a cheer and rushed towards him like a little cloud sparrow.

Li Yi quietly moved aside, and Yu Bo Yun missed him, shouting, "Fish, eat fish!"

Li Yi was puzzled, and Ling Zai Xin explained, "I was just telling Little Yun that Sir loves to eat fish. It’s strange, no matter what we say, as long as we mention Sir, Little Yun seems to understand."

Li Yi finally understood, nodded, and bowed to Ling Zai Xin, saying, "Valley Master Ling, I have come to bid farewell."

Ling Zai Xin’s face darkened, "If Mr. Li really has to leave, I dare not detain you. I only hope that when you have the time, you will come to the Hundred Flowers Valley to see Little Yun."

Li Yi nodded, "Certainly."

After Li Yi spoke those words last night, Ling Zai Xin was speechless. She had a thousand words to say, but now it seemed that even one more word would be superfluous. Before leaving, she said softly, "A seed that does not bloom will wither and die." Even after she had walked far away, Li Yi in the wooden house remained silent.

Ling Zai Xin called Ling Qinghui and Ling Jianlan to see Li Yi off. When Ling Qinghui and Ling Jianlan learned that this man with the tall ancient headdress was actually one of the ten famous great masters in the cultivation world, Mr. Moon of the Sun and Moon Pavilion, they were so surprised that they could hardly speak.

The group escorted him to the entrance of the valley. It was only then that Yu Bo Yun realized that Li Yi was leaving, and she began to cry out in distress. Li Yi walked up to her and looked at her, but he did not speak. Yu Bo Yun suddenly became quiet, her eyes timidly looking at Li Yi. Her eyes now held many complex emotions, but they were still direct and simple. She looked at Li Yi and suddenly said, "Eat fish, will you let me bite you?" and lifted her arm.

At this point, Le Zhongping stopped speaking. There were many wine jars around him, all of which he had drunk while telling the story.

Xin asked, "What happened next? Did the teacher leave?"

Le Zhongping took a big sip from the jar, stood up unsteadily, and said, "If he hadn’t left, your teacher wouldn’t still be regretting it today!"

Lu Zheng asked, "What else happened? Did Bai Yanlong and the others come back?" He knew that bad people often didn’t change their ways and might return to the Hundred Flowers Valley to cause trouble after the teacher left.

Le Zhongping shook his head, looked up at the sky, but unfortunately, it was covered with clouds, and there was no moon to see. He had to lower his head in disappointment and said, "The day after your teacher left, something unexpected happened. Yu Bo Yun actually left the valley to find your teacher, and the result was... she was almost eaten by a pack of wolves."

Lu Zheng and Xin were stunned, unable to believe that such a thing could happen. Xin came to her senses and burst into tears, throwing herself into Lu Zheng’s arms. Lu Zheng was also dazed, not knowing what to do.

Le Zhongping let out a long sigh, his voice ethereal and hazy, "Later, I saw your teacher kill all the wolves on the mountain, every single one. Later, your teacher buried Yu Bo Yun with his own hands and didn’t speak for three whole years. Later, your teacher planted many Jinbola flowers in the thatched cottage and would sit under them from time to time. Later, your teacher gave Xin a seed and told her to plant it well!"

Lu Zheng asked, "The seed given to Xin?"

Le Zhongping nodded, "This seed was given to him by Yu Bo Yun when they parted. But neither your teacher nor I could recognize what kind of seed it was. Even Ling Zai Xin, who knows all kinds of flowers, couldn’t identify it. We don’t know where Yu Bo Yun got this seed from. However, your teacher kept it until Xin came to the Sun and Moon Pavilion, and then he gave it to her."

Xin lifted her head from Lu Zheng’s arms, and Lu Zheng carefully wiped away her tears. Xin blushed and moved to the side, saying, "Uncle Le, why did the teacher plant Jinbola flowers?"

Le Zhongping replied, "Because Yu Bo Yun was buried under a Jinbola flower in the Hundred Flowers Valley."

Xin nodded silently and didn’t say anything more.

Lu Zheng said, "Mr. Le, did Valley Master Ling also like the teacher? But the teacher didn’t like her."

Le Zhongping turned to look at Lu Zheng and smiled, "You’re young, but you know a lot. You two little rascals tricked me into telling you all this. I think it’s safer for me to go out for a while. Hehe, I’ll leave tomorrow, no, I’ll leave tonight." With that, he took large steps and walked away.

As Le Zhongping walked, he drank wine and recited, "If the heavens have no intention, then why meet at all? When the glory of a day fades, only the foolish remain in love." His figure flickered and disappeared from their sight.

After Le Zhongping left, Lu Zheng and Xin sat side by side on the steps of the Quzhit Pavilion. The night wind had dispersed the clouds, and a bright moon shone in the sky, casting its light on their shoulders.

Xin suddenly said, "Little brother, if one day I am eaten by wolves, what will you do?"

Lu Zheng was taken aback, not knowing why Xin would ask such a question, and said instinctively, "Xin, you’re not the teacher’s wife. Are you still thinking about the teacher’s wife?"

Xin pinched Lu Zheng’s arm, "Little brother! I’m asking you now. Answer quickly, no other answers allowed."

Lu Zheng thought for a moment and said, "I will find that wolf."

Xin asked, "What will you do after you find the wolf?"

Lu Zheng said, "I will let the wolf eat me too."

Xin didn’t expect Lu Zheng to give such an answer, which was even better than what she had in mind. She laughed and grabbed Lu Zheng’s arm, "Little brother, there’s no one as silly as you. You’re so stupid!"

Lu Zheng said, "I was just thinking, why didn’t the teacher take the teacher’s wife away? If he had, maybe that wouldn’t have happened."

Xin also said, "Yes, if that day Father and Mother hadn’t gone out, Father wouldn’t have died. Little brother, if there were a power that could make everything go back to the past, wouldn’t that be great?"

Lu Zheng had thought about this long ago. When he was sad about Tang Xiaojiu, he always wished he could go back to the beginning, so that he and Tang Xiaojiu wouldn’t have stolen money from the Green Dragon Temple, and everything would be different. So he said, "It would be good, but if that were the case, would you still come here?"

Xin said, "Of course not..." But halfway through, she suddenly realized that if that were the case, she wouldn’t have met Little Brother. She felt a bit conflicted, thought for a moment, and finally said, "Well, forget it. There’s no such power anyway. If there were, the teacher, with his great abilities, would have done it long ago!"

Thinking about their usually stern teacher, they couldn’t believe that such a sad thing had happened to him. They both began to feel sorry for the teacher. Lu Zheng especially remembered the words the teacher had said to him on the day he finished learning the archery ceremony.

"Zhiyi, the human heart is like a bow, and the seven emotions are like arrows. Joy, anger, sorrow, thought, fear, and surprise are all arrows on the string. This is the true archery ceremony you need to learn. From now on, I hope you will know where your emotions are directed and not let your arrows of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness miss their mark!"

Lu Zheng had always been confused by these words, but after hearing Mr. Le’s story about the teacher, he felt a glimmer of understanding. He seemed to understand why the teacher had said these words. The human heart is like a bow, and the seven emotions are like arrows. Whether it was the teacher’s parting with Yu Bo Yun, his parting with Jiu Ge, or Xin’s parting with her father, the sadness and sorrow caused by these partings were always like the arrows he had once shot into the void, not knowing where they had gone. And just now, he suddenly understood where those arrows of sadness and sorrow had gone, and what kind of target they had hit!