Fan Xian looked at Sigu Jian. After a moment of silence, he moved closer to the head of the bed. Reaching his hand under the Great Grandmaster's head, he reached under the pillow. This movement was very slow. The skin on the back of his hand and wrist could clearly feel the wheat husks stuffed into the pillow, as well as the thin, messy, and powerless withered hair scattered on the pillow.
His finger touched a hard object. Fan Xian's fingertip gently touched it and knew it was a small booklet wrapped in rough cloth.
Pulling his hand back, he took out the booklet. Fan Xian didn't immediately lift the rough cloth. Instead, he stared in a daze at the booklet, confirming the guess in his heart. This was a relic left behind by Imperial Advisor Ku He. It had been solemnly given to him by Sigu Jian's hand. Presumably, it was a rare treasure. For such a thin booklet, the true value was probably the things recorded in it.
Sigu Jian did not rush him. He only calmly and indifferently looked at the corner of the wall. It was as if he was not by his side and had not stretched his hand to the back of his head earlier.
In the end, Fan Xian couldn't resist his powerful curiosity. In front of Sigu Jian, he lifted the cloth and saw the contents inside. Different from what he had imagined and what Sigu Jian had said, it was not a small booklet inside.
Rather, it was two booklets.
Fan Xian shook his head and smiled. Carelessly, he flipped open the booklet on top. Looking at the extremely familiar Heart of Tianyi Dao that he could recite backwards, he could not hide his helpless smile.
Before Sigu Jian died, he had personally given him pointers on the knowledge of heart and sword intent. Before Ku He died, he had never forgotten to give the Heart of Tianyi Dao to Fan Xian. Fan Xian's mouth tasted bitter. It looked like these strange creatures of the older generation were truly a group of strange creatures. They had placed their last hope in resisting the great Qing Emperor on him.
Before the Great Grandmaster left this world, he wanted to leave behind a sufficiently powerful enemy for the Qing Emperor. Enemies outside of the Qing Kingdom were no longer enough to be feared, so this person had to be chosen from within the Qing Kingdom.
Ku He had his second disciple forcefully extend Chen Pingping's life and set up chess pieces in Xiliang Road. He had calculated that after his death, Fan Xian, this young man, and his cheap father, would certainly have some cracks that Northern Qi could use because of what had happened in the past and what was happening now.
Sigu Jian gave Dongyi to Fan Xian with both hands, but he also gave Fan Xian a large bag. It was very, very heavy.
"You guys really think highly of me." Fan Xian shrugged his shoulders. His finger gently tapped the supreme Heart that the Qing Mountain faction viewed as a treasure. "Or perhaps, you are too daring. You have actually placed such an illusory hope on me."
"Your mother is a person of Dongyi. It is only natural that I place my hopes on you." Sigu Jian said in a raspy voice, "However, for Ku He, that damn baldy, to be willing to give you such a large gift is truly beyond my expectations."
Fan Xian looked at the Heart of Tianyi Dao in a daze. He thought that before Ku He died, he probably still thought that what he had learned from Haitang was an improved version of the Heart of Tianyi Dao. He did not know that because Haitang was worried about his injuries, she had disregarded her teacher's orders and passed on the true Heart of Tianyi Dao to him. That was in the distant past, far away in Jiangnan.
He didn't know what Haitang was doing on the grasslands. Over there, the Hu Ge had already stirred up trouble, and internal strife had begun in Xi Hu. No matter how talented she was, she would not be of much use far away from the Northern Qi border.
Before Ku He died, he had given the true Heart of Tianyi Dao to Fan Xian in hopes of gathering the power of many people and creating another Great Grandmaster in this world.
"Learning too many things is not necessarily a good thing," Fan Xian said.
Sigu Jian slanted his eyes and glanced at him. "I know you have long learned the things of the Qing Mountain faction. It looks like Ku He has never met you, so he doesn't know this. The booklet he gave you is indeed not very useful."
"However, this book is still somewhat useful to the disciples of the Sword Hut." Fan Xian looked at him calmly. Of the four Great Grandmasters in the world, only Ku He and Sigu Jian widely accepted disciples. Given Sigu Jian's ability to teach, he had suddenly obtained the secret of Tianyi Dao. How could he not make use of it and pass it on to his disciples?
"This is for you. Furthermore, it is the trust the damn baldy had in me," Sigu Jian said proudly. "I disdain to look at his things."
The corners of Fan Xian's mouth twitched slightly. He nodded and said, "If I didn't tell you about the Ten Family Village matter, would you not have given this book to me?"
Perhaps these words hit the nail on Sigu Jian's head. Sigu Jian had to determine just how loyal Fan Xian was to the Qing Emperor and how much care he might have for Dongyi before he could make up his mind. Handing over Ku He's things was also one of his decisions.
This Great Grandmaster did not admit to this. He only coldly said, "You have learned this book before. What difference does it make if I give it to you or not?"
"But, there is another book below." Fan Xian's gaze gradually calmed. Picking up the second book, he stared at Sigu Jian and asked, "The four Great Grandmasters have stood side by side for a long time. You disdain to look at Tianyi Dao's martial methods because you are very familiar with Ku He's martial methods. You know that no matter what realm you practice it to, it will be impossible for the Sword Hut to make a qualitative leap. Are you not curious as to what the small book Ku He solemnly handed to you is placed with the Heart of Tianyi Dao? "
The small book was even thinner, only about 20 pages. Fan Xian's palm pressed against the book. He looked at Sigu Jian with a smile and waited for his reply.
"Of course, I am interested. I never knew that Ku He, that damn baldy, had any other abilities other than those lousy zhenqi he used to plant flowers and trees," Sigu Jian said in a raspy voice. "Earlier, you said what was the use of learning miscellaneous things? Of course, learning miscellaneous things is useful. Even if you don't use it, you can look at it. "
"So, you looked at it."
Sigu Jian did not deny it. Coldly, he said, "I want to be a postman, so I can look at it."
After a moment of silence, Sigu Jian closed his eyes slightly and said, "Unfortunately, I don't understand it."
As he said this, Fan Xian had already curiously flipped open the small booklet below. He was very interested in what was recorded inside. However, when he flipped open these thin pages, he was disappointed.
Something that even Sigu Jian could not understand, Fan Xian could not understand even more. In terms of martial arts realm, comprehension, and spirituality, Fan Xian was far behind this Great Grandmaster. He looked disappointedly at the strange words on the page and the strange combination of words. He stared fixedly at them, but he could not understand them.
"Pu Rui Ma Wei Na, Pu Rui Gou …"
"Kick Ah Mo …"
"De Wei Xi …"
…
…
The sky above the Sword Hut had completely darkened. Only the surface of the sea in the distance was still suffused with a deep blue light. After it shone onto the land, the deep blue had already faded to grey.
A lot of time had already passed.
Fan Xian sighed and put down the small book. He had thought that if he didn't understand the method Ku He left behind, he could consult it with Sigu Jian. After all, for strange creatures like Great Grandmasters, the death of one was one less. The opportunity to ask Sigu Jian about Ku He's legacy would never come again, at least not in this world.
However, he helplessly found that he didn't even have the chance to ask a question. Each word was very strange and the combination was illogical.
The old and young, one sitting and one lying in the room, were both thinking about the last small book Ku He left behind.
Sigu Jian suddenly opened his eyes. A glimmer of confusion surged through them. Slowly, he said, "Three years ago, on the summit of the mountain, Ku He once made a hand gesture."
The summit of the mountain was the summit of the great Dong Mountain, the Great Grandmaster battle. Hearing these words, Fan Xian's heart immediately jumped. He listened carefully. Sigu Jian coughed and sank into silence again.
"What hand gesture was that?" Fan Xian asked with furrowed brows.
"It should be the magic of the West?" It was rare for Sigu Jian to not be confident. In his opinion, in the hearts of all the martial artists in this land, the Western magic and the sorcerers who practiced it were of little value. Given Ku He's realm and strength, how could he spend time practicing such useless things?
After hearing these words, Fan Xian was enlightened. His palms slowly came together in front of his chest. A satisfied smile rose to his face. He couldn't help but shake his head. With a smile, he sighed and said, "I know what is written here."
"What is it?"
"It's a Western script, but it's a direct translation of our script." Fan Xian shrugged. "I used this method when I was about seven. I didn't think that such a powerful figure as Master Ku He would use such a childish method."
Of course, what made Fan Xian think of this was not just the familiarity of those strange words, which brought him a sense of familiarity from a Western-style translated novel. It was also not just because he had once trained hard to feed your mother three pieces of meat. More importantly, it was because he thought of a novel he had read in his previous life.
Sir Jin had written it about the Nine Yin Manual, Guo Jing, that fool, and Wu Li's smearing of that human skin.
…
…
Sigu Jian furrowed his brows and said, "Western words? Is it really some kind of magic? What kind of use is that? "
"Who knows?" Fan Xian felt a headache coming on. Looking at the two little books in his hands, he thought for a moment and then carefully put them into his clothes. "Since Master Ku He left them for me, they should still be of some use."
"Don't put your energy into these useless things," Sigu Jian said. He still maintained an innate disdain for the barbaric things of the West. This was probably the natural condescension of an advanced civilization toward an undeveloped one.
"It is inclusive and adaptable," Fan Xian replied. "Who knows what benefits I will get after learning it?"
"You can understand these messy words?" For the first time, Sigu Jian furrowed his brows and looked at Fan Xian in surprise. This little book had been in his hands for more than two years. Although he had the pride of a Great Grandmaster and had not peeked at the Heart of Tianyi Dao, he had still studied this scribbled book for a long time. He also wanted to know what deep meaning Ku He had in leaving such a thing behind. However, no matter how he studied it, he made no progress. If it was a Western language, Sigu Jian controlled Dongyi. The officials and commoners in the city often interacted with foreigners, but he had never heard of any foreigners speaking such a language.
Fan Xian smiled and said, "I'll also have to slowly guess. I learned some before, but I've pretty much forgotten it."
The words on the booklet that Ku He left behind were in Italian. The foreigners that the Qing Kingdom and Dongyi had dealings with basically all used a kind of altered Spanish or English. Fan Xian hadn't studied it very carefully. In any case, it was generally like that.
Fan Xian had learned Italian. In his previous life, he had taken it as an elective in the second year of university.
Was this a coincidence or fate?
…
…
Everything had been said. The matters that Sigu Jian needed to hand over had already been discussed with Fan Xian. They had already discussed each other in detail. Fan Xian rose from the side of the bed. Just as he was about to leave the room, he suddenly lowered his eyelids slightly and asked seriously, "I still don't understand why you chose me."
Ye Qingmei could indeed be considered half a Dongyi person, but it was clear that she had put in more effort in the Qing Kingdom. Anyone who had seen the yellow-clothed woman frowning at the riverbank would think this. Just because of the so-called household registration, she placed the freedom of Dongyi on Fan Xian's body, on this young noble of the Qing Kingdom who had once caused Dongyi to suffer countless losses. Did she not need a reason?
Sigu Jian said, "It is said that a person without hobbies cannot be befriended. I once judged that you have no heart for the world, so you cannot succeed. However, a person without hobbies is nothing more than two kinds. One is a saint, and the other is a fake. "
"You are a person without hobbies," Sigu Jian continued. Sigu Jian continued, "After Dong Mountain, to me, you suddenly developed a bit of your true nature. However, it has been hidden very deeply. Thus, I think you should be walking the path of the former. "
"Is there someone in this world who does not act for his own personal benefit or the benefit of a country, but only for his own peace of mind?"
Sigu Jian looked at him indifferently. "There was one before, and I hope there will be one in the future. If my gamble is wrong, then it's wrong. I don't care. A person who is about to die is always the bravest gambler. "
Fan Xian was silent for a long time. He then walked out of the quiet room and to the side of the sword pit. He saw Thirteenth Wang, silently crying sorrowfully and wiping his tears with his sleeve like a child.
The thousand swords in the pit were icy cold.
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