Chapter 65 — The Past
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 6
Tian Buhui let out a long breath, his face relaxing a little. He smiled and said: "I knew I could not hide it from you." With that, he recounted everything Xiao Yichen had told him concerning Zhang Qingyue.
Su Wan listened silently, and after pondering a moment, shook her head: "Setting aside for now whether Xiaofan truly knows the Nether King of the demon cult and that daughter of his—even if he does, to use that as grounds to say Xiaofan has joined the demon cult, or even that he is a spy the demon cult slipped into the Canglan Sect, I absolutely will not believe it."
Tian Buhui snorted and said: "You need not tell me that—I know it already. Heh, I took six disciples before, from the first to the sixth, and not one of them was so good at stirring up trouble, or annoyed me so much!"
Su Wan glanced at him and smiled: "But from the first to the sixth, not one of them did you such credit at the great Seven Peaks Trial, either!"
Tian Buhui choked for a moment, but would not concede. He rolled his eyes and said: "Hmph, and you call that credit? Struck by lightning till he looked like a scorched stone."
Su Wan could not help laughing. "Oh my! My dear Senior Brother Tian, I hear that three hundred years ago, when you yourself took part in the great Seven Peaks Martial Trial, you only made it into the top four!"
Having his old accounts dredged up by his wife, Tian Buhui looked somewhat embarrassed. He said: "That was only because... only because at the time my mind was elsewhere. The night before the trial I even ran off to find you, and we slipped out together to watch the stars and moon from the Rainbow Bridge on Jietian Peak, and stayed up the whole night without sleep. By the time the trial came, I had not a shred of spirit left—how could I have been a match for Senior Brother Wan?"
"Fie!" Su Wan spat at him, but a faint blush rose on her face, gentle and infinitely tender, as though she had returned to that night in their youth: "Senior Brother Wan was heaven-gifted, incomparably clever. Among all the disciples of our generation, apart from Senior Brother Daoyan, our sect leader, there was no second person who could match him in cultivation. What were you? Making it into the top four already had your master grinning from ear to ear—and you still dreamed of beating Senior Brother Wan?"
Tian Buhui gave a chuckle, his mood clearly improving. He said: "Senior Brother Wan was of course far above me. But back then you chose me over him—which shows there was still something in which I surpassed him."
Su Wan shot him a look and said: "I must have been possessed by ghosts and struck blind back then, to have followed you."
Tian Buhui was not angered by this; he only looked at his wife, chuckling, his eyes full of mirth. Suddenly he reached out and took Su Wan's soft, boneless hand.
Su Wan glared at him and said in a low voice: "At our age, what do you want with such mushiness? And in a little while Xiaofan will be here—what would it look like if he saw us!"
Tian Buhui only smiled and said nothing. Su Wan lowered her head slightly, but did not pull her hand back.
The night was like water, and there was no one abroad in the wild. A cool evening breeze stole past, stirring the tips and branches of the trees in the darkness.
Within the woods, all was very quiet.
After a long while, Su Wan suddenly said: "Actually, I think the way Xiaofan is now is very much like you were back then." With that, she raised her head and said to Tian Buhui: "Do you feel it yourself?"
Tian Buhui was taken aback and said: "You don't say?"
Su Wan smiled: "What kind of expression is that? In truth, you looked rather foolish back then too, and everyone thought you could not compare with those high-spirited senior and junior brothers. But in the end, among your Dazhu Peak lineage, it was you who achieved the most and reached the highest in cultivation, and later your master passed the seat of First Disciple to you."