In order to better foster relationships among his disciples and to prepare for the sect's grand assembly two years later, Xiao Yuhan specially arranged for his disciples to train together.
But Li Qianyun and Liu Bishui were not idle at all. Perhaps due to the original setting, they instinctively wanted to bully Bai Yao. But how could they bully Bai Yao now? With Murong Zhi's help, the two of them were evenly matched.
When a person is no longer afraid, their temperament will naturally change. Bai Yao has become much more cheerful and confident. At least from this period of time, she is no longer as cowardly as before. Xiao Yuhan would also encourage them to spar more often, thinking that this is how they can improve.
Days passed by, and half a month later...
As usual, Xiao Yuhan arrived at her senior brother Ye Qingyun's place at this time. Although Ye Qingyun acted much the same as usual after losing his arm, the observant Xiao Yuhan could always find this usually optimistic man sitting alone in the pavilion on the back mountain, lost in thought.
Although he acted like he didn't care, who wouldn't feel upset in this situation?
Fortunately, his fellow disciples often came to visit him, which kept him too busy to attend to anything else.
This afternoon, Xiao Yuhan prepared two jars of fine wine early to find her senior brother. During this time, her junior sister was in seclusion studying the Blood King Scripture, her senior brother Liu Jiantang went to Kunlun Tianshan to find materials for forging swords, and her third senior sister Shen Huairu also went down the mountain.
At this time, only the two of them in the Heavenly Sword Sect were relatively free.
In front of the pavilion on the back mountain, Xiao Yuhan placed her treasured wine, which she had kept for many years, in front of her senior brother. "Senior brother, why have you been looking so gloomy lately?"
"Me? Where do you see me looking worried?" Ye Qingyun opened the wine jar and sniffed it, somewhat surprised, wondering what happy thing his junior brother had encountered today that made him willing to take out such good wine.
"You're not even frowning yet? If this were before, you would have been beaming with joy at the sight of such fine wine!"
Ye Qingyun opened the wine jar, took two gulps of wine, and said, "Your Senior Sister Shen has been acting strangely lately, and I'm a little worried about her."
"Her? What is there to worry about, Senior Sister Shen?"
"Li Wenruo is back, from Xiliang."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuhan scratched his head, then his expression suddenly changed. He put down the wine jar and asked, "Li Wenruo? Isn't he already dead?"
Ye Qingyun frowned. "That's why I'm worried. A person who died many years ago has suddenly come back to life and appeared in Lingsu City. I don't know what's going on."
Xiao Yuhan stood there stunned. He was no stranger to Li Wenruo. In his early years, Li Wenruo had come to the Heavenly Sword Sect and studied under his master for many years, but he only learned Taoist knowledge and did not formally become a disciple.
Moreover, that person was not a cultivator at all. Even if that incident hadn't happened back then, he would be a nearly 100-year-old man by now.
"Back then, the entire Prime Minister's family was executed, and Li Wenruo's whereabouts were unknown. But later we heard that he fell off a cliff and died. How could an ordinary person without any cultivation survive?"
Ye Qingyun's expression changed upon hearing this. "So you're saying my guess was right? Either this person isn't Li Wenruo, or he's no longer human."
"Why worry, Senior Brother? With Senior Sister Shen's strength, what ordinary demons and monsters would dare to approach her?"
“But he is Li Wenruo…” Ye Qingyun drank his wine, his expression becoming dazed.
Xiao Yuhan only had one memory of Li Wenruo in her mind: a true scholar.
If a scholar who was never attached to worldly affairs were a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect, he would surely be the one with the most exquisite Taoist skills in thousands of years. It is a pity that he could not cultivate. This person was born into a prime minister's family and spent his days with poetry and books. His mind could not hold anything other than poetry and songs.
Yet this very scholar managed to disrupt the Daoist mind of Shen Huairu, who had been a nun since childhood.
In Xiao Yuhan's view, the relationship between the two was like that of friends, yet also like that of strangers. The original work mentioned Li Wenruo twice.
However, this character does not have any scenes in the plot.
The original text only states that many years later, on a snowy night, Shen Huairu looked at a painting left by Li Wenruo and had an epiphany, breaking through the realm and attaining enlightenment.
It was glossed over in just a couple of simple sentences, and didn't even leave an impression on the reader.
However, Li Wenruo's appearance at this moment left Xiao Yuhan confused about the situation. After all, in the original story, the plot jumped directly from when Bai Yao was twelve years old to when she was fourteen, and nothing major happened during that time.
At this point, Xiao Yuhan was also a little confused and asked, "What happened to Li Wenruo? Senior brother, do you mean his relationship with Senior Sister Shen?"
"It can be said that Li Wenruo was your senior sister Shen's mentor. Even today, his understanding of Taoist magic far surpasses ours. Although junior sister Shen did not have much contact with him at that time, the two of them became close friends who could talk about anything with just a few words, or like you and me, treating each other as best friends."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuhan was puzzled. Neither the original story nor his current memories mentioned the relationship between the two. How did they suddenly become close friends?
Could it be a romance? But Shen Huairu is focused on the Dao and doesn't have an official partner. However, Xiao Yuhan wasn't in the mood to care about other people's affairs at the moment, and said, "Senior brother, don't worry. With Senior Sister Shen's cultivation, ordinary people can't do anything to her."
Ye Qingyun shook his head. "It's not that I'm worried about anything, it's just that I feel strange and a little uneasy. Don't you feel the same way, Junior Brother Xiao?"
"How do I feel? I just feel like I've had too much alcohol and my head hurts!"
Ye Qingyun shook his head helplessly, then said, "By the way, this sect conference will no longer be an internal competition of my Heavenly Sword Sect. All the righteous sects in the world will come to participate. Are you aware of this news?"
"Huh? Isn't this a grand sect gathering? How could this happen? Could it be your idea, Senior Brother?"
"Because the Blood King Cave incident has caused quite a stir, and there has been unrest in various places recently, the major sects want to take advantage of this Heavenly Sword Sect gathering to form a Dao Alliance. Several sect leaders have already discussed this with me privately, hoping that we will step forward to take charge of the overall situation."
Xiao Yuhan scratched his head, increasingly puzzled. "What's going on? Unrest in various places? Could it be that the Demonic Sect has revived?"
"They're not from the Demonic Sect, but rather seem to be colluding with the Demon Race. That's why all the righteous sects in the world are uneasy and hope that our Heavenly Sword Sect can take the lead in investigating these matters. But now, someone who has been dead for many years has suddenly appeared. How can I feel at ease?"
Xiao Yuhan's doubts deepened, and he immediately asked the system, "What does 'Demon Race' mean? It's rarely mentioned in the original work."
"The system detected that this is a foreshadowing left by the original author. Although it is not mentioned much in the original plot, it does exist."
Upon thinking this, Xiao Yuhan's expression immediately changed, and she looked at Ye Qingyun and asked, "So, Senior Sister went down the mountain this time to see that so-called Li Wenruo?"
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