Book 13: Chapter 99
The Master wasn’t aware of Ye Yun’s presence on the slope that’d be hard for Ye Yun to climb with his handicapped legs because he was smart. He simply deduced Ye Yun would be there based on logical reasoning. By extension, he knew he would never locate any trace of Ye Yun if Ye Yun didn’t leave a trace for him to follow.
The Master sauntered over to the man he watched grow up. He had seen the many sides of Ye Yun, and he had also seen the young spirit that never left Ye Yun no matter which phase of life he was in. Perhaps that intense temperament and large variety of characters were the reasons Ye Yun could pass off as a man in his twenties, thirties or forties.
“Not as fast as you, though.” While The Master was a fan of watching clouds drift, too, he preferred to watch birds chase the clouds. “I caught wind late. By the time I made my way here, I was already a few days late. I presume this wasn’t unintentional? If it was premeditated, this old one’s pace would be too slow.” He looked over to Ye Yun and smiled. “You were even the one to send him back. No matter how you look at it, I was not as fast as you.”
“It was just a matter of coincidence,” Ye Yun replied in an indifferent tone. “There are very few spots in the capital that I don’t have a visual on. I came to check out Mount Qixia due to an anomaly I noticed and happened to come across him.”
The majority of the Nine Provinces was on Ye Yun’s radar, let alone just the capital. When it came to intelligence networks, not even The Master could compare to Emperor’s Entourage. An anomaly that could spur Ye Yun into action was no anomaly to be dismissed, and the two he just murdered in cold blood definitely had some connection.
“You coincidentally came across the kid?”
“You wouldn’t believe how coincidental it was. I saw him as soon as I arrived. I didn’t even recognise him at first. All I could tell was that he was a brat playing ‘training’ here.”
“Considering your description, the kid isn’t half bad, then?”
“You couldn’t be more wrong. The only positive is that his internal discipline training is passable.”
As somebody extremely skilled, with extremely-high standards and no desire to withhold his opinion, Ye Yun’s assessments of martial arts were respected. If he classified someone as “okay”, “passable” and the sort, then they should’ve celebrated since it was incredibly rare for him to give that much praise.
“Internal discipline training? He’s learning an internal discipline?”
“Big deal. Who can’t? I was going to erase all of his skills when I came across him suffering from qi deviation to save his life.”
“Why didn’t you save him, then? It would’ve been as easy as snapping your fingers for you.”
Ye Yun pulled a zany face. “I have to help someone just because it’s as easy as snapping my fingers? What sort of world are we in?”
The Master figured Ye Yun probably wasn’t that cold blooded and actually helped Su Xiao, except that he refused to break character. “Ok, moving on. What happened next?”
“What happened next? Next, I saw that move.”
All of a sudden, there was only the sound of the rustling leaves.
A while later, Ye Yun cast his gaze toward the azure dome and casually said, “After I saw the move, I knew who the kid was, so I had to save him. Since he’s acquainted with my daughter, I brought him back to my place. Then I came back here to wait it out for three days just in case somebody noticed. Since I had free time on my hands, I found a bandit hideout to tear apart. I knew about the two in hiding, but it was too much of a hassle to go after them, so I spent my time taking in the scenery. Your arrival was a sign that the secret was kept, so I just helped you kill the two while I was here.”
The Master strongly believed Ye Yun actually covered all possible trails. The Master found out about the incident from a source that provided him with steady updates, and then he deduced what happened from the intel he received. Given he could only achieve so much, it was incredibly improbable that people in the pugilistic world heard about it. Despite that, Ye Yun still personally went to Mount Qixia to check for witnesses.
The Master exhaled softly. “Were it not for your clean up, the kid would probably be dead already.”
Ye Yun chortled condescendingly. “Why do you keep probing around when you’re no longer part of Emperor’s Entourage? Regardless of how shiny you polish my shoes, I won’t permit your reinstatement.”
“Who wants to be reinstated?!”
“Glad to hear that.”
“What are you going to about Fiends’ Genesis?”
“It’s not like they’re the only tards who want to destroy the heavens, earth and air. You think they’re tougher than Ximen Chuideng?”
The Master sighed. “Yiren came to see me.”
“I know. I’d be surprised if she didn’t.”
“She pretty much has identified Jiang Chen, but she hasn’t given up. I don’t think she’s without a plan.”
“What are you on about?” Ye Yun looked serious for the first time in their conversation. “She’s Shen Wuzheng’s daughter.”
“Hah, I forgot about how you quit playing as soon as Shen Wuzheng is mentioned.”
“What exactly do you want from me?”
The Master always liked Ye Yun’s “normal” mode whenever Shen Wuzheng was mentioned, so he enjoyed a good chuckle before switching back to business mode. “I didn’t know there was a successor. I thought the successor was long dead.”
“Even I thought that.”
“Don’t you have any means of protecting him, then? You know how dangerous it is to leave him be.”
“Too late for that.” Ye Yun let out a rare bitter smile.
The Master titled his head.
“Someone is already protecting the kid. Do you know the reason he suffered qi deviation? Think about where, who, why and how he was training…”
“Yijin Jing?”
Ye Yun’s “there’s hope for you yet” expression verified The Master’s guess.
“What is the point of internal energy when he already has…”
“It is pointless, hahaha, but he still imparted it. He used the discipline to tell us nosy people, ‘It’s fine. Sit still,” so I’m obediently staying away.”
“How arrogant must one be to use the most treasured discipline among internal disciplines to tell people to back off?”
“If you were half as competent as him, you can be just as arrogant without giving people any right to complain.”
“Are you acknowledging you are inferior?”
“Hahahaha.”
“What are you laughing about?”
Ye Yun kept laughing for a while prior to replying, “Who compares man to god?”