We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 513: You Know the Lord of the Four Seas, Do You Not?

"Three years today within this very courtyard, a face and peach blossoms mirror each other's red.""The face is gone, who knows where, yet the peach blossoms still smile at the spring wind."

In his room, Cun Caiguang, Dean of the Hanshan Academy, stroked his beard and recited, word by word, this poem that had recently spread widely throughout the Hanshan Academy.

The more he recited it, the more satisfaction the old Dean felt.

"Xichun, what do you make of this poem?"

Cun Caiguang turned his head and asked his student beside him.

"Unless one has lived through feeling and scene exactly like this, I could never have written such a poem myself." Xian Xichun smiled. His own student having produced verse this good was naturally a source of pride for any teacher.

"Ha ha ha, even if you had lived through feeling and scene exactly like this, you still could not have written it." Cun Caiguang waved a hand, laughing good-naturedly. "Your swordsmanship is passable enough, my boy, but you genuinely have no talent at all for poetry."

He carefully put the poem away, as though storing a rare and precious treasure.

"This poem, I must show it to a few colleagues and savor it properly. Best of all, I should send it to the Ten Thousand Laws Realm."

He paused, a glint of amusement in his eyes. "Those old fossils in the Ten Thousand Laws Realm always say that we demon students who study are nothing more than beasts dressed up in human clothing. I would very much like to see whether anyone among their younger generation can produce a poem like this."

"Ha ha ha." Xian Xichun smiled and replied without hurry. "Honestly, Dean, they are not entirely wrong. We are demons after all, beasts dressed in human clothing, in a sense."

"You!" Cun Caiguang snatched up his disciplinary ruler at this and made to strike Xian Xichun on the head.

Xian Xichun quickly moved to dodge, and just then, a voice as clear as a silver bell came from outside the courtyard. "Student Tushan Jingci requests an audience with the Dean."

"I will spare you this time, so you will not lose face in front of your own student." Cun Caiguang held the ruler suspended in midair, but in the end did not bring it down. He straightened his blue robe and walked out of the room with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Jingci is here." Cun Caiguang opened the bamboo gate with a smile, his tone warm and kindly.

"My respects to the Dean, my respects to Teacher Xian." Tushan Jingci gave a gracious bow.

Cun Caiguang gave a nod and led Tushan Jingci and Xiao Mo inside. "Come in and have a cup of tea first."

"Yes, Dean." Tushan Jingci walked into the courtyard with Xiao Mo.

"If I am not mistaken," Cun Caiguang said with a smile as he sat down, his gaze resting warmly on the two of them, "you have come today to say goodbye to us, have you not, Jingci?"

A small jolt of surprise ran through Tushan Jingci. "The Dean already knows?"

"Of course I know. Your mother has already told me everything." Cun Caiguang picked up the teapot, about to pour tea for them.

Tushan Jingci quickly rose and took the teapot first, pouring tea for the two teachers before serving Xiao Mo, and only then filling her own cup last.

Cun Caiguang accepted the cup, took a sip, and his smile carried a note of feeling. "From this point on, it seems we will no longer have someone as exceptional as you, Jingci, pouring tea for us old men. Still, perhaps it is for the best. Once you have all gone, this old man's heart will rest easier."

Tushan Jingci lowered her head, a barely perceptible heaviness in her tone. "Dean, is something going to happen to the Hanshan Academy?"

Though her mother had told her to return to Tushan to help protect the clan, Tushan Jingci could not shake the feeling that the matter was not quite so simple.

"Ha ha ha, what could possibly happen to our Hanshan Academy?"

Cun Caiguang stroked his beard and spoke with a light, certain ease.

"You know your Dean grandfather's strength well enough, do you not? I am very much a saint who holds this little world steady. Even your own grandfather would have to give me some respect if he came here."

He paused, his tone softening. "It is only that the Demon Realm is about to fall into great upheaval. It is not only you. Many other students will be leaving as well. This old man simply feels some reluctance to part with all of you."

"But Jingci," Cun Caiguang's gaze grew serious, and he offered his earnest counsel.

"Even after you leave the Hanshan Academy, you must continue to study diligently and write well. Learn for as long as you live, and never let your studies fall by the wayside. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Dean." Tushan Jingci gave a serious nod.

"Good. That settles it then."

Cun Caiguang waved a hand.

"Xichun, take Jingci and the others to the administrative hall to handle the formalities. And Jingci, the rest of you, do have a few more cups of wine with your teacher while you can. There may not be many more chances after this."

"Yes, Dean."

Everyone gave Cun Caiguang a respectful bow and turned to leave the courtyard.

And the moment Xiao Mo and the others had left the main peak of the Hanshan Academy, Cun Caiguang took out a fresh teacup, poured tea into it slowly, and said in an unhurried voice, "Old fellow, since you are here, there is no need to keep hiding. People might start thinking I am carrying on some secret affair with you."

"Bah, bah, bah. As if I would carry on any secret affair with an old fossil like you. Do not go ruining my good name."

As the words landed, an old man appeared out of thin air in the courtyard.

The old man limped his way over and sat down beside Cun Caiguang.

"You have an outstanding granddaughter." Cun Caiguang turned and looked at this old man, the most renowned figure in the entire Demon Realm, Gui Ning.

"Of course. She is my granddaughter, after all." The limping old man spoke with a note of pride.

"Tch, as if you had anything to do with teaching her." Cun Caiguang shot him a sidelong glance, then got straight to the point. "Tell me, why have you come to find me today?"

"What else could it be? I have come to urge you to leave, and quickly!" Gui Ning gathered his sleeves, his expression growing serious.

"You know perfectly well yourself, the Demon Realm now has four major factions. Three belong to the demons, and one to the humans. And your Hanshan Academy belongs to none of them, allied with no one."

"And beyond that, your academy has spent years drawing on the literary fortune of the Demon Realm to bestow upon those who come to study here. It has long since become a thorn in the side of countless people, a splinter under the skin."

"So you ought to leave, and quickly. Get as far away as you can!"

"Leave?" Cun Caiguang gave a smile, though it carried a note of bitterness. "And where would I go? You old fossil, tell me, is there any place left in the Demon Realm for people like us, the scholars?"

"Hey, old man, has all your reading made you simple?" Gui Ning shook his head helplessly. "The whole world is not limited to our Demon Realm alone."

"Oh? Where should I go then? The Ten Thousand Laws Realm?" Cun Caiguang found himself laughing despite himself.

"No!" Gui Ning gave a faint smile, a deep meaning flickering in his eyes. "To the Four Seas!"

"The Four Seas?" Cun Caiguang paused, clearly not having anticipated that answer.

"You know the Lord of the Four Seas, do you not?"

Gui Ning let out a breath, his gaze reaching somewhere far away.

"I have made a deal with that young woman. Thirty days from now, she will arrive."