Volume 6: Summer Chapter 74: Extra: Strong Wind
Thirty years ago.
On the mountain.
Zhuang Zekun climbed to the top of the mountain against the wind.
There is a small pavilion on the top of the mountain. Inside the pavilion, a man in a dark blue jacket is drinking alone.
His name is Guan Kang.
Zhuang Zekun walked into the pavilion and said, "We are so busy, but you are hiding here alone."
Guan Kang smiled, a few wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes, and he asked: "Is it over there?"
Zhuang Zekun sat down opposite Guan Kang and said, "It's almost done."
Guan Kang poured a glass of wine for Zhuang Zekun, "The wine on this mountain is pretty good."
Zhuang Zekun drank the wine in one gulp. He said, "Only the wine is drinkable. What have we eaten in the past half month? Yesterday, Erxu caught a rabbit. We excitedly looked for firewood and borrowed seasonings. It smelled delicious when it was roasted. I wanted to save some for you, but when I took a bite, the taste was so disgusting. I have never eaten such disgusting meat. Erxu vomited directly. I finally know why the people on the mountain looked at us like that when I went to borrow seasonings. When the spiritual power fluctuations stabilize and we can go out, I must have a big meal," he looked at Guan Kang, "your sister will definitely prepare a table of dishes for you to go back, right?"
The mountain wind is whistling.
Guan Kang poured another glass of wine for Zhuang Zekun, "She must be waiting for us at the exit now."
"No?"
"She will keep calculating until she gets the answer," Guan Kang said with a smile, "She has been like this since she was a child. Once she makes up her mind, she will never give up."
Zhuang Zekun asked tentatively: "Her and Erxu, do you agree?"
Guan Kang looked outside the pavilion.
Several cranes flew through the misty mountains.
"It's good to hide here for a few days. When I get out..." Zhuang Zekun took a sip of wine, "The teacher has already made plans. He said that there should be an office in every province and even every city in the country. Tell me, who will go to every city for him? We just..."
He stopped suddenly and took a swig of his drink.
Guan Kang said: "If the people in the mountains are willing to come out, there will be people."
Zhuang Zekun lowered his head and said nothing.
"If you can use them, the Buddhist and Taoist sects, as well as the strange people among the people, will actively approach you."
"Stop talking!" Zhuang Zekun filled the glass with wine and drank it all in one gulp. "Don't talk about it today!"
Guan Kang took out three copper coins from his pocket and slowly placed them one by one on the stone table.
The coin spun rapidly.
"What are you calculating?" Zhuang Zekun asked.
Guan Kang looked at the copper coin and did not answer him.
Zhuang Zekun asked again: "Is this really the only solution to this problem?"
Guan Kang looked up at him and said, "What's the point of asking now?"
"I feel aggrieved. These people on the mountain have always been so high and mighty, looking down on us and our techniques. Now it has been proven that their high-end training methods are useless!" Zhuang Zekun stood up and punched the stone table. "How many of us died? No one will call me Junior Brother anymore. They are all dead. Sister Mu Di, Brother Cui, Brother Huang... all died. We won by losing lives one after another. We can't even tell others how won."
He gasped for breath, "How many of us are left outside? But the people on the mountain, they, they, the teacher asked them, smiled, begged them to cooperate, begged them to come down the mountain, but they did nothing!"
The three copper coins stopped spinning and fell onto the stone table.
Zhuang Zekun sat down dejectedly, poured another glass of wine and drank it with his head down.
"Is Sang Xu guarding that pile of things?" Guan Kang asked.
"Yes, I'll take over the shift tonight."
"I heard that Jia Hong wants to separate his department from the Academy of Sciences?"
"How did you know?" Zhuang Zekun looked up at Guan Kang.
"Wangshu said so."
"This kid," Zhuang Zekun paused, "Teacher Xie plans to set up the first pilot in Tangjiang. Once there are some results, I guess Teacher Jia will follow. I, there are only so few people left. It is impossible for Yanjing to not keep people, right?" He complained again, "Except for me, Erxu, Wangshu... the dozen of us are lucky and didn't die in the process. The others are all new students. I don't know when they will be trained."
“So you have to work with the mountain.”
"them……"
Guan Kang said: "I can't see that time anymore."
"What do you mean? Don't scare me?"
Guan Kang looked into Zhuang Zekun's eyes, his tone was calm, "This is the price I have to pay."
"What about Xiaotong?"
"I can still accompany her for a few more years. From now on," Guan Kang picked up the cup and took a sip, "I'll leave it to you and Sang Xu."
"Is there no other solution?"
Guan Kang smiled and said, "Feng Shui fortune tellers usually have five disadvantages and three shortcomings. I have a very good ending."
"But……"
"You'll have to work hard in the future."
"I will take good care of Xiaotong."
"There's more to it than that." Guan Kang looked at Zhuang Zekun steadily.
"I……"
"You don't know if there will be the same monsters, or even more powerful monsters, entering our world and wreaking havoc. You don't know if there will be so many people willing to sacrifice themselves just for a chance to win."
"You mean..."
"I hope Xiaotong can have a normal life, grow up normally, get married, have children, grow old normally, maybe happy, maybe unhappy, it's all fine. But she has a normal life, do you understand?"
“I, I…”
"You can't kick her out," Guan Kang finished the wine in his glass. "She has been like this since she was young. She will do what she decides to do. She always says that she is more talented than me and will definitely achieve more than me in the future."
Zhuang Zekun was silent.
After a long while, he asked, "Why is it Mu Di who died, and not me?"
Guan Kang said: "It is impossible that all the people in the mountains are obsessed with cultivation and don't care about worldly affairs."
"I, I saw the way they looked at us..."
"Zhuang Zekun, the opportunity for you to bow and smile at them was bought by your senior brothers and sisters and me at the cost of our lives. Don't our lives have as much self-respect as yours?"
"no……"
Guan Kang emphasized, "On the mountain, on the mountain, you have to gather all the strength together, let them enter the system designed by , and become your strength. Teacher Xie taught you, didn't he?"
Zhuang Zekun clenched his fist, then unclenched it several times before saying, "I'll go now..."
Guan Kang filled his and Zhuang Zekun's glasses with wine, "Now, finish this bottle of wine with me."
The mountain wind suddenly stopped.
"Even if I did it," the amber wine in the cup reflected Zhuang Zekun's eyes, "who will take the sword in the future?"
Guan Kang stared at the three copper coins on the table.
"In about ten years, the master of that sword will be born."
(Volume 6, End)
