Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 558 On Stage
Xu Chuo looked at him quietly.

Pei Ye pursed her lips.

“I don’t think it’s funny.”

"Oh."

Xu Chuo turned his head and looked at the lake: "Anyway, I think there are tens of millions of swordsmen in Shenjing now, but in fact, only you have the opportunity to do this."

"Ok?"

"Before you came, my choice was Yue Muzhou, but he died without caring about anything. Now you are the grandson who has to pay for your grandfather's debt."

“…This is too far behind.” Pei Ye was stunned. Even though the boy was always confident in his sword skills, he was not so arrogant. “Yang Zhenbing and Yan Feiqing are actually much better than me.”

"Oh? Are they not much different from Yue Muzhou?" Xu Chuo smiled.

"..."

Indeed, when the object of comparison is pulled to ten thousand, one, two or five make no difference.

"It actually has nothing to do with that, Pei Ye. The level of swordsmanship and what you cultivate... are not that important."

"Ok?"

"Who made you his only heir? Because this sharp spear is the only one in the world that can break this shield. If the person who can wield it like an arm dies, then the one who can barely pick it up must be the only choice." Xu Chuo looked at the lake, "In this matter, I think longan should replace lychee. Even if your flesh is still thin and astringent, the taste is similar."

"..."

"I know you have only learned a little sword, and your foundation is still far from that of your peers in the Sword Academy, but I really only trust you in this matter." Xu Chuo said slowly, "It is not a comparison of the level of swordsmanship - even Yue Muzhou himself has never stood above Haotian. It is an exploration of possibilities, and it is better to understand it as a fish surrounded by a coarse net."

"Try to see if a person can use the sharp fin of the 'sword' to break out of the fine net of heaven." Xu Chuo said, "It doesn't test your ability to control the sword, it tests your ability to hold the sword."

Pei Ye understood a little.

"It only has to do with two things: the closeness of the heart to the sword, and the upper limit of the sword itself. Those who can, can do it; those who can't, can't do it. This is true for mortals, and it is also true for Tianlou."

"..." Pei Ye nodded slowly, "In that case, the senior who ate noodles is also no good. He seems to be using a sword as well."

Xu Chuo nodded: "He just used a sword."

"Nor can Yan Feiqing."

"What he cultivates is the Way of Heaven."

"What about Miss Ming?" Pei Ye suddenly tilted his head curiously. "The sword that Miss Ming practices is completely different from that of Grandpa Yue. Could it be that she can't defeat this Haotian incarnation of 'Tianlin Yi'?"

He pondered for a while, looked at Xu Chuo and said firmly: "I don't believe it."

Xu Chuo looked at him expressionlessly.

Turning his head, he said, "Since Master Pei has such connections, you can invite Ming Qitian to come and give it a try. I can use her instead of you."

"..." Pei Ye didn't answer, but in his heart he thought that Miss Ming was very busy right now, so he should not disturb her. Besides, it would be too arrogant to say "use" and even "please" might not get her to nod...

"Master Xu, I didn't expect you to have such a deep understanding of swords and the way of heaven." He said with a smile on his face.

"Since it is a matter of fact, how can I not learn it? And if I don't know it, how can I judge whether others are right or wrong?"

Pei Ye clapped his hands in encouragement: "Master Xu has learned very well, he doesn't look like an amateur at all."

Xu Chuo asked the waiter to bring a bottle of sake, but did not share any with the young man. She just drank it slowly while gazing at the darkening night.

Pei Ye also calmed down. Although he did not have firm confidence in the upcoming sword test, it was not that he did not know what to do - he sat in Mr. Zhu's courtyard for a day and a night yesterday, and the feeling of being wrapped in heaven and earth seemed to penetrate into his limbs and bones, and surround his mind. In that environment, he could indeed feel very clearly the existence of the "sword" in the "heaven and earth", just like a sharp blade entangled in a complex net, but the connection between the "heart" and the "sword" was still obscured by the fog.

Or it could be said that the mind itself is still shrouded in fog.

He was actually still thinking about Mr. Zhu.

It was not just the sadness after spending twenty days together, but what shocked him the most was hearing from Fang Jidao that Mr. Zhu would not know the final outcome.

This wise man never taught the boy how to treat the so-called heavenly principles. Just as he said when they met, "I have no business preaching to you." But it was the silence from beginning to end that made the boy have a question lingering in his mind.

"What are you thinking about?" Xu Chuo suddenly asked.

"Some things about Shaolong."

"Shaolong? The Jade Sword Society?"

“…Not really.” The young man whispered. He looked up at the darkening sky and exhaled lightly.

In Shaolong, it was also the first time for him to go up on the high platform in front of so many people. However, what he thought of at that time was not the Jade Sword Society, but the old man who drank wine under the moon that night upstairs. He also looked at the sky quietly and said, "I want to... figure it out."

"I was thinking, what if Haotian is in control of everything?" Pei Ye leaned on the railing and whispered, "I will take up the sword and go on stage in ten days, but is it for winning or for finding the truth?"

In fact, it makes no difference. No matter what the purpose is, the boy needs to do his best on that day, but he does have this confusion at this time, which is more like asking himself - what is the desire in your heart?
Xu Chuo looked at him and said, "Are you curious about what the world looks like?"

"I... maybe, but..."

But it is not the extent of seeking the truth for the rest of one's life.

"So do you want the Five Surnames to restrain themselves and have a clean political system?"

"I'd love to, but..."

But as Mr. Zhu said by chance: "You seldom read history books, but in the past dynasties, the number of people who died in the turmoil caused by the struggles between scholars and parties was not less than that caused by the aristocratic families."

If we extend our vision to the past and present, if we can sort out the correct principles of nature, it will naturally benefit all generations. If we let our own inclinations lead us to miss out on things that will happen for generations to come...

Pei Ye sighed lightly, and Xu Chuo looked at him with his chin in his hand, smiling without saying a word.

Pei Ye turned his head and asked: "What are you looking at?"

"Look at the little kid, he's sad."

"…Whose child is this?" Pei Ye stared.

"Aren't you a child?" Xu Chuo laughed, "You read less, see less, and think more every day... things that teenagers usually like to do."

"..." Pei Ye was unable to refute for a moment. He turned his head away sullenly, not wanting to pay any attention to her.

"Because I was like this when I was a teenager, I would always think about things that had no answers." The woman sat down and leaned against the railing, poured him a glass of sake, and raised her hand to pass it to him, "A person will not see the world and himself clearly in his teens and twenties, so it's useless to think too much." Pei Ye was silent for a moment, and chuckled, "That's right, like Master Xu, who is over 30 years old, but still doesn't know what "Swallowing Iron Pills" is. It shows that there are still too many things in the world that I have not seen and experienced. I really don't need to worry about such things for the time being-"

"Who's over thirty?"

"..."

"..."

The woman looked at him expressionlessly with her clear eyes. Her hand holding the kettle stopped in mid-air, and there was some silence at the table.

"You just said it yourself..." Pei Ye pursed his lips, looked back at the lake, and then turned back, "Oh, if there is no, then there is no."

Xu Chuo finished pouring the wine and looked up at him again: "How can I look like I'm in my thirties?"

She did seem to care, Pei Ye thought with a disappointed heart.

"No, that's because even if Master Xu is over 30, you won't be able to tell." Pei Ye said slowly, "So, now there is no difference between being over 30... I mean."

"I am twenty-three this year." Xu Chuo said.

“……”She was indeed three or four years younger than he thought.

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"Then, for Master Xu, is this question also confusing?"

"No." Xu Chuo said simply.

"what?"

"If I can win, I will definitely choose to win. If I can't win, I will try every possible way to win." The elegant and calm woman's voice was as calm as ever. "Of course, what I want to do is more important than the so-called 'truth'."

"……But……"

"I'm used to everyone standing opposite me having their own reasons. I don't really listen, and most of the time I don't care." Xu Chuo tilted his head to look at him, "I think you should do the same."

"..."

"The outcome of this matter is very important to me." After a long silence, the night had fallen, the stars and the moon hung in the sky, the woman stretched her legs and said softly.

Pei Ye was silent for a moment: "Can I ask why?"

The woman had indeed never told him what she wanted. She had always said that they would kill King Yan together, and they had indeed been doing so for the past two months...but other than that, Pei Ye had no idea what her eyes were on most of the time.

Xu Chuo smiled and looked at him: "Of course."

"My situation is not very good, even though I always try my best to act omnipotent in front of you." The woman took a sip. "This is a counterattack that I have been planning and preparing for a long time, and I have staked a lot on it. If this succeeds, we can truly gain a foothold in Shenjing, and use it as a fulcrum to stretch our backs and spread our wings... to leap over the dragon gate."

Pei Ye listened quietly.

"If we fail, the situation will become very bad, or even hopeless... You know that Shenjing is the center of the world, where fish and dragons are lurking. If we fail here, it's hard to estimate how many mouths will bite us." Xu Chuo smiled softly, "I said the other day that you can make a living by performing arts after the failure, and that may not be entirely false."

"Thank you very much for saving my life until then." Pei Ye pursed his lips, "It turns out that the master has made the situation so steep."

"How can a dead man from Wuyang achieve success!" Xu Chuo smiled, waved his sleeves and drank the cup, showing the demeanor of an ancient gentleman.

She put down her wine glass, her expression calm, "Because behind this matter, there is some deep and huge struggle... It's about succession."

Pei Ye listened quietly.

"I still say that if you see more, you will know that the thousands of waves in Shenjing are actually very simple. They are just the same few things. The scholars and the Five Surnames have a struggle for political power, the new army and the old army have a conflict over military power and treatment, and the new and old families have countless disputes. But every group with its own purpose ultimately relies on one thing to achieve it." Xu Chuo looked at him, "Imperial power."

"..."

"The Qilin of the Tang Dynasty was established, and only the Li family was born. Although each of the five families has a portion of Qilin blood, it does not increase or decrease, nor does it merge with the bloodline, and they do not have the qualifications to listen to the will of heaven. Only the Li family has Qilin blood passed down with the bloodline, which is why the Li Tang Dynasty is immortal." Xu Chuo said, "But brothers and sisters also have different talents, and the Qilin blood of the descendants of saints is also strong or weak. The stronger the Qilin blood, the more it can understand the will of heaven passed down by the Qilin. Therefore, the selection of the successor is not based on age, but on another standard - only those who can pass on the Qilin edict are qualified to be the crown prince."

“Well, is that a high standard?”

"Not very low. The children of the Tang emperor will go through many positive and side tests of Kirin blood as they grow up, but the most important one is the Kirin blood test next spring." Xu Chuo said slowly, "The Kirin will personally look down and select the next bond holder who is close to it. It can be seen with almost no error which one has the strongest and closest bond with the Kirin."

"So this person is the prince?"

"There are many other considerations, but if we win this time, we will have at least a 60% chance of winning. If we win more, there will be no doubt about it... But for the time being, matters of justice have little to do with this. We raised the scholar class and pushed Yuanzhao to the position of prime minister in order to gain support in the court." Xu Chuo looked up at the sky and said slowly, "Now that Li Zhi is supported by the five surnames, it is almost destined by heaven. I need to make some changes in the succession, and this is the reason for everything."

...Of course, that's a cruel reason.

Pei Ye nodded slowly: "Then which prince do you want...hmm?"

In fact, Pei Ye had never thought about or prepared to participate in such a thing, but he had read many storybooks, and the people in the stories seemed to suddenly become hoarse when talking about such things, so he tilted his head and whispered in Xu Chuo's ear.

For fear of making himself too clear, he left a word vague on purpose and pointed upwards with his hand.

Xu Chuo once again felt that he was really like a child sometimes. She pursed her lips to hold back her smile, tilted her head, and whispered, "Ninth Prince."

"Ah?!" It was so loud that almost everyone on the Luhua stage next to them looked over.

Pei Ye looked at her in shock.

"Why...why is it him?!" Pei Ye almost jumped up.

Xu Chuo was so happy that he quickly put his fan to his mouth and begged for mercy: "Keep your voice down, I'm just teasing you."

"..."

"So who do you think is better?"

"I don't recognize many of them." Pei Ye thought her "teasing" was inexplicable and rolled his eyes slightly, but the next moment he frowned a little, "However, if the fourth prince is really as he said, wouldn't it be good for him to be the emperor? He knows everything and puts the Tang Dynasty first... Hmm."

Xu Chuo put the fan over his mouth again and said seriously, "Don't think too much, kid."

"..."

"I won't tell you yet. You have to win this battle first." The woman put away the fan and shook her head. She drank the last cup and the pot of sake was almost empty. Her cheeks looked just like she did that night on the small balcony.

Pei Ye always felt that she was much more lively at this time, not like usual, but there was no pitching pot tonight. Xu Chuo stood up and stretched: "Okay, I'm going back to sleep, see you later."

"...Aren't we living together?"

"No, you have to go to Tianliyuan to study hard."

(End of this chapter)