劍問蒼天 - 第99章 故人情 - 清風書屋

To her surprise, Daoist Wild Wolf's face was now utterly wrong as well. Shock was written plain upon it, and his eyes were fixed straight ahead, filled with dread and fear.

Little Wan was startled again. She followed his line of sight, and saw that what Daoist Wild Wolf was staring at was, in fact, that same middle-aged man. Who on earth could he be, to frighten Daoist Wild Wolf so?

As she wondered, she could not help lowering her voice and asking Daoist Wild Wolf, "Daoist, who is that man? Do you know him?"

Daoist Wild Wolf gave a start, as though coming back to himself, but the fear on his face had not diminished. He glanced at little Wan beside him and stammered, "You don't know him?"

Little Wan nodded. "That's right. This is the first time I've ever seen him—though I think my grandfather seems to know him. Tell me, do you know him? Who is he?"

Daoist Wild Wolf's lips moved, as if he meant to say something, but for some reason he suddenly fell silent again, his eyes fixed straight ahead on the middle-aged man.

Little Wan frowned. She had a feeling that Daoist Wild Wolf's reaction was rather strange—there was fear in it, and now, it seemed, a measure of anger as well!

Zhou Yixuan and the middle-aged man stood side by side at the edge of the old road, gazing out over the wilderness.

A light breeze came, and the white hair at their temples seemed itself to speak of the years gone by and the vicissitudes of the mortal world.

"It's been many years since we last met, hasn't it?" the middle-aged man said quietly.

Zhou Yixuan gazed into the distance, his expression complex. Only after a long while did he say, "Several decades, I'd say."

The man smiled faintly. "Have you been well?"

Zhou Yixuan was silent a long time. "Wandering the ends of the earth, playing at large in the world—I can't say well, and I can't say ill."

The man seemed touched by this. He turned to look at Zhou Yixuan. "Do you still blame me in your heart?"

Zhou Yixuan gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. "You never wronged me. Why would I blame you?"

The man smiled. "In truth, there's nothing so bad about the way you live. An open heart, roaming free beneath heaven—looking back now, that's the life of an immortal. It does justice to the Xuan in your name."

Zhou Yixuan looked at him, then suddenly said, "If you wanted to live a life like mine, what would be so hard about it, old friend?"

The man was startled to hear Zhou Yixuan call him "old friend," but he quickly smiled and looked off into the distance. "I'm not like you," he said slowly.

Zhou Yixuan said evenly, "You are naturally not the same as I am. From the time you were a youth, you set great store by power, and by now, I expect you still cannot let it go."

The man's brows knitted. Deep in his eyes something like anger flickered and was gone—as though no one had ever dared speak to him in such a manner. But he turned and looked at Zhou Yixuan, and saw only a head of white hair and a face far more aged than his own, and suddenly a blankness came over him, and the anger vanished with it.

"How is it you look so old?"

Zhou Yixuan shook his head. "I am old—that is all. You, though, have achieved much in your cultivation; you should not..." Here his face showed some hesitation, but at last he said, "About your daughter—I have heard. You..."

The man's face darkened. Then slowly he shook his head, cutting Zhou Yixuan off, and said abruptly, "When we were young, you once stood at the foot of Huqi Mountain and cast the Heavenly Dipper Divine Reckoning to read my fate. Do you remember?"

Zhou Yixuan was taken aback.