劍問蒼天 - 第139章 偶遇 - 清風書屋

Zhou Yixuan snapped, "Sit longer? This immortal sat here a short while and landed himself in a heap of trouble. Sit any longer and the trouble will be the death of me!"

Boss He suppressed a smile. "Thank you, sir. Four qian of silver."

Zhou Yixuan grumbled as he dug the silver from his robes, when suddenly Xiao Hui darted over, swung the great wineskin from his back around to the front, and began waving it frantically at Boss He, chirping without pause.

Zhou Yixuan, Xiao Wan, and the others were all puzzled, unable to guess what trick the monkey was up to. Boss He, however, had spent three days with the creature and knew him somewhat. He frowned in brief thought, then suddenly said, "Do you want me to fill this wineskin?"

Xiao Hui was overjoyed, nodding desperately and grinning from ear to ear.

Zhou Yixuan and the others were dumbfounded. After a moment Xiao Wan cleared her throat and said with a dry laugh, "Shopkeeper, just help him fill it—fill it with a little wine."

Boss He was delighted, answered at once, and went off to fetch the wine.

The wineskin was indeed enormous; as the wine poured in, it slowly swelled, but after Boss He had emptied two full jars into it, it was still not full. Xiao Hui was beaming beside him, while Zhou Yixuan could bear it no longer. Forgetting all about his immortal dignity, he leapt up in fury. "Enough, enough..."

"Whoosh!" A dark shape flew at his face. Zhou Yixuan, wiser now, dodged at the sound—and sure enough, it was Xiao Hui flinging a dish straight at him, which struck the ground with a "crack" and shattered.

Zhou Yixuan was about to say more when "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh"—dish after dish came flying from the table. He ducked and dodged, too busy to speak, while Boss He, hearing each plate shatter with a crisp crash, was beside himself with distress. Seeing there was in fact little wine left, he hurriedly said, "Never mind, never mind! The last bit of wine is on the house, on the house! Lord Monkey, please stop throwing the plates. And you, sir—er, this immortal—just pay for the two jars of wine."

Only then did Xiao Hui stop. Zhou Yixuan came to a halt, gasping for breath and cursing under it, but he dared not go near that foul-tempered three-eyed monkey again.

Xiao Wan smiled, turned her gaze back from them, and returned her attention to Ming Li—never noticing that the Wild Wolf Daoist, who had been silent so long beside her, was now also staring at Ming Li sidelong, a strange light gradually kindling in his eyes.

Mount Canglan, Jietian Peak.

Below the stone steps before the great hall of Yuheng Palace, in the deep, cold jade-green pool, the water qilin, guardian spirit beast of the Canglan Sect, rolled over lazily in the water. The ripples churned and were pressed outward in all directions by its vast body, raising wave upon wave—a truly magnificent sight.

Li Xun, the special envoy disciple of Fenxia Valley, studied the pool from the stone steps a while, then turned with a smile. "I had long heard that the Canglan Sect's guardian beast, the water qilin, is a spirit beast of a thousand years. Seeing it today, it is indeed extraordinary."

"Brother Li flatters me." A clear laugh came from Xiao Yichen, the most renowned disciple of the Jietian Peak main lineage of the Canglan Sect, who stood attending Li Xun. He too glanced at the qilin a few times and smiled. "As it happens, the venerable beast was subdued by our sect's founder, Patriarch Qingye, in his day. When I think on the bearing of the founder, I cannot help but feel boundless admiration, we younger disciples most of all."

Li Xun nodded and smiled. He came of a famous orthodox sect and held his head high, yet for that Patriarch Qingye of astonishing talent and brilliance, he felt the same deep admiration.

Xiao Yichen gestured toward the summit. "After you, Brother Li."

Li Xun demurred a moment, then the two set off together.