128: Chapter 108: Monstrous Genius, Conquering the Sword Master!
128: Chapter 108: Monstrous Genius, Conquering the Sword Master!
Inside the cave, Sword Master Bi Xiao gave no response.
Suo Lun said again, “Sword Master, what if I must enter?”
A voice came from inside, “Suo Lun, is it?
Everything under heaven has its value.
If I were to let you in, what could you bring me?”
Suo Lun was taken aback.
This Sword Master sounded not like a peerless expert but more like a petty merchant,
The Sword Master said, “Think carefully before you answer.
What can you bring me?
Anything you currently have or can provide in the future will do.
If what you offer moves me, then I’ll let you in.
Of course, you only get one chance.”
Suo Lun immediately fell into deep thought.
What could he bring that would be of any value to the Sword Master?
Or rather, what did the Sword Master need?
He needed nothing; a person’s life pursuits are nothing more than fame, wealth, and emotions.
The Sword Master cared not for the position of Duke, scorned money, and was already renowned throughout the land.
Now, at the age of sixty or seventy, he had seen through everything and possessed everything.
What could the likes of Suo Lun bring him?
It seemed like nothing at all.
That’s why the Sword Master said, “Think before you answer.” What exactly did the Sword Master need?
Suo Lun closed his eyes and once again contemplated the Sword Master’s voice.
It was filled with desolation, depth, solemnity, and tedium.
Thus, Suo Lun said, “I have almost nothing at this moment, so the only thing I can possibly bring the Sword Master might just be a smile.”
“Your smile?” the Sword Master asked.
“I probably don’t need that.”
“No, your smile,” Suo Lun said.
“Sword Master, when was the last time you laughed?
you haven’t laughed since you lost your family’s lands.”
Suo Lun spoke of loss, not the legend that he voluntarily gave up his lands.
The Sword Master fell into silence.
Indeed, he hadn’t laughed for decades, even forgetting how to, as if his life had been an endless expanse of solitude and desolation.
“Very well, try then,” the Sword Master said.
“Making me laugh is a difficult task, even harder than killing me.
I’ve completely forgotten how.”
Indeed, making a grand master like the Sword Master laugh could be harder than killing him.
Suo Lun said, “I’ll tell you a joke.”
The Sword Master was speechless; his heart had long been as still as an ancient well, sunk into deathly quiet.
Even if he were to become the world’s number one by defeating King Dongli Jiang Shang at this moment, it might not make him laugh.
Yet Suo Lun intended to tell him a joke.
Suo Lun said, “One evening, Gui Qinshao was bathing and suddenly noticed a shadow outside her window.
Someone was peeping at her.
It looked like the shadow of her senior brother, Qingcheng Zi.
She got dressed, went to you crying and screaming, and called all the fellow disciples.
She complained to you that Qingcheng Zi had watched her bathe, but Qingcheng Zi denied it.
Gui Qinshao insisted she saw it was him.”
Inside the cave, there was no reaction.
Suo Lun continued, “So, senior brother Qingcheng Zi swore to the heavens, ‘If I spied on my junior sister Gui Qinshao bathing, then let the heavens strike me with thunder and may I die a terrible death.'”
Suo Lun paused briefly, then said, “Boom, boom, boom, several peals of thunder and lightning struck, and you, Sword Master, were killed by them.”
Still, there was no reaction inside.
A cold breeze blew past, and Suo Lun felt a chill.
After a good while, laughter emerged from the cave.
“Hahaha…” Sword Master Bi Xiao laughed loudly, “You scoundrel, making such a crude and base joke about me, aren’t you afraid I might strike you dead?
Gui Qinshao is your fiancée, and you joke about her , you truly are a mischievous and vile little devil.”
Then, the Sword Master said, “All right, come in.”
Suddenly, the powerful energy wall in front of him disappeared, and Suo Lun walked in.
Did Sword Master Bi Xiao really let him in because of Suo Lun’s vulgar joke?
Of course not; it was because Suo Lun, who was about to lose his lands, came to visit him, and they shared a sense of sympathy in their plight.
However, he couldn’t acknowledge that reason, after all, publicly, it was known that Bi Xiao, due to his immersion in the Sword Dao, had voluntarily given up hundreds of miles of his territory.
So, the Sword Master gave a random reason, which was also a test for Suo Lun.
He didn’t expect that Suo Lun’s answer would indeed be quite unique; the Sword Master truly didn’t need anything, was disheartened, and what was missing was indeed a smile.
Suo Lun’s joke was vulgar and made fun of the Sword Master himself, but…
it indeed succeeded in making him laugh.
Once inside, Suo Lun saw that Bi Xiao’s retreat cave was very small, only about ten square meters.
Aside from rocks, there was nothing else.
In the dim lighting, he caught sight of the legendary Sword Master Bi Xiao, the foremost sword wielder.
In Suo Lun’s imagination, because of his formidable martial arts, Sword Master Bi Xiao should appear with snowy hair but a youthful face, elegant bearing, and a divine-like presence.
Yet in reality, Sword Master Bi Xiao was simply an old man, his hair completely white, his face gaunt, and his body thin.
Although he was sixty-nine, he looked more like he was in his eighties.
As people age, especially when their faces thin, it completely obscures their features, making it hard to discern their attractiveness.
And Sword Master Bi Xiao, at this moment, was so gaunt that it was impossible to tell if he was handsome or plain.
“What’s wrong, I look nothing like what you imagined, and you’re disappointed, aren’t you?” Sword Master Bi Xiao said.
“Indeed,” replied Suo Lun.
“However, this further confirms my speculation.
No ruler under heaven would willingly give up their territory or ancestral legacy.”