The Eternal Sanctum

Contrary to anyone’s expectations, it seemed that the old shopkeeper of Dong Lin City, Wang Qinian, was not present for small talk.

As the waiter’s lips persistently twitched upon the chilling silence emanating from the private room of the teahouse to encapsulate the hallway, the old man made his move.

A light cough, and a tap onto the wooden door with his aged palm.

The old man ignored the frightfulexpression plastered on the waiter’s countenance, striding into the elegantroom with an amiable smile. Seating himself on the across from An Fei, WangQinian closed his eyes to inhale a deep breath of air.

“Lingxue, are you not going to askwhy your Master is here?”

The elderly shopkeeper chuckled as he carefully examined the silent An Fei, his eyes probing beyond the veiled hat concealing her countenance and expressions.

Nonetheless, the old man could easily detect the unwelcoming aura rippling from the young girl’s body, prompting his smile to widen by a considerable margin.

After the span of a cup of tea’stime had passed, the delicate lips parted behind the white veiled hat, a faintvoice ringing forth.

“This junior was wondering, when didthe Esteemed Senior become my Master?”

“Oh, so Lingxue had beenwondering about that?” Wang Qinian lightly brushed against the table with hisfinger.

“As this old one has said before,the moment you stepped through those doors and into my restaurant, Lingxue, youhad become my, Wang Qinian’s, disciple!”

“And this junior has statedbefore that my family would not permit it so.”

The young girl’s reply was equally cold as was Wang Qinian’s jovial emotion, causing an unusual atmosphere to take place in the private room.

As An Fei sat in silence, the old shopkeeper reached out with his right hand to pick up the still-steaming teapot, bringing it close to his nose.

“Ah… the smell of spoiled tea?”

Wang Qinian chuckled as he pouredhimself a cup of the spoiled longjing tea, his wrinkled countenance not abatingin its joyful expression. Then, before the young girl’s bemus.e.m.e.nt, the old manraised the cup to his lips, downing the soured tea in a single, long draft.

Plink!

“For spoiled tea, it is best todrink in a single, sustained draft.”

Wang Qinian mused with a light twitch of his lips.

The elderly shopkeeper closed his eyes and folded his palms before his c.h.e.s.t on top of the table, his countenance gradually relinquishing its smile to reveal an impassive expression.

“Lingxue, your Master has just asingle question to ask of you.”

“…a question?” An Fei furrowedher brows as the seeds of confusion took root in her heart.

“What kind of question does theEsteemed Senior have for this junior?”

The young girl’s fingersunconsciously trailed over the sheathed taijijian’s handle, her sense ofwariness and danger arising to their peaks. Similarly, the pair of scarletirises narrowed, an imperceptible thread of light passing through.

Although the elderly shopkeeperappeared fragile and refined as though he were nothing but a retired scholar,An Fei was clearly aware of the powerful might concealed within the thin limbs.

“Ah…”

Pinching the edge of the porcelain cup and twirling it in an eloquent spiral over the wooden table, the old shopkeeper’s eyelids cracked open by a small increment.

“Lingxue, that sword of your israther interesting… just where did you obtain such a weapon?”

Taijijian?

The young girl paused as hersmall mouth lightly hung open in surprise. Her senses dulled for a briefmoment, before An Fei’s cranky mind flitted onto a rather striking thought.

How did this Wang Qinian know about the peculiarity of the taijijian sheathed on her waist?

Other than the exquisite build that was hardly eyecatching compared to the swords that the other members of Dong Lin City flaunted around, there was hardly any ties that the old man could catch upon… unless?

Something to do with the five – no, six – assassins and their assassination attempt on her directly following the gathering of young cultivators at the elderly shopkeeper’s restaurant? Indeed, there were a series of loud noises at the end of the incident, but…

But how did he even know!?

The young girl’s mind droveherself in endless circles as she ruminated over the cryptic sentence flungfrom the elderly man’s mouth. Nonetheless, what eventually departed from herlips was a light and detached voice, devoid of much emotional inflection.

The question was rather obvious in its attempt to probe the listener’s intentions, but Wang Qinian did not seem to mind.

Even more so, the old shopkeeper simply gulped down another mouthful of soured tea, before opening his mouth to speak.

“Yes, ah… your Master does knowquite a bit about that sword. Its previous owner, as well as its… maker.”

The young girl nearly toppled from her chair from the completely unexpected remark, not knowing whether she should cry or burst into laughter.

An Fei steeled her lips as she glanced upon the utterly reminiscent and melancholic countenance of Wang Qinian, uncertain as to how to reply to such a statement.

He knew the previous owner of the sword, as well as its maker?

Wasn’t that the same thing as telling her that he was aware of everything!?

Was this old man taking her around like a child, fumbling around with cryptic wordplay!?

“…then this junior wishes to beenlightened about what the Esteemed Senior has to say.”

To distract herself from spitting out any unnecessary statements, the young girl stared intently towards the pot of longjing tea, hoping to reverse its soured state by her gaze alone.

“Hm… so Lingxue is curious?” WangQinian dragged out an ‘oh’ of surprise.

“However… this is not the righttime for Lingxue to know, ah…”

…then why did you even say it!?

Breathe!

Deep breath in!

Deep breath out!

An Fei restrained herself from a rather embarrassing outburst as the verbal bombshell dropped and splintered over her head, raining chaos from above.

However much she attempted to exercise self-control over her emotions, the young girl was acutely aware that her body had slightly deflated from the abrupt withdrawal wielded by the elderly shopkeeper.

“…then when will the EsteemedSenior enlighten this junior?”

“When Lingxue formally acceptsyour Master as your Master!”

Wang Qinian indeed did not planto show mercy; the old man pressed onto his advantage as much as possible, hiswords raining hammers onto the young girl’s self-esteem and control.

“Come, come, we even have a potof tea here, and there isn’t anyone to watch! Therefore, Lingxue doesn’t haveto feel shy like last time!”

The words boxed onto An Fei’s ears with the force of a battering ram, prompting her rebuttal to short-circuit and vanish into mere wisps of smoke.

The young girl clasped her cupped hands around her ears, but the shopkeeper still was not finished.

“If Lingxue doesn’t like souredtea, then that’s fine! Waiter! Come, get us a new bowl of longjing tea, freshlymade with clear steam!”

Pu!

The young girl gave in and allowed her body to pitch forwards and sprawl onto the wooden table, the top of her head releasing wafts of steam from exasperation.

When the waiter dutifully executed his imparted task and entered the private room with a fresh teapot of longjing tea on a smooth tray, he encountered a delicate young woman covered in a veiled hat and a purple hanfu sprawled over onto the table with a desolate aura seeping from her body.

Though her countenance was neatly concealed by the veil, it wasn’t hard to imagine the terror-stricken expression underneath.

Seated across from her was anelderly man who was stroking his beard with his hand, an amused expressiondecorating his wizened countenance. As he entered, the waiter noticed theelderly shopkeeper responding with a polite nod.

Eh… the beauty seemed to be glaring at him with her hands resting against the sharp blade at her waist?

The waiter gulped as he recalled an important task that was privately imparted upon his small shoulders by the owner of the teahouse.

With cold sweat pouring down from his forehead, the pitiful man fled from the room with a short bow.

Wang Qinian prodded the freshteapot of longjing tea towards the young girl’s defeated appearance, a cheerfulcountenance erasing the vicissitudes of time.

“Lingxue, Lingxue, have you everheard of the Hundred Clan Coalition?”