Chapter 102: Midsummer

"That Saintess is a little girl? I presume that her cultivation realm isn't high, right?"

Chen Chao rode his horse and chatted idly with Song Lian.

Song Lian nodded and said, "She's only twelve years old; really just a little girl. This time, she's only participating in the literary exam at the Myriad Willow Convention."

Speaking up to here, Song Lian narrowed his eyes and said, "I heard that the young lady from the Xie Family is also only participating in the literary exam?"

Chen Chao nodded and said, "She has only recently started cultivating and her cultivation realm is too low, so she can only participate in the literary exam. But it seems this little girl isn't easy to deal with either, right?"

Song Lian said solemnly, "As one of the lineage daoist leader of the two branches of Daoism, although the Myriad Heaven Palace's influence in the daoism society is far from what it used to be now, how can its foundation be what ordinary sects can compete with?" "This little girl is the saintess too, she's naturally extraordinary. Tell your lover to be more careful."

Chen Chao mumbled in agreement, but did not say much. Soon, they arrived at the city gate, where the officials from the Ministry of Rites had been waiting for a long time.

Seeing that the Left Guard came late, that official from the Ministry of Rites with a goatee looked a little unhappy. But after seeing Song Lian sitting on his horse, he did not say anything either. The officials from the Left Guard were not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, they only took orders from the Warden. Even if he wanted to file a complaint and the Emperor was willing to handle it, the final destination could only be the Warde Office.

Thinking of this, the official from the Ministry of Rites dispelled this idea and just looked outside the city gate, waiting quietly for the guests they were going to welcome.

Chen Chao also looked outside the city gate, sizing up his surroundings while he was at it. Before they came, the Left Guard's constables had already surveyed this area several times and bystanders had been driven away long ago. Every important place here was guarded by the Left Guard's constables. Although no one would believe that there would be any accidents in the Divine Capital, they all knew the importance of being careful.

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There are many trees on both sides of the official road outside the Divine Capital. It was already midsummer and there were many cicadas on the trees.

To some people, the sound of cicadas signified summer and they enjoyed it. However, many people found it annoying. They might not dislike cicadas, but disliked summer.

The sound of cicadas continued buzzing and the sound of horse hooves got closer from afar.

When the horse carriage approached, it was plain and unremarkable at a glance. There was nothing special about it and the horses seemed ordinary too; not some divine steeds. The colors were quite mixed.

The coachman driving the carriage was dressed in a plain gray daoist robe, giving off a sage-like air

Suddenly, the curtains of the carriage were lifted by someone, revealing a small snow-white hand. The hand was very fair, with skin as smooth as cream. Just by looking at this hand, one could tell that its owner must be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Sure enough, when the curtains were lifted, the face that appeared was extremely beautiful. Although there was still some youthfulness on her face because she was still young, everyone could tell that this girl would definitely become very beautiful in a few years and would be one of the most beautiful women in the world.

The young girl looked at the scenery outside the window. Listening to the sound of cicadas, she smiled. It was just that this smile revealed two big dimples on her face, making her appear even cuter.

"The scenery of the Divine Capital is pretty good. It's just that compared to the mountains, it's still lacking."

Similarly a genius on the Latent Dragon List, Zhu Xia knew how strong He Yi was. He might not be one of the most outstanding young people in the foreign lands, but in the Great Liang Dynasty, he should have no opponents.

The old man grunted in agreement and picked up a small wooden box next to him. After flipping through it for a while, he handed the letter he had received earlier to Zhu Xia and said with a smile, "The Great Liang Dynasty has been dormant for many years. Now, it's time for some remarkable characters to emerge. That girl from the academy is one of them. This young man from the mountains is also one of them."

The old man looked at his disciple with affection and teased, "At your age, it's the easiest time to fall in love. Don't have too many thoughts about that young man because of this matter. Otherwise, it will be hard to extricate yourself once you fall in love."

Zhu Xia said unabashedly, "Master, I really want to know what kind of young man he is."

As she spoke, her eyes sparkled, and her dimples appeared and disappeared, making her look extremely cute.

The old man looked at her, seemingly seeing a more scorching sight than the summer outside the carriage.

He could not help but think of that meeting many years ago. He walked down that long street and countless people knelt down and prostrated piously. Only a little girl quietly watched him on the streetside.

It was also midsummer at that time and the sound of cicadas was probably even louder than it was now.

After coming back to his senses, the old man said, "Teacher also wants to see that old punk again."

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At the small pavilion in the middle of the lake, the dean kept throwing fish food into the water while watching the fish swimming in the lake. Suddenly, he let out a sigh.

Seeing his master in this rare state, Wei Xu asked rather curiously, "Is there something bothering you, Teacher?"

As the dean of the academy, he was the leader of scholars in the world. Logically speaking, he would naturally have many things to worry about. It would also be a very reasonable thing for these matters to have some bothersome aspects. However, Wei Xu knew his master's temperament well. While others might consider these things reasonable, his master would not necessarily care even if it happened ten thousand times to Teacher.

The dean sighed and said, "It's hard to explain everything in the world. I've been studying diligently in the academy for many years, writing books, and improving myself. I never went around and got involved in any disputes. But who could have thought that trouble would come knocking on my door?"

Hearing this, Wei Xu filtered out the earlier part of his words naturally. But when he thought about the recent events that happened in the Divine Capital, no matter how he pondered, he could not come up with an answer.

Feeling embarrassed, he said, "This disciple is ignorant and doesn't understand what Teacher means."

The dean replied emotionlessly, "You don't need to understand. Just know that from today on, I'll be in closed-seclusion until the end of the Myriad Willow Convention. I'll only come out after those cultivators have left the Divine Capital."

Wei Xu acknowledged it and watched as his teacher walked towards the lakeside. He could not help but wonder, his teacher seemed to be avoiding someone?

But the question was, who on earth would this academy dean, a Nepenthe cultivator, be afraid of?

Or perhaps, one could put it like this: what kind of shameful things did his teacher do, to be afraid of facing an old friend?