Chapter 2:The young and old in the spring rain
Translated/Edited by: yuheng3107
I will be posting next week’s chapter in advance because I am going on a holiday. This will count as next week’s chapter.
Chapter 2
The spring rain was drizzling quietly as the carriage moved across the muddy road.
“Uncle Liu, does our Qin Yun Empire have flying swords and immortals?”
In the carriage, Lin Xi was holding his head and asking the white-haired old man who had temporarily went in the carriage to rest seriously.
Because the assassination did not happen and Lin Xi was polite throughout the journey, the old man’s attitude to him became more gentle, not having the ferocious aura of bloodshed.
However, the moment he heard Lin Xi say this, he inevitably became annoyed, and said “Lin Xi, don’t forget what your Father told you, after you go out of Deerwood village, stop spouting gibberish. In these ten or so days, you have asked me this about thirty times. If you were in the Imperial City in The Central Plains, you would have been sent to jail long ago.”
“Why will I get sent to jail for talking about this?” Lin Xi looked shocked outwardly, but he was laughing on the inside.
In the ten or so days interacting with Uncle Liu, he had already categorised him together with his parents in the world, looking stern on the outside but soft on the inside.
As long as one does not go beyond his bottom line, he would never reveal his dangerous side.
“I’m tired.” the old man’s face stiffened, dryly saying these two words, then he simply closed his eyes.
Lin Xi’s attitude made him helpless. Facing such a polite and weak child, he could not beat him up like he did to others when he was in the Frontier Army.
“Uncle Liu, since you promised my dad to take good care of me, you should not want me to get into trouble for muttering gibberish. And the journey is almost halfway there, although I’ve seen a lot of scenery, but I have no idea what Qingluan Academy is all about. You have to at least tell me something about it…” Although Lim Xi spoke softly, his voice still entered the ears of the old man, “And, it has been so many days, if you still don’t talk to me, I’ll be bored to death! Then even if I have no illness I’ll get one from suppression!”
Hearing the first half of Lin Xi’s sentence, the old man frowned, but after hearing the whole sentence, the cold intention in his heart slowly disappeared.
Truly, this was only a weak youth that had never been out of Deerwood Village, although he was weird, but he was not the elite of the Frontier Army that could endure not talking for ten days while executing dangerous missions that he was used to.
In actual fact, even in the Frontier Army, the harshest punishment was not the physical ones, but staying in the Black House for up to a month. And the size of the black house was about the size of this carriage.
Thinking about this, the old man’s heart which had been hardened by the countless life and death battles on the frontier inevitably softened.
He suddenly thought, the performance of this youth in the past few days had far exceeded his expectations, albeit him being weird. Even if they missed the chance to put up comfortably for the night, even if they had to sleep on the grass, this young man who enjoyed a rich and comfortable lifestyle did not have any complaints. Even if they had to drink tasteless water and hard biscuits, he was always full of excitement.
“Can it be that that noble person saw his potential in such a short time, thus recommending him to join the Qingluan Concours?” As if he had a sudden epiphany, the old man’s body trembled slightly, shaking off r
ainwater that had collected on the carriage.
The atmosphere in the carriage suddenly became serene.
The white-haired old man who had wrinkles like knife scars stared unflinchingly at the youth at his opposite.
His eyes were clear and bright, full of curiosity and hope.
Two grey horses walked slowly on the muddy road. Beside the road was a large patch of bamboo forest. The spring rain landed with rustling sounds, causing bamboo shoots to rush out of the mud, looking full of vitality like Lin Xi.
“Why do you speak so much gibberish?” The old man calmed his emotions, stretched his legs and found a comfortable sitting position.
Lin Xi looked at this old man who had evidently softened, feeling excited inside. This world was completely new and fresh to him, he was like a traveler, being curious to everything.
“I’m not actually speaking gibberish.” He looked at this old man who evidently had some stories of his own and smiled, saying: “I’ve read a lot of interesting books. In those stories, powerful figures could fly on flying swords, severing their opponent’s head while a thousand Li away from them. In fact, they could also fly in the sky and tunnel the ground, moving mountains and filling seas. And although I’ve never been out of Deerwood Village, and Deerwood Village does not have many people with profound knowledge, but we young and old duo are going to travel across half of the whole Yun Qin Empire, and we will definitely encounter danger along the way. Earlier I heard from my father that a merchant group got robbed by desolate bandits. Since you dare to go travelling with me alone, and based on the fact that I don’t see any apprehension or worry from your face, and the fact that you seem to be familiar with the route, I am sure that you are one of those experts, that’s why I was asking these kind of questions.”
The old man was shocked.
A few ridiculous words, became such clear principles in Lin Xi’s mouth, relating back to the topic.
“You are extremely clever.” the old man looked at Lin Xi with a new perspective, shaking his head, “You have just read too much of weird fantasy books written by psychopaths.”
“Uncle Liu is saying that there are no people who can use flying swords, have astonishing spells and can move mountains and fill seas?”
“Flying swords and flying in the sky is humanly capable, but it is impossible to move mountains and fill seas like written in those weird fantasy books. Think about it, if they were so powerful, doesn’t it mean they can kill a powerful official at their whim?”
“They exist?” Lin Xi was dumbfounded for a moment, so shocked that his mouth was wide agape,”Then how far can flying swords travel? How many people in our Yun Qin Empire can do this?”
“The weak ones stop at a hundred steps, the strong ones can kill within a thousand. I don’t know how many people can do this in our Yun Qin Empire, but I know that they are few and far between.” The old man pondered, “I myself have only seen three of these experts.”
“A thousand steps, that’s very strong.” Lin Xi muttered to himself. Even if it was only a hundred steps, with the existence of flying swords, he had to reevaluate his view of this world.
“Uncle Liu, then how about you? Can you use flying swords?” after talking to himself, Lin Xi looked up at the old man and asked seriously.
“Obviously I can’t, if not I would not be driving a carriage here.” The old man answered him seriously. Soon after both young and old felt that this conversation was silly, and could not help but laugh.
“Then what kind of place is Qingluan Academy?” The sound of laughter stopped as Lin Xi asked the old man.
“To put it simply, it is a place that teaches those experts that use flying swords, a place where important people come out of.” Hearing about Qingluan Academy, the old man had a solemn expression of respect. “At least half of the current important figures of our Yun Qin Empire come from Qingluan Academy.”
Lin Xi mouth was wide agape, he could not say anything for a while because he was shocked.
Although before, the old man said that as long as he could enter Qingluan Academy, he could get an official’s position, and that position would definitely not be low, but he never expected that Qingluan Academy would be such a place. This world became more and more interesting to him.
Lin Xi froze for a moment, taking in a deep breath, then looking at the old man for advice “Uncle Liu, could you talk more about the details?”
“Other than the people who came out of Qingluan Academy, most people don’t have much understanding of the inner workings of Qingluan Academy. To be honest, Qingluan Academy is not something a lowly person like me can talk about. Only those important figures who come out of Qingluan Academy understand it, the rest of the people do not have much understanding, so don’t tell anyone what I told you about Qingluan Academy, or it would bring about big trouble for the both of us.” The old man looked at Lin Xi for a second, his face looking solemn.
“Understood.” Lin Xi nodded his head in confirmation.
“Qingluan Academy has not shown itself to be dominant in the Empire’s three big academies, but it is the academy with the longest history of all.
If not for the appearance of Director Zhang fifty years ago, our Yun Qin Empire would not have such a large territory today.” The old man pondered for a bit, his eyes gleaming.
Although he knew that talking about this was very risky, but Lin Xi’s performance still made him talk about it.
“The three big academies?”
“They include One Immortal Academy and the Lightning Academy.” The old man nodded, “I just said, half of the important figures come from Qingluan Academy, and the other half… come from these two academies.”
Lin Xi asked: “What are the differences between these academies?”
The old man looked at Lin Xi, “Other than the people who come from these academies, most people don’t understand much about them, because the moment these students graduate, they are at least the mayor of a town. And most of them will rise steadily through the ranks, they are not someone a tiny figure like me can understand. But don’t worry, if you really make it into Qingluan Academy, you will have a complete understanding.”
“After graduating, they are immediately equal to a mayor?” this thought appeared in Lin Xi’s brain.
To him, a Lord and a Mayor are only addressed differently, they do not have much difference.
“Since the three academies are so powerful, then why will they let me participate in their selections? Uncle Liu, do you know who let me participate?” Lin Xi’s eyes flashed as he asked the old man.
“I knew you were going to ask me this question, maybe you will annoy me later but I have to honestly tell you I do not know the answer to this question, because most people do not even have the qualifications to attend the test to become a member of the three big academies. I’m also curious as to the noble person who has the ability to let you attend the entrance test of Qingluan Academy. The person must definitely have a high status, so…”
“So we better stop guessing and caring about this matter. If we do not know the thoughts of that noble person and accidentally make that person unhappy, we might get into deep shit.” the old man had not finished speaking when Lin Xi laughed and stuck out his tongue and continued speaking.
The old man paused for a while, but he did not smile, nodded “As long as you understand.”
There was silence in the carriage, only the sound of the spring rain landing on the carriage could be heard.
“Uncle Liu…” suddenly, Lin Xi shouted at the old man.
“What?” The old man stares weirdly at Lin Xi, only to find Lin Xi in deep thought, “Uncle Liu, now I am slightly interested in this Qingluan Academy.”