This final spring rain was not heavy. The falling raindropsnded on theke, setting off waves of ripples. After spreading out in waves, they fused together and one could no longer tell which was rainwater and which waske water.


    The girl holding the oiled paper umbre stood on that trail. Actually, that was a wooden bridge that was not too spacious.


    When one watched this rainy scene while standing on the wooden bridge, it was actually extremely beautiful. However, the young girl''s mind was not on this.


    Many things were narrated in these few days of letter exchange. But, from start to end, there were some things that the youth who had not arrived in the Divine Capital refused to say clearly. The young girl also knew that it was definitely a painful topic, so she did not persist either.


    But missing out on key information made it difficult for her to do what she wanted to do.


    The young girl also could not help but sigh as she looked at theke.


    Actually, even if she knew everything, she felt that it would be very hard for her to have a method to resolve this problem too. After all, the matter of killing several cultivators without authorization had been blown up now. Even if the imperial court had the intention to suppress it, they could not suppress it now too. If there was no suitable reason, then it may be presumed that the foreignnd cultivators would not be willing to drop the matter. This problem was still at its most difficult step. How to resolve it had always been difficult.


    It was just that, would there really be such a thing as a reason for murder that no one could find any problems with?


    The young girl fell into thought again and could not help walking towards the heart of theke. She waspletely unaware and just walked along with her thoughts.


    When the schr at thekefront saw this scene, he frowned and was somewhat unhappy. Since the girl said before that she was not going to the heart of theke, why was she heading there now?


    Thinking of his teacher in the heart of theke, he wanted to move to stop the girl. But after thinking for a moment, he let it go.


    ……


    ……


    There was a wooden table in the pavilion at the heart of theke. There was a chessboard on the table with ck and white pieces mingled on top of it. There was a small stove by the side, a small iron pot was ced on the stove and white vapor filled the mouth of the pot.


    There were two people who were currently seated facing each other and talking.


    One of them was casually wearing gray long robes, his head of ck hair just casually scattered behind him like that. His face was fair without any beard and he was handsome. He just looked middle-aged, but there was some archaess in his eyes. But seated opposite him was an old man dressed as a scribe. His hair and beard had long already turned white, his face full of wrinkles.


    The old man picked up a ck piece and pondered for a moment before slowly cing it on the chessboard. Then, he reached his hand out and picked up the teacup by the side, casting a rather provocative nce at that middle-aged man sitting opposite. Only then, did he saycently, "Your defeat is set in stone. You''ll definitely be losing to me in this game."


    The middle-aged man nced at the chessboard and did not care at all. He just nced outside the pavilion absentmindedly.


    The old man was a little angry as he said, "Can you be more serious when you''re ying with this old man? Even if this old man wins you like this, how can I go out and boast?"


    The middle-aged man smiled and said, "You old fogey, who knows how much of my reputation you''ve damaged on a daily basis. Now, you''re fussing over this?"


    The old man gave a coldugh, "Does your reputation still need this old man to damage? All the bits and pieces can be investigated."


    Having been friends with the old man in front of him for many years, he knew that he was like this whenever he met him on normal days. The middle-aged man did not mind it and just smiled. Then he casually grabbed the fish food from the box next to him and threw it out of the pavilion. After that, he dusted his hands, a little mncholic.


    As the middle-aged man''s close friend for many years, the moment the old man saw him like this, he naturally knew what he was thinking and said with a grin, "These children in the depths of autumn this year have still failed to enter your sights?"


    The middle-aged man said as a matter of course, "I''m not picking cabbages by the street side, how can it be so simple? I''ve hand-picked over these years before taking in 71 rascals. I have to put more effort into thisst one no matter what."


    The old man said in surprise, "Those guys have be rascals now?"


    The middle-aged man gave a coldugh.


    The old man stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Didn''t you take fancy on a girlie previously and let her enter the academy via special exemption?"


    "I merely nced at that girl from afar and felt that she was pretty, rejuvenating my eyes. Later, I learned that she''s from White Deer''s Xie n. Just nice, I owed White Deer''s Xie n a favor over a book a few years ago. So I exempted her from the tests and conveniently repaid this favor, lest they pester about it."


    The middle-aged man watched the swimming fish in theke outside that came for the fish food, feeling a little distressed.


    The old man said with vicissitudes of emotion, "Your casual action has affected god knows how many people in the imperial court and the public. If they knew that it was because of this lousy thing, they will probably feel heartache over the skygold currency that they spent."


    Back then, when Xie Nandu entered the academy after being exempted from the examinations, it already shocked both inside and outside of the Divine Capital. Many people even spected about the rtionship between the Xie Family and the academy dean. But in the end, did not expect that it was actually due to such a reason.


    The dean smiled slightly and said, "The world is always like this. It was originally a small thing, but they had to think so much."


    The old man asked again, "Then how do you view the other thing?"


    The dean had a nk look, "What thing?"


    The corners of the old man''s mouth twitched. Could there be someone else in this world who was better at ying dumb than this man in front of him?


    Maybe there was.


    But if this man in front of him made up his mind and started to y dumb, then no one could make him get serious.


    The old man still wanted to speak when he saw that there was a young girl who already slowly walked into the pavilion.


    The old man frowned. Looking at the girl holding the oiled paper umbre, he was just about to speak when the dean already waved his hand. He looked at this young girl who walked into the pavilion thoughtfully.


    The young girl arrived before the table. The raindrops on the oiled paper umbre dripped down the umbre surface and the dean raised his brows. After the raindrops fell, they originally should have fallen on the chessboard. But at this moment, it hovered in midair bizarrely and did not fall.


    The drizzling outside also suddenly stopped.


    The surface of theke instantly became tranquil.


    The old man opened his eyes wide in astonishment. He hadpletely never seen this kind of sight before.


    It was just that, thinking about how the man in front of him was the academy''s dean, a lot of doubts went away.


    Time slowly trickled by, but that young girl did note back to her senses the entire time. The dean was not in a rush either, he just waited like this.


    The old man did not dare to speak either, he just looked at that metal pot that was emitting white vapor.


    It was unknown how long had passed.


    The oiled paper umbre trembled slightly. The dean reached his hand out and those hovering raindrops alreadynded in his teacup.


    Xie Nandu returned to her senses and looked at the two people in front of her with some uncertainty.


    She put the umbre away very quickly.


    The old man saw that face clearly and instantly knew the girl''s identity.


    He wondered to himself why was it so fateful.


    "What are you thinking about?" The dean looked at the girl in front of him with a slight smile, his voice gentle. At this moment, he had quite the demeanor of a great schr.


    Xie Nandu bowed slightly and said softly, "I''ve disturbed Sir."


    She was not willing to talk about that matter and she also did not know the identity of the man in front of her.


    She turned around and was about to leave.


    The dean suddenly said, "I heard that many teachers in the academy want to be your teacher now, what do you think about it?"


    As the dean of this academy, if he wanted to know something, there was nothing that could be hidden from him.


    Xie Nandu did not speak. It was also unknown what she was thinking about.


    The dean already took the initiative to open his mouth and say, "I''ve taken in many disciples in this lifetime. Now that I''m already old, I want to ept a final one. You and I are fated..."


    "Many thanks for Sir''s kind intentions, it''s just that this junior has no such intentions..."


    Xie Nandu shook her head and was about to leave again.


    The dean raised his brows.


    That old man practically could not stifle hisughter anymore. His whole face was flushed and he was holding it in badly.


    If this current matter spread out, most likely, there would be another topic to jest about over a cup of tea or after a meal for the countless people on those major streets and small alleys.


    The dean nced at the old man.


    Only then, did the old man cough and said, "Do you know who this person is?"


    Xie Nandu shook her head, "I don''t know."


    A very honest answer.


    The old man said leisurely, "Since you entered the academy to study, if you want to acknowledge a teacher, this person in front of you is naturally the best..."


    The dean frowned and felt that this old man in front of him was beating around the bush too much. He said straightforwardly, "I''m this academy''s dean."


    Finished saying this, he waited for the girl in front of him to panic, and then kneel down excitedly to acknowledge him as her teacher. Thinking up to here, the dean already started to imagine the scene of how he would help her up and then say words of encouragement from the sages'' ssics.


    But after waiting for a moment, that girl did not do anything. She just looked at him.


    The dean was taken aback, he also did not expect that it would be such a scene.


    While the old man started to hold back hisughter again.


    "Sir, this joke isn''t funny."


    Xie Nandu turned around and was about to leave.


    It was just that when she turned around this time, that schr had already arrived outside the pavilion. Seeing his own teacher signaling, he hurriedly said with a smile, "Greetings, Junior Apprentice Sister."


    The schr smiled slightly and said, "The one in the pavilion is indeed my teacher and he''s also this academy''s dean."


    The schr was level-headed, his tone warm. When he spoke, it naturally became a spring wind, making it very hard for people to doubt him.


    Xie Nandu was stunned.


    While the dean picked up that cup of rainwater on the table and downed it in one shot. Finished drinking it, heughed loudly and said, "My wish is fulfilled today!"


    ……


    ……


    The bumping prison wagon made Chen Chao feel very bored. These few days, the only thing that he could do was to wait for that letter from the Divine Capital. He originally also wanted to write a letter to ask how his old friend, Mi Ke, was doing now. But thinking about how the skygold currency would not be a small sum, he gave up on it.


    Weng Quan was still as talkative as always. But no idea why, Chen Chao faintly felt that he was getting somewhat used to it. Then, thinking about how he might even develop a liking for that fellow, he wished to go to that Court of Judicial Review''s prison right away and stay there.


    The wooden bird still arrived very quickly. After he finished reading the letter, he immediately replied. Watching the wooden bird leave, he was somewhat absentminded.


    In the following days, such days were repeated like this.


    Waiting for the wooden bird toe, watching the wooden bird fly away.


    It suddenly began to drizzle.


    This bunch of martial artists had long tempered their physiques, why would they care about this? They just pushed on with their journey.


    Later on, there were increasingly more passes. They practically had to stop several times a day.


    Another few days passed, no more letters came.


    No idea how long had passed, the roads stopped being bumpy. Only after ncing at the ground, did he discover that the current road was a rarely-seen smooth. Chen Chao looked ahead and seemed to vaguely see a majestic and huge city.


    He perked up.


    Because that enormous city was the Divine Capital.