Amidst the Marketplace, There Are Naturally Sages (Part 1)

The Divine Official had a large head and big ears, wearing a divine robe made of silk. When he spoke, his fingers were slightly curved, covering his nose, clearly unaccustomed to the stench of the sewer water in the alley.
Ye Su said: "Is approval needed to teach in Lin Kang City?"
The Divine Official said coldly: "If you want to teach these children labor, no one will pay attention to you, but I hear that at the end of each day's lesson, you lecture a passage from the Hao Tian Teachings?"
Ye Su said: "That is correct."
The Divine Official looked at him and sternly rebuked: "For one who is not a Divine Official to arbitrarily interpret the teachings is an unforgivable crime."
Ye Su thought for a moment, placed the bowl of rice in his hand on the windowsill, and said: "If you wish to accuse me, I shall follow you."
The Divine Official looked at his calm expression and felt utterly humiliated, for he wanted to see a remorseful wretch weeping bitterly. He was accustomed to finding pleasure in the role of a savior, so he felt very angry. He took a whip from a guard and lashed it across Ye Su's face.
No one dared to stop him, not even the children who held their bowls of rice and deeply revered their teacher; at this moment, they only dared to tremble and stand aside, for he was a Divine Official representing the will of Hao Tian.
Ning Que stood outside the crowd, watching this low-ranking Divine Official want to lecture Ye Su for such a reason, naturally feeling a bit amused, thinking to himself that this was truly courting death.
However, when the leather whip cut through the air, Ye Su still showed no reaction. He stood with his head bowed before the dilapidated house, as if waiting for the whip to leave a bloody mark on his face.
Only then did Ning Que remember that in the Qingxia Battle, Ye Su was defeated by Second Senior Disciple Brother's sword, his Snow Mountain Qi Sea destroyed. Now he was just an ordinary person, even a cripple, no longer the Dao Sect's prodigy of yesteryear who carried a wooden sword and walked proudly through the world.
Now, he had no way to avoid this whip, and naturally, he couldn't avoid the many whips that might follow. A generation's Dao Sect genius might quietly die at the hands of that mediocre man.
Ning Que was not prepared to act, because he had no reason to.
Although it was a bit regrettable for a figure like Ye Su to die in such a lowly manner, he didn't want to expose his whereabouts for the sake of the other party. And when he saw the blind man holding a sword in the crowd, he knew that such a regrettable event would likely not occur.
The leather whip in the foul air broke into pieces, falling into the sewer water in front of the dilapidated house. The Divine Official looked at the whip handle in his right hand with a bewildered expression, not knowing what had happened.
Then his five right fingers also broke off, the whip handle fell, blood flowed profusely, the bone cuts stark white, like five white-painted punctuation marks declaring his end.
The Divine Official's face was pale. He looked at his right hand, watched the blood flowing from it, trembling all over from the pain, but bit his lip tightly, refusing to cry out.
He was not a person with sincere devotion to the Dao and firm Dao Heart. The reason he could endure the pain of severed fingers was because, like Ning Que, he had seen the blind man holding a sword outside the crowd.
From the first glance at the blind man, the Divine Official knew why the whip had broken, why his fingers had detached from his body, and also knew that if he didn't want his head to fall off too, he absolutely had to endure.
The Xiling Divine Temple held an extremely revered status in any country outside the Tang Empire. Ordinary princes and nobles dared not offend even a low-ranking Divine Official. However, in this Southern Jin country, there was a place where the Xiling Divine Temple also had to maintain a respectful attitude, and low-ranking Divine Officials were no different from dogs or pigs in the eyes of those people.
That place was the Sword Pavilion.
The Divine Official dared not linger for another moment before the dilapidated house. He led his dozen guards, bowed his head, and walked out of the alley. As he passed the blind man holding a sword, he wished he could hide his head in his pants.
Legend had it that the Emperor of Southern Jin died by this blind man's sword. He didn't think his life and those of his guards combined could be as precious as His Majesty's life.
...
...
Liu Yi Qing walked to the dilapidated house and, as a junior, saluted Ye Su. He was now a Knowing Fate Realm expert. Ye Su was just an ordinary person whose Snow Mountain Qi Sea had been destroyed, yet his etiquette remained so respectful.
"My Master has invited you to enter the Pavilion for secluded cultivation again." Liu Yi Qing said gently: "You are a shining pearl, why should you be sullied? My Master believes that there are always ignorant and arrogant people in the world who want to do ridiculous things."
Ye Su looked at the blind swordsman before him and smiled faintly. This was the third time the Sword Pavilion had sent someone to invite him. He also knew what Liu Bai's message implied.
The Dao Sect and the Academy suffered mutual losses, and the situation had undergone subtle changes. Zhi Shou Temple, hidden for countless years, was no longer the inscrutable place that everyone revered and feared. Both in the cultivation world and within the Xiling Divine Temple, there were quite a few people who wanted to gain some kind of spiritual power or self-affirmation by killing or oppressing him.
He looked at Liu Yi Qing and said: "I am just an ordinary person. Those who still pay attention to me now cannot go too far. If that's the case, then there's no need to mind."
Liu Yi Qing said: "Sir, in this small alley, how can your safety be guaranteed?"
Ye Su said: "This alley is home to many ordinary people. I hope to live like them. If I cannot, then perhaps it is Hao Tian's will. Please thank your Master for his kind intentions on my behalf."
Liu Yi Qing knew he couldn't easily persuade him, and shook his head helplessly, thinking that even if his realm was completely destroyed, and his words were no longer as arrogant as before, Ye Su was still Ye Su in the end.
...
...
Liu Yi Qing left, using his sword as a cane, and the dilapidated house became quiet again. The children's eyes looking at Ye Su grew increasingly fervent. Having grown up in this alley accustomed to bloodshed, they could ignore the five fingers that fell into the sewer water, but they understood that their teacher was indeed no ordinary person.
"Poor children mature early," this saying indeed had its logic. Otherwise, how could Sang Sang have become the Sang Sang she was now? The children before the dilapidated house, with their street smarts, perceived Ye Su's extraordinariness. Instead of being frightened, they brought out the adorable innocence of commoners, clinging to him.
Ye Su paid no mind to the commotion around him. After the children finished eating, he took a small blackboard from the dilapidated house and began to teach them. The atmosphere in the courtyard immediately became much quieter.
Ning Que stood on the outer perimeter, listening to Ye Su's calm and gentle voice, watching him patiently explain problems to the children, and suddenly felt the shadow of Senior Disciple Brother on this person.
The content Ye Su taught surprised him a little; it had nothing to do with cultivation. Initially, he taught how to weave a type of hair ornament, then began to draw pictures, teaching the boys carpentry. It wasn't until the lesson was about to end that he lectured a simple passage of the teachings.
Ning Que was a bit puzzled.
Dusk gradually fell, and deep in the alley, parents' calls for their children echoed. Poor families usually ate only two meals a day, so dinner time was always a bit earlier. If hungry, they would go straight to bed and endure it.
Ye Su waved his hand, signaling the end of today's lesson, and tucked the small blackboard under his arm, entering the dilapidated house. The children respectfully bowed to the dilapidated house, then chattered and dispersed.
Ning Que walked to the dilapidated house, looked at the wooden door that couldn't even block the wind, and remained silent.
Logically speaking, he shouldn't have gone in. However, this re-entry into the mortal world was to seek karmic opportunities. Meeting Ye Su in this sewer-filled alley of Lin Kang City was a karmic opportunity. He was originally going to Xiling to face death; meeting him before death was an even greater karmic opportunity. Moreover, he believed that he could kill the other party at any time now.
He took two steps forward, raised his hand, and knocked on the door.
"Come in." Ye Su said from inside the dilapidated house.
Ning Que pushed the door open and entered, only to see that the dilapidated house was empty, with only a small bed and a water jar. The roof had many holes, and the setting sun shone through, making it quite bright.
Ye Su saw that it was him, a little surprised, and smiled: "Why are you here?"
Ning Que said: "Just wandering around, I didn't expect to meet you."
Ye Su invited him to sit on the bed, saying: "Such encounters have always happened spontaneously."
Ning Que said: "Who would have thought you would now be hiding in an alley, working as a teacher."
Ye Su scooped a bowl of water from the jar and offered it to him, saying: "After the Qingxia Battle, I first went to the Song Kingdom, then came here. I had stayed here for a while many years ago."
Ning Que took the bowl of water, thanked him, and asked: "The legend of that journey to explore the gate of life and death?"
Ye Su smiled and said: "This matter of life and death, as long as you go to see it, you cannot truly comprehend it. The arrogance of yesteryear, looking back now, is actually quite amusing."
Ning Que's current realm was not enough to fully understand this statement, but he vaguely felt that although Ye Su's realm had been completely destroyed, in some aspects, he seemed to have surpassed his former self.
Ye Su asked: "What brings you to Southern Jin?"
Ning Que said: "Just passing through, I'm preparing to visit the Xiling Divine Temple."
After the Qingxia Battle, Ye Su became a cripple, no longer a cultivator, and naturally didn't care about matters in the cultivation world. He didn't know that the Xiling Divine Temple was about to hold the Rite of Light, and he wasn't very concerned about it.
Ning Que thought of the scene of him teaching earlier and asked, puzzled: "With your realm and knowledge, if you were willing, at most a few years, whether you wanted to train a top scholar in Southern Jin's imperial examinations or a cultivation expert, it wouldn't be difficult. Why did you teach those things earlier?"
Ye Su said: "To cultivate the Dao, one needs natural talent. There aren't many students with such talent in Lin Kang City. Even if there were, they would have long since entered the Sword Pavilion. As for why I taught those children to weave hair ornaments and do carpentry, it's because these skills can help them earn money in the shortest possible time, and then they can eat a few more bowls of rice."
Ning Que thought for a long time, finally saying two words: "I admire you."
Ye Su said: "If you want to talk about admiration, you should admire your Senior Disciple Brother more. He taught in the marketplace many years ago. What I am doing now is nothing new."
Ning Que said: "Senior Disciple Brother was always like that. You, on the other hand, only started halfway, so it's even more admirable."
Ye Su said: "I once stayed in a small Daoist temple in Chang An City for a while and really liked the feeling of 'true meaning found amidst the marketplace.' Now I am also seeking peace for myself. What is there to admire?"
Hearing the phrase "true meaning found amidst the marketplace," Ning Que's hand holding the bowl of water stiffened slightly. He looked into Ye Su's eyes and asked very seriously: "Can you teach me these things?"