Chapter 202

"Please have a seat." Shangguan Yunyi's face was full of a kind smile as he invited the Young Palace Master to sit down.

The Young Palace Master had no choice; she could only sit down, her body seeming not under her control at all. This old man before her was absolutely the strongest person she had ever seen!

"Before speaking, first taste the tea, straighten out whatever you want to say, then say it." Shangguan Yunyi said patiently and encouragingly.

The Young Palace Master had learned tea-drinking etiquette when she was young; although she couldn't really appreciate tea, she still retained the basic posture, and with her peerless beauty, even drinking tea took on a special flavor.

As the tea went down her throat, the Young Palace Master's gradually calming heart became even more settled. She said, "I have something to ask the Sword Master."

The speaker was still Shangguan Yunyi, "Speak."

The Sword Master kept his head lowered the whole time, not daring to look directly at the Young Palace Master beside him, as if he already knew what she was going to ask.

"Sword Master, what exactly is your relationship with my mother, and what is your relationship with me?" the Young Palace Master asked bluntly.

Neither Shangguan Yunyi nor the Sword Master were startled by this question.

However, there remained a long silence, and in that silence the tea's fragrance became all the more precious.

"Hmm?"

At that moment, uninvited guests arrived at the Yijian Lou, two of them.

"Old Sword Master, it's been a while—do you miss me?" The voice came from downstairs, passing through the thin partition.

That voice made the Young Palace Master feel disgusted; she had just heard it half an hour earlier, and now she heard it again, her face showing a look of disgust, though that expression flitted away quickly.

"Hahaha! All good, all good—just in time to have some fine tea served." The Sword Master laughed as he replied.

The "thud-thud-thud" of footsteps coming up the stairs was especially coarse.

"Hahaha! Not seeing each other for a day feels like three autumns—Chen Xiang's Tieguanyin, what fine tea, what fine tea!" Duan Sheng's nose was very keen; even at the stairwell he could already smell what tea was on the table.

"After all these years, I didn't expect your nose to still be this sharp." The Sword Master said to Duan Sheng, "If it's a once-in-a-lifetime meeting, you still remember, right?"

"How could I forget? Back then we agreed to meet once a year to share a cup of tea."

"But you, you think Yijian Lou is too far, so you insist on going to that lowly imperial capital brothel." The Sword Master said irritably.

"In the blink of an eye, ten years have passed without me properly enjoying tea; today it seems my fortune is good—I've encountered such a tea gathering, and I should also thank the Young Palace Master, for she set out the tea to welcome you, allowing me to join in for a cup. Thank you, thank you." Having said that, Duan Sheng cupped his fists toward the Young Palace Master.

The Young Palace Master didn't even snort.

"Damn it, just thinking about it makes me angry—at God Sword Mountain Villa, that old Huang Zong won't spare good tea; if it were my old temper, I'd definitely overturn his table. What do you say? Western Desert Sword Devil?" Duan Sheng angrily asked the Western Desert Sword Devil.

The Western Desert Sword Devil's gaze was entirely on the Young Palace Master; he had no qualms about her angry, flushed face. "Yes, if you say overturn, we'll overturn."

"Hurry up and pull your eyes back! Too brazen!" The Sword Master rebuked the Western Desert Sword Devil.

Only then did the Western Desert Sword Devil withdraw his gaze from the Young Palace Master. Who would dare not give the Sword Master face?

The Sword Master's words caused the Young Palace Master's calm heart to stir, "Why would he help me speak?" She felt her guess was becoming more and more accurate.

Duan Sheng and the Western Desert Sword Devil sat on the same side of the table, because Shangguan Yunyi, the Sword Master, and the Young Palace Master who had arrived earlier each occupied a side. Duan Sheng's large size squeezed the Western Desert Sword Devil to one side.

However, this did not affect their tea tasting and drinking.

"Tsk tsk tsk... fine tea, fine tea." The Western Desert Sword Devil clicked his tongue while praising.

"Hahaha... I recall Chen Yi He once said something like, 'Playing the lute to an ox, the ox doesn't understand; playing the lute for you, it's not as good as the ox!' This saying fits you perfectly..." Duan Sheng laughed, holding his tea cup.

"Is Chen Yi He still alive?" The Young Palace Master was obviously surprised.

The Young Palace Master and Chen Yi He fought a great battle on the Five Absolutes Hall of the Five Absolutes Palace; she won, leaving Chen Yi He naturally only a dead end. She knew the Palace Master's mind well; the Palace Master would never let Chen Yi He off.

But then she thought, "Maybe Mother has changed; since she could let me out, she might also spare Chen Yi He."

"Not only is he alive, more accurately he has become our boss." The Western Desert Sword Devil shrugged and said, then immediately drank another cup of tea, gulping down seven or eight cups in one go, showing no sign of tea appreciation at all.

A perfectly good pot of Tieguanyin was ruined by such a person who knows nothing about tea.

"Become your boss?" The Young Palace Master had actually left the Five Absolutes Palace long ago, so news was naturally cut off; moreover, having spent many days wandering the outskirts to clear her mind, she had been hesitating whether to come to Yijian Lou to find the Sword Master, thus delaying things and not receiving any news from the martial world, so she only just learned that Chen Yi He had risen to the position of leader of the Great Martial Alliance.

The Young Palace Master sneered, "Heh..."

"Isn't that the junior who seized the Heavenly Mechanism Sword?" Shangguan Yunyi asked. As for Chen Yi He, his impression remained deep; that day Zhou Ke wanted him to kill someone, but he did not move.

"Exactly." Duan Sheng replied.

"Hahaha! Weren't you the ones who set up a sword formation to kill people back then? Now how can you willingly become their lackey?" The Sword Master laughed as he asked, and he was also curious about this.

Rumors about the Great Martial Alliance had long circulated in the martial world, but only those who had experienced it knew exactly what had happened.

Only after Duan Sheng gave a rough account of this experience, and the Western Desert Sword Devil kept interjecting, did the other three finally understand what had happened.

"I never expected that kid to really don the yellow robe and stir up a great tumult!" The Sword Master sighed, as if lamenting the passage of time; if he were still young, he might well have joined Chen Yi He in causing a great uproar.

"Hahaha! Who asked Zhang Huayu to be so excessive!" The Western Desert Sword Devil laughed loudly, his laughter frightening the rain outside the pavilion, causing it to scatter and drift away at an angle.

"Dongfang Wuji, Zhang Huayu, the Imperial Old Ancestor—these three are all notable figures! Sword King, what do you think?" The Sword Master asked Shangguan Yunyi.

"What can I say? Everything follows heavenly will." Shangguan Yunyi stroked his white beard, speaking very calmly, as if everything lay within his palm.

There is something Duan Sheng need not say; Shangguan Yunyi already knows: "The three people whom the Heavenly Way has cast down each possess at least the perfected stage of the Seventh Heaven, they are only a step away from the legendary Eighth Heaven's Supporting Heaven Dao, and even speaking of it, they have a chance to break through the Ninth Heaven of Emptiness."

Everyone else knows that Shangguan Yunyi is not speaking alarmist nonsense.