Chapter 208: 201 Dangerous Color

Wei Se?

Seems I have a bit of an impression?

Tang Zhao looked up, using the lamplight from afar to size up the person who had come.

The lamplight was dim, and Tang Zhao had also drunk some wine, so his vision was a bit blurry. He could vaguely see that this person was tall and sturdy, one might say burly, with a face that was upright and carried a hint of fortitude. He was a hero of the kind commonly seen in the Jianghu, and his eyes were bright and spirited, clearly indicating profound Internal Energy.

He suddenly remembered, and supporting himself on the chair, he stood up and said, "So it is Knight-Errant Wei. I have seen your great name before."

This person had sent him a calling card the day before yesterday, leaving only a name without a sect, which could be considered quite unique.

To tell the truth, seeing the person in the flesh, he was still a bit surprised. Firstly, Wei Se was a Martial Artist, so he should only have been seen during the free exchange on the second day; he hadn't expected to see him today. Secondly, he had made a premature judgment; seeing the name Wei Se, he had assumed it would be the appearance of a lean and sharp Sword Guest, not expecting a towering, burly man.

Wei Se laughed: "I have troubled you to remember, Sir. I am deeply honored. I am merely an ordinary Martial Artist who paid respects to the Sword Master yesterday."

Tang Zhao said, "I dare not accept such praise." Wanting to exchange a few more pleasantries but feeling a bit weary, he said, "This is my first time at the Talisman Assembly. I was originally a nameless junior, and to be held in such regard by everyone makes me truly ashamed."

Although this Wei Se looked like a Jianghu hero, he spoke with great refinement, and Tang Zhao unconsciously adopted a polite tone as well.

Wei Se said, "Sir, this is your first time at the Talisman Assembly, and mine as well. To tell the truth, the Talisman Assembly is as deep as the sea. I am but a drifter with shallow knowledge, having stumbled in here based on a chance impression, completely unaware of the cardinal directions. It was only because I made a local friend who pointed out that you are a promising talent of this year that I had the audacity to pay a visit, fearing I might be presumptuous."

Tang Zhao suddenly understood. It seemed this Wei Se was truly without a sect or faction; no wonder there was only a name on the calling card.

Are there many drifters in the Jianghu without a sect, without roots, and without cause? There are some, but truly not many.

One must know that people are not born with knowledge. To learn martial arts, one must first have a master. After all, the chances of picking up a secret manual and becoming a martial arts expert are slim, and even if one did find one, most people wouldn't understand it without a master's guidance. Like Tang Zhao, who accidentally obtained the Paulownia Flower Inviting Phoenix Art; if not for the Glasses pointing the way, how long would he have spent fumbling on his own?

Furthermore, one does not drift in the Jianghu just to "drift." Ultimately, one must have something to do and something to strive for. Whether seeking wealth, fame, the satisfaction of settling scores, or simply to throw one's weight around. Whenever there is a dispute, it is always better to have more people than fewer, and it is better to be organized than unorganized; one cannot get anywhere while being isolated and weak. Therefore, even for a Loose Practitioner with a thin sect background, most would still hang onto a gang for support.

Of course, once one reaches the level of a Loose Practitioner and the Gang Qi is perfected, one can walk sideways through the Jianghu as long as one doesn't run into a Sword Master. They can then be a true Loose Practitioner, but they are not drifters either; rather, they form their own system, with followers and juniors of all sorts surrounding them, becoming a center of power themselves.

Thus, Jianghu guests who wander the ends of the earth with no fixed abode like in books are rare, and a large portion of them are actually looking to settle down, just having not yet found a place to belong.

Since this person in front of him had submitted a card, it was not impossible that he had intentions of taking things further.

Such matters need not be discussed in detail upon a first meeting. Tang Zhao said, "Knight-Errant, you speak too seriously. Since we have come to the assembly, how could one not want to make friends? I wonder which friend thinks so highly of me?"

Wei Se said, "Sir might also remember him: Li Qiongsheng of the Kun Yu Lower Court."

Oh, he actually did remember.

Tang Zhao remembered that in that stack of calling cards, the first one was Li Qiongsheng. The Kun Yu Lower Court was a subordinate force of the Kun Yu Sword Sect and could be considered a local power; no wonder he knew so clearly.

Wei Se continued, "Originally, according to the rules, I should have visited you tomorrow. But Brother Li told me that since we are without support, it might be hard to catch your eye, so it would be better to be an early bird and take a shortcut by visiting today. We had originally agreed to come together, and I waited for a long time, but I didn't expect to lose track of him. I saw you instead and couldn't help but be a bit intrusive. I wonder if you have seen him?"

Tang Zhao shook his head. Although he hadn't seen Li Qiongsheng, the number of people he had seen that night was limited, and they were all people he recognized; Li Qiongsheng was not among them.

Wei Se was slightly puzzled and said, "Perhaps he got lost? That seat shuffling just now was dizzying, and I only saw you by chance. If you hadn't already ascended the lecture platform, I really wouldn't have recognized you."

The two didn't pay much mind to it and just chatted for a while. Wei Se introduced himself, saying he was originally from Yongzhou, had served in the military, and later retired home to focus on martial arts, but family misfortune forced him to drift in the Jianghu, and so on...

Tang Zhao chatted half-heartedly. The more they talked, the more the wine rose to his head, and Wei Se's voice gradually became blurry, as if he were getting sleepy. When he sobered up slightly, he hurriedly apologized for his rudeness. Just then, Jiang Shenyi found him, and Tang Zhao was dragged back to the table. After much persuasion, he drank a few more cups and finally, unable to hold his liquor, was carried back, swaying all the way.

Since Wei Se had already met the person, half the task was done. Seeing Tang Zhao intoxicated, he didn't linger. Besides, he hadn't brought any gifts anyway, so he left first, circling the flower fence and clear stream to return to his own lodging.

Just as he walked under a flower fence, he suddenly heard someone call out: "Wei..."

He was immediately alert, his sleeve moved, and a thin, sharp blade appeared at his fingertips. He said, "Who?"

A hand reached out from the flower bushes, trembling as it tried to grab him. Wei Se blocked it with the back of his blade, pushed aside the bushes with one hand, and frowned: "Brother Li?"

Tang Zhao had drunk a few cups of wine and was sleeping groggily on the bed. In his dream, he seemed to still be at the venue, and his senior brother was still pulling at him, asking: "Why not stop being a Sword Guest? How about we walk the Talisman Dao together?" He had drunk too much and couldn't help but stammer; his heart wanted to refuse, but he couldn't say a single word.

"Tang Xiansheng—"

Did someone seem to be calling him?

Tang Zhao's eyelids lifted slightly, but he felt them heavy after just a slit, and he hummed unclearly.

Then he heard another voice interject: "Who are you? Why did you run here? Get out, or I'll call for help!"

This is... Gui Ye's voice, right?

"I have no ill intent, I just want to ask the Sir to..."

Tang Zhao did not remember the words that followed.

In fact, when he woke up in the morning, he didn't even remember that conversation in the middle of the night. In his mind, he only remembered being dragged away by Jiang Shenyi to drink; he had even forgotten how he returned to bed.

This is what is called a blackout from drinking.

Waking up early the next day, it was already well into the morning. The second day was for free exchange, and there was no rule about what time to arrive at the venue, so no one would remind Tang Zhao if he woke up late. Gui Ye crawled out from under the pillow and said, "I have something to tell you. A stranger came in the middle of the night yesterday and insisted on borrowing something. I found him annoying, so I lent it to him."

Tang Zhao pressed his temples and said, "Who? Borrowing what?"

Gui Ye said, "Someone called something 'Se'. Just hearing the name, he didn't look like a good person, but he insisted he had a friendship with you. I called you, but you didn't respond. Seeing that he wouldn't leave if I didn't lend it to him, I just treated it as getting rid of a troublesome guest."

Tang Zhao was still muddled and said, "Se? Wei Se? What did he want to borrow?"

Gui Ye said, "He wanted to borrow something like a Space Bag, saying he needed at least a zhang of space. I thought that thing wasn't anything precious, so I gave it to him."

One can only say that he is worthy of being an old turtle of many years to actually say it wasn't anything precious. One must know that the Space Bags available on the market are usually only a chi in diameter and are worth a thousand gold; if one had a zhang of space, it could never be bought with gold or silver. And he actually lent it to a stranger?

But the matter had already happened... It just so happened that Tang Zhao was wealthy in this regard, so giving it away was fine.

This person is Wei Se, right? He still had a bit of an impression of drinking with him yesterday, but they had only met that night and hadn't developed a deep friendship; did he come to his door to ask for an Art Tool?

If he wasn't thick-skinned and shameless, then there must be an inside story.

It was a pity he had been unconscious, otherwise he should have been able to ask clearly.

Tang Zhao asked, "You gave him my Time Jar?"

Gui Ye said proudly, "How could that be? The Time Jar is unique to you. If I gave it to an outsider and they used it to do something bad, wouldn't it implicate you? I gave him a Seven-Star Bag from Longyuan, without any special markings. If something goes wrong, it will be blamed on Longyuan."

Tang Zhao praised, "Worthy of you. I'll ask him when I see him."

He then put on his clothes and arrived at the venue.

The venue was now quite different; there were no longer various seating arrangements, but only divided areas. Each area was surrounded by flowers, trees, and thorns, which could be used as small venues for a few or dozens of people.

The venue didn't need special decoration; one only needed to activate it upon entering, and the tree vines would immediately weave a lecture platform and several seats. Any number of positions and any layout were possible. Thus, every area could become a lecture platform or a place for discussion at any time.

Tang Zhao had originally planned to discuss a few small questions during the free exchange time on the second day, but he had been exhausted by the speeches over the past two days and had no energy left for small forums.

So he just wandered aimlessly, seeing if there were any topics he was interested in. He wouldn't mind participating, and if there weren't, he would just eat some snacks and wait for people to contact him. He didn't know how to contact Wei Se and the others; if Wei Se could find him again, he was just about to ask about yesterday's events.

Tang Zhao arrived late, and more than half of the surrounding small meeting areas were already occupied. A casual sweep revealed that a large portion of the forums already in session were discussing the strengthening of the Soul. The discussions were quite crude; basically, without preparing any materials, people would just pick up a board, write a few words on it, and argue endlessly. It was evident that yesterday's lecture had struck a chord with many a Talisman Sword Master.

But Tang Zhao had no intention of joining such discussions. Zhu Yang's lecture hadn't even finished; he had only caught a glimpse of the whole, and without further information, what could one possibly discuss by acting rashly? Tang Zhao would rather wait until after tomorrow's lecture to think it over carefully; he wasn't so impatient that he couldn't even wait a single day.

Skipping over these Soul discussions, Tang Zhao sorted out two or three topics that interested him and was in the middle of choosing when he suddenly caught sight of Yun Xiyan speaking about something in a small meeting area.

No way, can Sister Yun also go up on stage to give a lecture?

Did she really go up there to tell jokes?

Tang Zhao was involuntarily drawn over and saw Yun Xiyan speaking fluently and incessantly. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people listening below, and they were listening very intently. Tang Zhao spotted Wang Fei sitting below as well, actually nodding repeatedly and listening with rapt attention.

Even the Snow Mountain Prince approves? That's not simple at all.

Then, he saw a plain, straightforward sentence on the board behind Yun Xiyan:

"Where is the sword of Jianzhou?"