# Chapter 365: Full-Time Education (Part 4)
"When I mentioned Daoist Ji, you said you knew nothing... were you lying?" Su Li said, looking at the expression on his face.
Chen Changsheng could only remain silent, because he wasn't very good at lying.
Su Li muttered to himself, "Then what exactly are those old bastards pushing you out to do?"
Conversations often occurred, and endings often didn't require answers. Chen Changsheng couldn't find an answer, and Su Li only spent a very short time thinking about it.
After confirming that the Great Zhou cavalry had truly gone far away, Chen Changsheng carried him on his back, passed through the Black Willow Forest, and continued walking southward.
As the walking—or rather running—continued, the climate gradually warmed, and the scenery the two saw increasingly matched the true season. In the capital, it should now be deep spring, and on Southern Li Mountain it was already late spring, but here it was still somewhat cold. Looking out, one could still see scattered patches of lingering snow, though fortunately there were also some scattered hints of green.
Looking at the green grass shoots sprouting anew from last year's dead weeds, Chen Changsheng recalled that a full year had passed since he left Xining Town. Too many changes had occurred in this year. Even though he was still a youth in the prime of his spring, whenever he looked back, he couldn't help but feel some of the emotions that only middle-aged people would feel.
After passing through a farming settlement called Wolitun, some changes appeared around the two of them. They acquired a cart, pulled by two sturdy musk deer.
Chen Changsheng sat at the front of the cart, holding the ropes looped around the musk deer's necks, occasionally letting out some meaningless shouts, probably trying to imitate the methods of those farmers. But clearly, those two musk deer couldn't understand his commands. Fortunately, the general direction wasn't wrong—they were still heading south. The south was still far away, but as long as they persisted, they would get closer and closer.
Su Li lay in the cart, with thick bedding beneath him and smooth, supple animal hides covering him. The yellow paper umbrella was placed beside him, along with food and drink. He held a bamboo flute crosswise, bringing it to his lips, occasionally producing clear, beautiful sounds. He looked utterly comfortable—where was the slightest hint of a severely wounded man fleeing for his life?
After another two days of travel, a yellowish city could be faintly seen ahead on the official road. Unlike the military stockade they had first encountered, this was a real city. Judging by the city walls, it could accommodate at least tens of thousands of people, and it was undoubtedly extremely bustling and lively inside. If they wanted to reconnect with the human world, this place was unquestionably the most convenient.
Chen Changsheng turned back to look at Su Li, using his eyes to ask whether they should enter the city.
Su Li was holding a piece of fur and carefully wiping the holes of his bamboo flute, not even acknowledging him.
Chen Changsheng understood, but still didn't quite get it. He shook his head, pulled the ropes in his hands, and made the two musk deer pull the cart off the official road, crossing the slightly hard fields and bypassing the yellowish city.
To the south of the city was a birch forest. Thousands of birch trees, not very thick, appeared somewhat slender and straight, like swords rising from the ground and stabbing toward the sky.
It was late spring, but this birch forest in the cold zone hadn't yet produced many green leaves. There was no obstruction to the view, allowing one to see several li to the other side of the forest.
"Don't enter a forest when you encounter one"—this wasn't an experience Su Li had taught Chen Changsheng for navigating the world, but an old saying he had seen countless times in miscellaneous notes and idle writings.
Chen Changsheng gently pulled the ropes taut, signaling the two musk deer to stop.
He hadn't sensed any danger; he just did it instinctively.
Su Li struggled to sit up in the carriage. The bamboo flute in his hand had somehow been tucked into his waist, replaced by the yellow paper umbrella.
He looked at this silent birch forest and suddenly said, "They're here."
What was here? Naturally, the enemy was here—the ones who wanted to kill Su Li had arrived.
Chen Changsheng's mood instantly became tense. He jumped from the cart to the ground, untied the ropes from the musk deer's necks as quickly as possible, and slapped their thick rumps heavily twice with his scabbard. The musk deer, feeling the pain, ran in the opposite direction of the birch forest. But these animals were gentle by nature and didn't run far. They stood several dozen zhang away, looking at Chen Changsheng with apparent confusion, as if they didn't understand why he had hit them.
"You're worried about their lives, but what about me?" Su Li said angrily, looking at Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng gripped his scabbard and said, "Senior, do you want to go in or not?"
Just after leaving the Snow Ridge hot spring, he had asked Su Li this question, but Su Li hadn't wanted to, and it seemed he still hadn't changed his mind. Su Li sneered and said, "If I go in, what happens if you die? I don't want to place all my hopes on someone else, especially someone as weak as you."
Chen Changsheng thought this did make sense. Although the senior couldn't fight now, his combat experience and wisdom far surpassed his own by hundreds of times. Having him nearby would always be helpful. The quiet birch forest showed no movement. He asked uneasily, "What should we do next? Should I charge into the forest?"
Su Li completely didn't understand his meaning and asked, "What would you charge into the forest to do?"
Chen Changsheng said, "Yesterday, Senior said that the most important thing in battle is that moment of turning defense into offense. If you can truly catch the enemy off guard, even the strongest opponent might be defeated."
Su Li stared at him and said, "So you plan to charge into this forest, find that person, and kill him?"
Chen Changsheng nodded very honestly.
Su Li held his forehead and said, "Do you know what cultivation level the assassin in the forest is?"
Chen Changsheng shook his head very honestly.
Su Li said furiously, "And you still plan to charge in like that? Do you want to go die?"
Chen Changsheng was very confused, not knowing whether to nod or shake his head. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Isn't this... following Senior's teachings?"
Su Li was utterly exasperated and said helplessly, "You need to understand that everything I said must first be based on you and your opponent being roughly on the same level. Even if you're a bit weaker, you can't be too far behind."
Chen Changsheng said, "But Senior's original words clearly said... even the strongest opponent might be defeated."
Su Li said irritably, "Rhetoric! This is rhetoric! Don't you understand rhetoric? Exaggeration is a linguistic art!"
Chen Changsheng fell silent, lowering his head. After a while, he couldn't help but look up and ask, "Then what if you really encounter an opponent far stronger than yourself?"
Su Li's answer was exceptionally concise and clear: "Flee, or kneel."
Flee? Chen Changsheng carrying Su Li on his back probably couldn't outrun the assassin who had never appeared in the forest. After all, people who worked as assassins always had faster movement techniques and speed than ordinary cultivators. Kneel? Chen Changsheng, like Su Li, wouldn't entrust his life completely to others, no matter how trustworthy they were, let alone someone who wanted to kill him.
If he couldn't flee and couldn't kneel, there was actually one more method to deal with it: wait.
Chen Changsheng drew his short sword, looked at the silent birch forest, at the green sprouts that seemed lush from afar but were hard to spot up close, and waited for that person to appear.
That person never appeared.
Time passed slowly. The hand holding his sword had grown somewhat sore. He shouted toward the forest, "Come out. He saw you."
Su Li never expected him to do something like this. He shook his head at the sky, looking somewhat ashamed to be associated with him.
Still no one responded from the forest. Chen Changsheng lowered his voice and said, "Senior, it seems the baiting tactic doesn't work either."
The exchange between him and Su Li earlier, which could even be called an argument, naturally couldn't have been a real argument.
Looking at the quiet birch forest, Su Li said thoughtfully, "That person left."
"Huh?" Chen Changsheng was somewhat surprised.
Su Li lay back down in the carriage, put down the yellow paper umbrella, and picked up the bamboo flute.
Under Chen Changsheng's call, the two musk deer slowly ambled back and docilely had the ropes tied around their necks again.
The bamboo flute sounded clear and bright. They set off again.
...
...
In the following journey, Chen Changsheng became much more silent, or rather, more like his usual self—only when facing Tang Thirty-Six and Su Li did he talk more.
His current silence was, of course, because of that assassin who might appear at any time.
Just as sometimes not speaking was more powerful than speaking, an enemy who didn't appear was always more terrifying than one standing before you.
But Su Li was as usual. No trace of unease could be seen on him. He continued playing the bamboo flute, continued drinking his wine, continued nursing his injuries, just like when he lay in the Snow Ridge hot spring—very comfortable and calm, as if he wasn't severely wounded at all, but merely on an ordinary journey.
Chen Changsheng vigilantly watched everything in his line of sight. The psychological pressure was immense, and some things he thought about made his mood increasingly heavy.
The two assassins encountered at the military stockade, the Great Zhou cavalry searching everywhere—these indicated that, as Su Yan had guessed, the Black Robe had calculated their escape route and passed this information to certain forces in the human world. What would those forces do next? If the Holy Empress Dowager was behind the pursuit to kill Su Li, did she know that he was with Su Li? If she knew, would she have those experts and assassins kill him too? If... the big shots in the Li Palace wanted Su Li dead, did they know he was still alive? Or would the demon race deliberately conceal his existence?
One evening, eight hundred li away from Tianliang Commandery, the deer cart stopped again for a brief rest. The dusk was as thick as blood.
Chen Changsheng told Su Li all his anxieties without concealment. Now, regardless of any issues between their camps, since he hadn't abandoned Su Li in the Snow Ridge, there was no reason to abandon him halfway. They were riding in the same cart, so naturally they had to face the coming storms together.
"Not too many people will know that I'm severely wounded. I've already told you the reason for that a few days ago. Let's analyze the assassination attempt we encountered at the military stockade... if we can even call such crude and ridiculous behavior an assassination. Then, thinking about those several hundred Zhou cavalry, we can see very clearly that neither those who want to kill me nor I, whom they want to kill, want the entire continent to know about this matter."
Su Li picked up a tree branch and drew a map in the mud, pointing at a straight line and saying, "They don't need to besiege the point and attack the reinforcements. So the reason there's been no movement until now is only one: our speed was too fast. After breaking through the northern army's front line, those people haven't had time to send sufficiently powerful people to kill us. If we see this as a war, their main force is on the way..."
Chen Changsheng crouched to the side, listening attentively.
These days, such scenes had occurred many times. Su Li often behaved extremely unseriously, but at times like this, he was very serious. He taught Chen Changsheng how to distinguish between traces left by beasts and humans, how to tell which plants were edible and which mushrooms were poisonous, what was most important in battle, and even how to march and deploy troops.
Besides swords and cultivation, he taught Chen Changsheng many things.
Chen Changsheng asked again, "Senior, why exactly are you teaching me all this?"
To choose a future Pope for the Southerners? This could be the real answer, but it wasn't enough.
"Because I taught Qiu Shan."
Su Li threw away the tree branch and said, "He studied with me for a month. If we have enough time on the road, I'll also teach you for a full month. You returned the yellow paper umbrella to me, and I took you away from the snowfield—those cancel each other out. But you didn't leave at the Snow Ridge, so I owe you a favor. Consider this me repaying that favor."
"A favor?"
"In the future, you will inevitably compete with Qiu Shan. I hope you won't fall too far behind. Making things as fair as possible—that's the favor I'm repaying you."
Following the Snow Ridge hot spring, Chen Changsheng was once again moved by Su Li's senior-expert demeanor, and then said seriously, "That yellow paper umbrella wasn't returned to you, Senior. I'm just lending it to you."
Su Li looked at him quietly and suddenly laughed: "Not used to this warm atmosphere, so you deliberately break it?"
Chen Changsheng said, "Yes."
Su Li said, "I'm not used to it either, so don't ask me similar questions again from now on."
Chen Changsheng looked at him seriously and said, "Senior, you're really a good person."
Su Li looked at him seriously and said, "Don't say things like that again either."
"Why?"
"Because in the future, you'll know that I've never been a good person in the traditional sense. I'm moody and unpredictable. If a single word doesn't sit well with me, I'll rise up and kill."
"But I really can't see that... Well, Senior, although that last sentence was deliberately said, the fact is, the yellow paper umbrella really is mine."
"Tsk, it seems you really don't believe I'll rise up and kill!"
"Senior, if you could still rise up and kill now, why would we only dare to move in the middle of the night?"
When words don't agree, there's no need to continue. In the thickening dusk, Chen Changsheng began preparing dinner and camping equipment.
Su Li looked at the busy youth by the fire, slightly squinting his eyes, slowly rubbing the bamboo flute in his hand, not knowing what he was thinking.
The dusk gradually receded. After simply eating some roasted meat, Chen Changsheng extinguished the fire, making sure it wouldn't become a beacon in the night.
The night passed without incident. Morning arrived, the morning breeze slightly cool, carrying the scent of dew and grass, refreshing the mind and heart. The two musk deer happily quickened their pace, and before long, they had covered more than ten li.
On the vast plain grew green plants, possibly sorghum. But these sorghum had only just begun to grow, not yet forming the legendary green gauze curtains, and certainly unable to conceal figures.
So Chen Changsheng saw that person in the field at a single glance.
It was a handsome man, fully armored, with seven long knives on his back, gleaming brightly in the morning light.
He didn't look like an assassin at all.
...
...
(Next chapter, striving for before ten o'clock.)