When Xu Yan came to Ruoshui Courtyard, he found that the lights in the courtyard were faint, and then he saw his master Zhao Bailian, who was sitting in the Guanlan Pavilion, drinking tea while looking at the stars in the night sky, so comfortable.

Xu Yan paced up to him before he saluted and said, "The disciple has seen the master." ”

Zhao Bailian was holding a teacup in his hand at the moment, nodded, and replied casually, "Sit down", and then began to take small sips of tea, and only after a cup was down, he continued to Xu Yan: "The master called you here tonight, in addition to fulfilling his promise and teaching you a set of sword techniques, I also have to explain to you some matters about this Baishan Spring Hunt." ”

Hearing this, Xu Yan nodded without surprise.

Zhao Bailian opened his mouth and said: "Although according to the plan I drew up before, I have successfully competed for the list of twenty people to participate in this spring hunt, but I told you before that it has not been a day or two since the forces of other sects infiltrated our sect, therefore, among these twenty people, there will inevitably be some disciples who belong to my Lotus Sect on the surface, but behind them are disciples belonging to other sects, therefore, this spring hunt is destined to not be smooth sailing, you have to be more careful." ”

Xu Yan raised his sword eyebrows, and asked with some doubts: "I heard Elder Wang say that the one hundred and twenty people in the preliminary selection of this selection competition were all selected by the master himself from among the disciples of the four factions, in this case, the master should have a good idea of the identities of these disciples, right?"

When Zhao Bailian heard this, she smiled and said bluntly: "Yes, the teacher does know the origin of some of these people, but even if he knows, what can he do? Since they entered my Lotus Sect through normal procedures at the beginning, they are naturally regular disciples of my Lotus Sect now. ”

Xu Yan said with some incomprehension: "That's a good thing, but the master can at least avoid letting them participate, as long as they can't get this place, don't you have to worry that they will interfere with their original identity in the spring hunt?"

After hearing this, Zhao Bailian couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "How can this be true, how can such outstanding core disciples as Zhou Xian and Bai Bing be directly ignored as teachers and not let them participate in the competition? Not to mention whether or not they can convince the public afterwards, it is fundamentally in terms of the establishment of my Lotus Sect, and it is also contrary to the ancestral precept of the ancestors of 'education without class', I think that my Lotus Sect has been established for more than 300 years so far, and where has I done this kind of thing." ”

When Xu Yan heard this, he could roughly hear that Zhao Bailian was obviously the kind of person who was very. The person of the righteous man and gentleman, if you use derogatory words, that is, pedantic, rigid, and old-fashioned, but even so, Xu Yan will not feel that there is anything wrong with the other party, after all, everyone will have their own principles of dealing with the world in their hearts, or in their bones, and at the same time, they will inevitably have the will and belief to adhere to all things in this world, which is the most important cornerstone for living in this world as a person; There are many more loves, hatreds, and hatreds than Zhao Bailian, and naturally, as a person who has gone through vicissitudes and is inclined to naturalism, he will not argue with him unnecessarily on this kind of issue involving personal values.

Xu Yan knew that the reason why Zhao Bailian still had to follow the ancestral teachings of the sect at such a moment, but did not choose to find another way to survive, was because of his 'foolish loyalty' to the sect, or his deep love, but he had to admit that this kind of foolish loyalty he carried was a very rare and valuable spiritual quality.

Seeing Xu Yan fall into silence, Zhao Bailian's words changed, and her tone suddenly became a little cold: "Have you ever thought that even if I choose not to let a disciple like Zhou Xian participate in the spring hunt this time, it will not be able to change the fact that he is still a core disciple of my Lotus Sect, but if a talented person like him is allowed to continue to grow infinitely in my sect, wouldn't it be even more unfavorable to my sect?"

When Xu Yan heard this, and cooperated with the other party's cold tone, he naturally guessed the other party's intentions in an instant, and couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart, it seems that Zhao Bailian is not all a 'rotten Confucian'. But before Xu Yan could speak, Zhao Bailian sighed again, and said helplessly: "Don't wait for me!"

Xu Yan didn't understand these four words, so he could only ask, "What does the master mean by this?"

Zhao Bailian stood up from the stone bench holding the drum by herself, her face was firm, and she stood with her hands in her hands, his face was pale, but it was still difficult to hide the wisdom and light released from his eyes at this moment.

Zhao Bailian was silent for a moment before she said in a long tone: "In February next year, the Great Competition of the Six Sects organized by the Dynasty will begin, although in the Great Competition, those who rank among the best can obtain the precious treasures given by the current son, but in the final analysis, for the Six Sects of the Three States, what is really important is undoubtedly whether the disciples under their own sects can successfully obtain the admission qualifications to enter the Sword Martial Academy." My Lotus Sect is naturally no exception, but compared to the other five sects, I only need to think about how to select the ten best disciples in the door, and it is obvious that the difficulties that my Lotus Sect will face are much greater. ”

Xu Yan hesitated for a moment and asked, "Does the master think that those sects will use the guise of the Hundred Mountains Spring Hunt to beat the number of disciples of our Lotus Sect in Beijing?"

Zhao Bailian said without hesitation: "This is certain and inevitable. ”

"Since the master knows their purpose, why do you want Zhou Xian and them to participate in this spring hunt, doesn't this indirectly increase their chances of winning in the spring hunt?

Zhao Bailian turned his head suddenly, and in his eyes, which had always been extremely peaceful on weekdays, there was a trace of palpitating coldness, and he said coldly: "By the time of the next Spring Hunt, you have all entered Beijing, who else can I rely on to fight with them? Besides, my Lotus Sect has lost to this point now, and it has long been impossible to lose anymore, except for ceding the mountain gate, what is left, so it is impossible for the teacher to retreat, and it is necessary to have a real battle with them at this desperate juncture." ”

"And your talent is really good, far beyond my expectations, although today you relied on the four sword qi that you gave you before your teacher to defeat Zhou Xian, but the gap between you and him is only a gap in cultivation, your understanding of the way of the sword, but it is far deeper than him, plus you have the cultivation of the four grades of martial arts as a means of surprise, it may not be impossible to compete with them. ”

Xu Yan immediately replied with a wry smile: "Master, you also think too highly of me, even if I still have three sword qi left in my body, I can fight against someone of Zhou Xian's realm three times, but how many masters those sects will send in this spring hunt, no one can predict, if among the disciples they come, there are more than four story sword cultivators or four-grade realm martial artists......

Zhao Bailian interrupted him and said, "You look up to them too much, do you think it's easy to cultivate a disciple like Zhou Xian? Moreover, the four sword qi given to you by the teacher is not for you to use to waste like this, as long as you don't encounter a real life and death situation in the future, you don't have to use them at will." ”

"That disciple in this spring hunt, what to fight with them, the seven-star sword technique is certainly powerful, but in the end, my cultivation has only just entered the three-story building, and I can't exert its power at all. ”

Zhao Bailian had already recovered her mood at this time, so she replied in a calm tone: "You don't have to worry about this, as a teacher, I will pass on to you a set of sword techniques called 'Sword Qi Record', this set of sword techniques was originally inherited from my tutor in the Sword Martial Arts Academy, the power is amazing, unpredictable, enough for you to deal with a four-story sword cultivator like Zhou Xian." ”