Chapter 302 - 159: Small Town

After Scholar Jingtan finished speaking, Jiang Ran, Tang Huayi, and Ruan Yuqing all fell silent.

Even the First Master, who had been writing off to the side, couldn’t help but look up at Scholar Jingtan.

Seeing his eyes filled with reminiscence and entreaty, he sighed softly and muttered under his breath:

"So it’s true... it’s not love that beguiles you, you beguile yourself."

Jiang Ran glanced at him, then suddenly slapped his knee.

"This is bad!"

Everyone present jumped in fright.

Scholar Jingtan also looked around, thinking the Blood Saber Hall had returned. He wondered, ’How did they get here so fast?’

Then they heard Jiang Ran say:

"I was careless. I forgot the First Master was still here.

"I’m afraid this old man has already written down that whole story you just told, Senior."

Hearing this, the First Master quickly covered his notebook, afraid Jiang Ran would try to snatch it.

But Scholar Jingtan just shook his head gently.

"It’s no matter... It was never a secret that needed to be hidden."

"Exactly! The Scholar is a man of reason, far better than a certain junior!"

The First Master shot Jiang Ran a glance and stroked his beard.

"However, this does clear things up for me.

"Why you two had that battle seven years ago...

"At the time, I was quite far from your location. I wondered why you fought—while you two had some entanglements, there seemed to be no real enmity between you. The battle seemed to come out of nowhere.

"So the root of it all was this Guan Jinqiu."

Scholar Jingtan nodded gently.

"I had intended to carry these old memories to my grave.

"If I did not wish to borrow the Jiaowei from Young Hero Jiang to fulfill Jin Qiu’s final wish, I would not have spoken of it so frankly.

"I must ask the First Master to help me keep this a secret."

The First Master nodded.

"Of course... I will file the full story away in the Hundred-Year Pavilion. Starting from the day it is filed, it can only be made public after one hundred years have passed.

"As for what’s recorded in the *Golden Cicada Heroic Legend*, I’ll just come up with a slight pretext.

"In the future, when people read the histories and piece them together, they will be able to understand the full picture of what happened today."

Scholar Jingtan thought for a moment, then nodded.

After a hundred years, he would be long dead. Whatever happened then would have nothing to do with him.

Finally, Scholar Jingtan looked at Jiang Ran.

"Young Hero Jiang, I have explained the entire story to you.

"What is your decision?"

"Let’s do this..."

Jiang Ran said, "I will make my decision after the tea tasting and zither appreciation gathering is over. At that time, if the Jiaowei zither is still in my possession, I will certainly lend it to you, Scholar."

Scholar Jingtan knew this was the most Jiang Ran could promise.

He immediately stood up and cupped his fists.

"Thank you, Young Hero Jiang."

"There’s no need."

Jiang Ran, unwilling to accept the gesture, stepped aside slightly.

Scholar Jingtan then said,

"Also, I have one more presumptuous request..."

"Please speak, Senior."

Jiang Ran gestured with his hand.

"Since we must wait until after the eighth day of the tenth month, and it is still some time before we must be at Sunset Plateau, I plan to stay by Young Hero Jiang’s side... to offer some support."

Since Jiang Ran had promised to lend him the zither, the instrument absolutely could not come to any harm before the eighth day of the tenth month.

Although the martial arts Jiang Ran had displayed today were extraordinary, people’s hearts are unpredictable. Martial arts are the foundation of one’s standing, but they are by no means everything.

Having one more person around to help would always be safer.

Jiang Ran didn’t refuse. ’Besides, even if I did, would Scholar Jingtan really not follow me? What could I do about it then? Kill him? Never mind that Scholar Jingtan’s reason for staying by my side is to help me protect the Jiaowei zither. Even if it weren’t, he’s on the Righteous Path of the Martial World and his name isn’t on any wanted list. Killing him would just be a waste of effort. It would also ruin my reputation. I’m supposed to be an Assassin. If I end up on a wanted list for wantonly killing an innocent man... that would be the biggest joke in the world.’

Now that they had reached an agreement, the topic of conversation gradually shifted.

Scholar Jingtan was immensely learned, knowledgeable in everything from astronomy to geography. Although he had a cold demeanor, once he started talking, he was actually quite interesting.

Seeing how articulately he had previously spoken about the great Blood-Pricking Array, Jiang Ran decided to ask for his guidance.

As Scholar Jingtan was asking a favor of him, he held nothing back in his explanation.

He gave his evaluation of the array, which was still the same four words: "Complete and utter nonsense."

He shook his head gently.

"Combining the Four Symbols and the Five Elements is a good idea in theory, but the integration was extremely crude.

"Xuanyuan One Slash’s skill is lacking, yet he shows it off everywhere. It wouldn’t matter so much if he only encountered people who didn’t understand.

"It’s perfectly adequate for fooling people.

"But once he runs into someone who understands its key principles, it’s useless.

"When I moved to capture him earlier, it was precisely because I saw the flaw in his array.

"He wanted the Four Symbols and Five Elements to complement each other, but unfortunately, there’s always a moment where, while they don’t hinder each other, they also don’t interact at all.

"The Four Symbols blades couldn’t kill me, and the Five Elements maze couldn’t trap anyone. Naturally, I was able to take him down in a single move."

He then pointed out the key aspects one by one.

Although Jiang Ran found it abstruse and couldn’t understand eighty to ninety percent of it, he still listened attentively.

There are many people in the martial world who can set up arrays.

The combined array of the Danyang Sword Sect and the Liuyun Sword Sect, two of the five great sword sects, would be extremely difficult for even someone like Shi Pingzhang to break.

The Ghost King Palace’s Enchanting Ghost Wall is also based on an array, with the Enchanting Order inscribed upon its walls.

It causes people to fall into the array with no escape, leaving them constantly under the influence of the Enchanting Order.

If he hadn’t been protected by the Creation-Orthodox Heart Sutra, Jiang Ran knew that once he stepped inside, even if he could suppress the turmoil in his heart for a while, he would inevitably become lost in it over time.