Chapter 247 - Either A Saint Or A Servant
Elder Sang laughed heartily, thinking that it was not so easy to stump this lad. He twisted his wrists. Crackling sounds came out from his bones.
"Although Spiritual Physiques are rare, they are not infinitely strong. At least, the innate flesh can be counted as another type of the acquired Spiritual Physique."
"Even in your stage, it is a very powerful force."
"Of course, you have Master Physique now. You can mostly ignore those geniuses who have a Spiritual Physique."
Even if Xu Xiaoshou had good self-control, he still couldn't help but feel somewhat proud.
He was fully aware of how difficult it was to cultivate the flesh body after birth. It was still very hard for him to achieve the feat after he had died. As such, it would be inexcusable for those who relied on their perseverance to get a Master Physique and still not be invincible.
Seeing that the atmosphere was suitable for it, Elder Sang decided to knock down his self-confidence a little by saying, "But the Master Physique is not always invincible."
"Ah, what?" As expected, Xu Xiaoshou paused.
Elder Sang said with a smile, "I should have said that those true geniuses are all over the five domains of the continent."
"Among such people, one group is extremely special and terrifying. They have a Saint Physique at birth as if they were blessed by God!"
"Saint Physique?" Xu Xiaoshou could imagine its level as soon as he heard the name. "Is it above the Spiritual Physique?"
"That's right!"
Elder Sang said with a bitter smile, "When it comes to genius, your current level is really nothing."
"One with the Saint Physique can crush those with the Spiritual Physique with one punch!"
"Hmm…"
Xu Xiaoshou was shocked. He thought Elder Sang had said so much earlier in preparation to knock down his self-confidence.
"What about Master Physique?" he asked.
"One with Master Physique can resist a little bit," Elder Sang chuckled, "but they can only do so a little."
Xu Xiaoshou sighed. If it was true that hard work was useful, why were geniuses needed in the first place?
"Creation is not fair!"
Elder Sang found that his approach of knocking down his self-confidence had worked and started to offer some encouragement, "Luckily, such Saint Physiques are extremely rare in the world."
"All in all, except for those great void families, and half-saint families, almost no one has appeared in the world."
Xu Xiaoshou raised his eyebrows and intended to say something. Elder Sang held out his hand and said, "Do not ask. If you have to ask, it means that you still can't sense such a thing yet."
"Sh*t! Again?"
"Hmm?"
"Uh, I said... Well, well said!"
Elder Sang sighed.
Xu Xiaoshou had no intention to dwell on those nebulous and future matters either. He returned to the original topic.
"In addition to the matter of Junior Sister Mu's body, there is another rather mysterious thing."
"Before the opening of the Tianxuan Gate, Master Dean was controlled by that blind man with an illusion or something like that, but a look from Junior Sister Mu unlocked it."
"What is this principle of this? Can the Life-devouring Wood Physique achieve that?"
Elder Sang was stunned for a moment and then replied, "The Life-devouring Wood Physique can't achieve this since it isn't omnipotent."
"That is to say, you don't even know anything." Xu Xiaoshou felt disappointed.
"Hoh…" Elder Sang grew gloomy. "Do you really think I'm an all-knowing God?"
"But she is your disciple!"
"She's also your junior sister!"
Xu Xiaoshou, "Uh…"
Elder Sang was quite pleased that he had made the lad speechless. He vaguely experienced the pleasure Xu Xiaoshou gained from doing so.
As the corners of his mouth lifted, the old man leaned over and said, "Speaking of which, your physique is also a bit odd. The surging life force in your body doesn't seem to be weaker than your junior sister's."
"Uh..."
Xu Xiaoshou was dumbfounded. The old man always returned to the issue about him in the end. He thought, "Is it a joke?"
"What can I say?"
"I have something to take care of. I must leave now!" He made loud stepping sounds as he away from the Spiritual Library Division.
Elder Sang was amused. He didn't try and stop him. He merely shouted at his back, "Brat, the enemy's secret should be revealed, but some secrets should be let come to the surface by themselves!"
Xu Xiaoshou was taken aback by those ambiguous words.
It was true. Everybody had some secrets.
"Don't worry, she is my junior sister! I won't do anything to her!" Xu Xiaoshou shouted through the door crack.
Elder Sang pressed his conical hat once and said with a serious expression, "What I meant is that if she accidentally becomes your enemy in the future, you shouldn't deal with her mercifully."
Dang!
Xu Xiaoshou fell to the ground. He turned around to look at the old man. It was as if three question marks were popping out from his face.
"Are you serious?"
Elder Sang did not reply. He waved his hand without looking at him and said, "Go."
...
"What the hell?"
Xu Xiaoshou frowned and walked down from the third floor of the Spiritual Library Division while holding the stair railings.
He often felt that this old man with the conical hat was sometimes normal and sometimes abnormal.
Whenever he thought that the old man was normal, Elder Sang would always say something unexpected.
"What does he mean by saying that I shouldn't deal with her mercifully when she becomes the enemy..."
"Those are not the proper words her master should say."
He shook his head a few times in an attempt to get rid of the disturbing thoughts. Soon after, Xu Xiaoshou no longer thought about it.
After all, Elder Sang was an enigmatic old man. It was really difficult to figure him out.
Passing through the second-floor doorway, Xu Xiaoshou glanced at the slightly familiar white light cloud before he came to the first floor.
The bookcases and desks that were accidentally burned that day had mostly been mended. All of them had been protected by the array. It was obviously an effort to prevent more accidents from happening within.
When he recalled the scene in which he risked his own life to put out the fire, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but smile. His mood improved quite a bit.
He resumed walking forward. He held the door of the Spiritual Library Division with his hand and was about to push it open.
"Are you going out?"
In his thoughts, a voice that didn't belong to him suddenly rang out. However, the meaning of the question was obvious.
Xu Xiaoshou stiffened his body and turned his head to the side.
In the corner of the doorway of the first floor was a wooden platform. Behind it, a man with a disheveled face and hair could be seen.
The man was staying in the dark spot, so it was impossible to see his face clearly. The only thing that could be detected was the nonstop hand movements of carving wood.
It was apparent that he was holding a carving knife. His head was lowered even when he was asking the question.
Xu Xiaoshou had the perception, so he could see things more clearly than others. Yet, when he tried to pay attention to this person, the picture he obtained was a blur.
Under such circumstances, he could still tell that the thumbs on both of the man's hands were broken.
However, he didn't stop the movement of his hands for half a second. The wood chips were flying away from his hands. The purple board in his hands looked more and more lively.
"Yes, Sir."
Xu Xiaoshou bowed with a slight stiffness.
The last time he saw this man, he had come there to register after obtaining the Infernal Heavens. However, the man didn't say a word back then.
At that time, he thought the man was merely a guard or a servant of Elder Sang.
After he had come to the Spiritual Library Division many times, Xu Xiaoshou realized that he was wrong about the man.
This man was definitely not simple.
A man like him, who had been hiding in the Spiritual Library Division and never showed his face outside, had to be a very powerful swordsman like those monks who swept the leaves on the ground in the temples.
He hadn't seen the man even once when Saint Servant came twice before.
The man acted like he was an outsider and would never interfere in the world's affairs.
Now, he had taken the initiative to speak.
It was rather strange. Xu Xiaoshou wondered, "Did he try and let me know of his existence?"
"Do you have any orders for me, Sir?" Xu Xiaoshou reviewed his question carefully and still couldn't wrap his head around it.
The carving knife was making cracking sounds as the man worked on the purple command token.
It was deadly silent for dozens of seconds before the thought, the explicit and symbolic meaning of which couldn't be fathomed, appeared in Xu Xiaoshou's mind again.
"Where to?"
The corners of Xu Xiaoshou's mouth twitched, thinking that he had come up with such two words after pondering about it for so long.
"To the outside." He pointed to the door of the Spiritual Library Division, indicating that he would like to leave the place.
Even if this man was an important figure, the man had nothing to do with him. Xu Xiaoshou didn't expect that the man would offer him some significant instructions or gifts after having a good impression of him.
There was no need for it. He might turn out to be a source of trouble.
He had waited for a long time again without any answer. Xu Xiaoshou felt a chill created by the cold sweat on his back.
He wondered, "Is it possible that I replied to him in the wrong manner?"
As expected, the important figures always treated their words like gold and didn't say much, letting others guess.
Xu Xiaoshou had no choice but to think about the man's two questions.
"Are you going out?"
"Where to?"
It was obvious that he was going to leave the Spiritual Library Division. It was really redundant to ask the questions.
But, the man didn't ask about the immediate departure.
Rather, he asked about the agreement of meeting Mu Zixi in 10 days, as requested by Elder Sang.
Xu Xiaoshou was a bit shocked and waited again for a long time. He decided the man still had no intention to speak, so he added, "I'll go out to Tiansang County."
The man's hand holding the carving knife paused for a moment before he resumed carving.
"Go ahead." The two simple and short words came out in the form of thought.
Xu Xiaoshou instantly felt annoyed.
Judging by the situation, this man had obviously forgotten about him earlier.
This man seemed to be mentally sick. The man had stopped him for nothing and then forgot about him after asking two nonsensible questions.
"I..."
Xu Xiaoshou felt like complaining with nasty words. Fortunately, he stopped himself from doing so at a critical moment.
He stared at the man's fingers, trying to see what he was carving. Yet, the scene he wanted to see was a blur.
He couldn't even see it through his perception.
"Is he really an important figure?" he wondered.
He moved his line of sight upward and landed on the man's neck. Xu Xiaoshou fell silent.
He saw a hideous huge wound on the man's neck through the blur, which was right on the aorta.
Even though it had healed, the scar was still quite shocking to see.
Based on this scar that covered almost half of the neck, one could tell how much suffering he had experienced.
Judging by the severity of the injury, his neck was almost broken. How could he recover from it?
"He must be dangerous. I can't complain in front of him, and I'd better stay away from him!"
Thinking of all this, Xu Xiaoshou swallowed his testy words and said while clasping his hands, "Farewell, Sir."
Having said that, he pushed open the door and walked out while facing the sunshine.
...
Pah!
The wooden door didn't shut completely. A moving conical hat appeared in the shadow.
Elder Sang leaned against the door with a dark and expressionless face. He had watched the man carving for a long while before saying, "Didn't this old man tell you to leave?"
"Phew!"
The man stopped his hand movements and blew at the purple command token. He didn't lift his head until he blew away the wood chips.
He had a pair of muddy eyes that were completely blended with the gloomy and blurry environment.
He cracked a smile and said in a hoarse voice, "I have to see what my half-disciple looks like after he settles down."
Elder Sang burst out in anger and growled, "That is this old man's disciple, and he has nothing to do with you!"
Whoosh!
The man did not speak a word. He pierced a hole on the top of the command token with his finger like a sword.
The moment the hole appeared, the command token gave out a purple light. It shone on the faces of the two men, who had different expressions.
Elder Sang remained silent for a long while looking at the sword finger. He then mockingly said, "It's useless to carve this thing. Do you think you will be respected by others like it was decades ago?"
"It will always come in handy." The man smiled and didn't retort. All he did was to set the purple command token face down on the table.
Dang!
The glowing purple light provided some brightness to this gloomy corner of the room.
Elder Sang lowered his line of sight and saw the pattern on it.
It was a vividly carved naked woman with a graceful body and charming form.
Anyone would have felt pity for her, especially when they saw the woman sobbing while holding her knees with her head lowered.
Anyone would generate an eerie feeling about the picture when they saw the heavy shackles chained to her limbs.
The chains extended and disappeared at the borders of the token as if they were rooted from the bottom of the earth, incarcerating human beings as their nature.
There was a long silence. Even the sound of breathing in this environment appeared noisy.
Finally, the man pushed the door open and walked out, letting out a hoarse sigh to break through the darkness.
"I'm also leaving. You'd better think about it carefully. Coming back or not, it's still the same answer…"
"Either a saint or a servant for the rest of life!"