Chapter 1649 - 615: Taking a Master (3)
"So I really did trick it out of you."
Yang Xiaoyun glanced at Su Mo and gave a helpless smile.
Fang Jie was still a teenager after all; his temperament really was a bit simple.
The complexity he was barely managing to put on now, no doubt was still roused by hatred.
Otherwise, in the Jianghu, how could one not train in martial arts properly and instead run off to study books?
Did he think the sage’s teachings could protect a corner of peace in this chaotic Jianghu?
With a child this pure, how could he possibly be a match for Su Mo?
She cast a glance at the smile on Su Mo’s face and couldn’t help feeling a bit helpless.
Dignified Nanhai Supreme, yet he was this pleased with himself teasing a child.
Sometimes he looked so shrewd and deep-thinking, and now he was actually this childish.
Su Mo had no idea his beloved wife was silently complaining; he only smiled lightly:
"In truth, I didn’t know. But now I do."
"You..."
For a moment Fang Jie didn’t know what to do.
He had been clutching this one bit of information, hoping Su Mo would introduce him to a famed master.
That was what they had agreed on beforehand.
Yet now, with a slight trick, Su Mo had stripped him of all his bargaining chips. Like this, on what basis could he go and become someone’s disciple?
What was more, if Su Mo spread the news that he was Young Master of Nong Yue Villa, who knew whether that Blood Lotus Sect might come to silence him!?
At this thought, he became anxious and uneasy all at once.
He subconsciously drew a Short Blade from the back of his waist, swept his gaze around, and then froze in place.
He wanted to run, but he knew that everyone around Su Mo were experts; with his meager ability, he couldn’t even run in front of them.
His only hope was to seize on the fact that Su Mo didn’t know martial arts.
He had a blade in hand, and Su Mo was within arm’s reach.
If he used this as leverage, maybe there was still a way out.
But although he hated Su Mo for going back on his word, he couldn’t bring himself to strike him.
After all, he was a lad raised on the classics, a man of benevolence and righteousness at heart.
Though Su Mo had his own agenda, he had never harmed him in the slightest so far; how could he treat Su Mo like this?
For a time he was torn, his eyes reddened, and he actually burst into tears.
Everyone stood around watching him cry.
The youth stood there with blade in hand, utterly alone, his eyes brimming with tears. He clenched his teeth, trying to hold it back, but his body kept trembling.
This weakness made Fang Jie hate his own uselessness.
Su Mo tilted his head and looked at him:
"You’re standing here bawling with a knife in your hand—does that make crying feel better?"
"...You!"
Fang Jie couldn’t help glaring at Su Mo:
"And to think I trusted you so much, actually believed you would find me a master.
"So I could learn some real skills and avenge my family.
"Never thought you’d deceive me instead...
"Damn it, why didn’t the books teach me that people’s hearts are unpredictable and the Jianghu is perilous?
"I actually misjudged a villain, and as a result... as a result I’ve fallen into such a hopeless situation again."
When he thought of his parents’ tragic deaths, of his sister’s uncertain fate, of that garden full of corpses, of those who fought to their last breath to protect him...
Fang Jie only wished he could just die and be done with it.
Yet he also understood that if he died, then the people who had protected his life with their own would have died for nothing.
Just then he heard Su Mo speak:
"Then, Young Master Fang, let me ask you.
"Suppose I find you a master who teaches you martial arts—when do you think you’ll have mastered anything?"
Fang Jie was taken aback and answered instinctively:
"I don’t know."
"Then you should at least know how long your sister has been taken away, right?"
"...Half a year."
"In this half year, do you know what she’s been going through?"
"...I don’t know. I don’t dare think about it."
"Then I’ll tell you. You don’t know martial arts, you haven’t the slightest foundation.
"To go from nothing to something will take at least ten years, unless you practice some Demon Technique, take a crooked path and advance rapidly—but that may twist your nature and make you bloodthirsty.
"Even so, it would still take two or three years before you achieved anything.
"Your sister Fang Hongying has already been taken for half a year. Wait another two or three years...
"You don’t even dare imagine what she’s suffering now—by then, will you dare imagine it?"
Fang Jie’s face went pale. He gritted his teeth and said:
"Then what else can I do?"
"There’s a great deal you can do."
Su Mo waved his hand lightly:
"Have you never thought that a sect as cruel as the Blood Lotus Sect would have no enemies?
"You may not know martial arts, but do you think those people can’t fight?
"Since you have a clue, when you encounter enemies of the Blood Lotus Sect, you should hurry up and tell them.
"Let them go and cause trouble for Blood Lotus Sect.
"Even if you don’t encounter them... then spread the word through the Jianghu that Blood Lotus Sect and Jingxin Hall are colluding.
"Even if no one believes you at first, as long as that news starts to circulate...
"It will eventually reach the ears of Jingxin Hall’s enemies as well as Blood Lotus Sect’s enemies.
"Those who want to make trouble for Jingxin Hall will use the Blood Lotus matter to hold Jingxin Hall to account.
"Those who are after Blood Lotus Sect will go to Jingxin Hall to demand an explanation.
"In this way, even if it doesn’t strike them a heavy blow, it will still keep them too busy to deal with anything else.
"You can also win time for yourself and for your sister and the others, instead of just sitting and waiting, letting things run their course!
"Think about it: ever since Nong Yue Villa was wiped out, in this half year, aside from accompanying a blind old man and running around making trouble, have you done a single thing that actually counts?"
Su Mo’s words were like a ladle of sweet dew poured over the head.
In an instant, Fang Jie saw the light.
"That’s it, that’s it!"
He muttered to himself:
"I may not know martial arts, but not knowing martial arts has its own ways.
"Why did I have to latch onto this one idea?
"This is what I should do... and what I can do right now."
Thinking this, he suddenly looked up at Su Mo, eyes blazing, and then abruptly flung away the Short Blade in his hand.
With a thud, he knelt on the ground:
"Brother Wu, I beg you, please take me as your disciple!!"
This scene was truly a bit unexpected.
Everyone looked at each other, and in the end all eyes landed on Su Mo.
Su Mo smiled faintly:
"What are you doing? Did you forget I don’t know martial arts?"
"I know you don’t know martial arts, but you understand the treacherous ways of the human heart.
"Otherwise, you couldn’t have so many experts willing to risk their lives for you.
"What I want to learn from you is precisely that. Please accept me as your disciple!"
At this point, Fang Jie gave a resounding kowtow, his forehead hitting the ground.
Su Mo could only click his tongue again and again; somehow it didn’t sound like a compliment.