Chapter 1650 - 616: Instruction
Fang Jie knocked his head on the ground, his attitude earnest.
The others all glanced at Su Mo with half-smiles, wanting to see how he would respond.
Fang Jie wanted to learn Heart Skill, but he had no idea that Su Mo’s so-called "not knowing martial arts" was nothing but a lie.
It was just that Su Mo’s martial arts were too profound, and his status far too exalted.
How could he easily take a disciple now?
Yang Xiaoyun, Wei Ziyi, Little Situ and the others could still look at Su Mo with a playful attitude.
But Chen Dinghai and the rest couldn’t help but scrutinize Fang Jie.
Chen Dinghai even furrowed his brow slightly.
Su Mo gave Fang Jie a couple of looks, stood with his hands behind his back, and spoke in a deep voice:
"You want to take me as your master?"
Fang Jie raised his head to look at Su Mo and nodded repeatedly.
"Mm..."
Su Mo gave a slight shake of his head:
"Although I don’t know martial arts, this set of skills of mine, if you truly learned it, might very well be three points more formidable than martial arts.
"How could it be lightly passed on?"
Fang Jie hurriedly said:
"Brother Wu, you... what would it take for you to accept me as your disciple?
"Whatever you ask me to do, I will agree."
"You mean that?"
"Absolutely true!"
"Good."
Su Mo nodded slightly: "In that case, the first thing I want you to do is to make public Jingxin Hall, the Blood Lotus Sect, and your own identity."
"Ah?"
Fang Jie’s heart tightened, but in the end he nodded:
"Yes, I understand. I’ll go out and talk at once."
After he finished speaking, he stood up and was about to head out.
"Not so fast, not so fast."
Su Mo beckoned him back:
"The condition isn’t that simple."
Fang Jie turned his head, looking at Su Mo in confusion.
Su Mo smiled and said:
"First of all, the news that the manor master’s son of Nong Yue Villa is still alive must not let people know it came from you."
"..."
Fang Jie blinked.
"Second, I want the entire Jianghu to know what happened at Nong Yue Villa.
"And what the Blood Lotus Sect did in all of this!"
Hearing this, Fang Jie knit his brows tightly, but still nodded.
Then he heard Su Mo continue:
"Lastly, I want everyone to know that Nong Yue Villa’s Young Master knows a secret about the Blood Lotus Sect.
"But as for what that secret is, no one knows."
Fang Jie stood there, pondering for a long while. Blending these three conditions together, the message to be spread was this.
The Blood Lotus Sect wiped out Nong Yue Villa in a single night, leaving only the Young Master alive by sheer luck, and this Young Master thus came to know a secret of the Blood Lotus Sect.
For a moment, Fang Jie couldn’t figure out why Su Mo wanted to do this.
He couldn’t help but raise his head to look at Su Mo.
He then heard Su Mo say with a smile:
"Go do it first. How you do it is up to you; I’ll have someone assist you. When you stray off the mark, he’ll remind you.
"If you handle this matter well, then we’ll talk about the second condition.
"You need to understand, what you’re going to learn from me is not martial arts.
"What I want to see in you is far more than just talent."
"Yes, Fang Jie understands."
Fang Jie cupped his fists solemnly, and although he still couldn’t quite grasp Su Mo’s purpose in all this for the moment,
it was clearly a move directed at the Blood Lotus Sect and Jingxin Hall.
Both in reason and in feeling, he ought to do as Su Mo instructed.
Su Mo then assigned Chen Dinghai to accompany him.
After the two of them had gone out, Yang Xiaoyun finally looked at Su Mo:
"Rather than us traveling thousands of miles to look for the Blood Lotus Sect, better to have them deliver themselves to our door?"
"Time is tight, the task urgent; we’ll take a risky move."
Su Mo stretched his limbs lightly and cast a glance at Zhen Xiaoxiao:
"Come have dinner with me tonight?"
Zhen Xiaoxiao’s eyes lit up at once: "Where are we eating, and how much?"
"Young Master Xing is treating us, so of course you can eat and drink as you please."
Su Mo smiled.
Zhen Xiaoxiao suddenly understood, and her face broke into a happy grin:
"Then saving this guy wasn’t for nothing!"
...
...
The day passed without incident, and in the blink of an eye it was already dusk.
Fang Jie and Chen Dinghai stepped into the courtyard treading on the evening glow.
Once they came back, they went straight to find Su Mo.
"How did the task go?"
In front of Su Mo were the Four Treasures of the Study. Yang Xiaoyun was grinding ink for him; he dipped his brush and was writing something on the paper.
When he saw Fang Jie, he didn’t even raise his head and casually asked.
Fang Jie bent at the waist and saluted:
"What happened at Nong Yue Villa has already been spread."
"Oh?"
Su Mo gave a small laugh:
"How did you do it?"
"Through a restaurant."
Fang Jie said:
"Places like restaurants, teahouses, and inns are where information spreads the fastest.
"We only need to find a suitable person and tell him what happened.
"Then have him announce it in such venues, and the news will spread throughout Baisui City in an instant.
"After that, it will spread from Baisui City across the Jianghu."
"Hm?"
Su Mo glanced at Fang Jie, then lowered his head again and resumed writing:
"Find a suitable person?"
"That’s right."
Fang Jie nodded:
"In any city there will be busybodies. Such people may be unknown in the Jianghu, yet they are well-informed; what they say is more easily believed."
"Interesting."
Su Mo chuckled:
"So how did you find these well-informed people?"
"Uncle Chen and I went out early in the morning. We didn’t go anywhere else, just to places like teahouses and restaurants.
"We sat quietly all morning, listening in on people’s idle chatter.
"From that we determined whose words people were more inclined to believe.
"At the same time, from their conversations we identified whom the people of Baisui City preferred to approach for news."