113: If we have to rely on juniors, we might as well die.

"Tsk, Senior Sister, you're a perfectly fine Duchess, why aren't you staying comfortably in your ducal manor instead of running to this small place to find me?"

Seeing Rong Luo, Xie Qingfeng inwardly cursed, knowing it was bad.

By the time he reached the carriage and saw his dear Senior Sister, Xie Qingfeng felt a massive headache coming on.

He had originally thought that since he had left the capital and returned to the Northern Territory, Nangong Wumeng would let him be.

But he never expected that on this sudden whim to return to the capital, he would still be tracked down by his Senior Sister.

"Do you really think I can't guess what's on your mind?" Nangong Wumeng gave a disdainful snort.

"I'm afraid that in this lifetime, aside from... oh, never mind."

"Senior Sister, there's no need to dwell on it; it's been so many years, I've long since let it go," Xie Qingfeng shook his head.

"The dead cannot be brought back to life, and it has been several decades, after all. Who can truly spend their entire life guarding a dead person?"

"You, you're just stubborn," Nangong Wumeng sighed.

"Back when the Prince Consort left the Northern Territory, I sent you a letter asking you to come to the capital, or if you preferred, the scenery in Jiangnan is picturesque and the climate is pleasant, making it more suitable for retirement."

"But you, you just had to insist on spending your whole life guarding that frozen wasteland."

"Junior Brother, all these years you've always said, 'Who can spend their whole life guarding a dead person?' but aren't you doing exactly that yourself?"

"If our Little Junior Sister's spirit is in heaven, I'm afraid she wouldn't want to see you like this, would she?"

Xie Qingfeng hung his head, and a flash of sorrow passed through his already somewhat clouded eyes.

"Forget it, you never want to talk about it. If it hadn't been for the instructions Master gave you on his deathbed all those years ago, I fear that the next time I saw you, it would only be your corpse." Nangong Wumeng didn't want to bring this up again.

"Now, the one you care about most is your Disciple. He is determined to deal with that old thief, and I fear he will sooner or later come into direct conflict with that Thieving Daoist. Given your temperament, how could you possibly let him be?"

"Senior Sister, what is that person's background exactly?" Xie Qingfeng couldn't help but be curious.

"You mentioned it to me when I left the capital—someone who defected from the School... Tsk, given the nature of the School, how could they possibly let him live so peacefully?"

"Because they can't beat him, what else?" Nangong Wumeng said bluntly.

"This person had extremely high martial arts talent back then. If we are talking about his cultivation and skills at that time, I'm afraid that apart from the Sect Leader at the time, no one in the School could suppress him. Otherwise, they wouldn't have let him run around for so many years."

"I knew it. Given the nature of the School, how could they just sit by and do nothing?" Xie Qingfeng frowned.

"Senior Sister, what do you reckon my chances of winning are if I face him?"

"You're really going to fight him?" Nangong Wumeng rolled her eyes at him.

"Now that your Disciple is married and has even joined my family, you can rest easy and go die in peace, right?"

"Look at you, always so harsh. Only my Senior Brother-in-law could put up with you!" Xie Qingfeng muttered discontentedly.

"If my Disciple can't beat him, if I, his master, don't step in, then who will?"

"Oh, give it a rest. Over the years, many people have come to the Northern Territory to challenge you by name. Ever since you took in the Prince Consort, no one has dared to show up anymore. Your hands have been itching for a fight for a long time, right?"

"Hey, you're really wrong, Senior Sister. After I took in Yingqi, it's not like the blind idiots went extinct, right?" Xie Qingfeng chuckled.

"Guess why I didn't step in? And guess why those people stopped coming to the Northern Territory later on?"

"You have the nerve to tell me this?" Mentioning this, Nangong Wumeng's eyes widened.

"Making your eight- or nine-year-old Disciple hold a blade to chase people away—can't you learn something good from Master?"

Xie Qingfeng was grinning on the outside, but on the inside, he was about to curse.

Now you're lecturing me? Isn't it just because if Mo Yingqi had suffered any mishap back then, you would have lost your precious grandson-in-law?

You have the nerve to criticize me? You even did that to your own granddaughter. She wasn't even a few years old when you made her spar with adult experts, the kind where they fight to kill.

Their School has only had one rule from ancient times to the present: real combat is the best teacher.

No matter how much a master teaches on ordinary days, it's not as good as risking one's life with real blades and guns against an opponent.

Therefore, whether it was Nangong Wumeng or Xie Qingfeng, both highly advocated teaching through real combat.

And the reason why no one went to the Northern Territory to harass Xie Qingfeng later on was largely because this old guy was too lazy to deal with them and pushed the still-childish Mo Yingqi out to handle it.

"Just go ahead and fight; Master will back you up, I guarantee you won't die!"

Precious as he was, anyone who could kick Mo Yingqi into the Northern Territory mountain forests from a young age would know just how... unreliable this master was.

Fortunately, Mo Yingqi wasn't an ordinary person. Having experienced family tragedies, Mo Yingqi's heart had become extremely cold and ruthless.

An eight- or nine-year-old child holding a blade would slash anyone who came to challenge him. If these people couldn't even beat a child, who would have the nerve to stay and challenge the child's master?

Later on, Mo Yingqi even killed a few people. From then on, these so-called martial arts experts dared not go to the Northern Territory to court disaster.

After all, by comparison, these people only had a little bit of skill to rely on. Let alone Xie Qingfeng, they weren't even in the same realm as Mo Yingqi.

"That's not important, Senior Sister. What's important is that if I really do fight that person, I hope I can do so without being disturbed." Xie Qingfeng laughed and changed the subject.

"Tsk, otherwise, Senior Sister, you have wide connections and know many people. You can send someone to write a letter to the Quanzhen Sect, asking them to send someone to clean up their own house. I can assist from the sidelines."

"It's useless; it's not like I haven't asked." Nangong Wumeng's eyes flashed with disgust when she heard Xie Qingfeng's words.

"There's a reason why the current Quanzhen Sect is not as good as the Longhu Mountain. Although both are Daoist sects and are generally unwilling to enter the secular world, the successors of Longhu Mountain have never been ambiguous about what they ought to do."

"The current Sect Leader of the School is the Thieving Daoist's Junior Brother. Perhaps he was too afraid of his Senior Brother when he was young. Now, so many years later, when I asked him if he could send Quanzhen Disciples to help clean up their own house, he actually spouted some nonsense about 'governing by non-interference' and that 'inaction is the teaching of Daoism.'"

"Heh, cowardly is cowardly; no matter how much he says, it's just cowardice. Not to mention that the Quanzhen Sect has closed its doors for many years and rarely moves about in the martial arts world. I fear the caliber of their Disciples is hardly up to the task. What use would it be to really let them come? To be a laughingstock or to leave their lives behind?"

"If you ask me, the Quanzhen Sect might as well give up martial arts, peacefully chant their scriptures, and cultivate their Dao. Perhaps one day they will truly move the heavens and ascend to the upper realm—it's not impossible. The affairs of this martial arts world are too ugly and filthy. How can the Quanzhen Daoists, who are so ethereal and refined, easily step into the mortal world? Don't dirty their Daoist robes or insult their integrity."

Hearing Nangong Wumeng's rapid-fire nagging, Xie Qingfeng couldn't help but click his tongue: "Isn't that a bit too harsh, Senior Sister? If they really are cowards and won't come out, and they wait for that Old Daoist Priest to die of old age or sickness, that's their business..."

"It is their business, but the situation is different now, isn't it?" Nangong Wumeng said, her voice rising a little.

"He is making my grandson-in-law unhappy now. If he is unhappy, my granddaughter is unhappy. If my granddaughter is unhappy, my husband is unhappy. That old thief Zhou Chutian really knows how to look out for himself. A man who has already lost his son—I don't know what he's still fighting for. Wouldn't it be better if he just went to die?"

"Tsk, how did I never notice you were so unreasonable in the past?" Xie Qingfeng was given such a headache by his Senior Sister's nagging.

"Besides, it seems like I'm the one who will be fighting, right? Even if you wanted to fight, I wouldn't let you. It's not easy to run into such a tough nut to crack, and my old bones should get a good workout."

"Tell me, Qingfeng, you really aren't keeping anything from me?" Nangong Wumeng suddenly looked at him, her gaze sharp yet filled with suspicion.

"You didn't consult me about this matter. Partridge Sky has eyes everywhere, and it's not like you don't know the rules or don't know how to find them. Yet you didn't tell me a single thing and just suddenly returned to the capital..."

"I haven't, Senior Sister. Aren't you overthinking it?" Xie Qingfeng waved his hand in denial.

"I'm at my age, what could possibly be going on?"

"I just feel that if we old folks don't step up to solve this mess, are we really going to let those juniors handle it? The world belongs to the young now. If these old bones of mine can still be of some use, I suppose this will be the time, right?"