The light of the sword is like the moon reflecting on Kyushu

Chapter 2141 The Old Man's Secret
The young man laughed and said, "You can't stump me! Do you think you're the only one who's been to the Central Plains? The only one who understands Han Chinese Taoist classics? I have a Han Chinese master!" A gasp of surprise immediately rose from the crowd!

A master is not someone that just anyone can befriend!
The young people seemed to find a sense of existence, or even a sense of superiority, under the envious gazes of others, and were particularly excited!

He glanced at the old man sideways.

In fact, he really disliked this old man! He even harbored hatred towards him!

I thought this old man had disappeared and I wasn't going to bother him anymore, but he's back to his habit of being a know-it-all, and he's successfully caught my attention!

This old man definitely wouldn't recognize me! Come to think of it, the last time they met was over ten years ago!
The Tibetans have lived on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for generations, and very few of them have ever been to the Central Plains. Therefore, young people are particularly envious and even admiring of those who have been to the Central Plains!

Those who returned from the Central Plains never disappointed. They always brought back all sorts of novelties. They would also tell everyone interesting rumors and even their own adventure stories. Although everyone knew that these stories might be exaggerated and contained a lot of embellishment, everyone still listened with great interest!

When he was young, this old man was fortunate enough to be selected by his master to join the tea and horse caravan. He traveled back and forth between the Central Plains and Tibet with his master many times. Over the years, he gained a lot of knowledge and experience. So every time he returned to Tibet, he would show off and boast. Over time, he became a famous "know-it-all"!
He gradually developed a habit of being a know-it-all and liked to show off his knowledge to others!
The old man frowned slightly and looked the young man up and down again. "You have a Han Chinese master? You... are you a nobleman?" Commoners have difficulty even eating, let alone hiring a master, let alone a Han Chinese master. How could an ordinary family covet such a thing?

The young man laughed and said, "I'm not a nobleman, I'm a commoner."

A hint of surprise flashed in the old man's eyes. "A commoner? How can a commoner afford a master?"

The young man kept referring to himself as "Master" rather than "Teacher," indicating that his identity was far from simple! A "Teacher" only teaches literacy, while a "Master" may teach a wide range of skills, including literature, martial arts, or other abilities!
The young man laughed and said, "I didn't pay any money to become an apprentice! On the contrary, my master gave my family quite a lot of money!"

The old man frowned, somewhat displeased, and said, "Young man, boasting is not a good habit!"

The young man didn't respond, but simply chuckled and said, "My master is a Taoist priest. He's chivalrous, kind-hearted, compassionate, and always ready to help others! He not only saved my life, but also changed the fate of my whole family!"

Defying fate?

The people around immediately became interested and asked, "Who is your master? He's so powerful!"

"Brother? Could you introduce me to your master?"

"brother……"

The young man waved his hand and laughed, "My master is always low-key and doesn't want me to reveal his name. Sorry everyone!"

A collective sigh of regret immediately arose from the crowd.

The old man suddenly felt a sense of crisis! Judging from the young man's imposing manner, he was probably well-versed in the Tao Te Ching. If he could use his eloquence to refute him, wouldn't he be publicly humiliated?
No! We can't give him a chance to speak!

The old man made up his mind and was about to change the subject when the young man gave him a strange smile and spoke first: "The name that can be named is a saying from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching."

The old man's heart sank, a sense of foreboding washing over him. He was about to retort and change the subject when a man of similar age to the young man suddenly struck him hard, asking, "Brother, what is the *Tao Te Ching*? Is it very powerful?" The old man felt a sharp pain in his chest. This unexpected move, though unintentional, seemed deliberate to him.
The young man said, "It's a classic text similar to the 'Infinite Life Sutra,' or even more important!" The questioner's eyes lit up immediately, "Could you give me a copy sometime?"

The young man suddenly turned to look at the old man and said with a smile, "Everyone, don't change the subject yet. I haven't answered his question yet!"

The old man's face immediately darkened; he knew he couldn't get past this hurdle. "I was just testing you casually. Since you know the meaning, there's no need to say more, lest we waste everyone's time. The excitement is over, everyone can go home." He turned to turn away, but the young man immediately shouted, "Hey! What do you mean?"

The old man was taken aback, then raised an eyebrow: "What? You're going to stop me? Besides, young man, even if I didn't call you 'hey,' didn't your parents teach you to be humble and polite when you see your elders?"

The young man's smile vanished, and he said solemnly, "Gentlemen! This old man just wanted to test me, so let me ask you, what makes you think you can test me?"

The old man said unhappily, "Young man, what exactly do you want?"

The young man said coldly, "What do I want to do? I should be asking you that! You say you'll test me, and you say you won't, and you don't. What do you take me for? Tell me, what exactly do you want to do?" His voice grew louder and louder, gradually becoming more and more aggressive!
The old man, unable to bear it any longer, shouted, "What kind of attitude is that? Are you taking advantage of my old age?"

The young man sneered, "You can act like you're old and bully the young, but I can't bully you because you're old?"

The old man snorted coldly, "What? You want to hit me?" An invisible ripple seemed to rise from his body!

The young man's pupils contracted, and he immediately said, "You don't need to goad me! You should thank me for having a good master who taught me how to be a person, otherwise you would be in big trouble today!" An invisible ripple even appeared on his body!

The old man sneered, "Oh ho, so your master taught you to respect the elderly and care for the young?"

The young man scoffed, "Is that even a question? My master not only taught me to respect the elderly and care for the young, but also specifically warned me not to boast, not to be a know-it-all, and not to always show off in front of others!"

At this moment, a middle-aged man suddenly frowned and said, "Young man, you've gone too far!" His face clearly showed anger, obviously disapproving of the young man's disrespectful attitude towards the elder!

The young man laughed, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I almost angered everyone! It's my fault!" But he wouldn't let the old man off so easily. He turned and chuckled, "Names are the foundation of human relations! In the past, the Duke of Zhou established rites and defined the names of 'Son of Heaven' and 'Lords,' thus stopping the chaos of war—if the Way cannot be named, how can the Nine Tripods be erected?"

Everyone was completely baffled because the young man had suddenly started speaking Chinese, and they had no idea what he was saying.

The old man was taken aback! He knew the young man could speak Chinese, and he knew that the other man must have been well-versed in the Tao Te Ching and would definitely quote from it to show off his knowledge, but he never expected that the young man would actually say such a thing!

The young man sneered, "What? Stunned? Heh! Have you seen the Yellow River? Calling it a 'river' is no longer referring to the water flowing through the lines of your palm; it's—a name that can be named has already killed the living water!"

The old man frowned and couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean?" The young man smiled contemptuously, "I knew you wouldn't understand! You actually dared to test me, how shameless!"

Suddenly, snowflakes began to fall from the sky!
Everyone looked up and saw that thick clouds had gathered in the sky!
The old man remained expressionless and coldly said, "Without a name, there is chaos! If this place is nameless, how can we establish ourselves and discuss the Dao?" He was speaking in Chinese, and the people around him were equally confused.

The young man stretched out his right hand, snow falling from his palm: "Do you see the character '地' (earth) on the snow?"

The old man angrily pointed at the snowflakes dancing in the sky: "Is this snow the 'Tao'?"

The young man said, "It is indeed your finger that points to snow!"

The old man said, "Is the Way found in the cut sleeve?"

The young man laughed and pointed to the sky: "When you asked, I had already ascended to the highest heavens."

The two seemed to be talking to themselves, giving irrelevant answers, and appeared calm on the surface, but in reality they had already exchanged several blows!

Both of them were secretly alarmed!

The old man already knew the young man knew martial arts, after all, he had a Han Chinese Taoist master, so the probability of him not knowing how to fight was extremely low! But what truly surprised him was that the young man's martial arts skills were actually quite good!

The young man naturally knew that the old man knew martial arts, but he also did not expect that the old man's martial arts skills were actually higher than he had imagined! It was completely different from the combat power level he had expected!
This old guy always loves to brag, but I never expected his martial arts skills to be so genuine! He's actually at the peak of the ninth realm!

The two moved so fast, one attacking and the other defending, both with very subtle movements that no one could have noticed!

The young man's eyes flickered as he stared at the old man for a long time before slowly saying, "You're old." Although the two hadn't actually made contact, the young man had ultimately figured out the old man's strength! Youth has its advantages! Although the old man and the young man were both at the peak of the ninth realm, if they were to fight to the death, the longer the fight dragged on, the more obvious the old man's defeat would become!
The old man sighed, "Yes! I'm old!" You can't deny getting old!

The young man said, "When you get old, you should enjoy your retirement." His intention to force the issue was extremely clear!

Others were puzzled, while only a few astute individuals seemed to understand, sensing that the two were vying for something, perhaps some kind of power!
The old man sighed, "I can step down, but if you want to take over, the decision isn't up to me."

Both of them were speaking Chinese, and no one knew what they were saying.

The young man laughed, “I know your three adopted sons all want to take over, so they will definitely join forces against me first! But I can tell you frankly that most of the underground forces in Qingtang City are now in my hands! And now that the Zanpu has fled, and the government troops are watching from the sidelines, if nothing unexpected happens, that white-robed youth is on his way to the Dai family. He will most likely wipe out all six major families in Qingtang City. There won’t be a single person in Qingtang City who can provide manpower and resources for your three adopted sons. What can they use to fight me?”

The old man's expression froze, as if he had aged several years, and he sighed, "Who exactly is your master?"

The young man scoffed, "Are you senile? You've forgotten so quickly? I already said, it's not convenient to reveal it!"

The old man froze, his face turning ashen!

He roared, "Boy! I'm old! Not dead!" He was like a tiger in its twilight years, old but still full of vigor!

The young man sneered, "Ten years ago, you killed my uncle's entire family. If my parents hadn't died young, we'd have an additional blood feud! My uncle treated me like his own son, and I considered him my own father! The hatred for killing my uncle is irreconcilable! You want me to be polite to my enemy? Are you all insane?! Don't you have any idea how many despicable things you've done for those big lords and lamas?! Robbery, sexual assault, you dare say you haven't done it? You've done plenty! What are you pretending for in front of me?" His tone shifted, his loud voice suddenly becoming low, "You think I don't know where you're from?"

The old man was startled, his fists clenched tightly, as if he wanted to kill the other man with a single punch!
However, firstly, he was not entirely confident that he could defeat his enemy in one move, and secondly, he did not want to reveal his secret of being a Uyghur too early in public!
He had been infiltrating Tibet since childhood, and began to establish a branch of Manichaeism in Tibet when he was twenty years old!
The Tibetan dynasty only believed in Bon and Buddhism and rejected other religions, so even if its Manichaeism was renamed the Bull God Religion, it could only operate in secret and dared not openly.

Therefore, the leader of the Tibetan branch of Manichaeism, a dignified sect, could only be reduced to the "leader" of an "underground force"!
He went all in, using his "underground identity" to monopolize the violent industries in Qing Tang City! Yes, violence, not profiteering! All the things that major families and temples couldn't do openly, anything involving the use of force, were handed over to them!

The old man was working so hard not only to keep his Uyghur identity a secret, but more importantly, to establish a foothold and cultivate good relations with the powerful and influential. In addition to potentially realizing his dream of building a Manichaean temple in Tibetan territory, he could also gather relevant intelligence for the Uyghurs!
The old man said in Chinese, "Alright, I admit defeat!"

The young man said, "If your three adopted sons know what's good for them, they'll leave Qing Tang. Otherwise, you can collect their corpses! You can leave now!"

The old man was taken aback. "You don't want revenge anymore?"

The young man said arrogantly, "Revenge can be taken anytime! I'm letting you go so you can deliver a message!" Subduing the enemy without fighting is the ultimate strategy! If the old man can go back and eliminate three rivals for me, what's wrong with letting him go for now?

The old man left.

The young man looked in the direction of the Mo family's residence, where flames were rising and thick smoke was billowing. He couldn't help but sigh, "Is the Mo family really finished like this?"

Some people wanted to pester him to tell them a story, but he laughed and said, "I have something to do, we'll talk about it next time." Then he ran away as if he were fleeing.

When they were still seventy feet away from the Dai family's gate, three figures suddenly appeared on the tower!

"Cutting and dyeing?"

Bai Lian softly translated, "Who goes there?"

Feng Jiuxiao asked, "How do you say 'I am your father' in Tibetan?"

Bai Lian paused slightly, then laughed and said, "Take a debt from your father!"

Feng Jiuxiao immediately shouted loudly, "Take Yide, Father!"