Gou Han Shi returned the gesture with a nod.
The door to the Tower of Purging Dust opened, Liang Ban Hu walked out, behind him by a single step was Tang Thirty-Six.
It was probably only the difference of a single step.
Both of them had wounds upon their body; the mark of swords evident upon their clothing.
The examiner gave them both a praiseful eye and said: “Li Shan Sword Sect, Liang Ban Hu wins.”
Liang Ban Hu faced Tang Thirty-Six and brought his hands together, his left fingers covering his right, with his palms facing himself; he formally gestured (揖行礼) towards Tang Thirty-Six and then they walked down the stone steps, they respectively headed towards the woodlands and the stream bank.
Tang Thirty-Six was exhausted, maybe due to this, he didn’t want to say anything.
Returning to the woodlands, he sat upon the ground, leaning on a white poplar, his eyes closed.
When Chen Chang Sheng gave him medicine, he only opened his mouth, continuing to refuse to open his eyes.
Xuan Yuan Po walked over to his side, crouching down to look at him; his light stubble filled, yet young looking face was evidently full of worry, he said: “Say something will you.”
Tang Thirty-Six had his eyes shut, choosing to ignore him.
Xuan Yuan Po felt slightly anxious, looked towards Chen Chang Sheng and said: “Is he alright?”
Chen Chang Sheng replied: “He might have been injured a bit heavily by Liang Ban Hu and needs to rest, we shouldn’t disturb him.”
A lot of things in the world are as such, especially for males at the juvenile stage of their lives; when others are concerned for you, you will resist this concern, not wanting to give them any attention, but once those people prepare to leave, you will quickly come to feel lonely, uncomfortable.
Tang Thirty-Six opened his eyes, looked at Chen Chang Sheng and angrily said: “What do you mean ‘injured a bit heavily’? Where am I injured?”
Luo Luo pointed at the parts of his uniform that had been rent open by a sword and then pointed at the faint lines of blood upon his face.
“You call this heavy? You should see that Liang Ban Hu; his leg was almost cut off by me.”