Chapter 123: Chapter 97 Opportunity Knocks at the Door
“Go hide in the room and don’t come out unless it’s necessary!”
After instructing Sun Qiang, Zhang Xuan turned and walked towards the door to open it.
Standing before him were the Liu Clan head, Liu Tianzheng, and a strange young man. The latter was about the same age as himself, with a shadow of gloominess between his brows, clearly someone difficult to get along with.
Regardless, whether they were easy to get along with had little to do with him. Zhang Xuan clasped his hands in greeting, “If the Liu Clan head is here to persuade Liu Mingyue to return home again, you should look for her directly. Coming to me is pointless.”
Liu Tianzheng shook his head, “Teacher Zhang, you misunderstand. My visit isn’t for that matter. This friend heard about you and has come especially to seek your advice on some matters.”
Zhang Xuan looked puzzled. What could he possibly be asked to advise on?
He had always kept a low profile since the beginning of his cultivation, so after a moment’s hesitation, he shook his head, “I’m sorry, but if it’s just for something minor, please leave. I am quite busy today and probably won’t have the time!”
As if expecting such a response, Liu Tianzheng took out a stack of Origin Notes from his pocket and handed them over, “Teacher Zhang, don’t rush to refuse. It was my fault to insist on taking Mingyue away today and to act against you, and for that, I sincerely apologize. I also hope to show understanding towards a father’s heart. This time, not knowing what you like, I have prepared 50,000 Origin Notes as an expression of my apology…”
“Do you think this money can make me accept your questions?”
Zhang Xuan frowned but then nodded, “Yes, I can!”
Taking the Origin Notes and counting exactly fifty thousand, he happily stuffed them into his pocket.
With a smile plastered on his face, Zhang Xuan welcomed them, “Liu Clan head, and this friend, please come inside!”
As the World’s Teacher, dignity is undoubtedly of the utmost importance, but that doesn’t mean one should forsake money for the sake of dignity, right?
“The teacher’s residence has no living room, and the rooms inside are a bit dim. Why don’t we just sit here?”
A few steps later, Zhang Xuan stopped at an octagonal pavilion in the courtyard, called out, and took the lead in sitting down.
After taking a glance at the young man beside him and seeing no objection, Liu Tianzheng breathed a sigh of relief, waited for the young man to be seated, and then followed suit.
It was just a slight movement, but Zhang Xuan had confirmed two things.
First, the identity of this young man was much higher than that of Liu Tianzheng. The latter wouldn’t dare sit before his guest did, which was clearly a sign of respect.
The heads of Baiyan City’s Three Premier Clans, who dared to argue with School Head Lu and didn’t show much respect even when meeting City Lord Yu, was now showing this attitude towards the young man before him… This young man must be someone extraordinary!
Secondly, there must be something off about himself that the other party had noticed and wanted to investigate. Since catching sight of him, the young man’s eyes had never left him, seemingly trying to find out something.
Fortunately, the Heaven’s Path Divine Art could conceal his aura. His cultivation level, cultivation t.chniques, and the pathways of his zhenqi flow, not to mention the other party, even someone with the strength of City Lord Yu wouldn’t be able to tell if he didn’t wish to reveal them.
“Probably the match with the Liu Clan head made him sense something was amiss, but I’ve already thought of an excuse in advance…”
Just three days ago, he was only a common coachman, yet today he was exchanging moves with the Liu Clan head, even defeating him. It would be strange if the other party didn’t find that suspicious.
This person likely came for that reason as well.
“If only I had some Heavenly Mandate Vitality left, I could have used the Library to find out his background…”
These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, but Zhang Xuan’s face did not show much emotion as he asked directly, “The Liu Clan head’s friend here, he looks somewhat unfamiliar. I seem to have never seen him before in Baiyan City…”
Liu Tianzheng smiled, “This is Lord Xu Xin from the capital. He heard that Teacher Zhang Xuan not only became an honorary elder of the Chen Clan at a young age but also teaches quite extraordinarily. That is why he took the liberty of coming to meet you…”
“The capital?”
Forming a preliminary judgment in his mind, Zhang Xuan provided an explanation, “The Liu Clan head flatters me too much! Teaching is like a chef cooking—whether or not the students want to listen depends on their tastes. Perhaps my classes just happen to suit their fancy, leading her to not want to return home for a short period of time. As time goes by, she will naturally come to understand your good intentions.”
As a master teacher, one must not only have knowledge impartation skills but also handle the relationships between students and their parents. Such all-purpose rhetoric had long been honed to perfection.
The bottom line was, don’t offend anyone and muddle through for now.
As for whether Liu Mingyue would ignore you in the future, that’s between you and your daughter and has nothing to do with me. I won’t interfere.
“Ah, that…” Suddenly at a loss for words, Liu Tianzheng actually found it to make a lot of sense.
Zhang Xuan continued, “As for being an honorary elder at the Chen Estate, it’s just that I’m naturally skilled at Horse Taming, just a talent, nothing extraordinary and not worth mentioning…”
“That’s not right!”
Liu Tianzheng interjected, “Baiyan City has no shortage of people skilled in Horse Taming. Not to mention others, Zhou Qun is an expert in this art. Whether Suxiang or Dao Li, all have been trained by him. Why didn’t Patriarch Chen hire him, but instead hired you? What’s more, people like Zhou Qun respect you immensely and are even willing to become your disciples.”
“Well…”
Zhang Xuan was at a loss for words when Xu Xin, who had been silent, spoke leisurely, “Horse Taming is just a minor skill. After all, it’s just horses. No matter how obedient they’re trained to be, what can it really amount to… Thank you!”
Before the words were finished, a teapot was lifted from the table and water was poured full into his cup, followed by another pour for Liu Tianzheng, sitting not far away.
As he picked up the tea to take a sip, Liu Tianzheng stopped him with a strange look on his face, “Lord Xu…”
“What’s the matter?”
Xu Xin was about to scold when he suddenly realized and looked up, nearly dropping his teacup.
He saw a fine horse, holding a kettle in its mouth, going around pouring water for them… Seeing him look over, a pair of large eyes revealed a smile, while nodding to return the greeting…
His eyelid twitched, and he hurriedly looked at the young man opposite him, only to see his face was equally upset, somewhat angry, “The tea is cold, don’t you know to heat some up? How is this any way to treat a guest?”
“Neigh, Neigh~~”
The horse retreated with an embarrassed face, trotted all the way to the kitchen, and skillfully added firewood to the pot to boil water.
“???” Xu Xin was dumbfounded.
Pouring tea and boiling water, if the other party wasn’t so big and robust, he might really suspect a cultivator was wearing a horse’s skin…
“Do you call this… ‘nothing unusual’?” Xu Xin couldn’t hold back any longer.
He’d heard of old horses that knew the way, of horses that recognized their masters, of those that could help their masters block arrows and slay enemies… But it was the first time he’d seen a horse that could serve as a subordinate.
He thought that the other party’s Horse Taming Techniques only made the horse obedient, and he didn’t think much of it. After all this time, your so-called “nothing unusual, not worth mentioning,” is this creature?
“We don’t have any subordinates at home, so we can only let it do the work… Besides, this horse was tamed by the Liu Clan and was resold to me two days ago as an Apprentice Gift. I’m not too clear about why it’s so capable,” Zhang Xuan prevaricated.
“Is that so?” Xu Xin looked over.
“Indeed, this Dao Li was sold to Zhang laoshi just the other day!” Liu Tianzheng did not dare to lie.
Xu Xin asked, “Is it like this in the Liu Clan as well? Can it also boil water and pour tea?”
Liu Tianzheng shook his head quickly, “That’s not the case!”
When Dao Li was with his family, it was treated like the elderly patriarch, requiring devoted care, and he had never heard of it taking care of others.
Zhang Xuan said, “Then I guess the Liu Clan head didn’t completely tame it. Once done, not to mention a horse, even a monkey could dress itself, cook meals… I just let it boil water and pour tea, which is nothing special.”
“That makes sense…”
Xu Xin and Liu Tianzheng exchanged glances, and though they still felt something was amiss, it was no longer so shocking.
Some powerful animals with high intelligence, and mighty Primordial Beasts could almost resemble humans, capable of doing anything and even understanding etiquette and decorum. This one, even though just a horse, might be able to learn after being taught a few more times.
Knowing it was pointless to keep dwelling on this issue, Xu Xin looked over curiously, “I heard from the Liu Clan head that Zhang laoshi’s cultivation wasn’t considered high three days ago. Yet now, you can hold your own in a fight against him. I wonder… how do you train?”
Seeing that the question had indeed been raised, Zhang Xuan sighed and showed a trace of embarrassment on his face, “Actually… I started practicing a long time ago, but due to an awkward identity, I never showed it. Now I am fortunate to have been employed by School Head Lu as a teacher, so naturally, there’s no need to hide anymore.”
If he couldn’t possibly have such cultivation in such a short span of time, then he’d just adjust the timeline further back.
Since he kept a low profile as a coachman, and even further back… there was no Source World, so even if someone wanted to investigate, they’d find nothing.
“You’ve been practicing for a long time?”
Xu Xin and the Liu Clan head exchanged looks.
Considering his age, if he started training around the same age as Liu Mingyue, around sixteen or so, being twenty-five or twenty-six years old with such strength indeed wouldn’t be strange.
“Yes!”
Having explained, Zhang Xuan looked puzzled, “Lord Xu asks in such detail, did I do something wrong before, or offend someone, prompting an investigation?”
“Not at all…”
Liu Tianzheng smiled and exchanged a glance with Xu Xin. Upon receiving a nod, he explained, “Actually, Lord Xu is a Life Guardian. He’s here to look for talented individuals to possibly take back to Heaven Mandate Hall for focused nurturing.”
It was definitely not possible to speak outright about the Mandate Chaos Master issue, but mentioning the search for talents would dispel suspicions and serve as a more appropriate excuse.
After speaking, he carefully observed the young man across from him, wanting to see his reaction, but instead of appearing flustered, he only looked puzzled, “Life Guardian… what’s that?”
“A Life Guardian is a Protector of Fate Masters…”
Casually explaining, Liu Tianzheng looked over curiously, “Have you never heard of it before, Zhang laoshi?”
Zhang Xuan shook his head.
“This…”
Seeing him look sincere, not seeming to fake it, Xu Xin frowned.
If he didn’t even know what a Life Guardian was, he couldn’t possibly be the infamous Mandate Chaos Master.
From what he could see, aside from the horse currently boiling water, this person appeared to be very normal with not a single issue!
Could it be that he’d guessed wrong?