Chapter 371: Sealing Gossip
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
Silence!
Kong s.h.i.+ accepting a disciple was a huge matter that could shake the world to its core. Regardless of whether one was a master teacher or not, as long as one was a cultivator, one would surely be so excited to even forget their own names upon receiving such an honor.
Yet, this fellow... rejected it. On top of that, so decisively and affirmatively!
Who can tell me what had happened?
The appearance of a Celestial Master Teacher was already shocking enough... but to reject the offer to become Kong s.h.i.+"s student, this was sufficient to send anyone into a frenzy.
All of the teachers in the Teacher Acknowledgement Hall fell to silence as though something had glued their mouths together. They stared at one another silently despite the huge storm raging in their minds.
This expert, if you don"t want to become Kong s.h.i.+"s student, I would gladly take your place...
You should have at least left the slot to me, why must you reject the offer...
"Pavilion Master Jiang, what"s going on?"
After a long period of time, a master teacher finally turned to Pavilion Master Jiang and asked. At the same time, the gazes of the others also centered on him.
"I... I don"t know as well!"
At this moment, Pavilion Master Jiang had broken down internally as well.
He only rushed here because he felt an anomaly in the Teacher Acknowledgement Hall. Who would have known that he would witness such an earth-shattering matter?
To reject Kong s.h.i.+...
Needless to mention this happening in the Tianwu Royal City, even if this matter had occurred in the Myriad Kingdom Alliance, a huge bunch of people would die of shock.
Even 9-star master teachers were not capable of such a feat!
"You don"t know too?"
The master teacher hesitated for a moment before continuing on, "In this entire city, there are only two people worthy of becoming a Celestial Master Teacher... Zhang Xuan and Mo Hongyi! All you have to do is to tell us where the duo is and whether they are still in the capital!"
The alarm indicating the conferment of a Celestial Master Teacher would only affect the nearest Master Teacher Pavilion.
Since the alarm had sounded off at their Teacher Acknowledgement Hall, it meant that a master teacher in Tianwu Royal City must have achieved a breakthrough!
Naturally, the crowd"s thoughts would be directed to the duo.
"They..."
Pavilion Master Jiang hesitated for a moment.
"Let"s just tell them the truth. Becoming a Celestial Master Teacher meant that he is already a master teacher transcending beyond the rank system. The examination doesn"t mean much to him anymore..." Elder Zhu said.
"Un!" Pavilion Master Jiang nodded in agreement. "They are still in the capital. However, they are currently in disguise for the last test of the 2-star master teacher examination!"
"In disguise?"
Everyone was taken aback.
The House of Trust test in the 2-star master teacher examination was carried out in an extremely quiet and secretive fas.h.i.+on such that many of the master teachers on the spot didn"t know of it. In fact, it was the first time Jiang Chen was hearing of this as well.
"It’s like this!"
Pavilion Master Jiang explained the entire situation regarding the final test in the 2-star master teacher examination.
"You mean to say that... Guild Master Liu Cheng who rocked the entire city at its core... is actually Zhang s.h.i.+?"
As the explanation sank in, everyone was shocked once more. They felt dizzy-headed.
In the past few days, the two most talked about figures were the Master Teacher Pavilion"s Zhang Xuan and the Physician Guild"s Guild Master Liu Cheng!
Everyone knew that these two were absolute geniuses, and they felt deep respect and envy for them. How could they have possibly imagined that... the two of them were actually the same person!
"It"s no wonder..."
Jiang Chen froze on the spot.
He had been suspecting the matter before, but even so, in the depths of his mind, he didn"t dare to think of it to be true. However, after hearing his father"s confirmation, he immediately came to a realization.
It was no wonder why the other party was so skilled in pill forging, even going to the extent of guiding a 2-star apothecary to successfully forge a grade-4 pill!
Even though Jiang Chen knew that Zhang Xuan was much more talented than him, he still couldn"t help but compare himself to the other party. He had always thought that as long as he followed strictly to the conventional route and continued working hard, he would catch up with the other party one day...
But at this moment... he realized that the gap was too huge! There"s completely no basis of comparison for the two of them!
Needless to say catching up with the other party, he couldn"t even see the other party"s back!
The other party was skilled in pill forging, Way of Medicine, painting, and beast taming... The other party had reached such astounding proficiency in so many occupations, how could he match up?
"Since the two of them are in the capital, the Celestial Master Teacher must be one of them. As long as we find them and confirm the matter with them, we"ll know who it is!"
Suppressing his astonishment, a master teacher said.
"Indeed! Regardless of the matter, given that a Celestial Master Teacher had appeared, and that he had nearly become a student of the Sage, we have to find out who he is..."
Another master teacher spoke up.
Within the radius of possibilities, there were only two plausible candidates, so it wasn"t hard to find out who it was. No matter what, the guild couldn"t possibly stay ignorant when such a formidable figure had appeared in the land of their jurisdiction.
"Everyone, don"t panic. I"ll send an apprentice to take a look now!"
Pavilion Master Jiang turned around and left. Not too long later, he returned.
Liu Cheng and Sun Cheng were extremely famous teachers in Tianwu Academy, so it wasn"t too hard to get news on them.
"How is it?" Elder Zhu asked in agitation.
"Mo Hongyi... seemed to be ill. He is currently in a coma! On the other hand, Zhang s.h.i.+ is currently in seclusion, and he"s refusing all guests at the moment..." Pavilion Master Jiang said.
"There"s no doubt about it then, it must be Zhang s.h.i.+..."
The group nodded in agreement.
Since the other party was in a coma, it was impossible for him to be the Celestial Master Teacher or to reject Kong s.h.i.+. In that case, only one possibility remained... The only one who could create such a huge ruckus had to be the one who had shown them countless miracles right from his arrival, Zhang Xuan!
"Since we had confirmed Zhang s.h.i.+’s ident.i.ty, should we report this matter to the headquarter?"
A master teacher among the group asked.
"We can"t!"
Pavilion Master Jiang shook his head. "If it’s just him being conferred the t.i.tle of a Celestial Master Teacher, there"s no problem reporting it to the headquarter. However... this Zhang s.h.i.+ had just rejected Kong s.h.i.+. If the headquarter were to hear of it, they might burst into a rage..."
The crowd was dumbstruck.
Indeed.
Who is Kong s.h.i.+? The number one person in history, the teacher acknowledged by the heavens and earth... It would be a huge pandemonium if people were to find out that he was rejected!
On top of that, it wasn"t an honorable affair for Kong s.h.i.+ to be rejected. If they were to spread the news, they might incur Kong s.h.i.+"s rage...
It would be hard to appease his anger even with their deaths.
"This matter is already way beyond our strength. The best choice we have at hand is to keep this matter to ourselves..." After a short moment, Pavilion Master Jiang instructed.
"Yes!"
The group was also clear on the severity of this matter. Thus, they nodded in a.s.sent without any hesitation.
Regardless of whether it was the conferment of a Celestial Master Teacher or Kong s.h.i.+ getting rejected, they were matters surpa.s.sing their understanding. Facing such matters, it was wiser for them to keep mum, to stay silent, ignorant, and uninvolved. Otherwise, they might just get killed someday because of it.
"Since that"s the case, let"s make an oath before Kong s.h.i.+"s statue then!"
Pavilion Master Jiang spoke up once more.
"Yes!"
Soon, the oath was made, and everyone felt a peculiar energy seeping into their mind, sealing away what they"ve just learned. If they were to speak of the matter, they would be severely punished.
...
Oblivious to the fact that the Master Teacher Pavilion had already known everything, Zhang Xuan was still harboring the thoughts of keeping this matter to himself to maintain a low profile. He pushed open the door of the mini tutoring room and walked out.
Even though becoming a Celestial Master Teacher had raised his Soul Depth by a hulking 1.0 and aided him in forging the Eye of Insight, it didn"t boost his cultivation at all.
He was still at Zongs.h.i.+ realm pinnacle, and his strength was at 5000 ding.
"Teacher!"
Upon walking out, a lady immediately kneeled before him. Facing her teacher, her eyes were filled with reverence.
She was Mu Xueqing.
At this moment, she seemed to have just undergone an overwhelming change as a powerful aura reminiscent of a mighty dragon embraced her.
Triggering all of the medicinal energy acc.u.mulated within her body had allowed her to immediately break through the Pixue realm bottleneck to reach Tongxian realm primary stage!
In fact, from the aura, one could feel that she wasn"t too far from reaching Tongxuan realm intermediate stage.
She couldn"t have imagined that it was possible for her to grow so much stronger overnight.
"Not bad!"
Seeing her improvement, Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction.
She had been consuming pills from young, and the medicinal energy that had acc.u.mulated in her body had reached an astounding level. It wasn"t completely unexpected for her to grow so rapidly.
"You have just achieved a breakthrough, remember to reinforce your cultivation properly. I"ll bring you somewhere tomorrow!"
Knowing that the other party"s Trust Level in him must have exceeded 40, and he could finally end the master teacher examination, Zhang Xuan instructed.
"Yes!"
Mu Xueqing nodded before retreating to a corner.
...
Emerald Pavilion was Tianwu Kingdom"s most famous expenditure abyss.
The single day of expenditure here was sufficient to leave a small clan of a Tier 2 Kingdom bankrupt.
Even so, carriages still arrived one after another at its doorstep.
It was the dream of countless people to become a frequent member here.
This was because this was where, of the surrounding thirteen kingdoms, the best alcohol was, the best beauties were, the best service was, the most conducive atmosphere for pleasure-making...
Regardless of male or female, any cultivators who had been here once would wish to come a second time. The thought would consume their mind, filling them with remembrance over their previous visit.
Even before stepping in, one could already feel a dense concentration of spiritual energy two times of that of the outside world gus.h.i.+ng straight towards one. Cultivating here would definitely be more than two folds faster than the outside world.
Early this morning, a carriage stopped right at the entrance. The coach hurriedly got down and laid a stepping stone for the esteemed person seated in the carriage.
"Young master, we"re here!"
"Un!"
The curtain was parted, and a young man walked out.
The young man was dressed extravagantly, adding an air of n.o.bility to him. However, a dark shadow would flit past in his eyes from time to time. Bruises could be seen on some exposed skin which indicated an incomplete recovery of recent injuries.
"Young master, are we... really going to look for Lin Lang gongzi? I heard that his services are expensive!"
The coach asked hesitantly.
"Who else can I look for if not him?"
With a steeled face, the young man said, "Even my clan has abandoned me. They are determined to send me over to Zhang Xuan to appease his rage! Right now, only the Lin Clan can protect me! As long as Lin Lang gongzi speaks up for me, so what if he pa.s.ses his 2-star master teacher examination? Would he dare to offend the Formation Guild, as well as Xuanyuan Kingdom?"
If Zhang Xuan was here, he would have definitely recognized the person to be none other than the painter who was stripped buck naked by his own subordinates back then, Ji Mo gongzi!
After realizing that the person he offended was the genius Zhang Xuan, no one in the Ji Clan had dared to s.h.i.+eld him anymore. Even his own father, the clan head, had wanted to tie him up and deliver him personally to ask for the other party"s forgiveness.
Knowing that he would be in for another round of suffering once he was sent over, Ji Mo sneaked out to seek for protection.
Other than the Lin Clan, there was no one else in Tianwu Kingdom who could protect him, not even the royal family!
Not only was the Lin Clan"s clan head the guild master of the Formation Guild, his daughter was the princess consort of the Xuanyuan Kingdom"s crown prince. Even Pavilion Master Jiang Shu would have to spare the Lin Clan some face, needless to say, Zhang Xuan, who had just taken the 2-star master teacher examination.
As for the Lin Lang person he spoke of, he was known as the number one gongzi of Tianwu Kingdom.
He was the son of the Lin Clan"s clan head, the younger brother of Xuanyuan Kingdom"s princess consort.
It was only because of Ji Mo"s slightly superior talent and his ident.i.ty as the son of the clan head of one of the Three Great Clans of the capital that he was able to get acquainted with the other party.
As for this Emerald Pavilion, it was an establishment of Lin Lang"s.