Chapter 181: Old Ye’s Various a.s.sumptions
The Curator left.
But the Visitation Hall’s guests remained.
Ye Yuzhou was currently wearing a grave expression, still pondering how he offended the Curator. Not only did he refuse to provide him guidance but he also wouldn’t take the herbs Ye Yuzhou offered.
This was a huge deal that concerned his pet beast’s evolution. Ye Yuzhou knew he had to do something to dissolve the Curator’s anger.
But the problem was, the Curator never mentioned where he went wrong and Ye Yuzhou couldn’t figure out anything as well.
“Old Ye, how did you offend the Curator?” Instead of leaving, Black Crow came over to ask.
At first, the visitors were all wary of each other, but after several exchanges, they were now better acquainted.
Of course, to Black Crow, not just any random person was worth him initiating contact.
Ye Yuzhou was one exception while Madam Ghost Child was the other.
The ever-curious He Qing also came over. “Senior Ye, if you offended the Curator, just apologize to him. He’s a forgiving person so he’d definitely stop penalizing you.”
Even Jiang Ziqi and Madam Ghost stayed behind, curious as to why Old Ye was brazen enough to provoke the Curator.
Ye Yuzhou looked helpless. “I really don’t know. This is my second time entering the Visitation Hall and meeting the Curator. Even if I wanted to offend him, I must’ve at least had an opportunity to do so.”
Suddenly, the devilish Black Crow thought of a possibility. “You might not have done it directly. Old Ye, did you do something to upset the Curator?”
This was a new direction to consider.
Being a clever man, Ye Yuzhou immediately recognized its plausibility.
However, he had been at the Friar a.s.sociation recently and had barely gone out. How could he possibly offend someone as mysterious and prominent as the Curator?
He really couldn’t figure it out.
“Or maybe you’ve done something unpleasant or was prejudiced against someone in particular?” It was Madam Ghost Child who spoke. She too was curious as to how Old Ye provoked the Curator.
Despite being somewhat of a witch character, she was still fairly nosy.
Ye Yuzhou was even more confused.
Because even if he had done something unpleasant and admonished someone, that couldn’t possibly be connected to the Curator, right?
However, Madam Ghost Child’s clue did point him in a good direction.
Had it been someone else, for example, Black Crow and Madam Ghost Child, the number of people they offended in the past week was too much to be counted. They wouldn’t even remember who was who, but Ye Yuzhou was different.
In the last seven days, he had been in seclusion, researching his soaring cloud flood dragon’s evolution method. He rarely came in contact with anyone and if he did go against anyone, there had been only one such person.
Lin Jin.
Ye Yuzhou reflexively a.s.sumed he was thinking too much. But the weird thing was, while some things seemed farfetched, but after careful consideration, they might realize something so impossible might not actually be so. And by contemplating some more, the possibility only grew.
This was happening to Ye Yuzhou now.
His eyes widened as he tried to recall every detail about Lin Jin.
This Lin Jin is Maple City’s younger official Rank 2 beast appraiser.
Beast appraiser.
Wasn’t that the same specialty as their Curator?
The Curator was also skilled in beast appraising.
Also, despite Lin Jin’s age, even the chief of Maple City’s Beast Appraisal a.s.sociation was no better than him. So, who taught Lin Jin his beast appraisal skills?
Other than that, Yang Jie had dueled Lin Jin before. Ye Yuzhou remembered how Yang Jie had described his experience.
Lin Jin’s attacks had been swift and mysterious. Yang Jie didn’t know what he had done but he felt a stung under his armpit before half of his body went numb.
It was a coincidence that Ye Yuzhou witnessed the Curator using a needle technique so equally mysterious when he was treating Madam Ghost Child’s pet beast.
After some thought, Lin Jin might have just used the exact same skill.
At this, sweat began to form on Ye Yuzhou’s forehead.
There were things in this world that couldn’t withstand careful deliberation.
The others noticed how Ye Yuzhou must have figured something out. Curious, they pressed him for answers.
Ye Yuzhou stayed silent. He was now thinking how several days ago, he had troubled Lin Jin on his outer imagery method and refused to let it be recorded into the Spirit Library.
If Lin Jin was somehow linked to the Curator, everything made sense.
Oh, there was also the outer imagery technique.
Ye Yuzhou had long suspected that Lin Jin couldn’t possibly have learned such a method on his own. The formula and elaborations were too profound so he must have been taught by an expert.
Their conflict back then was because he wanted Lin Jin to spill the beans on who this expert was. And yet, Lin Jin refused to disclose it, which in turn triggered Ye Yuzhou into deliberately messing with him.
Now that he thought about it, perhaps the “expert” Lin Jin mentioned was the Curator after all?
That was possible!
Ye Yuzhou’s face alternated between shades of green and white, piquing everyone else’s curiosity that they kept pressing Ye Yuzhou, egging him on to reveal his answer.
However, now that Ye Yuzhou had figured it out, it became all the more reason that he couldn’t reveal it.
Because if he did, he might upset the Curator even more and there might be no forgiving him after that.
At this, Ye Yuzhou decided to leave at once. He had to make amends because he thought he had finally come up with the answer. And the answer was that Lin Jin was the Curator’s disciple.
Hence, the reason why the Curator was angry today was that he already knew who Ye Yuzhou was and how he had troubled Lin Jin. This was probably why he lashed out at Ye Yuzhou.
That was close.
Fortunately, Ye Yuzhou came to realize this or it might be too late.
He still had a chance now. If he tried to make amends, he might salvage the Curator’s opinion of him.
Seeing Ye Yuzhou turn to leave got the others anxious.
“Old Ye, you’re being unreasonable here. Did you figure something out? Tell us so we can share our opinions,” Black Crow said.
If those who knew Black Crow saw how he was behaving right now, their jaws would drop. Inside the Visitation Hall, he wasn’t a terrifying grim reaper, nor an indifferent Satan. Now, he was just an average guy with a burning pa.s.sion for gossip.
“Senior Ye, don’t leave.” He Qing tried to stop him but failed.
Meanwhile, Madam Ghost Child sighed. “Forget it. He must have found the reason why. He’s staying quiet because he’s afraid of offending the Curator again so let’s not pressure him anymore.”
Madam Ghost Child was behaving differently too, no longer the villainous expert who went for kills if someone annoyed her. Those who didn’t know her background might even a.s.sume that she was an average young wife.
Not only her, but everyone present also felt more at ease and liberated in the Visitation Hall. They didn’t have to care about the scheming and grudges back in the real world.
After a few simple exchanges, He Qing wasn’t that afraid of Madam Ghost Child anymore. She realized she didn’t have to be.
The reason was simple.
This was the Visitation Hall. Unless they wanted to incur the Curator’s wrath, they had to behave. So they were actually safe inside this s.p.a.ce.
“Right, which one of you is at Nanli state? I need a herb there for pelletization!” Black Crow suddenly asked.
After a short silence, the usually quiet Jiang Ziqi said, “What herb do you need?”
“The rhizome part of a snake scale vine!” Black Crow said to him.
Jiang Ziqi nodded. “I’ll bring them to you next time.”
“Thanks!” Immediately after Black Crow said that, Jiang Ziqi added, “It’s not for free. You have to do something for me too. Have you heard of Xinghe Aged Wine?”
Black Crow was surprised. “You want to drink wine?”
“I haven’t drunk in a long while. Bring me a bottle next time.” Jiang Ziqi licked his lips. He did look like a drunkard who hadn’t had his fix in ages.
Black Crow didn’t ask why he wouldn’t get it himself. Since he had spoken, Jiang Ziqi must be in an area where he couldn’t get wine. Black Crow wasn’t fond of owing favors anyway, if Jiang Ziqi wanted wine, he would get him a barrel’s worth.
As He Qing listened, her eyes lit up.
She discovered another important function of this Visitation Hall. This place also served as a communication platform for visitors like then.
They could obtain things they usually couldn’t get through here and there were no worries about them cheating each other.
None of them would dare to.
Because the Curator might get angry if he found out so any trade conducted had to be fair and honest.
At this thought, He Qing got excited.
“I heard Nanli state has many specialty fruits. Can you bring me some?” After He Qing said that, she added, “Don’t worry, I’m not asking it for free. I can trade you for it.”
“Fruits aren’t worth anything. I’ll bring some next time.” Jiang Ziqi was rather generous this time around.
The group continued to engage in friendly conversation without being reserved.
With the exception of the tyrannosaurus old man, Old Tian.
He was clearly being ostracized by the group. Although he wanted to join them, he knew that since the Curator ignored him, the others decided to keep their distance from him too.
After thinking for a bit, he said nothing more and quietly left.
When he exited the Visitation Hall and came back out of the portal, he appeared in a forest. The moment he turned up, several men with weapons came hovering around.
“Second Brother, how was it?” A large and bulky man who was blind in one eye asked.
“Number Two, we believe you now. It was truly extraordinary when you and your pet beast disappeared into thin air earlier and then reappeared. We were wrong to blame you the last time. It’s only a pity that we couldn’t see anything just now. We can’t go into that place you mentioned.” A rather short but hostile-looking man said.
Besides them, everyone else present looked just as fearsome and menacing.
Old Tian, his real name being Tian Bao, had a gang of his own who dominated their local mountain, committing crimes and raiding houses for a living. After his first trip to the Visitation Hall, he began scheming. That Visitation Hall was too mysterious. If he could sneak his people in, once the others left, they could raid the place. There were probably treasures hiding in there.
However, this plan was obviously too simpleminded. Looks like no else could enter the portal but him.
All on his own, he definitely wouldn’t dare to act rashly.
“We’ve miscalculated. That place is much more wicked than I thought. Our previous plans won’t work.” Old Tian clearly had an accurate judgment of the situation.