"Underling, do you think it is possible that Master Kong might not know what astral warfare is? What am I supposed to do then ?"
"Like I said, you absolutely don't need to worry about that sort of possibility, boss. Remember how calm I was during the apprenticeship ceremony? It was because I was aware that our sect master had been operating very methodically. The elders already knew which disciple they wanted, and they definitely had informed the sect master of their choices. A large portion of the selection process was based on their choices. Those who weren't exceptional in any way were the only ones to be assigned to random apprenticeships based on the sect master's whims ."
Han Xuhan used the revelation to placate Mu Ran's tense heart.
"Well, I do understand that. I was honestly disappointed that none of the pretty, female elders were available for apprenticeships. Otherwise, I'd have definitely been chosen by them, by hook or by crook. After all, no lady in her straight mind can keep their guard raised against THIS !" Mu Ran said as he gestured to himself emphatically.
"But how does the matter of the elders choosing their disciples beforehand help us in the overall picture ?"
Yuen Zhou snorted loudly enough for both of them to notice, and both underling and boss knew better than to argue with those who cannot see true handsomeness despite having perfectly functioning eyes.
"Oh, it does, boss, it does. You know, you should stop trying to bother your pure, untainted dao heart with these mundane schemes and undercurrents of the mortal world. Leave that stuff to me. As to how our current situation helps us, you in particular, let me explain.
Back when you told me that you were interested in this astral warfare skill, I instantly devoted a significant portion of my time and energy behind learning which elder in this sect could teach skills in that field. Can you guess who my arduous research led me to?"
"Nope," Mu Ran said.
"Yes, " Yuen Zhou butted in.
"Stop interrupting our conversation," Mu Ran said in annoyance.
"Stop having dumb conversations three feet away from my ears, then."
Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou responded simultaneously and then looked each other in the eyes in a challenging way. Xuhan could almost sense a battle for dominance taking place in their minds.
But before their staring contest could lead to anything more meaningful, he popped his head inside their line of sight and broke their eye contact.
"Boss, can you not unleash your endless charm on pretty lasses while we're talking about something so important?"
Yuen Zhou directed her calm, eerily cold gaze at him, her stance seemingly shifting, something that greatly alarmed Xuhan. But he puffed up his chest and harrumphed to show her his stance.
"Why do you look angry, sister Zhou? Since when is calling someone pretty a crime?"
Yuen Zhou broke into a laughter laced with disbelief.
But his shamelessness did the trick, making her back off from further confrontation.
Coughing awkwardly, he started firing away his entire arsenal of bullshit to distract both her and Mu Ran.
"Boss, my research led me to Elder Kong Ye! I had to pay quite a large sum of spirit stones to extract the information from an anonymous third party. Then I proceeded to confront the elder and with much hardship, I managed to make him confess about his incredible expertise in this field. Especially when it comes to abilities related to souls and astral extensions of oneself, elder Kong Ye's expertise is unmatched in this sect!"
Stopping to take a breath, Xuhan quickly unraveled another few pieces of roundabout logic from his understanding of the overall situation and then twisted them a bit to give himself a better advantage.
Eyes widened and pupils dilating, Mu Ran's surprise couldn't be more pronounced.
"That's so awesome, Xuhan! Marvellous job as always! I don't know what I'd do without you, you know?"
"Ahaha, boss, I was just doing my job." Xuhan laughed, not the least bit fazed as he continued with his shameless antics. His skin had thickened considerably after spending such a long time around Mu Ran.
"That's not all though, boss," he added as an afterthought, deciding to stir up the situation even more.
"After master confided in me, I was about to contact you so that you can effortlessly bag the apprenticeship after you impress the master with your godly cultivation skills. For example, you could have shown off your fine qi control, your spell casting, your...uh...."
Xuhan trailed off into an awkward silence, realizing that Mu Ran didn't have any other particular skill that he knew of. Mu Ran, who had been nodding along with him eagerly, suddenly looked dispirited as he seemed to realize that too.
"Yeah, we get it. Elder Kong Ye has always been pretty impressed by Mu Ran's skillful style of cultivation anyway. Go on with your story. What did you do then?" Yuen Zhou suddenly intervened, saving the conversation from falling down a darker pit. For that one save, Xuhan decided to forgive her earlier 'transgressions'. Judging by the relived look on Mu Ran's face, so did he.
"Right before I could contact you, I remembered a wise advice from a wise man. This world of cultivation is a cruel, dog-eat-dog system. Nothing can be guaranteed for sure here. What if Elder Kong Ye was being dishonest for some reason? What if the techniques he teaches you turn out to be harmful somehow? I would never be able to forgive myself if that happened! Such guilt, such a weight of responsibility would crush my dao heart!"
Mu Ran looked moved to the point of tearing up. Placing a hand on Xuhan's shoulders somberly, he opened his mouth to say something but seemed far too overwhelmed by emotions to form a coherent sentence.
"The wise man...you're talking about me, huh?" Mu Ran said in the end. Xuhan nodded solemnly.
Behind him, Xuhan noticed martial sister Zhou looking at him with impressed eyes. Once their eyes met, she mouthed, "Awesome acting, martial brother."
Feigning ignorance, Xuhan continued to weave his threads, his expression exuding serenity. The final bit of foundation was about to be laid. He couldn't skip that part.
"So I said to the elder at that time, 'Please, accept me as your disciple. I want to learn astral warfare. My plan was to do a thorough investigation of his teachings in person and make sure nothing sinister was hiding in there. Afterward, I would relay the information to you, boss!"
"Xuhan, I-"
"It's okay, boss. Just like you, I found the name of the skill to be super awesome. I too, wanted to learn it. So I guess, in a way my motives are actually selfish, nothing to be praised of."
"STOP!" Mu Ran interrupted him right there and clapped his shoulder heavily, making a few bones creak. His other hand clenched into a fist that he raised in the air slowly, Mu Ran declared, "You, Xuhan, are the best underling anybody could ask for. Stop downplaying yourself like that. I will not tolerate such ridiculous modesty from you!"
"You know how Elder Kong has always appreciated my talent, boss. Right after I sincerely requested him to take me in as an apprentice, he agreed! Later, he assured me that regardless of how the apprenticeship ceremony goes, I would be selected by him. That is why I wasn't at all worried about my luck during the ceremony and neither should you!"
Xuhan finished his heart-touching story smoothly. Mu Ran sighed, his gaze distant and thoughtful.
"Underling, I'll remember this contribution of yours forever. A real man pays back his benefactors by tenfold. I've already been in your debt for so long, yet the more I try to reward you, the heavier my debt to you becomes."
"It's okay, boss. I'm just doing my job."
As the manly chains of their pure brotherhood strengthened, both of them decided not to dwell on the issue any longer, because it would quite possibly evolve from brotherhood to BL if they got even more emotional. Han Xuhan did not want to go down that crooked path...
So he turned his head and focused on Yuen Zhou, his thoughts spinning threads that could potentially unearth some even more precious information.
Usually, Yuen Zhou rarely spoke to either of them unless it was necessary. Today, she had attempted to insert herself into a stupid conversation rather forcefully, which had ended almost disastrously.
As one of the four members of their new mountain peak, it would result into something horrible if one of them was alienated from the circle. Han Xuhan didn't want to see that happen.
So he deemed it necessary to bring her back into the conversation gracefully.
"Martial sister, didn't you say you could guess that my research led me to Elder Kong Ye? How did you come to that conclusion?"
Yuen Zhou, rather than being caught off guard as he had assumed, looked like she had expected his sudden inquiry.
"Of course, it's because I knew that elder Kong Ye practices techniques related to astral extensions of himself. My first master, the one back at home, taught me how to deduce this sort of clues from a cultivator's appearance and qi. Although I cannot identify most of such details, I've spent enough time near him during our classes to notice enough of these signs."
Han Xuhan felt confused. Why was she going to such lengths to provide this information in particular? He had come to know the girl well enough to know that she rarely operated without hidden intentions. There had to be more to the story. She had no reason to volunteer as a participant in their stupid conversation. What was she trying to achieve...
"I've always been quite fascinated by how our astral forms can be cultivated to strengthen us in turn. Do you remember how helpless we were back at the Holy Land of Laws? It was because our opponent was in the soul reformation realm, which strengthens one's soul beyond mortal limits. Had we cultivated techniques that focused on our astral forms, it would have provided our consciousness with an external layer of defense that isn't so easy to break down. Those eleven young cultivators who became puppets of the soul reformation realm expert, they too could have avoided their terrible fate had they cultivated such techniques.
Ever since I returned from that place, I've been contemplating where to find a technique that focuses on this field. The lower floors of the archives do not contain anything helpful. But who could have known that the heavens would provide me with a chance to learn from a real expert in this area? I would be a fool to let go of such an opportunity!"
As Yuen Zhou finished her explanation, the thin threads in Han Xuhan's mind finally connected.
No wonder!
Martial sister Zhou must have a crush on Mu Ran! Yes, that is the most plausible conclusion! That guy was the protagonist, for heaven's sake. It was already a miracle that he wasn't attracting a gaggle of beauties by now. Finally, first waifu has been confirmed!
Ever since Xuhan had met Mu Ran, she had been following the guy's trail. From her 'circumspect' housing in the BS mountain peak to her appearance in the land of laws, Yuen Zhou had always silently been somewhere behind them, observing, collecting information, trying to get closer to Mu Ran...
Ahahahah! How adorable!
Han Xuhan faintly felt envious that his boss had managed to find himself an obsessed yandere. But his thoughts were immediately redirected as he realized that Yanderes did NOT like other people hanging around their targets of passion.
Damn, is that why she always seems so sharp and cold whenever she and I face each other? OF COURSE, everything makes sense now! She doesn't reveal this side of her to Mu Ran...although, he probably wouldn't notice it even if she did.
How could he convince this lass that he just wanted to be a harmless underling?
"So when you said back during the apprenticeship ceremony that you'd already decided to become an apprentice of Elder Kong Ye, it was because you wanted to learn techniques related to astral form cultivation?" Mu Ran asked, breaking the silence that had ensued after her explanation as Xuhan-the-chatterbox was too busy trying to shake off his shock.
"Oh no, not at all. The main reason I want to be his apprentice is his divination skills!"
"What? How many things are he skilled in?"
"How did you even unearth that information?"
Mu Ran and Han Xuhan simultaneously asked two different questions. With a somewhat smug expression, Yuen Zhou decided to answer Mu Ran's query first, a detail that further fueled his newfound belief that the lass was absolutely smitten with Mu Ran.
"It's an open secret among the upper ranks of the sect that elder Kong Ye is a scion of a powerful family, martial brother. The number of skills he boasts of far surpasses any other elder of this sect. In fact, he's very likely to be more skillful than any sect's elders on this entire planet."
"And exactly how did you stumble upon this open secret that nobody else seems to know, martial sister?"
"That too is a secret, martial brother, one that I'd rather not share."
Han Xuhan kept his expression neutral. The situation was beginning to grow far too complicated for him to take control of. It would be better to take a step back and gather some more threads before spinning another scheme.
"So you're going to ask the elder to teach you two skills instead of one? That's gonna be really tough, I'm telling you. Developing personal skills in an area isn't something as simple as cultivating random techniques. You'll have to meet a standard that will satisfy the expert you're studying under. If the information of elder Kong Ye being a scion of a powerful family is true, then his standards are going to be even higher than a normal expert's." Mu Ran looked enlightened.
"It makes sense that he chose me as an apprentice now. Not many disciples could reach standards as high as mine."
Han Xuhan coughed lightly and looked away, feeling pretty awkward suddenly. Kong Ye had given him an impressive, yet somewhat shady technique to study, with a promise of another one in the near future. On top of that, he had set up a trap using Xiao Wu to make the elder teach him that skill called spirit manifestation. And just a minute ago, he had used the same technique aiming to leech off the astral warfare technique from the elder...
Four techniques in total equaled to an ungodly amount of studying in the future.
Finally realizing the gravity of his upcoming predicament, Xuhan began to faintly regret his decision of stretching his greedy claws in so many different directions.
"Master, it seems that martial brother Mu Ran and I are the only ones trying to aim for just one skill. Would I be asking for too much if I wanted to learn astral warfare from you as well?"
Xiao Wu's unexpected, innocent question came from behind all of a sudden, making all three of them turn in that direction.
When had he come out of the room?
His heart quaking, Han Xuhan noticed Elder Kong Ye standing behind Xiao Wu, a furious expression coloring his face as he gloomily stared at Xuhan.
"Underling, do you think it is possible that Master Kong might not know what astral warfare is? What am I supposed to do then ?"
"Like I said, you absolutely don't need to worry about that sort of possibility, boss. Remember how calm I was during the apprenticeship ceremony? It was because I was aware that our sect master had been operating very methodically. The elders already knew which disciple they wanted, and they definitely had informed the sect master of their choices. A large portion of the selection process was based on their choices. Those who weren't exceptional in any way were the only ones to be assigned to random apprenticeships based on the sect master's whims ."
Han Xuhan used the revelation to placate Mu Ran's tense heart.
"Well, I do understand that. I was honestly disappointed that none of the pretty, female elders were available for apprenticeships. Otherwise, I'd have definitely been chosen by them, by hook or by crook. After all, no lady in her straight mind can keep their guard raised against THIS !" Mu Ran said as he gestured to himself emphatically.
"But how does the matter of the elders choosing their disciples beforehand help us in the overall picture ?"
Yuen Zhou snorted loudly enough for both of them to notice, and both underling and boss knew better than to argue with those who cannot see true handsomeness despite having perfectly functioning eyes.
"Oh, it does, boss, it does. You know, you should stop trying to bother your pure, untainted dao heart with these mundane schemes and undercurrents of the mortal world. Leave that stuff to me. As to how our current situation helps us, you in particular, let me explain.
Back when you told me that you were interested in this astral warfare skill, I instantly devoted a significant portion of my time and energy behind learning which elder in this sect could teach skills in that field. Can you guess who my arduous research led me to?"
"Nope," Mu Ran said.
"Yes, " Yuen Zhou butted in.
"Stop interrupting our conversation," Mu Ran said in annoyance.
"Stop having dumb conversations three feet away from my ears, then."
Mu Ran and Yuen Zhou responded simultaneously and then looked each other in the eyes in a challenging way. Xuhan could almost sense a battle for dominance taking place in their minds.
But before their staring contest could lead to anything more meaningful, he popped his head inside their line of sight and broke their eye contact.
"Boss, can you not unleash your endless charm on pretty lasses while we're talking about something so important?"
Yuen Zhou directed her calm, eerily cold gaze at him, her stance seemingly shifting, something that greatly alarmed Xuhan. But he puffed up his chest and harrumphed to show her his stance.
"Why do you look angry, sister Zhou? Since when is calling someone pretty a crime?"
Yuen Zhou broke into a laughter laced with disbelief.
But his shamelessness did the trick, making her back off from further confrontation.
Coughing awkwardly, he started firing away his entire arsenal of bullshit to distract both her and Mu Ran.
"Boss, my research led me to Elder Kong Ye! I had to pay quite a large sum of spirit stones to extract the information from an anonymous third party. Then I proceeded to confront the elder and with much hardship, I managed to make him confess about his incredible expertise in this field. Especially when it comes to abilities related to souls and astral extensions of oneself, elder Kong Ye's expertise is unmatched in this sect!"
Stopping to take a breath, Xuhan quickly unraveled another few pieces of roundabout logic from his understanding of the overall situation and then twisted them a bit to give himself a better advantage.
Eyes widened and pupils dilating, Mu Ran's surprise couldn't be more pronounced.
"That's so awesome, Xuhan! Marvellous job as always! I don't know what I'd do without you, you know?"
"Ahaha, boss, I was just doing my job." Xuhan laughed, not the least bit fazed as he continued with his shameless antics. His skin had thickened considerably after spending such a long time around Mu Ran.
"That's not all though, boss," he added as an afterthought, deciding to stir up the situation even more.
"After master confided in me, I was about to contact you so that you can effortlessly bag the apprenticeship after you impress the master with your godly cultivation skills. For example, you could have shown off your fine qi control, your spell casting, your...uh...."
Xuhan trailed off into an awkward silence, realizing that Mu Ran didn't have any other particular skill that he knew of. Mu Ran, who had been nodding along with him eagerly, suddenly looked dispirited as he seemed to realize that too.
"Yeah, we get it. Elder Kong Ye has always been pretty impressed by Mu Ran's skillful style of cultivation anyway. Go on with your story. What did you do then?" Yuen Zhou suddenly intervened, saving the conversation from falling down a darker pit. For that one save, Xuhan decided to forgive her earlier 'transgressions'. Judging by the relived look on Mu Ran's face, so did he.
"Right before I could contact you, I remembered a wise advice from a wise man. This world of cultivation is a cruel, dog-eat-dog system. Nothing can be guaranteed for sure here. What if Elder Kong Ye was being dishonest for some reason? What if the techniques he teaches you turn out to be harmful somehow? I would never be able to forgive myself if that happened! Such guilt, such a weight of responsibility would crush my dao heart!"
Mu Ran looked moved to the point of tearing up. Placing a hand on Xuhan's shoulders somberly, he opened his mouth to say something but seemed far too overwhelmed by emotions to form a coherent sentence.
"The wise man...you're talking about me, huh?" Mu Ran said in the end. Xuhan nodded solemnly.
Behind him, Xuhan noticed martial sister Zhou looking at him with impressed eyes. Once their eyes met, she mouthed, "Awesome acting, martial brother."
Feigning ignorance, Xuhan continued to weave his threads, his expression exuding serenity. The final bit of foundation was about to be laid. He couldn't skip that part.
"So I said to the elder at that time, 'Please, accept me as your disciple. I want to learn astral warfare. My plan was to do a thorough investigation of his teachings in person and make sure nothing sinister was hiding in there. Afterward, I would relay the information to you, boss!"
"Xuhan, I-"
"It's okay, boss. Just like you, I found the name of the skill to be super awesome. I too, wanted to learn it. So I guess, in a way my motives are actually selfish, nothing to be praised of."
"STOP!" Mu Ran interrupted him right there and clapped his shoulder heavily, making a few bones creak. His other hand clenched into a fist that he raised in the air slowly, Mu Ran declared, "You, Xuhan, are the best underling anybody could ask for. Stop downplaying yourself like that. I will not tolerate such ridiculous modesty from you!"
"You know how Elder Kong has always appreciated my talent, boss. Right after I sincerely requested him to take me in as an apprentice, he agreed! Later, he assured me that regardless of how the apprenticeship ceremony goes, I would be selected by him. That is why I wasn't at all worried about my luck during the ceremony and neither should you!"
Xuhan finished his heart-touching story smoothly. Mu Ran sighed, his gaze distant and thoughtful.
"Underling, I'll remember this contribution of yours forever. A real man pays back his benefactors by tenfold. I've already been in your debt for so long, yet the more I try to reward you, the heavier my debt to you becomes."
"It's okay, boss. I'm just doing my job."
As the manly chains of their pure brotherhood strengthened, both of them decided not to dwell on the issue any longer, because it would quite possibly evolve from brotherhood to BL if they got even more emotional. Han Xuhan did not want to go down that crooked path...
So he turned his head and focused on Yuen Zhou, his thoughts spinning threads that could potentially unearth some even more precious information.
Usually, Yuen Zhou rarely spoke to either of them unless it was necessary. Today, she had attempted to insert herself into a stupid conversation rather forcefully, which had ended almost disastrously.
As one of the four members of their new mountain peak, it would result into something horrible if one of them was alienated from the circle. Han Xuhan didn't want to see that happen.
So he deemed it necessary to bring her back into the conversation gracefully.
"Martial sister, didn't you say you could guess that my research led me to Elder Kong Ye? How did you come to that conclusion?"
Yuen Zhou, rather than being caught off guard as he had assumed, looked like she had expected his sudden inquiry.
"Of course, it's because I knew that elder Kong Ye practices techniques related to astral extensions of himself. My first master, the one back at home, taught me how to deduce this sort of clues from a cultivator's appearance and qi. Although I cannot identify most of such details, I've spent enough time near him during our classes to notice enough of these signs."
Han Xuhan felt confused. Why was she going to such lengths to provide this information in particular? He had come to know the girl well enough to know that she rarely operated without hidden intentions. There had to be more to the story. She had no reason to volunteer as a participant in their stupid conversation. What was she trying to achieve...
"I've always been quite fascinated by how our astral forms can be cultivated to strengthen us in turn. Do you remember how helpless we were back at the Holy Land of Laws? It was because our opponent was in the soul reformation realm, which strengthens one's soul beyond mortal limits. Had we cultivated techniques that focused on our astral forms, it would have provided our consciousness with an external layer of defense that isn't so easy to break down. Those eleven young cultivators who became puppets of the soul reformation realm expert, they too could have avoided their terrible fate had they cultivated such techniques.
Ever since I returned from that place, I've been contemplating where to find a technique that focuses on this field. The lower floors of the archives do not contain anything helpful. But who could have known that the heavens would provide me with a chance to learn from a real expert in this area? I would be a fool to let go of such an opportunity!"
As Yuen Zhou finished her explanation, the thin threads in Han Xuhan's mind finally connected.
No wonder!
Martial sister Zhou must have a crush on Mu Ran! Yes, that is the most plausible conclusion! That guy was the protagonist, for heaven's sake. It was already a miracle that he wasn't attracting a gaggle of beauties by now. Finally, first waifu has been confirmed!
Ever since Xuhan had met Mu Ran, she had been following the guy's trail. From her 'circumspect' housing in the BS mountain peak to her appearance in the land of laws, Yuen Zhou had always silently been somewhere behind them, observing, collecting information, trying to get closer to Mu Ran...
Ahahahah! How adorable!
Han Xuhan faintly felt envious that his boss had managed to find himself an obsessed yandere. But his thoughts were immediately redirected as he realized that Yanderes did NOT like other people hanging around their targets of passion.
Damn, is that why she always seems so sharp and cold whenever she and I face each other? OF COURSE, everything makes sense now! She doesn't reveal this side of her to Mu Ran...although, he probably wouldn't notice it even if she did.
How could he convince this lass that he just wanted to be a harmless underling?
"So when you said back during the apprenticeship ceremony that you'd already decided to become an apprentice of Elder Kong Ye, it was because you wanted to learn techniques related to astral form cultivation?" Mu Ran asked, breaking the silence that had ensued after her explanation as Xuhan-the-chatterbox was too busy trying to shake off his shock.
"Oh no, not at all. The main reason I want to be his apprentice is his divination skills!"
"What? How many things are he skilled in?"
"How did you even unearth that information?"
Mu Ran and Han Xuhan simultaneously asked two different questions. With a somewhat smug expression, Yuen Zhou decided to answer Mu Ran's query first, a detail that further fueled his newfound belief that the lass was absolutely smitten with Mu Ran.
"It's an open secret among the upper ranks of the sect that elder Kong Ye is a scion of a powerful family, martial brother. The number of skills he boasts of far surpasses any other elder of this sect. In fact, he's very likely to be more skillful than any sect's elders on this entire planet."
"And exactly how did you stumble upon this open secret that nobody else seems to know, martial sister?"
"That too is a secret, martial brother, one that I'd rather not share."
Han Xuhan kept his expression neutral. The situation was beginning to grow far too complicated for him to take control of. It would be better to take a step back and gather some more threads before spinning another scheme.
"So you're going to ask the elder to teach you two skills instead of one? That's gonna be really tough, I'm telling you. Developing personal skills in an area isn't something as simple as cultivating random techniques. You'll have to meet a standard that will satisfy the expert you're studying under. If the information of elder Kong Ye being a scion of a powerful family is true, then his standards are going to be even higher than a normal expert's." Mu Ran looked enlightened.
"It makes sense that he chose me as an apprentice now. Not many disciples could reach standards as high as mine."
Han Xuhan coughed lightly and looked away, feeling pretty awkward suddenly. Kong Ye had given him an impressive, yet somewhat shady technique to study, with a promise of another one in the near future. On top of that, he had set up a trap using Xiao Wu to make the elder teach him that skill called spirit manifestation. And just a minute ago, he had used the same technique aiming to leech off the astral warfare technique from the elder...
Four techniques in total equaled to an ungodly amount of studying in the future.
Finally realizing the gravity of his upcoming predicament, Xuhan began to faintly regret his decision of stretching his greedy claws in so many different directions.
"Master, it seems that martial brother Mu Ran and I are the only ones trying to aim for just one skill. Would I be asking for too much if I wanted to learn astral warfare from you as well?"
Xiao Wu's unexpected, innocent question came from behind all of a sudden, making all three of them turn in that direction.
When had he come out of the room?
His heart quaking, Han Xuhan noticed Elder Kong Ye standing behind Xiao Wu, a furious expression coloring his face as he gloomily stared at Xuhan.
