"Whether busy or not, one must never be impolite."
Fang Che smiled, then suddenly beca serious, "I must first apologize to you here, teacher. The last ti I ca to consult with you, I didn’t ask for your na, which was my oversight."
The old man chuckled without a word, "What oversight? Even I have nearly forgotten my own na."
He squinted his eyes, looked up, and it seed as if countless flashes of blades and swords passed through his eyes, then his eyes closed again. In a soft voice, he said, "My surna is Shen, the ’Shen’ in ’immortal’. You can just call Old Man Shen. As for my given na, let’s leave that be. This broken body of mine has disgraced the prestigious na of my ancestors!"
Fang Che nodded silently, "The surna Shen is indeed rare."
Old Man Shen took two big gulps of alcohol, "This wine is truly good."
With the help of the alcohol, he closed his eyes, suppressing all the emotions that surged as he was reminded of past events by the ntion of his surna and the heat that rose in his eyes.
Then he opened his eyes, breathed out a breath of wine, and said, "A wreck like shouldn’t ntion the past."
Fang Che wondered, "Could it be Old Man Shen, that your injuries are so grave? Is there no hope for recovery at all?"
"Of course there is hope."
Old Man Shen said indifferently, "Back then, there were three others who faced the crisis with . One of them is already dead. Another’s cultivation dropped three levels, but there is still hope to cultivate again. The third person took on the corpse poison for us; he bore it all. It was rumored that later one of the Guardians, a big figure, got the Corpse King’s inner core and helped him suppress the residual poison, forcing it into one foot. Then he was continually suppressed with Elixir Pills."
"If he wanted to eradicate it, he could have cut off the foot, but he would not rather die..."
"As for , who had the highest cultivation level at the ti, I took on the full brunt. My root and foundation were completely destroyed. The Martial Arts Academy reached out to the higher-ups, and then they went to find the Ninth Lord."
As he ntioned ’Ninth Lord,’ Old Man Shen’s face showed a look of respect. He sat up straight, respectfully cupped his hands toward the north before continuing, "The Ninth Lord didn’t have a good solution either, but he gave a Longevity Pill."
Fang Che drank wine, bowing his head to conceal the shock in his heart.
Ninth Lord!
He had heard this earth-shattering na again!
Master Dongfang!
"With this Longevity Pill, one can prolong anyone’s life by a thousand years!"
Old Man Shen chuckled, "So even if I wanted to die, I couldn’t. I can only linger here in this wretched state, waiting for hope."
"At that ti, the Ninth Lord said that once he gets his hands on the Spiritual dicine, he would send it over to help restore my origin. But the dicine for restoring the origin... we don’t have any because in this world, there is no more Divine Power!"
Old Man Shen said, "And the Divine Power Essence that could restore the origin is only available at the headquarters of Wei Wo Zheng Sect."
"How difficult that is!"
"And even if it were obtained... who would think of , an old thing tucked away in White Cloud Martial Academy, not well known? So many powerful ones on the continent with damaged origins are all eagerly waiting for that Divine Power Essence."
"Besides, I’ve already enjoyed a Longevity Pill."
Old Man Shen smiled and lifted his cup, "I shall not indulge in wishful thinking anymore. It’s been so many years."
"I understand."
Fang Che silently took note of the words ’Source of Divine Power.’
Does Wei Wo Zheng Sect have it?
After three rounds of drinking.
Old Man Shen began to speak with the sll of alcohol on his breath, "You must have sothing to ask today. Go ahead."
Since Fang Che followed the proper etiquette, Old Man Shen did the sa.
In socializing over drinks, it’s taboo to start talking business right away. Only after three rounds can one start the pleasantries, also the ti that people say... is the ti for business.
"That’s the thing, I’m rather puzzled by a matter."
Fang Che pondered and said, "There’s a classmate of mine who has shown so unusual symptoms, and I’m not sure what to make of it."
"What symptoms?"
Old Man Shen was unconcerned.
What big deal could possibly happen to a bunch of kids just entering the Martial Arts Academy?
"A classmate once offended , but I didn’t care at the ti. I just stirred the pot a bit."
Fang Che recounted the robbery incident in Hei Song Forest, then spoke of the Qi zhi Blood Spirit Ginseng affair.
Old Man Shen laughed heartily and kept shaking his head, "You’re quite cunning!"
"...Later, after arriving at the Martial Arts Academy, I saw that this kid had suddenly beco darker, thinner, and eerier. He used to be a fair-skinned scholar, a playboy type. Such drastic change made curious, so I took the opportunity to beat him up a few tis."
Fang Che frowned, "Each ti I hit him, it seed like he got darker than before. Towards the last few tis, the dark aura could actually rise up and hover in front of his face, like a faint smoke. The most recent ti I hit him, the black mist rose and vaguely a face could be seen within it, not Wei Zihao’s face, but a face ford from the mist, very bizarre..."
Bang!
Old Man Shen suddenly stood up, overturning the bowl of liquor in front of him due to excessive force, and looked at Fang Che as if he had seen a ghost.
His eyeballs almost bulged out.
His face was full of shock and horror.
Fang Che was imdiately startled, "Old Man Shen... what’s the matter with you?"
Looking haunted, Old Man Shen’s face and forehead were dripping with sweat, and the alcohol he had drunk almost entirely turned into cold sweat dripping down.
Fang Che could clearly see the front of the old man’s shirt rapidly soaked with a large patch of sweat.
Old Man Shen stretched out his hand and grabbed Fang Che by the collar, urgently asking, "Are you certain?!"
"Certain!"
"How many tis did you hit him?"
"About... ten tis or so?"
"And the blackness getting denser?"
"Yes."
"Why haven’t others noticed it? Only you’ve seen it?" Old Man Shen asked.
"I’m not sure."
Fang Che said, "That dark mist seems not to manifest in front of others or perhaps... it is triggered by a certain ntal state or emotion... but I do not know what specifically causes it."
Fang Che asked, "Old Man Shen, is there a problem with this?"
"The problem... the problem is huge!"
Old Man Shen gasped for breath, "This damn, damn... damn it’s going to be a disaster!"
He took a deep breath, "Who is your instructor?"
He stood up and started pacing in circles around the room, saying, "No, your instructor isn’t enough."
He imdiately wanted to return to his bedroom but moved too quickly, not watching his step, and actually tripped, tumbling to the ground with a thud.
Fang Che was startled and hurriedly helped him up.
"By the bed!"
Old Man Shen’s voice was very low but stern and urgent.
Even frantic.
By the bed, there was a line connected to who knows where.
The old man practically flung himself at it, grabbed the line, and yanked it down hard.
There seed to be the faint sound of a bell, which then vanished.
Old Man Shen’s body trembled as he grasped Fang Che’s arm, walked slowly out of the bedroom, and sat down again at the table, facing a feast of fine wine and food, and suddenly, he felt like there was a fishbone caught in his throat.
He couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink.
His eyes fixed on Fang Che, he said, "Fang Che, what you told had better be false!"
Fang Che was also totally bewildered, "How could this possibly be false?"
As they were speaking.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh.
Three more people appeared in the room.
Fang Che turned his head and got a complete shock.
Huang Yifan!
Gao Qingyu!
ng Hejun!
Three of the highest-ranking individuals in the Baiyun Martial Academy, all with the greatest cultivation and also listed as Guardians!
In other words, if the sky fell, these were the most reliable people to have around!
"Lord ng is here too."
Old Man Shen stood up, sowhat surprised.
ng Hejun, with her beautiful face, had a gentle smile, "I just got back last night, just in ti for your once-in-two-hundred-years bell-ringing."
Huang Yifan swallowed and said, "Old Shen, you’ve prepared good food and wine to ring us over for a drink? Not bad, not bad, I haven’t eaten yet."
He dragged over two chairs, gave one to ng Hejun, then unceremoniously sat down on the other, reached out to summon a few large bowls, picked up the wine jar, and started pouring.
As for Gao Qingyu, who was still standing, he was ignored by the current head of Baiyun Martial Academy.
Gao Qingyu didn’t care about these trivial matters; his eyes were only on Old Man Shen’s face, looking at the still-wet cold sweat, frowning, he said, "Is that sweat?"
Then he pulled up a chair and sat down, asking, "What’s happened?"
Then all three of them directed their gazes at Fang Che’s face, "Is this kid involved?"
Old Man Shen gave a bitter smile, "Yes. Let’s sit down and talk."
ng Hejun graciously sat down as well, and as five people crowded around the small table, it suddenly seed quite cramped.
"What’s this kid doing here?"
Huang Yifan looked at Fang Che.
Fang Che had already stood up.
He hadn’t anticipated that his discovery would lead Old Man Shen to call over such significant figures.
What on earth was going on? Fang Che’s mind was still a muddle.
Huang Yifan waved his hand, "You can go back now. There’s nothing for you here."
Huang Yifan knew sothing, and until now, he was still suspecting Fang Che’s identity—was he truly an undercover agent from Yixin Sect?
As ti went on, with continuous discoveries, Fang Che’s ’Yixin Sect undercover’ identity seed more and more concrete.
This left Huang Yifan even more undecided.
Even less sure.
Especially since eting Dongfang Sansan last ti, after Dongfang Sansan’s warning, the idea that ’Fang Che is a good person’ had vanished without a trace. (See Part Two, Chapter Twenty-nine, Four Great Instructors.)
Huang Yifan firmly believed: Everyone in the world can be wrong, except Dongfang Sansan.
So his own views on Fang Che were leaning towards that of a ’senior undercover seed’.
Now, fearing that Old Man Shen had discovered Fang Che’s secret and would no longer be able to use that lead, he rushed to send the guy away.
But...
"He can’t leave!"
Old Man Shen imdiately objected.
"All the clues are on him, how can he leave?!"
Sweat broke out on Huang Yifan’s forehead.
What a thing to say!
Indeed, the old guy had discovered Fang Che’s identity, damn it, how could you so foolishly announce that all the clues are on him now?
Isn’t this spooking the snake?
Huang Yifan hurriedly gave Old Man Shen a aningful look while saying, "What’s there for a freshman to do here? Go on, get out."
Old Man Shen angrily said, "What are you giving that look for? You know what’s going on, and you’re sending him away?"
Huang Yifan’s anxious face began to sweat, "I’ll be damned... I’ll be damned..."
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