Chapter 209 - Im Your Maternal Grandfather (1/2)

Chapter 209: I’m Your Maternal Grandfather

Translator: DragonRider

“Professor Gu recommended that old man, and the princ.i.p.al gave his consent,” replied Yuwen Tong.

‘Professor Gu? The old man who gave me and Yuwen Jin a test that day?’ Ling Zhang was amazed. “It surprises me that he knows someone from the Mille–”

Realizing what he was disclosing, Ling Zhang stopped in time and didn’t finish his sentence. He was really astonished. ‘Aren’t members of the Millennium Pavilion forbidden to go into the society? How come Professor Gu is acquainted with a member of the Millennium Pavilion? He even recommended him and helped him get into the Imperial College. Professor Gu would never have done this if he doesn’t know the old man well enough. Professor Gu has acquaintance with the Millennium Pavilion?’

Though Ling Zhang had broken off promptly, Yuwen Tong still heard the syllables “mille”. It was just that he was not sure whether it was “mille” or a h.o.m.ophone of it. Yuwen Tong came to realize that undoubtedly, Ling Zhang knew about the background of the old man. Back then when Ling Zhang’d shown him the handbook on internal energy, he’d expressly told him that there were still some secrets he couldn’t tell him about…

Moreover, Ling Zhang’s reaction at this moment seemed to be suggesting that Professor Gu was not supposed to know about the old man’s true ident.i.ty. ‘It seems that this old man’s background is even more mysterious than I imagined,’ thought Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong looked at him. “Do you feel that Professor Gu should have no acquaintance with the old man?”

Ling Zhang inclined his head. “To my knowledge, it should’ve been the case. They’re supposed to keep their ident.i.ty secret from others, for severe penalties will be meted out to them if they don’t.”

Yuwen Tong contemplated for a few moments. ‘Severe penalties? What kind of organization has this kind of rules?’ he wondered.

In astonishment, Ling Zhang was unable to calm himself down for quite a while. He felt that there was one particular thing he needed to figure out first, which was whether Professor Gu knew about the old man’s background or not. If he knew, then it would be a proof that members of the Millennium Pavilion were not really secluded, that they were still in contact with some courtiers. If that was the case, Ling Zhang believed that it would be totally unnecessary for him to have so many misgivings, that he at least had to tell Yuwen Tong everything down to the smallest detail.

‘But how can I find that out?’

After giving it some careful thought, Ling Zhang decided to directly go to the old man and ask him about it. The old man had already shown himself on his own account, which he believed was an unmistakable implication that he was welcome to go and talk to him.

With this in mind, the next day, after arriving at the Imperial College, Ling Zhang made a few inquiries and found out where the old man was staying. At midday break, he went there.

Fortunately for him, when he found it, the old man happened to be in. The tricky part was that Professor Gu was also present.

Professor Gu, who was somewhat surprised to see Ling Zhang showing up, asked, “What business do you have here?”

Ling Zhang was not sure what kind of att.i.tude the Millennium Pavilion had, and neither was he certain whether Professor Gu knew about the relations.h.i.+p between him and the Millennium Pavilion. Unwilling to let his relations with the Millennium Pavilion come to the knowledge of anybody else, he replied, “I’m sorry to have disturbed you, professor, but there’re some study questions I’d like to consult Professor Li about.”

After hearing this, Professor Gu looked at the old man and said, “This is surprising – you’ve given them only one lecture, but a student came here to ask you questions.”

The old man, whose smiling face gave little away, replied, “We may continue our game of chess tomorrow.”

Clearly he was showing Professor Gu the door, but Professor Gu didn’t take offence. He rose to his feet and said, “Then I’ll wait for you tomorrow.”

Professor Gu left and Ling Zhang felt a sense of relief. Originally, he had worried that he wouldn’t be able to ask about it in the presence of another professor. After the old man specially had Professor Gu leave, Ling Zhang wondered whether or not this was an indication that Professor Gu was unaware of his relations with this old man – or with the Millennium Pavilion; or that maybe Professor Gu simply didn’t know about this old man’s true ident.i.ty yet.

“I thought that you’d come to me yesterday. Your restraint surprised me.” The old man looked at Ling Zhang, a smile on his face. “You’ve already reached the second layer of the mental cultivation method of internal energy. This is impressive. You showed great perception, and you’re more talented than all those in the organization, which is a proof that the Force of Blood you inherited from your mother is very strong. In so many years, this is the first time that I’ve seen a clansman with such strong Force of Blood.”

Ling Zhang looked deeply at the old man, his mouth a thin line. “May I ask why you gave me that handbook?”

He had many questions to ask, but eventually he asked this one first, because giving him a handbook on internal energy had been an overture to him, which he couldn’t quite understand.

“Given that you have the blood of Ji family coursing in you, and someone unblocked your meridians, wouldn’t it be a pity that you don’t cultivate?” replied the old man.

“Are you not afraid that I might disclose it to other people?” queried Ling Zhang.

“But you didn’t, did you?” said the old man. Ling Zhang was still gazing fixedly at him, a very confused look in his eyes, as if he had a lot to say. Seeing this, the old man couldn’t help but sigh, “I’ve been keeping watch on you. Of course I’ll stop you if you want to disclose the mental cultivation method to other people.”

Ling Zhang slightly moved his lips but refrained from telling him that he’d already let Yuwen Tong read the handbook, for he didn’t know whether or not the old man would do Yuwen Tong harm if it came to his knowledge.

“Yuwen Tong informed me that the best age to start practicing kung fu is seven or eight. If the reason was really the one you just told me, why didn’t you give me the handbook earlier?”

By asking this question, Ling Zhang was not complaining that people of the Millennium Pavilion should’ve given him the handbook earlier. He was just wondering why people of the Millennium Pavilion had suddenly shown up in these circ.u.mstances.

The old man, who seemed to have some time ago antic.i.p.ated that Ling Zhang would ask about this, responded, “Because n.o.body else in the Millennium Pavilion knows about your existence.”

‘n.o.body else knows about my existence?’ Ling Zhang furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? Don’t you–”