Chapter 278 – The Watermirror Disc (1/2)
Li Qingshan said, “I only reached the sixth layer recently.”
Meeting acquaintances in a foreign land should have been a matter of great joy, but Li Long was left with his mouth hanging, unsure as for how to refer to Li Qingshan. The cowherd that no one took seriously in the past could now rival their school master. Their identities were worlds apart now. Directly calling him by name seemed rather rude.
“Oh, this is the master of our Iron Fist school, Tie Zhan.” His voice even bore a countryside accent that Li Qingshan found familiar.
Li Qingshan thought of the past as well, remembering the frustration with the Crouching Ox village, as well as the dangers of Qingyang city. The master of one of the four great organisations of Qingyang city in the past was now standing before him, but a sixth layer Qi Practitioner was already nothing in his eyes. He had no interest in fawning over him, nor did he want to cause any offence, so he handled him casually,
“So it’s school master Tie. Apologies, apologies for failing to recognise you.”
Tie Zhan said, “The Crouching Ox village sure is a place that births great men. When I saw Li Long, I already thought he was a rare talent, but only when I saw brother Qingshan did I realise that there will always be someone greater. The matter of how you beat the Sect of Clouds and Rain in two matches in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain two days ago has already spread throughout the prefectural city. It’s just a pity that I wasn’t able to see it for myself.”
No matter how influential the Iron Fist school was, they could only treat each other as equals as they were both sixth layer Qi Practitioners. Coupled with the fact that Li Qingshan was relatively young and had limitless potential, Tie Zhan even needed to treat him politely so that he could befriend him.
“Are the disciples of your esteemed school taking part in the entrance examination too?” Li Qingshan glanced at Li Long.
Li Long’s face sank, and he lowered his head. Let alone the fact that school master Tie would never agree, but even if he did agree, where was he supposed to obtain the spiritual stones for the school fees? That was a total of one hundred spiritual stones. He did extraordinarily well in the Iron Fist school, so he would obtain a few spiritual stones every now and then, but they were not even enough for buying various pills, so he was in no position to save any money. And, by the time he really managed to save a hundred spiritual stones, who knew how old he would be. He would have missed the optimal period for cultivation. If he fell behind by a single step, he would be behind forever.
“It’s my son. I do hope that you can take good care of him in the future, brother,” Tie Zhan changed the topic. He looked around. “Where’s he? Didn’t I tell you to call him over?”
“The young master said he’s busy,” Yan Song said awkwardly.
“Call him over!”
With just a moment of thought, Li Qingshan understood what was going on. He fell silent.
A while later, Yan Song brought over a young man with a square face and large ears who seemed slightly similar to Tie Zhan. The young man said impatiently, “What is it? I’m busy!” He was busy talking with a few pretty female cultivators, so he was in no mood to meet some man.
“You bastard, why don’t you greet your big brother Li?”
“What big brother Li? Don’t tell me it’s Li Long?” The young man snickered. Seeing how no one played along with him, he arrived beside Tie Zhan’s side and saw Li Qingshan. He leapt in fright. “You’re Li Qingshan!”
He had also been having fun in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain that night. He had a very deep impression of the person before him. He immediately grew stern. “Greetings, elder brother. I hope you can take good care of this little brother in the future. If there’s anything I can help you with, please don’t hold back.” He completely ignored the fact that Li Qingshan was younger than him. He showed great modesty and courtesy, referring to himself as little brother.
Tie Zhan nodded in satisfaction. Although this kid shirked away from his responsibilities sometimes, at least he was not completely ignorant and knew what was what.
Li Qingshan said, “I can tell with a single glance that you’re very smart with a limitless future, but you don’t have anyone to tend to you once you enter the academy. Why don’t you have Li Long enter the academy as a partner of yours? There’s no need for school master Tie to pay anything either. I’ll cover the fees for him. What do you think, school master?”
“Must you be buried in your place of home? Sufficient are the green mountains overgrown.” Since he had already decided to never return to his hometown again, Li Long was probably the last person from the same village he would be able to see in his life. The one hundred spiritual stones to enter the academy had already become nothing to him. Since it took him nothing, why not help him out?
Li Long beamed in joy when he heard that. He glanced at Li Qingshan in great appreciation before looking at Tie Zhan nervously.
Tie Zhan hesitated before smiling. “Fine then. You’re brothers, so you do have to take care of someone from the same hometown. This is Li Long’s good fortune, as well as our Iron Fist school’s good fortune. I can only celebrate over something like this, so why would I say no? If it were not for the fact that the Iron Fist school is currently experiencing some cash flow issues, you wouldn’t need to pay anything at all.” He could see how Li Qingshan was someone who valued the ties of the past. He needed to get that bastard of a son of his to be more polite to Li Long in the future.
“Then thank you, school master.” Li Qingshan took out a hundred spiritual stones from his hundred treasures pouch and passed it to Li Long.
The young master of the Iron Fist school wrapped his arm around Li Long’s neck. “A’Long, you’re rich!” Even without Tie Zhan’s reminder, he had already begun to treat him more warmly and politely.
Li Long knew that this was all because of the young man standing before him. He said gratefully, “Qingshan, I’ll definitely return this sum of spiritual stones to you.” He knew extremely well that the Academy of the Hundred Schools would release various missions, providing disciples with opportunities to make spiritual stones. It was not impossible for him to make this sum of one hundred spiritual stones; this was the most difficult obstacle. Once he made it past this, there were infinite possibilities.
Li Qingshan said, “If you want to return it, then give me two hundred spiritual stones!”
Li Long was stunned, while the young school master muttered inside, Isn’t this usury? He really could not tell, but sure enough, fellow townsmen would always stab each other in the back when they met.
However, Li Qingshan continued, “I’ll wait until the day when a hundred spiritual stones mean nothing in your eyes.”
“Alright!” Li Long nodded firmly.
Ye Dazhuan said, “That’s fantastic. You’ll all be fellow students in the future!”
Li Qingshan smiled. As people from the same home town, this was all that he could do. What happened next would depend on how he cultivated.
At this moment, several large ships cut through the waves and mist.
There was a disturbance on the sandy shoal. Everyone stopped talking and raised their heads. The one who stood out the most happened to be the giant lumberman, Mu Kui.
Hua Chenglu and Yu Zijian stood nearby. They also had a group of young men and women beside them. They did not pay too much attention to Li Qingshan, who they had only met a few times. They did not come to find him either.
Instead, Qian Rongzhi constantly scanned through the crowd. She was standing with a few enforcement disciples of legalism. She had already heard of Li Qingshan’s battle with Wei Zhongyuan, and she had heard how he said he had some confidence in killing Wei Zhongyuan.
In the eyes of the legalist disciples, this was a boastful joke. They all said it was Li Qingshan’s pigheadedness, but she begged to differ. She believed that Li Qingshan had complete confidence in finishing off Wei Zhongyuan. What mattered was how she was supposed to get Li Qingshan to capture Wei Zhongyuan alive and hand him over to her.
“Rongzhi, you’ve met this kid before us all. Has he always liked to boast so much?” Even now, Han Qiongzhi still felt rather unhappy. She noticed Qian Rongzhi’s gaze and became riled up again.
Qian Rongzhi said, “Senior sister Han, I’m not on close terms with him. Unless he possesses a supreme grade talisman, it’s impossible for him to be the opponent of a tenth layer Qi Practitioner.”
An idea flashed through Han Qiongzhi’s head. She muttered, “Really?” A supreme grade talisman was equivalent to the attack of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. If he really was in possession of one, there really might have been a chance. Of course, it was only a tiny chance at that.
“Come with me!” She immediately could not help herself but pull Qian Rongzhi along with her as she forced her way through the crowd, arriving before Li Qingshan. She grabbed him by the shoulder. “Tell me, do you have a supreme grade talisman?”
“Ma’am Han!” Tie Zhan cried out. Young miss Han was renowned in Clear River city. Her fiery temper had made many people suffer in the past. He never thought Li Qingshan would actually be acquainted with her.
“Weirdo.” Xiao An, who had remained silent on the side the entire time, muttered quietly.
Right? Qian Rongzhi shot a glance at her. Xiao An smiled brightly, like they knew what each other was thinking.
Even Li Qingshan found Han Qiongzhi’s personality to be rather strange. He said, “Lend me your ear.”
Han Qiongzhi stuck her head over in a hurry and heard Li Qingshan whisper, “I have a few.”
Han Qiongzhi was surprised. “Lend me your ear too!”
Li Qingshan shook his head helplessly and leaned in. He heard her whisper, “Really?”
“Whether you believe it is up to you.”
Han Qiongzhi smiled. “Looks like I’ve actually gotten in your way. Fine, I’ll forgive you. Kicking you off the shuttle earlier was my fault, but I still did everything out of good intentions, so you still needed to thank me. We’re fair now.”
“Whatever.”
With that matter now over, Han Qiongzhi was in a good mood. She saw the strange gazes from everywhere, and only then did she realise the implicative nature of whispering in each other’s ears in public. She growled, “What’re you all looking at? Piss off!”
She shot a glance at Li Qingshan again, If you didn’t want others to hear you, you could’ve just used communication technique instead. Why did you have to do that? You clearly don’t have anything good in mind.
With a snort, she stamped her foot and left. Qian Rongzhi nodded at Xiao An before leaving with her. She would have plenty of time to scheme once she joined the academy. She was lucky that Wei Zhongyuan had not died.
Li Qingshan and Xiao An glanced at one another. What a weirdo.
By now, the ships had already arrived on the side of the sandy shoal. One of the ships extended a gangway to the shoal. A bitter-looking female instructor with protruding cheekbones called out, “Come here, children!”