74 Chapter 74 (1/2)

Matt canceled the disguising art during his cultivation period in the mountains, so he was back in his white robe looking like the Patriarch that everyone knew and loved. Well, at least that was what he hoped for. People on the ground spotted him flying in, he cruised by by the gate and just gave the guards a nod, this making the men freak out and do sort of a salute.

”At ease?”

He flew back to the main clan building, trying to slip in without making too much of a commotion but the moment he landed he could hear footsteps coming, people were apparently waiting for his return, he could hear some youthful voices.

”Master! Welcome back!”

The shout made his ears ring as his male disciple greeted him with a wave followed by a small quick bow with clasped hands. Matt looked at the sixteen-year-old, his hair was a lot whiter than before but you could still see the black strands in there. His sister appeared right behind her brother, a pout visible on her face.

”Aww, I wanted to greet Master back first... not fair...”

The girl puffed up her cheeks while glaring at her brother that was looking kind of smug. Matt didn't know how to react, was it some kind of grand achievement to greet your master first? The kid sure looked like he had won some kind of prize, while the young lady pouted like a little child. Though their master started chuckling to himself, finding the siblings to be quite the comedic duo.

”Well, Liu my student for greeting your Master first, you have earned the right to a reward!”

The brother perked up at his masters' words, you could see his eyes shining with anticipation.

”R-really Master?”

”Hah, you wish!”

Matt replied with a smile on his face then ruffled up the youth's hair with his larger hand. The sister started at her squirming brother that was getting his hair rearranged by their master. This was a peculiar sight, most master - disciple relationships were more no-nonsense but Zhang Dong liked to keep a more relaxed atmosphere where people weren't that tense around him. After he was finished teasing the youth he asked about the tournament.

”Well, I didn't see the report yet, how did you fare in your fights?”

Zhang Liu was grasping his messed up mop of a head, trying to calm down his long locks, due to that Xue answered instead.

”We both got into the top 200 participants! They had no chance against Masters' superior cultivation and combat techniques!”

”She meant to say that she barely made it into the 195th spot.”

Liu snickered under his breath while his sister snow-white complexion started turning pink, her eyes in the form of daggers were pointing in the direction of her brother that was having a good time.

Matt crossed his arms over one another and looked at the two, the two would be going with him, their life probably depended on his decisions. He sighed inwardly hoping for the best, the two made the decision to come along on their own but they were far too young in his opinion.

”Is that so...”

”Well, I'll check your progress later you two. First I have to speak to your grandpa, we need to start preparing for that expedition...”

The two quieted down, the atmosphere got a bit more serious as their Master started talking about the impending quest into the unknown. The two bid their master adieu as he went to his chambers, his two retainers and Zhang Jin were already waiting for him.

”I see that you are back Dong'er, were you successful in your travels?”

Zhang Jin asked while the two people on the sides gave small bows of respect to their acting Patriarch.

”More or less, got some loot. I went through it all and there are some things that we can sell, but I'm not sure about some of these items, here take a look.”

While saying that he handed one storage ring with some less useful treasures over to Zhang Kuo so that he could pawn them off. He handed a second storage ring over to his grandpa, this one contained a lot of occult looking items and demonic cultivation manuscripts. Matt didn't really know what to do with those, could they be sold of, or were things like these banned? Matt did look through all of them on his way here, he disposed of the more gruesome techniques, like the one that used women as batteries. He mostly left techniques and items that used the cultivators' life for bursts of power, if someone wanted to use things like those for a short term power increase they could go right ahead. He just didn't want more demonic cultivators popping up that used strange skills to bother the populace.

Zhang Jin just scanned the storage device with his spiritual sense, his eyebrow quivering oh so slightly.

”I see... we can't sell these with the usual channels, but there is a way, don't worry I'll have someone handle it.”

Gaining more spirit stones was always a good thing, he could absorb them for more points or buy more crafting materials to equip his soldiers.

”So, did you do what I asked for?”

Matt looked at his retainers that nodded, they handed him a storage ring with a lot of old parchments and manuscripts. Some of them looked like they would crumble at the slightest touch. He also received a jade slip with the statics that showed him which cultivation techniques were the most used by the Zhang Clan members. Luckily the costlier ones that the foundation establishment seniors used weren't that varied, they all more or less cultivated similar water skills.

Mostly depending on the family ties and bloodline, a Zhang clan member could choose a cultivation method from a limited pile. The higher the grading the less of a choice there was, so most of the people tried their luck at cultivating the highest-ranked technique or skill they would find. Due to this, there wasn't as much verity, which would mean that there were fewer manuals to upgrade.

”Okay, I'll start with the foundation establishment ones first... Oh right, Gramps give me your cultivation manual as well.”

The Zhang Clan members still weren't sure what their Patriarch was trying to do, what could he do with those old techniques, could he learn them all and train the people in just two months of time? This was a hard pill to swallow, there were over a hundred manuals in there even if you were a genius, you needed a couple of days to grasp even the easiest of skills. They didn't think that there would be enough time to do that.