172 Chapter 172 (1/2)

Spirit Spring City.

Zhang Xue and Zhang Liu weren't invited to the discussion that the elders were having so instead they were sitting in one of the rooms at their estate. The two were direct descendants of the previous Patriarch and now were the disciples of the current one. Their living expenses were covered by the clan and they had many servants along with a large mansion.

The siblings weren't alone though, people like Huo Kong, Feng Nuana were also here. Besides those two there were some other male and female cultivators of the younger generation around. Some from the Huo Clan while others from the Feng Clan that were accompanying their respective young lords.

Zhang Xue had invited them to over to stay in their guest house. The two other clans were placed in various locations of the main clan estate, but some had gathered here while they waited for word to arrive from their elders. Nuana and Kong, in particular, were people that these two Zhang clan members had gotten to know during the testing period. Liu was a bit hesitant about inviting the Feng Clan girl, but the small sister of the Feng Matriarch was slowly growing on him.

”When do you think that the elders will come to a conclusion? They still treat us like little kids!”

Huo Kong said out while leaning up against a wall with his hands crossed.

”Don't think they can come to a conclusion without Masters approval...”

Zhang Xue gave an answer while offering some tea to Feng Nuana and some of her friends. The group of girls was sitting around a table, tea in white porcelain cups was spread out on it. The short girl had braided her hair into twintails as they were looking light pink as always.

”This is quite fine tea... and this honey goes well with it...”

Nuana proclaimed while sipping on the drink, the tea back home wasn't as good as this, she wanted to ask how they managed to get it to taste like this but the timing was a bit off.

”Your master... are you really the disciples of that honorable person?”

Everyone looked at Zhang Xue that just smiled and nodded, the person in question was, of course, Zhang Dong that made a good impression on the juniors in this room.

”He was so admirable, how he delivered swift justice to that Yang Kai!”

The boys from the side perked up and joined in at the conversation. They all were there and managed to wake up just in time to behold Yang Kai's demise. They saw that dastardly Dark Palm Sect member vanish into fine particles. The image of the white-haired cultivator that had saved them was etched into their mind, they would never forget his gallant figure till they died.

The conversation shifted to the Zhang Patriarch, the kids started wondering about just how strong he was in reality. The young cultivators started asking Xue and Liu about their master. They were barraged by many questions ranging from how tough their training was all the way to what sort of boots the Zhang Patriarch liked to wear.

”Do you think your master could give me some pointers...”

Huo Kong asked Liu, the animosity from his voice that he used to have long gone. The red-haired youth had seen how righteous this man was while protecting Feng Nuana and was now seeing him in a new light. That he was the older brother of the woman that he had a thing for also was a big factor.

”Master giving pointers? I'm not sure he is versed in fire techniques that much. But he is a master of hand to hand combat!”

Zhang Liu stifled a laugh while trying to think about what his master would do. He was feeling quite proud of being his pupil, everyone in the room was looking at him with sparkles in their eyes. Having a mentor that was at the nascent soul level was something that these youths had been dreaming every day.

This peaceful atmosphere didn't last for long as it was interrupted. While they were chatting, they heard a loud thud and the sound of pottery being broken. The loud noise was preceded by a flash of light coming from a large side closet. This was also the place that Zhang Xue stashed most of her tableware and her tea sets.

This closet was to the side and there was no entrance to it from anywhere besides the room it was in. The people in the room looked at each other, wondering why there was a flash of light and a shift in spiritual energy coming from there.

”Is it a mouse or a rat?”

The girls backed away slightly, the most logical conclusion was that some kind of spirit beast sneaked into the closet and was kicking up a racket. It also could be some kind of intruder that was hiding in there before they entered the room. Due to this suspicion, Huo Kong and Zhang Liu reacted in unison while nodding at each other.

The two youths slowly shuffled their feet towards the sliding door, the people behind them quieting down. Kong placed his hand on the door ready to slide it open, Liu was on the other side his hand raised and ready to deliver a devastating blow to anyone that might have been spying on them. The people behind them gulped as Liu nodded, this prompted Kong to slide the door open his fist also raised the tension in the air high.

The moment they slid the door open cracked and broken teacups and saucers poured out. Inside was no assassin or demonic mouse beast whatsoever. There was a peculiar person that the people here were already familiar with. The man was wearing a characteristic white robe that had armor parts like metallic gauntlets and shoulder pauldrons. Yes this was the Zhang Patriarch, Zhang Dong had used the system's teleportation method to appear here where his disciple Zhang Xue was.

'Blasted thing teleported me into a closet.'

There he was, stuck in a small space barely large enough to support his height and width. He had a large white pot on his head that was slightly cracked. Shattered pieces of what looked to have been expensive tea sets were riddled all over the floor and were falling out from the broken shelves behind him.

The people in the room were stunned, Huo Kong and Zhang Liu were shocked and stopped mid-movement their fists raised in the air. Matt looked at the two youths that were standing in front of him with one of his eyes. The other was covered with the pot on his head, he slowly removed it and placed it to the side only to see it tumble down into the rest of the broken pottery.

”M-master?”

Zhang Liu spoke out while lowering his fist, Zhang Dong moved his hand upwards just showing his palm in a way that indicated that he didn't want the youth to speak.

”You see... your Master placed many teleportation arrays around the Zhang Clan to have a way of escape... but I was in the middle of a dire battle with five nascent soul cultivators. While activating it the spiritual energy from the fight must have interfered with my technique and I ended up here...”

So he said, the people in the room just stared while his deep voice filled their ears.

'Did it work? Why are they being so quiet... should I just leave?'

Matt's palms became sweaty and his introverted personality started acting up due to being gawked at by a group of people. This felt a lot more intimate than speaking out to a large crowd that looked more like a big blob from the distance. In this situation, he was starting to feel nervous as people that he knew were staring him down.

”Ah, well then...I'll just...”

”Master!”

”It's really the Zhang Patriarch!”

”How stunning, he is even more handsome in person!”