Chapter 76: Character Defines (2/2)
In his heart, Mo Wuji was rather unhappy. Who was this guy, and so what if I’m sitting here? Why should I stand while everyone is sitting down?
Although he had these thoughts, Mo Wuji knew that he was powerless to influence anything that happened here, and could only gaze at Shi Jun, hoping for him to make a move. If Shi Jun could not speak up either, he would just have to suck it up.
With a light chuckle, Shi Jun replied, “Pill Master Ju, since everyone is seated here, it wouldn’t be very nice to let Wuji stand by himself.” To this, Pill Master Ju coldly answered, “None of the pill masters that are gathered here today need the help of ingredient boys. Only, you brought an ingredient boy. Then again, Pill Master Shi’s abilities are outstanding. What better way to stand out from the crowd than to bring an ingredient boy?” Even though Shi Jun knew that his position was not as high up as this robed youth, but upon hearing these words come out, he couldn’t help but become furious.
Although Mo Wuji felt dissatisfied inside too, he was not willing to implicate Shi Jun. He was about to stand up, and signal to Shi Jun to avoid arguing over such a small matter, when Pill Master Ju spoke coldly again, “You puny little ingredient boy, how dare you sit here.”
These words had the complete opposite effect than they were intended for, as Mo Wuji intentionally sat still, not budging a single inch. If he did not have to keep in mind that Yan’Er was still with him, Mo Wuji would have given a sarcastic retort. So what if he was an ingredient boy? It was Pill Master Shi’s instruction for him to sit down. He was Pill Master Shi’s ingredient boy, not Pill Master Ju’s. Pill Master Shi did not seem to be of a lower rank than him, what problem did this guy have, to bring up such a trivial issue?
“Mo Wuji, as an ingredient boy, how dare you just sit there as two pill masters are arguing?” The elder who was first from the left asked out of the blue, seemingly siding with Pill Master Ju. Mo Wuji knew that someone who sat at the first position on the left definitely was someone with a high rank, possibly the First Elder. When under the roof of another you can’t afford not to defer to him, hence Mo Wuji stood up, bowed respectfully to the elder, and said, “Elder, please understand, if I had stood up earlier, perhaps Pill Master Shi and Pill Master Ju would not have argued over my actions. But with sect head’s guidance, I came to understand something, hence my inaction throughout the whole incident.”
Sect head’s guidance? Everyone turned to look at Gu Ran who sat at the top. As the Formless Blade Sect’s sect head, Gu Ran had never taken in a disciple, so how could he have guided a service disciple? Equally confused, Gu Ran looked to Mo Wuji, unsure when he had taught Mo Wuji before. Mo Wuji calmly explained himself, “In the eyes of experts, a lowly service disciple naturally has no status or position. This can be clearly seen when Pill Master Ju asked me to stand up. But when I entered the great hall, our sect head did not specially refer to me as a service disciple. Indeed in the eyes of our sect head, it doesn’t matter if it’s a formal, inner, outer, or service disciple. As long as he is part of the Formless Blade Sect, he would be considered Formless Blade Sect’s disciple.”
When Mo Wuji entered, the sect head really did not intentionally call Mo Wuji a service disciple, but no one would think that this small detail would be used by him as the sect head’s personal guidance. Without waiting for a response, Mo Wuji continued, “The sect head also used the word “please” for a lowly disciple such as myself. In his eyes, everyone is equal.”
“So these are the lessons you learnt from our sect head?” The first elder from the left asked again. To this, Mo Wuji firmly answered, “Yes, in our sect head’s eyes, people have no rank or status, but are defined by their character. This is sect head’s lesson to me.”
“Good. There are no high or low class people, only people with good or bad character. Thanks for the lesson.” The woman sitting first from the right gave Mo Wuji a standing ovation, obviously in agreement with what he had said. Only then did Mo Wuji notice this woman. She appeared rather young, definitely not more than a few years older than him. Her facial features were rather average too, possibly considered to be kind of ugly by some, but this young woman actually sat at a position close to the sect head. She likely held a high position within the sect.
In reality, everyone could read the intention behind Mo Wuji’s words, which was that the sect head was a person of good character, while Pill Master Ju was only as good as an average person. The sect head nodded his head in agreement, warmly telling Mo Wuji, “Why don’t you just sit down.”
“Thank you sect head.” Mo Wuji gave another word of thanks before sitting down for good. Shi Jun’s impression of Mo Wuji improved further as he saw how Mo Wuji turned the situation around single handedly. He softly whispered to Mo Wuji, “The person that just spoke up for you is the Formless Blade Sect’s number one pill master, Tier 4 Earth Pill Refiner Yan Qianyin. She’s the leader of the team that’s representing the Formless Blade Sect at the Five Elements Desolate Domain Pill Competition.”
Mo Wuji had already heard from Fei Bingzhu that Pill Master Yan was an Earth Pill Master previously. However, he did not expect that her name to also have the word “yin” in it. It reminded him of his experience with Xia Ruoyin.
“All right, since all the pill refiners are here, let’s begin.” Gu Ran cut to the chase, without the intention of mulling on what Mo Wuji had said. As he finished his sentence, five gigantic pill furnaces were carried into the centre of the hall.