Chapter 1941: Fully Convinced
Zu An raised his brows.
What is the meaning of this?
Sang Qien’s face reddened. She snuck Zu An a look and said quietly, “I have already gotten married.”
Shen Xuzi’s smile became even more brilliant. He said, “That’s good, that’s very good! That way, you won’t just chatter endlessly about love like a little girl all day, and can focus wholeheartedly on your research!”
Zu An was speechless. So were Sang Qien and Zheng Dan.
Shen Xuzi was also a bit confused. From what he knew, this Zheng Dan had also gotten married before, and she was even a widow. Now, Sang Qien was also married, and Zu An was so close to both of them. Could it be that he liked other people’s wives? Did he have to suggest that his junior sister get married before trying to get closer to Zu An?
…
Then, Shen Xuzi gave Sang Qien a tour of his residence. Of course, it was mainly to show off the machinery and puppets that he was most proud of. Disciples usually wanted to show off as much as possible in front of their masters, but didn’t teachers frequently do the same?
Sure enough, Sang Qien was extremely interested. Her eyes were filled with excitement for these new things. She only regretted not coming here to study earlier.
When he saw that they were beginning to discuss academic matters, Zu An didn’t disturb the two any longer and bade them goodbye. Then, he took Zheng Dan to Yan Xiangu’s immortal dwelling.
“Big brother Zu!” Xie Daoyun called out.
When she heard that Zu An had arrived, her excitement couldn't be hidden at all. She was even more excited because she had heard about the amazing strength he displayed the previous day. Even though she already had a good idea of his strength from the secret dungeon, she had never expected him to be so strong. To a certain degree, he was now already on par with Zhao Han. Unfortunately, she had been focused on researching the talismans she obtained from the secret dungeon for some time and couldn't meet with big brother Zu often. She hadn’t expectedhim to actually come to her today!
Is this fate…
Xie Daoyun’s face immediately turned red when she thought of that.
Yan Xiangu, who was sitting behind her, rolled his eyes. He finally understood the heartbreak of fathers who had daughters.
Scared of her breaking if one held her in one's hands, scared of her melting if one held her in one's mouth, and yet in the end, they were all taken away by immature brats...
Even though he and Xie Daoyun were only master and disciple, not father and daughter, and neither was Zu An a brat, it really felt similar…
“I came here with your junior sister this time. She was previously held up because of certain events, but she'll study properly now. As the senior sister, please take good care of her,” Zu An said, pulling Zheng Dan over.
“Sure,” Xie Daoyun said, although she noticed that the way Zu An pulled Zheng Dan over was really natural, and Zheng Dan didn’t have any strange reactions to it either. She immediately felt a bit jealous.
It seems these two are much closer than I imagined.
“I’ll have to trouble senior sister in the future,” Zheng Dan said.
Both women were secretly sizing each other up at the same time. Both of them had been part of Brightmoon City’s high society and naturally knew each other, but it was hard to say that they were that close; they had merely been ordinary friends. Who would have thought that they would be connected to each other again because of Zu An?
The two of them had met previously when Zu An brought Zheng Dan here last time. Xie Daoyun had already formed some suspicions about their relationship, but when she saw the way Zheng Dan’s eyes shone whenever she looked at Zu An, how could she still not know the truth?
Sigh… I'm so envious of her. She can just show that she likes Ah Zu in front of everyone, unlike me; because of my identity, I can only bury my love deep in my heart.
Xie Daoyun felt a bit happier when she heard the other party call her senior sister. She always had to call the other women like Chu Chuyan and Pei Mianman 'big sister', but now, she was finally the one being called that, even if it was only 'senior sister'…
Just then, Yan Xiangu said, “That is good. Daoyun, you can teach the things you learned when you first studied under me to your junior sister. Once she has mastered those subjects, I can then teach her other things.”
“Yes, master, Xie Daoyun said.
She was actually really busy, so if she were asked to teach any other disciple, she most likely wouldn’t agree. However, Zheng Dan was different. Not only was she also from Brightmoon City just like her, she was also big brother Zu’s friend. Thus, she took Zheng Dan around to get used to the surroundings while also introducing what she needed to learn from now on.
Yan Xiangu then began to talk to Zu An, saying, “Libationer, you really do leave me quite surprised. You're so young, so normally, it shouldn’t have been possible for your cultivation to have reached your current level even if you cultivated from the moment you left your mother’s womb.”
Zu An smiled and said, “The road of cultivation cares more about insights. Otherwise, wouldn’t it mean that the older you were, the higher your achievements would be?”
“That is true. I was being too trite,” Yan Xiangu said with a chuckle. He then suddenly added, “After seeing your strength yesterday, I believe that you and my teacher joined together to defeat that one, right?”
Zu An thought to himself, It really is as Liu Ning said. There were many people in the capital who were already coming to similar suspicions.
He replied, “The two of them have already passed. Whether or not that's the case, is it so important anymore?”
Yan Xiangu didn’t seem to mind his ambiguous answer too much, replying, “The libationer’s words are correct; I simply placed too much importance on it. Since teacher passed on the position of libationer to you, that means you are a fellow he trusted. Nothing else could be more important.”
Zu An had to admit that these disciples of the late libationer really didn’t seem to care much for political power. If it were anyone else, they would have definitely called Zu An disgraceful and unfilial, but Zu An could tell that this man really didn’t care.
“By the way, if we hadn’t arrived yesterday, could the Demon-Eradicating Great Formation really have been unable to stop the libationer?” Yan Xiangu asked, his eyes sparkling.
There was a bit of competitiveness in his eyes, because in the past, he'd played a large role in the creation of that great formation himself. Of course, if he hadn't had the resources of an entire empire to create it, the formation wouldn’t have been able to display enough power.
Zu An thought for a bit, then said, “That great formation did give me a strong sense of danger. If I faced it head on, I might have ended up in trouble.”
Yan Xiangu picked up on what Zu An was implying. He replied, “The libationer is suggesting that you would kill those eight dukes so they would be unable to fully activate the formation, correct? That is indeed a plausible plan, but the eight dukes have extraordinary statuses in the empire. It’s one thing to kill one or two, but if you killed too many of them, you would become a public enemy of the empire. At that point, there would be no misgivings left in activating the entire formation.”
He had naturally considered that possibility when he designed the formation in the past. An enemy could immediately eliminate the ones activating the formations, wasting a huge amount of resources without achieving anything. It would really become a joke then. That was why, during the designing process, he had left behind another countermeasure. If the state was in absolute danger, as long as anyone had the privileges, the entire great formation would activate on its own. And yet, if the great formation he created had ended up killing the new libationer his teacher had chosen, he would truly have become a sinner of the academy.
Zu An replied, “There would be no need to kill all eight dukes. Even though the power of the formation is great, there would still have been some paths of survival. As long as one could grasp those opportunities, it would be possible to avoid facing its ferocity directly.”
Even though the Demon-Eradicating Great Formation was formidable, compared to the great formation he had seen in the great tomb, it was still far, far less advanced. After seeing that formation that locked down all of the tomb’s prisoners, then studying the knowledge pertaining to formations in the Baopu Sutra, in his eyes, the capital's formation was naturally full of flaws.
“Paths of survival?” Yan Xiangu asked stunned. “Where are those paths of survival?”
This great formation was the final countermeasure for the human race if they were pushed to the very brink of extinction. How could he possibly leave the enemy any chance to survive?
After some hesitation, Zu An pointed out a few ways to deal with it. Yan Xiangu’s achievement in formations was very high, and together with the knowledge he had learned from all of the world’s most brilliant formation matters, even though it was difficult to deal with this formation head-on, its power could be avoided through some other techniques.
Yan Xiangu didn’t really believe that Zu An had some other solutions, but the more he listened, the more his expression changed. In the end, he was fully convinced. He said, “My junior brothers and sisters always praised you to the heavens as if you were some wandering immortal. To be honest, I was still a bit unconvinced after listening to them. And yet now, you have completely won me over. There really are those who are born knowing…”
The reasons he had supported Zu An in becoming the new libationer were firstly because he didn’t wish for the academy to be divided, and secondly to respect his teacher’s final wishes. Furthermore, he didn’t wish to deal with secular matters after becoming the libationer, so even if some people had supported him in becoming the new libationer, he had refused them. Even so, in his heart, he had still felt as if the position was one he had 'given up’.
Even after finding out how high Zu An’s cultivation was, that was merely cultivation. In the domain of formations, he had always considered himself the king. Not even his teacher’s skills were as high as his in the field. After all, the late libationer had been too preoccupied by the various domains he studied and hadn’t delveed into a single field the way he did.
It was only now, while conversing with Zu An, that he realized that Zu An's achievements in the field were just as high! Some of Zu An’s views were things that he had never even heard of, giving him brand new enlightenment. Even his skills in formation-making that had stagnated for many years seemed to be showing signs of new breakthroughs.
He was so excited that he got up and bowed to Zu An. His eyes were full of zealous joy as he said, “I will treat the libationer as my teacher in the future!”
Zu An was startled, replying, “What is Master Yan doing? Hurry and rise at once! How could I possibly be your master?”
“Why not? Cultivation cares more about skill than age,” Yan Xiangu said with a serious expression.
“Absolutely not; I still have many things I need to consult you about in regards to formations. We can just converse collaboratively in the future and improve together. There's no need for us to be master and disciple!” Zu An replied.
He had to go to quite the lengths to finally dissuade Yan Xiangu from having a master and disciple relationship with him. After all, even though he had the Baopu Sutra’s formation knowledge, Yan Xiangu had researched formations his entire life! Yan Xiangu's foundation was far better than what he could hope to attain. Whether it was the Demon-Eradicating Great Formation or the formation that had banished even Zhao Han, both of them were exceptional. There could even be things in the Baopu Sutra that he had to consult this man on, so how could he dare to become his teacher?
When he saw how firm Zu An’s attitude was, Yan Xiangu could only give up on that thought. He said with a sigh of amazement, “This almost makes me recall the days I spent in the past with the late libationer…”
Even though he and the libationer had shared a master-disciple relationship in name, in reality, they were old friends who had known each other for many years. The late libationer hadn't wanted to be his master either, but Yan Xiangu had been more stubborn back then. Since he'd learned from the late libationer, he'd insisted on taking the man on as a master. The libationer had been forced to reluctantly agree. Recalling those old memories really made him feel a sense of nostalgia.
“Senior brother, what are you and the libationer doing? Why are you bowing to each other like husband and wife?” a voice suddenly called out. High heels tapped against the ground. Jiang Luofu walked in from outside, along with Qi Yaoguang in her witch-like attire. The two looked at this situation inside with strange expressions.
Yan Xiangu thus told them about what had just happened. Jiang Luofu and Qi Yaoguang exchanged a look, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes. After all, they understood this senior brother of theirs best. Normally, even though he looked like someone who never tried to offend anyone, he was actually extremely proud deep down. In the past, their teacher had even said before that their great senior’s overall strength wouldn't necessarily be weaker than his own. Someone like that had actually wanted to make Zu An his master?
“No way, no way. If you made him your master, wouldn’t I be another generation lower too? Absolutely no way!” Qi Yaoguang immediately cried out.
Yan Xiangu’s expression was strange. He said, “That's because you have not witnessed his skills in formations… Hm? Didn’t you also say that you wanted him to be your master before?”
“That’s different! I’m a little girl. Forget about calling him master, I can even call him daddy, but can you? Your respected self is already a white-bearded old man, so please stop embarrassing yourself!” Qi Yaoguang said forcefully and with conviction.
Yan Xiangu was speechless.
I really can’t stoop that low; I still care about my dignity!
When she saw Zu An’s stunned expression, Jiang Luofu couldn't help but smile. She came over to Zu An’s side and said, “Don’t take it to heart; junior sister is always cheeky like this. Teacher used to love this unique side of her when he was alive.”
“Ahem, did the two of you come here for something?” Zu An asked. Jiang Luofu was clearly cold and unapproachable, and yet she wore those fiery and seductive black stockings that even revealed a bit of her inner thighs. Zu An wondered just what the late libationer had been thinking for him to take in this pair of prodigies.
Jiang Luofu said, “Someone came to the academy looking for you.”
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