Chapter 400: Elder?
Chapter 400: Elder?
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
"Another page?"
Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.
He had gone through a lot of trouble to teach Mu Xueqing, even going to the extent of imparting the Heaven's Path Saber Art to her. Even so, he didn't really expect to earn the other party's earnest gratitude and form a new golden page.
Zhang Xuan had no idea what other effects there were to this Book of Heaven's Path, but its ability to raise Zhang Xuan's Soul Depth easily and assimilate the contents of the books gathered in the Library of Heaven's Path into his knowledge already made it a priceless treasure.
"Teacher, regardless of where you go, I'll definitely look for you!"
Making a vow in her heart, Mu Xueqing led the crowd away.
The room soon chilled down with their departure. However, Lu Chong remained in the room, and he stood on the spot impassively.
"You..."
Zhang Xuan was about to speak, but the other party interrupted him.
"Teacher, I have nothing to tie me down here anymore. Wherever you go, I'll follow you!" Lu Chong's eyes reflected his determination.
After a long moment of hesitation, Zhang Xuan nodded, "Alright!"
Zhang Xuan was well aware of the character of this student of his. Knowing that there was no use persuading him, he eventually relented.
After dealing with that, Zhang Xuan walked out of the room. At that moment, Liu shi stepped forward with a worried frown.
"Are you going to keep them kneeling?"
Zheng Yang, Yuan Tao, Wang Ying, and his other students were still kneeling motionlessly in the main hall. Did he intend to keep them kneeling like that?
"Their cultivation has progressed too quickly, and this has added to their complacency. Making them kneel will help build their character so that they won't act so rashly in the future!" Zhang Xuan said.
Actually, Zhang Xuan's rage had already died down. The poisoning incident didn't cause much harm, and his students already knew their mistakes. However, he still chose to neglect them and keep them kneeling. The reason for it was simple; he wanted to build their character. Only with a strong character will they be able to reach greater heights in the future.
Taking Lu Chong for example, the tragedy in his clan had made his mental fortitude as tough as steel. Even though his cultivation had progressed swiftly in the past few days, he didn't show the slightest arrogance or complacency.
On the other hand, Zheng Yang, Yuan Tao, Wang Ying, and the others were entitled to the best education from the very start, and they have never faced any major problems in their cultivation before. Zhang Xuan thought that it was about time to teach them the difficulty of cultivating so that they wouldn't get complacent.
"That's good. I've neglected this matter..."
Liu shi nodded. At this moment, he truly felt impressed by this senior of his.
When he first met his senior, he thought that he was still slightly immature in his actions. However, at this moment, he already possessed on the disposition of a teacher, and every single action he took aligned with his duties as a teacher.
As a teacher, one shouldn't just focus all of one's efforts on the cultivation of one's student; one must also reinforce their mental fortitude.
Using building a palace as an analogy, one's mental fortitude would be like the foundation of the construction.
Without the foundation, no matter how many bricks one laid on top and what kind of technologies one utilized, there would still be a limit to its final height. On top of that, it would be unable to weather the winds of a storm as well.
Zhang Xuan made use of this matter to sternly punish the others, but the truth was that he was trying to grind their will...
Without a bone-piercing chill, how could there be the fragrance of the plum blossoms!
"I just hope that they can understand your efforts..." Liu shi sighed.
Sometimes, students were unable to understand why their teachers were so harsh on them, and this incited a rebellious streak in them. By the time a falling out occurred, it was already too late for regrets.
Zhang Xuan nodded. After chatting with Liu shi for a moment longer, he walked out of the residence and settled some other miscellaneous matters.
The Great Herb King and Liao Xun had already left the capital. The Ji Clan had sent many generous gifts in apology, and Zhang Xuan kept them all in his storage ring.
In truth, the matter with Ji Clan wasn't anything much, and there was nothing for Zhang Xuan to pursue.
By the time Zhang Xuan had settled everything, it was already late at night.
The next day, he went to the Physician Guild and swept through all of the books in their library. He went on to do the same for the other guilds in the kingdom, storing them inside the Library of Heaven's Path. He busied himself throughout the day, and only upon sunset did he return to the residence.
"Time to begin!"
With a thought, the golden book appeared right before Zhang Xuan.
The two 4-star master teachers had specifically brought up their desire to meet Yang Xuan before him, and dragging the matter out wasn't a solution. If Zhang Xuan didn't want to be exposed by the other party, he had to accrue a huge mountain of knowledge to make up for his lack thereof. In any case, he had two golden pages now, so using one wasn't too much of a heartache.
"Assimilate..."
Boom!
As soon as the thought appeared in his mind, a violent buzz sounded. The golden page radiated a bright glow, and all of the books in the Library of Heaven's Path immediately started infusing their contents into his head. Unable to withstand the huge surge of information, Zhang Xuan's vision turned dark and he fainted.
...
In the Physician Guild, Physician Cheng Feng stared helplessly at the unconscious Physician Mu Hong lying on the floor.
This ex-guild leader had gone to the Lin Clan to cure the other party of their poison, but... not only did he fail to resolve their poison, he even got afflicted with it.
For a 3-star physician to land himself in such a state... It was indeed shameful.
"Physician Cheng Feng, is there any way to cure him?"
Physician Mu Hong's student, 2-star Physician Xie Shunda, looked at Cheng Feng nervously.
Physician Cheng Feng shook his head. "I've tried all methods, but the poison he's afflicted with... is simply too formidable. I am also helpless before it!"
He had carefully examined this poison, and he realized that it was able to fuse easily with all zhenqi. This problem had left him completely stumped.
"Unless..."
"Unless?" Xie Shunda's face tensed up.
"Unless Guild Leader Liu, or rather, Zhang shi, treats him personally. Given how he was able to solve so many problems on the Wall of Dilemma, his aptitude for the Way of Medicine is truly frightening. This poison is formidable, but he might have a solution for it!" Physician Cheng Feng said.
"Zhang Xuan..."
Upon hearing this name, Xie Shunda's face immediately sank, and he howled deeply, "His student is the one who planted the poison! He must have been in cahoots with the master of the Poison Hall!"
Back then, he had clearly seen how Hall Master Liao treated Zhang shi so respectfully that it seemed as though the latter was his own father.
During the period when Physician Mu Hong was afflicted with lethal poison, the master of the Poison Hall appeared in the city. It was hard to believe that there wasn't any correlation between the two.
"Audacious! Such words cannot be spouted without evidence!" Physician Cheng Feng berated sternly, "Zhang shi is a master teacher and a grandmaster physician. How can he be in cahoots with the Poison Hall?"
"Without evidence? Hmph, so many people have seen it with their own eyes!" Xie Shunda harrumphed coldly, "What Wall of Dilemma and guild leader, pui! How can someone who has dealings with the Poison Hall be worthy to serve as the leader of our Physician Guild?
"In fact, I think that he might not even know medicine at all. He might have prepared the answers to the problems on the Wall of Dilemma beforehand. Otherwise, how could he solve so many problems within such a short period of time?"
Seeing his own teacher lying in a coma on the floor, Xie Shunda couldn't hold back his rage anymore, and he bellowed furiously.
Every single one of those questions on the Wall of Dilemma was extremely difficult. Even if Zhang Xuan were to start learning from the womb, given how he wasn't even twenty yet, how much could he learn?
Clearly, someone had given him the answers beforehand, and all he had to do was to copy them down.
Otherwise, given how skilled he was, why hadn't he treated anyone before?
It's worth noting that the issue with the guardian beast is a state secret, so not many people know of it.
"This..." Physician Cheng Feng hesitated.
Back then, when Zhang shi came to the Physician Guild, he was also present. The fact that the other party could solve nineteen questions on the Wall of Dilemma despite being ignorant of basic common knowledge already made the entire incident rather doubtful.
Speaking of which, Physician Cheng Feng also held his suspicions.
"This kind of person is unworthy of being the master of our Physician Guild. I hope that Physician Cheng Feng can host a meeting with the elders to strip that fellow of his position as the guild leader so that he can't go around fooling others..."
Halfway through Xie Shunda's incitement, a middle-aged man rushed into the room.
As soon as he entered, the middle-aged man shouted excitedly, "Physician Cheng Feng and Physician Xie Shunda, there's a response on the Wall of Dilemma!"
"There's a response? Did he get the final question wrong?"
Xie Shunda's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly turned his gaze to the middle-aged man.
A few days ago, Zhang shi provided the solutions for twenty difficult illnesses in a row. However, the other side of the Wall of Dilemma had been unable to give an accurate judgement on the final answer he provided.
Initially, it said that it would take ten days for it to assess the validity of the answer. However, the headquarters seemed to have operated more efficiently than it expected, and it had already given a reply today.
"Wrong?" The middle-aged man froze for a moment before hurriedly shaking his head. "It doesn't mention whether it's wrong or not..."
"Doesn't mention?"
The two physicians were stunned. Since the headquarter had given its reply, it should have already come to a verdict on the validity of Zhang shi's answer. What did he mean by saying it wasn't mentioned?
"Then... what's written on it?" Xie Shunda couldn't help but ask.
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment before replying, "It says that... it'll confer Liu Cheng as an elder of the Myriad Kingdom Alliance's Physician Guild, and as for his exact ranking, a test will be conducted when his cultivation reaches a certain level!'
"Confer him... as an elder of the Myriad Kingdom Alliance's Physician Guild?"
Physician Cheng Feng and Physician Xie Shunda glanced at one another, and their bodies trembled. Blood nearly spurted out of their mouths.
The heck, what was going on?
The Myriad Kingdom Alliance, that was a top-notch existence that stood even above the Conferred Kingdoms! The elders of the Physician Guild there were at minimum 4-star.
Conferring Liu Cheng as their elder?
At this moment, Xie Shunda could only feel a piercing heat on his face, and it felt as though someone had slapped him forcefully.
He had just said that the other party was unworthy of being their guild leader, and the next moment... the Myriad Kingdom Alliance's Physician Guild sent a message indicating their interest in having him as an elder of their guild...
The heck!
You must be doing this on purpose...
Xie Shunda's face turned scarlet, and he nearly cried on the spot.
...
There was a peculiar room in the Tianwu Kingdom Master Teacher Pavilion where a snowy-white wall towered.
Communication Wall!
At this moment, Su shi, Ling shi, and Pavilion Master Jiang was standing in front of the wall.
"Reporting to Su shi, Ling shi, and Pavilion Master Jiang, the reparations of the Teacher Acknowledgement Hall are completed!"
Elder Zhu walked in and clasped his fist.
"Good!" Pavilion Master Jiang heaved a sigh of relief.
"The sudden shaking of Kong shi's statue and the fall of innumerable ancestral tablets... Such a matter has never occurred before. Ling shi, do you have any idea what happened then?"
Su shi frowned.
That day, they were all present on the spot. Kong shi suddenly fell, resulting in violent tremors throughout the hall.
Even until now, they were still unable to make sense out of the incident.
They had considered the possibility of Zhang shi winning the acknowledgement of all of the ancestors, but eventually, they shook their heads in denial.
That was Kong shi's statue! His lingering will was infused in it, how could it possibly acknowledge anyone easily?
Rumor had it that there was once a 9-star master teacher who tried to acknowledge Kong shi as his teacher, only to be rejected. To reject a 9-star master teacher and take in a 2-star master teacher instead? You must be jesting!
"Not yet!"
Ling shi couldn't comprehend the situation either. Shaking his head, he picked up a brush and smiled, "However, there's no need to worry. I intend to ask the headquarter now... Even though we don't understand the situation, the guild leader and the other elders might know a thing or two!"
"Un, hurry up..." Su shi nodded.
Just as Ling shi was considering how he should phrase his words, the massive wall before them suddenly lit up, and a row of words appeared.
"Rejection of the Ancestors, Sorrowful Chimes of the Bell! Someone in the Myriad King Alliance has refused the acknowledgement of the ancestors after passing the master teacher examination. If the Teacher Acknowledgement Hall of any branch has collapsed, report swiftly!"
"Teacher Acknowledgement Hall, collapsed?" Su shi, Ling shi, Pavilion Master Jiang, and Elder Zhu were dumbstruck.