blogombal Chapter 108 Xuanzi: I will personally take him as my disciple
Chapter 108 Xuanzi: I will personally take him as my disciple
At the far end of the long table, directly opposite the main entrance, the head seat was completely empty.
However, if someone looked closely, they would notice a recliner not far behind the head seat, by the window.
An old man was lying on a deckchair.
The old man was thin and frail. He wore a faded gray cloth robe, his face was covered with deep wrinkles, and his eyes were half-closed, as if he might fall asleep at any moment.
The recliner swayed gently with his faint breathing, mingling with the sound of waves coming from outside the window.
The commotion inside the Sea God Pavilion seemed to have nothing to do with him.
"Snapped!"
A sharp crack suddenly shattered the silence inside the pavilion.
Xuanzi slammed his greasy hand hard on the table in front of him, making the teacups on the table jump.
His yellowish-brown eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief.
"Shao Zhe!" His voice rose several decibels, trembling slightly. "Is all the information on here true?!"
The other elders also raised their heads, and more than a dozen pairs of eyes fell on Yan Shaozhe.
They were all waiting for Yan Shaozhe to give an answer.
Yan Shaozhe stood at the end of the long table, a slow smile curving his lips.
"Of course it's true." His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears: "Even if you gave me a hundred lives, I wouldn't dare to lie about something like this."
After he finished speaking, the room fell into a brief silence.
immediately……
"hiss!!!"
Someone gasped first, and then, as if it were contagious, gasps echoed around the long table.
Even the seasoned elders who had seen countless geniuses and weathered countless storms couldn't help but be moved at this moment.
"An eleven-year-old Soul Master... In my one hundred and ninety-three years of life, I've never heard of such a thing!"
"How did he manage to get two purple and two black spirit rings? The age of that second spirit ring must be over five thousand years old, right?"
"Twin martial souls, one a mysterious mental element, the other the ultimate ice element—they must be the darlings of the heavens!"
"Unprecedented, absolutely unprecedented!"
……
The murmurs around the long table grew louder.
These usually stern and composed old men were now like children who had discovered a treasure, arguing excitedly.
As time passed, the discussions gradually subsided, and the Sea God Pavilion returned to silence.
All eyes were now focused on Yan Shaozhe.
"Shao Zhe, this child must be taught seriously; he is the future of the academy."
Lin Huiqun looked at Yan Shaozhe with a serious expression.
But then he changed the subject: "In my opinion, keeping him in the outer courtyard is a waste of time. We should recruit him directly into the inner courtyard and have me personally teach him."
As soon as he said this, several pairs of eyes immediately fell on him around the long table.
However, before anyone else could speak, the person sitting opposite him had already taken the lead.
"Old Lin is right, Huo Yuhao should indeed enter the inner courtyard, but..."
"You personally instructing me? That's probably inappropriate, considering you possess a weapon spirit."
Lin Huiqun raised an eyebrow and looked at the speaker, who was none other than Zhuang Yusen, the Life Douluo.
She gave a forced smile: "So what if I have a weapon spirit? Don't think I don't know what you're up to. You just want to be Huo Yuhao's teacher, don't you?"
"But your Tree of Life is a plant-type martial soul, so it's not suitable either."
Zhuang Yusen retorted, "Why am I unsuitable? My martial soul is of the life attribute, and I cultivate attribute abilities."
The two went back and forth, arguing fiercely, and it looked like they were about to start a fight.
Just then, a woman's voice interrupted: "You two, stop arguing."
The person speaking was sitting on the right side of the head of the long table, and was no ordinary person.
She is none other than Song Yunzhi, the third most powerful figure in the academy.
She smiled faintly, her gaze sweeping over Lin Huiqun and Zhuang Yusen: "Huo Yuhao's second martial soul is a beast martial soul, while you two have a weapon martial soul and a plant-type martial soul, respectively. There's a gap between you two when it comes to teaching each other. I'm the most suitable person to handle this matter."
Lin Huiqun: "..."
Zhuang Yusen: "..."
The two looked at each other and saw the same message in each other's eyes: neither would back down!
"Teaching students is more about experience than about whether their martial spirits are similar."
"That's not what you said before!"
"Shut up..."
"Please calm down, both of you, and listen to me..."
For a moment, the Sea God Pavilion seemed to be in an uproar.
The three elders, who were usually aloof and dignified, were now arguing heatedly, their faces flushed.
If the students from the outer academy were to see this scene, they would probably be so shocked that their eyes would pop out.
"Snapped!"
A sharp crack suddenly rang out, making the teacups on the table vibrate.
Everyone fell silent and looked in the direction of the sound.
Xuanzi had stood up at some point, slamming his greasy hand on the table, his yellowish-brown eyes slowly sweeping over everyone present.
"All of you, stop arguing."
"Huo Yuhao... I will personally teach him."
As soon as he finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the room.
Immediately...
"No!"
Almost everyone shouted out those two words in unison, as if they had rehearsed them countless times.
Faced with a prodigy like Huo Yuhao, which of the elders in the Sea God Pavilion wouldn't want to take him under their wing?
Xuanzi was no exception.
Although he is slovenly and unreliable, he still has a good eye for things.
A talent like Huo Yuhao is so rare that it might not appear even once in a thousand or ten thousand years.
If I could take him as a disciple and personally train him, what a glorious thing that would be!
Now, Sea God Pavilion Master Mu En is seriously injured and has not been in charge of affairs for many years.
Looking across the entire Shrek Academy, in terms of seniority and strength, if Xuanzi claims to be second, who dares to claim to be first?
Logically speaking, Xuanzi is indeed the most suitable candidate.
However, the current unanimous boycott is not due to his ability, but rather his reputation.
Of course, this reputation is not a good one.
After all, everyone present remembered that incident from a few years ago very clearly.
That year, Xuanzi led more than a dozen talented students from the academy to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt souls.
No one expected that they would encounter a 100,000-year-old soul beast in the mixed zone.
If Xuanzi had been present at the time, with his strength, protecting the students and ensuring their safe retreat would have been no problem at all.
But the problem is... he's not here.
He was supposed to be always there to protect the trainees, but instead, he went to raid bird nests just to get a bite to eat!
When he returned satisfied after looting the bird's nest, he saw a chaotic campsite, bloodstains everywhere, and only a handful of survivors among the dozen or so genius students.
Those children were all geniuses carefully selected by Shrek Academy, future pillars nurtured with countless efforts.
But because of Xuanzi, they turned into cold corpses.
This incident became an indelible stain on Xuanzi's life and an unspoken pain for everyone at Shrek Academy.
With such a precedent in mind, how could anyone feel comfortable entrusting Huo Yuhao to him?
If this peerless genius were to suffer an accident due to his momentary negligence, who could bear the loss to Shrek Academy?
Xuanzi stood by the long table, looking at the unanimous rejection from everyone, and at the complex looks they gave him. His expression froze for a moment.
Then he understood.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but the words stuck in his throat.
He didn't insist any further, but slowly sat down, his face now showing only desolation.
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes lowered, as if he had aged considerably in an instant.
Just then, an aged voice slowly broke the suffocating silence.
"What are you fighting over here?"
The old man who had been resting with his eyes closed on the recliner had opened them at some point.
"If you want to keep Huo Yuhao, this genius, and if you want him to stay, shouldn't you at least ask for his opinion first?"
Moon's voice wasn't loud, but it struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.
Everyone fell silent.
These senior members of the academy have been aloof and superior for too long.
So long ago, we've forgotten that those students are also living, breathing people with their own thoughts and choices.
In their view, it was an immense favor for a Title Douluo to want to take on a disciple. Why wouldn't the other party rush to agree?
Yan Shaozhe remained silent for a moment, then raised his head, looked at the old man on the recliner, and asked respectfully, "Teacher, shall I invite Huo Yuhao here and ask him in person?"