Returning from the Immortal World

Despite having strong mental strength, Tang Xiu still felt like he was sitting on pins and needles facing Manager Huang’s queer gaze. He almost couldn’t bear to get up and leave.

“Manager Huang, isn’t it? You don’t have to care about me. You can go busy yourself with your work and straightly call me out when the ribbon cutting time comes. Also, Ouyang Lulu seems to have a bit of a fever today, causing her to be muddled-headed. Don’t take her joke seriously.”

“This is… interesting!” Manager Huang almost roared with laughter upon hearing this.

She had been with Ouyang Lulu for several years, and was definitely her right-hand woman. Thus, she was appointed as the General Manager of the Paradise Manor. She was well aware of the inside story of Ouyang Lulu’s personality from A to Z, yet she never imagined that the heavenly proud daughter, the young lady of the Ouyang Family whose pride seeped into her bones, would unexpectedly have such a thick skin as to chase after such a boy. The most important of all was that the boy even looked a few years younger than she. Moreover, said boy even used all sorts of excuses and was unwilling to accept her feelings.

Like a sow trying to climb the tree, it’s an extremely rare occurrence and yet highly improbable.

Somehow, Manager Huang didn’t put Tang Xiu in her eyes. It was Ouyang Lulu’s display of attitude that was all the more interesting for her. During this very important time and event, however, she didn’t want to waste time with Tang Xiu, causing her to slightly nod at him with a fake smile as she turned around to leave.

Tang Xiu retracted his vision from the departed back of Manager Huang. Though he was quite bored, he didn’t feel like playing with his mobile phone again. While being unsure what to do, he caught the sight of a magazine on the nearby desk, so he took it and laid down on the sofa, covered his face with the magazine and was preparing to take a short nap.

Time passed by. Just as his eyes turned blurry, two arguing voices passed into his ears:

“Brother Jiang, the process of growing up is akin to a caterpillar breaking its cocoon and turning into a butterfly, shedding all the ugliness before its beautiful wings can vibrate beautifully under the sunlight, which only then will it flicker lightly and happily. For example, you can see Ouyang Lulu. She turned mature day by day and shed her young feathers. And now, she has come to struggle in Shanghai by herself; and she alone did everything for this wonderful scene to happen.”

“Brother Chen, despite your statement having a bit of truth in it, I actually have my own opinion. One’s growth is due to his or her being faced with some sorrowful matters and deal with it until he or she knows what is called of having been through the vicissitudes of life.”

“Brother Jiang, your statement reminds me of what my Master once said told me.”

“Your Master? Do you really have a Master, Brother Chen? Your Respected Master is…”

“I’m not…”

Tang Xiu got up from the sofa and removed the fashion magazine that covered his face, and then lightly said, “I’m his master.”

On the sofa opposite of the coffee table, both men turned to look at Tang Xiu at the same time.

“Master, you’re also here?”

When Chen Zhizhong just arrived, he found that someone was sleeping on the sofa at the opposite side. Though he felt somewhat strange given the current situation, he didn’t even recognize the man as Tang Xiu.

“Yeah, Ouyang Lulu sent me an invitation,” Tang Xiu nodded. “So I came over to join in the fun. Anyways, how did you come to be in Shanghai as well?”

“I came to Shanghai to sign a business contract, and then happened to learn from Ouyang Lulu’s big brother, Ouyang Lei, that she opened a restaurant here. Hence I came here to congratulate her while convenient. Master, I know that you’re studying at Shanghai University, but I had no plans of looking for you for fear that I would disturb you. Therefore, it’s kind of unexpected to see you here.”

“All right!” Tang Xiu nodded and looked at the other person.

Jiang Feng was stunned. The relationship between Tang Xiu and Chen Zhizhong made him feel kind of puzzled and confused. After all, Chen Zhizhong’s age was nearly twice that of Tang Xiu’s, yet he was unexpectedly Tang Xiu’s disciple; this fact was quite hard for him to accept.

“Brother Jiang, we are all martial arts practitioners,” said Chen Zhizhong calmly. “I think you should understand the reason why he can become my Master. He’s very powerful, more powerful than I. I feel that even if it is you…”

Jiang Feng interrupted Chen Zhizhong and said with a bitter tone, “Brother Chen, I already know that Mr. Tang is very powerful. I suffered quite a loss to him before.”

“What happened between you two?” Chen Zhizhong slightly surprised and turned to look at Tang Xiu.

“Let’s just say he suffered in the place of someone from his Soaring Dragon Martial School who courted a disaster for him,” said Tang Xiu with a faint tone.

Astute as he was, Chen Zhizhong could understand the meaning in Tang Xiu’s words in an instant. He then smiled, “I see. Then please talk no more. Master, Brother Jiang is actually a very frank and upright man, and he’s also a martial arts grandmaster. It’s just that his Soaring Dragon Martial School kind of have a large number of people, and that inevitably lead to some rotten apples among them.”

Tang Xiu slightly nodded, “One must do what one can do. Nevertheless, uprightness and proper manners won’t be there without proper rules or codes, for only with strict doctrine will we be able to nurture genuine talents.”

With a grateful look, Jiang Feng glanced at Chen Zhizhong. Then, he nodded to Tang Xiu and said, “I will bear these words in my mind, Mr. Tang. As of now, my Soaring Dragon Martial School has only one-fifth of its previous number. Furthermore, I myself have reformed the rules and codes there, and those who dare to violate them will be severely punished.”

A faint smile finally appeared on Tang Xiu’s face, “One only learns from one’s mistakes. I believe you have tasted the bitter fruit of having gotten implicated by another, so you will definitely not have any problems like that again. Alright, you two have a chat! I’m going to stroll outside.”

Tang Xiu got up and walked for a few steps before his pace suddenly came to a halt. He turned around to look at Chen Zhizhong and asked, “By the way, when will you return to Star City?”

“I was originally planning to go back today, but it would be too late after leaving here, so I’ll be going back tomorrow. Do you any instructions for me, Master?” Answered Chen Zhizhong.

“Come with me after this opening ceremony! We’ll go back to Star City the day after tomorrow,” said Tang Xiu.

“All right!” A sliver of joy suffused in Chen Zhizhong’s eyes as he replied respectfully.

As a matter of fact, he had always been wanting to find Tang Xiu since the True Qi inside his body had all been transformed into True Primordial Qi. His cultivation speed, however, was too slow; his strength had not been improved until now. According to what he knew about his very young Senior Sister, Gu Yin, the present her should have surpassed him in terms of cultivation level.

Therefore, he really needed guidance from Tang Xiu.

As Tang Xiu took his leave, Jiang Feng praised with a sigh, “Mr. Tang does possess very powerful strength. Despite me having broken through to the realm of martial arts grandmaster, I’m still not his opponent at all. I have a hunch that even if I make another breakthrough that doubles my strength, I’m afraid that I would still not be his match.”

A proud look could be seen on Chen Zhizhong’s face, as he said, “For him to be my Master, it’s a given that he’s very formidable.”

“Brother Chen, although Mr. Tang is indeed very strong, I still don’t get why you took him as your Master with your current age…” Said Jiang Feng, a curious look on his face.

“My Master just said, don’t you think? It’s to reach mastery and become an expert. What I want is to achieve a higher level in martial arts, so requesting him to be my Master is a very normal thing. Anyhow, I forgot to tell you something. Because of my Master, my present cultivation is improved due to my diligence, and is no longer shallow. How about we compare notes when we have a chance?”

Jiang Feng couldn’t help laughing, “Brother Chen, the way I look at it, just forget it! Mr. Tang is indeed very formidable and I can confirm this point, but you were still far away from the threshold of martial arts grandmaster six months ago. Even if you have been instructed by him and your cultivation has progressed by leaps and bounds, I don’t think you have reached the level of martial arts grandmaster as of yet, no?”

A hint of a smile appeared on the corner of Chen Zhizhong’s mouth.

Martial arts grandmaster?

With his current strength, even eight martial arts grandmasters may not be his opponent at all.

Looking at the slight contempt looks on Jiang Feng’s face, he smiled lightly and said, “After we get back to Star City, I’ll personally go the Soaring Dragon Martial School to find you to compare notes. I hope that you won’t throw the towel by that time.”

“Got no problem with that. I’ll be waiting for you,” said Jiang Feng as he laughed loudly.

****

Outside, at the tree-lined pathway, Tang Xiu put his hands in his pockets and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the manor. To his astonishment, there were many rare birds and animals housed in cages on both sides of the lush groove. Two of which were white tigers that were particularly attracting everyone’s attention.

“Ouyang Lulu truly has poured a lot of effort and energy to prepare this manor. Nevertheless, many of these rare birds and wild animals are protected animals by the country. Does she possess a certificate to rear these things?” Amid the thought, a helpless smile suddenly appeared on Tang Xiu’s face. He thought that he was really bored, to think that he was actually bothered about this trivial matter.

All of a sudden, his expression suddenly changed as an idea sprung up inside his mind. This idea made him grip his fist as an intense light filled his eyes.

Rearing animals?

That’s right! When he was in the Immortal World, he reared and kept a lot of Immortal Beasts. Many of which were reared since they were little and were fed Spirit Beast Pills that he personally concocted. After they had their spiritual wisdom opened, he also imparted them with suitable Immortal Beast cultivation techniques into their mind, thus nurturing a large number of formidable Immortal Beasts for himself.

“That’s right. I will need the bones of fierce beasts for my cultivation. But rather than going out everywhere to track down fierce beasts, hunting them down would be quite a hassle, so it will be much better to rear these fierce beasts myself. After I feed them Spirit Beast Pills, I can anticipate some of them to transform and open their spiritual wisdom, so that I can train them and they can be useful in combat. But if their spiritual wisdom is not opened, I can butcher them and use their remains for my cultivation.

“Furthermore, during my time in the Immortal World, I had many herbal fields with countless rare and exotic medicinal herbs. If I’m able to grow a large-scale plantation of herbs, not only can I use them for my cultivation in the future, I will also be able to give them to the people I’m nurturing.

“Earth truly is too small. Once my cultivation and the cultivation of the people under me has reached a higher level, the resources here will be not enough even if we are to collect them from the whole Earth. Apparently, I must prepare in advance.

“Nevertheless, it goes back to money yet again! I’m afraid I’ll be short on funds for this. After all, the amount needed to purchase a wide land will be enormous. Later on, despite being able to plant medicinal herbs as well as rear fierce beasts on Nine Dragons Island, I must still build more bases in some other places as well.

“A place for herbs plantation and a fierce beast pen, however, must be carefully selected. And only the most suitable place can be picked. But firstly, the funds for the investment and the people who will manage it must also be resolved.

”...”

Ideas kept churning inside Tang Xiu’s mind one by one. After a while, he clenched his fists hard as a firm look filled his eyes.