'So much for getting wiser with age. This is clearly just a Weird Old Man with a strange temper.'
However, Zhang Deming didn't underestimate him.
Usually, a disciple who hadn't been promoted to the Inner Sect or become a Tai Chi Cultivator after fifty years would be dispatched to manage secular affairs. Alternatively, they would be sent back to establish their own Cultivation Family, spreading their lineage and expanding the Sect's external influence.
Anyone who could remain in the Sect under those circumstances either had an impressive, unique skill or a powerful background.
Either way, it was well worth it for Zhang Deming, a newcomer to the Outer Sect, to humble himself and take the initiative to get acquainted.
When the old man heard Zhang Deming's greeting, he merely nodded and said, "Let's skip the pleasantries and begin. Spirit-Binding Grass is the primary ingredient for the basic Spirit-Binding Potion.
Market demand for it is enormous, and this..."
Although the old man was a bit eccentric, he wasn't difficult to get along with. In fact, he explained everything to Zhang Deming with great care and detail. He seemed like a decent person.
Their conversation went on, back and forth, until noon, when the old man finally finished his lecture.
He declined Zhang Deming's offer to stay and left immediately.
No sooner had the old man left than the meal delivery arrived. He had clearly timed his departure perfectly.
He was, without a doubt, a peculiar but interesting old man.
...
Several days passed in a flash, and Zhang Deming gradually grew accustomed to his life at Qingyou Pool.
After more than a decade, he no longer found this incredibly slow pace of life to be excruciatingly boring. On the contrary, it felt rather pleasant and tranquil.
He spent his days Casting magic, engaging in Cultivation, and exercising occasionally to maintain the perfect physique he had spent ten years building. Life was quite fulfilling.
The only drawback was the loneliness—his only company was a snake.
Beyond that, the only thing that gave Zhang Deming pause was the matter of his Qi Fortune.
The Qi Fortune in his inventory was behaving strangely. He had originally condensed less than half a Qi Fortune Light Ball, but now he had one and a half.
His new living situation was a definite upgrade, but he had barely met anyone new.
Based on the rules he had managed to figure out so far, his Qi Fortune shouldn't be increasing at such an exaggerated rate.
After all, the first light ball had taken him ten years to form, and that might have included a bonus for his status as a Transmigrator.
The second was the result of his increase in power, plus the influence of Merit.
'So this third one… and there's already one and a half of them… It can't have grown this much just because I moved to a place with better perks, can it?'
Of course, he hadn't fully figured out the rules for acquiring Qi Fortune yet. Since he couldn't make sense of it, Zhang Deming decided to stop worrying about it.
...
One day, Zhang Deming checked the date on his course schedule. Today was the first class in a new round of public lectures: the first session of the Agility Technique.
He had been looking forward to this for a long time.
Of the two free techniques he was entitled to, the Agility Technique was the one he needed most urgently.
The Sect was simply too vast—forget the entire Sect, even Little Hui Peak alone was enormous.
Without a mount or any other means of transport, he was effectively under a form of house arrest, imprisoned by the sheer scale of his surroundings.
The name 'Agility Technique' might not sound impressive, but once he mastered it, he would have much more freedom to move around the Sect.
This was because Spirit Deer were natural practitioners of the Agility Technique.
In other words, once he learned the Agility Technique, Zhang Deming would be able to match the normal speed of a Spirit Deer. He'd essentially become his own human-shaped mount, making travel within the Sect's grounds no longer a challenge.
Otherwise, forget about leaving the Sect; just traveling up and down Little Hui Peak once was a real ordeal.
And as for the peaks of the Inner Sect, their height was so absurd they clearly weren't meant to be climbed by humans at all.
After getting ready and putting on a brand-new Outer Disciple uniform, Zhang Deming checked the time.
Since his goal was to learn the Magic, not to impress the senior disciple teaching the class, he wasn't in a hurry and felt no need to scramble for a good seat.
He set off toward Little Hui Peak's Dharma Transmission Hall at a reasonably brisk pace.
Just as he left the alleyways of Qingyou Pool and stepped onto the main path, the number of people around him started to increase.
The day of the monthly public lecture was always the busiest time on Little Hui Peak.
Zhang Deming knew no one here, so he walked on alone.
After walking for a short while, the path ahead suddenly grew noisy and crowded.
A crowd had gathered, apparently watching some kind of commotion.
With his mind set on the Agility Technique, and being new to the Outer Sect, he had no desire to get involved in any trouble.
Zhang Deming merely glanced at the crowd, with no intention of getting closer to investigate. He planned to simply walk around it.
But, to his surprise, as he drew near, many of the surrounding people began to turn and look at him.
Then, the crowd that had formed the circle turned in unison to stare at him as well.
The crowd parted, and Zhang Deming froze, stunned.
There was no fight, no gambling ring, none of the usual commotions.
At the center of the crowd stood two young women. One was rather plain, with the gentle air of a girl-next-door.
The other had ear-length short hair and an aura so masculine it was off the charts; she was well on her way to becoming a full-blown tomboy.
Neither looked very old, perhaps eighteen or nineteen.
But what truly stunned Zhang Deming wasn't the two women themselves. It was the Identity Card held in the hand of the masculine one.
The card was projecting a Light Screen about twenty inches in size, and on that screen was a single, upper-body portrait of Zhang Deming.
Before Zhang Deming's arrival, this woman had clearly been pointing at the Light Screen and saying something about it.
Which was why everyone had turned in unison to stare at him.
Zhang Deming was completely baffled. "..."
'So I can't even avoid a commotion when I try? The commotion everyone's gathered to see is... me?'
'Why?'
Zhang Deming frowned. He'd been in the Sect for a decade, always keeping a low profile and never attracting any attention.
He couldn't recall ever meeting these two senior female disciples, nor could he remember being so famous in the Sect that he was practically a celebrity.
Being stared at by the entire crowd, Zhang Deming kept his brow furrowed as he spoke. "Senior Sister," he began, addressing the one with the card, "if I'm not mistaken, we've never met.
"As we are strangers, don't you think it's a bit inappropriate for you to be talking about me to this crowd, regardless of whether you're introducing me or gossiping about me?"
At the same time, Zhang Deming had a sinking feeling. He suspected that the recent abnormal growth in his Qi Fortune was most likely related to this very situation. He had probably become famous for some reason without even realizing it.
By now, the crowd that had been surrounding the two women had dispersed, and the pair at the center had stopped their lively commentary.
The tomboyish one looked at Zhang Deming with surprise. "Well, well. If it isn't our new junior brother with the off-the-charts luck. What a coincidence."
Zhang Deming's expression remained cold. "I don't think it's a coincidence at all," he said flatly. "Today is the public lecture, which I, as a new disciple, would obviously attend.
"And this just happens to be the main path from Little Hui Peak to the Dharma Transmission Hall. Judging by this whole scene, you two Senior Sisters have probably been waiting here since early this morning.
"Clearly, you were waiting to ambush me.
"So no, I don't think it's much of a coincidence at all.
"Am I wrong, Senior Sisters?
"You've gone to a lot of trouble this morning. Care to tell me what you were going on about?"
As Zhang Deming spoke, all eyes in the vicinity turned toward the two female disciples.
The plain, demure-looking girl seemed to have a timid nature. Under the stares of so many people, she subconsciously reached out and tugged at the hem of the tomboy's sleeve.
Clearly, she wasn't the one in charge.