At the foot of the hill, Zuo Wentang and the others paid close attention to what was happening up there.
They placed absolute faith in Ye Yuzhou. After all, the man was one of the few exceptional experts of the Jade Dragon Kingdom with a Rank 4 pet beast. A cultivator with an eighth realm blood contract and a prestigious teacher. He was even one of the country’s guardians.
If Ye Yuzhou were to take action, all his opponents had to surrender.
However, they didn’t know that after hearing this one sentence from Lin Jin, Ye Yuzhou’s eyelid immediately twitched as panic surfaced inside him.
He was visibly stunned. After surveying Lin Jin carefully once more, he instantly felt a sense of familiarity.
A possibility appeared in Ye Yuzhou’s mind.
A man in a mask with a domineering aura, who also knew to address him as ‘Old Ye’.
This nickname ‘Old Ye’ was known only to the people who had ever stepped foot in the Visitation Hall, and the only person inside the place who was fond of wearing masks seemed to be the Curator.
In an instant, Ye Yuzhou’s aura was gone without a trace.
That low voice and tone were all too familiar.
The only difference here was the mask he was wearing.
Suppressing his rapidly beating heart, Ye Yuzhou tried calling out, “Curator?”
Lin Jin seemed nonchalant as if everything was within his grasp. He answered, “Who knew you resided in Maple City. What? Were you perhaps thinking of attacking me?”
Ye Yuzhou’s scalp prickled when he heard this. He immediately denied, “No, of course not!”
He could now be sure that this man before him was the curator.
But how?
Ye Yuzhou’s mind was a mess. But then, another thought surfaced. But why not?
If Lin Jin was the curator’s disciple and Lin Jin was based in Maple City, it wouldn’t be too surprising for the Curator to show up in the surrounding area right? That’s right. There was nothing strange about it.
In fact, it would be weirder if the curator wasn’t around at all.
At that moment, Lin Jin glanced at Ye Yuzhou’s soaring cloud flood dragon. After a thought, he went over activated his intermediate deterrence ability.
As this wasn’t the Visitation Hall, Lin Jin couldn’t use the curator’s intimidation abilities so this act of his was a risky bet.
The intermediate beast deterrence ability could subdue any beasts of Rank 4 and below. Despite the soaring cloud flood dragon being remarkably strong, it was still a Rank 4 so Lin Jin’s ability should technically work on the creature.
Lin Jin dared not let his mind wander. He had his entire attention focused on suppressing the soaring cloud flood dragon.
The flood dragon grew visibly uncomfortable but due to Lin Jin’s deterrence ability, it dared not move about. Lin Jin could be seen walking over to where the flood dragon had been hurt and patted the spot where its wound used to be. It was the spot Lin Jin personally stitched up.
“The wound is mostly healed now.”
One simple sentence, spoken in a most relaxed manner.
And yet, this dispelled any possible doubt Ye Yuzhou could have harbored.
He hadn’t been controlling his flood dragon just now so if anyone else had gotten close to his pet beast, the creature might have just lashed out without warning.
However, his soaring cloud flood dragon was behaving itself. To Ye Yuzhou, only the Curator was capable of achieving this feat.
Hence, all his doubts ceased to exist.
Particularly when he saw his flood dragon nudge its head into Lin Jin to express its affection. This sight helped Ye Yuzhou further confirm Lin Jin’s identity.
Now that he knew he was dealing with the Curator, Ye Yuzhou began to have mixed feelings, though it was mostly delight.
He had wanted to change the curator’s impression of him and seek his forgiveness, so wasn’t this the perfect opportunity?
Moreover, he had an absolute advantage over Old Crow, Ghost Child, and the other visitors.
The others could only meet the curator once every seven days in the Visitation Hall, but he could meet the curator in person.
This was an exceptional honor.
Though, Ye Yuzhou was fairly curious as to why the curator was using something so random like a piece of tree bark to use as his mask. As curious as he was about it, he refrained from asking too many intrusive questions.
The curator was a phenomenal expert and Ye Yuzhou was sure of that. As to why such an expert did certain things and wore his clothes in a certain way, he must have his own reasons. Ye Yuzhou shouldn’t ask recklessly in case he annoyed the curator.
“Old Ye, what did you come here for? Are you perhaps here to help the Grassy Continent natives with their wicked deeds?” Lin Jin intentionally asked as he made his way back.
Since Ye Yuzhou was pleased, Lin Jin too was pleased.
It was a last-minute idea of Lin Jin’s to use his identity as the Curator to resolve the crisis. He was prepared to give a long-winded explanation as to what the Curator was doing here, but to his surprise, Ye Yuzhou didn’t enquire about it and took his words at face value.
He had no idea how wild Ye Yuzhou’s thoughts have gotten when he concluded that Lin Jin was the Curator’s disciple, so it wasn’t strange for the Curator to show up somewhere near Maple City.
Now, with Ye Yuzhou here, Lin Jin planned to let the older man resolve this crisis for him.
After hearing the Curator’s ‘interrogation’, Ye Yuzhou was jolted back to reality. He had almost forgotten about this serious business.
The situation was much clearer now. That monster must belong to the curator and that murderer must also be related to him. It was no wonder the natives couldn’t force their way up here.
Wasn’t it obvious?
It would have been stranger if they could fight their way up with the Curator being on the defense.
Forget locals from the Snake Country, from Ye Yuzhou’s perspective, even if a large country were to face the curator, they wouldn’t dare to offend him.
The curator himself might even be the guardian of a large country.
“Curator, you’ve mistaken. I’m here at the request of the City Lord Manor to assess the situation. I’m definitely not here to help with any misdeeds.” Ye Yuzhou tried his best to distance himself from the matter.
Lin Jin smiled. “I won’t trouble you. It was my disciple who killed the natives, but know that they were the ones who started this. Old Ye, I’ll let you decide what you want to do about this situation.”
Lin Jin never explicitly requested Old Ye’s help but his hint was clear enough.
Being a wise and experienced man, Ye Yuzhou naturally understood the underlying meaning of Lin Jin’s words.
Had it been someone else, Ye Yuzhou would never have even contemplated helping them. Even if they were a close acquaintance of his. But the Curator was different. It was so hard to find an opportunity to get in the Curator’s good graces and he would only be an idiot if he didn’t seize this chance.
“Curator, I’ve now understood the situation. This isn’t the Grassy Continent so the locals have no jurisdiction here. I’ll deal with Snake Country’s state preceptor once he arrives later.”
Immediately after Ye Yuzhou said that Lin Jin was gaping. What was this about the Snake Country’s state preceptor?
In spite of his curiosity, Lin Jin kept his mouth sealed.
Because he was the ‘curator’ right now so he should try not to speak if he could afford it. He would refrain from asking unnecessary questions too.
This would help with the knowledgeable and mysterious curator’s image.
But come to think of it, Old Ye was being very diligent this time.
Of course, Lin Jin also knew what the man sought after. Hence, after brief contemplation, he said, “Once you’re done dealing with the Grassy Continent locals, come up here and meet me. I’ll guide you through the evolution method.”
This one statement thrilled Ye Yuzhou.
Finally, he did it.
And more importantly, he succeeded in remedying his relationship with the Curator. Now, Ye Yuzhou’s poor-old heart that had been worried for two days could finally be at rest.
As for Snake Country’s state preceptor, although he wasn’t easy to deal with, compared to offending the Curator, the former was no trouble at all. Moreover, if he helped the Curator with this tiny task, he’d undoubtedly redeem himself.
Ye Yuzhou was no fool.
Even if they ended up being at odds with Snake Country because of this matter and even if it leads to war, he couldn’t care less. Meanwhile, if he, in turn, offended the curator because of this and the latter got angry, he might not be the only one facing misfortune.
The entire Maple City and even Jade Dragon Kingdom might be in peril.
The Curator wouldn’t even need to soil his hands. Remember the visitors in the Visitation Hall? Ye Yuzhou took a wild guess that Black Crow was probably an expert that could wipe out smaller nations on his own. Ghost Child was even more terrifying.
She used to be one of the five Lingnan Deities and back in the day, and these individuals could wipe out an entire intermediate country.
If the Curator were to issue an order and these people came to take a spin around Jade Dragon Kingdom, the country would be in for a ride.
As for which side to take, as long as Ye Yuzhou’s brain wasn’t damaged, he would stand firmly on the Curator’s side.
Ye Yuzhou saluted him before descending the mountain.
Down below, the natives, Zuo Wentang, and the others had their eyes glued onto Ye Yuzhou, waiting for his conclusion.
Knowing he couldn’t reveal what happened up there, Ye Yuzhou simply said, “I’ll talk to Snake Country’s state preceptor personally once he arrives.”
Though curious, the others didn’t ask more.
Especially the locals who couldn’t wait for their state preceptor to arrive so that justice could be carried out
And so, they would wait.
After about an hour, the cries of an eagle could be heard from above. When the Grassy Continent locals heard it, they immediately got up, excited.
Their Snake Country’s state preceptor had clearly arrived.
Zuo Wentang began to worry, but when he glanced at Ye Yuzhou, who remained composed and unafraid, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
From his perspective, he assumed that Ye Yuzhou must have already come up with a plan.
Looking up, one could see several goshawks swooping down. The largest goshawk among them had electric sparks running over its body. With both wings fully extended, it probably had a wingspan of fifty feet.
The creature was humongous.
It was definitely a giant beast.
Standing on the back of this largest goshawk was an old man.
Just like the other Grassy Continent natives, the old man was tall and muscular. He had the totem’s symbol of an elder on his face, wooden armor on his body that was paired with a beast skin cloak, and he was holding a long wooden stick in his hand.
Coiled around this stick was a yellow sand snake.
This snake’s body was the color of desert sand and its tail was shaking, emitting a rattling sound as if it was a sand hammer.
“Welcome, State Preceptor!” The Grassy Continent natives immediately went over and bowed.
There were countries of different scales in Grassy Continent as well. This Snake Country would be recognized by most as an intermediate nation. It wasn’t the strongest, but neither was it the weakest.
Of course, this great state preceptor was no pushover.
Presently, only Ye Yuzhou’s strength could match up to his, but when it came to status since Ye Yuzhou didn’t have an official position, he was obviously inferior in that sense.
Ye Yuzhou already knew that Snake Country’s state preceptor was called ‘Ruzero’. In one of the ancient languages of the Grassy Continent, his name meant ‘snake of the desert’.
At the moment, the snake of the desert looked terribly solemn. After all, he had just lost his son and he had been raising this child of his to be his eventual successor.
Now that his plans were ruined, how could he not be angry?
“Where is the person who killed my son?” State Preceptor Ruzero immediately asked after jumping off the goshawk’s back.
He was clearly here for revenge.
The natives used the opportunity to make the story sound worse than the truth, making Ruzero turn toward the hilltop and storming over darkly.
He wanted revenge and it seemed like he wasn’t going to wait even for one second.
