Who was Zhong Zifeng, you might ask?
Potentially a magnate in Heavenly Spiral Kingdom’s Beast Appraisal Association, beast appraisers from all over United Continent had a deep-rooted admiration for him. Some say that Mr. Zhong already possessed the qualifications of a Rank 5 beast appraiser but the man insisted that he had to remain at Rank 4. Many people were confused by his choice but Mr. Zhong didn’t seem like he was going to budge any time soon.
While they may scratch their heads at his stubbornness, Mr. Zhong had a perfectly valid reason for his insistence.
It was because of Shu Xiaolou.
Shu Xiaolou was currently a Rank 5 beast appraiser. His refusal to advance into Rank 5 was his way of showing respect to Shu Xiaolou. In other words, if ever the day came that Shu Xiaolou willingly advanced to Rank 6, Zhong Zifeng would go with the flow and move up to Rank 5.
Even Heavenly Spiral Kingdom’s emperor, Feng Tiannan, had to respectfully address Zhong Zifeng as ‘Elder Zhong’ or ‘Mr. Zhong’. Shu Xiaolou on the other hand would simply call him ‘Little Zhong’. Zhong Zifeng had grown accustomed to being addressed like this, which proved how much Senior Shu Xiaolou weighed in his heart.
Should Shu Xiaolou ask of him anything, Zhong Zifeng would obviously answer as best as he could too.
“Curator?” Zhong ZIfeng pondered slightly before answering, “I’ve heard of him!”
Shu Xiaolou was delighted. “Tell me about him.”
Curator’s name had started spreading around recently. Although Zhong Zifeng seldom leaves Heavenly Spiral City or even the academy grounds, he knew a bit about what happened in the outside world.
There was the incident where, upon receiving Curator’s command, villainous experts including Black Crow, Madam Ghost Child, and several others banded together to threaten an intermediate country. Zhong Zifeng obviously hadn’t heard about something so trivial, but news of Curator forcing Daluo Temple to submit to him alone was known worldwide.
After all, that was Daluo Temple, an organization superior to many premium countries.
Curator approached them on his own to settle a dispute, only to be respectfully escorted down the mountain by their high monks. Even Zhong Zifeng had to admit that he would not command that much respect had he been in Curator’s place.
This was the perfect example of achieving fame with a single victorious battle.
Due to this incident, Curator’s name spread like wildfire throughout United Continent. It was only natural that Zhong Zifeng learned of that name as well. And so, he told Shu Xiaolou everything he knew about Curator. After that, he asked, “Senior Shu, why do you ask?”
Shu Xiaolou simply waved his hand dismissively before vanishing into thin air.
He went as quickly as he came, but Zhong Zifeng was already used to it. Senior Shu possessed extraordinary appraisal abilities and in Zhong Zifeng’s opinion, the man had already exceeded the standard of a Rank 5 beast appraiser. He was fully qualified to hold a Rank 6 title. Since he excelled in many other faculties as well, he was able to do whatever he pleased in spite of his strange temperament.
Having grown accustomed to Shu Xiaolou’s behavior, Zhong Zifeng knew it was pointless to press for any answers. Pulling himself together, Zhong Zifeng returned to his books but his focus couldn’t be directed back here anymore.
“Why is Senior Shu asking about Curator?”
The next morning, Lin Jin had another public class arranged. This time, however, he picked the Fourth Lecture Hall. The number of attendants had increased visibly. As expected, the group of scions was here to show their support, but apart from them, there were more than ten new faces.
But even still, more than half of the hall was empty. Lin Jin didn’t particularly care though. It was good enough now that he had private students. Since he was only a temporary lecturer, he should focus on quality over quantity.
Although there weren’t many students, Lin Jin didn’t cut corners during his lectures and took them seriously. Hence, the students who attended his class, especially those who were sitting in for the first time were pleasantly surprised by his lesson. It wasn’t even halfway through the class that they started focusing on his teachings.
‘That’s more like it!’ Lin Jin smiled inwardly. Looking at the students below, Lin Jin felt as if he had returned to the school days back in his world.
Those were the days when he had no troubles or worries.
As Lin Jin swept a glance over the hall, he noticed the same female student from yesterday in green sitting in the corner.
Like yesterday, Lin Jin was unaware as to when she showed up in class. She hadn’t been there before, but when Lin Jin looked down and then up again, there she was.
Lin Jin was fairly concerned about her since Wang Xin failed to notice her yesterday, even though he was standing guard at the door. It was for this reason that Lin Jin kept his eyes on her this time. Seemingly unfazed, he continued giving his lecture, but when he was nearing the end, he deliberately approached the students.
“If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to raise your questions.” With his hand behind his back, Lin Jin purposefully strolled back and forth on the aisle, using this opportunity to pass by that female student.
This student was a stunning beauty with looks that could kill. Even if Lin Jin was used to Shang’er’s amazing looks, he still felt tongue-tied by this student.
How could a person have such a flawless appearance?
It was as if she was pulled straight from a painting.
When Lin Jin passed by her seat, he discreetly pierced a needle onto the student’s robes so he could conveniently secure her location and investigate her after class.
Lin Jin assumed that no one took notice of his actions. But right after class, shortly after the girl in green left, Lin Jin raised an eyebrow.
Lin Jin’s connection to his needle had been severed completely.
It was the first time he experienced such a thing.
He contemplated for a while, failing to arrive at an explanation for the odd occurrence. The only possible explanation was that she had noticed the needle. Still, she couldn’t possibly have removed the psyche he imbued on the needle, right?
That was unless, this student’s cultivation level was exceedingly high, surpassing even Lin Jin’s.
The other possibility was that she had an expert watching over her.
Lin Jin leaned more towards the second assumption. Furthermore, Lin Jin had a gut feeling that she was somehow related to that peculiar Mr. Shu.
Here in Heavenly Spiral Academy, the only two people that Lin Jin was most wary of were Mr. Zhong and Mr. Shu.
In the afternoon, as he conducted class for his private students in Peach Blossom House, Lin Jin asked his students who had noticed the girl in green during this morning’s lecture.
As expected, no one saw her.
Lin Jin had anticipated this.
Then, Lin Jin asked another question, ‘Who here has heard of Mr. Shu before?’
What puzzled Lin Jin was the fact that none of them had ever heard of a Mr. Shu in the academy.
They didn’t even know such a person existed here.
This further confounded Lin Jin.
The man was a teacher of the institution but no one had heard of him before? How could that be? Yet, it was the truth. Lin Jin would not be surprised if one of two of them had no idea who he was, or perhaps they were lying to him. What he couldn’t understand was why all of them were oblivious as to his existence.
Lin Jin even met up with Tan Lin to ask her about Mr. Shu, and to his frustration, even she had not heard of that name before.
He tried asking Wang Xin and the latter shook his head.
This was strange!
He had met a person who didn’t exist here in the academy.
