Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
Tan Zhongchi was going to whet the appetite of these people to create momentum for Qin Wushuang.
He spoke to one of the serving boys: “Go out and call Qin Wushuang in.”
That serving boy bowed and said: “Yes.”
Qin Wushuang? Each of these twelve Core disciples revealed a doubtful expression. A few of them had already heard that their teacher had taken in a new direct disciple.
Some were completely in the dark. Even those that knew about this news had never thought how extraordinary this new direct disciple may be. He would have the strength to aim for the top ten among the Core?
That serving boy walked outside of the Palace hall and shouted: “Senior Brother Qin Wushuang, please come in to meet the teacher.”
When Qin Wushuang heard his name being called, he smiled and walked out in a neither fast nor slow speed towards the Palace hall. In the eyes of thousands of people, his back figure had caused another wave of surprise and questions.
“Qin Wushuang? Who is he?”
“It seems he is only an Advanced disciple? How could he have the qualification to meet the teacher? And together with the Core disciples?”
“Right, I never heard about this Qin Wushuang before. Who has seen this person before?”
“Never seen him before, I feel he had just entered the sect not long ago?”
While these people engaged in discussion, one of the disciples suddenly sneered: “Don’t feel slighted when I say you guys are ignorant and inexperienced. This Qin Wushuang is very famous. He was the final victor from the last martial arts student exam. Our teacher went to welcome him personally and had taken him in as a disciple by competing with all other Palace Masters.”
“Fought to take in as a disciple?” Those people were all stunned. Something dreamy like this could happen?
With their teacher’s strength and position, he had to fight for someone he wanted? Was this Qin Wushuang truly devilish? From his appearance, he did not seem to have three heads or six arms.
“Ke, you are well informed. How is this Qin Wushuang famous? We have been training in the mountain and did not get much outside news.”
That Brother Ke laughed: “So I wasn’t training in the mountain? You must listen to the news with your ears and find out the gossips by yourself. This Qin Wushuang, ha ha, he came from the Bai Yue Country, a Subordinate Country in the Great Luo Empire.”
“Bai Yue?”
“What kind of talent in defiance of natural order would occur? Brother Ke, have you made a mistake?”
“Believe it or don’t.” That Brother Ke showed a face full of discontent and pretended to be impatient.
“Ha ha, if someone else had said it, we would not believe them. However, we are all impressed by your network. Please talk about it.”
Apparently, everyone was extremely interested in a dark horse like Qin Wushuang. To put it bluntly, they were not interested in Qin Wushuang himself, but the reason why the teacher loved him. All of them wanted to learn the reason behind it.
After hearing these flattering words, the expression on that Brother Ke became softer. He said slowly: “Don’t judge people by their looks, especially with that tone of yours. If that Brother Qin heard what you said, you can say goodbye to your good days at the Green Cloud Palace. It would scare you to death to learn about his experience during these days.”
“Ah, Brother Ke, just tell us and stop keeping us in the dark. I am sorry for my words and my tone.” That person sighed with sorrow.
“Ha! Let’s skip the details. Recently, this Qin Wushuang had killed the Martial Saints from both the Great Wu and the West Chu. You lot, do you think you could have done what he did?”
“Destroyed the Martial Saints?”
Everyone was stunned and looked at Senior Brother Ke with their mouth opening widely. They blinked their eyes and still found it hard to believe.
“Your news is so outdated, wow!” A wave of proudness was evident from his tone as if he had shared a close relationship with Qin Wushuang and felt the same as he.
“Ke, this Qin Wushuang lookd so young, isn’t it so devilish for him to have killed the Martial Saints? Could he have the Spiritual Roots?”
Senior Brother Ke said with disdain: “So what if he is young? It is not rare for a true genius to shine in the spotlight at a young age. Although some talents mature slowly, but not everyone is hopeful. This Qin Wushuang does have his set of skills, you guys have to accept it.”
…
Under the gaze of twelve astonished eyes, Qin Wushuang walked into the great hall.
“It’s my pleasure to meet with teacher.” Qin Wushuang went up and bowed. Next, he cupped his hands in a salute: “It’s my pleasure to meet with all Senior Brothers and Sisters.”
“It’s you?” Zhou Fu blinked her beautiful eyes and revealed signs of joy, “You are Qin Wushuang?”
Qin Wushuang smiled: “Senior Sister Zhou, I am deeply grateful for your care during the gambling competition.”
Zhou Fu waved her hand: “That was nothing, I just didn’t want that line of the Head Palace Masters to cheat and win. Qin Wushuang, nicely done. At that time, I wondered which line did this young disciple belonged to. Unexpectedly, you are our comrade.”
“Senior Sister Zhou, this Junior Brother Wushuang participated in the gambling competition?”
Apparently, Zhou Fu was extremely excited as she nodded: “That’s right, not only did he participate, he also defeated the Junior Brother Nine from the line of the Head Palace Master and won.”
Zhou Fu’s tone was filled with joy and proudness. It was apparent that this Zhou Fu’s personality had been inherited from Tan Zhongchi. She held a strong sense of belonging and endorsement to the line of the Green Cloud Palace.
When she saw that an extraordinary genius figure had appeared in her line, not only was she not jealous, but she was overjoyed.
“Fu’Er, introduce the guys to Qin Wushuang. After this year-end exam, you will all become the same brothers and sisters to the line. Everyone must love each other and protect the reputation to the Green Cloud Palace, understand?”
“Yes.”
Smiling wholeheartedly, Zhou Fu started to introduce: “Wushuang, this is your Second Senior Brother Lv Teng. Third Senior Brother Jian Rui, Fourth Senior Brother Li Tianrun…”
Qin Wushuang had a good memory. After hearing it once, he remembered all the names of the Core disciples and would put them at the right place.
Tan Zhongchi watched this scene with joy. He said: “From now on, you thirteen people will be the backbone of the Green Cloud Palace. If I made the correct predictions, the heir of the Green Cloud Palace will come from you thirteen. As for who will win in the end, I will not favor anyone. Everything will depend on individual strength and accomplishments, understand?”
“Yes, we understand.” Everyone replied seriously.
“In our Green Cloud Palace, we don’t have that many rules except one. Among brothers and sisters, we must love each other. We must never play tricks, be jealous of each other and fight for favors. Inside the Stargaze Palace, you can never shame my reputation. Inside the Tian Xuan Land, you must not make our Stargaze Palace lose reputation.”
Before outsiders, Tan Zhongchi, as the Second Palace Master, was an iron figure. He was extremely strict to the point that he would not show any mercy and was hard to deal with.
However, he educated his disciples by giving them a tremendous amount of freedom. He loved his disciples very much and would never make them suffer any loss. Even if his disciples had made a mistake in the outside world, he would for sure, shield them at first. Then, after return the home, he would punish them with family law. Thus, his disciples endorsed him very much.
He had trained these Core disciples from the beginning. Thus, they adored him extremely and listened to his every word. Of course, something like competition within the home would never occur.
After Tan Zhongchi looked at each person’s expression, he had already grasped their mental states instantly.
“Some of you may have some doubts as to why would I promote Qin Wushuang, someone who had just entered the sect on the same level as you guys. Fu’Er said that Wushuang had participated in the gambling competition, however this might not be convincing enough. I will give two more examples. Qi Shengnan, Martial Saint of the Great Wu, the Second Martial Saint of the West Chu and the head disciple to the Old Devil Ji Yin, Li Wuji, I believe that none of these three would lose to most of you guys. And these three are no longer in this world. And the one who had killed them was your new Junior Brother—Qin Wushuang!”
When he spoke these words, those Core disciples were emotionally moved and looked at Qin Wushuang in surprise.
Even Zhou Fu had a whole different level of respect and feeling for him. She sized Qin Wushuang with her beautiful pair of eyes and sighed: “As the Senior Sister, I feel I am ignorant and inexperienced. The new Junior Brother is so well-accomplished and I did not hear any news. Junior Brother Wushuang, you better perform well in this year-end exam. Hopefully everyone in the Stargaze Palace will look at you differently and make me and our teacher proud.”
“Ha, I will use all my efforts to not bring shame to teacher’s reputation.”
Apparently, Tan Zhongchi also held a lot of expectation for Qin Wushuang. However, he did not put much pressure on Qin Wushuang at the moment. He said: “Of course, Wushuang’s top priority is to pass the exam and enter the rank of the Core disciples. Only after you have entered the ranks of the Core will you be eligible to participate in the ranking competition of the Core disciples.”
Zhou Fu smiled: “It’s a piece of cake to pass the exam. With your strength shown at the gambling competition, it would be extremely easy for you to pass the exam.”
“Although that is the case, but we must deal with it carefully to avoid a capsizing at the trench. Wushuang, do you know the rules of the year-end exam?”
“I heard Emissary Liu mentioned about it, but I don’t know the exact details.”
“Fu’Er, explain to Wushuang.”
Zhou Fu nodded and smiled to say: “Junior Brother Wushuang, you are currently an Advanced disciple, so you only need to participate in the exam for the Advanced disciples. You will advance automatically if you ranked in the top three at the exam. If you ranked fourth or fifth, you must compete with the last four and five of the Upper Sky disciples for the spots. And for the Core disciple exam, the last three people will be get demoted to Advanced disciples. Thus, you just needed one spot of the top three and you are guaranteed to become a Core disciple.”
Qin Wushuang nodded: “I understand, just what are the contents of the exam? I have no idea.”
Tan Zhongchi smiled: “No need to ask that, your Senior Sister Zhou also does not know about it. Each year, the exam material is different. These are the most confidential information to the Stargaze Palace. None of the participating disciples will know about it beforehand. It was the same as your martial arts student exam in which the content is kept confidential.”
“I understand. Master, after becoming a Core, I would be eligible to participate in the ranking competition of the Core?”
Tan Zhongchi nodded with a smile: “The ranking competition for the Core disciples is the final show during each year. Each lines would treat it with great importance and the best test for the Core disciples who had worked hard all year. Once you become one of the top three in the Advanced disciple exam, you would become a new Core disciple. Of course, you would be eligible to participate in the ranking competition!”
Qin Wushuang nodded and a trace of longing flashed across his eyes.
