Chapter 624: Greeting Gift
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Hearing the words of the duo, Xing Yuan felt a little light-headed.
The person whom Princess Fei-er met was indeed despicable and shameless, so there was nothing to comment about that. However, who in the world did Luo Qiqi met for her to admire the other party so much?
In fact... this didn’t seem like plain admiration but adoration already!
"Despicable and shameless? What did he do to make you so angry?" Luo Qiqi asked.
"He... He’s completely shameless..."
The more Princess Fei-er thought about it, the angrier she became. She quickly recounted the entire matter.
"He actually made you his maid?"
Hearing Princess Fei-er words, Luo Qiqi’s mouth widened in disbelief.
Who was the lady before her?
Hongyuan Empire’s Sixth Princess, the dear daughter that the emperor doted a lot on. Even Xing Yuan dared not overstep his boundaries before her... and yet someone actually tried to make her his maid...
Wasn’t that person a little bit too daring?
Even if she became your maid, would you dare command her around?
Smiling lightly, Luo Qiqi shook her head and said, "Actually, I think that that person is rather formidable. To be able to make our obstinate Princess Fei-er so angry without you retaliating, he must be a person of great capability.
"You..." Princess Fei-er pouted. "Fine, continue gloating at my plight. Right, what about that person you spoke of?"
"Ah. Today, I went to the Apothecary Hall..."
Luo Qiqi came out clean with everything that happened today without any reservations.
"Just by looking at your pill forging, he was able to point out more than a hundred flaws? Furthermore, he even instructed you to successfully forge a grade-6 medicine... Th-this... More importantly, he’s only in his early twenties? Isn’t that way too dashing!"
Hearing her bosom friend’s words, Princess Fei-er widened her eyes in shock.
Luo Qiqi was a famous master apothecary across the entire Master Teacher Academy. She would get into the top few placings in every tournament conducted by the Apothecary School. And yet, such a genius had actually pointed out more than a hundred flaws in her pill forging?
How formidable must that young man be?
Putting aside Luo Qiqi, if Princess Fei-er could, she would definitely take the other party to be her teacher as well.
"Indeed. I, Luo Qiqi, have never admired anyone ever since I started cultivating. Zhang laoshi is the only exception!"
Recalling the confident and suave demeanor of that young man, Luo Qiqi’s lips began creeping up uncontrollably once more.
"Hmm, I’m also starting to feel a little bit of admiration for the Zhang laoshi you spoke of. When can you bring me to meet him? I also want to learn pill forging from him as well!" Princess Fei-er said.
"Sure! You should also bring me to meet that fellow you spoke of. I’m really interested to see the face of the man who dares have our Princess Fei-er serve as his maid. If he proves to be a mere weakling, I’ll help you pummel him until he forgets his own name!"
"Un!"
The duo chuckled intimately.
Seeing that the two ladies were chatting happily on and on, Xing Yuan suddenly interjected. "Cough cough. Ladies, Crown Prince Ye Qian has prepared a banquet to welcome us, and he’s invited some of the geniuses from Huanyu Empire over who will become our juniors very soon. Shall we go over to take a look now?"
"Right, there’s still the banquet!"
Only then did Luo Qiqi recall the matter. "Of course, we should go! However, we’ll need to prepare ourselves first!"
"Alright. Since you’re going, I’ll go as well!" Seeing that her best friend was going, Princess Fei-er also nodded in agreement.
After chatting with Luo Qiqi, the anger from before had mostly dissipated.
"..."
Hearing that the ladies needed to prepare themselves, Xing Yuan slapped his forehead speechlessly.
Without a doubt, the ladies’ ’preparation’ would surely be lengthy. It would be hard to tell whether they would be able to make it for the banquet in time now...
"The crown prince arrives!"
While Xing Yuan was staring speechlessly into the sky, Crown Prince Ye Qian arrived at the banquet hall.
"Your Highness!"
Hong shi and the others immediately stood up and clasped their fists.
"There’s no need to stand on ceremony!"
Ye Qian waved his hands casually as he walked up to the main table. Looking at the young man seated on the table, he greeted with a smile, "Senior Wu Zhen!"
"Un!"
Wu Zhen nodded. "Where are Xing Yuan and the others?"
"The other seniors will be here very soon!" Ye Qian replied.
"Alright!"
Wu Zhen noted before turning his gaze back to the wine on the table.
Thus, Ye Qian turned around to look at the crowd and said, "I believe everyone here should know the purpose why I invited you here!"
"Yes!"
"We understand!"
Luo Zhao, Chen Yue, and the others nodded.
"Good. First, allow me to introduce Senior Wu Zhen from Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy to everyone here. He’s a Grade 2 student, a 5-star low-tier master teacher!" Ye Qian introduced.
Wu Zhen nodded as a gesture to everyone from his seat.
As one of the top geniuses of the Master Teacher Academy, it was normal for him to have such pride.
"5-star low-tier?"
Hearing the other party’s introduction, Zhang Xuan turned to look at Hong shi in bewilderment.
Shouldn’t master teacher rankings be divided into primary, intermediate, advanced, and pinnacle? What does low-tier mean?
"Upon reaching 5-star as a master teacher, progressing through the ranks starts to become extremely difficult!" Hong shi replied telepathically.
"Un!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
Upon becoming a 5-star master teacher, one could be considered to have taken the first step to the upper society of the continent. However, at this point, not only would it be difficult for one’s cultivation to progress by even a small realm, it would also be difficult to raise one’s occupation rank as well.
"As such, in order to better divide the ranks, from 5-star onward, the sub-ranks of a master teacher are divided into low-tier, middle-tier, and high-tier instead!"
Hong shi continued, "This way, the sub-ranks can be corresponded to the cultivation of a master teacher. At Transcendent Mortal 6-dan, I’m a 5-star low-tier master teacher. At 7-dan, I’ll become a high-tier, and at 8-dan, pinnacle! But of course, the rise in one’s cultivation must be accompanied with an enhancement in one’s eye of discernment or else one wouldn’t be qualified for the next tier!"
Zhang Xuan came to a realization.
From 3-star master teacher onward, the cultivation of a master teacher in a certain rank could range over three different cultivation realms.
For example, the minimum requirement to becoming a 4-star master teacher was that one had to possess the cultivation of Transcendent Mortal 2-dan. However, one would have to reach Transcendent Mortal 5-dan to become a half 5-star master teacher.
In other words, at 2-dan, 3-dan, and 4-dan, one would be considered as a 4-star master teacher.
On the other hand, only upon reaching 6-dan would one be considered a full-fledged 5-star master teacher.
But of course, cultivation was only one of the criteria. There were a lot of other requirements in play as well.
"The grades of Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy are divided based on one’s master teacher ranking. 4-star pinnacle and half 5-star master teacher freshman will be placed in Grade 1. If they advance to become a full-fledged 5-star master teacher, they will be promoted to Grade 2, and if they become a 5-star middle-tier master teacher, they will become a Grade 3 student... so on and so forth!
"There a total of 6 grades in Hongyuan Academy. In other words, even 6-star master teachers could be considered as students!"
"6-star master teachers are still students?"
Zhang Xuan widened his eyes in shock.
As expected of the Master Teacher Academy, it was indeed formidable.
He could already foresee the countless number of geniuses that would be in the academy.
He wasn’t too interested in the academy at the start, but after hearing this introduction, he started to bear some expectations toward it.
Given that it was a place where so many master teachers were gathered... perhaps, he might just find a solution to the Innate Fetal Poison there! Even if he failed, studying among so many master teachers should also allow his master teacher rank to soar quickly.
At the very least, this was much better than him fumbling along alone.
"We’ve long heard of Wu shi’s name. A Grade 2 student, you are one of the top geniuses in the academy. It’s a privilege for me, Luo Zhao from Qianfeng Empire, to meet you!"
Hearing the crown prince’s introduction, Luo Zhao stood up and greeted with a bright smile. "As the locals here, surely we can’t welcome you empty-handed... A while ago, when I was out training in the Western Mulberry Fields, I happened to find a few ’Mulberry Sparrow Seeds’. Thus, I thought that I should give them to Wu shi and the other esteemed guests from Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy to express our goodwill!"
Saying so, Luo Zhao flicked his wrist, and a few crimson lotus seed-like objects slowly flew toward Wu Zhen via his zhenqi.
"Mulberry Sparrow Seeds? Is this the legendary medicinal herb that only grows by the nest of the Transcendent Mortal 8-dan spirit beast Heaven Sparrow? It’s said that this item can revitalize one upon consumption, and it could augment one’s Soul Depth... To give out so many of them at once, what a valuable gift!"
"Incredible, these are truly good stuff..."
"As expected of the pavilion master of the Qianfeng Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, his generosity is indeed exceptional..."
Seeing the gift that Luo Zhao gave, everyone was awed.
Even Hong shi and Zhang Xuan stared at one another with a deep frown on their foreheads.
Mulberry Sparrow Seed was an invaluable treasure. Its worth wasn’t beneath that of the Great River Snake’s inner core. It seemed like Luo Zhao had come prepared this time around.
"That fellow wasn’t completely honest..."
Hong shi’s face darkened as he clenched his fists tightly in rage.
Earlier today, when he went to wreak havoc at the other party’s place, while the other party did tell him whom the four guests were, they didn’t reveal any other details. Thus, he thought that they really didn’t know anything. Who could have known that... they would have actually prepared presents beforehand!"
Lag a step behind, and one will lag every step behind. It was already too late for them to find a gift anymore.
"Mulberry Sparrow Seeds? These are indeed valuable. I’ll accept it in the stead of the Sixth Princess and the others then!"
Being offered such a valuable gift, Wu Zhen’s eyes lit up. He walked forward and took the seeds.
His eyes lit in satisfaction.
These Mulberry Sparrow Seeds were extremely rare, and it was troublesome to procure them even in the wealthier Hongyuan Empire.
"Since Luo shi has prepared gifts, how could our Zhuyue Empire possibly come empty-handed? Here is the ’Moonstar Bodhi’ that I spent ten days in Moundless River to find! I hope that Wu shi can accept this!"
With a flick of Chen Yue’s fingers, four pearl-like objects carrying a warm glow flew toward Wu Zhen.
"Moonstar Bodhi? The Moonstar Tree only gathers sufficient essence of the stars and moon to produce one of these seeds once a millennium! The energy it harnessed is comparable to the inner core of a Transcendent Mortal 7-dan pinnacle spirit beast. If one were to hold in while cultivating constantly, it could allow one to feel the stars, thus expanding the horizons one’s mind!"
"The value of this object can be said to be equivalent to the Mulberry Sparrow Seeds!"
"What do you mean by equivalent? I’d say that it exceeds it! Seems like Chen shi came prepared!"
"Given how they gave out so many valuable gifts, what about Hong shi?"
Seeing how even Chen shi had offered such a valuable gift, Luo Xuan and Bi Jianghai stared at one another with a deep frown.
It seemed like the previous provocation was nothing more than an appetizer, this was the main course. Given that the other party had taken out such valuable gifts, what should Hong shi do?
Just as the duo was in the midst of worrying, the swollen-faced Feng Yu also took out a treasure, the value of which wasn’t beneath that of the previous two gifts.
"Hong shi, this is our first meeting with Wu shi. We have all shown a token of our appreciation, where is yours?"
Luo Zhao turned to Hong shi and smiled.
Huala!
Everyone’s gaze immediately fell on Hong shi.