Chapter 778: Apprentice Hu Yaoyao
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
"Teacher..." Hu Yaoyao’s eyes reddened in indignation as she bit on her scarlet lips. After a moment of hesitation, her knees fell to the ground.
She was filled with hatred for Zhang Xuan, but she dared not to defy her teacher’s orders.
"Little Wei, it’s fine... I believe that she only did it out of a moment of folly." At this point, Zhang Xuan suddenly spoke up.
"Little Wei?" Hu Yaoyao almost failed to resist the urge to claw at her hair.
Her teacher, Wei Ranxue, was one of the Ten Great Master Teachers, a 6-star pinnacle master teacher, as well as the head of the Terpsichore School. Yet, a twenty-year-old freshman actually dared to address her as Little Wei...
"This student of mine has always been mischievous. I usually leave her to do as she pleases as long as she doesn’t go overboard, but I didn’t expect her to go for you as well. If I don’t punish her strictly today, she will never learn her lesson!" Wei Ranxue replied.
With her eye of discernment, she could tell that something was amiss with the situation. It was unlikely that things were as what Zhang shi had put it out to be. However, considering Hu Yaoyao’s character and her past deeds, she could roughly fathom the happenings.
Her student had always been mischievous, but too busy with her work as a school head, she never really had a chance to discipline her student over such matters. Thus, she decided to make full use of this opportunity to teach her student a harsh lesson so that she wouldn’t cause even greater trouble in the future.
Putting everything aside, given the deep understanding of terpsichorean arts that Zhang shi possessed, she had been thinking about how she could convince the latter to conduct a lecture in the Terpsichore School for the students, but by the time she knew it, Hu Yaoyao had already provoked him.
Are you intentionally working against me? How do you expect me to convince him to conduct a lecture in our school after such a matter?
"Teacher..." Not expecting her teacher to trust Zhang Xuan’s words over hers, Hu Yaoyao panicked.
"Enough! I am speaking to Zhang shi, there’s no place for a junior like you to butt in. Reflect on your actions silently!" Wei Ranxue flung her sleeves and harrumphed.
"Junior..." Hu Yaoyao’s body trembled.
Those words... Did that mean that the other party was her senior too? But wasn’t he just a freshman in the academy?
"Zhang shi, allow me to apologize to you in the stead of my troublemaking disciple. Here is a Miniature Restorative Pill, it should be of some help in the recovery of your wounds!" Flicking her wrist, Wei Ranxue took out a jade bottle and passed it over.
"Miniature Restorative Pill? The grade-6 pill?" Zhang Xuan was astonished.
Miniature Restorative Pill was a well-known grade-6 pill that was effective even on injured Saint realm experts. Just a single one of them was easily worth several high-tier spirit stones in the market!
To give it away so casually... The other party was so generous that he was already starting to feel a little embarrassed.
"How do you want me to deal with this troublemaking disciple of mine? Zhang shi, feel free to speak your mind, I’ll surely do as you request!" Seeing Zhang Xuan take the pill, Wei Ranxue heaved a sigh of relief before continuing.
Since the other party had taken her Miniature Restorative Pill, it was unlikely that he would ask for something extreme in exchange.
"How to deal with her?" Zhang Xuan fell into a moment of contemplation.
In truth, had Hu Yaoyao not tried to sow discord in the relationship between him and Luo Qiqi, he wouldn’t have flown into a rage either.
It was due to her lack of respect for the sacred relationship between a teacher and a student that he was determined to teach her a stern lesson so as to let her know that there were some boundaries that one simply shouldn’t exceed. Step beyond the boundary, and an action would be nothing but despicable.
"I am lacking an apprentice recently, so why don’t you have her follow me for three months, and we will call this matter off?" Afer a moment of contemplation, Zhang Xuan proposed.
Hu Yaoyao had yet to reveal the location of Wu Yangzi’s old residence, so it was best to keep her around for the time being so that he would have plenty of opportunities to try to get it out of her.
"Apprentice?" Hearing the request, Hu Yaoyao nearly fainted on the spot.
She, a 6-star terpsichore, was going to serve as an apprentice to this fellow?
What kind of joke is this?
There is no way my teacher will agree to this!
Otherwise, what will become of my teacher’s dignity?
Just as Hu Yaoyao was certain that School Head Wei would reject the other party’s request, she saw the latter’s eyes lit up in agitation, "That will be for the best! Allow me to thank you in place of Yaoyao then!"
Zhang shi’s comprehension of terpsichorean arts had reached an astounding level. If Hu Yaoyao could become his apprentice and learn from him, she would definitely progress leaps and bounds as a terpsichore!
Honestly speaking, even Wei Ranxue was feeling a little envious of the opportunity presented to Hu Yaoyao, so how could she possibly turn it down?
"Teacher!" Hearing those words, Hu Yaoyao exclaimed in a panic.
"Enough! It’s only due to the good karma you have accrued over the past few lifetimes that you are given the opportunity to become Zhang shi’s apprentice. From today on, you shall leave this residence and follow Zhang shi. Study well and return accomplished!" Interrupting the other party’s words, Wei Ranxue said.
As the other party’s teacher, she did have the right to make such a decision in the stead of her student.
"Apprentice..." Hu Yaoyao muttered sorrowfully through gritted teeth. At this point, she felt as if tears would spill from her eyes at any moment now.
Her teacher actually agreed to that fellow’s request? Why?
She had invited that fellow over to teach him a lesson and take him in as her subordinate. Yet... in a bizarre twist of events, she became the other party’s apprentice instead!
What the heck was this!
"Thank you, Little Wei!" Seeing the other party agreeing to it, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.
"Zhang shi, here is your terpsichore emblem. Also, do take my personal token with you as well. There are many rules in the academy, so you might find yourself inconvenienced on many aspects. However, with this in hand, you should be spared lots of trouble!"
Wei Ranxue had made the application with the Terpsichore Guild headquarter right after she returned earlier in the afternoon, and it didn’t take too long for her to receive the approval from them. After obtaining the 6-star emblem for Zhang Xuan, she immediately went to look for Hu Yaoyao to have her pass it on to the latter, but who knew that she would see such a sight as soon as she arrived?
"Thank you!" Zhang Xuan said as he took the emblem and token from Wei Ranxue’s hands.
Honestly speaking, he hadn’t expected the other party to be so efficient.
"I won’t impose on you any longer then, farewell!" After chatting for a moment longer and deciding that Hu Yaoyao would report to his residence tomorrow, Zhang Xuan left the Cloud Sparrow Lodge with Luo Qiqi.
After the duo left, Hu Yaoyao turned to her teacher and asked anxiously, "Teacher... why?"
She couldn’t understand why her teacher, one of the Ten Great Master Teachers, would actually make her serve as an apprentice to that fellow.
"Zhang Xuan’s understanding of terpsichorean arts has reached an extremely profound level such that he could even be my teacher! The Dance of the Rippling Cloud Robe which you have danced for your 6-star terpsichorean examination previously, he has identified seventeen flaws in them and corrected them impeccably! Here is the manual which I have edited based on his guidance. Just take a look at it, and you will know how incredible a figure he is!" Flicking her wrist, Wei Ranxue whipped out a book.
After hearing Zhang shi’s explanation regarding the flaws and the solutions to them, she immediately returned back to her residence to compile them into a book, and in the midst of doing so, she had gained a deeper insight of terpsichorean arts as well.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but be awed time and time again by the ingenious modifications the other party made to the Dance of the Fleeting Cloud Robe. If Hu Yaoyao had danced the version modified by Zhang Xuan in her 6-star terpsichorean examination, perhaps what she would have attracted wouldn’t just be a few Cloud Sparrows but a mighty dragon of the heavens.
Realizing this, she immediately rushed to the Cloud Sparrow Lodge to instruct Hu Yaoyao deliver Zhang Xuan’s emblem in her stead. The purpose of this was to allow the duo to interact with one another and foster a close relationship, as well as to teach her student to remain humble as there was always a mountain taller than the other.
But who could have known that she would end up seeing the both of them crossing blows instead as soon as she arrived at the Cloud Sparrow Lodge? Since it was impossible to reverse what that had happened, she decided to just go along with Zhang Xuan’s wish and send Hu Yaoyao over to serve as his apprentice.
While Hu Yaoyao might suffer a little under the other party, as long as she were to work hard and learn well from him, she could possibly surpass her very soon and become a 7-star terpsichore, or perhaps even go beyond that.
"He corrected the Dance of the Rippling Cloud Robe? There is a flaw in it?" Hu Yaoyao replied subconsciously in disbelief.
This dance had been passed down for innumerable years, and despite having cultivated it for a very long time, she had never found anything amiss with it. Yet, her teacher said that that fellow had identified seventeen flaws in it?
Perplexed, Hu Yaoyao flipped open the book and began browsing through it. Just a split moment later, she was already drawn in by the content of the book.
Her leisurely gaze slowly turned grim, and her face turned a shade paler with each page she flipped.
As a talented 6-star terpsichore, even though her understanding of terpsichorean art still wasn’t able to match School Head Wei Ranxue’s, it was still something she could take pride in.
In the book, her teacher had marked the flaws out clearly along with their implications, and the modification to resolve the respective issues were written beneath them. As a veteran practitioner of the Dance of the Rippling Cloud Robe, she could swiftly tell that there wasn’t any mistake with the analysis.
"Teacher... Are these modifications really made by him?" After a long moment of silence, Hu Yaoyao gulped down a mouthful of saliva before slowly turning her gaze to her teacher.
"Un." Wei Ranxue nodded affirmatively.
If she hadn’t witnessed it personally, she would have also found this hard to believe.
It was only due to the exchange she had with Zhang Xuan that had her convinced of the latter’s deep understanding of terpsichorean arts.
"This..." Hearing the confirmation by her teacher, Hu Yaoyao suddenly recalled how her soul was assaulted by Zhang Xuan previously, leaving her in a state of dizziness.
Back then, the other party didn’t even dance at all... In other words, he had turned a casual gesture into a terpsichorean art!
Even her teacher was incapable of such a feat!
"Alright, study hard and serve Zhang shi well. This is a precious opportunity, don’t waste it!" Knowing that it would take some time for her student to accept this, Wei Ranxue left her with a piece of advice before leaving the residence to give her some space to think things through.
Hu Yaoyao was a rare genius with an astounding talent for terpsichorean arts, but it was exactly due to that which gave rise to her excessive pride. Perhaps this setback might help her to mature both as a terpsichore and a master teacher!
After her teacher left, Hu Yaoyao turned her gaze to the modified manual once more, and a short moment later, she started to dance.
She wanted to try for herself to see if the modified manual was feasible in practice or not.
As her beautiful figure moved gracefully around the room, it was as if flowers had instantaneously bloomed in the area. A bewitching scent gradually drifted from the main hall.
As the koi fishes in the courtyard caught the scent, they fell into a trance and, ’putong! putong!’, they sunk to the bottom of the pond. The flowers in the residence, captivated by the scent, began swaying along in harmony, and their petals fluttered in a calm breeze.
If there had been a human in the residence, he would have been fallen into a stupor as well. Not even a Half-Saint expert would have been able to remain unfazed before it.
A moment later, the dance finally stopped.
As Hu Yaoyao’s body came to a halt, everything settled down and returned back to normal. However, she continued standing in a daze, as if she had been overwhelmed by her own dance as well. At this moment, a single thought dominated her mindthis was what a true terpsichorean art should be!
Everything she had learned before couldn’t even come close to this!
Hu!
Unknowingly, tears began streaming down her cheeks in her moment of agitation.
"I am... crying?" Hu Yaoyao muttered blankly as she placed her hands on her cheeks and felt the moisture on it.
Even though she was able to draw out significant prowess from her Dance of the Rippling Cloud Robe in the past as well, she had been missing the very quintessence of the terpsichorean art, leaving her far from truly mastering it.
However, at this very moment, she felt as if the terpsichorean art had fused with her soul, becoming a part of her.
What she had done before could only be considered as an emulation of the terpsichorean art’s form, missing out on its intentions entirely.
It was only in this instant that she was finally able to grasp the true essence of the dance!
"Just... how deep of an understanding does he have of terpsichorean arts to refine the Dance of the Rippling Cloud Robe to this extent?" Exhaling deeply, Hu Yaoyao couldn’t help but mutter beneath her breath.
"Faction leader, Dong Xin, Xue Zhenyang, and Long Cangyue seeks an audience!"
Just as Hu Yaoyao was immersed in her thoughts, Xinru suddenly walked into the room and reported.
"Bring them in!" Hu Yaoyao said.
She thought that she would definitely be able to take down Zhang Xuan tonight, so she had gone ahead to invite the others over to show off her work.
Who could have thought that someone was indeed taken down... but the person ended up being her instead.
"How did it go? Where is Zhang Xuan? How did you deal with him?" As soon as the group walked into the main hall, Xue Zhenyang immediately asked.
"Indeed, tell us how you taught him a lesson! Did you force him to listen to you through brute force, or did you convince him by bewitching him?" Long Cangyue added.
In their perspective, since Hu Yaoyao had declared that she would be able to do it, she would surely succeed. After all, her ability in this field was truly no joke.
To be honest, even they would be a little apprehensive at the notion of going up against her, especially after hearing about the vicious methods she had used to deal with her opponents.
"How I taught him a lesson?"
Hu Yaoyao turned around and bowed slightly towards the group, "Zhang Xuan’s private apprentice, Hu Yaoyao, greets you all!"