Ch 6: Strange Old Man
Su wen hurriedly ran out of the room without looking back and didn't stop until he was at the other end of the pavilion.
"Damn, teacher Elen sure is scary"
He sat down on the stairs of the exit hall and took out the letter as he started thinking about the two teachers with a melancholic look in his eyes.
Headmaster Michael has asked him to deliver this letter to the Supreme Elder Forma of the Heavens Will Sect, if he ever made any plans to travel to the Central Continent.
He put the letter back to his ring and took out the two treasures given to him by his teachers.
He stared at the exquisite golden vermillion embossing on the two treasures with an indiscernible look and was amazed by their delicate beauty.
As Su Wen was about to put the treasures back into his ring, a strange old man suddenly appeared in front of him.
He was dressed like one of those poor shady con artists from the modern streets of Blue Star and asked,
"Why do you have these two artifacts with you?"
Su Wen froze, not because of the question, but because of how this old man had appeared out of nowhere.
He hadn't sensed him at all.
Su Wen grew cautious. The old man looked like a scammer, yet Su Wen couldn't sense even a hint of cultivation from him.
'Maybe I was too lost in my thoughts and didn't notice him', he reasoned.
Putting the treasures back into his ring, Su Wen stood tall, clasped his hands behind his back, and turned solemnly toward the Headmaster's office.
"My teacher spoke ill of his wife behind her back, and unfortunately, she heard everything. Before she could drag him off to the Underworld, he entrusted these heavenly treasures to me to pass on to their destined one"
He looked the old man up and down with a thoughtful gaze.
'Maybe he knows something… let’s test him.'
Then, in a heavy and dignified tone, he said,
"Old man, you look young and wise, with the air of someone fated for immortality. Perhaps you are the destined person my teacher mentioned. I shall give you these treasures… for two hundred low-grade spirit stones. That's the price for stepping onto your destined path of immortality."
Su Wen spoke with a perfectly straight face, like an immortal master who had descended from the heavens.
The old man's eye twitched violently.
He wanted to smack the boy, and cry at the same time, over the absurdly low price Su Wen had named for such precious artifacts.
Stroking his long beard, which reached all the way to his belly, he said in exasperation,
"Two hundred? Boy, if shamelessness were a cultivation technique, you'd have ascended already."
Su Wen's expression didn't change in the slightest, "Old man, the path of cultivation is full of challenges. If your heart trembles over a few spirit stones, how can you ever hope to ascend?"
The old man almost spat out blood.
"Tremble? Brat, my heart hasn't trembled in three hundred years. But my patience is trembling right now!"
Su Wen replied with a sincere expression, "Old man, worrying over something as small as a few spirit stones shows a weak heart."
The old man rubbed his temples, torn between laughter and frustration.
Finally, he sighed.
"Fine, fine. Keep your treasures, kid. You can use them better than I could."
Before Su wen could say anything, the con artist old man has already left towards the Headmaster's room.
"Tch… who is this strange old man, maybe I should have lowered the price a little more..." Su wen muttered to himself and walked out of the academy.
The strange looking old man went to the Headmaster's office and looked at his disciple who was kneeling on the floor in front of his wife while she sat on the chair like a big boss reading a book.
Old man "…"
He looked up at the sky and sighed quietly…
Cough Cough…
Elen glanced towards the door with narrowed eyes like a boss, but after seeing the old man she hurriedly stood up and greeted him with a bow like a virtuous and innocent daughter in law.
Headmaster Michael looked at his master and immediately jumped to greet him, finding his master's face full of light in this dark world.
The old man looked at both of them and sighed again and said, "It's been more than twenty years, how long are you planning to live in the Eastern Continent?"
Michael ignored the old man's question instead asked, "Master, how come you are here? When did you come out of the seclusion?"
Old man was quiet for a few seconds and then looked towards a certain direction and said softly,“I came here for that girl, but I was still a step too late. For some reason, when I divined her fate, it seemed to have changed. That’s why I’m not interfering with her.”
Both Michael and Elen were stunned after hearing his words because this old man was no ordinary person, and if he is surprised by something it means that something was by no means ordinary.
The old man continued,"I see you two have finally let go of those treasures and to the same person. Just what did you see in him? That brat thinks he can trick me, huh? I have been tricking bigshot sect masters since before he was even born." The old man showed a proud expression…
The old man looked at Su wen's back through the academy walls who was walking on the town's street, pinched his fingers and muttered softly, "His fate... I can't see through it... It's like he is not here even if he is walking on the street in front of our eyes."
When Michael and Elen heard this, they were even more shocked because if their teacher can't see it then it means no one in this world can see it.
Having heard this, there were signs of worry on their faces.
Michael: "Master…"
Before they could say anything, old man interrupted, "Don't worry although I can't see through him, I have a feeling that in the coming era of chaos, he will play a crucial role which will ultimately decide the future of this world."
Having heard this both of them were again stunned but calmed down immediately, they always had a feeling that this annoying brat is by no means ordinary and after hearing what the old man has said, they couldn't help but fell relieved for him, and also a little bad for all the people who are about to cross him.