Difference

Difference

"I... I didn't mean to keep it from you. I wanted to enter the Immortal Sect through the Immortal Selection Fair, but you didn't need to." Seventh Young Master flushed red as he defended himself. "You've been favored by a great cultivator. Isn't entering an Immortal Sect as easy as pie for you?"

Zheng Fa blinked, finally certain that Seventh Young Master had probably decided there was some mysterious great cultivator behind him. By the Xuanwei Realm's standards, that actually seemed quite reasonable; there were plenty of storybooks like that.

The sort of tale where a poor boy was noticed by a passing immortal and rose to immortality in one leap.

"Then what is the Immortal Selection Fair?"

Zheng Fa felt he would most likely still have to rely on that to enter an Immortal Sect.

"You don't know?" Seventh Young Master looked at Zheng Fa with some confusion. "Oh, you don't need to know."

Still, he no longer concealed it. "There are actually only two ways to enter an Immortal Sect—one is to be a lucky bastard like you, Zheng Fa, noticed by a great cultivator and accepted as a disciple."

Zheng Fa: ...That wasn't me. I didn't do that. You've got the wrong person.

"The other is the Immortal Selection Fair. At the fair, they assess your spiritual root aptitude, then examine your attainments in alchemy, formations, talismans, or artifact refinement. They assign you a rank based on the whole picture, and those with high ranks can enter an Immortal Sect."

Zheng Fa understood a little. Being favored by a great cultivator was rather like independent admissions, probably the traditional master-disciple model.

This Immortal Selection Fair, on the other hand, sounded rather like the college entrance examination.

"So... what's this about the Immortal Selection Fair being brought forward?"

Seventh Young Master sighed. "In past years, the Immortal Selection Fair was held once every ten years. My sister entered an Immortal Sect through the last fair. This one should have been held after the New Year, but my sister suddenly sent a letter saying it would be held early, two months from now."

Zheng Fa finally understood why Seventh Young Master had suddenly begun working hard.

Seventh Young Master had probably waited ten years for this Immortal Selection Fair. Though he was lazy and carefree, he had always taken the Talisman Dao seriously.

Talisman Diagrams were enough to make one's eyes swim at a glance. Stare at them long enough, and everything started looking twisted.

Yet for the past ten years, Seventh Young Master had studied them nearly every day.

When he said he had slacked off a little, he was comparing himself to someone like Gao Yuan, a true grind king. But with his temperament, maintaining this for ten years was no easy feat. His yearning to enter an Immortal Sect was plain to see.

"Actually, if you hadn't been noticed by someone and didn't need to attend the Immortal Selection Fair, I'd wanted to give you one of the Zhao Family's two slots."

Seventh Young Master suddenly said.

"Slots? There's even a quota?"

Seventh Young Master looked surprised. "Of course. Otherwise, would just anyone be able to go?"

Zheng Fa nodded. This was probably the reason the Zhao Family had stood firm for a thousand years.

"I still have to remind you: this book won't greatly improve your comprehension of the Talisman Dao in a short time. It's only the most basic of basics." Hearing that Seventh Young Master would attend the Immortal Selection Fair in two months, Zheng Fa felt that Middle School Mathematics would probably be of little help to him.

"I know." Seventh Young Master nodded, his expression calm. "If an immortal family's secret art could be comprehended so easily, would it still be called an immortal family's secret art? Spirit Crane Body is already so difficult to cultivate, let alone the secret art that great cultivator gave you..."

"Then, Young Master, you...?"

"I've already hit a bottleneck in the Talisman Dao..." A bitter smile appeared on Seventh Young Master's lips. "These past few years, though I've continued studying Complete Guide to Talisman Diagrams, I've made virtually no progress."

This world's interpretation of Origin Talismans, at least judging by Seventh Young Master's method, relied on just two words—intuition.

The tactful term was enlightenment. The blunt term was guessing.

For true geniuses, guessing was also a method. But for an ordinary person like Seventh Young Master, this path would eventually lead to a dead end where he could go no farther.

"So I'll treat a dead horse as though it were alive." Seventh Young Master pointed at the Origin Talisman diagram on Zheng Fa's desk. "At the very least, your secret art has let me see a glimmer of hope."

"But two months..."

"If two months aren't enough, then ten years. If ten years aren't enough, then twenty..." Seventh Young Master raised his eyes to Zheng Fa, and there was a determination in them that Zheng Fa had never seen in him before. "It's not as if I can't wait!"

Seeing the stunned looks on Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan's faces, Seventh Young Master suddenly laughed. "I'm just saying. It's not as though I plan to rely on your book to enter an Immortal Sect. Ten years ago, if the Zhao Family hadn't lacked one slot, my dual spiritual roots would have been enough to enter an Immortal Sect. The Talisman Dao is merely to raise my odds by a few more points. I'm learning it to prepare for after I enter an Immortal Sect."

He looked quite confident.

"Actually, I only began studying the Talisman Dao because my sister demanded it in her letter, and she seemed rather urgent about it." Seventh Young Master frowned, somewhat puzzled as well. "Enough of that. Explain this secret art to me."

Just as Zheng Fa was about to begin explaining it to Seventh Young Master, he caught sight of Gao Yuan standing far off in the corner of the study. He was looking their way, but his gaze had no focus, and faint loneliness hung on his face.

"Gao Yuan."

"Hm?"

Gao Yuan came back to himself.

"Do you want to learn?"

"I..." Gao Yuan glanced at Seventh Young Master. "I don't have any talent in the Talisman Dao."

Seventh Young Master treated Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan very differently. Zheng Fa had talent in the Talisman Dao, so he followed him in studying Complete Guide to Talisman Diagrams.

Gao Yuan, on the other hand, mainly studied under Teacher Shen and learned bookkeeping from the accountant.

Their paths of cultivation were clearly different.

"This book has nothing to do with the Talisman Dao for now. It's a kind of mathematics." Zheng Fa said to him, "If you want to learn, come over."

Gao Yuan glanced at Seventh Young Master.

Seventh Young Master's face showed no expression. Seeing Gao Yuan look at him, he curled his lip. "The secret art belongs to Zheng Fa. Why are you looking at me?"

Gao Yuan hurriedly ran over.

Evening.

Zheng Fa walked out of Seventh Young Master's study, with Gao Yuan following behind him. Only after they had left the courtyard did Gao Yuan suddenly speak. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you willing to teach me?"

Because I want to see whether your brain works...

Zheng Fa thought for a while before giving another reason. "If I can teach Seventh Young Master, then naturally I can teach you too. It's not really some immortal secret art, like Young Master says."

"How can Seventh Young Master and I be the same?"

"How are you different?"

"What he can learn, I cannot learn."

Zheng Fa stopped and looked at Gao Yuan's expressionless face. "Is there any difference? You both have one nose and two eyes. If he can learn it, then you can learn it too."

"That's not what I mean. The difference I'm talking about is..." Gao Yuan's gaze fell upon Zheng Fa's face as he slowly said, "He is the young master, and I am a pageboy. He is master, and I am servant."

"Mm."

"That's all you have to say?" Gao Yuan pressed when he saw Zheng Fa remain silent.

"In my eyes, there's no difference." Zheng Fa turned and continued walking.

"No difference..." Gao Yuan fell silent. After watching Zheng Fa walk some distance away, he jogged after him and said in a somewhat complicated tone, "Who taught you all this? Have you been like this since childhood?"

"Not exactly. Since five years ago, I suppose."

There was another stretch of silence. Zheng Fa heard Gao Yuan mutter softly, "Born with rebellion in every bone, and you're not afraid I'll rat you out."

Zheng Fa smiled without speaking. Seventh Young Master might understand that better than you did.

Neither of them spoke again. Just as they were about to part ways, Gao Yuan suddenly said, "Actually, there is still a difference."

"Hm?"

"If he curses me, I don't dare curse him back."

Hearing that, Zheng Fa sincerely offered him a suggestion. "If he curses you once, curse him ten times in your heart."

"This... that's hard for me to do." Gao Yuan slowly furrowed his brow, looking troubled. He seemed to hesitate before saying, "I usually curse him a hundred times. Ten times isn't enough to vent my anger."

Zheng Fa shot Gao Yuan a sidelong look.

And you're the one saying I was born with rebellion in every bone?

"Now you can rat me out too. Neither of us will dare rat the other out." Gao Yuan grinned at Zheng Fa.

That evening, the three members of the Zheng Family were eating when someone suddenly knocked on the small courtyard gate.

Zheng Fa opened the gate and saw Steward Gao and Gao Yuan standing outside.

"Uncle Gao, are you... here to mooch a meal?"