Difference

"I... I didn't mean not to tell you. I wanted to get into an Immortal Sect through the Immortal Item Fair. You don't need it." Seventh Young Master's face turned red as he defended himself, "You're favored by a powerful being, isn't it easy for you to enter an Immortal Sect?"

Zheng Fa blinked. He finally confirmed that Seventh Young Master had likely concluded he had a mysterious powerful being behind him. From the perspective of the Xuanwei Realm, it did seem plausible; there were many storybooks about such things.

Like the kind where a poor boy is noticed by a passing Immortal and then becomes one himself.

"Then what is the Immortal Item Fair?"

Zheng Fa felt that he would likely have to rely on this 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."

He no longer concealed anything. "To enter an Immortal Sect, there are actually only two ways. One is like you, Zheng Fa, you lucky dog, being favored by a powerful being and taken as a disciple."

Zheng Fa: ... I'm not, I don't have that, you're blaming the wrong person.

"The other is the Immortal Item Fair. Your Spiritual Root Aptitude will be judged at the Immortal Item Fair, and then your achievements in alchemy, formations, talismans, or artifact refining will be considered. You'll be given a grade based on your comprehensive performance. Those with high grades can enter an Immortal Sect."

Zheng Fa understood a little. Being favored by a powerful being was like an independent admission process, probably the traditional master-disciple model.

This Immortal Item Fair sounded a bit like the college entrance examination.

"So... what's the deal with the Immortal Item Fair being moved up?"

Seventh Young Master sighed. "In previous years, the Immortal Item Fair was held once every ten years. My sister was able to enter an Immortal Sect by participating in the last Immortal Item Fair. Logically, this year's Immortal Item Fair should be held after the New Year, but my sister suddenly wrote to say that the Immortal Item Fair will be held two months earlier."

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

Seventh Young Master had probably waited ten years for this Immortal Item Fair. Although Seventh Young Master was lazy, he had always been serious about the Talisman Path.

Talisman Diagrams looked dazzling and confusing; looking at them for too long made everything seem distorted.

But Seventh Young Master had studied them almost every day for the past ten years.

He said he had only slightly slacked off, comparing himself to a workaholic like Gao Yuan, but given his personality, persisting like this for ten years was already not easy. His desire to enter an Immortal Sect was evident.

"Actually, if you weren't favored by someone and didn't need to go to the Immortal Item Fair, I would have wanted to give you one of the Zhao Family's two spots," Seventh Young Master said suddenly.

"Spots? There are limits on the number of spots?"

Seventh Young Master was surprised. "Of course. Otherwise, anyone could go?"

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

"I still need to remind you, this book won't improve your comprehension of the Talisman Path in a short time. It's just the most basic of basics." Hearing that Seventh Young Master would be participating in the Immortal Item Fair in two months, Zheng Fa felt that Junior High Math probably wouldn't help him much.

"I know," Seventh Young Master nodded and said calmly, "If immortal secret arts could be comprehended so easily, they wouldn't be called immortal secret arts. Crane Body Technique is already so difficult to practice, let alone the secret art that powerful being gave you..."

"Then what about you, Young Master?"

"I've hit a bottleneck in the Talisman Path..." Seventh Young Master showed a bitter smile. "In the past few years, although I've continued to read Complete Explanation of Talisman Diagrams, I've made almost no progress."

The interpretation of Origin Talismans in this world, at least from Seventh Young Master's method, relied on two words: intuition.

A polite way to put it is enlightenment; a blunt way is guessing.

For true geniuses, guessing is also a method, but for ordinary people like Seventh Young Master, this method will always lead to a dead end.

"So, let's try anything, even a dead horse." Seventh Young Master pointed at the Origin Talisman Diagram on Zheng Fa's desk. "At least, this secret art of yours gives me a glimmer of hope."

"But two months..."

"If two months isn't enough, then ten years. If ten years isn't enough, then twenty years..." Seventh Young Master looked up at Zheng Fa, his eyes filled with a determination Zheng Fa had never seen in him before. "I'm not someone who can't wait!"

Seeing Zheng Fa and the other person stunned, Seventh Young Master suddenly laughed. "I'm just saying. I'm not planning to enter an Immortal Sect relying on your book. Ten years ago, if my Zhao Family hadn't lost a spot, my dual Spiritual Root Aptitude would have been enough to enter an Immortal Sect. The Talisman Path was just to increase my chances of winning. Learning it was also preparation for after entering the Immortal Sect."

His expression was quite confident.

"Actually, my sister asked me to learn the Talisman Path when she wrote. She seemed quite urgent," Seventh Young Master frowned, also a little confused. "Never mind that, tell me about this secret art."

As Zheng Fa was about to start explaining to Seventh Young Master, he caught sight of Gao Yuan standing in the corner of the study from the corner of his eye, looking over, but his gaze was unfocused, and his face held a hint of loneliness.

"Gao Yuan."

"Hmm?"

Gao Yuan snapped back to attention.

"Do you want to learn?"

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

Seventh Young Master treated Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan very differently. Zheng Fa had talent for the Talisman Path, so he would study Complete Explanation of Talisman Diagrams with him.

Gao Yuan mainly studied under Mr. Shen and learned accounting in the accounting office.

Their training directions were clearly different.

"This book is temporarily unrelated to the Talisman Path; it's a form of mathematics," Zheng Fa told him. "If you want to learn, come over."

Gao Yuan glanced at Seventh Young Master.

Seventh Young Master's expression was impassive. Seeing Gao Yuan look at him, he pouted. "This secret art belongs to Zheng Fa. Why are you looking at me?"

Gao Yuan quickly ran over.

Evening.

Zheng Fa walked out of the Seventh Young Master's study, Gao Yuan following close behind him. Once they were outside the courtyard gate, Gao Yuan suddenly asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you willing to teach me?"

Because I want to see if your brain is usable...

Zheng Fa thought for a moment before giving another reason: "If I can teach the Seventh Young Master, I can certainly teach you. It's not some immortal secret technique like the Young Master claims."

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

"How are we different?"

"What he can learn, I cannot."

Zheng Fa stopped in his tracks, looking at Gao Yuan's expressionless face. "Is there a difference? We both have one nose and two eyes. If he can learn it, you can learn it."

"That's not what I mean. The difference I'm talking about is..." Gao Yuan's gaze fell on Zheng Fa's face, and he said slowly, "He is the Young Master, and I am the Page. He is the master, and I am the servant."

"Mm."

"Just 'mm'?" Seeing that he didn't speak, Gao Yuan pressed on.

"In my eyes, there's no difference." Zheng Fa turned and walked forward again.

"No difference..." Gao Yuan fell silent. He watched Zheng Fa walk a distance ahead before jogging to catch up, his tone somewhat complex. "Who taught you this? Were you like this since you were young?"

"Not exactly. It started about five years ago."

Another silence. Zheng Fa heard Gao Yuan mutter softly, "A rebellious streak. You're not afraid I'll report you."

Zheng Fa smiled and said nothing. The Seventh Young Master might understand that better than you do.

They fell silent again until they were nearing their separation point. Gao Yuan suddenly said, "Actually, there is still a difference."

"Mm?"

"If he scolds me, I don't dare scold him back."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa sincerely offered him some advice: "If he scolds you once, scold him ten times in your heart."

"That... I find that hard to do." Gao Yuan slowly frowned, looking troubled, and seemed to hesitate. "I usually scold him a hundred times. Ten times isn't enough to vent my anger."

Zheng Fa glanced sideways at Gao Yuan.

And you call me rebellious?

"Now you can report me too. Neither of us dares to report the other anymore," Gao Yuan grinned at Zheng Fa.

That evening, the Zheng Family of three was eating dinner when the door to the small courtyard was suddenly knocked upon.

Zheng Fa opened the courtyard door and saw Steward Gao and Gao Yuan standing at the entrance.

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