Qin Tian smiled and said, "Young friend Qiang Di, to hold your own against the formation left behind by the Chess Saint for thirty moves at such a young age is already remarkable. You've far surpassed us old fellows."
He had been thrashed by Xu Yan so many times that he'd thought his chess skills had improved greatly. In the end, he was still no match for this Dao Palace disciple.
Qiang Di shook his head. "I've loved chess since I was a child, and I've studied the Way of Chess under our Dao Palace's Holy Son. I haven't accomplished anything noteworthy yet."
The Holy Son he followed practiced the Way of Chess and possessed extraordinary talent in it. Thanks to him, Qiang Di had learned quite a lot as well.
"There are so many people here... Oh, Mr. Qin Tian and Miss Yudie are here too." Xu Yan, who had been wandering around the outskirts, spotted Qin Tian and Qin Yudie and walked over.
He didn't think much of it. He assumed the people beside Qin Tian and Qin Yudie were just minor cultivators, so he didn't feel the need to be especially formal.
Qin Yudie spotted Xu Yan first and hurried over to greet him, delighted. "Senior Xu, what brings you here?"
She'd thought Xu Yan wouldn't come to a place so crowded and full of prying eyes. She hadn't expected him to show up on his own.
Xu Yan smiled. "Everyone's come here at this hour, and there's not much business at the shop, so I thought I'd come see who gets the treasure."
He looked toward the radiant cave abode and the people trying to break the formation in front of it, feeling rather surprised. They were actually playing chess here.
When Qin Tian saw Xu Yan arrive, he hurried over and greeted him respectfully. "Senior Xu, you're here."
Seeing Xu Yan here made him quite excited. If Senior Xu was willing to help, breaking a mere test formation left by the Chess Saint should be easy.
Xu Yan watched the cultivators getting trounced at chess and asked, "Mr. Qin Tian, are those people playing chess?"
He found it rather funny that these people had come all this way just to play chess, only for every one of them to play so poorly. Most of them were even worse than Qin Tian and Qin Yudie.
Qin Tian answered, "Yes. That's a chess game left behind by the Chess Saint. No one can solve it."
He knew in his heart that apart from Senior Xu, no one in the entire Southern Domain could break this formation.
"Senior Xu."
Jiang Taiyuan also came over and called out excitedly.
He'd always wanted to build a good relationship with Xu Yan, but he'd never had the chance. All he could do was fret.
Qiang Di looked at Xu Yan and frowned slightly. "Who is this person? Why are two Sea of Consciousness Realm cultivators treating him with such respect?"
He didn't know Xu Yan and couldn't understand why two Sea of Consciousness Realm cultivators would show such deference to an ordinary man. It was far too unusual.
The Hundred Transformations Sect's leader stared at Qin Tian and Jiang Taiyuan and muttered, "This young man doesn't have a trace of Spiritual Power. He's clearly just a mortal. Why are they calling him senior?"
It was the first time he'd seen Qin Tian and Jiang Taiyuan treat anyone with such respect, even reverence—and the other person was an ordinary young man.
Could he be the illegitimate son of some great figure, secretly left in Tianren City for Qin Tian to look after?
The Medicine King's Eldest Disciple walked over to Xu Yan and cupped his hands. "The Medicine King's Eldest Disciple pays his respects to Senior Xu."
Like Jiang Taiyuan, he was a Sea of Consciousness First Heaven cultivator. No matter how he looked at Xu Yan, the man seemed to be nothing but a mortal.
But he couldn't believe that a mortal could inspire such reverence in two Sea of Consciousness Realm cultivators, so he came over to greet Xu Yan as well.
Xu Yan looked at the Medicine King's Eldest Disciple and smiled. "Hello, my name is Xu Yan."
As soon as this man approached, Xu Yan caught the scent of medicine on him. Clearly, he was also knowledgeable about medicinal herbs.
Xu Yan's own mastery of medicine had long since reached a transcendent, sacred level. He could turn decay into wonder, drawing world-defying medicinal effects from ordinary herbs.
Now, faced with someone else in the field of medicine, he felt a little kinship.
The Medicine King's Eldest Disciple hesitated, then asked, "Where do you cultivate, Senior Xu?"
He'd sensed a trace of goodwill from Xu Yan, so he asked outright.
Xu Yan knew the man had mistaken him for a cultivator. He replied openly, "I live right here in Tianren City. I sell things I carve and paint myself, and when I'm bored, I brew some tea."
Many mortals felt inferior before cultivators, as if they couldn't hold their heads up, but he didn't feel that way.
Whether or not the other person was a cultivator, if they treated him politely, he would treat them politely in return.
If they were rude to him, he had no reason to go out of his way to curry favor.
Flattering cultivators wasn't his style.
Though he now seemed indifferent to fame and fortune, calm and unruffled, that was simply the helpless lot of a mortal.
Once, he too had harbored great ambitions and wanted to make his mark on this world. Then reality had slapped him hard across the face.
Unable to cultivate, he'd developed his easygoing nature. Even so, he still wouldn't grovel to cultivators.
"Tianren City..." The Medicine King's Eldest Disciple pondered for a moment, thought of a possibility, and smiled. "If I get the chance, I'll come visit you with my master, Senior Xu."
His master was, of course, the Medicine King, lord of Medicine King Valley.
The people around them were astonished to hear the Medicine King's Eldest Disciple say this.
Everyone knew the Medicine King's mastery of alchemy was unmatched in the Southern Domain, and his Spiritual Power cultivation was among the very best. He was one of the most influential figures in the Southern Domain.
The Medicine King had retired many years ago and hadn't left Medicine King Valley in over a decade. His eldest disciple handled all the affairs, great and small, outside the valley.
Now the Medicine King's Eldest Disciple had said he might visit Xu Yan with the Medicine King. This was absolutely explosive news.
Many people silently speculated about Xu Yan's identity. Some quick-witted people linked him to the painting Qin Yudie had gifted at Qin Tian's banquet, as well as the music that had appeared earlier.
Considering Qin Tian and Jiang Taiyuan's attitude toward Xu Yan, the answer was practically staring them in the face: Senior Xu was the reclusive master who played the zither, the one so many people in Tianren City had speculated about!
After realizing this, the Hundred Transformations Sect's leader approached Xu Yan excitedly. From a short distance away, he called out, "I'm Ji Bai Bian, leader of the Hundred Transformations Sect. Greetings, Senior Xu!"
He wondered how he could build a good relationship with this reclusive master. After receiving a painting from Senior Xu, Qin Tian had advanced straight from Sea of Consciousness First Heaven to Sea of Consciousness Second Heaven.
Ji Bai Bian had been stuck at Sea of Consciousness First Heaven for more than ten years. There was no way he wasn't jealous of Qin Tian.
Lin Yansheng nodded with a smile. "Hello."
He'd noticed that all these cultivators were quite polite, calling him senior over and over.
But he understood that they were probably all minor cultivators from around Tianren Mountain, like Qin Tian. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for them to treat an ordinary man like him so well.
The Family Head of the Murong Family couldn't sit still any longer. He hurried over and said, "Senior Xu, I'm Murong Hai. I've long admired you."
Seeing everyone else come to speak with Xu Yan, he couldn't afford to lag behind. If the other factions all made Xu Yan their patron while the Murong Family did not, the Murong Family would be in danger.
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