Pan Ling suddenly turned around. Xu Shi had already appeared behind her together with Jiang Chengcheng and Xie Qingyan.
Although the silly disciple before him still looked somewhat timid, Xu Shi, who had witnessed everything from start to finish, felt that she had grown up tremendously in an instant.
"Master, when... when did you come back?"
"Anyway, I know everything you did."
Xu Shi smiled. "You did very well too. I'm very satisfied."
"Ah, well... it wasn't that great. I think there are still a lot of areas I need to improve..."
Pan Ling was rather modest, but the delight in her voice was impossible to conceal. She was even blushing a little from embarrassment.
This was a reaction she would not have had even if her sister praised her—Xu Shi was simply too unfair. No matter how Pan Ling had performed before, he had rarely shown much approval. More often than not, even when affirming her, he would point out her shortcomings. From that perspective, he was actually quite strict when teaching his disciples.
Precisely because of that, a simple word of approval seemed especially precious. Not to mention that Pan Ling herself had been thinking about what Master would have done. Now that her imagination had become reality, there was no way she could be unhappy.
"What I'd rather know is whether what you just said to Lu Baiyan... was something you came up with on the spot, or something you had prepared beforehand?"
Xu Shi allowed her to remain proud for a little longer, but he also asked, "And what was your purpose in doing that?"
"Well... wasn't it because you said that you appreciated him and even wanted to recruit him, Master?"
Pan Ling answered directly. "Since I happened to run into him, I thought I'd