A Great Confucian Scholar

Green light above his head, a full seven inches?

Yang Xiao stared at the white-robed old man slowly approaching, his face full of disbelief.

After stealing decades of martial experience from Uncle Liu and Uncle Mute, and then listening to Lei Jie lecture on martial arts, Yang Xiao was no longer a complete martial-arts idiot. He already knew the specific divisions of the martial path.

First blood was gray mist; second blood was white radiance!

Whether gray mist or white radiance, each inch was a minor realm!

As for Uncle Mute?

Through Lei Jie, whom Uncle Mute had disguised himself as, Yang Xiao had already understood that Uncle Mute's apparent strength should only have been second blood, definitely not third blood.

Perhaps Uncle Mute's peak strength had been third blood, but after fleeing all the way from the Peace Sect's main altar to Vermilion Bird Tower and hiding in a stinking, filthy pile of swill, he had clearly been nursing his injuries. His strength definitely had not recovered to its peak.

That gold radiance shooting into the heavens was, nine times out of ten, caused by the Peace Sect's sacred object, definitely not the aura-light brought by third blood!

"I've never seen a martial grandmaster who's exchanged blood three times. Could this person before me be one? Does third blood correspond to green light?"

As Yang Xiao was deep in thought...

Behind the white-robed old man...

The young girl in a white dress whiter than snow, whose features somewhat resembled the old man's and whose bearing was extremely noble, immediately furrowed her dark brows and could not help but start to rebuke him.

As if sensing it, the white-robed old man spoke first, his tone extremely amiable. "May I ask, young brother, which way is Ding 527 private room?"

"Old sir, this is Ding 527. This way, please."

Only then did Yang Xiao come back to his senses. Realizing he had been rude, he hurriedly nodded and bowed, respectfully leading the white-robed old man into the private room.

"Grandfather, you're a great Confucian scholar renowned throughout the world. Why must you be so polite to a mere waiter?"

Inside the private room, the young girl was somewhat displeased.

"Jing Shu, we Confucians teach without discrimination. From emperors, kings, generals, and ministers above, to peddlers and pawns below, in this old man's eyes, there is actually no difference at all."

Stroking his white beard, the white-robed old man smiled. "That young brother was merely distracted for a moment. As the saying goes, spare others where you can; why must you take it to heart?"

"Hmph!"

The young girl was still somewhat displeased, but she did not dare defy her grandfather. She could only let out a feigned cold snort, angrily close the private room door, and glare fiercely at Yang Xiao.

Yang Xiao paid it no mind.

She was just a spoiled little girl. Judging by her true nature, she probably was not bad.

This grandfather and granddaughter were clearly outsiders who had rushed to the capital of the Great Yan Kingdom on business. To Yang Xiao, they were merely brief passersby in life. Perhaps tomorrow would be farewell forever, and they would never meet again.

"Brother Yang, has Mr. Zou arrived?"

Along with a burst of hurried footsteps, Zhang Long and Zhao Hu quickly walked over. Zhang Long asked, slightly nervous.

"An old gentleman in a white robe just came, and he and his granddaughter Jing Shu are already in the private room."

Yang Xiao quickly said.

"It's over, it's over! Mr. Zou actually arrived early, but we didn't go in ahead of time to serve him. If Uncle Liu finds out about this..."

Zhao Hu's face was full of panic.

Zhang Long's expression did not look good either.

"You two brothers needn't worry. From what I saw, Mr. Zou is very easy to talk to, and he probably won't fuss over this."

"But that Miss Jing Shu has quite the temper. You two brothers should serve carefully. As long as you make Miss Jing Shu happy, and as long as I don't say anything about being late, how would Uncle Liu ever know?"

Yang Xiao smiled.

"Good brother, later I'll treat you to pig's trotter noodles on the top floor!"

Only then did Zhang Long and Zhao Hu let out a breath of relief. Zhang Long patted Yang Xiao on the shoulder gratefully, then pushed open the door with Zhao Hu and entered the private room.

"I treat Ye Feng to big pig trotters and fine wine, yet you're actually treating me to roadside-stall food?"

Yang Xiao sneered inwardly, walked to the room next door, pressed his ear to the wall, activated the Nine Cicada Auditory Arts, and began to eavesdrop.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Yang Xiao stopped eavesdropping and instead began breathing exercises.

It turned out that the things Great Confucian Mr. Zou and his granddaughter Jing Shu discussed were all about the Four Books and Five Classics, dry and dull. To Yang Xiao, listening to these was utterly meaningless.

"Looks like Mr. Zou probably doesn't know martial arts. Could it be that Confucian great scholars correspond to third blood in the qi-and-blood martial path?"

"If that's really the case, then between a great scholar and a third-blood martial artist, who exactly is stronger and who is weaker?"

Yang Xiao could not help feeling a trace of curiosity.

But curiosity was curiosity; Yang Xiao had no intention of probing deeper.

To the current Yang Xiao, improving his own strength as soon as possible and quickly stepping into the first-blood realm was the key!

In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed.

Ding-ling~

The crisp sound of a bronze bell on the wall startled Yang Xiao awake from his breathing exercises.

"When the bronze bell rings, answer the door and receive orders. This means an honored guest has pulled the bell cord inside the private room, summoning an attendant to enter and serve."

"Only, haven't Zhang Long and Zhao Hu been serving Mr. Zou in the private room next door this whole time? What does this mean?"

With a trace of doubt, Yang Xiao walked out of the porter's room. Only then did he discover that the private room door was open, yet inside there was no longer any sign of Mr. Zou or the young girl Jing Shu.

"Brother Yang, thank you for helping me out of that bind just now. Mr. Zou barely touched this whole table of food and wine."

"Old Zhao and I discussed it. He and I won't eat this table, so we'll give it all to you, brother. Consider it a welcome meal for you joining the job, plus our thanks to you!"

Zhang Long came forward warmly, smiling as he patted Yang Xiao on the shoulder.

"Wonderful, wonderful. You two monsters of the Peace Sect not only want to kill me for my money, but now you're actually using a table of vegetarian dishes to fob me off?"

Looking at the huge table of medicinal cuisine before him, almost entirely stir-fried vegetarian dishes, Yang Xiao forced down the anger in his heart, put on an overwhelmed-by-favor expression, and said words of thanks to Zhang Long.

"All right, brother, take your time enjoying this table of food and wine. Old Zhao and I are going up to the top floor to have some fun."

"According to the rules of my Vermilion Bird Tower, each private room only receives two tables at noon. You can rest well alone in the porter's room this afternoon. Just remember to start work at the You hour."

Zhang Long nodded in satisfaction and left the private room with Zhao Hu.

"Big brother, we deliberately picked a quarrel and humiliated him with trash food and wine. As long as that kid showed the slightest dissatisfaction, we could cripple him and replace the doorboy with one of our own. But now, this kid can actually still endure it?"

After they had walked some distance away, Zhao Hu lowered his voice.

"From how Yang Xiao looked, it probably wasn't an act. That kid was grateful to me from the bottom of his heart."

"Forget it, Old Zhao. The great matter of my Holy Sect is imminent. If we rashly replace the doorboy, it'll be very easy to grow branches outside the knot."

As Zhang Long spoke, he could not help sighing with emotion. "Actually, I rather like that kid. It's just a pity his bones and aptitude are mediocre. He's destined never to practice martial arts in his lifetime. Otherwise, I really wouldn't mind recommending him into the Holy Sect..."

The two gradually walked farther away, their figures vanishing from sight.

Only then did Yang Xiao withdraw his cold gaze. His ears, which had originally trembled like winter cicadas, finally returned to normal.

Sliding the latch across the private room door, Yang Xiao walked to the wine table, casually picked up the wine pot, and, too lazy to pour it into a cup, directly took a sip.

Pfft!

What lousy wine was this? Wasn't it far too awful to drink!

Wait!

This wasn't wine!

Yang Xiao poured the "wine" into a cup and looked at it carefully. Only then did he understand that this so-called pot of wine was actually a pot of tea!

Scholars all liked drinking tea. The tea in this world was boiled together with all kinds of spices and ginger.

As Vermilion Bird Tower was honored as the number one tower under heaven, its tea was naturally even more high-grade. All sorts of precious medicinal herbs had been added into the tea, making it extremely nourishing.

Only, to Yang Xiao, who came from the modern era, this was not drinking tea at all. It was pure dark cuisine.

"No wonder those two didn't drink the wine or eat the dishes, and were so 'generous' as to give this table of food and wine to me!"

After picking up a few mouthfuls of food with his chopsticks and seeing that every dish carried a faint bitterness of Chinese herbs, Yang Xiao could not help sneering.

Whether cultivating qi and blood or cultivating the Yellow Turban Warrior, both required flesh and blood!

This whole table was vegetarian. What use was it to me?

Cursing in his heart, Yang Xiao nevertheless sat cross-legged, circulated the Yellow Heaven Body Casting Scripture: Warrior Chapter, and summoned the phantom inside his body out.

Even though he clearly knew doing this was useless, Yang Xiao still harbored a fantasy.

After all, what if it worked?

However, cruel reality quickly poured a bucket of cold water over Yang Xiao's head.

He saw that after the indistinct phantom walked out of Yang Xiao's body, it stood there blankly, motionless.

Yang Xiao waited for a long time more. Seeing that the phantom still ignored the table full of food and wine, he could not help sighing and was about to take the phantom back into his body.

Yet in that very instant...

The originally indistinct phantom's face unexpectedly became clear, transforming into the appearance of Yang Xiao's features.

"This..."

Yang Xiao was dumbstruck. Before he could come back to his senses, he saw a scene that made his hair stand on end.

Ahead.

Beside the wine table.

That clearly featured phantom abruptly opened its eyes...