Yu Ping twitched his nose, looked at the dried fish in Cui Zhiyun's hand, and said, "What kind of fish is that? I've never had it."
Cui Zhiyun smiled. "Roasted dried white minnows from the Great River. Want to try some?"
"Shall we trade?" Yu Ping took out a paper packet of dried meat and offered it to Cui Zhiyun, who handed him a packet of roasted dried fish and accepted the meat.
"Mmm, not bad..." Yu Ping chewed slowly, savoring it.
Holding the dried meat without eating any, Cui Zhiyun asked in puzzlement, "You're with young Master Li, aren't you? Where is he?"
Yu Ping looked up at the several lines of people waiting, pointed to one of them, and said, "Over there."
Puzzled, Cui Zhiyun followed Yu Ping's pointing hand with his gaze. Only after searching for quite a while did he discover that young Master Li was actually standing in line.
"That's not right... ah, young Master Li is a middle-rank Fate Arts Master?" Cui Zhiyun turned back blankly to look at Yu Ping.
"Yes." Having answered, Yu Ping went on eating the roasted dried fish.
"But... but... so that's it... but it still doesn't make sense..." Cui Zhiyun was bewildered. His father had even said that young Master Li had not spent more time studying. Besides, Fate Arts Masters were different from other cultivators: they advanced far more slowly. Even reaching the sixth rank, the lowest of the middle ranks, took many Fate Arts Masters their entire lives. Young Master Li was so young-how could he...
Cui Zhiyun looked at the registration lines in puzzlement. Apart from a tiny handful, almost everyone was over thirty. Middle-rank Fate Arts Masters in their twenties were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Cui Zhiyun frowned, turning it