"Oh, oh."
Ao Xiu relaxed, muttering inwardly.
Who are you calling a stupid dragon? I'm plenty smart! If I didn't see through him, that only proves [Return to True Celestial Person] Zhang Yuan was too wicked, too good an actor, and fooled me.
Didn't you see how he had all those people across from us completely dumbfounded too?
So wicked!
"Who are you talking about?"
While observing Duan Zong and the others with his divine sense, Zhang Yuan also overheard Ao Xiu's thoughts and asked with a cold sneer.
Ao Xiu jolted, snuffed out every thought, and said ingratiatingly, "You misheard. I said the [Return to True Celestial Person] is simply wonderful!"
Zhang Yuan kept sneering.
Of Duan Zong and Tan Sheng, one had a sharp mind, while the other had grown shrewd with age. They exchanged a glance, shaking and nodding their heads almost imperceptibly to confirm the gist of each other's thoughts.
Zhang Yuan sat cross-legged on the deck. Duan Zong and Tan Sheng stood several meters away with twenty-odd fishermen, remaining motionless as they simply waited him out.
Time passed.
An entire afternoon went by. Aside from the twenty-odd fishermen beginning to flag, Duan Zong and Tan Sheng showed no impatience whatsoever.
Then.
Zhang Yuan opened his eyes. Some of the weakness had faded from his face. He exhaled a breath of stale air, slowly rose, and lifted his gaze to size up Duan Zong and Tan Sheng.
Tsk.
These two aren't ordinary. They actually managed to endure all that. With minds like theirs, even if their natural aptitude is mediocre, they'll rise someday as long as the right opportunity comes along. They have both the wit and the fortune. In an ordinary world, they'd be the Children of Fortune from storybooks.
*Except, now that all the