Chapter 144

: Second Palace Master of the Star Gauze
Translator: 
Kazeyuki_ 
 Editor: 
Jimmy_
The moment the two had entered the border of the Great Luo Empire, they met with the Second Palace Master who had rushed over.
Emissary Liu immediately brought Qin Wushuang forward to pay his formalities.
The Second Palace Master had white and grey hair. Usually, his mature personality gave him the reputation for being cool-headed. Yet, this time, in a flush of anger, he seemed to be the opposite and fought with the other Palace Masters. Finally, he won the chance to have the priority to meet with Qin Wushuang. He only had one goal, and that was to see exactly just how much potential this victor of the martial arts student exam from the Bai Yue Country had.

Marquis Wushuang, this is the Second Palace Master from the Star Gauze Palace,
Emissary Liu introduced respectfully.
When Qin Wushuang met this second Palace Master, he had a very good first impression. Just by looking at the appearance, he seemed to be an ordinary old man.
However, if he looked at the eyes of the Second Palace Master, he would see a bottomless depth. It was a type of endlessness like an abyss in which any of his searching would fall deep into the ocean.
Indeed, this was a truly powerful warrior!
A powerful warrior that left you unable to feel his true strength and indeed, one could only imagine the superiority of his strength!
The Second Palace Master had the surname of Tan, and was named Zhongchi.
Yet, within the hundred of years, almost no one had dared to utter the three words of Tan Zhongchi directly. Regardless of whether you knew him or not, one must address him as
Second Palace Master
or
Master Tan.

Qin Wushuang stepped forward respectfully:
It is a pleasure to meet with you, Second Palace Master.

After quickly sizing him from head to toe, the more Tan Zhongchi liked him and the more playful his expression became. If it was the good-humored Fifth Palace Master, most likely he would have already started dancing.

Ok, good.
Tan Zhongchi laughed:
Qin Wushuang, unequalled in the country, this is also a wonderful name! Emissary Liu, for this Qin Wushuang, do you think that he deserve the title of a national scholar?

Aware of his delicate interest, Emissary Liu knew that the Second Palace Master revealing his thoughts of treasuring this talent. How could he dare not to speak words of agreement?
Thus, he smiled apologetically:
Of course, a young man that had beheaded Li Wuji deserves these two words!

Tan Zhongchi laughed while he rubbed his palms:
Nice, Qin Wushuang, I must admit that for twenty years, you are the only martial arts student in which I have wanted to take in as my student during our first meeting! Let me ask you, would you be willing to train under me?

Before this trip, Qin Wushuang had never thought about studying and training with a Master. Now, hearing it from Tan Zhongchi, he could not help but hesitate. To him, who had always enjoyed a free lifestyle without any restrains. It would not be a problem if he were to study under a Master as there was an ancient saying of how everything had an order and the one that arrived before would become a teacher. The strength of this Second Palace Master would be much more powerful than his. It should be a good idea to study with him.
The problem was that he would not be willing if he were to lose the freedom.
Inwardly, Emissary Liu was surprised, he realized that Qin Wushuang was exhibiting traces of unwillingness. Thus, he could not help but remind him:
Marquis Wushuang, the Second Palace Master is one of the top figure in the Great Luo Empire. Many people have dreamt for days and night hoping from the day they were born to their death and would not get a chance to fulfill this wish.

Tan Zhongchi did not rush, he only observed Qin Wushuang with a smile. Honestly, if Qin Wushuang had listened to his wish and immediately agreed to study with him, he would not be happy.
A young man should have the ambition as a young man. Qin Wushuang’s hesitation had at least, proved that he could make his own decision. Surely, he had his own ideas regarding his path of training. Or else, he would never have this trace of hesitation.
On the path of training, one would not be afraid of not having a personality, but it would be a terrible thing to have no judgment.
To Tan Zhongchi who had trained up to this extent, he had grasped a deeper understanding and feeling of this fact.
Many upright and honest young people were unable to walk further on the path of training. There was only one reason. They had no individuality, lacked innovation and act according to convention.

How about it? Young man, no need to rush to answer me.
On the other end, Tan Zhongchi did not add pressure, but smiled:
I can give you enough time to consider. Besides, you are free to voice your concerns and your requirements. I am not afraid of questions, I am just afraid that you would not have the guts!

These words had given Qin Wushuang a favorable impression. Initially, he thought that people who had trained all the way to the Palace Masters would have an arrogant attitude.
Unexpectedly, this Second Palace Master was nothing like that. He was extremely friendly. On the contrary, his attitude had even surpassed the Martial Saint when he first went to meet him!
At that time, the Martial Saint had somewhat put on some attitude.
And this Second Palace Master had appeared with such kindness. Qin Wushuang had never expected this.

Second Palace Master, if I had said no directly, I would surely be seen as someone not knowing his position. In fact, when I met you, I could already feel the depth of the knowledge in you. Only, on the path of training, I had always strived towards freedom. If a sect restrains me, most likely, I would not be able to focus on going forward and would be hindered in my training of martial arts…

Without a choice, Qin Wushuang could only speak the truth.
Turning pale with fright, Emissary Liu immediately gave meaningful glances at Qin Wushuang after hearing the words. From his view, Qin Wushuang had spoke these words boldly to the extent where it seemed he was not appreciating favors.
Unexpectedly, the Second Palace Master, Tan Zhongchi, revealed a thoughtful look and looked at Qin WuShuang with some surprise. He never expected that despite his young age, this young man had such determination. His rare stubbornness had in fact, defended against the attractions from him!
For your information, what did it mean to become a disciple of the Star Gauze Palace? It meant that you would have a meteoric career and could do whatever you wanted in the Great Luo Empire. Nobody would dare to judge you.
It should have been an enormous lure to someone from a Subordinate Country. Yet, this Qin Wushuang had indeed resisted against it.
Judging from his expression and glances, this Qin Wushuang did not speak these words as a retreating strategy. It was his earnest words.
What was even more refreshing were that despite his exaggerated and rebellious actions, he had the attitude belonging to a truly powerful warrior.

It seems that the success of this kid was not by some fluke. Regardless of strength and mentality, he has things incomparable to the kids of his age.
When Tan Zhongchi thought here, the more he felt a desire to treasure this talent. Usually, he would rarely make exceptions. However, he felt that he must make one.
Immediately, he laughed and said:
I understand your considerations! Very good, freedom! I promise you that if you study under me, I can give it to you, be it freedom or flexibility. In the Star Gauze Palace and in the Great Luo Empire, you don’t need to pay courtesy, nor do you need to participate in the morning roll call each day. You don’t need to attend any group activities except important events at the Palace! And you can choose and enter freely of any residences and books at the Palace! Overall, you can continue to train the way you did in the past. You will have the status as my disciple, I will teach you, and you will inherit my legacy, how about it?

For a while, Emissary Liu was dumbfounded and could not speak a word. He even felt somewhat jealous. Such treatment, even they, as the Emissaries for the Palace, could never even dare to dream about it.
It was not like taking in a disciple at all, it was more akin to a father nurturing a son.
The Second Palace Master, usually the most serious among the Five Palace Masters had such an open-minded side? He could be this understanding? He could make an exception for a young teenager?
However, Emissary Liu immediately understood when he thought here. Marquis Wushuang deserved it. At the age of seventeen and eighteen years old, he had entered the Upper Sky Realm and had genuinely killed a vicious Upper Sky Realm Warrior, Li Wuji.
Just this achievement alone put him to shame. Besides, Marquis Wushuang had achieved these not within the Great Luo Empire, but in a Subordinate Country that had relatively weak Spiritual beings and a shortage of Spiritual Qi. This had made him even more outstanding!

Marquis Wushuang, why are you still hesitating? The Second Palace Master has made enough exceptions? In the Star Gauze, you are the first one where the Second Palace Master had thought this highly of!
Emissary Liu intended to make this work and had wanted to build good relationship with Qin Wushuang.
He knew that once Qin Wushuang become a disciple to the Second Palace Master, surely he would inherit his legacy. And if he had outstanding potential and demonstrated exceptional successes, he would even have the eligibility to compete for the position of the next Head Palace Master. From that point, he would rule over the Star Gauze Palace!
To such star of hope and the potential candidate of the future Head Palace Master, Emissary Liu would not miss the chance to make friends with them. To put it bluntly, Emissaries were like butlers for the Star Gauze Palace. They may have high authority and positions, but they do not have any qualifications to inherit the position of the Palace Masters.
In the end, the Emissaries took care internal and external business. It was no different than any butler.
And those disciples of the Palace Masters, especially those who were qualified to inherit the legacies were the candidates to compete for the Palace Masters positions. They were the future rulers and controllers of the Palace.
Laughing, Tan Zhongchi waited for Qin Wushuang’s reactions.
After receiving such promises and weighing the pros and cons, Qin Wushuang knew the best option at the moment was to formally pay respect to this teacher.
Since the Second Palace Master had voiced these promises to not interfere with his freedom, freed him from morning calls, it would not affect his training at all. It was equivalent in having a famous teacher all of a sudden plus a huge supporter.
No one could reject such a thing. Of course, Qin Wushuang would not put on an attitude to reject. Immediately, he paid formal respects to his teacher.
After the courtesies, the Second Palace Master was even more joyous than Qin Wushuang as he laughed:
Good good, Wushuang, although you have paid the respects informally, in return, I will definitely host a grand ceremony in honor of you becoming my student. It will also help other disciples in the Palace to get to know who you are. It will also prevent those older disciples from bullying you.

Emissary Liu was unable to restrain his smile. He had often heard how the Second Palace Master was overprotective. Unexpectedly, he was like what others had said. He had only taken in this disciple and had already started to think about future plans.
On the other end, Qin Wushuang treated it lightly. It was less important regarding the grandeur of the ceremony. Instead, he disliked having a high-profile. There was the so-called saying of how the wind would surely break the trees that stood out from the others.
As a new disciple, others would felt disgruntled if he received too much attention. In the end, it would cause unnecessary troubles.
The most taboo thing about training was unnecessary troubles. Those scheming against each other would cause one to neglect their martial arts training.
Just when he was about to speak, suddenly, Second Palace Master mused to himself:
I heard that Old Man Ji Yin held some grudge against your family? And he actually went to the Bai Yue Country to cause you trouble? This Old Man Ji Yin has guts, he dared to bully my student? Wushuang, let’s go to the Ji Yin Mountain right now. I will make him understand that he should never offend some people. If he did, it would be bringing shame on himself!

Emissary Liu even felt some sympathy for Old Man Ji Yin. Since the Second Palace Master was going to make a move, he will undoubtedly suffer greatly!