Chapter 50: Difference

"I… I didn't mean to hide it—I wanted to enter the immortal sect through the Immortal-Grade Assembly, but you don't need it." The Young Master's face flushed red as he defended himself: "You're valued by powerful cultivators—how could an immortal sect be entered casually?"

Zheng Fa blinked his eyes, finally realizing that the Young Master had likely convinced himself Zheng Fa had a mysterious powerful cultivator behind him—in the Xuanwei Realm, that seemed quite plausible, as there were no shortage of such stories in the novels.

The kind where a poor boy is noticed by a passing immortal and instantly becomes immortal himself.

"So what exactly is the Immortal-Grade Assembly?"

Zheng Fa felt he'd probably still have to rely on this to enter the immortal sect.

"You don't know?" The Young Master looked at Zheng Fa with mild confusion: "Oh, right, you don't need to know."

He no longer concealed it: "To enter an immortal sect, there are only two ways—one is like you, Zheng Fa, a lucky bastard who caught the attention of a powerful cultivator and was taken as a disciple."

Zheng Fa: … I didn't, I'm not, you're insulting the wrong person.

"The other way is the Immortal-Grade Assembly—your spiritual root quality is assessed, then your proficiency in pills, arrays, talismans, or weapon forging is evaluated, and you're given a rank overall; those with high ranks may enter the immortal sect."

Zheng Fa gradually understood: being valued by powerful cultivators was like independent admission, probably the traditional master-apprentice model.

The Immortal-Grade Assembly sounded a bit like the imperial examinations.

"So… why is the Immortal-Grade Assembly being held early?"

The Young Master sighed: "In past years, the Immortal-Grade Assembly was held once every ten years—my sister entered the immortal sect through the last one. Normally, this year's should be held after the New Year, but my sister suddenly wrote to say it's being moved up and will take place in two months."

Zheng Fa finally understood why the Young Master had suddenly started working hard.

This Immortal-Grade Assembly, the Young Master had waited ten years for—he was lazy, but he'd always taken talisman arts seriously.

Talisman diagrams looked dizzying and chaotic; stare too long and everything seemed twisted.

Yet over the past decade, the Young Master had studied them nearly every day.

He claimed he was slightly lax, but that was only compared to Gao Yuan, the ultimate grindster; for someone with his personality, persisting this long was already extraordinary, revealing just how desperately he longed to enter the immortal sect.

"Actually, if you hadn't been noticed by someone, you wouldn't need to join the Immortal-Grade Assembly—I was going to give you one of our Zhao family's two slots."

The Young Master suddenly said.

"Slots? There are limits?"

The Young Master looked surprised: "Of course—otherwise, anyone could go?"

Zheng Fa nodded. This was probably why the Zhao family had stood for a thousand years.

…

"I still need to warn you—this book won't improve your understanding of talisman arts in the short term. It's just the most basic of basics." Hearing the Young Master would take the Immortal-Grade Assembly in two months, Zheng Fa figured "Elementary Mathematics" probably wouldn't help him much.

"I know." The Young Master nodded, his expression calm: "If immortal techniques could be comprehended so easily, would they still be called immortal techniques? Even 'Spirit Crane Body' is hard to master—how much harder must this technique given to you by a powerful cultivator be?"

"And what about you, Young Master?"

"I've hit a bottleneck in talisman arts…" The Young Master's lips curled into a bitter smile: "For years now, I've kept reading 'Complete Explanation of Talisman Diagrams,' but I've made almost no progress."

In this world, at least according to the Young Master's method, interpreting Yuan Yuanfu relied on just two words—intuition.

The high-brow term is enlightenment; the low-brow term is guessing.

For true geniuses, guessing works fine—but for ordinary people like the Young Master, this method always leads to a dead end.

"So, I'll try anything—even a dying horse as a living one." The Young Master pointed at Zheng Fa's desk where the Yuan Yuanfu diagram lay: "At least, your technique has given me a glimmer of hope."

"But two months…"

"If two months aren't enough, then ten years; if ten years aren't enough, then twenty…" The Young Master looked up at Zheng Fa, his gaze filled with a determination Zheng Fa had never seen in him before: "I'm not afraid of waiting!"

Seeing Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan frozen in silence, the Young Master suddenly laughed: "I was just saying that—I don't plan to enter the immortal sect through your book. Ten years ago, if my Zhao family hadn't been short one slot, my dual-spirit-root talent alone would've gotten me in—talismans were just to increase my chances a bit, and I learned them for preparation after entering the sect."

His expression was quite confident.

"Actually, I learned talisman arts because my sister demanded it—she seemed quite urgent about it." The Young Master frowned, puzzled: "Never mind that—tell me about this technique."

Zheng Fa was about to begin explaining when his peripheral vision caught Gao Yuan standing far off in the corner of the study, watching them—but his gaze was unfocused, his face tinged with quiet melancholy.

"Gao Yuan."

"Hmm?"

Gao Yuan snapped back to attention.

"Do you want to learn?"

"I…" Gao Yuan glanced at the Young Master: "I have no talent for talisman arts."

The Young Master treated Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan very differently—Zheng Fa had talisman talent, so he followed along reading 'Complete Explanation of Talisman Diagrams.'

Gao Yuan mainly studied with Master Shen and learned bookkeeping from the accountant.

Clearly, their training paths were different.

"This book has nothing to do with talisman arts—it's a form of mathematics." Zheng Fa said to him: "If you want to learn, come over."

Gao Yuan glanced at the Young Master.

The Young Master's face showed no expression; seeing Gao Yuan look at him, he sneered: "This technique belongs to Zheng Fa—why are you looking at me?"

Gao Yuan hurried over.

Evening.

Zheng Fa stepped out of the Young Master's study, Gao Yuan following behind him; until they reached the courtyard gate, Gao Yuan suddenly spoke: "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you willing to teach me?"

Because I want to see if your brain can even function…

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then gave another reason: "If I can teach it to the Young Master, I can teach it to you too—it's not really some divine technique as the Young Master claimed."

"How can I be the same as the Young Master?"

"How aren't you the same?"

"He can learn things I can't."

Zheng Fa stopped walking, staring at Gao Yuan's unreadable face: "Is there a difference? You both have one nose and two eyes—if he can learn it, so can you."

"That's not what I meant—the difference I'm talking about is…," Gao Yuan's gaze settled on Zheng Fa's face as he spoke slowly: "He is the young master, I am the servant; he is the master, I am the slave."

"Mm."

"That's all you have to say?" Seeing him fall silent, Gao Yuan pressed.

"In my eyes, there's no difference." Zheng Fa turned and walked forward again.

"No difference…" Gao Yuan fell silent, watching him walk a distance ahead before breaking into a light run to catch up, his tone complex: "Who taught you this? Have you always been like this since childhood?"

"Not always—since five years ago, maybe."

Another silence fell. Zheng Fa heard Gao Yuan mutter under his breath: "Full of defiance—don't you fear I'll snitch?"

Zheng Fa smiled but said nothing. The seventh young master might understand this better than you do.

They walked in silence until they were nearly parting ways, when Gao Yuan suddenly said: "Actually, there is a difference."

"Hm?"

"When he scolds me, I dare not scold him back."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa gave him a sincere suggestion: "When he scolds you once, scold him ten times in your heart."

"This… I find it hard to do," Gao Yuan slowly furrowed his brow, looking troubled, as if hesitating before adding: "I usually scold him a hundred times—ten times won't even satisfy me."

Zheng Fa glanced sideways at Gao Yuan.

And you're the one calling me full of defiance?

"Now you can snitch too—we're both too afraid to snitch on each other." Gao Yuan grinned at Zheng Fa.

…

That night, the Zheng family sat down to dinner when a knock suddenly came at the gate of the small courtyard.

Zheng Fa opened the gate and saw Senior Manager Gao and Gao Yuan standing outside.

"Senior Manager Gao, what are you… here for a free meal?"