Chapter 291: Polite Xuan Che

The shock of this door opening was immense for those involved—both the one standing outside and the one inside were momentarily stunned.

In fact, the handsome young man outside reacted even more strongly; after a moment of shock, the expression on his face became spectacular, a mental state of life flashing before his eyes arising spontaneously, his gaze already lost in recollection, and the memories were clearly not pleasant ones—roof beams, copper-headed belts, spinning like a top, human heads in the alchemy furnace, and so on.

As the young man opposite the door recalled, Yu Sheng over here also began to see his life flash before his eyes.

The scenes of his recollection were much the same as the other's, except he was viewing them from a third-person perspective.

Then both of them came to their senses simultaneously, tacitly stepping back half a pace each, standing on opposite sides of the door with serious expressions, contemplating life and organizing their thoughts.

To be honest, at that moment Yu Sheng had the impulse to close the door; although when the "villainous disciple four thousand" mentioned sending someone to visit, he had indeed considered various outrageous possibilities, the situation of this "eldest senior brother" appearing directly at his doorstep early in the morning still exceeded his psychological preparation, but that impulse lasted only a second, and then he restrained the thought of closing the door through immense responsibility, tenacious willpower, a calm attitude toward life, and a fearlessness of death.

Mainly relying on fearlessness of death.

But the development of events that followed was clearly different from what he had imagined.

The handsome young man opposite the door finally understood (though it was unclear what exactly he understood), then stepped back another small half-pace, suddenly raised his hand in a bow, bent his waist to pay respects, and performed such a grand salute that it left Yu Sheng completely stunned—

"Junior, Xuan Che, disciple of the True Immortal Yuan Ling of Qianfeng Lingshan, pays respects to... uh, pays respects to a high master."

When mentioning the address for Yu Sheng, he clearly stumbled, seeming unsure how to address the person before him, and finally simply used the term "high master," a simple, straightforward, yet somewhat strange-sounding appellation.

Yu Sheng's reaction was even simpler—he was still stunned.

Fortunately, someone nearby came to their senses; Ailin (probably the one made of lotus root) saw the situation, stepped forward, poked Yu Sheng's calf, and whispered, "Hey, hey, hey, seems there's no killing intent!"

"Oh, oh, oh," Yu Sheng suddenly snapped out of it, his mind racing with thoughts, while his mouth was already responding to the "guest," "Xuan Che, right? I've heard your master mention this name. Well then... come in first, let's talk inside."

Then he saw two more people standing outside the door; they were the two Special Bureau agents responsible for managing the courier station. At that moment, they were looking at the scene before them with curiosity and confusion, probably sensing something was off with the atmosphere, yet wearing expressions of not daring to step forward and ask, so Yu Sheng waved at them as well: "... Care to come in and sit for a bit?"

One of the Special Bureau agents immediately waved his hands repeatedly: "Ah, no, no, we still have things to do."

"Uh, right, our instant noodles are ready..."

Saying this, the two Special Bureau agents broke into a jog and slipped away.

Ailin poked Yu Sheng's calf again: "Do they withhold meal allowances at the Special Bureau? Why are these two always making instant noodles in the room?"

"How would I know!" Yu Sheng replied, then continued to smile with a fake expression, inviting the self-proclaimed "Xuan Che," the handsome fellow, into his home.

The atmosphere throughout was somewhat eerie, but at least the guest had entered the house.

Then Yu Sheng discovered that this "Xuan Che" seemed even more nervous than he was.

Xuan Che was indeed very nervous; from the moment he entered the house, he knew his polite attitude just now had been correct.

A universe created within itself.

Just separated by that one seemingly ordinary door, the dwelling inside was completely an independent "realm"; his spiritual sense, which usually covered mountains and forests, cities and towns, and penetrated through concealment techniques and illusions, was directly cut off from the outside world here, and even the heavenly and earthly spiritual qi he felt seemed to be operating independently within this small house alone—not to mention the eerie aura everywhere here; some doors looked close at hand, yet when he closed his eyes, they felt as far as the distant sky; the hall looked no larger than a few square feet, yet in the blink of an eye he felt as if he were standing in an endless wilderness, with no boundaries in front, behind, left, or right.

Frankly, the atmosphere inside reminded him of a foreign land, but the completeness and independence of this "foreign land" had clearly reached an abnormal degree—and what made his heart even more uneasy were some even more... "deeper" strangeness.

He vaguely sensed that this "dwelling" visible to the naked eye was not the entirety of this place; everything before his eyes seemed to be merely "tentacles" manifested by something far more massive before his mortal flesh and blood, while an even greater "structure" that he could not comprehend was hiding right under his nose.

His master's parting admonition suddenly rang in his mind—

"Xuan Che, your talent is extraordinary, but your cultivation is still shallow—when you reach the high master's place, do not listen or look recklessly."

He instantly snapped to attention, eyes gazing at his nose, nose gazing at his mouth, mouth questioning his heart, withdrawing all his mental focus, and immediately becoming even more cautious.

Yu Sheng was holding two cans of cola taken from the refrigerator and placing them on the coffee table.

"I only have this," Yu Sheng placed the cola in front of Xuan Che, and immediately his expression became a bit awkward, "Hey, shouldn't I serve something like tea to a 'cultivator' like you? Do you usually not drink this kind of thing..." Before he finished speaking, he saw the young man before him say "thank you," skillfully pull the tab, take a big gulp, and then reveal an expression of enjoyment on his face.

"My master indeed usually doesn't allow us to drink much of this," Xuan Che, now adjusted in his state, seeing Yu Sheng's friendly attitude, also relaxed, "He said such things affect the Dao of Alchemy."

Yu Sheng didn't react immediately: "Drinking cola can affect the trajectory of bullets?"

"It's the Dao of Alchemy," Xuan Che quickly explained, "meaning it affects the refining of pills. One cannot drink before entering the alchemy chamber."

Yu Sheng: "... Why?"

"Because it causes burping," Xuan Che said with a serious face, "At critical moments, operations would become distorted—although this junior feels the impact is not great, it is still my master's teaching, so one must listen during pill refining."

Yu Sheng hadn't expected such a practical reason, but he had to say, he immediately felt the atmosphere ease up...

After things eased up, he finally felt it appropriate to bring up some rather awkward "past events": "Ahem, well then, sorry about that—the alchemy furnace incident last time was a mistake on my end; I truly didn't expect us to meet again under these circumstances..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw the young man's face twitch slightly.

It seemed the aftertaste of the copper-headed belt had not yet faded.

However, the other party quickly adjusted his expression: "You speak too heavily; the actions and conduct of a high master like you must be for the great cause of all beings; how could I, as a junior, hold a grudge..."

!

He shouldn't have said it; once he did, Yu Sheng felt even more awkward.

"Don't keep calling me 'junior'—I might not even be older than you," Yu Sheng tried to change the subject, "Let's treat each other as peers, as peers..."

In fact, he felt he was already gaining an advantage, since the person opposite was a cultivator; although he looked to be in his twenties, who knew how old this old man actually was...

But the "young man" opposite was quite serious: "How can that be? You are friends with my master; in front of you, I must observe the etiquette of a junior."

"Let's address each other separately—I'll call you Xuan Che directly, and you just call me Yu Sheng," Yu Sheng hurriedly said, and without waiting for the other to react, began introducing with a raised hand, "The one beside me is Ailin, the one on the other side is also Ailin, the one squatting on the windowsill and the one lying on the TV cabinet are also Ailin... These are all her 'divisions'."

Xuan Che had already noticed the pile of Ailins in the living room but clearly hadn't dared to ask; at this moment, he politely greeted the small dolls, and just then, footsteps came from the stairs; Hu Li, yawning, walked down from the second floor, and halfway down saw a stranger in the house, her eyes widening slightly as she looked at Yu Sheng: "Benefactor, we have a guest?"

"Oh, it's a guest from Qianfeng Lingshan—the same Qianfeng Lingshan that helped investigate your background before; his name is Xuan Che, a disciple of True Immortal Yuan Ling," Yu Sheng stood up to introduce again, "This is Hu Li; you should know her..."

"I know, I know," Xuan Che revealed a smile on his face, raised his hand to pay respects to Hu Li, "Xuan Che of Qianfeng Lingshan, pays respects to the Immortal of the Otherworld..."

"Why are you so polite to everyone?" Yu Sheng finally couldn't hold back, "Relax a bit."

Hearing this, Xuan Che couldn't help but bitterly smile helplessly in his heart—what could he do? There wasn't a single person in this house he could see through! Even those mechanical dolls that looked smaller than medicine jars were, in his spiritual sense perception, all deep, unfathomable clouds of cold black mist; Hu Li coming down the stairs was a blazing molten fire that could not be directly gazed upon with spiritual sense; and as for Yu Sheng... this high master was even more outrageous.

He simply could not "see" the other party.

He could see him with his naked eyes, but when his spiritual sense swept over, it was a black hole, a human-shaped black hole, as if a piece had been directly carved out of the "world"; a black hole of neither life nor death stood there; there was definitely something inside the hole, but exactly what it was could not be seen at all.

Moreover, this black hole was chatting cheerfully with him, telling him to relax.

Xuan Che suppressed his spiritual sense once again, trying his best not to "look" at the true forms behind these anthropomorphic beings in the room, but to be honest, this was not easy—after all, as the most talented young disciple of his generation at Qianfeng Lingshan, keeping his spiritual sense constantly extended outward had already become a habit.

The only fortunate thing was that these "anthropomorphic" beings were indeed quite friendly.

Just as his master had predicted before departure—

Those who can face the Dark Angel and defeat it absolutely cannot be human.

But "they" clearly stood on the side of "humans."

Most fortunate.

(End of chapter)