Chapter 350: Secret Talk in the Sect (Part 1)

"So that's how it is."

Xie Wanning clutched the Sect Master Token, looking displeased. "You truly are Master's favorite disciple. That old man really liked you; not only did he leave you so many good things, but even after dying, he left his own True Qi to help you at a critical moment."

The more Xie Wanning thought about it, the angrier she became: "Why didn't we fellow disciples get this treatment? No! Give me your blood; I want to ask him face-to-face!"

As she spoke, Xie Wanning grabbed Chen Che's hand, intending to bite it open. Chen Che quickly pulled it back and comforted her: "Senior Sister, calm down! This is for saving my life at a critical moment; once it's used up, it's gone! Calm down! Calm down!"

Xie Wanning huffed, threw the token into Chen Che's arms, and turned her head away.

The four elders looked at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Chen Che put away the token, looked at the four of them, and asked: "Since our identities have been confirmed, let's get straight to the point."

"Please speak, Sect Master."

Chen Che thought for a moment and said: "I heard a part of it from Adili before. You all should tell me the origin of that so-called Zanpu Dunzhu, as well as the Heavenly Book and everything else, from the beginning."

"Yes."

Great Elder Lv Hong bowed respectfully and said: "It is like this, Sect Master..."

"The Heavenly Book was obtained by the old Sect Master by chance. I can no longer remember the exact year, but I have a deep memory of the scene that day.

At that time, Ansili was not yet Ansili, and we were just children only a few years old.

The old Sect Master was also from here, but like us, in that era of war, his relatives were scattered, and he lived a life of not having enough to eat every day.

The old Sect Master was a bit older than us, so he took good care of us, and whatever he found, he would share with us first.

We lived like that for a long time until one day, after a heavy rain, the mountain collapsed, and two ancient Stone Steles were exposed.

There were golden characters on the steles. We couldn't understand them, but we were still overjoyed, thinking those two steles were some kind of treasure, thinking that if we could sell them for money, we would never have to worry about our next meal again."

"But the old Sect Master had a different idea. He did not agree with our plan to sell the steles, but instead guarded the steles day and night, staring at the golden characters on them."

The Second Elder continued, "We thought he had gone crazy from hunger at first, but then a miraculous thing happened."

"What was it?"

"The old Sect Master, he cultivated True Qi."

The Third Elder said: "There were already Martial Artists at that time. They shone brilliantly on the battlefield, but our home was also completely destroyed by them, so at that time, our attitude toward Martial Artists was not good."

"But at the same time, we still envied and longed to become Martial Artists, because then we wouldn't be bullied by others, and most importantly, we wouldn't go hungry anymore."

The Fourth Elder said.

"And then?" Xie Wanning was listening intently and asked.

The Great Elder looked reminiscent, his face full of nostalgia: "After the old Sect Master cultivated True Qi, he became even more obsessed with those steles, and we also learned from him, staring at the steles. But at that time, only the old Sect Master could understand them."

"We originally thought the old Sect Master would abandon us, but he didn't. Instead, he taught us what he had comprehended from the steles in a way we could understand. Just like that, under his guidance, we also became Martial Artists."

"It was also from that time on that the old Sect Master began to call the characters on those steles the Heavenly Book."

Speaking of this, Chen Che and Xie Wanning couldn't help but gasp. They couldn't understand the feelings of their master when he obtained the Heavenly Book at that time, but from the elders' words, they could still feel that shock.

Yuan Ming, Chai Jing, Tang Yue, and Ji Rong walked into the main hall at this time. The four of them carried tea and placed it beside the four elders, as well as Chen Che and Xie Wanning.

After serving the tea, the four of them stood behind their respective masters, no longer leaving, and occasionally glanced at Chen Che from the corner of their eyes.

"We are discussing matters with the Sect Master. You four should go out first if there is nothing else."

The Great Elder glanced at the four of them and said.

Yuan Ming bowed and said: "Master, we four have something we want to say to the Sect Master."

"What?"

Yuan Ming glanced at Chen Che: "We four were disrespectful to the Sect Master before and have not yet apologized."

"I said it was fine before," Chen Che sipped his tea and said.

Xie Wanning smiled: "These four clearly have other things on their minds. You don't need to be reserved; just say it. Our Sect Master is very friendly."

"Many thanks, Senior Martial Aunt..."

Yuan Ming bowed to Xie Wanning and was about to speak, but was interrupted by Xie Wanning's sharp voice:

"What did you call me?!"

Yuan Ming looked confused and glanced at his master, Lv Hong, "You are the Sect Master's Senior Sister; in terms of seniority, I naturally should call you... Senior Martial Aunt..."

"In terms of seniority, that is indeed correct, but am I that old?!" Xie Wanning stared at Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming answered seriously: "Naturally not. Senior Martial Aunt's appearance is stunning; you are a peerless beauty."

"Hmm, very good."

Xie Wanning said with satisfaction: "From now on, you are not allowed to call me Senior Martial Aunt. Here, we don't look at sect seniority, only age.

I am a bit older than you, so from now on, you four will call me 'Sister' when you see me. As for the four elders, they are elders, so you can call me by my name; I am Xie Wanning."

"Yes, Senior Sister!"

The four said in unison.

"Alright, tell me what you want to do with the Sect Master?" Xie Wanning looked at Chen Che.

Chen Che also looked at the four of them curiously: "You can just say it directly."

The four looked at each other, moved to stand in front of Chen Che, and to Chen Che's confusion, they all knelt down with a thud:

"We want to ask the Sect Master to teach us Martial Dao!"

"There's no need for this to learn Martial Dao; get up quickly." Chen Che went to help the four of them up.

But the four insisted on finishing what they had to say.

"Sect Master, we four are clearly about the same age as you, yet you are not only at the realm of a Post-Heaven Heavenly Master, but you also cracked the Mountain Protection Array left by the old Sect Master, and even learned the Binding Dragon Stabilizing Sea Array after just one look, subduing all of us by yourself!"

"And you fought against the four elders by yourself without falling behind. We are far from reaching this level of strength, and we admire you immensely!"

"Especially the techniques you displayed... we never imagined that natural forces like the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams could be manifested into substance. We were truly shocked and so envious!"

"Also, you were holding back the whole time. Even when our master elders used lethal moves, you still considered our fellow-disciple ties and did not kill us even when you were misunderstood. We admire this breadth of mind as well!"

"Having witnessed the Sect Master's excellence, we were too excited and spoke incoherently. We ask that the Sect Master please do not blame us!"

Yuan Ming said with a solemn face, "We know that with our aptitude, we cannot reach even a ten-thousandth of the Sect Master, but we still ask the Sect Master not to despise our dullness and please do not hesitate to instruct us!"

"As long as we can become stronger, we do not fear hardship or fatigue, and we are willing to pay any price!"

The four of them kowtowed to the ground in unison: "Please, Sect Master, grant our request!"

"Uh..."

Chen Che blinked his eyes and looked at the four elders.

"Sect Master, these four disciples of ours have the best aptitude in the Taiyi Sect; they have all reached the Earth Master Realm at the age of twenty, which is far better than us."

"But having witnessed the Sect Master's strength today, we realize what it means for there to be people beyond people; besides admiring the Sect Master's natural talent, we admire the old Sect Master's sharp eye even more."

"Although these four disciples of ours do not have as much aptitude as the Sect Master, their desire to learn is no less, so please, Sect Master, grant their request."

"Please, Sect Master, grant our request."

Chen Che thought to himself: "Is this a matter of granting a request or not? You have been living in seclusion for so long that your style of doing things has become too chuunibyou!"

"Alright, alright, I agree, get up quickly," Chen Che said hurriedly.

"Many thanks, Sect Master!"

The four of them were overjoyed, bowed once more, and only then stood up.