Chapter 168: A Master's Eye

Pfft!

Everyone staggered, as if struck by lightning.

At first they thought he had misspoken or they had misheard, but the second time they realized this fool meant exactly what he said.

Cursing Master Liu's entire family...

And with such righteous indignation, such overwhelming momentum—damn it, fatty, where did you get that confidence?

Master Yuan Yu stood frozen in place, tears streaming down his face.

I just said one casual remark—who did I provoke? Now it's over: once Master Liu gets angry, there will surely be a big quarrel. If that Yang Xuan is really a master teacher, once he takes offense, a conflict is inevitable, and then... there will be no 'then' for me...

The crowd was dumbfounded. Sun Qiang across from them, thinking he had hit the mark, stood proudly.

This was exactly the method the master had used to bluff Ling Tianyu back then—as soon as he spoke, the other side immediately knelt. He imitated Zhang Xuan's demeanor and actions perfectly, putting on an air of superiority and worldly insight.

He tilted his head, secretly shifting his eyes to see if the other party was convinced and would bow down calling him master, only to see the other man's face ashen and his guard drawing his longsword.

"Master, let me kill him!" The guard roared and was about to charge.

"Eh? Why isn't it working?" Seeing the guard's reaction, even Sun Qiang, dense as he was, realized something was wrong. His heart skipped a beat—had he said something wrong? But he couldn't lose face or authority now.

Every time the master spoke, people were furious, but after the bluff succeeded, the other side would immediately yield.

Thinking this, he regained some confidence: "How about this: let me touch your wife... Oh, your wife isn't here, that's fine. You... are a beast, stuffed full and asking for trouble..."

After thinking for a while, he recalled a few other lines from the master.

The surroundings fell silent.

Brother, we thought you were bold enough just for that one curse, but it turns out you're far from the limit...

Now he wants to touch Master Liu's wife, call Master Liu a beast, and say he's stuffed full and asking for trouble... We've seen bold people, but never this bold...

Master Liu's face was also livid, his skin twitching uncontrollably, as if he might faint at any moment.

If not for his high self-restraint, he would have slapped this fool to death long ago.

"Master, please allow me to kill this idiot who insults you!"

The guard A Yun could no longer hold back; he raised his fists in salute.

"Tell him who I am!"

Master Liu flicked his sleeve.

In truth, he also wanted to kill the man before him, but the other's arrogance made him somewhat cautious.

If he weren't a master teacher, how could a mere steward dare to say such things?

If the other party was truly a more powerful master teacher, killing his steward would incur wrath he couldn't bear.

So it was better to be careful, first reveal his identity, let the other know, and see his reaction.

"Fatty, our master is the guest king of the Northern Wu second-rank kingdom, Master Teacher Liu Ling..." A Yun stepped forward.

"I don't care what king you are..." Sun Qiang started, then his fat body trembled: "What did you say? A master teacher? He's a master teacher?"

He could ignore kings of other kingdoms, but a master teacher—that was terrifying.

"Correct, our master is a one-star master teacher. To dare insult him is a capital offense!"

A Yun gnashed his teeth.

A master teacher cannot be insulted. Publicly cursing his entire family, wanting to touch his wife, calling him a beast—these alone were enough to die a hundred times.

"Capital offense?"

Sun Qiang's mouth twitched, and he nearly collapsed in fright on the spot.

He had only wanted to quietly show off while the master was away, to earn his master's admiration—never in his dreams did he expect to make a fool of himself.

The master had bluffed the same way—why did the other side kneel in fear, not daring to breathe, while he directly ran into a master teacher...

Why is the gap between people so big?

Cursing a master teacher... wasn't that suicide?

What should he do?

Sun Qiang's plump face crumpled like a dough ball, on the verge of tears.

"Go inform your master that Master Teachers Liu Ling, Zhuang Xian, and Zheng Fei have come to call. As for your matter, I will speak of it personally with your master!"

Seeing the fat steward who had been so arrogant now trembling with fear, Master Liu Liu Ling waved his hand.

If the other party was truly a master teacher, the fact that his subordinate insulted him without punishment was a favor, earning a debt of gratitude. If not, he could then explode, seize the impostor, and avenge the humiliation.

"Our master went out early this morning... I don't know when he'll be back..." Hearing that the other party wouldn't act for now, Sun Qiang breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that he knew the other's identity, he no longer dared to be as arrogant as before.

"Don't know when he'll be back?" Liu Ling and the others frowned.

They couldn't just wait here forever, could they?

"Yes!" Sun Qiang nodded.

"Here's the thing. This is our calling card. Take it. When your master returns, we'll come visit again."

Liu Ling raised a hand, and his guard Ah Yun stepped forward to hand over a calling card.

"Yes!" Sun Qiang dared not waste words. He took the card, and seeing the illustrious words "Master Tutor" on it, his brows twitched incessantly.

"Let's go." Since the man wasn't there, the three master tutors couldn't be bothered to bandy words with a steward. They turned and left.

Only after they left did Sun Qiang breathe a sigh of relief. He wiped the cold sweat from his body and returned to the courtyard.

No sooner had he entered the yard than his knees gave way and he collapsed to the ground.

It seemed bluffing wasn't something to be done lightly; otherwise... you wouldn't even know how you died... From now on, he'd never bluff again, even if it killed him...

...

"Master Liu, why didn't you just kill that fellow who insulted you?"

As the group headed back, the guard Ah Yun couldn't help but ask.

To become a master tutor was not to be soft-hearted. Master Liu had always been decisive in killing. How had he tolerated that fat man's insolent words today?

"Brother Zheng, what do you think?"

Instead of answering, Liu Ling turned to look at Master Zheng, Zheng Fei, at his side.

"The master of this mansion is no ordinary man. If he truly is a master tutor, his rank is probably not lower than ours." Zheng Fei nodded gravely.

"Indeed!" Master Zhuang, Zhuang Xian, on the other side nodded repeatedly.

"But... didn't we not see the master of the mansion?"

Hearing these words from the three master tutors, everyone was baffled.

Hadn't they not seen the master the fat man mentioned? Without seeing the man himself, how could they be sure his rank wasn't lower than theirs?

Even Yuan Yu, who was following behind, looked over with confusion.

"We didn't see the man, but we saw his steward." Master Liu said.

"That fool?" Ah Yun couldn't help but say. What was so strange about that fool?

"You only saw the surface!" Master Liu shook his head. "I examined this steward's physique. Not only is it poor, it's extremely poor. By normal reasoning, being able to cultivate to the peak of the third-rank Martial Artist, True Qi Realm, would be extremely lucky. But did you see just now? How high is his strength?"

"Late stage of the fourth-rank Martial Artist, Skin and Bone Realm..."

Ah Yun hesitated, then said.

"Correct. His strength has reached the late stage of the Skin and Bone Realm, and... judging by how he can't control his true qi, he must have just broken through not long ago. Combined with what Master Yuan Yu said earlier—that Sun Qiang was just hired randomly, formerly a market vendor—it shows that his strength was elevated after being guided by the master of the mansion..."

Master Liu's eyes grew solemn as he spoke. "With such a poor physique and mediocre cultivation technique, his internal true qi must have long since settled into mud, sealing all his meridians. Under these circumstances, not only did he break through in just a few days, he even advanced nearly a full major rank... This method of promoting advancement is extremely difficult even for me."

As a master tutor, he could naturally see Sun Qiang's peculiarities at a glance when it came to guiding cultivation.

Sun Qiang's meridians were blocked, his true qi stagnant. By all logic, reaching the peak of the True Qi Realm would be impressive, yet here he was at the late stage of the Skin and Bone Realm. Even a fool could analyze what that meant.

If Zhang Xuan heard their conclusion, he would surely be astonished.

No wonder they were master tutors—their eyesight was truly terrifying.

No wonder this profession was the most revered and feared across the continent; their sharpness of vision alone was beyond ordinary people.

"If I'm not mistaken, the other party used the purest true qi to reopen the blockages in his body, even melting his stagnant true qi, allowing him to break through in one go and even surge forward to the late stage of the Skin and Bone Realm!"

Master Zhuang, who had been silent, hesitated before speaking.

If Sun Qiang were here, he would surely be startled, for his experience was exactly as this master tutor described.

"To be able to melt stagnant true qi and help reopen blocked meridians, this person's true qi grade must be at least at the middle third-grade level, or... his cultivation has reached the Grandmaster Realm!"

Master Liu also nodded and looked at Ah Yun again. "Whether a powerhouse who cultivates middle third-grade true qi or a grandmaster... even if this person is not a master tutor, he is not someone we can afford to offend. And if he is a master tutor, even if his rank is not higher than ours, his potential is far greater. If we had killed his steward just now, it would have been a direct slap in the face, leaving no room for maneuver later. It's better to do him a favor. He's just a small fry; knowing our identities, he's probably scared out of his wits by now."

"Yes!" Ah Yun nodded.

He knew his master had extraordinary insight and could discern the most correct course from details, so he said no more.

"Impressive!"

Master Yuan Yu, standing to the side, was stunned by these judgments, his mouth hanging open for a long time.

No wonder master tutors were the noblest profession. With just one glance, they could analyze so much. Their keen eyesight was appalling.

"Then, Master, since this man is not in the mansion, what do we do?"

Ah Yun asked next.

"His absence doesn't mean we can't confirm his identity. Here's what you do: tell Emperor Shen Zhui to summon the few people that this Yang Xuan has treated these past days to the palace. I want to see them with my own eyes..."

Master Liu instructed.

"Yes!" Ah Yun nodded.

Hearing this, Master Yuan Yu secretly admired him.

It didn't matter that the man wasn't there. This Yang Xuan had helped Ling Tianyu, Du Maoxuan, Luo Chong, Alchemist Chen Xiao... these were no secrets. If they summoned those people and questioned and examined them carefully, they should learn a great deal.

Whether he was truly a master tutor would then be clear at a glance.