Protect Our Clan Leader

He thought that refusing Master Changchun might anger him. Surprisingly, he was so amicable, showing no anger and even willing to guide him.

Immediately organizing his thoughts, he spoke out all the confusions and doubts he had encountered while cultivating the Longevity Youth True Verses.

Master Changchun was like a generous teacher, patiently answering each of Wang Shouzhe’s questions.

He spoke in an orderly manner, often resolving Wang Shouzhe’s doubts within a few sentences, giving Wang Shouzhe a sudden sense of enlightenment.

As time passed, Wang Shouzhe’s respect for Master Changchun grew deep.

Sure enough, he was a true Master.

And it was said that he was an elder Master.

The two of them, one asking questions, the other answering, an hour quickly passed.

All the questions that accumulated in Wang Shouzhe’s mind were satisfactorily answered, rendering all his puzzles and unclear areas clear.

Filled with gratitude, he took out the gifts he had prepared for Master Changchun from his storage ring.

Prior to this visit, he had anticipated many scenarios and even beseeched his grand-aunt, Chu, to gather information about the tastes and personalities of the Masters in the Academic Palace.

But Grand Aunt Chu was not proficient in this field and gave vague answers. Wang Shouzhe could only guess and conjecture, thus preparing several gift plans according to his speculations.

Master Changchun was the elder Master of the Academic Palace.

Having lived a long life and seen much, his desires naturally dwindled.

According to Grand Aunt Chu, Master Changchun was the least worldly, was tranquil by nature, and seemed to have no desires or requests.

Therefore, Wang Shouzhe could only manage to prepare some premium spiritual wine, some White Jade Spiritual Rice, and Red Crystal Spirit Rice Seeds. These seeds were not Wang Shouzhe’s latest breeds but were considered obsolete in his research and development process.

Even though these seeds were phased out, they still had their unique features.

“Master,” Wang Shouzhe presented these local products one after the other, “All these are from our Wang family’s land, given in gratitude to the Master.”

Upon seeing the gifts, Master Changchun realized they were indeed small trinkets.

Yet he joyfully commended, “You’ve put much thought into this, child.”

If Wang Shouzhe had brought out a pile of expensive objects, he would probably be driven away immediately.

This added to Master Changchun’s favorable impression of Wang Shouzhe.

There were not many seeds of White Jade Spiritual Rice and Red Crystal Spiritual Rice.

Master Changchun glanced at them, saying, “These two are common types of spirit rice, but they are slightly larger in size. They must be the new spirit breeds cultivated by your family, I suppose.”

Wang Shouzhe explained the features of these two new types of spirit rice to Master Changchun: bigger grains, increased yield, and the key feature—an ability to reproduce a second time.

“This child seems to have good perception,” Master Changchun remarked, “Many prominent families cultivate good breeds, often cherishing them like their brooms. Hence, I will use these two types of spirit rice seeds for reference and research, without spreading them outside.”

In his lifetime, he had come across countless spirit breeds, many of which were improved varieties. Wang Shouzhe’s two breeds had their own distinct qualities, yet many superior families possessed much stronger breeds.

“Since they have been given to the Master, how to use them is at the discretion of the Master,” said Wang Shouzhe, nonchalantly.

What can be given away obviously has something better replacing it. He was well aware that, given time, the Wang family will have access to much more powerful spirit seeds in the future.

Those he had now were merely basic spirit breeds.

“By the way, since your surname is Wang,” Master Changchun suddenly remembered something, “You wouldn’t happen to know Wang Longyan, would you?”

This was just a casual question. After all, there were so many people in the world surnamed Wang. However, these past few days, Master Binglan expressed his intentions of taking Wang Longyan back into the clan. He had voiced some objections to this, and now that he thought of it, he casually asked the question.

Eh…

Wang Shouzhe was a bit taken aback, also feeling some apprehension, thus he carefully asked back, “The person the Master mentioned… She is my great-grand aunt. Is there a problem?”

A problem?

Master Changchun’s celestial demeanor faltered momentarily, and he suddenly fell silent.

After a while, he deflated and said, “Never mind~ You are an external disciple, these traditions within the Academy Palace have nothing to do with you.”

“Enough, it’s not related to you, you can leave.” he said, waving his hand as though not wanting to dwell further on the topic.

Wang Shouzhe was baffled, but dared not disobey and could only perform a salute towards Master Changchun, “If that is the case, I’ll be taking my leave.”

This left him feeling perplexed.

Why did Master Changchun’s attitude towards him suddenly become cold when the name of old ancestor Longyan came up?

Could it be that old ancestor Longyan had offended Master Changchun? But that shouldn’t be the case.

After all, there was a significant gap in their statuses and cultivation bases.

…

This happened slightly earlier.

On the other side of the Academic Palace.

A towering mountain stood among the numerous peaks. It was like a crane among chicken, standing out from the crowd.

A mist, as fine as silk, twined from the middle of the mountain to the top. At a glance, the entire mountain was covered with a hazy veil, full of ethereal charm, causing one to forget the mundane world upon seeing it.

This mountain peak was named Leisure Peak.

On Leisure Peak, there was the Leisure Palace.

The Leisure Palace was located near a steep cliff edge. Its majestic presence revealed the elegance of an immortal family.

It was the dwelling of one of the Masters of the Academy Palace, Master Xuanyao.