Zhou Beizhan
Confused at the appearance of an old man, Xue Bai looked over at the receptionist, who stood at his side humbly.
Seeing the Young Duke's confusion, the receptionist was smart and kindly explained who the man was.
"Young Duke, this is the Vice-Pavillion Master of Herb Mountain Pavilion, Master Zhou." The receptionist explained before stepping away.
However, from how light her steps were and the smile on her face, Xue Bai could tell that she looked extremely excited.
And Xue Bai was right.
For the receptionist, today was her luckiest day ever!
Not only was she the first person to see the Young Duke, but she also got to meet the Vice-Pavillion Master. Her career was on the rise!
After being introduced, Master Zhou, instead of continuing posing, laughed and added on his introduction.
"Hahaha, how dare I have the Young Duke call me Master Zhou. Young Duke, you can call this old man Old Zhou if you would like." Zhou Beizhan laughed.
Zhou Beizhan used to be a disciple of Li Rou, but after some conflicting interests and personality changes, the two became estranged. However, while the two grew apart due to personality changes, Li Rou still trusted the man somewhat and left him to man the Herb Mountain Pavilion.
But at the end of the day, Zhou Beizhan still saw himself as Li Rou's disciple, so even if the child in front of him wasn't the Young Duke, he couldn't force the other party to call him Master. After all, the two would be in the same generation.
"Then I will call you Old Zhou." Xue Bai nodded simply. Who was Xue Bai to disagree with if the man wanted to be called such? It didn't hurt him in any way.
Zhou Beizhan smiled.
"Is the encyclopedia on you, or are you going to take me to it yourself?" Xue Bai continued as he was slightly confused. All he wanted was a book about some herbs, not an old man.
"Oh no, Young Duke, don't worry, I have it on me. I was coincidentally in the storage room when Ruyu came in looking for it. And when she told me the elusive Young Duke was looking for it, I had to come to see for myself." Zhou Beizhan continued praising Xue Bai as if it was his job.
And while it did make Xue Bai feel happy, it eventually started to annoy him, so he cut the old man.
"Old Zhou, if you have the book, may I please have it? Uncle Li is waiting for me, and I don't want to waste his time." Xue Bai said as he pointed to Li Huo, who stood a few dozen meters away conversing with the Wang twins.
After hearing that Marquis Li was here, Zhou Beizhan inwardly shivered with fear as a chill went down his spine.
However, he was able to hold his composure extremely well and had almost no outer appearance changes.
But he no longer wanted to continue the conversation, so he pulled a book out of his spatial ring and handed it to Xue Bai.
The book was about 4 inches thick and had an aged appearance, like it hadn't seen the sun in decades. And even without looking into it, Xue Bai could see hundreds of ink smudges on the outer layer, showing just how much it had been through.
"Young Duke, this is the same as the book you were looking for. However, it has my own special notes and observations written throughout it. While it might not be as advanced as the one that Master has, it should be enough for beginners like you." Zhou Beizhan quickly spoke as he handed the thick book to Xue Bai.
As Xue Bai took the book from the hand of Zhou Beizhan, his arm slightly dropped from its weight.
But thankfully, he didn't embarrass himself too much as he was able to stabilize himself quickly and kept the book in his hand.
"Who is your Master, Old Zhou?" Xue Bai curiously asked.
To be the Vice-Pavillion Master of Li Rou's Herb Mountain Pavilion, surely Zhou Beizhan had to have a relationship with his mother.
"Your mother, Young Duke. Without her, this old man would have still been a hunter wasting away my alchemy potential. And while she hasn't accepted me as a formal disciple, she is still my Master in my heart." Zhou Beizhan fanatically said.
As he spoke about Li Rou, anyone could see the idolization in his eyes. It was almost fanatical.
Creeped out, Xue Bai listed the old man as a weirdo in his mind.
"Oh, look at me. I'm still making the Marquis wait. Young Duke, this old man won't take any more of your time. Have a good rest of your day." And after a bow, Zhou Beizhan left the hall through a side door.
Not forgetting, Xue Bai turned to the receptionist and reminded, "Miss Ruyu, don't forget to tell others about my appearance. This is your punishment for misidentifying me."
"Don't worry. This servant will ensure everyone in this city knows what you look like by the end of today." Ruyu bowed happily before leaving to complete her punishment.
She knew Xue Bai used the word punishment to take away any guilt she felt from calling him a girl during those conversations. But still, she went to complete it.
'Young Duke is so nice. Thank the Heavens I work here and not at the Duke Wang Fief.'
Waving her off, Xue Bai left the shop and returned to Li Huo.
"How was your first time buying something? Did they give you a hard time?" Then, seeing Xue Bai approach, Li Huo asked with a smile.
"No, Uncle Li, as soon as the receptionist saw me, I think she fell in love with me." Xue Bai explained awkwardly.
Li Huo's smile stiffened.
"With your looks, it'd be hard not to." Li Huo explained as his smile turned wry.
"But there was also this Old Zhou. Ever since he appeared, he kept trying to get close to me. It was weird. That old thing was talking to me like he was an old friend. It gave me shivers." Xue Bai said.
"Also, he kept saying he was trying to become my mother's disciple. He looked half a foot in the grave, and yet he still wanted to study under my mom. Wouldn't he croak before he learned anything?"
Xue Bai felt something off about that Zhou Beizhan.
"Oh, Zhou Beizhan, that old relic. Nephew Bai, do you know why your mother never accepted him as an official disciple?" Li Huo asked.
"He wasn't talented enough?" Xue Bai asked.
He wasn't faking. He genuinely had no idea who Zhou Beizhan was. The alchemist was neither an NPC nor a mob in the game, so Xue Bai knew nothing about him before he met the man a few minutes ago.
"No, if it was just about the talent, then Zhou Beizhan fit Little Rou's standards nicely. But rather, the problem came from his attitude." Li Huo spoke as he started to walk out of the Herb Mountain Pavilion.
Their goal here was done. There was no need to stay any longer.
"Zhou Beizhan always had your mother as his idol, but at his core, he was a beast. He would do anything for power. He's a through-and-through snake. Even back when he was a hunter, there were rumors that he would kill his hunting teams after staying with them for a while. And while Little Rou never looked into that part, after teaching him for so long, she could sense Zhou Beizhans viciousness clearly, so after grooming him to be Vice-Pavillion Master, she has started to avoid him." Li Huo explained.
Xue Bai was slightly surprised that the amicable-looking man had such skeletons in his closet. However, once he remembered the look in his eyes, Xue Bai felt it was reasonable.
"So he was probably trying to build a relationship with you to get to Little Rou." Li Huo finished.
"Is my mother that great an alchemist?" Xue Bai didn't think his mother, an NPC with almost no dialogue in the game, was so strong.
"If she hasn't told you yet, I won't. But to put it into reference, she's either as good as or better than the Imperial Alchemist in the capital." Li Huo replied.
"Is she really that impressive?" Xue Bai was surprised he didn't think his mother had any other skills but her archery.
"Your mother was one of the reasons me and your father grew so fast." Li Huo paused momentarily to gather his thoughts before continuing, "Yes, while we were both extremely talented, the resources your mother created sped up our growth."
"Now, since you're getting this medicinal herb book, I assume you want to learn alchemy. And you've already told me that Little Rou is already planning to teach you archery, so ask her to teach you some alchemy at the same time." Li Huo took a breath before continuing. "You can't cultivate yet, so you should spend this time learning as many skills as possible that could help you later on in your cultivation journey."
"Do you know any side professions, Uncle Li?" Xue Bai asked. Maybe since his mother was a hidden alchemist, surely her brother must've learned something else.
"Nephew, I'm a swordsman just like your father. Learning a side profession would only slow down the speed of my sword." Li Huo replied
"My father doesn't either? So then, who built those formations in the Core Region of our estate?" Xue Bai asked confusedly.
If he wasn't wrong, then Xue Feng was the Empire's staple Formation Master. Whenever a formation needed to be built, Xue Feng was your man.
Of course, only if you had the money.
"Ahem, your father did build those, but he is still like me, a swordsman." Li Huo started to blush. He wanted to sound heroic in front of his nephew, but now he had slapped himself in the face.
"Enough about us older generation Nephew Bai. Where would you like to go next?" Li Huo quickly changed the subject. He had already been slapped in the face once, and he didn't want to ruin his reputation anymore.
"I was planning on walking through the Hawkers Market to see if I could find anything nice." Xue Bai replied.
Since his trip to the city was basically complete, all Xue Bai had left to do was go to the Hawkers Market and test his luck.
Li Huo's face changed when he heard that.
"Are you sure, nephew? While I don't want to sound derisive, the Hawkers Market isn't for people like us. The people at the Hawkers Market are either hunters trying to sell the demonic beast parts or scammers." Li Huo kindly tried to dissuade Xue Bai.
While he had phrased it nicely, the Hawkers Market was a cesspool. Even lower-ranked nobles didn't go there, and now a Young Duke wanted to. It was odd, to say the least.
"I know, Uncle Li, but I want to test my luck. Haven't you heard of those stories of people finding treasures in bad places? So maybe I'll be lucky enough to find something worthwhile." Xue Bai replied.
He knew it would be hard to convince Li Huo. After all, going to such a dump would only damage the reputation of someone of Li Huo's standing.
"Test your luck? If you want to do that, Nephew Bai, you can go to the Stone Gambling Pavilion. The chances of finding something there are infinitely better than in the Hawkers Market." Li Huo said as he remembered something.
Xue Bai remembered what Li Huo was talking about. But he had some misgivings about it.
"Isn't the Stone Gambling Pavilion run by you? I don't want to win a rigged game every time. It'd be no fun." Xue Bai asked with a raised eyebrow.
The idea sounded nice, but he wanted to test his luck and not have his uncle manipulate the chances behind his back. It would counteract his goal.
"No Nephew, the Stone Gambling Pavillion is a subsidiary of the Three Great Sects. I heard it's only a branch from the Central Continent. So even if I'm the City Lord here, I can't change the odds." Li Huo shook his head.
Thinking for a second, Xue Bai eventually agreed.
"Then take me there instead. I was also kind of reluctant to go to the Hawkers Market."
Xue Bai was also kind of reluctant to go to the Hawkers Market. Just thinking of the gazes he would have to endure from those hunters gave Xue Bai the shivers. They probably wouldn't care if he was a boy.
Smiling, Li Huo nodded and started walking to their next destination.
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