Chapter 2312: Former Acquaintance

The women were really shocked when they heard what Zu An said. They looked at him with surprise, but they were all smart and quickly hid their shock. Inside, however, they were still confused. He had clearly just started learning the monster language from Suolun Shi, so they knew how far he'd progressed. Even though he learned a bit faster, it couldn't have been to this extent yet, right?

More importantly, his speech was even more fluent than Suolun Shi’s, as if he was a pure native. In that instant, they even started wondering if Donaire had taken their big brother Zu’s place.

Adiljan’s mouth hung wide open. He hadn’t expected the other party to actually be the real deal.

I’m done for!

That was the only thought left in his head.

The great elder immediately said with an apologetic smile, “What is the young master saying? The young master shoulders an important responsibility, so we were only worried about your health. Since you are fine, old third doesn’t need to go through all the trouble.”

The third elder tactfully stopped. If he insisted on going through with the examination, wouldn’t he be a target of everyone else's blame?

The elders secretly gave Adiljan a look.

This guy really is full of nonsense, and we were blind for believing him. Why did we ever listen to someone like him?

When he sensed their dagger-like looks, Adiljan felt as if his hands had turned ice-cold.

Zu An harrumphed. “Since you’ve already seen me and you don’t need anything else, you can return now.”

He turned around afterward, as if he was seeing them out. He knew that politeness was useless in the Monster World where strength and status reigned supreme. It would only bring even more problems.

Sure enough, when they sensed his dissatisfaction, the elders felt even more awkward. They looked at the great elder as if hinting at something. The great elder could only brace himself and ask, “Young master, we also came here to ask, why is there no food this time?”

He knew this really wasn’t a good time, but they ate fasting pills day after day and were being driven crazy from hunger. They really missed the taste of meat.

“Don’t be impatient. Once the passage is completely opened, there will be more than enough meat for all of you to eat.” Zu An naturally hadn’t prepared any food for these people this time. He was now the master of a cultivation world. He definitely wouldn’t use the living creatures of his world to satisfy the cravings of these monsters.

“But of course, of course.” The great elder still had many things he wanted to ask, but when he saw that the other party was unhappy, he could only swallow those words back down. This really wasn’t a good time. If they pissed off this young master, none of them would have anything to eat.

It’s all that Adiljan’s fault.

They bowed respectfully, and also took Adiljan with them.

...

When they saw the True Demons leave, the women all sighed in relief. They all surrounded Zu An.

“Big brother Zu, what was going on just now?”

“That’s right, how did you suddenly learn the monster language?”

When he heard their lively discussion, Zu An revealed a jade strip in his hand. “This jade strip contains the True Demon race’s language, as well as the common language of the monsters.”

“You got this from Adiljan, right?” Pei Mianman recalled what had happened earlier.

“That’s right. Adiljan was planning to use this to make up for his mistakes if the situation turned against him,” Zu An said with a smile. Who would’ve thought that this would end up benefiting him?

Ji Xiaoxi was confused. “But even if the jade strip records the monster language, there’s no way you could have learned it that quickly!”

Jiang Luofu also responded, “That’s right. If you absorbed the information on that jade strip, the ki would definitely have alerted the monster elders. Also, even if you really did absorb it, there’s no way you could’ve learned it so quickly.”

There were many techniques and skills that were recorded on jade strips. This was less burdensome than carrying books and also saved time that would normally be spent on learning. Still, that method was only a bit faster than normal. The actual technique and skills would still need to be slowly comprehended by the learner; such a thing had never represented instant success.

Zu An explained, “I have a skill that allows me to immediately learn certain abilities by paying a small price.”

He had naturally used the keyboard system’s skill to directly learn the monster language. Because of the foundation Suolun Shi had already helped him establish, learning the monster language had actually only cost 500 Rage points. Compared to the tremendous costs of the other skills, this skill was really cheap.

It was no wonder that the monsters couldn't sense this skill from Zu An. Even the Keyboard System probably thought it really wasn’t worth mentioning and hadn’t bothered detecting it before. Those True Demon Elders were formidable, but they clearly couldn't sense the Keyboard System’s functions.

...

Meanwhile, the elders were looking at Adiljan with frustration.

When he sensed their rage, Adiljan felt his legs grow weak. “Elders, I didn’t know it would be like this either!”

“Didn’t you keep saying again and again that the young master seemed to have been replaced by someone else? That he didn’t even know our race’s language?” The great elder stared coldly at him.

“The young master was a bit strange when he came back this time! I just felt that he was a bit different from before...” Adiljan quickly explained. “That’s not all! Even if I had ten gallbladders, I still wouldn’t dare to say anything bad about the young master!”

“Just what part of him is strange?” the great elder retorted with a sneer.

“You can’t really tell from the surface, but he just feels off. Great elder, you need to trust me! I am the most trusted and closest aide of the young master, and know him the best. My suspicion is definitely not unfounded!” Adiljan answered anxiously.

“But you already saw earlier that the young master is clearly the same young master as before. And yet you actually said that he just used some appearance transformation skill, and that he didn’t even know the True Demon language.” The great elder was getting a bit annoyed now too. He felt really stupid for believing this guy’s nonsense. It was just because Donaire was too important that he couldn't show any carelessness.

Adiljan was also a bit stunned. But this was related to his own safety, so he quickly said, “There is definitely something wrong with him. Otherwise, he could clearly have spoken earlier, but why did he only have that women talk to me when he first got here? He even claimed that he was injured and couldn't speak! Right, he must’ve secretly learned it from that language jade strip he took from me!”

It was already too late for regrets.

Why did I have to bring that damn thing with me?

The second elder harrumphed. “What a joke! If he could learn my race’s language through a jade strip, why didn’t we sense any ki fluctuations? Even if we took a thousand steps back and assumed that he has some concealment method, is language something that can be learned instantly from a jade strip?”

Adiljan was now really panicking. “Then that Suolun Shi woman next to him taught him!”

The great elder was finding it harder and harder to keep listening. “Enough! It’s only been around four hours since you sought us out and when we went to take a look. How could he have learned it in that short amount of time?!”

Language wasn’t like other things; how could it be learned so quickly?

“But he really isn’t the young master!” Adiljan said in alarm. “I could sense that he was different from the young master when we were together earlier!”

“How?!” the third elder said coldly. They had already gone and taken a look. That was clearly Donaire!

“I... I can’t say.” When he sensed the strong killing intent from the elders’ eyes, Adiljan quickly said, “Elders, please give me some time to investigate. I will definitely bring back proof.”

“There’s no need for that!” The great elder finally had enough. With a cold snort, he grabbed Adiljan's head.

...

Meanwhile, Zu An handed the jade strip to the women in the cave dwelling so they could use this chance to study the monster language. That would make everything easier later. He even participated in teaching them alongside Suolun Shi. After all, he was now proficient in the monster language too.

He suddenly noticed something and made made a shushing signal to the women. Then, he walked up to the cave entrance.

There was someone wrapped entirely in black robes standing there. When he saw Zu An, he couldn't help but say with a chuckle, “I didn’t expect you to be more vigilant than I expected. I thought you forgot about important matters because of all the women around you.”

Zu An was a bit surprised. Judging from this guy’s tone, it seemed that he was an old acquaintance of Donaire’s. He could tell that this person wasn’t up to any good and definitely didn’t want to be noticed, so he asked, “The elders just left, and yet you’re already here?”

“Don’t worry, those trash won’t be able to detect me.” The black-robed being harrumphed. “I came here to ask you how your mission went!”