Chapter 664: Teacher Shang Xia

“Uncle?” Hai Yuanyuan stared at Shang Xia a little timidly while calling out to him in an unsure voice.

The little lass who used to have a chubby and cute face had already grown into a little girl who wasn’t as clueless as before.

Shang Xia patted her head lovingly and chuckled, “Are you hungry? Shall I bring you out for some tasty food?”

His familiar touch immediately brought back memories, but so did whatever he said. When she heard him say the words ‘tasty food’, she thought about the times when he would bring back some snacks for her every time he returned. Moreover, she would run after him everytime he would leave, asking him to bring back even more food. She couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but release an involuntary chuckle. He turned to look at the young lady beside him who exuded an aura of indifference and whispered, “When did you arrive in the Tongyou City? Why didn’t you inform me you were coming?”

“Even if I tried, you might not have received the notification…” A soft smile appeared on Hai Min’s face.

Laughing helplessly, Shang Xia understood that he had been running all over the place in recent years. He wouldn’t stay in the city for long, and most of the time he was back, he would be in seclusion to craft talismans. It wouldn’t be easy for Hai Min to find him even if she tried.

“The route between the Changfeng City and the Tongyou City is a lot safer than before. Moreover, I have already entered the Martial Intent Realm. Nothing can go wrong…” Hai Min continued.

It was only then that Shang Xia noticed Hai Min’s cultivation realm. From her degree of control of her inner qi, Shang Xia could tell that she had already consolidated her foundation. That meant that she stepped into the Martial Intent Realm quite some time ago.

Thinking about it for a second, Shang Xia muttered, “Since you’re already here, you should stay. There’s no need to return to the Changfeng City…”

“Yuanyuan is about to enter the institution. I’ll stay here for some time to keep her company.” Hai Min nodded in response.

“Huh?” Shang Xia stared at the little girl in shock, but he was greeted with a semi-haughty look from her as she showed off her achievements.

“Heh… Six years have passed in the blink of an eye…” Shang Xia sighed. The first time he met Hai Min and Yuanyuan was on the 843rd year of the Divine Martial Calendar. When they first met, the year was coming to an end and the 844th year of the Divine Martial Calendar had already begun.

Yuanyuan was still a little lass who was 4 to 5 years old then. Now, she could be considered a young lady who was ready to step through the gates of cultivation at 10.

“Isn’t this a little too early?” Shang Xia hesitated for a second as he continued, “She’s only 10, and she should be working on her foundations. It won’t be too late for her to join the Outer Division of the Tongyou Institution after she strengthens her foundations after a few years.”

Hai Min shook her head as a strange look formed in her eyes while she stared at Shang Xia. “Hey, o mighty Talisman Grandmaster of the institution. Aren’t you a teacher there too? Why do you seem clueless about the institution’s progress? Right now, there’s a Preparation Class for students to build their foundations before entering the Outer Division. Students aspiring to join the institution would enroll in the Preparation Class for a year or two.”

She was right. Shang Xia had no idea what the Preparation Class was and he was in visible shock. “That’s actually really good. Anyway, since you’re already here in the city, I’ll arrange a residence for you. How about returning to the Shang Clan for a little bit?”

Hai Min shook her head and laughed softly, “It’s alright, let’s not do that. Anyway, Yuanyuan and I have already accustomed ourselves to our way of life. We also managed to find a place to stay. It’s in the western part of the city, and it’s a quiet courtyard like the one we had in the Changfeng City. It’s rather peaceful there. Anyway… You should come often. Yuanyuan… Yuanyuan seems to have always been treating you as her father…”

A grin appeared on Shang Xia’s face, but Hai Min avoided his gaze in a slight state of fluster. Feeling slightly embarrassed, she moved to a spot where Yuanyuan wouldn’t be able to see her before punching Shang Xia heavily.

…

After sending Hai Min and Yuanyuan back to their courtyard, Shang Xia settled them down. He only returned to the institution the next day.

Originally, he was planning to bring Yuanyuan over with him but the idea was shot down by Hai Min instantly.

Shang Xia was a monstrous legend in the institution at the moment and his fame was like the sun in the midday sky. Hai Min didn’t wish for their peaceful lives to be interrupted after they were associated with him.

In the end, Shang Xia could only return to the institution alone. At his current level, with the exception of the Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors, no one would be able to catch his tracks as long as he didn’t wish to be found.

Ever since he completed his feat of crafting 5 rank four Formation Talismans back during his demonstration and caused a massive uproar, he decided to lay low for a little while.

Unfortunately, the stir he caused was massive and even if he wanted to remain under the radar, it wasn’t quite possible.

According to his original set of plans, he wanted to remain in the Talisman Hall for some time and reward himself with some time to rest. However, his plans changed the day before as he received news of Hai Min’s appearance with Yuanyuan. When he went out to look for them, he was ambushed by Liu Qinglan’s notice for him to take up his position as a teacher for the institution.

When he returned from the Manyu Continent back then, he went to formally take on his post as a teacher. Even though he agreed to teach the students of the various divisions the art of talisman crafting and some combat skills as long as it didn’t interfere with his duties in the Talisman Hall, he hadn’t been actually doing much.

Before starting his job, he went into seclusion to craft high-level talismans for the trade fair held by the 3 super factions. That took a few months of time and next came the trade fair itself. When he returned from the Three Unity Island, the 850th year of the Divine Martial Calendar had already rolled around.

It was no wonder Liu Qinglan had to personally appear to hand him the notice to remind him to start paying attention to his duties. His first order of business was to take care of a class in the Inner Division.

…

In the Fifth Class, 26 students were scattered across the training plaza. They seemed pretty dispirited and down, and the atmosphere was pretty negative.

“Hey, Chief Yan, do you know who’s going to be taking over as our teacher today? Why are you acting all mysterious? We haven’t heard anything about it either.” A pale-looking youth who seemed to have just recovered from a massive illness asked. He was clad in tight-fitting black robes as he addressed another slightly thin-looking cultivator beside him.

Yan Weihai snapped back at him immediately. “Stop calling me your chief! What’s the point of being the chief of the Fifth Class anyway? The only thing I know about our new teacher is that he isn’t someone just assigned to us. It’s just that he’s been too busy to teach us since we entered the Inner Division. He seems to be someone really important…”

The other youngster turned to stare at a fellow student whose facial features made him look a little older than the rest before asking, “Brother Shi, you’ve been in the institution longer than us. Do you know anything about our teacher?”

Shi Huai hesitated for a moment before shaking his head slowly, “I have no idea. Our teacher seems to be someone really mysterious. No one heard of him and he should have already taken up his post when you guys entered the Inner Division…”

The disciple who asked the question seemed really adept at reading other people’s facial cues and he quickly followed up after seeing the flash of hesitation on the other student’s face, “Brother Shi, you truly spent more time in the institution than us and we’ve always come to you for advice… Do you really not know anything?”

Shi Huai was slightly taken aback by the follow-up but he eventually muttered, “I met Custodian Jiao Haitang yesterday. She was my Custodian back in the Outer Division and I tried to ask her about our teacher. She merely laughed and said that we’re being given a great opportunity and to pay attention to everything he teaches when he comes.”

“Huh? Great opportunity? I guess that would mean that it’s a teacher we haven’t seen before. Hmm… Not a single teacher who came to teach us the last half a year or so truly cared about us. They mostly came from the other classes and there has been no structure at all. None of them could teach us a full battle system or impart proper combat experience. That is why our Fifth Class never produced a true expert! We’ve been losing time and time again in the trials held in the battlefield between the two worlds!” The disciple cried.

Yan Weihai’s expression sank even further after hearing what he said. He couldn’t help but growl, “Wang Chenglin, will it kill you to shut up? Even if you don’t speak, no one will think that you’re a mute.”

If Yan Weihai didn’t say anything, that might have been the end of the grumbling and complaints. However, Wang Chenglin immediately blew up after being called out. “Look at the other classes! Every single one of their teachers is at the later stages of the Martial Intent Realm! The first and second classes are taught by Teacher Sun Haiwei! She’s an expert in the Martial Extermination Realm! Of the ten strongest disciples in the eight different classes in the Inner Division, the first and second classes took 5 spots!”

Wang Chenglin grew more agitated the more he spoke. “In the trials held in the battlefield between the two worlds at the start of the year, only the members of their classes managed to retreat unscathed. Every other class experienced some sort of trouble. There were even some students who died! Our class suffered the most! Originally, we had 32 students. 2 of them died, and 2 more were crippled. There are also 2 of them who haven’t recovered from their injuries. Look around! There are only 26 of us left! There are probably only 10 of us who suffered little to no injuries and the others are still trying to recover! I'm afraid they will need 10 more days to half a month in order to return to their peak state and we’ll be left behind by the other classes by then! …If I had to make a guess, I would say that our Fifth Class offended someone important unknowingly. The institution probably doesn’t care about us anymore. Even if our new teacher comes, he’s probably going to be someone they sent over for show.”

Even though not too many people agreed with him, his conclusion seemed to resonate with the others and the air of depression got worse.

“Can you guys tell me more about what you experienced in the battlefield between the two worlds?” A soothing voice suddenly came from behind Wang Chenglin.

Jumping in fright, Wang Chenglin was utterly shocked. No matter what, he was a talented youth in the Martial Extremity Realm! Even so, he failed to detect when someone was standing behind him!

He wasn’t the only one. The students scattered in the plaza stared at each other in shock as they didn’t realize that someone else had appeared behind Wang Chenglin all of a sudden.

Twisting his body violently, Wang Chenglin saw a young cultivator not too much older holding his hands behind his back while smiling at him.

“Who are you?!” Wang Chenglin took several steps back before asking cautiously.

At the same time, Yan Weihai, Shi Huai, and the others also felt that something was off as they quickly gathered around Wang Chenglin. They stood close to each other as they were prepared to take on the person standing in front of them in case he acted against them.

The other students who hadn’t entered the Martial Extremity Realm gathered close behind them and not a single person chose to back away on their own.

The young cultivator who appeared behind Wang Chenglin didn’t say anything else as he smiled the whole time. He watched the reaction of the students of the Fifth Class with interest.

Even though he didn’t move a single bit, the students of the Fifth Class felt their scalps going numb as they faced him.

“Who are you and how did you get here?!” Yan Weihai took a step forward and stood before the entire class before questioning the other party.

Even though he was the top student of the Fifth Class, his strength was ranked the lowest among the top students of the eight classes in the Inner Division. There wasn’t a need to mention the top 10 disciples in the Inner Division. He would find it difficult to put himself in the top 20! That was why he found the title of chief disciple of the Fifth Class an insult. Regardless, he took on his responsibility as the chief disciple of the Fifth Class as he stood before the other students when facing the other party.

Not a single ripple could be seen in his gaze despite the smile he wore. Eventually, he spoke, “You can call me Shang Xia. I’m going to be your new teacher.”