“How am I old? A man at thirty is like a flower in full bloom, I am currently at the prime age of being tall and handsome, with dashing elegance…”
…
Mo Hua was dumbfounded.
These two grown men, bickering like this, were much more childish than he was.
Zhang Lan and the other man argued for a while until they felt parched and sat down for a sip of tea each.
Only then did the Foundation Building Leader realize, arguing with Zhang Lan, a Qi Refinement Cultivator, in front of a child, did indeed come across as rather unseemly.
It was also Zhang Lan’s fault for being so irritating that he had instinctively started arguing with him.
The Foundation Building Leader cleared his throat and pretended as though nothing had happened, and asked Mo Hua in as kind a manner as possible:
“Little brother, are you really a Formation Master?”
But his stern face probably came off too harsh normally, so he didn’t look very friendly, but more like a conniving uncle…
Mo Hua was unsure how to address him, so Zhang Lan offered to the side:
“His last name is Yang, just call him ‘Leader Yang’.”
Mo Hua replied crisply, “Leader Yang, Uncle Zhang is right, I am a Formation Master.”
The Foundation Building Leader nodded, sighing to himself internally.
Zhang Lan, that kid, really was creating trouble, entrusting such an important matter to a child.
Seeing his young age, who knows how long he had studied formations, …
But at this point, he couldn’t afford to be picky anymore, since he didn’t understand formations himself. Not just him, among all the Taoist Soldiers here, fewer than a handful could understand formation patterns.
Leader Yang took another sip of tea and then inquired:
“How far have you studied in formation methods?”
Mo Hua modestly said, “Not very far, just reached first-grade…”
No sooner had he spoken, Leader Yang spewed his mouthful of tea directly onto the sand table and papers in front of him.
Seeing this, Zhang Lan suddenly felt a wave of satisfaction and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, tauntingly saying:
“Look at you acting as if you’ve never seen the world, is it really that surprising to encounter a first-grade Formation Master in his teens?”
Zhang Lan spoke casually, though he could hardly suppress his glee inside.
Leader Yang cursed at Zhang Lan, “Bullshit, where in the Tao Cultivation World are there so many prodigious Formation Masters? A teenager at first-grade? And you just happened to come across one?”
Zhang Lan said indifferently, “If you don’t believe it, then forget about it.”
Leader Yang said, “I don’t believe it. Show me the formation that the kid drew.”
Zhang Lan pointed to a paper in the center of the sand table and said, “There it is.”
What was placed in the center of the sand table was the strategic map of the Black Mountain Stronghold.
Leader Yang stared dumbfounded, then cursed again:
“What a load of nonsense. Didn’t the documents reported to the Taoist Court say that ‘Tongxian City’s Taoist Court’ risked grave dangers, infiltrated deep into enemy territory to gather intelligence on the Black Mountain Stronghold, and painstakingly drew up the map of their formation method? Now how did it become a map drawn by this kid?”
Zhang Lan chuckled, then said to Mo Hua, “Take out that waist token and show it to Leader Yang.”
Mo Hua was momentarily puzzled, but then he realized which waist token Zhang Lan was referring to, and he took out the bronze waist token issued by the Taoist Court from his storage bag.
Leader Yang was stunned upon seeing it.
Zhang Lan proudly stated, “See? A bronze waist token. He is a cultivator from our Taoist Court; his map, isn’t it the same as one drawn by our Taoist Court?”
Leader Yang was left speechless and could only say:
“A bronze waist token is merely an auxiliary position…”
“An auxiliary position still belongs to the Taoist Court.”
Leader Yang frowned, “Well, if the map was drawn by this kid, it should count as a contribution. Why not just write it outright?”
Zhang Lan curled his lips, “Who would believe it if we did? Would you?”
Leader Yang looked at the young Mo Hua, then at the map on the sand table with its rigid strokes, profound complexity, and many first-grade formation methods of the Black Mountain Stronghold, and he sighed silently.
Any cultivator with the slightest bit of common sense in Tao Cultivation would hardly believe it.
Naturally, he wouldn’t believe it either.