Chapter 291: Polite Xuan Che

The impact of opening this door was tremendous on everyone involved—whether standing outside or inside, everyone was dazed for a moment.

In fact, the handsome young man standing outside reacted even more strongly. After a moment of shock, the expression on his face became extremely vivid—a look as if his life was flashing before his eyes. He looked as if he had already fallen into memories, and clearly none of them were pleasant images—rafters, a copper-studded belt, spinning around like a top, the head inside the alchemy furnace, and so on.

As the young man across the door recalled things, Yu Sheng's life also began to flash before his eyes.

The scenes he recalled were similar to the other's, except he was viewing them from a third-person perspective.

Then both of them reacted at the same time, tacitly stepping back half a step each, and stood there with serious expressions, thinking about life and organizing their thoughts across the doorway.

To be honest, Yu Sheng had the urge to close the door for a moment. Although he had indeed considered all kinds of outrageous possibilities when 'Four Thousand Disciples' had said he would send someone to visit earlier, the situation of this 'Senior Brother' suddenly appearing at his doorstep early in the morning was still a bit beyond his mental preparation. But this urge lasted only a second; then, relying on his immense sense of responsibility, tenacious willpower, calm attitude toward life, and fearlessness of death, he suppressed the thought of closing the door.

Mostly by not being afraid of death.

But what happened next was clearly not what he expected.

The handsome young man across the door finally seemed to understand (though it was unclear what exactly he understood) and stepped back another half step. Then, he suddenly raised his hands in a bow, bent over in a formal salute, and a grand bow stunned Yu Sheng—

"This junior, Xuan Che, a disciple of Yuan Ling Zhen Ren of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, pays respects to… uh, to the exalted one."

He clearly stumbled when mentioning the address for Yu Sheng, as if unsure how to address the person before him. In the end, he simply used 'exalted one,' a straightforward yet somewhat strange title.

Yu Sheng's reaction was even simpler—he was still stunned.

But fortunately, someone nearby reacted. Ai Lin (probably the lotus root one) saw the situation, stepped forward, poked Yu Sheng's calf, and muttered softly, 'Hey hey hey, there doesn't seem to be any killing intent!'

"Oh, oh oh," Yu Sheng snapped back to reality, his mind racing as he already began responding to the 'guest.' "Xuan Che, right? I've heard your master mention this name. Well… come in first, come in and talk."

Then he noticed there were still two people standing outside the door—the two Special Operations Bureau agents responsible for managing the courier station. They were now watching the scene with curiosity and confusion, apparently sensing something off about the atmosphere but looking too afraid to approach and ask. Yu Sheng waved at them too. "…Want to come in and sit for a bit?"

One of the Special Operations Bureau agents immediately waved his hands repeatedly. "Ah, no, no, we have things to do."

"Uh, right, we've got our noodles ready…"

Saying this, the two agents scurried away.

Ai Lin poked Yu Sheng's calf again. "Does the Special Operations Bureau withhold meal allowances or something? Why are these two always eating instant noodles in their room?"

"How would I know!" Yu Sheng replied, then continued to greet with a forced smile, ushering the handsome guy who called himself 'Xuan Che' into the house.

The whole atmosphere was a bit strange, but at least the guest was inside.

Then Yu Sheng noticed that this 'Xuan Che' seemed even more nervous than he was.

Xuan Che was indeed very nervous. From the moment he entered the house, he knew his polite attitude earlier had been correct.

A world within itself.

Just beyond that seemingly ordinary door, the dwelling inside was entirely an independent 'realm.' His spiritual sense, which could normally cover mountains, forests, cities, and penetrate barriers and illusions, was completely cut off from the outside here. Even the spiritual energy of heaven and earth he sensed seemed to operate independently within this small house—not to mention the eerie atmosphere everywhere. Some doors appeared close at hand but felt far away when he closed his eyes. The hall seemed only a few feet in size, but in the blink of an eye, he felt as if he were standing in an endless wilderness, with no boundaries in any direction.

Frankly, the atmosphere here reminded him of a foreign realm, but this 'foreign realm' was already at an unsettling level of completeness and independence—and what made him even more uneasy were some more… 'deep' strangeness.

He vaguely sensed that this visible 'cave dwelling' was not all there was. Everything before him seemed to be just 'tentacles' manifested by something far larger before his mortal eyes, and there were even more enormous 'structures' he couldn't understand, hidden right under his nose.

A warning from his master before departure suddenly echoed in his mind—

"Xuan Che, your talent is exceptional, but your cultivation is still shallow. When you arrive at the exalted one's place, don't listen or look around recklessly."

He shivered instantly, focused his eyes on his nose, his nose on his mouth, his mouth on his heart, and withdrew all his mental energy, becoming even more cautious.

Yu Sheng was just carrying two cans of cola he had taken from the refrigerator and placing them on the coffee table.

"This is all I have," Yu Sheng placed the cola in front of Xuan Che, then his expression became a bit awkward. "Ah, I suppose when entertaining a 'cultivator' like you, I should have prepared some tea or something. Do you guys usually not drink this sort of thing…"

But before he could finish, he saw the young man say thanks, deftly pull the tab, and take a sip, then reveal an expression of enjoyment.

"Master usually doesn't let us drink too much of this," Xuan Che had now adjusted his state. Seeing Yu Sheng's friendly attitude, he also relaxed. "He says this kind of thing affects alchemy."

Yu Sheng didn't react for a moment. "Drinking cola can affect ballistics?"

"It's alchemy," Xuan Che quickly explained. "It affects pill refining. You can't drink it before entering the alchemy chamber."

Yu Sheng: "…Why?"

"Because it causes burping," Xuan Che said seriously. "It can mess up your control at critical moments—although this junior thinks the effect isn't that great, it's still the master's instruction, so I have to listen when alchemizing."

Yu Sheng hadn't expected such a practical reason, but admittedly, he immediately felt the atmosphere ease up…

Once it had eased, he finally felt comfortable bringing up some rather awkward 'past events.' "Ahem, well, sorry about that—last time with the alchemy furnace, there was a bit of a mistake on my end. I really didn't expect we'd meet again under these circumstances…"

Before he finished speaking, he saw the young man's face twitch slightly.

It seemed the aftershocks of the copper-studded belt hadn't faded.

But the other quickly adjusted his expression. "You flatter me. Someone as exalted as you must act for the sake of the greater good of all living beings. As a junior, how could I possibly dwell on such things…"

If he hadn't said that, it might have been fine, but saying it made Yu Sheng even more embarrassed.

"Don't call me exalted or junior—I'm probably not even older than you," Yu Sheng tried to change the subject. "Let's just treat each other as equals, equals…"

In fact, he felt he was getting the better end of the deal, since the other was a cultivator. Although he looked like he was in his twenties, who knew how old he actually was—maybe an old man…

But the 'young man' opposite was quite earnest. "How can that be? You treat my master as a friend, so I must observe the junior's etiquette before you."

"Let's just go by separate rules—I'll call you Xuan Che directly, and you call me Yu Sheng," Yu Sheng said quickly, then without waiting for the other to react, he began to introduce. "Next to me is Ai Lin, on the other side is also Ai Lin, the one crouching on the windowsill and the one lying on the TV cabinet are also Ai Lin… These are all her 'avatars.'"

Xuan Che had noticed the bunch of Ai Lins in the living room earlier but had clearly been too polite to ask. Now he quickly greeted the little dolls politely. Just then, footsteps came from the stairs. Hu Li came down from the second floor, yawning. Halfway down, she saw the stranger in the house, her eyes widening slightly as she looked at Yu Sheng. "Benefactor, we have a guest?"

"Oh, it's a guest from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain—the same place that helped investigate your background. His name is Xuan Che, a disciple of Yuan Ling Zhen Ren," Yu Sheng stood up to introduce. "This is Hu Li. You should know about her…"

"I do, I do," Xuan Che smiled, then raised his hands in salute to Hu Li. "Xuan Che of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain pays respects to the transcendent being from another realm…"

"Why are you so polite to everyone?" Yu Sheng finally couldn't help it. "Relax a bit."

Hearing this, Xuan Che couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself. What could he do? There wasn't a single person in this house he could see through! Even those mechanical dolls, which looked smaller than a medicine pot, were clusters of unfathomable cold black mist in his spiritual sense. Hu Li, who had come down the stairs, was a blazing molten fire that couldn't be looked at directly with spiritual sense. As for Yu Sheng… this exalted one was even more absurd.

He couldn't 'see' the other at all.

His physical eyes could see him, but when his spiritual sense swept over, it was just a black hole, a human-shaped black hole, as if a piece had been gouged out of the 'world' itself. A black hole with neither life nor death stood there; there was definitely something inside the hole, but he couldn't see what it was at all.

And this black hole was chatting and laughing with him, telling him to relax.

Xuan Che once again suppressed his spiritual sense, trying not to 'look' at the true appearances behind the humanoid beings in this house, but to be honest, it was quite difficult—after all, as the most talented young disciple of this generation in Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, he was used to keeping his spiritual sense extended at all times.

The only lucky thing was that these 'humanoids' were indeed quite friendly.

Just as his master had judged before leaving—

"One who can face the Dark Angel and defeat it absolutely cannot be human."

But 'they' were clearly on the side of 'humans.'

Thankfully so.