On the Sword Pavilion mountain in the Inner Sect, the disciples don’t have a specific rank of any kind, but instead like most cultivation institutes, the hierarchy is based on seniority.
But aside from showing respect to the senior members in the Sword Pavilion, most members in the Sword Pavilion were completely haughty and arrogant to the disciples in the other divisions.
This arrogant nature of theirs wasn’t because they had a higher cultivation base than their fellow Academy disciples, but was simply because of the Sword Pavilion’s supreme status within the Academy.
A disciple who was a member of the Sword Pavilion commanded a lot of respect and fear, as other disciples were scared to offend them and subsequently the Sword Pavilion.
Both Xi Shen and Yang Su were walking along a main path towards the Techniques Library. Xi Shen was currently wearing the Sword Pavilion’s white robes and Yang Su was still in his Outer Disciple’s robes, this made them stick out like a sore thumb as they walked past the other Sword Pavilion members on the path. But contrary to expectations, it wasn’t Yang Su who was wearing the Outer Disciple’s robes that were eye-catching but Xi Shen himself.
The fact that he was wearing a Sword Pavilion’s member robes and was here within the Inner Sect, made most people who walked by them stop and stare wide-eyed in shock at him.
That’s not to mention that the news of what had happened within the Outer Sect had already spread throughout the Academy. This resulted in a chain reaction where his stealing escapades that happened in the past started to spread, causing everyone to dub him as a trouble-seeking person.
Walking along the path Xi Shen saw another group of four disciples in the Sword Pavilions' white robes. He immediately turned his head to the side, slightly tilting it upward to make a show of admiring the sky. However, to his dismay, the sun was coincidentally in that direction, but Xi Shen had already committed to it so he just had to go along with it so as to not get recognized
Yang Su, who was behind his elder brother, watched with a strange expression as Xi Shen stared at the blazing afternoon sun with squinted eyes.
Just when Yang Su was going to ask why the heck his elder brother was staring at the sun, the voice of a disciple from the group suddenly echoed out, “Look over there, doesn’t that person look like the second prince?”
Hearing that, Xi Shen couldn’t help but curse in his heart. He then started to hurry his steps away from the group.
Another voice from the group, this time a female’s echoed out, “Wait, that’s actually him. Why is he here in the Inner Sect, didn’t the Academy Leader make him an Outer Disciple?”
“Don’t you guys realize something else as well? He’s on our Sword Pavilion mountain wearing the same uniform as us.” said another disciple in surprise.
Hearing their compatriot's words, the other disciples were equally shocked. They all stopped and watched as Xi Shen hurried off with Yang Su following along.
When Xi Shen was some distance away from the group, he frowned and said, “This is annoying, I’m being treated like some exotic animal in confinement.”
After saying that, he contemplated for a moment before he gritted his teeth and then called for his pet cat, “Tai, where are you?”
Immediately upon saying that, the plump brown Tai appeared on Xi Shen’s shoulders.
Yang Su who was a step behind Xi Shen was wondering who his elder brother was talking to as they were now the only ones on the path. However, when Tai suddenly appeared out of nowhere on Xi Shen’s shoulders, Yang Su nearly fell face first on the stone pathway from shock.
Seeing Yang Su’s surprise, Xi Shen realized that he had never saw his Void Beasts before, and Xi Shen hadn’t actually mentioned it to him before either, so his reaction was understandable.
Turning to Yang Su, Xi Shen decided to introduce the two.
“Yang Su this is one of my Spirit Beasts, his name is Tai, and Tai this is Yang Su, my assistant. Both of you should get along from now on.”
Hearing Xi Shen’s words, Yang Su turned to look at Tai while the latter did the same.
Yang Su was about to say a greeting to Tai but before he could, Tai casually turned his head away, while simultaneously licking the fur on his front leg and then rubbing it behind his right ear.
Tai was completely dismissive of Yang Su and seemed as if he had no interest in interacting with him.
Yang Su himself didn’t know how to feel upon seeing Tai's dismissal of him.
After seeing the interaction between the two, Xi Shen said to Yang Su, “Don’t worry about him, Tai isn’t social to anyone, the fact that he was willing to show himself to you, something he never does, is him acknowledging you somewhat.”
After addressing the slightly upset Yang Su, he turned to Tai and said, “Tai where is Little Snow? I want her to meet Yang Su too.”
As soon as Xi Shen said that, he heard the nervous voice of Yang Su saying, “Um… elder brother Xi Shen, is this her?”
With a slight crease on his forehead, Xi Shen turned around to see the sight of Little Snow casually resting on Yang Su’s head.
Seeing this, Xi Shen became shocked and surprised. His expression then suddenly turned serious as he narrowed his eyes in thought.
'I wasn’t that surprised when I called Tai and he decided to appear in front of Yang Su of his own volition. I didn’t really expect him to appear to be honest but seeing Little Snow willing to get so close to Yang Su and so casually at that, it’s nothing short of a strange occurrence. The reason I had even come to know of their existence was because both of them and myself are of similar nature, in which we were blessed by the heavens in some way or another. I suspect they had felt the nature of my birth and decided to appear in front of me in my infancy. But Yang Su’s different, he doesn’t have the heavens blessing and I can’t think of a reason why both Tai and Little Snow would behave so familiar with him.'
The reason why Xi Shen was so confused by Tai and Little Snow’s seemingly simple actions, was because of a Void Beast's nature.
In the past, during the God Era, Void Beasts went by a different name than now, and it was God Beasts. They were the pets of the Gods and were worshiped alongside them.
When Ye Fei had said that no one on the Maple Continent had ever seen a God Beast, he wasn’t surprised. The only type of people they would deem worthy of interacting with was an existence similar to them.
Even though Xi Shen called Tai and Little Snow his Spiritual Beast, they weren’t. Spiritual Beast was a name given to beasts in this Era that could cultivate Spiritual Qi.
God Beasts and other creatures similar in nature were blessed by the heavens, meaning they were able to see and comprehend the laws between heaven and earth and cultivate like the days of old.
God Beasts such as Tai and Little Snow leaned more towards comprehending the Dao of illusions and the Laws of Space, and they had a natural affinity for it. This was likely the reason their names had become Void Beasts after the God Era ended.
So, given that Xi Shen knew all of this about his two pets, the fact that both Tai and Little Snow would treat Yang Su with so much familiarity was obliviously shocking to him. It even lead him to question if he had overlooked something about Yang Su’s that would cause this.
Looking at Little Snow resting on Yang Su’s head, Xi Shen was still in deep thought, when suddenly a figurative light bulb appeared over his head.
'Wait, that’s right! Yang Su’s Six Elemental Qi Dao Foundation, is it because Tai and Little Snow had sensed that? No, why would something like a Dao Foundation lead them to behave in such a way, did they mistake Yang Su for someone who was blessed by the heavens because of it?… Ugh, this is getting nowhere, I’ll look into it when I have the time.'
After going back and forth with his thoughts and being unable to come to a conclusion, Xi Shen decided to just shelf this question for another time.
Going back to the original reason why he had called for Tai, Xi Shen said, “Tai I need you to slightly change my appearance, but not by too much, just a little on the face area.”
Hearing Xi Shen’s request, Tai paused his fur cleaning and looked at Xi Shen, after which, he raised a paw and pat Xi Shen’s right cheek three times before he meowed and then vanished as soon as he saw Xi Shen's hand reaching for him.
Seeing that Tai had dodged his advance, Xi Shen turned around to Little Snow, only to see two chubby brown paws coming out of the void to snatch her from Yang Su’s head.
Yang Su, who was in the middle of patting Little Snow, was a little bit sad at her sudden departure.
However, Xi Shen had an ugly expression on his face.
Both Little Snow and Tai had a mental connection with him, and even though he didn’t need to, Tai still meows or hiss when he sends him a mental message through their connection. And what he had said while meowing was four simple words, “I hope you suffer.”
Realizing Tai wasn't going to help him, Xi Shen had intended to get Little Snow to disguise him instead, but Tai had dragged her off to who knows where.
Mumbling under his breath, Xi Shen said, “Fine, you dare to bite the hand that feeds you? Let's see how long you can go without begging me for my Spirit Wine.”
As Xi Shen said that, he rubbed the ring that was on his right middle finger, after which a small bottle gourd, that had a larger space inside of it despite its small appearance, appeared in his hand. He then popped the cork and to a swig from it very dramatically. After that, he smacked his lips and yelled, “Good Spirit Wine!”
Walking along the path for a few more meters, both Xi Shen and Yang Su came upon a sharp right turn on the path. What greeted the both of them after the turn was a massive square, that was filled with numerous Sword Pavilion members going back and forth to the various buildings in the area.
Seeing this, Xi Shen couldn’t help but curse his bad luck.
“Tai you bastard, just you wait, I’m gonna make you regret not helping me.”
After saying that, Xi Shen took another large swig from the bottle gourd and then took large strides towards a tall pavilion that despite being several tens of meters away from him, was still visible from this distance.
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