In the newly renovated, tall and spacious Martial Venerable Hall by the craftsmen, Wang Zhifan was observing the large number of first batch of scholars outside the hall when he suddenly heard strange sounds coming from outside.
"Bro! Here! Here!"
The voice wasnât actually very loud, even deliberately subdued by the speaker, but Wang Zhifanâs hearing was exceptionally sharp, and he immediately found it very familiar.
He immediately turned his gaze towards the source of the sound outside the hall, and as expected, it was an acquaintance greeting him from across a large crowd.
The person was wearing gray cloth clothes and black sunglasses; wasnât he the Xia Country player Wang Zhifan met at a restaurant in Celestial Essence City yesterday?
"Itâs him? And thereâs a white female player here too; the other four are not nearby."
In a flash, Wang Zhifan expanded his powerful sensing abilities to confirm the number and location of the players coming over.
Without hesitation, he then flickered through the broad gate of the Martial Venerable Hall, nearly two zhang high, skillfully using Lightweight Skill to appear in front of the Xia Country player greeting him.
"My god! Bro, your speed is like teleportation!"
Because Wang Zhifanâs process of getting from inside the hall to outside was as fast as an apparition, he immediately startled the Xia Country player wearing sunglasses, who staggered back a few steps, almost falling.
Ignoring his surprise, Wang Zhifan showed a polite smile and said:
"Not seen you for a day; do you have some plan to collaborate with me?"
He guessed that these players were here for that purpose, unlikely that they came just out of boredom to play with him.
"Exactly! Bro seems like a straightforward person! Then Iâll be frank; I want to join this Martial Venerable Hall like you, could you guide me on the strategy?"
This Xia Country player indeed was not dilly-dallying, directly stating his request, and even subtly rubbed his fingers to indicate that he wasnât asking for free help from Wang Zhifan.
Wang Zhifan immediately understood the situation; according to the usual thinking among players, he speculated this player probably wanted to join his Martial Venerable Hall for training, aiming to use this platform to enhance personal skills.
After all, this kind of thing is not uncommon in instances, and Wang Zhifan remembered seeing many posts on forums where people mentioned that there are very high-quality hidden quests in some special instances, which could grant players special abilities or even special professions, thus every player desires to thoroughly explore such projects.
But the request at this time somewhat rendered Wang Zhifan speechless because his real identity was not what the player imagined; he wasnât someone who joined the Martial Venerable Hall through certain means, rather because the Martial Venerable Hall exists due to himâhe is the owner of the Martial Venerable Hall!
As the master of the Martial Venerable Hall, he naturally has the authority to accept this player within it, but the question is, does he really want to do this? Enlisting players as disciples to train their combat power? Not to mention whether other players agree to enter his tutelage, he himself doesnât want to do such troublesome things!
Therefore, Wang Zhifan considered it best to directly curb the playerâs notion, hence he chose to candidly say to the sunglasses-wearing young man in front of him:
"Regarding joining the Martial Venerable Hall... I suggest you stop pondering it because I am the Martial Venerable, and accepting you as disciples is definitely inappropriate. I donât need to explain the reason too much, do I?"
As his words fell, the young Xia Country player wearing black sunglasses suddenly showed a slight shock then stooped over, laughing loudly:
"Hahaha! Bro, you pretending to joke so seriously is hilarious! Oh come on, donât be so petty! Having me join the Martial Venerable Hall wonât hurt!"
The player laughed so hard that the sunglasses slipped, and one could see tears almost flowing from his eyes, indicating how preposterous he found Wang Zhifanâs claim of being the Martial Venerable, completely unbelievable.
"..."
This scene unsurprisingly made Wang Zhifan somewhat helpless too; he was saying the truth completely, but what can he do if others donât believe him, canât just call some people to prove it on the spot, right? He wasnât that bored to disrupt the busy enrollment of instance NPC.
"Alright, alright! Iâm not joking! Anyway, you guys canât enter the Martial Venerable Hall! But I might be able to help you in other aspects, besides entering the Martial Venerable Hall, do you have any other plans?"
Towards other players, Wang Zhifan maintains a cooperative and mutual assistance attitude; this instanceâs difficulty is quite high, and more power will help in completing it sooner, hence he seriously said to the Xia Country player, who was already tearing up in laughter.
Seeing Wang Zhifanâs serious demeanor, the young man in front straightened up, then raised a hand to adjust the sunglasses almost slipping off his nose bridge, looking at Wang Zhifan with a somewhat helpless tone:
"Bro, youâre not being fair, trying to hog all the loot... But honestly, Iâm really not that into martial arts, not insisting on entering the Martial Venerable Hall... How about you tell me how to practice in the Taoist domain of this instance? Or is there any way to join those outside NPC teams battling monsters? I feel acting with NPCs is the safest!"
"You want to clean up demons with NPCs? That I really have a way!"
Hearing that, Wang Zhifan instantly brightened up, raised his hand as if to grab this playerâs shoulder to bring him into the hall but suddenly turned his head towards another direction, looking at a particular white female player who was quietly standing in a corner of the crowd, nibbling on a childâs lollipop while observing here.