Chapter 36: The Grand Elder

Tao Xue and he Principal walked along a thin staircase, leading to a separate block, where there was a huge hallway. At the center of the hallway was a throne-like huge seat, and on each sides of the throne-like seat were other seats.

On the central seat, sat a man with grey hair, and a long mustache, who stood up when the Principal arrived. The man wore fine-quality robes, and his hair was neatly combed. This man also gave off a powerful aura, and was friendly and calm looking.

This man was the 4 Seasons Academy's Grand Elder, Mu Qian.

He looked at the Principal, and respectfully said, "Senior brother Ming Zou has come looking for me, today, I guess. What is the matter? It would be a pleasure for me to help."

The Principal replied, "No need of the formal talk, here, brother Mu. By the way, you were right about the fact that we needed your help. You must have remembered about the prodigy I told you about, right!"

"Oh, yes, yes. I would never forget about such a genius in my whole life!" replied Grand Elder Mu Qian, with a smile on his face.

"Well, the problem is regarding him. The boy standing here is him," replied Principal Ming Zuo, glancing at Tao Xue for a second, and then looking back at the Grand Elder.

The boy didn't look special, but he was anything but ordinary. The sight of him just deceived a man for a moment, especially when it's somebody with such a position as the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder looked at Tao Xue for a moment, who in turn, was looking at him. Each of them were examining each other. It sure was a bit surprising for the Grand Elder to know that Tao Xue was that fabled genius of the Academy, but soon he got accustomed to the fact.

He then replied to the Principal, and said, "If the case is about such a prodigy, then it is even more urgent of a matter. Please tell me about it, so that I can be of some use."

The Principal now became even more serious, as he said, "As I told you previously, due to his ability, he couldn't Cultivate, but now, he is able to Cultivate, and has already reached the 1st Level at such a terrifying pace. I will spare the details for later, so I will get to the important part of the event. We had kept him hidden, but now that he is a Cultivator, we should let him attend the Academy. The problem is that we need a firm and stable solution for answering why he was out for such a long amount of time, and how was he able to Cultivate to the 1st Level of Cultivation so quickly. We ourselves thought about it for a long time, but couldn't find out. You are now the only one we could think of, who can solve the problem. Brother Mu, I am depending on you to find a trustworthy answer, which will be able to cover the suspicions of Tao Xue's friends, and classmates."

The Grand Elder though for a while, and said, "This sure is difficult. It will take me some time, but I think I'll be able to find out a solution."

He started thinking, and sat on a nearby chair, while the others also sat down. While all of them were thinking, Master was silently observing them from afar, and he didn't say even a single word, as he kept looking at them.

The Grand Elder took some time, and came up with a solution, which had all the necessary details to make it pass. Someone could suspect it, but still, it would be able to make the cut.

He said to the Principal and Tao Xue, "The solution I have wouldn't be termed as really effective, or great, but it would still be able to make the cut. Well, here's the answer. The situation goes that there are some relatives of Tao Xue, and his family, who are staying in some other place, and they had a conflict with another group of people. There was a huge battle, therefore, Tao Xue and the whole family came running to aid them in battle. Out of those people, there was a certain man who had achieved a breakthrough to a certain very high level, which was a great feat. Because of this, the whole family starts to celebrate. That family member, however, happened to be a Mind Cultivator, and due to his high level of Cultivation, he had insights on Mind Cultivation that were very rare, and surpassed what normally was taught to 1st year 1st season students at the Academy. Therefore, due to that secret method of the elder of the family, the fact that Tao Xue's growth had dramatically increased could be justified. Other than that, his ridiculous speed of Cultivation in the future could also be explained to all."

The solution that the Grand Elder gave was pretty much, the best that they could have come up with, and that too he formed in such a short amount of time. It was acceptable, and there wasn't much time left, so they took this as the answer as to why Tao Xue was out, and the plan was informed to Tao Xue's family. Now, the only think left was to make sure Tao Xue didn't screw up.

Tao Xue was one of the people who aren't the type who would be good at deceiving people, as he had a laid back attitude, and would just give in, rather than arguing, when someone asked him again and again, leading to the news leaking out to many unwanted people.

They made Tao Xue sure to say the correct thing, and made him practice with all kinds of situations, and did all in their power that could make sure that he wouldn't screw up, the next day.

All that they could do now was to hope that Tao Xue would be fine.

Tao Xue could sense the confused mood of all the others, as he thought, "What's going on? Why is everyone staring at me in such a weird manner? Just what's happening here?"