Chapter 233: Rising Up in the Hierarchy!
The entire exterior of the halls was almost completely black. For as far as the eyes could see, an ocean of people was gathered here; possibly almost ten thousand people perhaps.
The entirety of the Crafting School was gathered here in small rows. Although there was idle chit-chat from several places, there wasn’t a loud commotion. Everyone was waiting for something.
“The headmaster is here!”
“The headmaster, the elders, and even all of the disciples! What a grand assembly this is, I wonder what they’re going to talk about?”
“Look, the one walking next to senior Ling Yan, that’s Bai Yunfei!”
“So he’s the one who blew up half the crafting cliffs? He’s also the only one who became a disciple due to an exception; you think this assembly has something to do with him?”
“Probably not, I guess. Even if he became a disciple by exception, there’s no need to have an assembly like this. Although, today is the same day as when Bai Yunfei joined the Crafting School three months ago, so it might just be too….”
“I heard that he fought with senior Chen Huanghua just a while ago and completely beat him….”
“What? Wasn’t senior Chen Huanghua a Soul Ancestor? How’d he lose then…”
“It’s true. I saw it myself! Senior Bai is incredibly strong and completely overwhelmed senior Chen Huanghua. The battle was over with literally the raising of his hand….”
“Eh? Who’s that old man next to the headmaster? I’ve never seen him before; even all the elders are behind him…”
“You only just entered the school, so of course you don’t know him. That’s the previous headmaster of the school, Zi Jin. He went into seclusion before passing his title on.”
“He’s someone from the previous generation?! Doesn’t he look a little too young for someone that old?”
“What rubbish. For the stronger soul cultivators, they could look like they’re in their middle-ages even if they’re actually over a hundred years old. What’s so weird about that?”
“Wasn’t the previous headmaster supposed to stay away from affairs of the school? What’s he doing attending this assembly, and why?”
“How should I know….”
“……”
Hurried whispers ran amuck the entire sea of people, but when Kou Changkong and the others came to a stop, the discussions immediately came to a stop throughout the entire place.
This would be the very first time Bai Yunfei was faced with so many people. Having so many people point and whisper to one another about him, Bai Yunfei felt slightly uneasy, but he managed to keep his head high and his expression solemn.
There was a giant stone pedestal in front of the halls. Generally, it was meant for the inner school to fight one another, but Kou Changkong and the others walked right on top of it while Song Lin brought the other disciples to stand in front of the pedestal.
This was an assembly of the entire Crafting School, not some sort of rewards ceremony for some sort of company. Thus, there was no need for the elders to say anything or to even have a student play the part of a host.
Instead, Kou Changkong looked over the ten thousand people and spoke in a nice and clear voice, “We’ve gathered you all here today for a single announcement!”
His voice wasn’t magnified, but every single student was able to hear what he was saying loud and clear since it was silent enough for even a needle to be heard if it was dropped.
He turned to look in the direction of Bai Yunfei, “Yunfei, come up here!”
“So it really had to do with me!” Bai Yunfei’s heart skipped a beat. Even though he was surprised, he didn’t dare delay the assembly and swiftly moved to step onto the pedestal.
No sooner did Bai Yunfei reach Kou Changkong did Bai Yunfei speak out meekly, “Master….”
However, Kou Changkong shook his head and immediately said something that caused Bai Yunfei’s face to go pale with fright!
“Don’t call me master.”
Like a bombshell going off in his head, all other thoughts were immediately purged from his head, “‘Don’t call me master’?! What does that mean? Hold on…does he mean….I’m no longer his disciple?!” As the thought occurred to him, Bai Yunfei felt a feeling of dread sink down from his heart, leaving him at a loss for words.
What he didn’t realize was that all of the elders looking at him from behind were all filled with a smiling expression.
Without leaving too much time in between his words, Kou Changkong pointed a finger to Bai Yunfei and then looked down to the rest of the students. “As I said just now, the reason for this assembly is to give one single announcement. And that announcement is….
“The newly-entered student that is Bai Yunfei. Starting from today, you will be the fourth disciple to the previous headmaster, Zi Jin!”
“……”
“……”
For three whole seconds, the entire halls were silent.
Then, everyone exploded into wild discussion.
“What? Did I hear that right? Did the headmaster say something? Who’s the new disciple?”
“I heard them say that the previous headmaster Zi Jin will take on a new disciple. Is that right?”
“I heard the same. Unless the headmaster slipped up, Bai Yunfei is the new disciple, making him a junior of the same generation of the headmaster….”
“Isn’t that just a bit too much?! The previous headmaster, who was in seclusion for so many years, is finally taking in a new disciple?!”
“Senior Bai…no wait. We’re going to have to call him ‘teacher Bai’!”
“What kind of background does he have to be taken in as the disciple of the previous headmaster….”
“……”
All of the disciples were shocked as well, Song Lin included. Even he could hardly believe his ears on what he heard, so it was clear to see that he wasn’t aware of what the announcement was going to be on.
Kou Changkong smiled as he looked to Bai Yunfei, “Yunfei, from today onwards, there is no need for you to call me master. Age is no factor in seniority; we will be fellow disciples in the future. Don’t think this to be too awkward; I haven’t even accepted you as a formal disciple before this. You’ve approval of master due to your excellent achievements. So be sure to familiarize yourself with your new status.”
“I…this….” Bai Yunfei was still having an incredibly hard time trying to respond to this situation, and Kou Changkong wasn’t making it easier for him to respond either.
From the side, Huangfu Nan quirked his lips when he saw how stunned Bai Yunfei was, “Hmph! Youngster Bai, you walk the path of fortune! In just three months, you went from being a new student to a peer of my generation! What are you waiting for, the master is waiting for your response; hurry up and call him your master!”
This was what it took for Bai Yunfei to snap back to reality.
Seeing Zi Jin smile at him, Bai Yunfei bowed with all the haste he had and spoke, “Di–disciple Yunfei pays his respects to….to the master!!”
Zi Jin nodded his head in satisfaction. “Very good. Yunfei, from today onwards, you will be my disciple. I will teach you all that I know, don’t let me down….”
“Yes, master!!”
Bai Yunfei responded with great clarity. From the despair he was just feeling a minute ago, he was now feeling a great deal of elation. In his mind, he could only think of one thing….
“The cycles of life spins far too fast, how exciting is this!!”
…………
And so the assembly was put to an end after the announcement.
Many of the students still couldn’t quite understand what was happening and started to talk to one another about it as they left. Zi Jin told Bai Yunfei to go see him early tomorrow at the Northern Point before he retreated with the elders back into the halls, leaving Bai Yunfei to leave with his friends.
Before long, the entire hall was only left with the people Bai Yunfei was acquaintance with.
This included Tang Xinyun, Ye Zhiqiu, Zhong Xuhao, and several others who crowded around Bai Yunfei.
“Bro—no…seni—no…master Bai…?” Mo Xiaoxuan was at a loss on how to refer to Bai Yunfei and so he stumbled over his greeting at first.
“For…forget about that.” Bai Yunfei waved his hand, “Just hearing that makes me nervous. Call me what you’ve been calling me by before. We shouldn’t pay too much attention to this.”
“Really? We can keep calling you brother Bai?” Zhong Xuhao exclaimed in excitement.
“Yes.” Bai Yunfei nodded with a smile.
“Whew….that’s good…” Mo Xiaoxuan sighed in exaggeration. “I was scared that you wouldn’t be the same brother Bai as before! You’ve become someone of the ‘previous generation’, how should we react to that, hah!”
“It’s only a matter of hierarchy. We’re still friends as like before.”
Bai Yunfei turned to Tang Xinyun, “Xinyun, I won’t have you call me master Bai at the very least, haha…”
“…….” Tang Xinyun said nothing. In the past, she had once joked about Bai Yunfei calling her senior, but now, she had been actually afraid that Bai Yunfei would have her call him ‘master’.
Song Lin, Xiao Nanren, and even Ling Yan came up to approach Bai Yunfei by this point. Hesitantly, Song Lin was the first to speak, “Master…..master Bai….”
It seemed like even they were having a hard time wrapping their heads around the new development.
“Senior, please for the love of everything don’t call me master….” Bai Yunfei waved his hand. “Please call me Yunfei as you’ve always had. There’s no need for this strange new practice.”
Song Lin let out a sigh of relief in secret, “Haha, then please don’t call me senior anymore….”
Thinking about it, Bai Yunfei suggested, “Then I’ll call you brother Song, brother Xiao, and brother Ling. You’re all older than me, so call you older brothers should be adequate.”
“That works. Let’s do that in the future then.”
Song Lin and the other two agreed. After all, addressing a person they had always called as ‘juniors’ a ‘master’ was extremely awkward.