Wan Niu had lived for more than five centuries and seen all kinds of things. He had controlled power that was unfathomable to most of the world. So for him to have anticipation for anything was very rare.
But the more he got closer to Yan city, the more his heart was pounding. He could feel the anticipation that came from deep inside himself. Wan Niu had a premonition, this meeting might change his fate.
Although he couldn’t break through to a higher realm, he had still been at the peak of the world at one point in time. So, Wan Niu could at times feel the world itself guiding himself and his fate.
He couldn’t be sure of it but he had a faint suspicion that part of the anticipation in his heart was caused by the resonance with the world. But he kept these thoughts aside for now because he had reached the store mentioned in the letter.
He walked into the store and saw a martial Master sitting by the side. He was too conspicuous in this otherwise ordinary store. So Wan Niu walked up to him and introduced himself.
“Hello, I’m Wan Niu. Are you the one who sent this letter?” He pulled out the letter he had received.
At first Da Shan was confused. He had been waiting for some scholars as he was instructed but who would’ve thought that a martial artist with a heroic appearance wearing white robes and carrying a long sword on his back would approach him.
He didn’t look like a scholar at all. In fact, he looked like a hero straight out of the tales told by the storyteller at the Jade Lily Pavilion. But Da Shan composed himself quickly.
After checking that the letter was exactly like what he had seen, he gestured and spoke, “Follow me.” His job was to bring anyone who had the letter to the courtyard that was prepared beforehand, It didn’t matter what they looked like.
Wan Niu had already done his due diligence so he knew that the store was owned by the Yan family. So it made sense that this martial artist was someone who worked for them. He followed quietly.
He was led to a courtyard near the Yan residence and when they reached the door, the martial Master leading him there turned around and gave him some information.
“Please go ahead and rest inside. There is already someone else who arrived before you so you can take any other room. If you need anything you can call on the servants. Someone will call for you when the rest of the invitees have arrived.”
“Your master won’t come meet me now?” Wan Niu’s voice had the arrogance of a dominator which startled Da Shan. Wan Niu had long been the one who was waited upon, he didn’t like being made to wait.
Da Shan breathed in to calm himself and replied with a flat tone.
“My master wasn’t the one who invited you. We are only the intermediaries. The person who invited you will arrive when all the invitees have arrived. That was what I have been told.
In a situation when anyone who arrives early feels like leaving, I am told to provide them with 10 silvers as compensation for travel expenses and send them away respectfully.”
Wan Niu frowned, the attitude of the person who invited him here annoyed him. But since they had arranged for everything including free food and lodging in a decent courtyard owned by the Yan family and even arranged compensation if he wanted to leave, he could only swallow the anger that was bubbling.
They had been courteous and respectful enough. So he couldn’t make a fuss either. He nodded at the guide before entering the courtyard.
Da Shan stared for a while as Wan Niu walked away. Then while sighing he turned around and went back to wait for more scholars to arrive. At least he got paid decently for the boring job.
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Wan Niu walked into the quiet courtyard and found a servant directions to the rooms. He wasn’t very particular about choosing so he picked the first room he was shown.
The room was decent with a view of the well maintained garden. There was a comfortable bed and a desk by the window. While he was admiring the view, a maid brought him some fresh fruits, water and a couple of papers.
After waving off the maid, he sat down at the desk and started going through the papers. The contents of the papers were not too much, but the knowledge within that content was enough to make Wan Niu admire and ponder for hours.
Because Niu Tan was aware that the scholars might not arrive at the same time, he had prepared the papers to keep the ones who arrived early entertained.
What the first paper contained was just some introduction to numbers one through nine and what they represent. This wasn’t wholly new since arithmetic was already widely used and quite developed as well.
This paper only developed the already existing number system and made it easier to use. Niu Tan had adapted the Arabic number system that he was familiar with into this world. It was for his own convenience but it helped simplify math so it was a win-win.
The second page was what blew Wan Niu’s mind. It introduced the concepts of zero and infinity as numbers.
When he was in the Divine Master stage, he had often contemplated on the nature of the world and nothingness and boundlessness were concepts he had also touched upon.
But to represent nothingness and boundlessness into numbers and even use them to make calculations? Wasn’t this touching upon the study of Dao itself?
Wan Niu couldn’t extricate himself for the whole day and pondered on the new concepts he had been introduced to. Whoever had written this, he really wanted to discuss at length with them.
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The servants working in the courtyard were dumbfounded by the events of the past week. They had welcomed seven scholars into the courtyard. Each had arrived at a different day or time. Even so, all seven of them had already arrived 3 days ago.
But what didn’t make sense was that the moment they were given the welcome fruits with the paper in their room, all seven had exhibited the same reaction, they refused to come out or be disturbed.
They had asked for the food to be delivered in the room and didn’t interact with anyone during this period. The one who looked like a swordsman even refused to get any food and asked no one to disturb him unless it was important.
“What a pity! A few of them are so handsome too! But they are just too strange.” One maid spoke in a low voice.
A prettier made added aggrievedly, “When I tried getting close to that handsome swordsman the other day, he almost glared me to death. It was so scary.”
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While the maids were gossiping about the strange scholars, they heard a voice from behind. “Ahem!”
Looking back they realized that it was Yan Qi and started panicking. But Yan Qi wasn’t in the mood to reprimand these girls right now. He had to bring the scholars to Niu Tan.
“Quickly inform the guests that they have a meeting to attend and help them get prepared as quickly as you can.” He ordered.
The maids quickly scurried to find some male servants to relay the information while they went to prepare hot water and other necessities.
When the scholars were informed about the meeting, they quickly walked out of their rooms to the back of the house where the maids were preparing to transfer the water to be heated.
To the horror of the maids, the scholars who hadn’t interacted with each other this whole time cleaned up right there with the cold water while sizing each other up. Within 20 minutes, the scholars were ready to go.
When the servants led them to him, even Yan Qi was a bit surprised at how quick they were. But he didn’t think too much about it. “Hello. I’m Yan Qi. I’ll guide you to Master Niu Tan’s place, follow me.”
He gave a quick introduction with an amiable smile. He had to give off a friendly impression. These people might soon inherit the knowledge of that mysterious organization. Making connections with them early would only profit him.
Niu Tan’s courtyard wasn’t too far from where they were so he tried making small talk with them but he realized they weren’t interested in talking so he tactfully shut up.
The youngest of the group, Jia Yang on the other hand asked what everyone was thinking, “Brother Yan, can you tell us more about the person we are going to meet?”
Yan Qi smiled awkwardly, “He is an easy going person so you can ask about him yourself. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to speak about him. It’s right ahead so you’ll meet him soon enough.”
Jia Yang was disappointed but nodded anyway.
The seven scholars led by Yan Qi entered the courtyard and saw a young guy who shouldn’t even be 20 sitting alone on a chair while sipping tea.
Although he didn’t wasn’t doing anything special and even his looks were only slightly above average, all seven of them could tell at a glance that the man exuded an air of boundless intelligence and knowledge.
As for Wan Niu, he could additionally feel the aura of a newly ascended first rate martial artist from the guy in front of them. Even though he had hid it well, Wan Niu’s senses couldn’t be deceived by anyone below Divine Master realm.
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During the last two weeks, Niu Tan had trained his martial arts and internal energy almost non-stop. He could feel that his training was going much smoother and faster than before. It was as if he was suddenly given a 10X experience boost.
The feeling of his strength growing visibly was just too intoxicating and he ended up practicing for much longer than he had planned. Only after he broke through to the 1st rate martial artist did he sober up.
Niu Tan was sure that it wasn’t natural that the training speed increased like that so abruptly, but he couldn’t find anything wrong or harmful. He could only keep it in the back of his head and be more careful when practicing later.
After he sobered up, he found that the scholars he had invited were already here for a few days. He quickly asked someone to inform Yan Qi that he wanted to meet the scholars as soon as possible.
And as always, Yan Qi was quite efficient. He was now looking at the seven scholars being led by Yan Qi. He could tell that they were sizing him up as they approached.
“Mister Niu Tan. I have brought you your guests.” Yan Qi bowed a little and went back the way he came. He seems to be acting more respectful and formal in front of people and in private. It’s not bad.
It was obvious at a glance which ones were Wan Niu and Jia Yang. The valiant scholar with the sword was obviously Wan Niu. As for Jia Yang, he was the youngest and smallest of the bunch. He was short and had a baby face with big bright eyes.
Niu Tan stood up to welcome his guests.
“Welcome everyone. I was the one who sent out those invitations to you. As you might have heard, I am Niu tan.” He introduced himself.
He then glanced at the group once more before adding, “Come, sit down and have some tea. Also, even though I invited you I am not quite sure which one is which so it’d be great if you could introduce yourselves.”
As he went back to sit, the scholars approached the neatly arranged chairs around the table and started introducing themselves.
Wan Nian went first. He gave a martial salute and spoke, “I’m Wan Nian. It’s nice to meet you all.”
Jia Yang followed, “I’m Jia Yang.”
A youth who seemed to be about the same age as Niu Tan went next, “I’m Zhou Yi.” He seemed to have the aloof and distant scholar vibe going on for himself.
“I’m Pan Fan. Nice to meet you all.” a man in his mid-20s introduced. He was tall but very thin.
“I’m Feng Ji. Hello everyone.” A sickly looking guy cheerfully greeted.
“Chang Bo.” This curly haired scholar is a man of few words then.
“I’m Liu Yong. Nice to meet you.” The last guy who seemed a bit too timid for his large frame also greeted.
Niu Tan nodded along with their introductions. He noticed that oddly, the three guys who he had picked as favorites were actually very good looking compared to the other four. He waved and asked them to sit down.
Is this like in those anime where people with more talent and presence look better than others? Niu Tan chuckled inwardly.
“Now, I know you guys should have a lot of questions. But before that let me say a few things. If I don’t cover something you are curious about you can ask me afterwards.”
Seeing that none of them objected Niu Tan continued to speak.
“I represent an ancient secret organization. We only pursue knowledge and wish to make the lives of ordinary people better using our knowledge. We seek Dao through our knowledge.
If you think of us as a sect then I would be the current sect leader of the organization. And as the current leader I am trying to change some of the ways we function.
That is where you guys come in, I want you guys to join me to create a school. I will pass along all the knowledge we have to you and you will continue to teach and pass on that knowledge to other students.
You are some of the most talented and righteous scholars in this country and I want all of you to join me on my path to reach the Dao with our knowledge. We will compile the knowledge of the past generations and continue to study and add our own.
Piece by piece we will create a sturdy path that leads straight to the truth of everything, Dao itself.”
Niu Tan ended his impassioned speech here and sat back down, letting the scholars take it all in and think about it.
Wan Nian on the other hand was going through his memories over and over again to find any clues about this supposedly ancient and secret organization. How come he didn’t know about it during his 500 years of life?
It was absurd to think that there was an organization with so much knowledge but still so secret that even he had never heard anything about them. But he didn’t know how else he could justify everything in front of him.
Clearly this Niu Tan guy who seems to be a genius martial artist has knowledge even he didn’t have when he had already lived such a long life and studied so many books and scriptures.
Suddenly Wan Niu thought of the legend about there being other continents beyond the oceans. Even though Divine Masters could fly over short distances, it wasn’t enough to cross vast seas to go look for other land.
Did this organization come from the lands beyond the sea? It might be possible.
He asked, “Why was your organization so secretive until now and why did you suddenly decide to come out in public?”
Niu Tan was expecting a question like that, he nonchalantly answered, “Fear I guess. Knowledge if misused can cause great harm. And as a place where a lot of knowledge which can cause great harm was collected, my predecessors probably thought it wise to hide.
As for me, I choose to believe in humanity. When given the choice the majority will choose to do good instead of evil. And I have my selfish reason of wanting to attain the Dao of course.”
The casual confidence with which he said he wanted to attain Dao dumbfounded the scholars.
Zhou Yi was impressed by Niu Tan. This was the kind of easy going confidence he liked. It wasn’t arrogance, it was just an unwavering belief in oneself and one’s ability.
He asked, “Do you have to take some oath before you give us this knowledge? Also, who will we be teaching.”
“Your students will mostly be poor and impoverished kids at the beginning. If anyone else wants to join, we will welcome all. And no, our tenet is impartial knowledge sharing.
When the number of learned people increases, more people will seek out new knowledge which will only help us to build the path to Dao.” Niu Tan answered.
He basically wanted more people to do research and development so that the world’s technological level advances.
Jia Yang who had been quite all this while suddenly raised an important question, “Will the royal court allow you to teach the commoners? Also won’t the powerful martial arts clans and sects want to monopolize it too?”
It was a fair point, a herd of ignorant sheep was easy to rule over but what happens when the sheep realize that there was a multitude of ways they could escape the fence you put them inside?
Niu Tan admired how the young scholar saw through the problems that they might face later. It was probably partially because of the kid’s run-in with the minister and his understanding of how the court oppressed people.
“You don’t have to worry about that. I am working on it. If you decide to join me and follow me, you will find out how later. But for now, it is covered.” Niu Tan reassured. His plan to take control of the whole region surrounding this country was coming along fine.