"You! You are a wisp?!"
Krune then reverted back to his human form and nodded.
"Yeap. So, of course, I won't use my own race for cultivation."
Harj wondered if he was hallucinating.
'The Sect Master's first disciple is a wisp! How could that be?!'
But Harj soon came back to himself and took a deep breath.
"Alright, bring everyone forward for me to take their information."
As unbelievable as it could be, there is no way that the Sect master doesn't know it, which means that he has a reason for that. Not to mention that since Krune took the first place in the Entrance Exam, he should at least have the necessary talent.
Harj then took everyone's information and was just about to leave when he suddenly started to smell something good. When he turned around to see what it was, he found that that wisp started to cook right there and then. Krune turned his head in his direction and said.
"Hey, come to taste my food too. You will definitely like it!"
At some point, everyone in Krune's house had already sat and were eating his food. As one can expect, Lofa helped him once more, so she was also serving it. Harj couldn't help but wonder just what kind of wisp is that.
"You know that you can ask any of the menial disciples in the sect o bring you any food you want, right?"
Krune then looked at him, excited!
"Really? Where is the kitchen? I'm going to pay a visit there later to learn more recipes!"
Harj mouths twitched. He didn't say that to send the Sect Master's disciple there to learn more recipes! Krune is a wisp to start with, shouldn't his entire focus be on cultivation alone? What if he runs out of life span?!
But it was at this moment that he saw a scene that he never expected to see in his life.
Krune was holding a piece of meat on a fork while he was looking at Harj. Suddenly, an old man who looked more like a beggar appeared by his side and ate it!
"Hum... Quite good, but I prefer saltier."
Krune's heart almost stopped when he heard that voice, he then turned around and saw that his master was there chewing his meat! Yusa and the others also noticed the Sect Master and immediately got up to compliment him. Harj, of course, did the same. Although Lucio really looks like a beggar in those clothes, it doesn't mean that he is dirty. In fact, it would be hard to find a single spec of dust on him. It's just that his clothes... sigh.
"Paying respects to Sect Master."
Lakin, Ruik and the other wisps and demon beast got a fright! Is that the Divine Path Sect's Sect master? Krune had already told them how he looked like, but they didn't believe him when Krune spoke about how he liked to dress. Of course, by watching the reaction of Yusa and everyone else, they were now sure that this beggar is who they are heard about. Everyone immediately complimented the beggar the same way as Arlan, Shinja, and the others.
Of course, everyone except for a single wisp...
Krune looked at his Master chewing his meat, and his eyes narrowed.
"You darn old geezer, that's my meat! Don't eat others'! I made a lot of food anyway, you could have simply asked for some!"
Stealing his food? Even GOD wouldn't be forgiven!
Everyone heard how Krune treated the Sect master, and their hearts almost pulled out through their mouths! Is that how you treat one of the most important existences in the entire western protectorate?! By the way, isn't he your master? Is it really okay to talk with him like that?
Harj's eyes, just like everyone else, were wide open! Except for the wisps without human form, of course. But they too felt like things turned out for worse. Harj even thought to himself.
'This Krune is done for!'
But contrary to everyone's expectations, Lucio didn't do anything.
"Is there a need to be this angry? It is just a piece of meat anyway. But since you offered, I will take some as well."
Krune was still somewhat angry but decided to let it go.
"Hmph! Fine, looking at your starving appearance, it's easy to understand why you wanted it too."
Krune then took a bowl and prepared one for his Master.
"Here. Ao is used to complain that I don't put enough salt, so I always prepare two dishes at the same time, one with more and one with less salt. This one should be to your taste."
The Sect Master then took the bowl and tasted a little.
"Oh! This is much better, your friend is right, you should be able to enjoy this one much more."
But Krune obviously didn't think the same.
"You are wrong! I don't know how you guys like so much salt in the food, it destroys the ingredients taste, after all."
Lucio's eyes narrowed and said.
"Wrong! It is because there is more salt that the food becomes even more enjoyable. Your friend is right in adding more salt."
Krune had gone through a heated discussion about this issue before with Ao, and just like the last time, it also happened with his master.
"Wrong! It's you two that are mistaken."
Lucio's mouth twitched. Is that how someone should answer their master?
"I'm your master, so you should hear what I'm saying!"
Krune also didn't let it go.
"Who forced me to accept you in the first place? First of all, you are my Master in the path of cultivation, and it is obvious that your talent for food isn't the same!"
"How could you say that? Do you know just how many kinds of heavenly and earthly treasures your master had tasted in his 52370 years of life? How dare you question my taste for food?!"
"Over 50 thousand years, and you are still that clueless regarding food? Haha! What a joke!"
"Hmph! It is you who hasn't seen the universe yet, once you experience what I did, you will understand that I'm right! Besides, I, your Master, am always right!"
"When was it that the words right and wrong got swapped? How come I didn't hear about it?"
Everyone looked at that and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Even for Harj, that was definitely the first time he saw the Sect Master arguing to someone. Even Core Elders would only drop their heads and listen without saying a word! In fact, the Sect Master's words themselves could be regarded as gold! After all, he rarely talked to anyone when there wasn't a need for it.
But today, here he was, watching one of the most powerful existences in the universe in a word fight against a Foundation Establishment wisp because of... food! Since when the Sect Master had been so... talkative?
It wasn't before a full ten minutes of arguing that the Sect Master finally said.
"Hmph! Fine, I won't waste my time discussing with a kid like you anymore. Let's eat before it gets cold."
Krune agreed with him.
"You finally said something decent. In the end, food is more important!"
Krune also sat down and kept eating.
Except for Harj, everyone else didn't know the Sect Master that well, so they just agreed that the man wasn't that scary as they thought. Krune didn't know when, but they had all sat down at some point and were eating while looking at the two of them performing a comic show.
Harj couldn't help but think.
'Just what is wrong with this group?'
Krune then remembered something.
"Oh, right! Harj, you haven't eaten yet, come and have a taste too. I made a lot of food, after all."
Harj was already dizzy with everything that happened in front of him today that he didn't even care anymore. He simply sat on by the table as well and served himself. He then took a glance at the Sect Master to see if he would say anything, but the later didn't even notice his presence. He couldn't help but wonder.
'Just how many menial disciples had ever had the chance to have lunch with the Divine Path Sect's Sect Master on the same table?'
While they were eating, Krune turned his head in Lucio's direction and asked.
"By the way, old geezer. Why did you come here? Did you really come just to have a free meal?"
Lucio's spilled some of the soup on his mouth after hearing that.
"Who the hell came to have a free meal? Ah, forget it! I came here just to pass it to you."
Lucio then took out a token and passed it to Krune.
"What is this?"
"This is my token. As long as you have it, it will be the same as if I was the one talking. As long as you use it in the Sect or in any of the Sect's Branches inside our territory, they will immediately recognize it and follow your orders. But remember not to use it for evil, or I will be the Devil himself when I catch you!"
Krune looked at the token but didn't think much about it. He prefers to rely on himself, so long as he doesn't really need it, he won't make use of the token.
After that, everyone just chatted as if nothing had happened. It could be said to be a Krune-effect, so much sh*t happens around him that Ao and the others had already developed some immunity.
The Sect master finished eating and then stod up.
"Alright! I finished what I came to do anyway, so I'm leaving now."
Harj and the others paid their respects again. Lucio nodded and disappeared in thin air, but then, everyone heard his voice coming out of nowhere.
"Tomorrow, I want to barbecue!"
Krune's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but yell.
"You really did come for free food, didn't you?!"
But he got no answer in the end. Krune then sighed and said.
"Forget it, I won't waste my precious time thinking about him anymore."
After that, Ao and the others showered Krune with questions about the Sect Master. Krune felt helpless with all of that but still answered anyway.
As for Harj, he already gave up thinking. He simply checked all the information he had in his communicator and left to finish the process of registering all of Krune's wisps and demon beasts.
Back at the Sect Master's residence, Lucio was talking with one of the protectors of the Sect. As a Sect Master, Lucio didn't have many friends, but this was definitely one of the few. His name was Ojilian Yun, someone he had known over 30 thousand years!
"That wisp is helpless! Does he even understand who he is talking to?! I will make him pay for it later on."
Ojilian sighed and then asked.
"Then why don't you just send him back? It's not like anyone will question your decision anyway. You can say that he wasn't what you expected him to be, and no one will complain about it. He is, after all, a wisp."
Lucio heard that but immediately declined.
"There is no need. If I do that, it will be the same as saying that I'm not capable enough to select a good seed. Where would my face as Sect Master go after that?"
Ojilian then shuddered his shoulders helplessly. But deep inside, he was laughing instead. There are very few who know the Sect Master as well as him, and he couldn't help but think.
'Hmph! Who do you think you are fooling? What a joke! Other than Falanea or me, who would ever dare to argue with you inside our Divine Path Sect? Only the ancestors, perhaps? But this is different, that wisp is nothing more than a kid. Haha! Simply put, he isn't just a well-behaved kid like anyone else would be, and that's what you like in him!'
Of course, he didn't say it loud to save some face for his idiot friend.