Zhang Ze recounted the whole story from beginning to end, and when he finished, he felt wronged, "Look, you can’t blame me for this, it was entirely the Old Celestial Master’s idea, I couldn’t stop him."
Li still had doubts, "Really?"
"The Old Celestial Master’s unpredictable thoughts, how could I control them? If I hadn’t persuaded him, I’d be the Sect Leader of Dragon Tiger Mountain by now, and you’d be the Supreme Grand Elder," Zhang Ze continued to argue.
Li still looked at Zhang Ze with a questioning gaze.
"Then ask him yourself, the Old Celestial Master is drinking right beneath our feet," Zhang Ze said, defeated.
Li let Zhang Ze down, "I’ll believe you for now. Stay behind me and don’t say anything foolish."
Inside the inn’s private room, the small space was crowded with people, and the disciples of the Old Celestial Master were trying to persuade him to go home.
Tang was holding Huang Silang, sitting by the table, not daring to speak.
Tang wasn’t good at this, but Old Tang was quite resolute.
Even though his cultivation had dissipated completely, he remained resolute.
"No, no, I’ll go wherever I want," Old Tang covered his belly with a small blanket, leaned against a chair, picked his teeth, and waved dismissively.
Zhang Ze found it amusing to see a group of usually otherworldly Purple-robed Heavenly Masters humbly persuading Old Tang to go home, but just as he leaned over to watch, Li Guanqi pressed him back down.
"My Lord, let’s go back. It’s already troubling enough that your Mahayana cultivation went missing—not that, you were traveling away. Now that your cultivation is completely gone, how can we rest assured? Please, come home," a Purple-robed Heavenly Master said, while massaging Old Tang’s shoulders, trying to persuade him.
"Not going back, I can still handle a water monkey. Besides, who’s practicing immortal cultivation doesn’t start from Qi Cultivation? Nothing happened to me back then, nothing will happen now. You better leave and not disturb my dinner. Just looking at you is annoying," Old Tang slapped the Heavenly Master’s hand away.
Seeing no solution, the Purple-robed Heavenly Master took a step back, noticing a younger disciple from Dragon Tiger Mountain, familiar with Tang, intending to convince Tang through him.
However, it seemed the Old Celestial Master had heard enough and slammed the table, "I made my decision, I’m going to my junior brother’s place! Junior brother! What’s your place called again?"
After saying this, Old Tang closed his eyes and began snoring lightly, looking as indifferent as a dead pig unafraid of boiling water.
Zhang Ze saw that Old Tang was pressing on the matter he shouldn’t, so he quickly shrunk back behind his master.
As everyone looked at him, Li Guanqi moved swiftly to Zhang Ze’s back and threw him into the middle of the room.
"You caused this trouble, you fix it," Li’s voice echoed in Zhang Ze’s ears.
Zhang Ze regretted bragging about the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion to Old Tang, making it sound so mystical, imprinting it in his mind, and now it seemed like the blame was going to fall on him again.
With everyone looking at him, Zhang Ze didn’t know what to say.
He scanned the room, unable to find anyone to back him up. Apart from him, the lowest status and strength were left with Huang Silang.
But seeing Huang Silang’s subdued appearance, he knew he couldn’t pass the buck, and it wasn’t reasonable to do so either.
Then Zhang Ze had a thought, if he couldn’t find the lowest, could he go for the highest?
It seemed there was indeed someone in this room.
Zhang Ze gestured to Tang with his eyes and a hand signal, and Tang caught on immediately.
Tang took out the Celestial Calculation Disc from the Hundred Treasures Bag, equipped it with a pen, and prepared paper.
Then the Celestial Calculation Disc flew up, circled around everyone, and started writing large characters on the paper.
As the highest-ranking "disc" in Dragon Tiger Mountain, the Celestial Calculation Disc naturally began to scold people.
It called out these foolish disciples one by one for being stupid, for having unpleasant voices when reciting the Tao Scripture, and for setting up annoying and lengthy ceremonies...
The room was silent, except for the scribbling of the Celestial Calculation Disc, as a circle of Dragon Tiger Mountain Celestial Masters craned their necks, watching themselves being scolded.
Old Tang, not included in the scolding, being a perennial wanderer, had never troubled the Celestial Calculation Disc.
Seeing the Celestial Calculation Disc had controlled the situation, Zhang Ze slipped back, retreating to the back, distancing himself from the issue.
After venting, the Celestial Calculation Disc wrote out grandly.
[I’m not doing this anymore, I go where I want, you Dragon Tiger Mountain can play by yourselves]
The Celestial Masters were genuinely panicking now, realizing that breaking a window might not work, but demolishing a wall? Well, that’s negotiable.
After signing a series of unequal treaties with the Celestial Calculation Disc, the final negotiation resulted in:
The Old Celestial Master could go wherever he wanted.
Tang had to return to Dragon Tiger Mountain to continue lessons.
The Celestial Calculation Disc also should go back, but upon return, it could do whatever it wanted.
The rest of the terms also related to the Celestial Calculation Disc’s rights.
Only Tang’s injured world was reconciled.
But Tang made an additional request to bring Huang Silang along, stating he couldn’t concentrate on lessons without his Fourth Uncle.
The Celestial Masters were already aware of Huang Silang’s favor toward Tang, and compared to the inequalities just signed, bringing a yellow-skinned rat to practice immortal cultivation seemed minor.
To avoid further trouble, the Celestial Masters decided to set off immediately.
Watching the disappearing clouds outside the window, Zhang Ze let out a sigh of relief, walking to the table to nudge the sleeping Old Tang.
"Old Celestial Master, what are your plans for the future?"
"Hmm?" Old Celestial Master rubbed his eyes, "Plans? Where did everyone go?"
"They just left, returned to Dragon Tiger Mountain," Zhang Ze pointed outside the window.
"That’s great, let’s go too," Old Tang yawned, then got up and stretched.
"Where to?" Zhang Ze asked, puzzled.
"Your Thousand Mechanisms, or whatever that pavilion is called, didn’t we agree on that?" Old Tang looked at Zhang Ze, as if it was self-evident.
"Ah, you’re really going?" Zhang Ze asked.
"Why not?" Old Tang packed the leftover half a chicken into a package, holding it in his arms.
Having packed the leftovers, Old Tang walked over to Li Guanqi, looking him up and down, "You have a decent disciple, it’s a pity I didn’t manage to take him."
"But let’s be clear, even though your disciple is my junior brother, you mustn’t take advantage of it."
"I wouldn’t dare," Li Guanqi immediately bowed in reply.
Old Tang nodded in satisfaction, waddling, while digestingly heading downstairs.
Watching Old Tang’s carefree silhouette, Zhang Ze remembered something, "Old Celestial Master, what about your stone disciples?"
Old Celestial Master scratched the back of his head, he really had forgotten about them.
Possessing exceptionally low IQ, those fellows had great cultivation but only knew three moves. Big Flying Kick, Ground Slam, Taoist Art Wave, and couldn’t learn any additional spells.
Heavy and cumbersome, taking up space, but given Old Tang’s multitude of magical treasures, there was a way.
In the backyard, those big-headed Taoists were still crouching in the corner, scratching the earth with their fingers, forming a circle.
Old Tang clapped his hands to get their attention, then took out an exquisite box and placed it on the ground, saying to the big-heads, "Jump in."
The big-heads, without any suspicion, obediently jumped into the box.
This exquisite box was magical, containing a miniature world with hills and water. The big-heads did not break the box; instead, they shrank down and were eventually drawn into the box entirely.
Then they continued forming a circle, resuming scratching at the dirt with their fingers.
Securing the box, Old Tang clapped his hands, "Now that’s settled, let’s go."
This time, lacking a Deer Cart for the journey, Li Guanqi brought Zhang Ze and Old Tang back to Cyan Thorn.
The journey was uneventful, but upon disembarking from the Flying Sword, all three had awkward expressions.
"Hey, this place of yours is nice and interesting," Old Tang scrutinized around with curiosity.
But Zhang Ze and Li, master and apprentice, both wore expressions of "where the heck is this."
Having been away from home for more than half a month, the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion had transformed into something unrecognizable by the duo.
Looking at the unfamiliar streets and buildings, Zhang Ze suddenly recalled a phone call with Lily from half a month ago.
[Now with Sister Mei’Er gone, how about leaving it to me?]
[From now on, call it the Heaven-Blasting Gang, I’ll be the Gang Leader, and Fuji will be the Vice Gang Leader.]
[By then, I’ll have a whole bunch of Vice Gang Leaders...]