Chapter 189: A Stray Thought
Xin Ma stared at the scroll on his desk as morning broke, and disciples began entering through the front doors.
Despite the situation he found himself in, he had slept rather well. He was never the type to lose sleep over trivial drama. Still, if he were being honest, Liu Feng's behavior troubled him.
Usually, Liu Feng was an understanding young man who grasped the world better than most of his peers. Xin Ma often saw him as a younger version of himself. Yet, he had to admit that Liu Feng had shown himself more capable, having successfully published the Monstrous Beast Encyclopedia and navigating inner sect politics impressively well for someone so young and inexperienced.
Xin Ma's gaze rarely left the scroll, even as disciples approached him with questions about books or what they needed to find. Some were timid, others more confident; a few treated him like just another servant, addressing him with condescending airs. The latter group wouldn't survive long as cultivators. Xin Ma might have offered them advice in his younger years, but now, he let it pass. After all, he didn't care to waste time on lessons their parents should have taught them long ago.
No matter how hard he tried to focus on the scroll, his mind drifted to the time Liu Feng spent in the outer sect library.
Liu Feng had never been a forceful person.
Yet, he had played his hand decisively, imposing his will on others. Whether Xin Ma liked it or not, Liu Feng was determined to help him.
It wasn't that he held a grudge. In fact, Xin Ma was touched by Liu Feng's commitment. But it also revealed the bad influences shaping the young man.
And that bad influence was the girl who accompanied him... Song Song.