"Yes, yes, yes I'll visit some time soon. Now don't you have a training period with Feixiao?" Taigong quickly hung up the phone before heading towards Aurum Alley.
Years passed as his increase in strength slowly reached a plateau.
His days were spent beating up Jing Yuan, eating at Aurum Alley and listening to music, planting disciples of sanctus medicus into the ground.
Occasionally helping out the cloud knights once in a while.
It as quite the funny sight. Instead of being sent to the shackling prison, they were shoved into the dirt within his home.
Each disciple only leaving their head above the ground.
Yet none dared to move from their spot due to the explosive collars attached to their necks. Move above an elevation and they would explode instantly.
They were stuck as human cabbages for the rest of their lives.
Taigong wandered around before stopping at a tea shop where he sat down to listen to stories and drink tea with snacks.
Today's story was quite amusing considering it was about him. It was his very first battle. The moment Nous gazed at him.
His head turned to look at his phone with a notification.
[???] [I have something I want your help to investigate. It involves Zandar One Kuwabara and perhaps a scepter.]
[???] [I'll owe you one.]
[Taigong] [I'll have a look.]
He turned his attention to his tea as he sipped it slowly while listening to the story of his own ascension from another party.
Many parts were embellished but the overall core was the same.
"Hello, would you like to settle the bill or would you like anything else?" A soft seductive voice entered his ears.
"Hck!" Taigong flinched for a moment at her smile. A gorgeous foxian girl stood in front of him. Black hair with purple highlights with fluffy ears and tails.
Her golden eyes blinked in confusion as the man in front of her was frozen. "Hello?"
Taigong soon recovered as he coughed, "Send the bill to the Palace of Astrum." He signed the bill with his own stamp before thinking about the foxian who soon left.
~~~~
"Master, is something wrong?" Jing Yuan asked as he narrowly dodged a streetlamp.
"No nothing is wrong." Despite replying positively his attacks quickened as Jing Yuan's dignity as a general was being put to the test.
Getting knocked out by a streetlamp was not a good story.
Jing Yuan's eyes narrowed as he felt something was off.
Immediately after training he ran towards the divination comission. "Jingtian, where's Fu Xuan?" The divination master pointed towards an office as Jing Yuan sped off.
"Fu Xuan, I need your assistance. Something is off with the Grandmaster."
Her office door was thrown open as the short pink figure clenched her first before calming down. Anything involving the Grandmaster at Arms was enough to be moved to a top priority,
"Explain." A cold voice filled with restraint demanded.
"You expect me to spy on the Grandmaster of the Xianzhou? An emanator of erudition using an eye given by the erudition?" Fu Xuan's exasperated look stunned Jing Yuan.
"Does that mean you can't do it?" The esteemed arbiter general teased the disciple of the divination commission.
A huff and a puff and she fell for the taunt.
"Converge and awaken! Hexegram." Lines of purple energy fluctuations filled the office as Fu Xuan soon woke with sweat dripping down her face.
"He let me off with a warning. You're on your own for this general. However, I did see his location. A tea shop with the stories in Aurum Alley."
Fu Xuan watched as Jing Yuan exited her office as she thought about the moment her vision was repelled by a huge fluctuation of energy in the form of a middle finger.
Truly worthy as the genius of combat, to be able to counterstrike almost anything. Rumors are he's even developed a method to hit memetic entities with physical attacks.
Days passed as Jing Yuan tailed his master.
Each day he would go to the same exact shop at the same exact time.
The more he looked the more he felt it couldn't be right?
The one who had no past time apart from fishing and tending to his garden (Disciples of Sanctus Medicus in dirt)?
Suddenly became so dedicated to visiting a tea shop?
It was then that thunder struck Jing Yuan harder than Lightning Lord.
A black haired foxian came up to him and sat next to him as they chatted before she went off to serve other customers.
And during this time, instead of looking towards the stage like other customers this guy was looking at the server.
"He's in love?! No way that combat freak fell in love." Jing Yuan's inner voice was crying in shock and disbelief.
He grabbed his abacus and immediately sent a message to Yueyu.
[YuanYuan] [Quick question, does master have a type?]
[Big Sis Yu] [I remember years ago he said his ideal type was a pretty foxian with good tail care and good legs. Also rich being a bonus.]
[YuanYuan] [IMG.14298609]
[YuanYuan] [This seem like it?]
[Big Sis Yu] [No way.]
Big Sis Yu has forwarded a message
[Big Sis Yu] [Jing Yuan it's all up to you now. Only you can help us cuff that combat freak.]
[Autumn Chilies has joined the chat]
[Autum Chilies] [I'm counting on you Jing Yuan, I'm sick of working overtime every time he goes out looking for fights out of boredom. I'll kill you if he takes me on another trip to find a Lord Ravager.]
Jing Yuan gulped as he hadn't expected Taigong to be so bored he'd search for a Lord Ravager to fight. Turns out master was so considerate he only bothered the Yaoqing and not the Loufu...
"Phew" He wiped his invisible sweat as he nodded, "I will do my best to help you master as thanks."
He thought of all his paper work on his desk and then imagined Yueyu with her paper work explaining to Marshall Hua how they somehow got away from Zephyro.
Poor Jiaoqiu being dragged along to heal him during battle.
[YuanYuan has changed the group name to Operation: Cuff Taigong]
The only upside was that for a genius he was pretty stupid outside of combat matters.
Not saying he was incapable of being smart but rather all that calculation power given by Nous and he only uses it towards combat.
Helping him get together with this foxian shouldn't be hard, Jing Yuan thought as he looked at her file.
[Ziyun, Waiter at Aurum Alley Tea Shop]
[Daugher of a wealthy foxian tycoon family with high authority in the IPC]
He whistled in amusement, "Teacher, your luck must be pretty good to have such an encounter and a disciple who is willing to help."
~~~~
"Achoo!" Taigong sneezed into his sleeve as Ziyun approached him with a box of tissues. "Is anything wrong Taigong?" Her soft voice asked.
Taigong's eye opened in a rare occasion as he glanced at the surroundings.
"Something's off, someone is talking about me." He responded as the story teller continued to embellish his words.
"And so the Grandmaster at Arms broke off a streetlight deeming a normal weapon too difficult for opponents.."
Ziyun chuckled as she hid her smile behind her sleeve, "Perhaps..."
[Chapter Lightcones]
[The Erudition of a Salted Fish]
"Genius, grandmaster, emanator — yet none of those titles stop him from pursuing the highest form of wisdom: the right to flop and lie still.
After impressing an Aeon and surviving the cosmos, he finally earned what he desired most — permission and the strength to salt. Life is better spent drifting through tea, stories, and zero urgency… unless someone truly deserves to be beaten into the ground. A salted fish fears nothing — not destiny, not battle, and certainly not overtime...
Perhaps the true genius is knowing exactly when not to work"