I never upgrade

Chapter 60 Chief Steward of Yundu

"Alright then, I'll listen to you. If we really want to go, we need to hurry and find a shallow spot to cross the river first..."

Luca finally convinced himself, suppressed his unease, and began to lead Xu Lun the way.

...

Meanwhile, Xu Lun and Luka were trying to cross the river into the forest.

Zulu Village.

Near the east end of the village.

The villagers were gathered together, with Old Wu standing at the front. Everyone was looking out of the village, their faces filled with unease and anxiety.

At this moment, on the dirt road outside the village, more than twenty cultivators were gathered together. Judging from their clothing, they all came from the same place.

Yundu.

These cultivators were divided into two groups.

One group came to support Zhou Bo, led by Xu Long, a deputy general of the Yun Du garrison, the Yun Tian Wei.

Another group came to support Zhou Shimei, led by a young cultivator from Yundu Academy, Zhou Ziheng, who ranked seventh on the academy's popularity list. He also had another identity: the grandson of the chief steward of the Zhou Royal Mansion in Yundu.

As fellow students from the Academy and a top-ten prodigy on the Wind and Cloud Ranking, Zhou Bo and the others were naturally quite familiar with Zhou Ziheng's name. So, upon meeting, they immediately bowed and thanked their senior brother for coming from afar to provide support.

Zhou Ziheng waved his hand and said with a smile:

"Alright, alright, don't be so reserved. We're here to support you, not to supervise you. Besides, my grandfather will be here soon. We can discuss this in detail when he arrives. Deputy General Xu, is that alright?"

Xu Long, who was standing nearby, immediately cupped his hands and said:

"This humble general dares not. Since Chief Steward Zhou is coming, we should wait until he arrives before discussing this together."

In terms of rank, the Chief Steward of the Zhou Prince's Mansion and the Commander of the Cloud Guard are of the same level, only one is civil and the other is military. Here, Chief Steward Zhou is the highest-ranking leader, so it is only natural that he is expected to take charge of the overall situation.

Not to mention, Zhou Bo took the beloved daughter of the City Lord of Yundu with him on this training trip. Fortunately, nothing went wrong. Otherwise, even if General Zhou himself had come, things might not have turned out well.

Therefore, both emotionally and logically, he should act more cooperative, a point that Xu Long clearly understood.

Seeing that the other party readily agreed, Zhou Ziheng smiled and returned the greeting, then said no more.

In the crowd, Zhang Yuan stared blankly at the scene, his expression somewhat dazed. For a moment, he felt like an outsider—it seemed that he was the only one who hadn't figured out the identities of these people. Judging from the way his senior brother and junior sister looked, they seemed to be very familiar with each other as soon as they met.

The identities of these people, such as Chief Steward Zhou and Deputy General Xu, were all quite impressive. Zhang Yuan was shocked when he heard about them, but Zhou Bo and Zhou Shimei seemed calm and collected, as if they were already used to such a scene.

No, rather than adapting, it's more accurate to say that they've always lived in this kind of environment and are used to this kind of scene. Those high-ranking and famous figures are just people Zhang Yuan has only heard of, but Zhou Bo and Zhou Shimei often see them, and can even talk to them.

While Zhang Yuan could only fill in the gaps in his understanding of the world with his own imagination, Zhou Bo and Zhou Shimei had already personally witnessed what the world looked like with their own eyes.

Such a gap is indescribable.

Although Zhang Yuan was standing in the middle of the crowd, he felt as if he were isolated and out of place with everything around him. He didn't even understand what the point of his standing there was.

But soon, his thoughts were interrupted by a gust of wind.

Everyone else noticed it too, so they all looked up at the sky.

All around, countless branches and leaves swayed in the wind, making a rustling sound, as if indicating that something was coming.

"Such a powerful aura..."

"Someone remarked."

Zhou Ziheng smiled slightly and said, "It's my grandfather, he's here."

As soon as he finished speaking, a blur appeared in the sky. It was incredibly fast and made no attempt to conceal its aura. In fact, it deliberately unleashed its power, releasing its pressure in all directions, both to investigate and to warn others.

Upon seeing this, everyone adjusted their positions, facing the newcomers, and prepared to greet them.

Zhou Huaijin, the chief steward of the Zhou Prince's Mansion in Yundu, known as Steward Zhou, with his two pairs of distinctive brown wings spread wide, suddenly unleashed a powerful acceleration, arriving above everyone in the blink of an eye—

"Xu Long, Deputy General of the Cloud Guard, pays his respects to Lord Zhou!"

The deputy general, Xu, spoke first, leading his men to bow in salute.

Zhou Bo also bowed, and Zhang Yuan was momentarily flustered, unsure whether he should do the same.

Logically speaking, these are high-ranking officials from Yundu; it would be perfectly reasonable for them to exchange greetings upon meeting.

The problem is that there are two groups of people present. Zhou Bo's group has just bowed, but Zhou Shimei's group has not yet bowed. In principle, I belong to neither Zhou Bo's group nor Zhou Shimei's group, so I am caught in the middle, which is quite awkward.

If he follows Zhou Bo's side now, won't people think he's taking sides? Will Zhou Bo and Zhou Shimei think he's currying favor with them? What will Deputy General Xu think? What will Senior Brother Zhou Ziheng think of him?

Zhang Yuan was caught in a deep dilemma, but the next second, he suddenly shivered and felt an invisible chill descend upon him.

"This is?!..."

Zhang Yuan didn't dare to look up, but he could feel that at this moment, there was a pair of cold eyes scrutinizing him from above.

The next second, without hesitation, he bowed deeply and saluted.

Only when the chill gradually dissipated did Zhang Yuan feel that the pressure on his body seemed to have lessened somewhat.

"Such a strong sense of oppression..."

Cold sweat trickled down his cheeks to the tip of his nose, and Zhang Yuan's face was filled with astonishment.

Soon, everyone around Zhou Shimei bowed in greeting, but Zhou Shimei herself did not make any movement, only nodding slightly.

Meanwhile, Chief Steward Zhou, seeing that the young princess was safe and sound, remained silent. While everyone else had their heads bowed, he quietly bowed to Zhou Shimei.

Zhang Yuan, who had just recovered from his shock, caught a glimpse of Zhou Shimei out of the corner of his eye and was immediately taken aback.

Doesn't she need to bow?

Zhou Bo's identity is most likely related to the Yundu garrison, and he may be the son of a military family, as can be seen from the fact that he came to support Vice General Xu.

However, Zhang Yuan still hasn't figured out Zhou Shimei's background. The person who came to pick her up was Zhou Ziheng, a genius cultivator from Yundu Academy, whose backer was the chief steward of the Zhou Royal Mansion. So, is Zhou Shimei from the Zhou Royal Mansion? The granddaughter of a high-ranking official?

Zhang Yuan had roughly guessed this much; he didn't even dare to think about guessing any deeper.