Cthulhu Gonfalon

In fact, Sui Xiong was left with no other choice, so out of helplessness, he had to play such tricks.

Originally, he wanted to show off his might. For instance, within a snap of his finger, he could flick those two silly big men like dust and send them flying away or something. But thinking about it, given his identity and status, if news of him fighting with mortals were to spread, and furthermore, with these two foolish men falling short of even the standard of junior adventurers… this could almost become a scandal.

Of course, Sui Xiong was not afraid of scandals. However, he found it quite embarrassing to create one. The people in his church had toiled hard to promote him, to create a great and just image or a mysterious and reserved image of him. Even if he could not render them help, he could at least not make trouble.

His thoughts stopped short here; he had no choice but to change his mind and use another way instead. Fortunately, he was strong enough and had more than enough ideas. Within a moment, he came up with a pretty good idea.

That gray-clad man had instigated the two foolish men to find trouble with him. He had thought that he had everything well-kept under wraps, but Sui Xiong clearly had seen through his plot. Since this fellow wanted to make things unpleasant for Sui Xiong, then Sui Xiong shall take a little revenge too. This was, of course, also very reasonable.

So he executed his Divine Power and made a switch with the gray-clad man. He even limited the actions of that man and coated him with an illusionary disguise, making that man look just like himself.

As a result, the two foolish men, as expected, did not sense anything amiss. They swung their fists, as big as vinegar pots, at that man, then gave him a good beating. The man was beaten until half dead, and if not for the little protection that Sui Xiong was secretly giving him, most likely he would have been beaten to death by those two foolish men.

In fact, that fellow had brought it upon himself. Being beaten to death was quite a good ending, but as Sui Xiong took a closer look, he saw that this man was not a bad person. The reason why he tried to create such trouble was purely because of his duty, which was to sound out and investigate any strange characters he saw.

Though he did make a mistake, his mistake did not warrant a death sentence. Which was why giving him a beating to teach him a lesson was good enough.

As to whether this man, named Knight Philip, Intelligence Chief of Toon Samat's men and one of the Masters of the Manor of Samat, would learn from his lesson to behave and work with a more low-key and gentler approach, Sui Xiong was not too sure himself.

Maybe he would? If not, that guy would be courting his own doom sooner or later, and he would not be worthy of any sympathy.

Seeing how the two big, foolish men were giving Knight Philip a good beating, Sui Xiong transformed into Knight Philip's appearance, then sat in a corner of the tavern with a drink as he watched on. He had thought the entire episode would end just like that, but someone had unexpectedly found it necessary to stand up and find out what was going on.

Of course, Sui Xiong could have strengthened his spell so that no one would discover that Knight Philip had become him. But that would create quite a sensation; it would be overpowering and too profound for people to understand. So after sparing a moment of thought, he let that martial monk reveal the truth, and at the same time, he changed back to his original appearance.

As for those golden coins used to treat the guests in the tavern to drinks, of course, those were taken from Knight Philip's purse.

Anyway, it would have been considered as a work injury for that guy. Given Toon Samat's style of handling such matters, he would certainly allow Knight Philip to put up a claim for reimbursement for action funds and medical expenses. A slight loss of gold coins would not mean much.

A student of this caliber, he truly did not know how he could teach him…

Smiling as he popped out the gold coins, Sui Xiong walked out of the tavern unhurriedly and headed for a nearby hotel. This time, he did not use any special methods. Just like any other ordinary person, Sui Xiong walked into the hotel and rented a better room. Then returning to his room, he lay on the bed with soft sheets that had obviously been smoked with incense and prepared to rest. Come night time, he would have to continue investigating the Manor of Samat and the situation of Toon Samat.

But before he could even fall asleep, he sensed someone entering the hotel and asking the hotel owner about his lodging details. It was one of those adventurers that had first started the discussion about him, that thin man who was the companion of the martial monk. His profession could either be a thief or a paladin.

What is this guy here for?

Sui Xiong was a little puzzled.

It was said that curiosity killed the cat. This was something all experienced adventurers knew. Away from home, they needed to keep a tight rein over their curiosity. They should never inquire about things they should not know and should never track people that they should not follow. Otherwise, they would most probably be courting death.

He clearly displayed his powerful ability, and yet this thin man still dared to track him down? He truly was not worried that he would provoke Sui Xiong into giving him a slap of death?

This man really had a lot of guts!

The thin man had a lot of experience; he easily bluffed his way through to earn the hotel owner's trust, and he managed to ask which room Sui Xiong was staying in. Then without another word, he went upstairs and headed straight to Sui Xiong's room.

And then, he knelt down on both knees and expressed his great admiration for Sui Xiong right at his doorstep.

Hey! What kind of play is he staging?!

Even someone as powerful as Sui Xiong stood frozen at that very moment.

He had thought this man was here to find trouble with him or was here to get close to him. Not in his wildest imagination would he have expected this person to make such a big bow in salutation while keeping such a low profile. He had intended to ignore the thin man but felt bad doing so. After hesitating for a moment, he let out a sigh inwardly, got up from the bed, and went to open the door.

"Come in if you have something to say," he said bluntly without even waiting for the thin man to open his mouth.

The thin man immediately scrambled to his feet and practically flew through the door.

Sui Xiong closed the door and casually found a stool to sit. Then he took another look at the thin man who had gotten down on both knees to worship him again. He could not help but sigh again.

"What are you trying to do here?"

"I want to be your disciple."

"Disciple?" Sui Xiong was taken aback. He could not help looking into this guy's heart. After he ascertained that this man truly wanted to acknowledge him as a teacher and learn from him, Sui Xiong could not help feeling a little distressed.

"Why would you think of coming here to look for a teacher?" Sui Xiong asked.

The thin man answered very naturally, "Because of your power. Seeing a master like yourself, I really want to be your disciple and learn from you. Isn't this something very normal?"

How is this normal? Normally, people just think of doing so, they would not actually put their thoughts into action like you!

Sui Xiong laughed wryly and then asked, "So, what would you like to learn? Magic? My guess is, you're either a thief or a paladin. My ways of a mage, are they going to be useful to you at all?"

"Given the ability to, who would refuse to be a mage?" the thin man asked him in return.

He made a reasonable point, and Sui Xiong was rendered speechless for a moment.

"And so long as you are willing to teach me, be it magic or something else, I'll be sure to put in the effort to learn very seriously," said the thin man earnestly. "So long as you are willing to teach me, anything will be good!"

In one look, Sui Xiong could tell that this man had only just stepped up to the level of a mid-ranked adventurer.

Sui Xiong was silent for a moment, and then he asked, "Why do you want to learn from me? You should at least have a purpose for doing so. For example, you have a very powerful enemy back in your hometown, or someone you were supposed to marry broke off the engagement, or maybe you were a prodigy when you were young but became overly obsessed and thus lost all the martial arts skills you used to have… no matter what, there should be a reason."

"I want to become strong," said the thin man. "There's no other reason. Just seeing how powerful you are, I want to learn from you. It might be impossible to become strong like you, but no matter what, so long as I can become stronger, even a little bit more will be good enough."

He was telling the truth. Sui Xiong could tell that at once. However, Sui Xiong could not help feeling a little embarrassed.

This was someone who had come to him in good faith, hoping that he would agree to become his teacher. He honestly felt bad refusing him. But… was he able to teach this man anything?

Come to think about it, he had many things to teach, but almost everything was very high-level—since he came into this world, most of the abilities that he came into contact with were high-level, especially the information he had received from the former Sun God. That was at a level that was way beyond the other high-level things.

So even if he were willing to teach, it was highly unlikely that this thin man would be able to learn anything.