Mages Are Too OP (WN)

Chapter 540 Both Are Taking Advantage

One could not feel the energy unless it was really close.

Roland had always thought that the special invisible energy could only be generated on special occasions, such as in ancestral halls and temples.

After all, the first time Roland encountered the energy, it was when the ritual to pay respect to ancestors was over.

First impression was very important. It was understandable that he reached such a conclusion.

However, the one-year search afterward made him begin to question the conclusion, until he saw the same energy masses again.

Also, there were plenty of such masses, which were drifting in and out of the hall in the courtyard.

Roland was instantly dazed.

Noticing his anomaly, the old man looked back and saw his hall. He asked weirdly, “What are you looking at? Is there something wrong with my ancestors’ paintings?”

“No, I just feel that the atmosphere here is different from other places. It’s very special,” replied Roland awkwardly.

Out of his expectation, the old man grew excited after hearing that from Roland. “You can tell that?”

“That’s what I’ve felt.”

“Come on in!” The old man grew even more interested and held Roland’s hand, leading him to the hall. “You seem very perceptive. I like to communicate with sophisticated young men like you the most.”

He dragged Roland to the hall in the courtyard.

Generally speaking, the hall was the place where the ancestors were enshrined during festivals, and where the guests were received on other occasions.

Of course, different places had different customs. People in other places might live in other ways. There were a few wooden chairs, and three apparently worn-out rocking chairs. The old man sat down first and pointed at a rocking chair near him warmly. “Take a seat. You probably didn’t know this, but this courtyard was built by me and my father from scratch. It took us a lot of time.” Roland looked around. Trying not to look at the energy balls that were flying around him, he asked in surprise, “You built the courtyard on your own? It’s made of green bricks!”

The old man was rather proud. “We kilned the bricks on our own. My father was a mason. He knew bricks very well.”

“Impressive!” said Roland in admiration. This quadrangle courtyard was clearly old. The old bricks all had a long history.

It couldn’t have been easy to kiln bricks decades earlier, not to mention building such a big courtyard with only two men.

“Tell me what’s impressive about this courtyard.” The old man slightly leaned forward. “I want to hear it.”

Was it some sort of test?

Roland only considered for two seconds, before he came up with a theory.

Recently, he had found that he was thinking much faster in reality.

“I’ll leave aside the advantages that this place is warm in winter and cool in summer. Even an ordinary person can feel that.” Roland smiled.

The old man picked up a fan and waved it softly. “Then what’s its advantage that ordinary people can’t feel?”

Roland kept his eyes half open. “Qi. I’ve sensed very feeble qi in this place.”

The old man’s eyes widened. “Stop talking about qi. It’s not scientific at all but pure nonsense.”

“That’s not nonsense, it’s exactly what I’m feeling.” Roland stared the old man in the eyes without giving in. “I don’t feel a lot of it, but it’s there.”

The two of them stared at each other for a while, and the old man laughed. “You’re right. There’s indeed qi in this place.” “You can feel it too?”

Roland looked at the old man in surprise. He wondered if the old man could sense the energy balls like he could.

The old man shook his head. “I can’t.”

Roland frowned. “Then how did you…”

“But it can’t stop me from reaching a conclusion.”

The old man stood up and walked to the front of a thick wooden chair.

He lifted his right hand and smashed it down heavily.

After a crack, the wooden chair was broken into halves.

The sharp fractured wood on the chair told everybody that it was a real chair, not a prop.

Then, the old man showed his right hand to Roland. There was not even a bruise on it.

“Ever since I moved here, I’ve never had any bottlenecks during my practices.” The old man chuckled. “I’ve never been sick either, not even with the slightest cold.”

Roland thought for a moment. “You practice martial arts. It’s not surprising that you’re healthy and strong. It can’t prove anything.” “Then have you seen anyone who can be as skilled at martial arts as me?”

While talking, the old man punched and broke apart one of the two parts of the chair on the floor yet again.

Roland raised his eyebrows.

He walked aside and stomped on the other broken chair heavily.

It was broken too!

However, the long chair was truly of a high quality. Roland’s foot was numb even though it was broken.

“You aren’t weak, young man.” The old man chuckled. “Since you can feel qi, I don’t think you are a simple person. Tell me why you’ve come to my place!”

Roland considered for a moment and said, “I was going to say that I wanted to learn the Iron Head Art from you, but now, I would say that I want to rent one of your houses and make use of the qi in your house.” “Hahahaha!” The old man laughed and said loudly, “Not a problem. I love frank young people the most. There are many empty rooms in my courtyard. Only my son and I live here, and he doesn’t stay home often. This place will be more lively if you’re willing to stay. You can take the room over there. It’s three thousand yuan a month.”

Roland took a deep breath. “That’s too expensive.”

Although Roland earned at least fifty times more than the rental from the game, it was still too high for such a small city, where a house with three bedrooms and a living room only cost about 1,500 a month.

This old man charged three thousand yuan for a room of only twenty square meters. He was truly greedy.

Pretending to consider the matter for a moment, Roland gritted his teeth and said, “Three thousand it is then. I’m willing to pay more to practice martial arts.” The old man laughed loudly in satisfaction.

Roland was expressionless, but he secretly chuckled in satisfaction too.

Both of them felt that they were taking advantage of each other. The old man felt that he was a business genius to have rented a room in the suburbs for three thousand yuan a month.

As for Roland… He felt that it was a great bargain as he sensed the drifting energy masses nearby.

Both of them were highly satisfied. Then, Roland took out his phone and paid the rent for the first month.

Despite being old, the old man was quite familiar with WeChat. Roland saw that his WeChat avatar was a young and beautiful girl, and his nickname was “Pointy Lotus Leaf.”

He was truly one slutty old man.

Putting his phone back, Roland asked, “Sir, may I know your surname?” “It’s Yu!”

Huh?

Roland was briefly stunned. “How are you connected to the Yu family?”

Nine out of ten people with the surname “Yu” were from Schuck’s family in this city.

Even Old Yu from the Red Star Grocery Star was Schuck’s distant relative. It was said that Schuck was even senior to Old Yu in the family hierarchy.

“Well, I’m from a branch of the family.” The old man looked at Roland weirdly. “Do you know anyone from the Yu family?” “Your young family leader is a good brother of mine.”

After a brief silence, the old man said carefully, “Why don’t I give your money back to you? Brother Kunpeng will laugh at me if he learns that I took his brother’s money.”

Roland smacked his lips. The traditionalists were really amusing.

This man was already very old, yet he had to call a young man in his twenties brother.

“That’s unnecessary. If you and I don’t tell, he’ll never know!” Roland waved his hand. “I do want to rent a room here. I’ll feel guilty if I don’t pay.”

“Okay.” The old man thought for a moment and realized his poor financial condition. “I’m Yu Kunming. You can call me Brother Ming.”

“I’d better call you Uncle Yu. It feels weird to call someone as old as you ‘brother.’” Roland waved his hand and said, “Let’s just consider age.”

“Okay.” Yu Kunming thought for a moment and said, “But don’t think that the rent is too high. This is actually a place of fortunes. It will do you good if you stay here.” Roland furrowed his brows. “How so?”

“Did you see the hill behind when you came?”

Roland nodded. There was indeed a hill behind the quadrangle courtyard. It wasn’t very high, but it was indeed a hill.

“The Yu family pays tribute to the predecessors at the ancestral hall, but the coffins and ashes of the predecessors are all buried on the hill back there, which is collectively owned by Yu Village.” Yu Kunming touched his bald head and continued with a proud tone, “The Yu family has existed almost a thousand years with quite a few celebrities, even through the turbulent times decades ago

—all thanks to this place of fortunes where the deceased members of the family are buried. It’s said that a grandmaster surveyed the terrain here and set up arrays.”

Roland immediately got it. “So, you and your son are actually tomb keepers!”

“There’s no such thing as a tomb keeper anymore.” Yu Kunming shook his head and said, “Although the main family transfers money and assets to us every year, nobody wants to be beneath others in a society where everybody is equal anymore. I’ll probably be the last generation of tomb keepers.”

Every person had the ambition to rise higher.

Roland could tell that even Yu Kunming didn’t want his son to grow into a tomb keeper. Both of them were silent for a moment when they discussed this heavy topic.

Then, Roland checked the room he just rented, only to discover that it was clean despite the lack of beddings and furniture.

He intended to bring beddings and daily necessities here when he came the next day. Holding back the desire to absorb the energy balls, Roland left the quadrangle courtyard. He remembered how he passed out and was sent to the hospital when he absorbed the energy ball last time. He didn’t want it to happen again.

He would absorb it someday, when the time was ripe, but not today.

The energy balls weren’t going anywhere. He could take his time.

Delighted, Roland rode his bike home whistling a tune. Hardly had he opened the door to his home when his phone rang.

Then, Schuck’s voice came from the phone. “Roland, not good. Come to the saber arts club. Something happened to Qi Shaoqiu.”

Hearing that, Roland simply pushed out the obsolete 125CC motorbike that had been kept in his family for a long time.

Confirming that the gas was still off, he immediately straddled the motorbike.

The motorbike roared, and Roland arrived at the saber arts club after only ten minutes.

The students were in a circle behind the short wall.

Vague cries came from the distance.