Chapter 388 - Shou, Brother Shou?

Fu Zhi was stunned.

He had thought of many possibilities of how this lad in front of him would explain his behavior.

He had not expected for him to say his spiritual array was set up was rather well.

'Is he encouraging me?'

Fu Zhi was dumbfounded.

After being the mayor for so many years, this was the first time that someone younger than him had dared to use that tone to talk to him.

It was exactly what he said that led him to abandon his old-fas.h.i.+oned way of thinking and start seriously consider the young man in front of him.

In the beginning, he had thought that the person who would break the Divine Secret array would be an older person who had studied spiritual arrays for many years and conducted extensive studies on the Divine Secret.

After looking at this young man, he hesitated.

He looked very young. Even if he had started learning about spiritual arrays and the Divine Secret as a youth, it wouldn't have happened so fast.

What the young man said earlier led him to rethink his previous point of view.

Without any abilities, how could he have broken the Divine Secret array?

Without any abilities, how could he have dared to open his mouth to say such words of encouragement?

"Mister, who are you?" he asked with a serious tone.

Once Xu Xiaoshou heard the word "Mister," the rock weighing on his heart disappeared.

The switch from "you" to "Mister" meant that Fu Zhi had been suppressed.

Of course, all of this was built on Xu Xiaoshou's unorthodox Weaving Technique.

It was not related to anything else.

Xu Xiaoshou thought of how to twist his words as he reduced his speed and said, "My ident.i.ty is not important. Rather, even if I say my ident.i.ty, you would not know it."

He looked at Fu Zhi with a smile on his face.

Fu Zhi was stunned as his face turned red in embarra.s.sment.

'That's right!'

'I have been trapped by my own Divine Secret array for four years and have lost touch with the rest of the world.'

In those four years, who knew how he had lived?

It was a mixture of poverty, bitterness, and despair.

Even though he could still communicate with Fu Xing, because of his pride and ego, he did not want to admit that he was trapped by the spiritual arrays.

It was to the extent that even after trying for four years, he still did not escape and ended up falling deeper into the trap.

At first, Fu Zhi had some chance to forcefully break the spiritual array.

After a while, as he continued to go astray on the research and study of the Cardinal Wheel, he could not even force his way out even if he wanted to.

Under layers and layers of the spiritual array, the mysterious power led him to go crazy and insanely addicted…

As well as lost.

"Four years..."

Fu Zhi mumbled. He did not know what the outside world was like anymore.

The communication with Fu Xing had been cut off at the beginning when he said he was going to start his closed-door practice.

This led the people of the City Lord Mansion to think that he was practicing hard and did not want to disturb him.

Furthermore, he was trapped in the layers of the spiritual array. Without any external help, he would not have been able to escape.

Thinking about this, Fu Zhi let out a sigh.

Even if this lad in front of him had exploded his spiritual array and efforts, he was still, after all, his savior.

It was because of this fact that Fu Zhi did not attack him from the beginning.

He would not have felt good about it if he had.

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the man's changing expressions. After the end of his last expression, the notification board popped an update: Received Grat.i.tude.

He was stunned.

'Grat.i.tude?'

He had blasted this man's spiritual array, yet he still received grat.i.tude.

'What is this guy's brain made of?'

Without being trapped by spiritual arrays for a few years, no one would have been able to understand how Fu Zhi was thinking now.

Xu Xiaoshou was no different.

This did not stop him from taking advantage of the situation.

"Have you let it go?" His tone was mild as if it was a casual remark.

As for what he had let go of, to be honest, Xu Xiaoshou did not know.

Once Fu Zhi heard this random sentence, he let out a sigh. He knew that the man in front of him was not simple at all and had seen through him.

'This kind of person should not be as simple as he seems on the surface. It is as if...'

'This was all a guise!'

'Including this look, age, and ability...'

'All of it is fake!'

'But that's not important!'

Fu Zhi's face tightened. After letting it go, he felt much more relaxed. He put his hands together and said, "Thank you for your help in getting me out of this trap, but..."

He looked down as he tried to avoid eye contact and asked, "Could I trouble you to keep this as a secret for me and not to spread the word of this?"

Xu Xiaoshou almost burst out laughing.

He lightly nodded.

"Sure."

Once the word was said, there was silence for quite a while as the two of them entered a state of awkwardness.

Xu Xiaoshou knew that by not saying more words, this scenario would arise. All of this was still within his expectations.

As long as he did not feel awkward, the awkward one would be the other person.

He had to wait until Fu Zhi could not stand it anymore and start to change the topic by himself before this scenario could pa.s.s.

As he expected, the air was only silent for a few seconds before Fu Zhi noticing something amiss.

Nevertheless, he was, after all, the mayor. Even if he had been trapped for a few years, his conversation and communication skills were still present.

"May I know what your name is?"

Before Xu Xiaoshou could answer, he said, "After all, you are my savior. If I do not know your name, that would be disrespect on my part."

Xu Xiaoshou looked at his sincere face and was a little hesitant.

At the top of his mind, he thought of Zhou Tianshen and almost blurted it out.

'Come to think of it, Zhou Tianshen seemed to be from one of Tiansang City's big four families, which might be known to Fu Zhi!'

'Moreover, my real name is not something to be ashamed of. I don't have a reason to hide my name.'

Some things could not be pretended.

"Xu Xiaoshou."

With that said, disappointment flashed across Fu Zhi's eyes.

'This name...'

'Why does it sound so perfunctory?'

'Even if you did not want me to know your real name, you could have at least made up a better one!'

'Xiao Shou?'

Suspected, Pa.s.sive Points +1.

Xu Xiaoshou raised his eyebrows, 'Does he not believe me?'

He opened his mouth and was about to say something but Fu Zhi seemed to have good control and was adept at hiding his emotions.

Right after the Suspected notification appeared, the guy suddenly seemed like another person as he pa.s.sionately patted his shoulders.

"I see you are that Brother Shou!"

"I have long heard about you!"

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.

'Brother Shou?'

'This...'

'You can't call me that, Uncle!'

His body jerked as his legs almost turned to jelly.

'Fu Xing calling me brother is enough. You are someone of the older generation, old enough to be my uncle, and yet you are calling me Brother Shou.'

'I am f*cking unable to accept this!'

"You are too polite, Mister. We don't seem to be that close yet."

"Ah!" Fu Zhi naturally knew what Xu Xiaoshou was thinking about as he patted his shoulder and smiled.

"Learning is endless. Those who learn are achievers. Based on your demonstration of Divine Secret just now made you worthy of me calling you in that way!"

Fu Zhi smiled casually as he tried to subtly observe Xu Xiaoshou's reaction.

He had purposely mentioned the Divine Secret and was not sure if this guy would get his hint.

It had to be known that it was considered a top secret even within the Holy Divine Palace.

The reason he could understand some of it was because he had gotten ahold of the Cardinal Wheel from the White Cave. Where would this guy in front of him have heard it from?

Xu Xiaoshou's attention was not on the Divine Secret at all.

The frequency of his mind had already been adjusted such that he did not know where it was at anymore.

'Brother Shou?'

'What f**king Brother Shou?'

'In this family of yours, even calling someone brother is pa.s.sed down through the genes.'

'Could you guys at least differentiate what you call me?'

'If you call me Brother Shou and Fu Xing calls me Brother Shou as well, then how do I f*cking address you?'

'Uncle?'

'Brother?'

'Or... Uncle Brother?'

Despair filled Xu Xiaoshou's heart. 'What if I am exposed later on...'

'Help!'

'Have I bluffed too much?'