"..."
A servant? And captured at that?
What was this all about? Don't tell me that a captured servant with powerful medical skills, if that were really the case, I'd want to capture one too.
This couldn't be the right person. This was just a little servant who accompanied Le Youran here, not the person we're looking for.
"Then where is the person you invited to help earlier?" the Emperor asked again.
"That's him," Le Youran replied casually, while being somewhat curious about the Emperor's words. Could it be that Le Xiaoyao had already attracted His Majesty's attention? But even so, there was no need to come out personally to give thanks.
"What?!"
Almost everyone was shocked. If Le Youran hadn't said earlier that Xiaoyao was a servant, they wouldn't have been so surprised, because even if Xiaoyao was a youth, he could still possess exquisite medical skills. There were plenty of extraordinary people and events on this continent, and genius youths were numerous.
A genius youth with superb medical skills, this was still understandable. After all, everyone's understanding of the medical skill level of the person who had just treated Xin'er was still vague, with some even thinking anyone with a bit of medical knowledge could do it.
"Are you certain he saved Xin'er and the others?" At this moment, the Emperor had already seen the condition of the other people. There wasn't a single injured person left outside, and it was very likely this youth had healed everyone.
This speed was somewhat incredible.
"Mm, it was him," Le Youran's attitude remained casual, and she seemed to be thinking about something, making people uncertain whether her answer was genuine.
So the Emperor looked toward Xin'er, who had the most authority to clarify this matter.
Xin'er understood the Emperor's meaning and nodded, "Father Emperor, yes, it was Le Xiaoyao who treated me."
"Really? Le Xiaoyao? Surname Le. Le Yi, this isn't your Youran joking around, is it," the Emperor said to Le Yi somewhat puzzledly.
"What?" Le Yi was somewhat confused.
"Is this Le Xiaoyao a member of your Le family?" the Emperor asked.
"Not exactly," Le Yi frowned.
"What do you mean 'not exactly'?" The Emperor frowned at this answer, completely puzzled. What kind of meaning was this? If he is, then he is; if he isn't, then he isn't. What did 'not exactly' mean?
"Because this Le Xiaoyao is a temporary servant Youran captured. He's only been at our Le family for about a year. His original master was Guxing, so Guxing has been constantly dueling with Youran this year to get this Le Xiaoyao back," Le Yi briefly explained the situation. He believed others should have heard about this matter, since it had caused quite a stir.
"So it's him. It seems I was wrong before. I thought Guxing was mindful of master-servant relations, so she was willing to offend the Le family and go to war with Youran. Now it seems it might be because of this Le Xiaoyao's importance," the Emperor had a sudden realization, and like him, most people had the same thought.
At this moment, Le Youran spoke up, "No! Your Majesty, you're wrong to think that way. In Guxing's heart, Le Xiaoyao is important, but this is because of Guxing's feelings for him, not because Le Xiaoyao knows anything special. Even if Le Xiaoyao knew nothing at all, Guxing would still do the same."
"Youran, watch your words," Le Yi frowned slightly. You're speaking with His Majesty, don't be so direct about saying he's wrong.
"Watch what? I'm stating facts! Guxing really cares about Le Xiaoyao. No matter who captured him, she would risk her life to save him," Le Youran said. "And Guxing's potential is enormous. Even I'm already feeling somewhat powerless against her. If she continues to grow, whoever touches Xiaoyao will end up in a situation similar to what happened today, or even worse!"
"..."
Although somewhat doubtful of Le Youran's claims, feeling Guxing shouldn't be that terrifying, everyone began to pay attention to Guxing. They no longer thought of her as just someone relatively outstanding among commoners who was still far inferior compared to talents from super families like themselves.
The Dragon Gate Tournament was just a commoner's game, this had always been their mindset.
However, having seen today a peerless expert from among commoners, and a future peerless expert from among commoners, their perspective might change somewhat. In the future, they wouldn't think talents among commoners were people they could look down upon at will, some required them to look up.
Originally everyone knew this principle, talents among commoners appeared in every era. It's just that these were too few, and they hadn't encountered them, so naturally they would overlook this.
"What are you here for?" Le Youran suddenly asked.
Right, the most important thing now was to find this Le Xiaoyao for help, not to think about other matters.
"We're here to ask Le Xiaoyao for help. Mr. Le," The Emperor stepped forward while speaking and began calling to the dazed Xiaoyao ahead.
"..."
Xiaoyao continued being dazed without any movement.
"..."
Silence. The Emperor and others all fell silent, not expecting Xiaoyao to have no reaction. Could it be he didn't hear?
So the Emperor began calling again, "Mr. Le!"
"..."
Still no reaction whatsoever!
At this point, the Emperor and others were somewhat speechless. Why still no response? Was he putting on airs as an expert?
Fine, let him put on airs!
The Emperor decided to lower his status and introduce himself first, "Mr. Le, pardon the interruption. I am Ning Zhiyuan, Emperor of the Great Tang Empire."
Having gone this far, there should be a reaction now.
"..."
Xiaoyao didn't respond, still making no movement, continuing to be dazed. Others once again felt the silence, momentarily unsure how to describe their feelings.
Regardless, you're just a little servant. His Majesty has already lowered his status like this, yet you're still putting on expert airs with no reaction!!
Is this insulting His Majesty?
"Father Emperor! This person is too detestable. We don't need to do this," A prince couldn't contain himself and voiced his protest.
"Yes, Father Emperor, there's no need. He's just a servant. Even with brilliant medical skills, we don't need to be so humble!"
Suddenly, princes and princesses all began complaining, including some ministers who felt Xiaoyao was going too far.
"Enough, I know what I'm doing!!" Ning Zhiyuan said, emanating an aura with a sense of authority without anger. It would be strange if he weren't angry, he was still a sovereign ruler. Treating someone this way now, even fellow empire emperors would respond courteously. Yet now he received complete indifference.
What made it even more unbearable was that this person was just a small servant.
At this moment, Ning Zhiyuan felt he might have made a mistake. He shouldn't have come. Some people deserved respect, but some didn't need to be respected.
No matter how noble someone was, if others showed respect, there should be basic courtesy in return. Without that, such people wouldn't deserve respect regardless.
"Mr. Le, could you please respond and indicate your attitude," Ning Zhiyuan said once more, still maintaining respect. This was already giving Xiaoyao tremendous face, one could say no one had ever enjoyed such treatment.
If not for what had just happened, Ning Zhiyuan believed he couldn't have achieved this level. At most he would personally invite Xiaoyao, but if Xiaoyao ignored him like this, he would definitely leave in a huff.
Now he was being patient again and again, but the other party still ignored him completely. This made him hold back anger, not just someone as noble as the Son of Heaven, even an ordinary person would feel this way.
However, Ning Zhiyuan hadn't thought of punishing Xiaoyao. He felt Xiaoyao had already helped by coming this time. At most he wouldn't give any rewards, and there would be no future opportunities.
At this time, others not only cursed Xiaoyao for being rude and daring to treat Ning Zhiyuan, the Great Tang Emperor, this way, but some also cursed Xiaoyao inwardly, feeling he was wasting an opportunity. As long as Xiaoyao showed a better attitude now and casually helped out, great wealth and status would be within easy reach, and becoming a top-tier figure on the continent would be just around the corner!
But Xiaoyao wasn't treasuring this opportunity and was even putting on airs before Ning Zhiyuan. There would surely be no future.
However, many people were also secretly pleased. If they could also put on such airs before Ning Zhiyuan, it would definitely feel great. This wasn't something just anyone could do, not many people in the world could.
Because of this, some people looked at Xiaoyao with a kind of worship.
Xiaoyao was completely unaware of all this and didn't get to enjoy these complex gazes, because his mind currently contained only martial arts. His entire being was immersed in it, digesting this peerless expert's sword intent bit by bit.
He believed that before long, he could completely digest this peerless expert's sword intent. By then, his martial arts comprehension would directly rise several levels, this would be better than reading tens of thousands of martial arts manuals.
Such an opportunity was truly too rare. A battle that had just ended, with remaining sword intent and intact traces, this was only slightly inferior to witnessing it firsthand.
Because this opportunity was so rare, Xiaoyao directly opened his heart and immersed himself in it. He wasn't worried about danger since he was just a small character with this protective umbrella no one would "dare" to touch him!
Small characters truly had the advantages of being small characters.
He just hadn't expected to be valued by a group of important figures, and top-tier important figures of the continent at that. If he knew, he would definitely feel this small character was receiving unexpected favor.
It was precisely because of these important figures' attention that this small character became important, and that small character protective umbrella might lose its effect.
And because of this, his comprehension might be disturbed...
(End of Chapter)