71 Trying Too Hard

In the end, nothing of importance was mentioned during their chat at the main hall.

After a long session of exchanging pleasantries with Elder Luoxuan, most of the elders from the Origin Lake Sect finally dispersed, leaving only Elder He Luoxuan, Sect Leader Dan Juexing, and Elder Ming Leishang.

Accompanied by their attendants, the trio then casually made their way to the venue for the lecture that would be held the next day.

This cultivation lecture was the official reason for He Luoxuan's visit to the Origin Lake Sect, so it naturally could not be treated lightly.

Before long, Zhao Yunxiao found himself standing at the front of a huge lecture hall – one that was even bigger than the ones where their own monthly cultivation lectures were usually held.

"We tried to keep the layout similar to past years, so there should not be too many issues," Ming Leishang explained. "Still, feel free to let us know if you want anything changed, and I will immediately let the guys perform the necessary adjustments."

He Luoxuan took a quick glance across the hall and said, "Xiaoqiao, Yunxiao, what do you think?"

"Go take a look," Song Xiaoqiao gestured towards Zhao Yunxiao.

Zhao Yunxiao: "..."

Elder He asked both of us what we think! Both of us!

Why am I the only one who has to go take a look?

But of course, Zhao Yunxiao knew better than to let his feelings show.

"Understood, Senior Martial Sister Song," Zhao Yunxiao nodded obediently.

"Go with this brother and note down everything that he says," Ming Leishang also instructed one of the Origin Lake Sect disciples tagging along with the group.

With that, Zhao Yunxiao walked off to start his work under the accompaniment of the Origin Lake Sect disciple, all while the rest remained where they were and continued chatting among themselves.

Zhao Yunxiao's first destination was the lecturer's desk.

In the past, Zhao Yunxiao had attended a few of the monthly cultivation lectures where He Luoxuan had substituted in for Mo Tianfeng.

Because of that, he knew that unlike Mo Tianfeng, He Luoxuan preferred to sit at the desk while conducting his lectures.

Zhao Yunxiao took a close look at the desk and the chair while imagining He Luoxuan sitting there.

At the same time, he thought back to the information that he had gathered about He Luoxuan, as well as what he had observed during the journey to the Origin Lake Sect.

In fact, getting to see the layout of He Luoxuan's room in the Crazy Winter Heavenly Palace was coming to be of great use here.

That was his own heavenly palace, so he surely had absolute control over everything within.

Since that was the case, the layout of his personal room would very likely be what suited his preferences best.

With that as a reference, Zhao Yunxiao could easily spot any differences here.

"Has the layout and furniture always been the same over the past few years?" Zhao Yunxiao asked the disciple who had followed him.

"E-Eh? Yes, that's what I've heard," the young man was startled by the sudden question, but managed to answer it quickly nevertheless.

Zhao Yunxiao rubbed his chin in contemplation.

So this disciple did not know for sure either...

If it was really as what Elder Ming said and the layout had always been kept constant, this would mean that He Luoxuan had no issues with it either.

In that case, any adjustments that he suggested might be seen as excessive.

But on the other hand, if he managed to further improve on the originally good layout, wouldn't that be even better?

And on the off chance that the Origin Lake Sect tried to cut corners and did not truly prepare the layout as well as past years, it would not reflect well on them if they simply let it pass.

It's decided then.

"The chair seat needs to be half an inch higher," Zhao Yunxiao said to the disciple.

"Y-Yes! An inch higher! Got it!" the young man quickly noted it down.

"Not a full inch. Just half an inch," Zhao Yunxiao looked at the panicky young man and repeated with a sigh. "What's your name?"

"Eh?" the young man looked up at him in surprise. "My name is Li Teng."

"Are you an inner disciple?"

"N-No way! I am just an outer disciple of the Origin Lake Sect..."

This Li Teng looked to be in his mid twenties, but seemed to be extremely nervous right now.

Zhao Yunxiao could understand why though.

In any case, the Origin Lake Sect was still a subordinate sect to the Black Tortoise Sect.

Even though Zhao Yunxiao was much younger than himself, being tasked to attend to someone from the Black Tortoise Sect must be rather nerve wrecking as a single mistake could easily bring about a disastrous outcome.

If he ended up offending the Black Tortoise Sect somehow, the Origin Lake Sect would likely choose not to defend him from whatever punishment the Black Tortoise Sect wanted to mete out.

And that anxiety was probably exacerbated by the fact that Li Teng did not know Zhao Yunxiao was also just an outer disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect.

Then again, an outer disciple of the Black Tortoise Sect still had a much higher status than Li Teng anyway.

"All right, Brother Li Teng," Zhao Yunxiao said. "We are working together to improve the layout now, so we can be considered partners. And since we are partners, you can act comfortably around me. There's no need to be so nervous."

"Y-Yes! Understood!" Li Teng quickly answered.

There was no way he understood.

Or at the very least, he did not seem to be able to adjust accordingly even if he did.

"Don't worry, I will tell you exactly what to change, so just note down whatever I say," Zhao Yunxiao assured. "If there is anything you missed, feel free to ask me to repeat it."

"Got it, thank you!" Li Teng finally seemed slightly relieved.

"All right, let's continue then," Zhao Yunxiao said. "As I said, the chair seat needs to be half an inch higher. The desk should be angled slightly more to the right, and the surface has to be slightly smoother. There should be a space for tea at the top right corner of the desk. There needs to be two more brushes, and one of them needs to be thinner. The thinner brush's head must be soft..."

"W-Wait...!"

Just like that, Zhao Yunxiao walked around the lecture hall with Li Teng in tow, commenting on every little nuance that he thought could be improved on.

As a sect librarian, he had plenty of experience working on the layouts for cultivation lectures.

That, coupled with what he had learnt about He Luoxuan, allowed him to spot plenty of areas for improvement.

While each of these changes could be considered small and minute, the number of changes quickly started to add up as time passed.

By the time they went one round and returned to the front of the lecture hall, Li Teng already had a long list of changes to be made.

"Senior Martial Sister Song, please take a look at the proposed changes," Zhao Yunxiao said.

Li Teng caught the drift, and quickly handed the notes he made over to Song Xiaoqiao.

Song Xiaoqiao frowned the moment she saw the long list of adjustments to be made. It was obvious that she never expected this many items.

Li Teng noticed that too and nervously looked over at Zhao Yunxiao, hoping that he would explain himself.

Unfortunately for him, Zhao Yunxiao merely remained silent while waiting for Song Xiaoqiao's response.

After all, there was nothing to explain.

What he suggested were all either targeting He Luoxuan's preferences or to create a more conducive environment for the lecture.

If he really had to explain everything, not only would it take forever for him to finish saying it all, but it could even end up putting He Luoxuan on the spot if Zhao Yunxiao was made to list out his individual preferences one by one!

"How is it?" He Luoxuan asked at this moment.

The inspections of the previous years were completed rather quickly, so they naturally thought that it would be the same this time round as well.

Because of that, they had chosen to stand here and chat while waiting for it to finish.

Who knew that the inspection this year would take this long?

That resulted in them having stood here for quite a while. But now that it was done, He Luoxuan could not help but feel curious about the difference this time round.

In fact, it was not only him.

Dan Juexing and Ming Leishang looked over at this moment as well, all three of them focusing their attention upon Song Xiaoqiao who had the list in hand.

"Please take a look, Elder He."

Since the attention of the elders had all fallen upon the list, Song Xiaoqiao naturally dared not hold onto it any longer.

Seeing this, even Zhao Yunxiao felt nervous.

For something as trivial as finalising the adjustments to the lecture hall layout, he had expected Song Xiaoqiao to be able to make the decision.

Who knew that the three elders would suddenly have such great interest in it?

Now, he could only hope that he did not say anything wrong during his assessment earlier!

"Let me see," He Luoxuan received the list and opened it up to read it together with both Dan Juexing and Ming Leishang.

It was no wonder that the inspection took such a long time – the list was indeed rather long.

But the adjustments stated on the list... looked a little fussy?

Raising the chair seat by half an inch?

Angling things a little more?

Slightly smoother surface?

Wasn't this just trying to make things difficult for the other party?

He Luoxuan could not help but feel embarrassed when he saw the list. But when he glanced towards Zhao Yunxiao, he suddenly recalled how this outer disciple had prepared matters perfectly according to his preferences before this.

Could it be...?

"...Elder He, shall we follow the list and make the necessary adjustments?" Ming Leishang asked doubtfully.

Ming Leishang shared He Luoxuan's sentiments, and thought that the listed adjustments were simply too petty.

At the same time, he also noted that this was his first time seeing Zhao Yunxiao, which more than likely meant that Zhao Yunxiao had been assigned to be He Luoxuan's attendant for the first time this trip.

With that, everything made sense in Ming Leishang's head.

It was probably the new attendant feeling the need to do something to show how useful he was, and ended up trying too hard instead.

This happened often when disciples were too desperate to impress their elders, and Ming Leishang had seen plenty of disciples of the Origin Lake Sect commit the same mistake.

Of course, Ming Leishang was not going to call this out in front of everyone.

Since even he could tell that much, he was sure that He Luoxuan would be able to as well.

Ming Leishang knew that He Luoxuan was a reasonable person who would not indulge in his people at the expense of others for no good reason, so Ming Leishang decided to simply prompt He Luoxuan to make the decision instead.

"Yunxiao," Elder He looked at Zhao Yunxiao while holding up the full list of changes.

"Here," Zhao Yunxiao answered nervously.

"Are you certain about these changes?" He Luoxuan asked.

"This..." Zhao Yunxiao looked up to see He Luoxuan staring straight at him right now.

Back in the Crazy Winter Heavenly Palace, He Luoxuan had done the same thing – staring straight at him when questioning him on who came up with the menu.

At that time, He Luoxuan's gaze had been extremely domineering, rendering Zhao Yunxiao utterly helpless and incapable of going against his wishes.

However, it felt different this time.

Unlike that powerful gaze from back then, Zhao Yunxiao actually felt that the gaze that He Luoxuan was currently looking at him with was rather... curious?

Why the sudden change?

Zhao Yunxiao quickly thought through the numerous possible scenarios, and finally settled on what he believed was the most probable conclusion.

With that, he felt the tense nerves in his body relaxing in an instant.

"Yes, Elder He," Zhao Yunxiao said confidently while clasping his fists towards He Luoxuan. "This might be a long list of changes, but I'm certain that it will help improve the lecture environment. That said, the current state of the lecture hall has been prepared rather decently as well, so there should not be any big issue even if these adjustments are not made."

"I see," He Luoxuan said as the corner of his lips curled upwards slightly.

Hmm?

Ming Leishang looked at He Luoxuan in surprise.

He was sure that He Luoxuan would turn down the disciple, but what was this unexpected progression?

"Elder He...?" Ming Leishang asked uncertainly.

No way, right?

Yet before Ming Leishang's very eyes, He Luoxuan nonchalantly rolled up the notes and turned towards Dan Juexing.

"I'll have to trouble you again to make these changes then, Sect Leader Dan."