The news that the Peak Master of Qiyue Peak had brought back a little girl from the mortal realm and was preparing to accept her as his final disciple quickly spread throughout all of Yunhua Sect.
Everyone in Yunhua Sect had lazy personalities, emphasizing that everything followed fate. Only when gossiping did they appear exceptionally enthusiastic. Five years ago, during the friendly exchange conference held by the major sects, Yunhua Sect disciples had forgotten the time because they were watching the excitement and failed to enter the exchange competition, becoming the last place among all the major sects. Thus they became the spectacle in others’ eyes.
Although they paid such a great price for loving to watch excitement, the Yunhua Sect disciples still ran wildly along the path of watching excitement. Fortunately, they still knew not to speak carelessly after watching excitement, and when gossiping they had to close the door and speak secretly, otherwise they would have been beaten to death long ago.
Some people speculated that this little girl was Peak Master Wang Tong’s illegitimate daughter. The reason was that this little girl looked less than ten years old, and Peak Master Wang Tong had been in the mortal realm for nearly ten years. Calculating it this way, the timing was just right. However, the disciples who had seen Kong Hou on the training field felt that Peak Master Wang Tong had small eyes and a small nose, and couldn’t possibly produce such a cute little girl. Even if the little girl’s mother was exceptionally beautiful, she would still be dragged down by Peak Master Wang Tong’s face, lowering the overall appearance.
This theory was well-reasoned and well-founded, and many people said they couldn’t refute it.
As everyone knew, people from the mortal realm ate food without spiritual energy from birth. Even if they had the qualification for cultivation when just born, it would disappear as time passed. Therefore, major sects wouldn’t bring disciples from the mortal realm back. Only some small sects would occasionally accept some outer disciples from the mortal realm. Mortal realm disciples who could enter the inner sect were extremely rare.
“When I first entered the sect, I once heard a rumor.” One disciple slowly swung his sword, observing in all directions and listening in all quarters, guarding against the appearance of stewards or Peak Masters. “Peak Master Wang Tong was brought back from the mortal realm by an ancestor of our sect.”
“Nonsense! If Peak Master Wang Tong was from the mortal realm, how could he become a great power at the Out-of-Body stage? This speculation isn’t as reliable as saying the little girl is Peak Master Wang Tong’s illegitimate daughter.” Everyone thought this was a joke, angering the disciple who said this so much that he didn’t want to speak anymore.
These people didn’t even think about it—if Peak Master Wang Tong had been born in the Lingyou Realm, how could making sugar paintings become his heart tribulation? Which child from the Lingyou Realm would have such a strange idea?
Of course, that senior who was determined to marry the world’s most beautiful woman didn’t count. He was an oddity with a unique style in the Lingyou Realm.
No matter how curious the sect’s disciples were, the disciple acceptance ceremony three days later was still held as scheduled. Because it was a Peak Master accepting a final personal disciple, the ceremony was held very grandly. Of the three Elders in the sect, two attended, while the other was in seclusion and no one dared disturb him.
The two Elders also knew that the disciple Wang Tong accepted came from the mortal realm. As cultivators who could live past a thousand years old, their greatest advantage was not loving to meddle in others’ affairs. As long as Wang Tong himself was willing, they had no objections.
After Elder Shujiu appeared, he kept his head lowered, arranging the patterns on his robe. He liked thirty-two-petaled camellias, but counting the flower on his clothes over and over, there were only thirty-one petals. This made his entire body uncomfortable.
Elder Guyu beside him sat upright with proper posture, his entire imposing presence like a dragon or tiger, making people unconsciously weaken in momentum before him.
Seeing Shujiu moving about, Guyu frowned slightly. But looking at the other elders in the great hall, he didn’t speak aloud but instead used voice transmission technique.
“Sit properly. This is your disciple-grandson’s acceptance ceremony. What does it look like, twisting around like this?”
Shujiu glanced at Guyu. Guyu didn’t look at him, still maintaining that serious and proper appearance. Shujiu resentfully straightened his waist. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but why did he feel his back starting to itch again?
“Dong.”
The bell rang and the ceremony began.
Shujiu shook his shoulders. Why was it getting more and more itchy? But in front of his juniors, he still wanted face. He endured it.
Outside the hall entrance, Cheng Yi and Tan Feng stood on Kong Hou’s left and right. All three wore white sect clothing embroidered with silver and red edges. This set of clothes represented their identity as the Peak Master’s personal disciples. Kong Hou had no cultivation, and Cheng Yi worried about her getting cold, so he put a rabbit fur-lined jacket on her and secretly tucked a hand warmer into her hands.
Hearing the bell ring, Cheng Yi took away the warmer Kong Hou was holding. “Go in.”
The encouraging smiles on her two senior martial brothers’ faces gave Kong Hou courage. She took a deep breath and stepped over the high threshold.
There were many people in the great hall, some standing, some sitting. The gems embedded in the walls emitted brilliance, illuminating the great hall very brightly. Kong Hou’s gaze swept over everyone and stopped on Wang Tong standing at the front.
In the cultivation world, the master-disciple relationship was extremely important. Once she knelt down, her master would be like birth parents. A father must be kind, and children must also be filial, otherwise they would receive criticism from the entire cultivation world.
Kong Hou knelt down toward Wang Tong, placed both hands on the ground, and performed the three bows and nine kowtows grand ceremony to Wang Tong.
“Disciple Kong Hou requests Master to drink tea.”
After completing the kowtow ceremony, Kong Hou received the tea handed up by a disciple, touched the temperature on the cup, and knelt before Wang Tong again.
“Today you enter my Yunhua Sect. You should take pride in Yunhua Sect, revitalize the sect, and cultivate with dedication.” Wang Tong received the teacup and drank the tea in one gulp. He bent down to help up Kong Hou kneeling on the ground, rubbed her knees, and said quietly, “Does kneeling hurt?”
Kong Hou smiled and shook her head.
“The sect just has too many broken rules.” Wang Tong rubbed his little disciple’s knees again, then turned and saluted Sect Master Heng Yan as well as the two Elders Shujiu and Guyu. “Wang Tong is untalented and has no intention of teaching other disciples. Kong Hou is my last personal disciple. I request everyone present to witness this today.”
Wang Tong had long said he would only accept three personal disciples, so no one present was surprised. Elder Guyu even nodded with relief. “For you to teach these three disciples well is already not easy.” Wang Tong had a bad personality and his fortune wasn’t great either, but his luck in accepting disciples was exceptionally good. Cheng Yi and Tan Feng were outstanding in natural talent and had steady personalities—much stronger than Wang Tong.
This little girl carried noble bearing and had spirited eyes. Regardless of her aptitude, her heart nature certainly wouldn’t be poor. In cultivation, talent was important, but heart nature couldn’t be ignored either. Yunhua Sect didn’t seek to stand proudly above the entire cultivation world, only to protect all sect disciples in peace and safety. Therefore, heart nature was actually more important than natural talent.
Guyu’s words made Wang Tong laugh awkwardly. He looked down at his little disciple’s innocent eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Kong Hou was young and still couldn’t understand. He took out the disciple identity token and solemnly handed it to Kong Hou. “From now on, you are a Yunhua Sect disciple. Pay your respects to Elder Guyu and Elder Shujiu.”
“No need to be so solemn.” Guyu spoke expressionlessly.
Everyone present tensed in their hearts. Could Elder Guyu be dissatisfied with Peak Master Wang Tong accepting a child from the mortal realm as his final disciple, deliberately making things difficult at this moment?
“I am your master’s martial uncle. Just call me Grand-martial Uncle.” Guyu wanted to make himself look more amiable. However, people who usually didn’t smile always felt uncomfortable when smiling. He pulled at the corners of his mouth, forcing out an expression that barely counted as a smile. “According to mortal realm seniority, I am your great-uncle.”
Kong Hou sweetly smiled at this old man who appeared stern but had gentle eyes, and said crisply, “Grand-martial Uncle.”
“Mm.” Guyu pulled out a brocade box from his sleeve, handed it before Kong Hou, and said stiffly, “Good child.”
“Thank you, Grand-martial Uncle Guyu.” Kong Hou turned her head to look at Master. Seeing Master smiling at her, she reached out to receive the brocade box Grand-martial Uncle Guyu gave and returned a courtesy.
Seeing that Guyu had silently prepared a meeting gift for the junior, Shujiu hurriedly pulled out a flying sword from his storage bag and gave it to Kong Hou. Receiving a sweet call of “Grand-martial Uncle Shujiu,” his entire body and mind felt comfortable, and he even forgot about the itch on his back and the camellia missing one petal.
Everyone attending the disciple acceptance ceremony breathed a sigh of relief. The two Elders had no objection to Peak Master Wang Tong accepting a little girl from the mortal realm with unclear aptitude as a disciple, so this little girl’s status as a personal disciple was secure.
For people in a sect, the most important thing was to be happy. Who cared if aptitude was good or not, or which realm someone came from—it didn’t affect them anyway. Getting along harmoniously like this made life more comfortable.
A disciple acceptance ceremony that might have caused great upheaval in other sects ended in Yunhua Sect’s joyful and harmonious atmosphere. For the inner and outer sect disciples, the only regret was losing one opportunity to become a personal disciple.
However, Qiyue Peak wasn’t their first choice anyway. As everyone knew, among the five Peak Masters, Peak Master Wang Tong was… the poorest. Whether going to secret realms or participating in trials, Peak Master Wang Tong’s luck was especially bad, and from start to finish he couldn’t obtain good things.
But if you said his luck was bad, his luck was also especially good, because having entered so many secret realms, he always came out alive and well, never even seriously injured.
Perhaps this was the legendary “poor people have long lives.” Who knew if this was fortunate or unfortunate.
On Qiyue Peak, the master and three disciples sat around a stone table. Wang Tong looked at his little disciple playing with a jade gourd and cast his gaze toward his eldest disciple. Cheng Yi pretended not to see and looked at Tan Feng sideways.
Tan Feng, under Master and eldest senior martial brother’s gazes, smiled and said, “Junior martial sister, are you accustomed to living on Qiyue Peak?”
“Mm.” Kong Hou put the jade gourd aside and straightened her back. “Master, can I start cultivating now?”
The three grown men fell silent for a moment. Tan Feng, being glared at by Master and senior martial brother again, laughed dryly twice. “Junior martial sister, our cultivation emphasizes the five elements of heaven and earth, the harmony of yin and yang. Therefore, disciples with different aptitudes will have different cultivation methods.”
“Then what method am I suited for?” Kong Hou asked expectantly.
“This…” Tan Feng was momentarily at a loss for words. Before the disciple acceptance ceremony, they didn’t let junior martial sister test her aptitude because they were afraid of testing that junior martial sister fundamentally couldn’t cultivate, and then Master wouldn’t be able to insist on accepting junior martial sister as his final disciple.
Now the disciple acceptance ceremony was already over. Whether junior martial sister had aptitude or not was no longer important, but they were somewhat afraid—if junior martial sister truly had no aptitude for cultivation, would she be sad?
“We’ll only know after testing aptitude.” Cheng Yi touched the top of Kong Hou’s head. “Senior martial brother will take you to test your aptitude first, alright?”
“Alright.” Kong Hou agreed. Her big eyes blinked and blinked, but the corners of her mouth were slightly pursed.
Cheng Yi held Kong Hou’s hand. The senior and junior martial siblings didn’t take flying swords and walked very slowly.
“Yunhua Sect has many disciples, skilled in both literature and martial arts.” Cheng Yi had already made up his mind—if junior martial sister truly had no aptitude whatsoever, he would also find something for junior martial sister to do, letting her find confidence within the sect.
“The portrait of our founding master hanging in the main hall—wasn’t it lifelike, just like a real person?”
Kong Hou nodded.
“That was painted by an ancestor with very poor aptitude. Although he had no progress on the cultivation path, because of his painting skills that reached perfection, he received respect from many cultivators in the cultivation world…”
“Eldest senior martial brother, are you worried my aptitude isn’t good?” Kong Hou patted the arm that Cheng Yi was using to hold her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m definitely an excellent cultivation seedling.”
Cheng Yi: Were children always this confident?
Now he was even more worried. When junior martial sister learned she didn’t have the protagonist’s good luck from storybooks, would she be unable to accept it?
Those messy storybooks from the mortal realm truly harmed people.
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Author’s Note: The senior martial brother who worries like an old father—Cheng Yi.