Shi Wuzheng had a cold and frosty appearance, and was famous in the entire Immortal Realm for being aloof and detached from the world.
He was dressed in simple and elegant white robes, with inky black hair hanging down to his waist, holding Suizheng sword in his hand, known as Suizheng Xianjun.
Although Shi Wuzheng was strict in self-discipline, Chi Huo, who had spent a short time with him in his previous life, knew that Shi Wuzheng was too gentle in the discipline of his disciples, and even seemed to dote on them.
Shi Wuzheng was the protagonist shou in the original book, but that didn’t matter to Chi Huo now.
The important thing was that Shi Wuzheng was the first fish he captured after leaving the valley under the guidance of the “Heavenly Dao Book” in his previous life. He was also one of the important characters that triggered the subsequent siege. To prevent repeating matters, he must start from the beginning, from the very source.
It could be said that Shi Wuzheng was the beginning of everything, and also the weight for the intersection between Chi Huo and himself in this life.
For a moment, the silence was stifling in LuanFeng Hall.
Obviously, the wishes of this outer disciple silenced the elders.
As they all knew, although Shi Wuzheng was a kind and gentle man, he had his own set of standards for accepting disciples. No one could figure out his principles for accepting disciples. He seemed to be very casual, but the more casual he was, the more unpredictable he became. Among all immortal lords, he had the fewest disciples, with only four so far.
“This…” The sect leader was aware of the temperaments of these elders best. He stroked his beard in awkwardness, his eyes wandering between Qi Wang and Shi Wuzheng, as if he was urgently trying to find a way to alleviate the upcoming awkwardness.
Shi Wuzheng didn’t answer immediately. He raised his eyelashes and looked at the young man in blood-mottled robes standing in courtesy.
Strangely enough, the blood-stained white robe didn’t look debasing on him at all. The young man stood tall and straight in LuanFeng Hall, with a calm and magnanimous posture. He didn’t have the youthfulness and naivety that a cultivator in their Qi Refining stage should have had.
“I wonder if Suizheng Xianjun is willing?” Chi Huo met the other party’s gaze and asked.
According to his understanding of Shi Wuzheng in the previous life, he accepted the fewest disciples, not because of high standards, but because he attached great importance to his role as a teacher. In his eyes, since his disciples called him Shizun, he would be responsible for them till the end.
Since the responsibility was too great, he did not dare accept disciples rashly.
And now, Qi Wang, who climbed up from the pile of his senior brothers’ bones and stepped onto the steps to stand on top of LuanFeng Hall, was full of doubts. These doubts may become potential risks, but after returning with the ghost cultivator’s soul core, the head of the sect did not want to break the rules set by the ancestors of the sect, so he had to first settle the matter of promoting him to an inner disciple.
Now matter how it was looked at, Qi Wang was a hot potato at this time.
It just so happened that Shi Wuzheng took his responsibility as a sect elder more seriously than anyone else, so he would be most willing to take over the sect’s hot potato. The protagonist Xiao Guo was also a famous hot potato back then.
It was precisely because Chi Huo understood Shi Wuzheng’s character and accurately calculated that he was so confident.
Shi Wuzheng looked at him intently for a moment, then said with a smile, “The autumn breeze has been blowing lately, and it just so happened that there was no one to clean the fallen leaves in my peak. It seems that it is time to accept a disciple.”
While everyone in the hall was still shocked by the unexpected turn of events, Chi Huo had already reacted quickly and stepped forward to bow with the etiquette of a disciple, “Thank you, Shizun, for not turning down your disciple.”
In the last life, the latter was the first fish he caught, but in this life, he became his disciple.
The elders exchanged glances in surprise, wondering why they hadn’t noticed before that this dodder-like outer disciple was such a clever boy, smoothly getting what he wanted.
The leader glanced at Shi Wuzheng gratefully, and Shi Wuzheng nodded slightly wordlessly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
*
Shi Wuzheng did not care for complicated traditional rituals or etiquette. Chi Huo’s apprenticeship process was very simple. He kowtowed three times, submitted the apprenticeship letter and served tea by hand. Shi Wuzheng drank the tea, said a few symbolic words, and then led Chi Huo back to Suiyi Peak.
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Chi Huo nodded, “Shizun is correct.”
Shi Wuzheng sighed softly, “When you improve your cultivation in the future, you will no longer be bullied.”
Chi Huo, “I understand.”
He paused, then said softly, “I was the one who lacked manners in LuanFeng Hall. Thank you, Shizun, for taking me in. I will never let Shizun be disappointed in me.”
In a simple sentence, Chi Huo made it clear to Shi Wuzheng that he understood the elder’s difficulties and concerns and that it was Shi Wuzheng’s intention of agreeing to his offer.
Shi Wuzheng turned around and looked at him for a moment, then said with a smile, “It is not sudden. It was Zhangmen who asked you to choose a candidate for your master. You can naturally make a choice according to your own wishes. You don’t have to be so restrained in the future. Since you have come under my peak, you can talk to me about anything.”
After a pause, Shi Wuzheng continued, “Of course, since three cultivators died in the ghost cultivator’s soul core matter, the sect will definitely investigate.”
Shi Wuzheng’s words were a reminder to Chi Huo.
Chi Huo nodded obediently and said calmly, “If there are any clues that I can provide during the investigation, I won’t refuse.”
The mountains were shrouded in clouds and mist, with an occasional breeze sweeping past, and frosty red maples swayed in the wind. It rustled, and several white cranes flew past the clouds, fluttering their wings and flying away at the sight.
In his last life, Chi Huo, who grew up in Red Sand Valley, saw the Immortal Realm for the first time. The sight had left him speechless and stunned for a long time.
The Immortal Realm gave him two impressions: bright and white.
Red Sand Valley was a place that decent people from the Immortal Realm changed their minds after hearing about it. Such as how there, the eastern horizon never lit up, only alternating between dusk and night. Ferocious beasts and thugs ran rampant in the valley, and the cries of resentment could always be heard from the very depths. It was a trap set by mountain spirits and ghosts for travelers.
It was said that Red Sand Valley had experienced countless fierce battles; the land was stained red by resentment, and the fine pebbles in the sand were the remains of humans and beasts.
Unlike the Immortal Realm, there were no bright or white colors in Red Sand Valley of West; it contained only dull and chilling red all year round.
When Chi Huo first set out to see the world, he felt that Red Sand Valley was monotonous and mundane, while the outside world was full of excitement and possibilities.
Later, after gaining a fair amount of experience, he found that it didn’t matter whether it was dull or bright, red or white. It was always boring to look at it alone, similar and boring.
“The yard has been tidied up. After bathing and wearing new robes, you can come out to meet all your senior brothers.” Shi Wuzheng had already prepared a change of clothes for his new apprentice and told him, “Don’t be anxious or nervous. From now on, they will all be your fellow senior disciples, and you need to look out for one another.”
Chi Huo took the brand-new set of robes and bowed politely.
He walked into the nine-curved corridor with his lashes slightly drooped. He knew very well that a certain person’s unkind eyes had been resting on him ever since he arrived at Suiyi Peak with Shi Wuzheng.
Chi Huo had already guessed whose hostility he would arouse by joining Shi Wuzheng’s peak.
In the last life, Shi Wuzheng only had four disciples from beginning to end. After resurrecting, he single-handedly became a variable in the plotline.
Sure enough, before Chi Huo’s figure disappeared in the corridor, a hurried voice came from the courtyard.
“Shizun, you clearly said that I will be the last disciple you take on.”
The fourth disciple, Xiao Guo, had a sour tone. At this moment, he got carried away by his emotions. When facing Shi Wuzheng, he did not have the etiquettes of a disciple, nor did he shy away from Chi Huo who had not yet left the corridor.
Shi Wuzheng was stunned for a moment, angry and bemused, “Xiao Guo, Shizun has never made such a promise, and will never make such a promise.”
He called his disciple by his first name, and then sighed helplessly, “This not only violates the rules of our ancestors, but it is also irresponsible to those who practice Taoism.”
Xiao Guo refused, “But Shizun…I don’t understand why you have to accept that Qi Weng…as far as I know, his talent is mediocre. The reason he was able to enter Dongji Sect was all because of the entrustment given by his mother who had an old relationship with the former Zhangmen before her death. Moreover, there are many doubts about the ghost cultivator’s soul core incident, and there were even rumors that…”
Seeing that the more Xiao Guo chatted, the more nonsense he said, Shi Wuzheng directly cut him off and asked, “So?”
His voice was very soft, but it held no room for any refute.
Xiao Guo was stunned for a moment, unable to answer.
“But Shizun…even if you want to accept a disciple, why would you accept that hot potato?” After a while, Xiao Guo murmured unconvincedly.
Shi Wuzheng smiled helplessly, “Stop saying these nonsense words. I have my own plans as a teacher. Now that Qi Wang has entered my peak, you should take more care of him from now on, instead of believing in the rumors from outside…”
After hearing these words, Chi Huo didn’t want to listen anymore. He had already opened the door and entered the room, preparing to take a shower and change his robes, and thoroughly clean the unsightly bloodstains on his body.
This fourth senior brother Xiao Guo, who had an impatient personality, was the protagonist in the original plot.
Although Xiao Guo grew up in the Immortal Realm, his bloodline was half of the ghost race. His biological mother was Shi Wuzheng’s senior sister Xihe Xianren. When she traveled to the west, she was bewitched by a seductive ghost and fell in love. In the ghost realm, she gave birth to an ominous son, Xiao Guo.
If he were to talk about a hot potato, Xiao Guo back then was much worse than Qi Wang. But at that time, Shi Wuzheng didn’t hesitate to comply with Xihe Xianren’s instructions before her death. He overcame all obstacles and brought the young Xiao Guo back to the Immortal Realm to raise and teach him personally.
Based on Chi Huo’s understanding of Xiao Guo in his previous life, he clearly knew that the other person had a paranoid and serious personality, that he would retaliate for his anger and would easily go to extremes.
Who would have thought that such a young man with a troublesome life experience would eventually develop inner demons because of his love for his Shizun, which would lead to hundreds of years of bloody chaos in the cultivation world, that he would eventually be unable to escape the fate of falling into the ghost realm?
However, the conversation that he overheard just now cleared all the doubts that had been lingering in Chi Huo’s mind in his previous life.
——It turned out that Xiao Guo had secretly harbored these feelings long before Chi Huo met Shi Wuzheng.
The tone of Xiao Guo’s words when he spoke to Shi Wuzheng just now and the emotions he exposed were not what a normal disciple should express to his master.
In his previous life, there was something that Chi Huo often had trouble understanding. Why did Shi Wuzheng, who was not tainted by worldly desires, agree to his shameless invitation and actively proposed further development?
If Shi Wuzheng knew about his disciple’s ulterior feelings at that time, then Chi Huo in his previous life might have been their emotional stepping stone…
After his ashes were wiped out, Chi Huo awakened his self-awareness and found out that he only existed as a character in a danmei novel, and also knew that the author and readers of this book only wanted the bloody story of a crazy disciple pursuing a cold master. In the book, Chi Huo was described as the ex of the protagonist, a person who liked to raise fish and play with their feelings, the Sea King.
…And his character as a Sea King was actually a bit innocent, so innocent that it was ridiculous.
Anyway, people and things were in the past. Only he existed in the present.
Chi Huo took off his bloody clothes and stepped in the bath, the water’s temperature just right.
Mount Dongji was a place where spiritual energy was abundant. The spring water in the mountain had the effect of detoxifying, healing wounds, and helping with spiritual practice. Chi Huo soaked in the warm water, and the abundant spiritual energy seeped into his limbs and bones.
Injured and exhausted, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Taking advantage of his bathing time, Chi Huo was also able to sort out the current plot points.
Now, as a variable in the plot, by relying on the identity of Qi Wang, who was supposed to be dead, he retrieved the ghost cultivator’s soul core and handed it over to the sect, becoming the non-existent fifth disciple of Suizheng Xianjun.
As a result, he was bound to become a thorn in the side of the protagonist gong Xiao Guo.
This was one of the risks to consider.
But whether it was in this life or in the previous life, he was never afraid of Xiao Guo.
The second risk was, as Shi Wuzheng said, the Dongji Sect will definitely investigate the death of the ghost cultivator and the three cultivators in the cave. The cultivators’ bodies had been burned by the fire caused by the formation, and he used the corpse puppet to control the corpse. The evidence was also destroyed. Unless a high-level cultivator who also knew the art of corpse puppets caught the remaining “consciousness” at the scene, the truth would be buried forever.
This was a very unlikely scenario. As far as Chi Huo knew, there was no such person in Dongji Sect.
The third risk was also the biggest risk.
He wondered if “he” who has not met him in this timeline will recognize him after meeting him?
*
On the night of accepting a disciple, Shi Wuzheng received a letter from the sect leader, and learned that a series of shocking and strange events had occurred in Red Sand Valley, located at the southern foot of Mount Wuqi at the junction of the Easter Region and the West Jizhou.
Nearly a hundred young women disappeared mysteriously, and instead, paper betrothal gifts appeared in their boudoirs.
The sect leader’s letter mentioned that some immortals suspected that the women’s disappearance was related to the Ghost King of Red Sand Valley. There were also rumors among the people that the Ghost King was getting married, so Shi Wuzheng was to go investigate the matter personally.
After receiving the letter, Shi Wuzheng made a travel plan overnight. He planned to take two of his disciples to investigate and solve the downhill problem.
In his previous life, as the Ghost King, he met Shi Wuzheng while he had come to investigate the matter in Red Sand Valley.
Chi Huo couldn’t miss the opportunity to meet “himself” in this world for the first time, before “he” tried to catch his first fish.
However, the disciples Shi Wuzheng brought with him at that time were the eldest disciple Cheng Miao and the fourth disciple Xiao Guo.
“Who volunteers to accompany me to Mount Wuqi?” Shi Wuzheng asked the five disciples.
“I…”
“Disciple is willing to go with Shizun.”
To the surprise of other disciples and Shi Wuzheng, Qi Wang, who had just started, actually took the initiative to stand up.
Standing out next to him was Xiao Guo, who had blue veins popping out on his forehead.
lol stay mad, Xiao Guo. Here’s to hoping Chi Huo has an eventful meeting with his past self/future love interest!
Haha hope XG gets Qi deviation or it’s equivalent in this world. Stay mad
I’m too excited for CH to meet his former self ahhhh. Want to know who falls for whom first. Saying that I’m EXCITED is an understatement.
Thank you for this chapter!
How has XG been living with the other three senior disciples??! This guy is too paranoid.! And he doesn’t hide his paranoia either!
Our MC is so cool!! I can’t wait to see how his first interaction with his past self a.k.a future lover will go.
The shizun seems nice enough I hope he doesn’t end up being a scum. With how it was explained that he takes his duty as a teacher very seriously, I am hoping for him to protect MC from the Ghost King like a dad or some.
Either way, thanks for the chapter!!