“Master.”
Hua Cishu turned around after changing his clothes, and Wen Li hurriedly closed her eyes.
“Are you done?”
“Mm-hmm, all done.”
Only then did Wen Li open her eyes. Without changing her expression, she reached out and spoke softly.
“Come here, I’ll braid your hair.”
Hua Cishu walked over and placed his hand in hers. She pulled him to sit in her lap with his back to her and began combing his hair.
He lowered his head, looking at the exquisite and magnificent clothes on his body. He couldn’t help but reach out to cautiously touch the fabric; it was so smooth and comfortable. So, wearing clothes didn’t have to chafe his skin. Just from this one piece, he could no longer feel any sweltering heat or biting cold.
Judging by the size of the original clothes she had taken out, the previous owner must have been a boy in his early teens. How nice.
Using the braiding technique she had learned from doing Yao Dai’s hair, Wen Li wove his long red hair into two braids. She trimmed away the tangled parts and secured his ponytail with an exquisite silver chain adorned with a lotus pendant and hollowed-out bells. She left half of his hair loose and cast a Cleansing Technique over him.
An incredibly beautiful child appeared, complete with small red demon horns and silver bells.
“My disciple truly is good-looking.”
Wen Li’s eyes curved into a smile, and she couldn’t help but reach out to ruffle his hair. Not a single one of her disciples was ugly; she had both handsome and beautiful ones. However, someone as stunningly gender-ambiguous as Hua Cishu was a first, giving her the joy of a character dress-up game.
Ding-ling~
Hua Cishu lowered his head to look at the shiny, beautiful silver chain on his head. He reached out to curiously shake the bells, which produced a series of crisp sounds. His eyes flickered as if he were contemplating something.
“What’s wrong, don't you like it? If you don’t, I can change it for you.”
With a wave of her hand, Wen Li conjured a mirror for him to see the effect.
Hua Cishu’s eyes shifted with a dazed expression as he looked at the child in the mirror with the new clothes and beautiful hairstyle. He quickly shook his head.
“No, I like it. I like it very much. No need to change it.”
He turned around and hugged Wen Li, burying his small body against her waist and whispering softly.
“Master, I like you.”
“Ehh?!”
Wait, her being a Master didn't mean she was that kind of “Shizun”!
Wen Li was so startled by those words that she immediately pushed him away, her face a mask of wary horror.
Caught off guard by being pushed away, Hua Cishu’s expression went blank. The next instant, his eyes trembled and he clenched his fists. As expected, her kindness just now was a lie. She was just like those from the Demon Race, toying with him for her own amusement.
Compared to those who bullied him from the start, he hated people like this the most.
People who treated him well, only to mock him later.
“Wait, tell me, what kind of ‘like’ are you talking about?” Wen Li noticed the little guy’s expression was wrong and realized he might have misunderstood something. She quickly crouched down to look him in the eye and took his hands, asking softly.
Hua Cishu’s face remained tense as he muttered, “Like is just like.”
Seeing that he couldn’t distinguish between different types of affection, Wen Li patiently guided him. “There are different types of ‘like.’ For example, if you are good to a girl and want to give her everything because you want to become Dao companions; then there is the love for family, where they take care of you and you want to protect them; and then there is the affection for friends, where you have no blood relation, but they are willing to take risks for you, and you are willing to go through life and death for them.”
“My like...” Hua Cishu said, only half-understanding, “...is because Master is good to me, and I also want to protect Master.”
Wen Li let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, thank goodness. He hadn't picked up a master-disciple romance script. She wasn't into that; she was a proper immortal cultivator.
“Then it’s fine. I just had a momentary lapse in judgment when I pushed you; it had nothing to do with you. Come, I’ll teach you some of our Sect Rules.”
Wen Li pulled him into her arms and took out a piece of paper, pointing to it seriously.
“Look here. The First Sect Rule for becoming my disciple is: you are forbidden from betraying or killing your Master; you are forbidden from falling in love with your Master; you must not discriminate against any evil cultivators, demonic cultivators, or those from the Hehuan Sect; and when killing, you must pull up the weeds and the roots.”
She took advantage of his young age to give him a good brainwashing.
“You must keep the Sect Rules firmly in your heart. Do not violate them, or I will beat you.”
Hua Cishu concentrated on staring at every word on the paper, and then...
“...Master.”
“Hmm?”
“I can’t read.” His ears drooped.
Wen Li encouraged him, “It’s fine, you’ll learn slowly. Your Second Senior Brother was just like you, but after learning for a year, he can even use idioms now.”
Upon hearing this, Hua Cishu’s pupils constricted. He held her arm and asked silently.
“Master... has other disciples?”
“Yes. The one meditating over there is your Fourth Senior Sister. The other three disciples aren’t here right now, but it won’t be long before you can all cultivate together.”
“...” Hua Cishu fell silent, his long eyelashes drooping to hide his thoughts.
He rested his small face against Wen Li’s arm and muttered nonchalantly, “Master, I can’t cultivate and have no strength. Will my senior brothers and sister think I’m too weak and not like me?”
“It’s fine. As long as I’m here, you can cultivate,” Wen Li said, stroking his head. “Don't worry about whether they like you or not. You only need to live happily; you don't need to concern yourself with others.”
Her disciples all had their own motives. While they weren't necessarily united, the signs of future bickering were already starting to show.
Hua Cishu took these words to heart. So, as long as Master liked him, it didn't matter if the others liked him. As long as Master continued to be good to him, he could do whatever he wanted...
One shichen after Wen Li started teaching Hua Cishu to read, something happened on Zongzheng Huangyue’s side.
Rumble—
The entire city wall began to shake. The sky full of Yin energy accelerated its flow toward the person inside the barrier, and a series of frenzied roars and screams erupted from beneath the wall.
Wen Li led Hua Cishu to the edge of the wall and looked down. It turned out that the skeletons and corpses that had been chasing them had all rushed to the city gate. As if sensing something, they were frantically pounding on the gate, desperate to get in.
They piled on top of each other like a horde of zombies, trying to climb up. But the city wall was dozens of meters high, and whenever they reached halfway, a flash of light from the wall would blast them back down.
Wen Li frowned slightly.
Was Wangquan Sheng about to obtain the Moon Soul Arrow?
No, that wasn't right. If the Moon Soul Arrow were recognizing a new master, the souls of the cultivators it had slain wouldn't be so fervent and frenzied; they should be fleeing instead.
The Moon Soul Arrow had likely awakened but was still in a weakened state. That was why these remains were so desperate to break into the inner city and destroy it.
Rate on N.U.
