Chapter 121

  Choices in Life (III)

  Long Tao stared at the happily snoring face of this strange Master of his.

  Every time he exhaled, the mustache would flutter like leaves in the wind, making for a rather comic appearance. Furthermore, it seemed he was dreaming, as his eyelids kept twitching and he'd occasionally groan while swatting away something with his hand.

  It had all transpired rather quickly, even for him.

  Just as he was about to go in and save the two of them and run away as far as possible, he saw his Master clutch something and lift his hand. Suddenly, the fiery inferno wasn't upon them--rather, it was everywhere but them, and the people who attacked them... they were all gone.

  It was an artifact, clearly, but artifacts like those shouldn't exist in this realm.

  Rather, it was the kind of artifact that used the Nirvanic Bead--an essence of those who've reached at least the Realm of Nirvana but could not go any further and wanted to leave something behind for their descendants.

  They'd craft a defensive artifact using thousands of years of their own accumulated Qi, and artifacts like those were viewed as sect-defending treasures.

  And yet, somehow, there was one like it in his Master's possessions.

  From day one, Long Tao knew that the man was rather... esoteric. From the moment he was handed the Heart-Stitching Art, it became clear that Elder Lu wasn't an ordinary Elder, and certainly not an angry, bitter, or hedonistic one as the rumors implied.

  Yet, just as when he thought he'd had the man figured out, the latter would do yet another extraordinary thing, an even more extraordinary one than all others before it. As though out of spite.

  "Senior Brother," the young Dai Xiu walked up cautiously. "Will the Master be okay?" If those two kids worshipped the man before, Long Tao imagined that the level of zealotry they felt had likely reached its peak. He couldn't blame them, not really; he himself had felt that way as a young boy toward his first Master, too, the man he thought could move a mountain at will.

  "He'll be fine," Long Tao replied. "He's simply tired and is resting."

  "Haaah," she exhaled, palm against her chest, as she sat down.

  They'd found a relatively hidden spot, though it was unnecessary. While running, Long Tao had already erased all traces of them--short of an Emperor appearing to divine what transpired there, there wasn't anyone who could follow them.

  "Is Master alright?" Xi Zhao showed up as well, having gone out to 'see if they were being followed'.

  "He's just resting," Dai Xiu said. "Did anyone follow us?"

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  "There's no one," the boy said. "Just some forest critters. Where is Light?"

  "She's asleep up there," Dai Xiu pointed to the branch directly above the master's, where a young girl was lazily hanging from, seemingly just an inch away from falling down... except she never did. "Poor thing's probably terrified."

  Long Tao briefly glanced at the young girl with a strange look in his eyes; besides him, that 'poor thing' was probably the least worried one. Partly because she was only six, but partly because she likely saw attacks of that scale before.

  "Where's that new girl?" Xi Zhao asked. "Wan something?"

  "Junior Sister Lan? She's over there." Dai Xiu pointed at a nearby tree where a young woman was leaning into the trunk, her expression distorted as though she were having a nightmare. "She passed out even before Master saved us."

  "Hm. She seems fairly weak," Xi Zhao commented. "It doesn't matter. One month with the Master, and she'll be reborn."

  "Senior Brother, will you train her as you train us?" Dai Xiu asked him with a rather excited gaze--beneath the facade of an adorable little girl, there was a petty demon that wanted to drag everyone into her misery, it seemed.

  Long Tao smiled for a moment before replying, "Rather than protecting your Junior Sister from the pain, you want her to feel it?"

  "N-no, of course not!" Her cheeks flushed red as she defended herself. "It's--it's just that I think, in order for her to grow strong, she... she should train with us. Is that wrong?"

  "Often," Long Tao said. "You should be more concerned with yourself; we haven't trained in a while, so there will be a lot of things to make up for."

  "Oh... y-yes..." Her expression dropped entirely, lips pursing into an invisible pout.

  "Senior Brother, did you see what Master did?" Xi Zhao asked. "What art did he use? Do you think he'd teach us if we asked?" Art?

  Long Tao almost sneered.

  Though their strange Master was a veil of mystique, indeed, as far as his actual strength went, there wasn't much to it--the man was still just barely a Spirit Manifestation Realm cultivator with no special physique, root, or bloodline. So putrid in terms of talent that it almost felt as though Heavens themselves cursed him at birth out of spite.

  While he would love to indulge in their fantasies and watch the old man try and unravel himself when they asked, it was poignant that they knew the man himself wasn't really strong. In fact, there was a good chance that these two would be stronger than him as soon as they broke through into the Foundation Establishment.

  "No," Long Tao said. "It wasn't an art."

  "It wasn't?"

  "It was an Artifact. A truly remarkable one."

  "Oh! Of course, Master possesses amazing Artifacts, too!" Xi Zhao's eyes shone as he spoke.

  "You two, do you not know that the Master is rather weak?" Long Tao outright asked.

  "Hm? What do you mean, Senior Brother? Are you badmouthing Master?!" The two suddenly frowned, seeming just about ready to fight. Long Tao groaned and rolled his eyes before responding.

  "Master is extremely smart, crafty, and resourceful," Long Tao said. "More so than most everyone I've ever met. But he is weak. It's simply that his body cannot keep up with his mind."

  "O-oh..."

  "Do you not respect him anymore?"

  "Hm? Nonsense! I respect him even more!" Ah, of course... "It is only natural that the Heavens try and prevent a man like Master from ascending! And yet, despite that, he remains unrivaled!"

  Long Tao felt a genuine need, at least for a moment, to stand up and slap both of the kids: Dai Xiu for uttering nonsense and Xi Zhao for nodding along like a chicken.

  "There must be some ways to better the Master's body! It's our job as his Disciples to work hard and one day offer him the same grace he offered us!" Dai Xiu continued, and Xi Zhao nodded all the while.

  "Until then, we must grow much, much stronger to protect Master at all costs! Look at him--he risked his own life to protect us! Stood in front of us despite being weak of body... ah, Master! Your Disciples understand your heart, so, please, don't put yourself in danger anymore!"

  "Ouch!"

  "Ouch!"

  Unable to endure it any longer, Long Tao stood up and slapped both of them at the backs of their heads, mumbling a few curses under his breath as he went away.

  It was like looking into a mirror and glancing back at the days when he was fourteen. It was... torturous, to say the least, and he couldn't take it anymore.

  Thus, he simply ran away...