Taking Gui Ling as a Disciple

Qing Huan studied the trembling spiritual turtle before him, his gaze deep.

This turtle was brimming with spirituality. Its primordial spirit had already condensed, and its foundation was solid. It would not be many Kalpas before its Transformation.

The thread of killing intent in his heart, meant for refining a treasure, paused slightly. Then he considered something deeper.

This is an Innate Spiritual Turtle, and it is in the southern region... Could it be?

A fragment of Karma from his previous life flashed through his mind—when humanity prospered in the future, Fuxi would devise the Eight Trigrams and Cangjie would create writing. Was not the crucial medium for both the shell of an enlightened southern spiritual turtle?

By assisting humanity, this turtle would accumulate immeasurable Heavenly Dao Merit, finally complete its Transformation, and enter the immortal path.

Yet this seemingly supreme status as a great benefactor would become shackles it could never escape.

Primordial Heavenly Venerate's lofty, cold, and cutting words:

"Do creatures with fur and horns, born of wetness and eggs, deserve to enjoy the true fruits of our Immortal Sect?"

Every word was a blade, laying bare the deeply entrenched prejudice in the Primordial Wilderness against those outside one's own kind!

Afterward, the turtle would enter the Interception Sect under Tongtian and receive the Daoist title "Saint Mother Gui Ling."

It had believed the Interception Sect's doctrine of Universal Education was its sole path to escaping fate. Who would have thought that when the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation began, the Interception Sect would become the vortex at the center of the Sages' contest?

Gui Ling was fierce and forthright by nature. During the Investiture of the Gods War, she repeatedly stepped forward, yet always seemed to dance upon a blade's edge.

When Guangchengzi visited Biyou Palace three times, aggressively bearing Saint Mother Huoling's relics, the immortals of the Interception Sect were furious but dared not speak. Only she, though knowing she was outmatched, boldly attacked, only to be smashed back into her original form by the Supreme Acquired Spiritual Treasure, the Sky-Flipping Seal!

What chilled her heart even more was that Shangqing Tongtian offered not the slightest comfort. Instead, he rebuked her for "impropriety" and expelled her from Biyou Palace, stripping her of her sect's protection.

Even so, Gui Ling was loyal and righteous. Though she knew it was a fatal situation, she still followed Sect Master Tongtian into the final Myriad Immortals Formation.

Within the formation, she once used the Sun Moon Pearls to batter Juliusun into fleeing in disgrace, her murderous might draining the heavens and earth of color.

But because she pursued him relentlessly, she reached the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and offended the Sage Jieyin.

One disrespectful remark earned her a Sage's palm strike. Once more, she was beaten back into her original form, her Magic Power completely sealed.

Jieyin intended to have White Lotus Boy subdue and convert her. Yet the boy made a mistake and released that incomparably vicious Bloodthirsty Black Mosquito—Daoist Mosquito...

In the end, all of Saint Mother Gui Ling's blood essence and cultivation were drained away. Only an empty turtle shell remained, a sorrowful cry echoing through the ages.

More lamentable still, because of her "origins," she would not even be qualified to enter the Investiture of the Gods List after death. Her remnant soul could only drift between heaven and earth, its fate unknown...

At this moment, the Innate Spiritual Turtle before him had nothing left in its eyes but utter despair and resignation.

Before such an unfathomable senior, resistance was meaningless. It had abandoned all struggle and merely awaited that thunderous blow to end this cultivation life that had never truly begun.

Qing Huan looked at Gui Ling, whose future would be fraught with misfortune, as thoughts raced through his mind.

This turtle bore the great future Merit of helping Fuxi create the Eight Trigrams and assisting Cangjie in laying the foundations of writing. She would be an important participant in humanity's flourishing Luck!

Such a "promising investment"—so long as she benefited him, why care what Karma she might become entangled with in the future? He would simply take her in!

Moreover, Saint Mother Gui Ling's bone-deep loyalty was all the more precious in the treacherous environment of the Primordial Wilderness.

"Ha ha!"

Qing Huan suddenly laughed aloud, and the suffocating pressure instantly dissipated by more than half.

"Since you have already given birth to a primordial spirit and awakened your intelligence, how could I be one who indiscriminately kills innocents and severs a sentient being's path?

Heaven cherishes life. Meeting me today may be considered a fated encounter."

Qing Huan smiled warmly. Looking at the spiritual turtle's stunned, bewildered expression, as though it were hearing things, he continued:

"I am Qing Huan. Are you willing to take me as your master?"

His voice was clear, yet left no room for doubt.

"S-Senior? Senior Qing Huan! Y-you truly mean that?!"

The turtle's massive body trembled faintly. Overwhelming joy struck it, filling its huge turtle eyes with disbelief. The immense contrast left its mind utterly blank.

"Mm!"

Qing Huan raised a brow and deliberately revealed a trace of displeasure.

"With my status, would I deceive you? What, are you unwilling to become my disciple?"

Qing Huan's eyes flashed like lightning as he stared intently at the spiritual turtle.

If she did not follow him, her future held only death. Expecting Tongtian to help plan things for her was no different from a fool's dream. The Interception Sect claimed ten thousand immortals came to its court—could he possibly help every disciple?

"No, no, no! I absolutely did not mean that! Absolutely not!"

The spiritual turtle was frightened out of its wits. Its enormous head bobbed like a pounding pestle as it hurriedly explained.

"This little turtle... this little turtle is simply too overjoyed and lost control for a moment, not knowing what to do! I beg Senior to forgive me!

I... I am willing to take Senior Qing Huan as my master today! Heaven and earth bear witness, my heart is utterly sincere!"

Its booming voice trembled with extreme excitement and echoed among the reefs.

It had never dreamed that, after finding life amid certain death, it could directly enter the tutelage of such a mighty expert!

How could that compare to struggling and fumbling alone in this bitter sea? It was better by tens of millions of times!

"Mm!"

Qing Huan nodded in satisfaction, and a smile returned to his face.

"Good! Since you sincerely wish to take me as your master, I shall accept you as my disciple. From this day onward, I bestow upon you the name—Gui Ling."

As his words fell, he lightly flicked his sleeve. A mace-shaped treasure, wreathed in violet lightning and covered in thunder patterns, appeared from nowhere and hovered before the giant turtle, who was trembling with both fear and excitement. It emitted powerful innate spiritual resonance and an aura of thunderous Destruction.

"This Innate Mid-grade Spiritual Treasure—the Nine Heavens Thunder Pattern Mace—contains the power of Nine Heavens Divine Lightning. Its killing prowess is extraordinary. I grant it to you to protect yourself and defend the Dao. Refine it diligently, and do not disappoint your master's expectations!"

Qing Huan pointed with one finger, sending a faintly glowing mark containing profound Dao resonance into Gui Ling's thick shell, where it vanished from sight.

With this mark in place, should anything happen when Gui Ling underwent Transformation, he would sense it instantly.

As for bringing Gui Ling back to cultivate quietly at his Dao Field on Zhongnan Mountain...

Qing Huan's thoughts stirred, but he immediately dismissed the idea.

The Heavenly Dao moved onward, and the greater course was like a flood. Though he was a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, he still did not dare casually disrupt its trajectory.

Some matters were best left to follow their natural course...

Gui Ling would carry part of humanity's future Luck. This was both her destiny and her opportunity, as well as an intangible safeguard for both her and him. Forcibly changing it could bring unpredictable fortune or disaster.

As for that illusory claim that she was "fated for a killing tribulation"? Qing Huan sneered inwardly.

The Primordial Wilderness was vast and boundless, where the strong preyed upon the weak. On what day were there no sentient beings answering a tribulation?

If trouble truly came knocking, he would break it with force! How could Qing Huan's disciple be so easily bullied?

"Gui Ling."

Qing Huan's voice was calm, carrying a trace of expectation.

"From this day onward, you are my third personal disciple.

However, you have your own Dao path to walk. It is not convenient for me to take you back to my Dao Field now. When you successfully complete your Transformation, that will be the day you return."

Having spoken, Qing Huan lightly flicked his sleeve. A rope-shaped Magic Treasure, gleaming with flowing light and containing restrained spiritual pressure, hovered before Gui Ling.

"This Spiritual Treasure is the Dragon Binding Rope, a Top-grade Acquired Spiritual Treasure. It is a fine defensive treasure with countless wondrous uses. I grant it to you for protection and contemplation."