Taking Cao Ying as a Disciple

Seeing that Su Baichen remained silent for so long, Xuankongzi assumed he was hesitant and could not help growing anxious.

He quietly nudged Cao Ying, who was standing beside him, with his elbow and shot her a meaningful look in Su Baichen's direction.

Cao Ying had been lowering her head and twisting the corner of her clothes. At the nudge, she raised her little face in confusion.

Seeing Xuankongzi repeatedly jut his chin toward Su Baichen, her bright black eyes rolled, and she immediately understood.

The little girl was quick-witted. In an instant, she understood Xuankongzi's hint—he wanted her to strike while the iron was hot and make the matter of becoming his disciple official!

Without another word, she darted over to Su Baichen in just a few steps, moving so quickly that she left behind only a waft of fragrance.

Then, beneath everyone's astonished gazes, she dropped to her knees on the bluestone floor with a resounding thump. The crisp, solid sound made even Xuankongzi's mouth twitch as he thought to himself that the girl was almost too earnest.

"Your disciple, Cao Ying, greets Master!"

Cao Ying raised her little face. Her voice was clear and bright, carrying a child's characteristic innocence, yet her tone was exceptionally resolute.

Su Baichen was indeed startled by this sudden grand gesture. Once he recovered, he saw a delicate little girl, lovely as if carved from pink jade, kneeling before him with hopeful eyes.

He had never liked such empty formalities, especially from a half-grown child. He quickly bent down and reached out to help her by the arm. "Hey, hey, get up. Why are you kneeling at such a young age? Hurry up, the floor is cold."

How clever was Cao Ying? Seeing that Su Baichen's tone was gentle and held no trace of dislike, she immediately pressed her advantage.

Using Su Baichen's support, she rose to her feet. A dazzling smile instantly bloomed across her little face, as though she had secretly eaten honey, and she obediently replied, "This disciple shall heed Master's command!"

After saying that, she deliberately patted the nonexistent dust from her knees, the smile on her face growing ever more smug.

Seeing her expression of my scheme has succeeded, Su Baichen could not stop the corner of his mouth from twitching. He was both amused and exasperated.

He cleared his throat, trying to regain control of the pace. "Um, well... I haven't yet..."

Before he could say the word "agreed," Cao Ying cut him off repeatedly like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on. Her little mouth drooped, her eyes instantly reddened, and she made as if to kneel again.

"Don't, don't, don't!"

Su Baichen's head began to ache at the sight. He hurriedly reached out to stop her from kneeling again. "All right, all right, stand properly!"

Once Cao Ying was standing steadily again, she immediately lifted her exquisite little face, delicate as a porcelain doll, and stared unblinkingly at Su Baichen with those large, limpid eyes, so distinctly black and white.

Her gaze was filled with affection, expectation, and a hint of unyielding cunning, as if silently asking, "So, are you going to agree or not?"

Su Baichen had always been helpless against such a pure gaze tinged with a little calculation. His heart softened under her stare, and the excuses he had prepared could no longer leave his lips.

With a helpless sigh, he raised a hand and rubbed his brow. His voice carried a resigned sort of indulgence. "Ah, fine, fine. You little girl have defeated me. From now on... you are my disciple."

"Hehe, thank you, Master!"

The moment Cao Ying heard that, her face lit up with delight and she gave a cheer. Her expression changed as swiftly as the turn of a page; her teary appearance from moments ago vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the joy of a successful scheme.

Looking at this eccentric, quick-witted little girl, Su Baichen had to admit, despite his helplessness, that she was truly exceptionally intelligent.

From beginning to end, she had said only a few words, yet every sentence had cemented their master-disciple relationship and left him with no way out. Such wit and courage were far beyond those of an ordinary child.

Xuankongzi, who had been holding his breath on the side, finally relaxed completely when Su Baichen personally acknowledged it. Stroking his long beard, he revealed a satisfied, gratified smile. His gaze toward Cao Ying was full of praise. The girl had not disappointed him after all.

Xuanyi, who had remained quietly standing to one side, watched this scene of universal joy, yet her beautiful brows drew together almost imperceptibly.

For some reason, a faint sense of foreboding lingered in her heart. She felt that Su Baichen taking Cao Ying as his disciple might bring about no small amount of turmoil in the future.

Yet she could not say exactly why. With the atmosphere so pleasant at the moment, it was not her place to spoil everyone's mood. She could only suppress her doubts and offer a faint smile along with the others.

It was simply unknown whether, someday in the future, she would regret the vague unease she felt today.

"Baichen,"

In high spirits, Xuankongzi stroked his beard and laughed, his tone carrying a hint of teasing. "The little girl has knocked her head and become your disciple. As her master, shouldn't you show something and give her a proper gift for taking you as her master? Don't be stingy."

At that, Su Baichen shot Xuankongzi an irritated glance, though his tone held a touch of pride. "Hmph, do you need to tell me that? Could I, Su Baichen, ever let my disciple be poorly treated?"

With that, he lightly brushed his finger across his Storage Ring, and several crystal-clear jade bottles appeared in his hand.

The jade bottles were smooth and lustrous. Within them, one could faintly see viscous liquid in dazzling colors, suffused with a gentle spiritual glow.

The instant the jade bottles appeared, Xuankongzi and Xuanyi cried out in shock almost simultaneously, their faces full of disbelief.

"Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid!"

"Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid!"

Though Cao Ying was young, she was far from ignorant. Seeing that even two leading figures of the Danta were so shocked by the medicinal liquid, she immediately understood that what her master had taken out was no ordinary item. Her large eyes gleamed as she stared at the jade bottles, filled with curiosity and anticipation.

Xuankongzi stepped forward in a flash and carefully examined the jade bottles in Su Baichen's hand. His tone was filled with intense puzzlement. "Baichen, how do you have Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid?"

"If I remember correctly, this should be that old Yao Chen's exclusive pill formula. Back then, I coaxed and pestered him for ages, but he refused to reveal even a word of it. Where did you get it?"

At the mention of this, Su Baichen's face immediately filled with indignation, as though he had suffered some enormous injustice. "Hmph! It was because I made a bet with him over pill refining back then! We agreed to compete over whose pills were of better quality and purer medicinal effect, and the loser would offer up an exclusive pill formula."

The more he spoke, the angrier he became, and even his speech quickened. "And what happened? I lost, so I honored the bet and gave him a pill formula I had painstakingly developed."

"But that old bastard shamelessly cheated me! He lost in the end and did give me a so-called 'exclusive pill formula'—this Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid! Its effects are fairly good, but it only works on little children cultivating at the Dou Qi stage!"

"I was a dignified seventh-tier alchemist at the time. What use did I have for a second-tier pill formula? He was blatantly playing rogue!"

Whenever Su Baichen recalled this incident, his teeth itched with hatred. He felt that Yao Chen had thoroughly taken him for a ride.

However, his voice paused, and his tone softened slightly, as though he had remembered what happened afterward.

Perhaps Yao Chen himself had also felt that what he had done was rather improper. Not long afterward, he brought out an unnamed cultivation technique that he had stumbled upon in an ancient secret realm and had not even fully comprehended himself, then studied it together with Su Baichen. Only then did Su Baichen's blazing anger barely subside.