Zhao Gongming Wanted to Assess His Master, but Broke Down First

Beneath the Enlightenment Ancient Tree, Zhao Gongming sat cross-legged on a prayer cushion opposite Luxuan. Though he held a cup of freshly served spiritual tea, his mind was clearly not on the tea.

He had come all the way to Penglai for the sake of his three sisters.

Now that he saw they were not only safe and sound, but each had seen their cultivation soar and possessed precious treasures, most of his earlier worries that his sisters might have been deceived had faded away. Still, taking a master was a lifelong matter, and Zhao Gongming intended to observe for a while longer.

Luxuan naturally saw through him, yet did not expose him at all.

If his own three sisters had suddenly taken some stranger as their master, he, as their elder brother, would likely have come to take a look as well. Zhao Gongming's caution merely showed that he truly cared about the Three Cloud Sisters.

"The spiritual tea is good. Have a taste."

Luxuan casually reminded him.

Only then did Zhao Gongming lower his head and take a sip.

The instant the tea entered his mouth, an incomparably pure aura of creation flowed down his throat and dissolved into his limbs and bones. Even his somewhat weary Primordial Spirit was instantly refreshed.

Zhao Gongming paused.

"Enlightenment Tea?"

"Mm."

Luxuan nodded.

"There are a few plants in Penglai's back mountain. I do not drink it often, but the taste is all right."

Zhao Gongming glanced at the tea in his hand.

A few plants in the back mountain?

Since when could Enlightenment Tea be measured in "a few plants"?

He suddenly felt that if he kept asking questions, he might have a hard time maintaining the image of a well-traveled Taiyi cultivator of the Great Wilderness today.

Bixiao sat nearby, utterly unaware that her elder brother had begun questioning his life. She enthusiastically introduced Penglai to him instead.

"Brother, Enlightenment Tea is nothing. Master also has Enlightenment Cliff further in. Cultivating there is incredibly fast."

"And Three Lights Divine Water Lake. I'm telling you, soaking in it feels especially good."

"Treasure Cliff is fun too, but Master said I am not allowed to casually use the Golden Flood-Dragon Scissors to test whether those spiritual treasures are hard enough. I think he is just afraid I will slice the mountain apart."

The more Zhao Gongming listened, the quieter he became.

He had originally wanted to ask whether his three sisters had enough cultivation resources in their daily lives.

Now, it seemed that question was a little insulting to Penglai.

It was not a matter of whether they had enough.

It was a matter of whether they could even use it all up.

"Bixiao."

Yunxiao helplessly interrupted her younger sister.

"Brother has only just arrived at Penglai. Let him rest first."

Bixiao nodded.

"That's true."

"Anyway, he can take his time looking around later."

Zhao Gongming keenly caught that last sentence.

"Later?"

Bixiao looked as though it were only natural.

"Since Brother has come, of course he should stay for a while."

Zhao Gongming had wanted to say that he was only here to take a look. But thinking of the absurd rumors he had heard along the way, then looking at the state of his three sisters now, he ultimately swallowed those words.

He really should stay for a while.

At the very least, he needed to figure out how Luxuan usually taught his disciples.

Thus, over the following several hundred years, Zhao Gongming temporarily remained in Penglai.

At first, he truly had the mindset of "assessing" things.

For example, whenever Yunxiao went to Enlightenment Cliff to comprehend formations each day, he would watch from afar for a while.

Then Zhao Gongming discovered that Luxuan rarely demanded that Yunxiao cultivate according to any fixed method.

Whenever Yunxiao encountered a problem while deducing the Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation, Luxuan would merely point out where the problem lay, rather than directly stuffing the complete answer into her hands.

The first time Yunxiao asked how a certain formation eye should be concealed, Luxuan said only one thing.

"If you are worried that the formation eye will be discovered, why must you make it remain in one place forever?"

Then he left her to it.

Yunxiao thought it over for several years and changed the originally fixed formation eye so that it continuously shifted along with the nine cloud rivers.

Zhao Gongming watched from the side, deep in thought.

The hardest thing about being a master was never teaching disciples everything one knew.

It was knowing when to speak, and when to let the disciple come to understand on their own.

Then there was Qiongxiao.

She had spent these years in Sword Valley.

Luxuan almost never interfered with her sword practice. Only when she had once pursued sharpness too excessively, to the point that her Sword Qi injured her own meridians, did he casually pick her up and carry her to Three Lights Divine Water Lake.

"A sword is for killing others, not for killing yourself first."

That was all he said.

Qiongxiao returned and trained anew for three hundred years.

Her sword intent instead became purer than before.

As for Bixiao...

Zhao Gongming had not observed for long before discovering that this most lively and unruly sister of his was the one her master managed the most.

It was not favoritism.

It was because leaving her alone would truly make accidents all too easy.

"Master!"

Bixiao's voice suddenly came from afar.

A spatial rift opened beside the Enlightenment Ancient Tree, and the young girl crawled out with her hair in complete disarray, her face smeared with several streaks of soot.

Luxuan raised his head to look at her.

"What did you do this time?"

Bixiao coughed twice.

"Nothing."

"I just wanted to see whether the Golden Flood-Dragon Scissors could snip two spatial passages together."

Luxuan fell silent for a moment.

"And then?"

"And then I did connect them."

Bixiao's voice gradually shrank.

"It is just that, for some reason, the exit ended up inside the Innate Lightning Pool."

Zhao Gongming: "..."

He finally understood why Bixiao's hair had ended up like that.

This was not cultivation.

This was using herself to conduct dangerous experiments in the Great Wilderness.

Luxuan was clearly already used to it.

With a wave of his hand, the lightning and fire on Bixiao's body instantly dispersed. Then he flicked her forehead.

"You may boldly experiment with the Space Great Dao."

"But next time, send a clone to scout the way first."

"If you truly fall into some spatial turbulence, I can fish you back out, but it would still be troublesome."

Bixiao covered her forehead.

"Got it."

Watching this scene, the last trace of worry in Zhao Gongming's heart completely dispersed.

His three sisters cultivated in Penglai.

They lacked no cultivation methods.

They lacked no resources.

They lacked no spiritual treasures.

Even each of their paths was entirely different, yet all of them received the guidance best suited to them.

If this still counted as being deceived, then who knew how many cultivators in the Great Wilderness would be willing to line up in groups to be deceived.

Yet what truly made Zhao Gongming's feelings somewhat complicated was a sparring match a hundred years later.

After the Three Cloud Sisters stabilized their Taiyi realms, they tested one another on the Spell Demonstration Platform.

Yunxiao set up the formation.

Qiongxiao took the main offensive.

Bixiao launched sneak attacks everywhere.

At first, Zhao Gongming merely watched. Then Bixiao's eyes suddenly shifted.

"Brother."

"You are Taiyi too."

"Why not come and try?"

Zhao Gongming had wanted to refuse.

But seeing the three sisters clearly itching for a fight, he ultimately nodded.

"Very well."

"Your brother can take this chance to see just how far you have cultivated over these years."

Half an hour later.

Zhao Gongming stood within the Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation, his expression gradually growing grave.

An hour later.

He had just found a weak point in the formation when Qiongxiao's sword pierced out from behind the clouds.

Zhao Gongming blocked the sword.

The space behind him suddenly split open.

Two golden flood dragons snapped their shears straight at him.

He could only evade once more.

As a result, he took one wrong step.

The positions of the nine cloud rivers around him instantly shifted.

The formation exit he had struggled so hard to find vanished again.

A full three days later.

Relying on magical power far exceeding that of the Three Cloud Sisters at Late Taiyi, Zhao Gongming finally forced his way out of the Nine-Bend Cloud River Formation.

But when he truly emerged.

One section of his Daoist robe sleeve had been sliced off by the Mystic Origin Immortal-Slaying Sword.

His hair crown had been grazed by the Golden Flood-Dragon Scissors, nearly being snipped cleanly in two.

Bixiao leaped out of the formation, laughing with great delight.

"Brother."

"How was it?"

Zhao Gongming lowered his head and looked at his sleeve.

Then he looked at his three younger sisters, who had only recently broken through to Early Taiyi.

He fell silent for a moment.

"Not bad."

More than not bad.

It was simply outrageous.

One had to know that he was already at Late Taiyi, with only a single step at the threshold separating him from Great Luo.

Yet three Early Taiyi cultivators joining forces had truly managed to trap him for three whole days.

Especially Yunxiao's formation.

How long had it been since it was first created?

Luxuan had remained seated in the distance the entire time, never participating in the sparring match.

After the three sisters left, Zhao Gongming finally could not help walking over.

"Senior."

Luxuan raised his eyes.

"What is it?"

Zhao Gongming hesitated slightly.

"This junior wishes to ask: how does Senior usually guide their cultivation?"

Luxuan looked at him somewhat strangely upon hearing that.

"Teach according to their aptitude."

"Whatever suits them, that is what they learn."

Zhao Gongming waited for a long while.

There was nothing more.

"That's all?"

"What else would there be?"

Luxuan countered.

"They are the ones cultivating, not this poor Daoist."

Zhao Gongming was momentarily speechless.

He suddenly felt that—

The question he had spent so long pondering along the way—

Had an answer that was absurdly simple.

Luxuan seemed to recall something.

"Perfect."

"In a few days, this poor Daoist intends to give them a lecture on the Dao."

"If you have nothing to do, you can sit to the side and listen as well."

Zhao Gongming was slightly stunned.

He had originally only wanted to assess his three younger sisters' master.

For some reason—

As he assessed and assessed, things seemed to be gradually heading in a strange direction.