Taking a Master

He tried to perform a salute. "This disciple, Wen Xu, pays respects to Junior Martial Granduncle."

Yet heaven and earth stretched vast and desolate around him. His voice echoed across the mountain peak, but no one answered.

Wen Xu did not have much spiritual power. Before long, he was so cold that his will was nearly slipping away. In that instant, he thought, As expected, my fate has never run smoothly. Even with a Supreme-Grade Spiritual Root, the smooth sailing others imagine has nothing to do with me.

But so what! Today, he had to succeed in taking a master! He had to enter Yonglu Mountain!

"You are called Wen Xu, correct?"

All of a sudden, a man's voice drifted in from the distant, misty reaches. Though he had not seen the man, the voice carried endless wind and snow. This should be the Junior Martial Granduncle the Sect Master had mentioned.

"Yes. This disciple is named Wen Xu."

"You can hear, you can speak. Your name suits you well. Unfortunately, I dislike noisy people, and I dislike liars even more."

Wen Xu wanted to explain, only to discover that he could no longer speak.

His vision swam, and suddenly, a man covered in snow stood before him.

"Can't you see? You can see, yet you claim that you cannot. Since you do not want those eyes, why not give them to someone who needs the light more?"

The man's voice was icy and merciless. Even though Wen Xu could not make out his face, he could still sense the killing chill around him. This man did not regard him as a living thing at all!

Terror abruptly seized Wen Xu's heart. Perhaps his fear had reached its utmost limit, because he actually found his voice again. "This disciple can see, yet it is no different from being unable to see. Since childhood, I have never been able to recognize anyone's face. Even those closest to me, even those I have seen countless times—I have never recognized them clearly. Would anyone truly want such a pair of eyes?"

This was the first time Wen Xu had revealed the truth about his eyes to anyone. He did not know why, but today he spoke without the slightest hesitation. He did not even stumble over his words, simply letting it all flow out so smoothly.

As though telling this person the truth was the easiest thing in the world.

And once he realized that, the terror in his eyes only grew greater.

"Oh? Such a strange thing exists?" The man propped his chin on his hand and pondered for a moment before saying, "Then you were not entirely lying. Since that is the case, I shall accept you as my disciple."

Taking a Master

In an instant, the wind, snow, frost, and ice vanished. Wen Xu could no longer hold himself up and collapsed. When his muddled consciousness finally cleared again, he discovered—

He had never actually stepped onto the final mountain stair.

"Are you not coming up?"

The cloth wrapped over his eyes had long since disappeared. After pretending to be blind for so many days, Wen Xu felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. Besides... he had actually revealed his greatest secret without a moment's hesitation. How could he not be terrified?

He could not help lifting his head to gaze at the man who had just said he would take him as a disciple. Unfortunately, no matter how powerful the man was, Wen Xu still could not see his face clearly. It seemed that even cultivation could not cure his face blindness.

"Can you see your master's face clearly? Ah, no. You have not yet taken me as your master. I ought to be more reserved."

Wen Xu had always been unwavering in his desire to take a master. Whenever he set his mind on something, he was the sort of person who had to see it through. Yet now, after what had just happened, he hesitated for the first time in a long while.

He had once been a scholar and understood very well the importance of a good teacher. Thus, before passing the provincial examination, he had never formally taken a master. To scholars, the bond between master and disciple was practically that of father and son. If he wanted to rise above the common crowd, he needed a teacher willing to truly lead him through the door.

To put it more bluntly, he wanted a teacher who could help him soar straight to the azure clouds later in life.

Unfortunately, he had never encountered such a teacher. Now, he had stepped onto an entirely different path. The man before him was undoubtedly very strong—perhaps strong beyond anything Wen Xu could imagine. But... no one liked being entirely naked before another person. Though the man had not said so outright, Wen Xu knew that everything about him had been seen through by the man before him.

Wen Xu thought, If I were as open and straightforward as Bian Chunchou, I definitely would not hesitate at all. Unfortunately, I am not that sort of person.

"Did you not... dislike people who lie?"

The man suddenly lowered his gaze and looked straight into Wen Xu's unfocused eyes. "You do not wish to take a master?"

"No, this disciple..."

"Then take one. Once you do, I will tell you some secrets of our lineage that are never passed on."

That sounded even less reliable. But the arrow was already on the string; he had no choice but to let it fly. Wen Xu suspected that if he turned around and left now, this man might press his head down and make him take a master anyway. Yonglu Mountain had set him up!

Taking the initiative himself was still more dignified than having someone force him. Thus, Wen Xu stepped onto the final stair and, amid the ice and snow of Springless Peak, completed the most important ceremony of taking a master in his life.

"This disciple, Wen Xu, pays respects to Master."

Springless Peak's weather was bitterly cold. Wen Xu felt that, with his current cultivation, he probably could not remain there for long. But he soon discovered that Springless Hall on Springless Peak was brimming with spring, warm and pleasant—a true difference between heaven and earth compared to outside.

A mighty expert of the Body Integration Realm was terrifying indeed!

"Then let your master introduce himself." The man shook the snow from his body, beckoned, and summoned a cup of spiritual tea from thin air. He handed it to his newly accepted youngest disciple. "Did I frighten you just now?"

Wen Xu was handed a cup of spiritual tea and did not try too hard to hide it. "A little. This secret... this disciple has never told a second person."

"You have not even told your birth parents?" the man asked curiously.

Wen Xu shook his head. "This disciple has never met them."

Ah, it seemed he had said the wrong thing. The man promptly steered the topic back. "Your master's Dao title is Cheng Wei. My cultivation should be about the same as Jun Zhaoying's. Otherwise, those old men would never have willingly handed you over to me as a disciple."

As expected, Wen Xu's attention was immediately drawn away.

"One thing you said just now was wrong."

"This disciple is dull-witted."

"You said you had never told a second person this secret. To be precise, your master is not human. In the cultivation world, that is hardly a secret."