White Turtledove Domain in the Southern Frontier!

Seeing Shen Mo remain bent in a deep bow, Chen Jichuan softened. They were fellow disciples, after all. He sighed. "Rise, senior brother. I'll take this disciple."

"Thank you, junior brother!"

At his words, Shen Mo straightened, then bowed again.

"Why put yourself through this, senior brother?"

Seeing this once-brilliant prodigy in his twilight years, Chen Jichuan did not know what to say.

"In this life, a man needs something to care for, something to carry on after him. Only then will his journey through this world not have been in vain."

Like a man drinking water, only he knew whether it was warm or cold.

Chen Jichuan found it desolate, but Shen Mo savored it like honey.

Chen Jichuan said no more. But having accepted a disciple, he could hardly ignore him, even from the Savage Wastes. He told Shen Mo and Daoist Chen Yu, "Once the child turns ten, I'll send someone to fetch him and teach him myself. At twenty, I'll send him back to Golden Wind Mountain Sea. After that, I'll take him out once every ten years. If you agree, senior brother, I'll accept him. If you can't bear to part with him, then let the matter rest."

"If he becomes your disciple, naturally he must obey his master."

Shen Mo readily agreed.

With that settled, the atmosphere eased somewhat. With Daoist Chen Yu helping the conversation along, the slight unpleasantness of what had almost amounted to forcing his hand soon passed.

They chatted for a while.

Chen Jichuan was about to take his leave when Shen Mo stopped him again. "I was presumptuous today, junior brother. Please don't hold it against me."

"You're being too formal, senior brother."

Chen Jichuan was hardly going to take such a small matter to heart.

Shen Mo said