Master's Love Triangle, Disciple Is a Simp

When Cao Xin first set foot on the path of Mind Cultivation, he had been quite worried as well.

Over the tens of thousands of years of Douluo Continent's history, Soul Masters like Ji Juechen who practiced Mind Cultivation were uncommon, but not rare.

Yet this path of Mind Cultivation had mental-state bottlenecks.

If one never attained enlightenment...

Their cultivation could remain stuck for the rest of their life.

Thus, even though the path of Mind Cultivation offered tremendous combat power, very few Soul Masters chose it.

After all, normal cultivation could still lead one to become a Titled Douluo or a Limit Douluo.

And although Mind Cultivation was powerful in battle...

It generally only allowed one to fight opponents several or a dozen times stronger, making it more or less optional.

As a result, fewer and fewer Soul Masters embarked on this path.

But Cao Xin was special.

He cultivated his mind as well.

Yet his combat power allowed him to overcome opponents thousands of times stronger, using the strength of Five Rings to defeat a Limit Douluo.

Honestly, even Zang Xin had been tempted.

But he was already a Quasi-God.

It was no longer realistic for him to embark on the path of Mind Cultivation.

Not to mention that ordinary Mind Cultivation only allowed one to overcome opponents ten-odd times stronger.

While it could let a Super Douluo fight a Limit Douluo, there were all sorts of mental-state bottlenecks.

By the time you became a Super Douluo, the other party might already be a Quasi-God. What the hell would you still be surpassing them for?

Zang Xin sighed inwardly.

Then he suppressed those thoughts.

No matter what, it was more important than anything that the child could find his own direction.

He rose to his feet and patted Cao Xin on the shoulder.

"Sister Xinglan, I waited so long for you to come out. I've saved up quite a few cultivation resources lately, so I'll give you some."

The moment he stepped outside, Cao Xin saw Xu Lizhi pestering Ye Xinglan.

He looked the same as ever.

With his plump figure and honest face, he held a small pouch in his hands, his face piled with a flattering smile as he tried his hardest to offer it to Ye Xinglan.

Ye Xinglan, meanwhile, wore a cold expression, with a trace of barely concealed irritation in her eyes. She leaned back slightly, keeping an arm's length from Xu Lizhi. Clearly, her patience had reached a breaking point.

Even Cao Xin was somewhat stunned by this.

He stood inside the doorway, looking at a scene almost identical to one from two years ago.

Xu Lizhi eagerly sidled up to her, while Ye Xinglan coldly avoided him...

For a moment, he was dazed.

Was Xu Lizhi really this determined?

He had even chased her out of Shrek Academy?

Although the straight-line distance between the Tang Sect and Shrek was not far, they were still two separate factions. For a student of Shrek Inner Academy to come all the way to Tang Sect Headquarters every day to wait for someone, his persistence was indeed astonishing.

At that moment, the Tang Sect disciples watching the spectacle nearby spotted Cao Xin and hurriedly bowed.

"Young Sect Master."

"What is going on with them?"

Cao Xin was rather curious about what had happened during the two years he had been away from the Tang Sect.

Upon hearing this, the Tang Sect disciple told him everything he knew.

At first, Xu Lizhi had not come to the Tang Sect.

But after learning that Cao Xin had been away from the Tang Sect for long periods and that Ye Xinglan was usually by herself, he decided Cao Xin had no interest in her and resumed his pursuit.

He came to find Ye Xinglan every few days. Each time, he either brought cultivation resources or found all sorts of excuses to strike up a conversation. Ye Xinglan had been thoroughly annoyed by him, so she stayed inside the Tang Sect cultivating and avoided going out whenever possible.

But for some reason...

Ye Xinglan had only gone out a handful of times over the past two years, yet she still ran into Xu Lizhi every time.

It was as though Xu Lizhi had placed some kind of tracking Soul Tool on her.

Cao Xin frowned.

He had no particular feelings for Ye Xinglan.

Although his second father had initially made her his sword-attendant maid.

He had never trained with her even once.

After all, the gap between them was simply too great.

Ye Xinglan could not provide him with the slightest help.

Still, she was nominally his person. Seeing her repeatedly harassed like this was ultimately rather irritating.

He asked, "What did my second father say?"

"Gate Master Zang said..."

"They are all juniors, so it would not be appropriate for him to interfere."

The Tang Sect disciple answered cautiously.

Cao Xin nodded in understanding.

Though his second father said that.

The main reason was that Cao Xin did not care much about Ye Xinglan, so his second father had treated it casually as well.

Given his second father's protective nature...

If Cao Xin truly liked Ye Xinglan, how could he allow Xu Lizhi to come running over every few days?

At that moment, Xu Lizhi noticed Cao Xin as well.

His entire body suddenly stiffened.

Then his face turned pale.

Frightened, he staggered several steps backward.

Ye Xinglan's eyes, however, lit up.

She quickly took two steps toward Cao Xin and respectfully called out.

"Young Master."

Cao Xin gave a slight nod in response, then looked at Xu Lizhi. His tone was calm, yet crisp and decisive.

"Get lost!"

By now, he had fully attained enlightenment.

Laughter and anger alike were lessons.

Worldly wisdom was literature.

Since he was already within this rolling mortal world...

It would be a wasted journey if he did not walk through it properly.

Be cold when it was time to be cold, laugh when it was time to laugh, curse when it was time to curse.

There was no need to maintain the detached distance he had kept from everything in the past.

"You!"

Xu Lizhi's face instantly reddened like a pig's head, making him look even more ridiculous.

He opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but when he met Cao Xin's calm, unruffled eyes, he instinctively shrank back. The words that had reached his lips were forcibly stuck in his throat.

Cao Xin could not be bothered wasting words on this guy...

He was about to leave.

But then, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Even as the Young Sect Master of the Tang Sect, you should not insult an Inner Court disciple of Shrek."

Cao Xin looked at the newcomer, his eyes narrowing slightly.

He was a man in his early twenties.

Tall and lean, he wore the uniform of Shrek Inner Academy. His gait was composed and measured, carrying the steady poise unique to someone long accustomed to a position of authority.

Who was this guy?

The Tang Sect disciple beside him read the situation and hurriedly leaned closer to whisper.

"Young Sect Master, he is Lan Muzi, the senior disciple of Shrek Inner Academy."

At once, Cao Xin revealed a strange expression.

Lan Muzi?

Wasn't this guy Long Yeyue's registered disciple?

Then he looked at Xu Lizhi and suddenly understood.

Oh, he had almost forgotten.

Long Yeyue seemed to think highly of Xu Lizhi.

In the original story, she had even accepted Xu Lizhi as her disciple.

This master and disciple pair were both oddballs.

The master had a love triangle, while the disciple was a simp.

One could do all kinds of absurd things for love.

The other could pester someone endlessly to this extent over one-sided affection. They truly were a perfect match.

At first, he had thought that Lan Muzi, merely being Long Yeyue's registered disciple, was proof that a bad bamboo could still produce a good shoot.

But now, it seemed he had overthought things.

The original story simply had not described much of him, so it was impossible to see what he was truly like.

"Insult?"

"Your Shrek Academy had no shame first, and you dare talk to me about insults?"

"This truly makes me wonder whether all of you Shrek people are this shameless."

Cao Xin sneered several times.

A mere senior disciple of Shrek Inner Academy, an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo, thought he deserved Cao Xin's respect?

Even Long Yeyue did not deserve it!