Forget About Taking Disciples

The next day, at Mr. Hong's home.

Early in the morning, Mr. Hong got up, seated himself in his wheelchair, washed up, then went into the courtyard for a stroll.

Before he had the wheelchair, Yue'e had needed to attend to all of these things.

With the wheelchair, Mr. Hong could take care of himself.

Mr. Hong truly loved this wheelchair.

With it, he no longer had to stay cooped up in his room all day. Whenever he had nothing to do, he could go out and get some fresh air.

As a result, Mr. Hong's spirits improved considerably, and the injuries on his body healed faster as well.

Mr. Hong wheeled about the courtyard for a while. When the morning sun rose, he closed his eyes and began regulating his breath.

He regulated his breath for half an hour.

Two streams of purple qi shot from Mr. Hong's nostrils.

Then Mr. Hong drew those two streams of purple qi back into his abdomen through his mouth, completing one great circulation.

Mr. Hong's legs were inconvenient, so he could not practice Heart Nourishing Swordplay. He could only cultivate a martial art his master had taught him, the "Purple Moon Heart Sutra."

The "Purple Moon Heart Sutra" was a superior internal cultivation method. It required long years of persistent practice before it showed results, but it did not take up much time each day.

That was because this internal cultivation method had to be practiced when purple qi came from the east in the morning and when the moon had just risen at night.

Cultivating for just one hour a day was enough.

As the saying went, pile earth into a mountain, gather water into an abyss. After more than fifty years of cultivating this art, Mr. Hong had amassed profound true qi.

This true qi secretly accorded with the heavenly principle that yin and yang gave birth to all things. Not only did it not conflict with the Sword Qi within his body, it could even strengthen it.

After Mr. Hong was injured and could no longer practice swordsmanship, he studied the Purple Moon Heart Sutra every day. Through occasional insights, he created a set of Yin Yang Swordplay.

After finishing his Purple Moon Heart Sutra cultivation, Mr. Hong sighed.

This injury had instead improved his martial arts.

But his legs had also been completely crippled, greatly reducing his combat strength.

Poison Demon Shangguan Qingcang's Ice Demon Art was too tyrannical.

His legs had been injured by the Ice Demon Art, and Cold Poison lingered within them without dispersing.

He could only barely suppress the Cold Poison within his legs and keep it from spreading further.

Even his master had no solution for this Cold Poison. He needed an expert who had cultivated the Ice Demon Art to great completion to willingly help him expel the poison.

Looking across the world, only Poison Demon Shangguan Qingcang and his eldest disciple Feng Zhenyu had cultivated the Ice Demon Art to great completion.

And those two would absolutely never help him detoxify.

The times and fate—perhaps everything had been ordained by Heaven.

The longer Mr. Hong lived, the more he believed in fate.

After Yue'e finished making breakfast, she went into the courtyard and pushed Mr. Hong in to eat.

"Since getting this wheelchair, sir, your mood seems to have improved a great deal. Brother Lin Feng is quite handy."

Mr. Hong smiled and nodded. "Once we return to the mountain gate, I'll have the sect's craftsmen forge an identical wheelchair out of black iron."

Upon hearing this, Yue'e seemed to realize something. "Sir, your legs...?"

Mr. Hong gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "They won't recover. There's no hope."

Yue'e softly comforted him. "It's all right, sir. Getting a black iron wheelchair won't affect your ability to get around."

Using a wheelchair was certainly a helpless choice. No tool could compare to one's own legs.

Neither of them wanted to discuss the matter further.

Yue'e changed the subject. "Today is the last day of the agreement between you and Brother Lin Feng, isn't it?

Brother Lin Feng hasn't come by these past two days. He may be at home hurrying to practice his swordsmanship.

I wonder whether he can get started in Basic Swordplay.

One month is too short. Sir, why not give Brother Lin Feng a little more time?"

"A true man's word weighs nine tripods. How can it be changed so casually?

Besides, my original purpose was only to teach him one or two martial arts sufficient for self-defense.

I took pity on him only because I saw that he had a kind heart.

Teaching him two martial arts was already an exception.

Forget about taking disciples.

We can barely protect ourselves now. We should avoid entangling ourselves in karma as much as possible."

Yue'e asked with a smile, "Then if Brother Lin Feng has already gotten started in Basic Swordplay, will you accept him?"

"Of course I will.

If he truly can get started in Basic Swordplay within one month, then it proves our destined chance has arrived.

Heaven has ordained that I should accept him as my disciple.

And if he truly possesses such talent, he is qualified to be my disciple."

"Then once Brother Lin Feng becomes your disciple, should I call him senior brother or junior brother?"

Mr. Hong smiled. "He would naturally be your junior brother.

I can only accept three inner disciples. Even if his aptitude is good, his accumulated merits are not enough.

If his progress slows in the future, then he can only remain an outer disciple forever. He will certainly rank behind you."

Breakfast consisted of white flour steamed buns and potatoes stewed with wild buffalo meat.

Mr. Hong needed to recover his body, so whenever there was meat in the house, Yue'e made meat dishes for him at all three meals.

After breakfast, Yue'e said, "We're about to run out of meat. Brother Lin Feng should be bringing us more soon.

Brother Lin Feng treats us far too well. Ever since getting to know him, we've never lacked meat.

He's spoiled my stomach.

How are we supposed to live if we can't eat meat?

A few days ago, Brother Lin Feng even helped us drive off those little hooligans."

"You little girl, you've been saying nothing but good things about your Brother Lin Feng all morning.

You want me to make an exception and accept him as a disciple, don't you?

Taking disciples all depends on destined chance. If he doesn't meet the requirements, at most I'll pass Heart Nourishing Swordplay on to him."

As the two spoke, someone knocked on the courtyard gate.

Knock, knock, knock, knock. Four rhythmic knocks.

Yue'e's eyes lit up at the sound.

Ordinary people knocked three times. Only Lin Feng liked knocking four times.

"It must be Brother Lin Feng."

Yue'e hurriedly rose and went to open the courtyard gate.

The visitor was indeed Lin Feng.

Seeing Lin Feng carrying a shoulderful of prepared fresh meat, Yue'e asked, "Brother Lin Feng, have you brought us more meat again?"

But Lin Feng shook his head.

Yue'e tilted her head and scratched it. Brother Lin Feng had carried meat over, so why wasn't he here to deliver meat?

Lin Feng smiled. "This is my gift for becoming a disciple."

Yue'e's eyes widened. "Brother Lin Feng, you've gotten started in Basic Swordplay?"

Lin Feng nodded. "I was fortunate enough to get started."

"Brother Lin Feng, you're amazing."

Lin Feng first carried the wolf meat intended for the apprenticeship gift into the kitchen, then went with Yue'e to the main hall.

After meeting Mr. Hong, Lin Feng said apologetically, "Sir, I've gotten started in Basic Swordplay. I fulfilled our agreement. Shouldn't you accept me as your disciple now?"

Yue'e had already brought over a teacup.

Next, Lin Feng would kneel, kowtow, and offer tea to complete the apprenticeship ceremony.

Mr. Hong waved his hand. "First, go to the courtyard and perform Basic Swordplay once for me to see."

The three went into the courtyard.

Yue'e handed Lin Feng a wooden sword.

Lin Feng began performing Basic Swordplay.

Mr. Hong watched Lin Feng practice while stroking his beard.

Mr. Hong nodded continuously as he watched. Every move Lin Feng performed was very standard, his foundation was solid, and it suited Mr. Hong's taste perfectly.

Some people got started in Basic Swordplay too, but their movements were not standard enough. Mr. Hong greatly disliked such people.

Practicing martial arts was like building a house—the further one progressed, the more important the foundation became.

After Lin Feng finished performing Basic Swordplay once, he asked, "Can you accept me as your disciple now, sir?"

Mr. Hong said, "Before you become my disciple, I'll first teach you a sword technique I created myself. If you can learn it after watching it once, I'll accept you as my disciple."