"That was what happened thirty years ago... Your master, Wei Wuchen, and Huang Jiu, three cultivators, along with Du Yuan and Han Wu, two Eighth Realm Martial Warriors, led five disciples into a great battle against the Four Great Guardian Cities and the Four Great Immortal Sects..."
"Except for Wei Wuchen, whose cultivation was the highest, the other four of us were all gravely wounded by casual strikes from that immortal!"
"My eyes were ruined, Huang Jiu lost an arm... Du Yuan had both legs severed, and Han Wu had his skull pierced by a sword. Even now, his mind is still muddled..."
"That is what Two Realms Village is! A thorn in the eyes and a spike in the flesh of the Three Great Dynasties, the Twelve Guardian Prefectures, and the Twelve Immortal Sects!"
"The cultivators in the Wild Spirit Land are all people who fled because they could no longer endure the immortal sects' oppression... Along with the fragmented Demon Race, and those living corpses and wronged souls that are neither human nor ghost... Are you afraid?"
"Being my disciple means you are destined never to enjoy high office, a fat salary, glory, or riches. You might not even get to roam freely across the Four Seas as one of those immortals on the mountains!"
Master Ming sat in his bamboo chair, gazing gently at Lü Bufan before him...
"You can change your mind... I can send you out of Two Realms Village and give you a modest fortune, enough to live in a comfort you never dared imagine before..."
Lü Bufan sat quietly on a little stool with his head lowered.
After a long while, Lü Bufan raised his head and looked at his master with bright eyes...
"Master... What are you all doing this for? The immortal sects and Guardian Cities are so powerful... Why do you insist on opposing them?"
Master Ming said gravely, "They intend to seal off Two Realms Village completely. Naturally, that has to do with secret upheavals from long ago... But they also want to ensure that no one in Central Earth harbors even the slightest longing for the Wild Spirit Land! Those immortals... They don't want us mortals to have even a trace of defiance toward them! They only want us to lower our eyes, bow our heads, and live like docile sheep..."
Lü Bufan nodded. "But people's lives are growing harder and harder... These past few years, there have been more and more beggars on the roads. Every winter, the town has to carry away so many people who starved to death..."
Master Ming looked up at the white clouds overhead... "There are things you don't understand yet. Telling you would only unsettle your heart... If this continues, people's lives will only grow harder. The Human Race... will face a great catastrophe."
"What's in the Wild Spirit Land? Couldn't we just take lots of people and flee there?"
Master Ming reached out and smacked Lü Bufan on the head. "Idiot... If running away worked, why would we go to all this trouble?"
Lü Bufan suddenly stood and bowed respectfully... "Master! In my whole life, I've only met three people who truly treated me well... The old beggar, Liuzi, and you! I still don't understand these great affairs... But I know you, Master Wei Wuchen, and the others didn't risk your lives for yourselves! I'm willing to follow you and protect Two Realms Village... Even if, even if..."
Master Ming laughed. "Even if what? Expecting you to see life and death clearly now would be a joke! Just hearing you say you'll follow me and guard Two Realms Village already makes me happy..."
"As for the road ahead of you... It won't be easy! A person's heart must be tested one step at a time. Learn your skills properly from the masters in the village... From now on, learn cultivation from them, and let me teach you your letters and learning! Understood?"
"Understood, Master!"
In an open space in the village, three old fellows and one large vat... surrounded Lü Bufan, whose head was a muddle and whose body was drenched in cold sweat.
Huang Jiu raised his three remaining fingers and swept back his stray hair with a flourish... "I don't want to teach him... I'm a sword cultivator, one who sees his heart and knows his nature, with the greatest killing power and the purest cultivation! He doesn't possess that innate sword heart..."
Inside the large vat, the legless Du Yuan sucked his teeth. "Cultivate, my ass! Go cultivate your nose hair instead... You little brat, come over and move this Black Iron Vat! Find your grandpa a new spot..."
"Yes! Right away, Master Du!"
Lü Bufan scampered over, spat into his palms, settled into a horse stance, and mustered all his strength to hug the large vat...
Sss... A subtle, icy aura instantly seeped into Lü Bufan's palms!
Gritting his teeth, Lü Bufan endured that awful sensation and desperately tried to turn the vat...
"Look at you! Thirteen years old and still like a scrawny chicken... You can't budge a single vat even a hair! What a useless waste... When I was your age, my sect had already had a pair of Black Iron Battle Blades specially forged for me! The three-hundred-and-twenty-jin kind!"
Beside him, the deaf Han Wu curled his lips. "What did you say?"
"I said you're a blind bear!"
Han Wu flew into a rage. "You damned cripple! Who are you calling blind? Master Ming's the blind one... I'm deaf!"
Du Yuan sighed. "Yes, yes... You're deaf, and I'm an idiot!"
Lü Bufan was still struggling with the vat when Han Wu extended a finger like a little wooden mallet and poked him in the chest...
"Ah..."
Lü Bufan tumbled backward and landed on the ground in a sorry heap.
"Little monkey, have you gone mad? The cold in this magnetic essence black iron is vicious. You don't have a speck of true qi. It'll freeze you to death!"
Lü Bufan lifted his trembling hands to look at them and discovered that they had already turned somewhat dark blue...
Du Yuan narrowed his eyes. "Little brat, it's no big deal that you couldn't move the vat. But your hands were so cold just now... Why didn't you let go?"
Lü Bufan shook his head. "I knew you were testing me, Master Du... I just thought I'd do whatever I could. I really couldn't move the vat, but I could still hold it for a while and put some strength into it!"
Du Yuan, the cripple, spat. "At least you're not completely useless... Starting today, get up at the Yin Hour every morning and walk around the village carrying a rock! Deaf man... Smash out a few rocks for him. Double the weight every month! There's also the most basic qi-circulation formula... Memorize it and practice without fail!"
Lü Bufan bowed respectfully...
Du Yuan cursed, "This is the most worthless, rubbish cultivation method we could think of. Once you can run ten laps around the village carrying the heaviest rock, I'll teach you a cultivation method that isn't quite so worthless!"
"Thank you, Master Du and Master Han Wu! Uh... And Master Huang Jiu..."
Huang Jiu rolled his eyes, swept back his hair, and turned away... "What's it got to do with me? Cut the bootlicking... You can't become a Qi Refiner anyway!"
Han Wu picked up the vat and said in a rumbling voice, "Come to my place later to collect the rocks... Ten in all! If you're late, I'll spank you..."
"Understood! Master Han Wu."
After a few taps of a walking stick, Granny Yu suddenly came over, looked Lü Bufan up and down, and sighed... "Foolish boy, what are you after? Aren't you afraid those old monsters will torment you to death?"
With both hands trembling, Lü Bufan smiled. "Granny Yu... Hehe, I actually admire what the masters did back then! I know... I'm not particularly good material. I just want to learn whatever I can, so I can help however I can in the future..."
"Foolish child... Do you know what great figures they were back then, how capable they were? Even those five powerful cultivators and Martial Warriors... ended up dead or crippled! Doesn't that fate... frighten you?"
Lü Bufan crouched and touched the ground with his unbearably painful hands...
"It does... I ended up among beggars when I was little, and I've seen life and death... Nothing frightens me more than seeing them, but I... don't want to accept my fate! For the people who treat me well, I want to live like someone worth something..."
"That's the truth..."
For once, Granny Yu said nothing harsh. She merely came over, took Lü Bufan's hands, and examined them, then pulled a green bamboo tube from inside her clothes...
"Keep this safe. The ointment inside smells awful, but it works. Just rub it on cuts, torn flesh, bruises, and other injuries... Come ask me for more when you run out."
"Huh? Thank you, Granny... But these medicines..."
"Enough, enough... Since you know us old things are cultivators, you should know money means little to us. If you get hurt in the future, come find me... At most, if you come across good medicinal herbs someday, just gather them for me!"
"Yes! Thank you, Granny..."
"Get lost! You've got plenty of suffering ahead of you..."
Lü Bufan nodded, endured the pain as he tucked the green bamboo tube inside his clothes, and shouted as he ran, "I'm not afraid! I'm going to learn real skills! Someday I'll buy you all good food and help Master protect the village..."
Granny Yu watched the boy's retreating figure with pity in her eyes... She shook her head. "Foolish child... Foolish child... If my Hua'er had... Probably three years older than him, wouldn't that be!"
Leaning on her walking stick, Granny Yu slowly made her way back. When she reached her courtyard gate, she found Master Ming waiting for her with his bamboo staff.
"Your situation, I know..."
Granny Yu rolled her eyes. "You don't know a damned thing!"
Master Ming smiled. "Only you, Mute, and that taciturn old fellow will be left in the village... I'll be sealing off the village's outskirts for a while. If you've changed your mind, you can leave and return to the Great Jin Dynasty... Or I can let you into the Wild Spirit Land."
A gleam flashed through Granny Yu's eyes...
"Can you help me knock on the doors of the Wild Spirit Hall?"
"Dream on! If we could find the Wild Spirit Hall, do you think the five of us would have ended up like this?"
"Then forget it... The earth veins here suit my recuperation. I'm not going anywhere, and I don't intend to meddle in anything. Don't meddle in my affairs either..."
"It doesn't matter... As long as you're satisfied... But... You..."
With a complicated expression, Master Ming looked at the enormous hump on Granny Yu's back...
"What are you looking at! Want to die? My affairs are nobody else's business... Don't give me that nonsense!"
Master Ming sighed and stood up, holding his bamboo staff... "I know. I set up a Spirit-Gathering Formation for you... It's connected to the spirit vein beneath the village! Big Black has been in the village for a long time. Without this Spirit-Gathering Formation... the spiritual energy you can draw from beneath your house will keep dwindling."
Granny Yu paused, then nodded... "That shameless Village Head told me before that, if you came back, I could have you help me create a little spirit-gathering domain..."
"Then why didn't you tell me sooner? You're so stubborn that words fail me..."
"What's it to you?"
Granny Yu snorted, pushed open the gate, and entered her courtyard.
Master Ming craned his neck and called, "Sorry for the trouble, but I'll be leaving that little brat's recuperation and healing to you from now on..."
Without looking back, Granny Yu said, "I like that child. I don't need you telling me!"
"Then thank you..."
Suddenly, an enormous figure appeared atop a distant house... Han Wu had actually balanced the vat on his head! Du Yuan was craning his neck to peer their way...
"Oh, my goodness! What a disgrace... We've only just returned to the village, and already we're seeing such scandalous behavior... Come look, everyone! The blind man is seducing the widow! The shameless one has barely died... And his lover's already getting herself a new man?"
Master Ming shuddered at those words, then turned and left in a fury...
Granny Yu kicked her door open and charged out with her walking stick...
"You damned cripple, you rotten wreck! Just watch me poison you to death... Two bastards died, and now you two even worse scoundrels have arrived... Don't run... I'm killing you today!"
Lü Bufan crouched miserably outside Han Wu and Du Yuan's gate... Before him lay a pile of rough stone balls Han Wu had casually smashed out! Each was larger than the last... Pitted and uneven, yet perfectly round.
"This really is a rotten setup..."
At that moment, Lü Bufan suddenly found himself hoping that Granny Yu... might as well just poison these two Martial Warriors to death!