Nonsense, utter rubbish.

 

So, is this really stepping onto the path of cultivation?

Born with a silver spoon, Lin Jie was almost about to immediately lean towards Junxiao, wagging his tail and calling him "Master". Fortunately, at the last moment, he managed to hold onto his tiny bit of integrity.

With many thoughts in his mind, at least for now he still considered himself part of the Hengtian Sect, and Hongxian hadn't returned to the Western Heavens yet, so when the word "Master" rolled around in his throat, he added a "second" in front of it before letting it out.

This guy even made a bow while calling out "Second Master", but unfortunately, either due to being too excited or having a naturally missing piece of brain, he deviated off direction by twenty degrees.

Brushing off the ninety-degree bow je received, Bai Zixu waved his hand, "My good disciple, no need to be so polite. Your Master happens to have some private goods left, consider it a welcoming gift." Saying this, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two coins, then stuffed them into Lin Jie's hand.

Lin Jie, mouth agape, instinctively accepted them, then looked down to see: Damn, sixty cents!

Bai Ke: "..." Great, these two can really talk together.

In the meantime, furious at Bai Zixu, Lin Jie turned back to Junxiao with a mix of sadness and indignation, bowed again, and called out with a tone that suggested he was owed millions, "Second Master!"

Junxiao: "...Is this an initiation ceremony or a visit to a tomb?"

Feeling that the master-disciple atmosphere had been ruined by Bai Zixu, Lin Jie looked somewhat discontented. So he tugged on Bai Ke's sleeve and said, "You should call him too, it's silly for just me to do it!"

Bai Ke smirked, "As if adding one more person to the bowing would make you seem less silly."

While Bai Ke hadn't made a move yet, Junxiao waved his hand and said to Lin Jie, "How could he bow to me? He's my Master."

Bai Ke: "...” Before, I thought his normal periods were intermittent bouts of psychosis. Seems I was wrong."

He was now in a dilemma. On one hand, he felt that Junxiao's words shouldn't be dismissed as nonsense, whether it was his demeanor or his ability to seemingly vanish with a flick of his fingers, they all proved the truthfulness of his words. He was born in an ancient era, apprenticed under Nanhua for three years, and had been searching for his Master for over a millennium.

Junxiao's profound background made it unnecessary for him to fabricate stories to impress ordinary people like Bai Ke and the others. It was like trying to explain absurdities to ants that you could crush with a flick of your hand.

But on the other hand, Bai Ke couldn't shake off the feeling that this person was speaking utter nonsense. How could a completely normal person immediately call a complete stranger "Master" upon meeting?

Bai Ke had lived on this earth for eighteen years, with clear memories and even a presumably human father. Where on earth would he find a disciple as outrageous as this five thousand years ago?

The result of these conflicting thoughts was that Bai Ke accepted the hints Junxiao had dropped about his background, but still felt that he wasn't entirely mentally stable. Perhaps he had fallen into demonic cultivation? So much so that he mistook even his own Master and followed Bai Ke here.

"I'm not." Bai Ke said somewhat helplessly.

Junxiao glanced at him, surprisingly not arguing, just silently lowering his gaze, lost in thought. Bai Ke: "...Why do I suddenly feel guilty?!"

Meanwhile, Lin Jie, who had been acting like a chicken with epilepsy, was still beside them, digging in his ears. After a while, he looked as if he'd been struck by lightning, pointing at Bai Ke and asking Junxiao, "Master, what did you say he was just now?"

"Nothing." Junxiao glanced around the courtyard and changed the subject, "Which room are you in?"

He wasn't out of words to say; rather, all three rooms in the courtyard looked similar, with none showing signs of long-term occupation.

"Oh, this one's mine," Lin Jie suddenly remembered, jumping up as if something had occurred to him. "These two, next to the bamboo and behind the well, are empty. The courtyard is small, and the rooms are not big enough for an extra bed, so two people will have to squeeze into one. Or—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Junxiao said, "No rush."

No rush?

So, are we deciding when it's time to sleep?

Lin Jie was utterly confused, but when the master spoke, there was no room for disagreement. So he nodded obediently and said, "Alright, let's tidy up the rooms first. Um... could you wait a moment? I'll go clear out the clutter from those two rooms."

"Weren't they supposed to be empty?" Bai Ke asked, puzzled.

"Uh... I put some stuff in there," Lin Jie scratched his head, "I thought this courtyard would be empty for a long time, after all, Hengtian Sect hasn't taken in disciples for nearly ten years."

Bai Ke nodded in understanding, "Let's tidy up together." With that, he led the way towards the nearest room beside the bamboo.

"Eh—" Lin Jie hadn't had time to stop them before the three of them strode to the door of that room and pushed it open with a creak.

Bai Ke: "..."

Junxiao: "..."

Bai Zixu glanced inside, then turned to Lin Jie, who had hurriedly caught up, and gave him a thumbs-up, "Impressive. Did you move the entire library of your sect here? You didn't just stack books, it looks like there was an earthquake here... tsk tsk tsk."

Your sister!

Lin Jie, who had been taken advantage of, silently spat out a mouthful of blood, wanting to curse this person out, but considering that this shameless person was Bai Ke's father, he could only swallow it back down silently.

Seeing books piled messily on the table, chairs, desk, and even on the floor, Bai Ke felt a slight sense of admiration towards Lin Jie, "I didn't realize you were such a bookworm."

Lin Jie spat out another mouthful of blood in silence, "..." What did he mean by that?

After spitting it out, he explained, "These are books I was supposed to study but didn't finish, so I copied them in the library when I was punished. Some were too boring or difficult, so I didn't even use my brain when copying them. And some were copied by a friend for me when I didn't have time to do it myself. He's good at imitating other people's handwriting, so when Master... Hongxian glanced at them, they could always pass. Only those that I could understand, were suitable for my level, or were interesting, I copied them several times, and some I never get tirer of reading."

With that, he glanced at the book in Junxiao's hand and continued, "For example, the one you're holding, Second Master, I've read it at least twenty times."

Bai Ke, who was helping to clean up, walked over to Junxiao, reached out, and took a look at the cover of the book in his hand.

On the plain handwritten cover were four characters: "Nanhua Ji". (NT: 南华记 "Records of the Southern China.")

Nanhua Ji?

Bai Ke's first reaction was that the term sounded familiar, then he remembered that Xianyu mentioned he apprenticed during the Nanhua period (NT: refers to a historical era or time period associated with the teachings of the Southern School of Daoism, particularly the Nanhua lineage), which was over five thousand years ago... Could this "Nanhua" be the same one Junxiao was referring to?

Just as he was pondering this, Lin Jie, with a stack of books in one hand and the other already gesturing, as if he were performing in a grand play, made a bold move, took a proper step forward, and said in an extremely heroic manner, "The Nanhua period is the era I admire the most. It was a time when immortals, demons, and monsters gathered, and there were tumultuous events. The people and events of that era have become legends to the current cultivation clans."

Bai Ke subconsciously glanced at Junxiao's reaction, only to see that he seemed to be unaware of Lin Jie's words, calmly and silently flipping through the book in his hand.

He read quite fast, always flipping to the next page as soon as he finished one, his slender fingers already holding onto the thin paper of the next page.

As Lin Jie started talking about the Nanhua era, he became particularly excited, launching into a chatterbox mode, talking incessantly.

"...Although Yu Shengmen is not as glorious as it used to be, it was once unparalleled in the cultivation world. The three great gods, Yun Zheng, Yun Shen, and Yun Yao, all came from Yu Shengmen. Among the figures of the Nanhua era, I admire Master Yun Zheng the most. If I could witness him single-handedly slaying twelve blood demons in the Guilin Forest, or his heroic deeds in rescuing tens of thousands of common people from demons in Mincheng, I would be satisfied enough to jump into the sea!"

Bai Ke: "..." What a bunch of nonsense metaphors.

"But the head of Yu Shengmen was even more formidable than these few, that is..." Lin Jie hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure how to express his thoughts, "Well, anyway, those were all legends, beyond our reach. And after that era, there haven't been any more outstanding figures. Maybe the spiritual energy in the world has decreased, and people's hearts have become restless. Even cultivators are no exception, and it's probably difficult to find people with such excellent aptitude and talent. There's always a rise and fall in fortunes."

After finishing speaking, Lin Jie bowed his head as if mourning for a moment, his behaviour beyond what Bai Ke could comprehend.

But after mourning, he reverted to his bootlicker appearance, eagerly approaching the table and asking Junxiao, "Second Master, have you heard about the events of the Nanhua era? Are you close to that era? I can only glean some information from books, probably less than thirty percent."

Bai Ke also looked at Junxiao, seemingly wanting to see his reaction.

What they saw was Junxiao flipping through the last page, then picking up the book, shaking it at Lin Jie without much expression, and raising an eyebrow as he asked, "So, all your tales of the Nanhua era are from these scrolls?"

Lin Jie nodded like a bird pecking at rice.

Junxiao remained expressionless, succinctly uttering seven words, "Nonsense, utter rubbish, a bunch of gibberish."

 

Translator : DarNan