Chapter 59: Master, my disciples deserve the best in the world...

The wound on Fu Lanting's face that was so deep that the bone could be seen has healed and there is almost no trace of it.

However, physical scars are easy to disappear, but those in the heart are difficult to heal.

He looked at his friend in front of him, silent for a long time, before speaking softly, "Believe it or not, I never had any intention of seducing her, and I would never hurt her. Maybe it was a mistake at the beginning, but now that things have come to this, I can't let go."

"Bozhou, I hope you can help us."

"Is it fulfilled?"

Lin Bozhou's smile was cold.

"She's my disciple, raised by my own hands! I watched her grow from a little ball to what she is today. I nurtured her with care, cherished her with love, taught her how to behave, and guided her down the right path. Not just so she'd be worthy of you when she grew up!"

"Fu Lanting, we've known each other for years. How I first accepted her as my disciple, how I taught her, how I raised her step by step until she's this big, every single thing, I've shared with you. I watched her grow up, and so did you. What kind of heart do you have to have such thoughts about a junior you've watched grow up?"

Fu Lanting was silent again. After an unknown amount of time, he looked up at him.

"She liked me, it wasn't my decision."

"So what!"

The coldness in Lin Bozhou's eyes deepened, and a strong anger emerged:

"She's only in her twenties. Even if she has feelings for you, you should have stopped her and advised her, not let her act on that fact. You've practiced Taoism for hundreds of years, and the favor of a mere disciple is a trivial matter to you. Even if you didn't know how to handle it, why didn't you tell me?"

Fu Lanting could pour out all kinds of explanations and countless hardships. He had a thousand reasons to tell Lin Bozhou that he had to start this way, that it was a wrong move made out of helplessness, and that he had gone astray.

But in the end, all those explanations, struggles, tortures, and relief were swallowed by him, and he simply said: "My heart is not made of stone."

It cannot be turned.

With a loud bang, the dragon-shaped pillars in the hall shattered, and the glazed tiles under one side of the eaves also shook and collapsed.

Lin Bozhou clenched his fists and pursed his lips. He looked at the man in front of him, at his downcast eyes, his dark but persistent gaze, just as he had looked at everyone so calmly and unshakably many years ago when he was being pointed at by thousands of people.

At that time, he was not yet the headmaster of Yun Miao. They were good friends who had trained together and were brothers in life and death. That day, he traveled thousands of miles for Fu Lanting and almost died in battle.

It's ridiculous that today they are standing opposite each other and have become enemies.

Lin Bozhou's eyes were slightly red, and his voice became very low, the coldness in his voice becoming more obvious. He looked at Fu Lanting and said word by word: "I have one last question for you. Are you really... unrepentant?"

Fu Lanting looked up at him and said nothing, his eyes deep and calm, speaking for themselves.

"good."

Lin Bozhou laughed out of anger.

"Even if I'm blind, you're only dreaming of attacking my Terutsuki."

He grabbed the hem of his sleeve and tore it off with force. The cloth embroidered with cloud patterns slowly floated down and landed between the two of them, like an unbridgeable chasm.

Lin Bozhou's expression became calmer, and his anger and depression gradually subsided. He looked at Fu Lanting as if he were a stranger.

"From now on, all ties between you and me are severed. If you attack my disciples again, I will never let you go."

After he said this, he turned and left.

Behind him, Fu Lanting's voice was still low, a little hoarse.

"You will always be my brother."

Lin Bozhou paused slightly, without looking back, and strode away.

Outside the Qiling Immortal Sect's mountain gate, Lian Yueqing repeated everything to Jiang Zhaoyue, sentence by sentence. Until the last sentence, he smiled faintly and said, "What a pity, my friend, you don't have an uncle anymore."

She was not originally a disciple of the Qi Ling Xian Sect. She called Fu Lanting her uncle because of Lin Bozhou. Now that they had a falling out, Jiang Zhaoyue was naturally not Fu Lanting's niece.

Jiang Zhaoyue didn't react much to this. After he finished retelling, he quickly said, "Let's go."

"What's the rush?"

Lian Yueqing looked towards Chonghua Palace with great interest. She had a smile on her face, but inside she felt a bit gloating.

"It's a pity that Master Qi Ling, despite his unparalleled combat power, cannot overcome the word 'humanity'."

"Okay, stop sighing there, hurry up and go."

Jiang Zhaoyue didn't care whether he was interested or not, she just pulled his sleeve and urged him on.

Lian Yueqing then looked at her, calmly grabbed her shoulders, and tore open a gap in space.

As he walked back, he asked, "Why are you in such a hurry? With your fearless personality, are you afraid that your master will find out?"

Jiang Zhaoyue looked at him in surprise, her eyebrows slightly raised, and said as a matter of course: "What else?"

Lian Yueqing's smile froze for a moment, and there was suddenly a hint of inquiry in his eyes as he looked at her.

He said as if jokingly, "Young friend Jiang, you can chat and laugh with me in front of Master Fu, which shows how unscrupulous you are. If so, what if your master finds out?"

“How can this be confused?”

Jiang Zhaoyue didn't even hesitate before answering him, "You are you, and Master is Master. We are different."

Lian Yueqing's inquiring expression paused for a moment, his smile became a little lighter, and a hint of sneer suddenly appeared on his gentle face.

"My friend, stop pretending. Why do you have to act so extravagantly in front of me? You and I are the same. How can you be sincere if you are so cold and indifferent?"

As he spoke, he seemed to have thought of something, and then he said nonchalantly, "You are greedy for beauty, but your master doesn't seem to be your type."

Jiang Zhaoyue's two favorites, Fu Lanting is the extremely handsome one, his handsomeness carries a strong and cold oppression, coupled with a broad mind.

Jiang Qiying was born beautiful, as pure and beautiful as a flower on a high mountain, out of reach.

Others, such as Luo Huaiyin and Chu Jinhe, are slightly inferior in some aspects.

Jiang Zhaoyue's master, Lin Bozhou, was not a particularly beautiful man. He was cheerful and handsome. Judging from his appearance alone, he was indeed not as perfect as the master and disciple of the Qi Ling Xian Sect.

So Lian Yueqing knew very well that she only had some affection for Fu Lanting, and it could not be called love, let alone Lin Bozhou, who was slightly inferior.

However, Jiang Zhaoyue only looked at him with surprise, without any ambiguous or lingering feelings in her eyes.

Her tone was so normal that it didn't sound like she was talking.

"Are you sick? What nonsense are you talking about? Just because no one loves you doesn't mean no one loves my Master. How can you compare with my Master?"

The smile on Lian Yueqing's face suddenly froze, and her moving figure almost stopped in the gap in space.

Being used to hearing Jiang Zhaoyue's unrestrained words, he found this sentence unpleasant to the ear.

After a long silence, Jiang Zhaoyue heard him ask, "So you are sincere to your master?"

"?"

This time it was Jiang Zhaoyue who looked at him with some doubt.

She said frankly, "I grew up beside my master, and we have always been very close. You ask me if I'm sincere? How come you don't have a master?"

Lian Yueqing didn't answer and remained silent for a while. "I'm just a little uncomfortable at the moment..." Before he finished speaking, he chuckled again, with an ambiguous meaning: "You can actually be sincere."

Without waiting for Jiang Zhaoyue to say anything, he stared into her eyes, the curve of his lips deepening: "You care about your master so much. If I tell you that you ask for favors from me again during the next communication, I will tell your master, what will you do?"

"Then don't."

Jiang Zhaoyue's reply was simple, even a rare statement of compromise.

But the curve of Lian Yueqing's lips became flatter.

Having discovered the weakness, he should have pressed on to gain more benefits, but for some reason, he didn't feel like doing so.

He was not happy, and even felt a little unhappy.

But the feeling is so subtle that I can't tell where it comes from.

I don’t know if it’s because compromise comes too easily and people lose the sense of conquest, or if I’m unhappy that Jiang Zhaoyue is sincere even though they are the same kind of person.

Or maybe it's just pure dissatisfaction and unwillingness.

After all, she even showed some affection to Fu Lanting, coaxing him from time to time, not to mention the so-called sincerity, but when facing him, it was just a pure transaction.

When people face this kind of differential treatment, it is natural to feel unhappy.

It’s just that normally, people who don’t care don’t care what others do, but he felt uncomfortable, even though the only exchanges between him and Jiang Zhaoyue were purely based on interests.

Perhaps it was because of the 'love poison' that affected his emotions, but even Yue Qing's expression remained unchanged, yet a thousand thoughts were already running through his mind.

He glanced at Jiang Zhaoyue's calm and even smiling face, and suddenly felt that maybe he should seriously think of a way to get the Gu out, instead of just thinking it was useless like before.

Because of this mood, silence accompanied them all the way, until they were about to return to the Yunmiao Immortal Sect, Lian Yueqing spoke again.

"Your master will probably be keeping a closer eye on you lately. If you have anything to say, remember to find a private place to communicate."

"Well, let's talk about it later."

Jiang Zhaoyue said something to him perfunctorily without any care, and after landing, he rushed to Yunmiao Immortal Sect without looking back, probably wanting to arrive before Lin Bozhou returned.

She didn't even look back at him.

So the joy that Master Jiyue had felt before when he saw Fu Lanting's misfortune suddenly disappeared.

He frowned and pressed the bulge on his wrist where the foreign object was, suppressing the slight strangeness in his heart. His mood slowly calmed down until Jiang Zhaoyue's figure disappeared into the distance. After a long time, he disappeared silently on the spot.

On the Yunmiao Immortal Sect side, thanks to Jiang Zhaoyue's repeated urging, she returned a quarter of an hour earlier than Lin Bozhou, and her master came to find her as soon as he returned.

Lin Bozhou looked gloomy and said nothing. He came up and hugged the sweet and soft disciple in his arms, then found a place to snuggle quietly, as if licking a wound.

Jiang Zhaoyue stayed in his arms for a long time, and was about to fall asleep because of the familiar smell in his arms, when she heard him speak softly.

Master's voice dropped noticeably.

"Xiaobao, I'm so sad."

He and Fu Lanting had different personalities, and he would often tell her what was on his mind.

The same is true now.

Lin Bozhou was not shy about seeking comfort from his disciples, as it would undermine the master's authority. He spoke as if he were talking to his own children or seeking answers from his friends.

He had just spoken so decisively to Fu Lanting, but now he was hugging Jiang Zhaoyue, speaking softly and sadly, bit by bit: "Fu Lanting and I have known each other for over two hundred years. We have lived and died together countless times. When I was humble, I could still fight for him even when thousands of people pointed at me. But he knew it was a betrayal, but he said he had no regrets."

He paused here before continuing: "How can a person have so many sides, mixing good and evil, making it impossible to distinguish between love and hate."

He rested his face on his disciple's shoulder, gently resting it on his head, breathing shallowly.

Jiang Zhaoyue did not feel the wet touch, but she felt his true heartache.

She patted her master's back comfortingly and said in a voice that was both intimate and dependent:

"Master, don't be sad. This is how people are. Extreme love and extreme hatred are rare in this world. Most of the time, they are mixed up like this, which makes people suffer. But we don't need to be troubled by these things. Because when you love, it is real, then hate doesn't matter. Love does not become false just because of hate."

Lin Bozhou knew what she said, but people have seven emotions and six desires, and it is inevitable that they will be influenced by them.

He leaned on his disciple's slender shoulders for a while, and finally raised his head, but there was guilt in his eyes when he looked at her.

"But Master is sorry for Xiaobao. I should have killed him. Even if I couldn't kill him, I should have taught him a lesson he will never forget."

In the end, he showed mercy to Fu Lanting.

Jiang Zhaoyue sighed and said, "Actually, I like my uncle."

"That's different."

Lin Bozhou's expression became serious. "You've never met him before. When you suddenly met him, you thought he was of high status, strong, and good-looking. It's normal for a girl to admire him. But he has seen you many times before. He watched you grow up. He is your elder. How could he still have such thoughts?"

When the younger generation makes mistakes, it is the elders’ responsibility to correct them instead of letting them do as they please or adding fuel to the fire.

This is the real reason why he disagrees no matter how Fu Lanting explains or expresses his feelings.

Seeing Jiang Zhaoyue's obedient eyes, he sighed and spoke more slowly: "My little treasure is so obedient. That bastard Fu Lanting is cold and unruly. Even if he bullies you, you won't tell me. Besides, you are still young. He will definitely die before you in the future."

After cursing his former friend without hesitation, Lin Bozhou breathed a sigh of relief. However, he didn't know what he remembered and looked a little sad again.

"My little treasure has grown up so big without me noticing. He is no longer the little ball who needs his master to coax him to sleep."

Seeing that he was so sad that he was almost on the verge of tears, Jiang Zhaoyue quickly leaned over and rubbed against his chest, saying softly, "How could that be? I will always be Master's little treasure."

"Really?"

Lin Bozhou touched her face and sighed softly, "After all, Master owes you."

"No."

Jiang Zhaoyue continued to comfort him, even giving an example: "Master treats me very well, really, even better than Uncle treats Senior Brother Jiang."

Hearing her say this, the coldness on Lin Bozhou's face reappeared, and even his voice became a little bit sharp.

He said with some resentment, "Don't call him Uncle Master. He's a beast in human form. His disciple is not a good person either. I used to see that you liked him, and even though I didn't like him, I didn't think it was a big deal. But now it seems that if the master is like this, how can the disciple be a good person? Xiaobao, stay away from that Jiang Qiying from now on."

He hated Fu Lanting at this moment, and even hated Jiang Qiying.

Just as Jiang Qiying had imagined before.

He and Fu Lanting always have an inseparable relationship. Even if the master and disciple turn against each other, in Lin Bozhou's eyes, they are still the same.

Jiang Zhaoyue listened quietly without refutation. She just smiled after he finished speaking and comforted him: "Master owes me nothing. In this world, I love Master the most."

Her comfort finally worked.

After a few words, the sadness on Lin Bozhou's face faded a lot, as if he wanted to put all the bad things aside for the time being. He took a deep breath, showing his usual doting smile, touched the top of her head, and said, "My little treasure is the best disciple in the world. It's been a busy day today. Master, can you coax you to sleep like before?"

Today has indeed been a full day of ups and downs.

Jiang Zhaoyue is no longer at the age where she needs to be coaxed to sleep. With her current level of cultivation, she doesn't even need to sleep.

But looking at Lin Bozhou's expectant eyes, she still smiled and nodded: "Okay."

So it was just like countless times before.

It was like going back to the beginning, her teenage years.

In his small courtyard, in the familiar room, Jiang Zhaoyue pulled the thin quilt to his chin, covering the lower half of his lips. He grabbed the edge of the quilt with both hands, his eyes flashing as innocently as stars.

She looked at him with anticipation, just like when she was a child, waiting for him to tell her a bedtime story and coax her to sleep.

But at that time she was still very young, with a round face. Even when she was hidden in the quilt, her eyes were bright and her every move was childish.

When she called him 'Master', her voice was soft and sweet, like freshly harvested honey.

Lin Bozhou seemed to have returned to the past. He sat down on the edge of the bed and gently patted her side with his big palm.

A reassuring force, one after another.

Then he spoke, "Once upon a time, there was a cultivator with great talent, high cultivation, and great power. He had a bright future, but he coveted other people's disciples. So he secretly coaxed other disciples into associating with him, and even acted like a highly respected person..."

Although he knew who he was talking about, Jiang Zhaoyue still blinked politely and asked him, "What happened next?"

Lin Bozhou's expression, which had been somewhat relaxed, suddenly retreated. He said with almost no expression, "Then he died."

Jiang Zhaoyue smiled and praised him: "Master, your storytelling style is as stable as ever."

She was like this when she was a child.

In fact, Lin Bozhou couldn't tell stories at all. He had never raised a child and didn't have any stories to tell the child to put her to sleep. So every night, he would make up stories about the people he once disliked and disliked and tell them to her.

Sometimes it is cruel, sometimes it is bloody, and sometimes it is even a story of evil slaughter.

He didn't know how other people raised their children, so he thought that everyone else did it that way and that everyone else talked about it that way.

It was not until much later that Lin Bozhou realized that many of the bedtime stories he made up at that time could scare children to tears.

But Jiang Zhaoyue always listened with great interest. She was very obedient. Every time he finished the third story, she would close her eyes and fall asleep.

Others only know that he dotes on Jiang Zhaoyue, but they don’t know that there will never be another disciple better than his Xiaobao in this world.

This practice of coaxing her to sleep continued until she became a nun at the age of sixteen, leaving her mortal body and no longer needing to rely on sleep to replenish her energy.

Doing such things again at this time, Lin Bozhou felt as if he was in a dream, as if time had never faded away, and his little treasure was still the little boy who would act coquettishly with him and often ask him for kisses and hugs.

Only when I looked at her carefully and saw her chubby cheeks turned into her beautiful and gentle face, did I realize how time flies.

His disciples grew up.

The little dumpling turned into a slender, beautiful and generous woman.

It seemed like it just happened overnight.

For some reason, an inexplicable sour feeling arose in my heart.

Lin Bozhou's eyes grew hot. He leaned over and rested his head on her pillow. He sighed, feeling something strange. "My little treasure is so outstanding. Perhaps one day, he will fly away from his master and head to the distant horizon, soaring into the sky. But I... really can't bear to let him go."

The incident with Fu Lanting not only made him hate him, but also suddenly woke him up.

Phoenixes will not perch on the paulownia trees forever. The sky is the place they yearn for. When the young birds grow up, they will one day have to fly away from home.

He didn't know what he had been thinking before, but now when he thought about it, he felt extremely reluctant and sad.

He was so impulsive that he wanted to keep his disciple by his side forever, but his reason was enough to restrain his instinct.

Because his disciples were never caged birds or greenhouse flowers.

In such a confused mood, Jiang Zhaoyue tilted her head and put her forehead against his cheek. Their heat touched, and the warmth seemed to be transmitted through their skin.

Her tone was gentle and without any impurities, and she was smiling.

"What are you talking about, Master? Wherever you are is my home. No matter how high I fly, a tired bird will always return to the forest. I will never leave you, Master."

"Really?"

Lin Bozhou rested his head on her face, closed his eyes, and smiled.

"Xiaobao must keep his word."

"I am an adult, and adults always keep their word."

She spoke coquettishly in a light tone, then stretched out her hands from under the quilt, hugged her master's arms, put her face on his shoulder, and looked at him with sparkling eyes: "I want to sleep with Master."

Lin Bozhou's heart softened.

He opened his arms, held her in his arms through the quilt, patted her back gently, and coaxed her like he did when she was a child.

"It's late, Xiaobao, it's time to go to bed. Master is right here, he's not going anywhere, don't be afraid of anything, you'll have a good night's sleep."

Jiang Zhaoyue hummed coquettishly, put her head into his arms, chose a more comfortable position, curled up in his arms, and slowly closed her eyes.

As darkness fell, the chirping of insects and birds outside the window gradually died down.

There was no ambiguity, no hints or temptations, just simple, sheltered, sleeping together.

Just like before.

As his thoughts settled and sleep began to take over, he heard the person in his arms softly say, "Master, will you always treat me well?"

Lin Bozhou stroked her back gently, his gentle voice flowing softly in the dark night: "Yes."

"Whatever I do?"

"Whatever you do."

He kissed the top of her head, his voice still soft and firm: "My little treasure, you deserve the best in the world, no matter what."

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The author has something to say: Two chapters combined into one.

I'm so sorry, it's so slow. It's never been so slow before. I don't know why it's so hard to write today.

Regarding the development of Master's line, it will not be a simple love story. Master's emotional line is very complicated and different from others.

I think the origin of the story of Master is destined not to be a very pure master-disciple relationship, but more like mutual dependence, but not the kind of pure elder degenerated like the uncle master, it is somewhere in between.