The Qingyang clan was one of the ancient immortal cultivation families, and their status remained supreme to this day. Hao Xin, however, wore a short brown robe and had messy, dry hair, looking nothing like the son of an aristocratic family.
"All descendants of Qingyang clan have golden spiritual roots, but you have Hunyuan spiritual roots. How do you explain that?" an elder asked.
Hao Xin held his head high. "Because I'm special."
"What a joke," the elder who had just stopped him snorted. "Do you think we're all fools? Once we ask about your feelings, everyone will see that you're just an orphan who grew up in a ruined temple."
Hao Xin took a step back, his eyes reddening. "That...that's because I was abandoned by the Qingyang clan when I was young, but I am their descendant."
"Master Qiongju, what good is it to accept a stubborn disciple like this who speaks outrageously and refuses to change? The ceremony of becoming a disciple has not yet been completed, so it is better to expel him now."
In the original book, Qiongju said nothing in the face of such a situation and took all her disciples away. She seemed to want to show her protection for her disciples with practical actions, but Hao Xin still felt very humiliated, and the dark seeds in his heart slowly took root and sprouted.
But Shen Qingmang is not such a person.
"This elder." Her expression turned cold. "Haoxin is my disciple. I will judge his moral character myself. It is not your turn to discipline him for me."
"You! Master, Qiongju is young and hot-headed, and can't tell right from wrong. Do you really want her to take over the position of the head of Wuya Peak?" The elder turned to attack Shen Qingmang.
The headmaster stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Qiongju is my disciple, there is no need for Elder Lisu to worry about him."
If she hadn't wanted to maintain Qiongju's aloof persona, Shen Qingmang would have nearly burst out laughing. Although the Sect Leader's words were polite, they echoed her core message. To sum it up in one sentence, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"
This secular elder was also a cannon fodder, targeting Hao Xin everywhere. When the sect was in danger, he thought of escaping, and ended up dying earlier than Qiong Ju.
Shen Qingmang didn't bother to argue with this clown anymore, so he bent down and looked at Hao Xin level. "Hao Xin, can you tell me why you want to call yourself a member of the Qingyang clan?"
Hao Xin's eyes turned even redder. "Master, do you also think I'm unworthy?"
Shen Qingmang shook his head. "Do you know why Elder Lisu is targeting you? Because he's also from the Qingyang clan. So what if you're from a family of immortal cultivators? Even the purest of bloodlines, there are still good and bad within. He looks down on you. Do you really want to be in his company?"
Hao Xin wrinkled his nose and shook his head violently.
Shen Qingmang gently stroked the top of his head. She knew why this child insisted on being a descendant of the Qingyang clan. It wasn't because he liked to lie, but because he had been an orphan since childhood. No matter how talented he was, he was always ridiculed for his humble origins. He believed that only a noble birth would protect him from being looked down upon.
Being a descendant of the Qingyang clan might indeed be a lie he made up, but this lie was like the matches in the hands of a little match girl, helping the boy get through countless difficult dark nights. He relied on lies to cover up his vulnerability and maintain his self-esteem.
"Background doesn't determine anything. Even those from aristocratic families who maintain a single spiritual root were still defeated by someone like me with a mixed spiritual root. You can do the same in the future. Don't feel inferior just because someone looks down on you. Look down on him too, and we'll be even. How's that?"
Hao Xin's eyes sparkled, and he grinned. "Yeah! I'll definitely be as powerful as Master in the future!"
Shen Qingmang touched his head again, straightened up, and found that the eldest disciple seemed to be staring at her. She looked back, but the other party immediately lowered his eyelashes, so she didn't pay much attention to it.
The final step in the apprenticeship ceremony was for the master to present his disciple with a token of his identity. Shen Qingmang didn't know what else Qiongju possessed, so he decided to follow the original novel's description.
She reached for her hair crown.
"Tao gave birth to one, one gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, and three gave birth to all things. In the past, my master gave me three hairpins, one for heaven, one for earth, and one for man. Heaven, earth, and man harmonize with each other to give birth to all things. May the three of you, with one voice and one spirit, all become outstanding talents."
"Disciples will follow Master's teachings." The disciples said in unison.
The three hairpins for Heaven, Earth, and Man were the Green Jade Hairpin, the Yellow Jade Hairpin, and the White Jade Hairpin. Shen Qingmang took out the White Jade Hairpin first and inserted it into the hair of his young disciple Hao Xin, his adorable canine teeth showing through his smile.
The delivery of the yellow jade hairpin went smoothly. Si Rong already had a pair of butterfly hairpins on her head, which looked lifelike and flapping their wings as if ready to fly. The yellow jade hairpins adorned them between them, like a branch where butterflies rested.
Finally, it was the turn of the eldest disciple Gu Sui Han. Shen Qingmang naturally reached out and pulled out the green jade hairpin, but she forgot that she only had three hairpins on her head. As the green jade hairpin was pulled out, her black hair cascaded down and was scooped up by a slender hand.
Shen Qingmang blinked, a little dazed, and looked at Gu Suihan.
"I will tie Master's hair." He lowered his eyes slightly and took off the ebony hairpin on his head. The two people's hair were entangled. As he moved closer, Shen Qingmang smelled the fragrance of orchid on his body.
It seemed that someone around her was saying "unbecoming", and she was a little nervous, but Gu Suihan's movements were gentle, like soothing, and her tense nerves gradually relaxed.
"Okay, Master." After an unknown amount of time, Gu Sui Han took a step back and looked down at the jade hairpin in her hand.
Shen Qingmang raised the hairpin and tied his hair. She reached into his hair, smoothed the scattered strands, and wrapped them around the jade hairpin, twisting them into a bun. Because she wasn't very skilled in using the hairpin, her movements were slow. He remained silent, and she could only hear their intertwined heartbeats, which seemed faint even to him.
It seems that I need to give my eldest disciple more nourishment in the future.
The apprenticeship ceremony was completed. According to the procedure, Shen Qingmang should take her disciples away. She glanced at the thirty children in the audience and thought that after they were settled, she should meet them as soon as possible.
She didn't keep these children to provide her with more menial tasks. In her opinion, those who made it to the final selection were all capable children, and they all had the qualifications to cultivate immortality. The Taichu Sect's rule that only inner disciples could practice the techniques was unfair. Shen Qingmang decided to treat all students equally and let them attend classes with the inner disciples.
She still doesn't know what mission she needs to complete in this world, but if she wants to survive, she must find a way to avoid the catastrophe that the Taichu Sect will face decades later. The only way she can think of is to teach her disciples hard and prevent them from going astray again.
Shen Qingmang was so ambitious that she couldn't wait to start the class. However, she discovered a serious problem the next second.
She tried to fly back to Wuya Peak, but she kept repeating "fly, fly" to herself for a long time, her feet still firmly on the ground. She also had no idea which direction Wuya Peak was. Without Qiongju's memories, how could she perform her magic?
He died before he could accomplish his mission. It turns out that the teacher didn’t practice Taoism!
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