Chapter 3, Chapter 3: The Immortal Lord must have his reasons…
He became much more talkative, but also changed his personality, becoming more adept at saying one thing to one person and another to another.
Don't assume he's easy to get along with just because of that. Once he leaves the workplace, Qingjue is practically a wild horse, ready to yell at anyone he wants.
However, the language used to insult them is very sophisticated, with a high degree of sarcasm and irony.
The differences in personality won't have much of an impact; it's probably some kind of plot rule. In any case, they'll convince themselves, or most likely, the author just didn't bother to think about it.
His eyes were fixed on a small figure practicing swordsmanship in front of him.
In just a few days, the little boy who is the protagonist has demonstrated his amazing ability to understand.
Qinghuan said from the side, "Immortal Lord, you truly have discerning eyes! This little child is actually a cultivation genius. In just a few days, he has comprehended the mental cultivation method that ordinary cultivators take a year to understand. I believe this child will surely achieve great things in the future."
Actually, he just wanted to keep this little darling by his side and watch over him; whether he had talent or not didn't matter.
But how could the protagonist not have talent?
"Of course, that's the main character."
Qinghuan smiled wryly: "Immortal Lord...you're talking nonsense again."
Qingjue didn't reply: "Where's Qingfeng?"
"Reporting to Immortal Lord, Qingfeng went out to gather herbs, and you instructed her to brew some to nourish Junior Brother's body."
It is true that Jie Zhou was mistreated in the Jie family. He was malnourished, weak and sickly, and needed to be recuperated slowly.
The protagonist is normal; these days, which protagonist doesn't have some serious illness?
It's good enough that he's not mentally ill.
Qinghuan poured him a cup of tea and said, "Immortal Lord, I think... you should consider Elder Zhenling's suggestion and change Junior Brother's name to follow Qing's surname."
Qing Zhenling is a highly respected elder of the Qing family, with great achievements in array formations and spells. Although the old man is old, he still insists on teaching his disciples. His suggestions do have some merit.
Jie Zhou's surname was Jie, and even though he was just a child, this surname was notorious among the people.
The inner disciples of the Qing family are all direct descendants, and those who inherit their bloodline are all exceptionally talented. Although the outer disciples recruited from outside the family are generally not as talented as the inner disciples, there are also many capable individuals, and some even want to change their surname to "Qing".
Furthermore, judging from the previous records of the Qing family patriarch, there were indeed very few people who recruited outer disciples as personal disciples. This suggestion was also made to prevent Qing Jue and his disciples from being gossiped about by the world.
“I don’t want him to forget his surname and where he comes from,” Qingjue said. “His surname is Xie, that’s an indelible fact, but it’s just a surname and it doesn’t mean anything. He will walk a completely different path from his family. A person who gets lost and doesn’t move forward just because of a different surname is not worthy of being my disciple.”
Upon hearing this, Qinghuan paused for a moment, then quickly bowed and said, "It is I who am dull-witted. What the Immortal Lord said makes sense. I have learned a lot."
"I didn't scold you, why are you so nervous? You're suddenly so quick-witted now?" Qingjue smiled, waved for him to stand up, and said, "However, his name is indeed not very good. If he wants to change his name, I will respect that. Call him over."
The small figure stopped practicing her swordplay, her little legs tumbling over as she placed her hands on Qingjue's legs: "Master, you wanted to see me."
To be honest, kids are really cute when they're not making a fuss.
There were a few people in his class who liked to put little flowers in his hair.
Five years have passed, and he has almost forgotten the daily life of modern society. Occasionally, he will miss the group of kids in his class.
...but some things change when they become associated with the nature of the work.
Qingjue reached out and patted his head, saying, "Let me ask you, do you like your name?"
He thought for a moment, then shook his head: "It doesn't sound good."
A very simple reason.
"So, do you want to change it?"
"Master, will you help me change my name?" The child's eyes lit up: "I'd love to."
"Hmm..." Qingjue thought for a moment, but still didn't intend to strip him of his surname and force him to integrate into the Qing family. So he said, "Let's make this clear first. If you don't hate your surname, I will keep it. But I want you to know that in the eyes of the world, your original surname represents a person who has committed many evils. Do you accept that?"
"It's all up to Master to decide," the child nodded. "I don't hate it, nor will I force anyone to stay. I will cultivate diligently and help the people. In time, they will know that I am not a bad person."
"Good awareness," Qingjue exclaimed, then asked Qinghuan to bring paper and pen. As he wrote, he said, "Then I'll leave your surname. As for the character 'hou'... Your original name was Jie Zhou, so I'll take the homophone of 'Zhou' (周) and add a modifier to make it 'Zhoujian' (昼间). It complements the shape of your surname and means to distinguish right from wrong and make the most of time. Do you like it?"
Jie Zhoujian knelt down in front of Qingjue's legs and carefully examined the words: "It sounds nice, I like it."
Qinghuan murmured, "Jie Zhoujian... what a fine name. Immortal Lord is indeed worthy of being called Immortal Lord. He is full of knowledge and learning, and we juniors can only look up to him in admiration."
Qingjue felt uncomfortable being praised so much, thinking that the ancients were sometimes too exaggerated. In modern times, this would be considered flattery: "...Stop flattering me. I'm practicing swordsmanship during the day. Go and inform everyone, and also check if Qingfeng has returned. Go quickly."
After getting to know Qinghuan, I realized that this is just the kind of person he is. He doesn't say these things out of pretense; could it be said that he is very frank?
Jie Zhoujian smiled broadly and nodded, "Okay."
This makes his actual age somewhat believable.
Qinghuan gave a perfunctory bow: "I obey."
Qingjue took a sip of tea.
He didn't know why, but he just felt that Jie Zhoujian should be called Jie Zhoujian.
Anyone with eyes could tell that Jie Zhoujian's original name had a bad meaning. At the time, Qingjue only had the idea of changing his name, but he didn't intend to carry it out.
Qingjue is almost thirty years old in modern times. He has no wife or children, no interest in romance, and spends his days dealing with little devils in kindergarten. He has long since lost all romantic feelings and expectations towards children.
Before becoming a kindergarten teacher, he also disliked children.
However, after spending some time together, Jiezhuan realized that this child was incredibly sensible.
He had encountered well-mannered or quiet children before, but he had never met one whose thoughts and actions were so perfectly aligned.
Jie Zhoujian is neither pretending to be sensible nor being forced to understand things.
He genuinely felt that this was only natural; he was naturally more open-minded than others, and he was simply intelligent.
The classic romance plot of naming him was something Qingjue originally wanted to avoid, but for some reason, it was probably some kind of forced plot.
...If it weren't for the occasional childlike innocence this child showed, Qingjue would almost certainly believe that he was more than three years old.
But seeing the childlike innocence and purity in his eyes, it didn't seem like he was acting.
In short, based on my observations over the past few days, he is indeed a genius, but he is also indeed a child.
However, given the crucial plot point, Qingjue dared not make any hasty conclusions. Whether Jie Zhoujian's acting skills are good or his personality is genuine remains to be determined.
At least he was exceptionally talented, cultivated diligently, could understand human speech, and basically did not compete, fight, or cause trouble.
If all children in the world were like this, being a preschool teacher wouldn't be such a difficult job.
The only thing that frustrated him was the child's gaze... He kept staring at him, probably because the child had some kind of infantile paranoia.
This can't go on.
What are some ways to distract him...?
A year later, the legendary noble and aloof immortal lord was unexpectedly controlled by a group of children, thus fulfilling his original intention.
Qingjue was used to this kind of situation; he had encountered children who were much more difficult to deal with than these.
I have to say, being a kindergarten teacher is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The pay is low, the workload is heavy, and it strains your voice. You have to pass tests in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
He also had some reasoning skills, which made it easier for him to figure out who in the class was bullying whom.
For example, right now.
“So,” Qingjue cleared his throat and said, “Is it to admit it yourself, or for me to say it, or—do you want the girl in the bottle to speak up?”
Qingjue originally took his two apprentices to Beishan to ask the best craftsmen to forge swords, and the sword that Jiezhou carried on his back was obtained during this trip.
The moment he stumbled into the village, he sensed that the resentment emanating from it was extraordinary.
He and his two apprentices deliberately concealed their presence, first investigating the area near the village, before intentionally allowing themselves to be encountered by the villagers.
The woman did not kill anyone for many days after she became a ghost, not because she still had reason, but because she had only recently died and her obsession had not been diluted by time. She only wanted to obtain one thing.
Qingjue raised his head, understood the meaning of daytime, and pulled out the cork blocking the black bottle.
That black bottle is a high-grade magic treasure with the Purification Technique. Ordinary ghosts and monsters will be reduced to ashes if they stay inside for more than a day.
As soon as the woman was captured and the door was opened, a cloud of black energy rushed out and regrouped on the ground into a simple human shape. A talisman was stuck on her head, so she couldn't move.
The villagers in the house were so frightened by his sudden release of the ghost that they shrank back.
Qingjue then spoke up: "You all say that none of you have seen this sachet, then I will have to ask other people in the village to come and take a look."
He waved his hand and opened the tightly closed door. The village women, who had been arranged by his two apprentices beforehand, stood at the door, looked at each other, and dared not go in.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jie Zhoujian said to Qingjue, “Master has placed a restriction on her, she can’t hurt anyone.”
The older woman at the head of the group mustered her courage and peered in. She walked to Qingjue's side, and although her legs were weak, she still carefully examined the black humanoid figure on the ground.
Qingjue raised his hand, and some fragments flew out from the black humanoid and landed steadily in his hand. Upon closer inspection, they were one of the fragments of the torn sachet.
Although they are not completely distinguishable when put together, at least a corner of the characters can be seen.
The woman's eyes widened slowly when she saw what Qingjue was holding.
Her eyes reddened almost instantly. She knelt down and kowtowed to Qingjue, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed, "Yes, Immortal Lord! This is my daughter—my daughter..."
"Then do you recognize this resentful woman?"
"I recognize her, I recognize her... It's my daughter, my Menglan. Please, Immortal Lord, give her a quick death, I beg you, Immortal Lord."
Just as the woman was about to kowtow again, her young apprentice helped her up.
"I will." Qingjue clenched the sachet fragments in his hand, then opened his hand. The fragments that were originally in his hand were gone, turning into wisps of green smoke that drifted away.
The sachet was gone, and a short, faint breath, almost audible, escaped from the crowd, as if a sigh of relief had been heard.
Qingjue continued, "You are her mother, so it's normal that you can recognize her things at a glance. But among those who said they couldn't recognize them, was someone lying—who was she originally going to give this sachet to?"
"Immortal Lord, what do you mean by that...? Now that this vengeful ghost has been caught, you should get rid of her quickly! lest she harm people!"
"Yes, yes, isn't it your duty as cultivators to slay demons and monsters..."
"Stop arguing, Immortal Lord Wu Qing is famous throughout the world, there must be a reason for it."
"This, this, this is just an ordinary sachet. It's normal that we can't recognize it. Who would know who it was given to?"
"Yes, let's get rid of this female ghost first..."
The woman shouted, "Shut up! Who said that's a female ghost? That's my daughter! Answer the Immortal Lord's questions, stop talking nonsense!"
"Hey, you old widow, you still talk so harshly! Look at yourself, is this still your daughter? She doesn't look human at all, she's a ghost!"
Her voice almost cracked as she cried out, "She's my daughter! Even if she's a ghost, she's still my daughter!"
Qingjue raised his hand, and those who had been arguing the loudest just moments before were suddenly silenced.
"It's so noisy, you forced me to manually mute him," Qingjue said, raising her hand again. The man who had been most agitated was thrown out of the crowd and landed on the ground, groaning. "I'll ask you one more time, you really don't recognize that sachet?"
"I...I..." He immediately deflated, stammering for a long time, his courage shattered by the resentful woman not far away.
"Yes, yes, yes, it was originally meant for me... Immortal Lord, I really didn't recognize her as Menglan just now. You can't punish me, can you? I'm not her mother, it's normal not to recognize her..."
"I want to hear the complete version." Qingjue sat down again and gestured to his little apprentice to pour him tea. Unlike Jie Zhoujian, this boy surnamed Yan didn't seem so willing. He was making tea with a dark face because of some kind of coercion.
"I...I..."
“If you don’t tell me,” Qingjue said, clasping his fingers as if to chant an incantation, “then I won’t stop that girl from killing whomever she wants.”
"No, no, Immortal Lord, please don't kill me!"
Qingjue even made a gesture of chanting incantations, which made the other villagers anxious.
"Speak up! If you don't, you're going to get everyone killed!"
"Yes, what exactly did you do!"
The man knelt before Qingjue, his head pressed against the floor, his voice trembling uncontrollably, and said, "I... I did indeed have a connection with Miss Menglan... We... we were mutually in love—but... but..."
He swallowed hard, his eyes filled with fear, and he felt guilty, not daring to continue.
Then he saw it; he saw the gazes of the two children beside Qingjue fixed on him.
"I...I..." The man couldn't withstand the pressure and said, "Ten nights ago outside the village, it was me...it was me who killed her with a stone..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com