Chapter 4 My beloved teacher left in such a hurry…
"From today onwards, you will practice with me."
"I will teach you everything I have learned."
Chang Yubai said earnestly.
Li Qingyun responded with an "oh".
Li Qingyun: "..."
Li Qingyun: "And then?"
Chang Yubai solemnly said he would teach Li Qingyun skills, but after saying that, he returned to his usual nonchalant self, hugging his little master and wandering around expressionlessly.
"Naturally, we should find a place to rest first."
Chang Yubai finally spoke.
His tone was really irritating, and his puzzled look didn't seem fake; he seemed genuinely confused as to why Li Qingyun would ask him such a question.
Chang Yubai: Since we haven't stopped yet, shouldn't the first thing be to find a place to settle down?
However, since his master had asked, he answered honestly.
Li Qingyun had been speechless countless times by him, so this one time wouldn't make a difference. She just silently added another entry to her blacklist of grudges.
"Are you looking for an inn? I know the way."
Chang Yubai: "No need."
Li Qingyun: "..."
Chang Yubai: "Master said that one should not stay in the crowd for long."
Li Qingyun: "?"
"Although I don't know the meaning behind his words, every word my master says must have some truth to it."
Chang Yubai's ears were constantly bothered by these admonitions. His master would repeat them to him every few days, fearing that he might forget one of them and cause a disaster.
One must not linger among crowds, must not neglect cultivation, must not allow one's heart to be restless and turbulent, must not casually make friends with strangers, must not get involved in other people's troubles... There are so many things one must not do. These words have accompanied him for as long as his master has raised him.
It still makes me sad... No one will ever talk about these things with him again.
Chang Yubai's imposing manner collapsed in an instant, and coincidentally, dressed in white, he looked exactly like a Samoyed with drooping ears and a dejected expression.
Seeing that Chang Yubai was in low spirits, Li Qingyun tensed up and secretly exerted his strength. As long as Chang Yubai didn't notice, he immediately used all his strength and speed to break free and slip away.
Unfortunately, a large hand placed him on the ground, and the two pairs of eyes, one large and one small, met each other's gaze.
Chang Yubai: I suddenly have a good idea.
Although his master is gone, with a new master right in front of him, he hasn't really lost anything.
"Can you say it again?" Chang Yubai asked firmly, as if he were swearing an oath to his inner demons.
Li Qingyun: "What?"
"Don't linger in crowds, don't..." Chang Yubai repeated the advice he was used to hearing.
Li Qingyun: ...
While he was reciting, Xiao Liqingyun kept scanning to both sides, trying to find a way for him to slip away.
That won't work at all... If the person in front of him only has the strength of previous buyers, he can easily trick them into going to the secret passage in the city, and then kill them when no one is watching.
But Chang Yubai's cultivation level is unfathomable. Once he enters that kind of place, the only one who can't escape is himself.
Li Qingyun: "..." The greatest crisis of my life has already appeared.
"Xiaoyun." Chang Yubai looked at him expectantly. "It's your turn."
Xiaoyun herself didn't really want to comply with him, but having just rejected many possibilities, and seeing Qingyun's breathing rise and fall, she could only resign herself to her fate for now: "I can't stay here permanently..."
Not a single word was omitted.
Chang Yubai was very satisfied and took Xiao Qingyun's little hand to embark on the journey again.
"Why do I have to explain?" Li Qingyun really couldn't understand the meaning of the pause they had just taken.
"It's just a common old habit," Chang Yubai replied simply.
I couldn't be more confused.
"Is this a rule of our sect? You said you'd teach me cultivation, and I need to memorize these things first?"
At eight years old, he was still too short; he had to tilt his head back very high to reach Chang Yubai's chin.
"No." Chang Yubai looked down and noticed that Xiao Qingyun was tilting his head back because he was prone to neck discomfort. He supported Xiao Qingyun's legs with one hand and hugged his back with the other, holding him firmly in his arms.
So light. It turns out that when Master was a child, he was even lighter than a sword.
The sword in question wasn't referring to the newly appointed Black Scale, but rather to the white longsword of the Yellow Rank that he had used as a disciple-acceptance ceremony for nearly a century.
The world is a mix of black and yellow, and yellow-rank treasures are the lowest grade weapons that all cultivators possess. This is especially true for an ancient sword that has been used for hundreds of years. Even if it is rusty, no one would think there is a problem.
Chang Yubai wasn't about to just watch his precious sword rust. He would wash it every few days using the method his master taught him, which at least preserved the weapon's outward brilliance.
However, it's not quite up to par for actual combat.
While other disciples were busy pulling out magic treasures, talismans, and divine weapons to unleash devastating damage, Chang Yubai only had an old, worn-out sword with a stat total of 1x1. His damage output relied entirely on brute force, and his victories depended solely on his superior cultivation level. His situation was truly miserable.
Chang Yubai also wanted to change his equipment, but his master always said not to focus on the weapons outside, as he couldn't use them. His master would find a suitable sword for him, but he could only buy a new one himself if his master died before he got the new sword.
He always had to take his master's words to heart, so he could only wait and wait, hoping that one day his master would suddenly remember to give him a gift that wasn't on his birthday, and suddenly choose a precious artifact and present it to him...
Well, he didn't receive the unexpected gift, but he stored the suddenly collapsed corpse in his mustard seed space.
Suddenly, he bid farewell to the past and arrived in a time he had never experienced before.
Fortunately, his master was still by his side, and the old sword was still at his waist.
He had used this ancient sword for a hundred years, washing away a layer of iron every year until it felt as light and thin as paper in his hands. But now, he was holding someone even lighter than the sword in his arms.
An eight-year-old child.
Just like when my master found me and held me in his arms back then.
Nothing has changed.
He recalled the question Xiao Qingyun had asked him: whether the child should remember those words of advice, which were full of unavoidable danger.
That's certainly not possible either.
“That’s not what you need to remember,” he said. “That’s what I need to remember.”
That was his daily admonition every year, a crucial point that he would reiterate to him even before a life-or-death battle.
"That belongs only to me."
...
Li Qingyun gradually realized that this silent silence seemed to be a gap that Chang Yubai had deliberately left for her to speak.
Anyone who has been watched for half an incense stick's time will realize that they should say something.
“Your master cares about you a lot.” Xiao Qingyun said coldly in a childish voice, “Having a master is already very good, unlike me, who was born with the fate of being a jinx.”
This wasn't just him making things up. A customer who loved fortune telling had his fortune told before, wanting to know which day would be the safest for him to refine the puppet. The result was that he was destined to be a lone star, never encountering anyone close to him in his entire life.
Upon learning of this divination, Li Qingyun scoffed, dismissing it as the nonsense of this useless diviner.
After many twists and turns, and not encountering a single good person, Li Qingyun began to doubt her fate.
“No,” Chang Yubai retorted. “You’re not a cursed lone star.”
Chang Yubai didn't understand how his little master came to that conclusion, but he knew best whether his master was lonely or not, having been with his master for a hundred years.
"Those who say you are a cursed loner are either jealous of you or lack skill. You are not alone. You will meet a dearest and most beloved person who will accompany you to the end of your life."
He witnessed his master's death, collected his master's body, and thus accompanied his master through the rest of his life.
Master will not be lonely.
Why should I believe you?
“I swear by my master.”
Li Qingyun: "..." He's saying something completely nonsensical again.
Li Qingyun: "And what about your master?"
“It’s in my pocket,” Chang Yubai replied immediately.
That's a bit creepy.
"Mouth, pocket?" Li Qingyun's eyes widened slightly, a chilling sense of absurdity rising up her spine.
This person, the pocket they're talking about, could it be a storage bag?
Even an eight-year-old knows that a storage bag could never hold a living person!
"You killed your master?" Li Qingyun's voice trembled.
This time, it was finally Chang Yubai's turn to be speechless.
"Or did you kill your master and take his soul, then refine it into the Soul-Summoning Banner?" Xiao Qingyun really couldn't imagine how a storage bag could hold an entire person.
Chang Yubai: "..."
So, in the young master's eyes, he now appears to be such a disrespectful figure to his elders?
How could this be!
Could it be that he misused some words when introducing his master, causing a misunderstanding?
He clearly respects and loves his master very much, how can he slander him!
"I will not hurt my master!" Chang Yubai said heavily, as if he wanted to grind the word "will not" into pieces.
Li Qingyun's expression remained unchanged, but her eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Master made a duel with his mortal enemy and unfortunately lost and died. I am just collecting Master's body. The bag is made of silk refined from ice essence, which can keep the body from decaying. Master is in the bag now, and the bag is in the mustard seed space. We came out of the Great Wilderness to find a suitable place to bury Master."
Fortunately, Chang Yubai reacted in time, remembering his master's usual advice to remain calm and not be impatient. After calming himself down, Chang Yubai explained the reason why he carried his master with him.
The mustard seed space was the jade ring he wore on his middle finger. When Xiao Qingyun had this thing pressed against her forehead, she could instantly sense how vast it was inside.
This kind of thing doesn't come cheap.
Those who can afford to wear a mustard seed space are unlikely to appear in the remote border areas of the Great Wilderness.
Li Qingyun was somewhat confused about what Chang Yubai really wanted.
"You came to Tiansha City just to buy me? Or that sword you saw on the third floor?"
Chang Yubai shook his head.
Li Qingyun had a bad feeling.
"I was collecting my master's body when I opened my eyes again and found myself in the desolate wilderness."
As for Long Aotian and the like, considering that the little master hasn't reached a certain level of cultivation yet, we shouldn't let the little master know about them too early.
If the junior master were to suddenly mutate like the senior master, and interfere in everything concerning Li Tiansheng, then even if he were to travel back to the primordial era, he wouldn't be able to save him in the slightest.
"Where was the body recovered?" some children still asked, skeptical.
"Zhongzhou".
Li Qingyun shut up.
This sounds like utter nonsense.
What does it mean to be collecting corpses in Zhongzhou one moment and then suddenly find yourself in the Great Wilderness the next?
What happened to the two regions and thirteen cities in the middle, and the dozens or even hundreds of checkpoints? Were they eaten by monsters?
He may be a child, but he's not stupid. To bring up such a lame excuse shows a complete disregard for him.
Li Qingyun simply turned her head away, ignoring Chang Yubai.
Chang Yubai was still calculating the journey and the expenses that would follow.
Chang Yubai's face grew uglier and uglier with each calculation.
My master died too young. He left so suddenly, without even giving out the New Year's money this year. He doesn't know how he'll get through the year with his empty wallet.
Sigh, Master... at least teach him how to make money.
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