[Old Cold Wood] Is she going to hide her edge?
The mountain gate of Chengxiandao was shrouded in mist, shrouding the bamboo houses in the distance, making them look a little hazy.
Zhou Suyao returned to the path of immortality with a heavy heart, Mingluo's words still echoing in her ears.
The truth behind the imprisonment of the Qi brothers, Rao Tiandao's ambiguous attitude... and the barrier that inexplicably appeared and shrouded the path to immortality.
These things were like heavy stones, weighing heavily on her heart.
Unconsciously, she didn't know when she had walked to the bamboo house on the cliff where her master Zhou Xuqing often stayed. Sure enough, before she even entered, she heard humming sounds coming from inside and Wangcai's impatient barking.
When I pushed open the door, I saw the master sticking his butt out, trying hard to straighten a bamboo chair with a broken leg. After trying several times without success, he sat on the ground panting, while Wangcai stood beside him, impatiently nudging his waist with his head, as if he was annoyed that he was blocking his way.
"Master."
Zhou Suyao called out.
Hearing the sound, Zhou Xuqing suddenly stood up and looked over. Perhaps he stood up too quickly, and with a crisp "crack!" sound, he suddenly supported his old waist.
"What do you want to do? You're so elusive! Do you want to scare your good master to death and ask you to inherit his master's sect?!"
But today, Zhou Suyao was out of character. She ignored his jokes and walked over silently. She took out the yellow paper she had prepared and drew a repair talisman. After a long silence, she said, "Master, I have seen Ming Luo."
"Oh?" Zhou Xuqing replied nonchalantly while rubbing his waist. However, he secretly studied her expression and said, "How's that girl? She didn't cry when you two met, did she?"
"She's fine. She's busy rebuilding the Xincong Sect." Zhou Suyao paused before continuing, "Master... the Qi brothers have been imprisoned by the elders of Raotian Dao."
A strange look flashed across Zhou Xuqing's face, but he quickly covered it up. He rubbed his waist slowly, saying calmly, "Well, I've heard a little about this matter."
"Master, you actually knew that?" Zhou Suyao suddenly raised her head and looked at him, "Why...? They clearly didn't..."
"You mean they didn't do anything wrong?" Zhou Xuqing interrupted her, a mocking smile on his face. "After all, they're a prominent family. They have many rules and even more cunning thoughts."
"What's more important than right or wrong is interests and balance."
He glanced at Zhou Suyao before continuing slowly, "Those two guys have caused quite a mess. Locking them up might not be a bad thing."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Suyao stared at her master in a daze. From his words, she could hear similar meanings to Ming Luo's.
There seems to be more to this matter than meets the eye.
She was about to ask something else, but her master suddenly stood up, as if remembering something important. He leaned closer to her, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, "Oh, right. My dear disciple, there's something extremely important to tell you before the evaluation. I'll probably forget to remind you of this beforehand."
Seeing her master being so serious, Zhou Suyao couldn't help but get nervous. She held her breath and spoke cautiously, "What's the matter, Master?"
The master looked around with a cautious expression as if he was afraid that there were ears on the other side of the wall. He lowered his voice even more. In the bamboo house, the only sound left was Wangcai's breathing.
"During this disciple competition, remember to tone down your edge and don't try too hard. That's enough."
"Huh?" Zhou Suyao didn't react immediately, practically stunned. She hadn't expected her master to say that, so she subconsciously asked, "Why? Isn't the purpose of the disciple competition to showcase one's cultivation and strive for a good ranking?"
She also wanted to take this opportunity to see where her own strength stood among the disciples of various sects.
"Oh, silly disciple!" He bent his fingers and tapped the young disciple's head hard, saying with dismay, "Think about it, if you were too conspicuous, overwhelming everyone else and shining like a star, would those major sects really let you go? They would definitely try every possible means to snatch you away! We, the Chengxian Dao sect, are small and insignificant, and we definitely can't protect you."
He leaned in closer, looking pitiful and even a bit coquettish. Although this look, coming from an old man, became very strange, "Could it be... are you willing to leave me, your master? Leave your useless brothers? Or are you willing to leave our comfortable home?"
He paused, then suddenly became very certain: "I know! You must be willing to give up your Senior Brother Wangcai, right?"
Zhou Suyao hadn't recovered from her master's pretending to be pitiful yet, and was shocked by her master's description of several senior brothers as useless. Just when she was about to refute, her master even said that he disliked Gou Wangcai!
"My dear disciple, can you bear to see me, your master, alone and helpless, with no one to support me until the end of my life?"
This series of questions startled Zhou Suyao. She was stunned by her master's sudden and completely uncharacteristic behavior. After a long while, she finally found her voice and questioned in an incredulous tone:
"No way! Master! You're telling me this now!"
Thinking back to the last competition, her master had really encouraged her to take first place! He even told her that the winner would get thirty taels... twenty taels... well, there was always money to be won!
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuqing straightened up again, looking like a man who could predict everything. He stroked his scraggly beard and chuckled, "Last time? Last time, I still had a good idea of how ruthless you were! With your mediocre skills and your lazy temper, who else could tolerate you besides your senior brother and me? Not to mention those arrogant and overconfident sects."
Zhou Suyao: “…”
She was speechless for a moment.
But thinking back carefully, she was indeed a complete loser in the last evaluation, so it was no wonder that her master was so lazy.
"But now..." Zhou Xuqing changed the subject, squinting his eyes as he looked at Zhou Suyao. "It's different now. Almost everyone in the spiritual world knows that you've been to the underworld and caused a commotion in the Imperial City, not to mention the fierce battle with Xuan Yangming. Naturally, the aristocratic families will look upon you more respectfully."
"Most importantly..."
Zhou Xuqing's eyes rolled around, and he spoke slowly, drawing out his words: "Now that you know so many secrets you shouldn't know, and have seen so many human hearts and ghosts, I'm really a little worried. Will your little head think that our Chengxiandao temple is too small and shallow to accommodate you, and want to seek a better career elsewhere?"
For the first time, she heard a half-truth in her master's tone, as if he was joking, but also as if he was seriously testing her.
Zhou Suyao looked into her master's eyes and suddenly understood that he was not joking, nor was he really afraid that she would leave. Instead, he had something else in mind. He wanted to tell her in this way that things were different now. She was involved in too many things. If she was too charming in the competition, it would surely attract the attention of various forces.
By then, it would be difficult for her to escape.
He restrained his edge to protect her.
Her seemingly unreliable master has actually been using his own methods to carefully protect him.
She took a deep breath, suppressed her surging emotions, deliberately put on a stern face, and snorted coldly:
"It seems that Master doesn't really care about me. Isn't it a little too late to play the emotional card now? What if I just want to make a big splash this time and feel like being fought over by all the major sects?"
Upon hearing this, the master immediately covered his chest with his hands, revealing a look of deep sorrow, and wailed, "Oh! Wicked disciple! Wicked disciple! I have wasted all my efforts on you..."
Wangcai, who was lying beside him, was frightened by the noise. He jumped up suddenly and barked several times.
The man and the dog howled wildly, like the sound of devil piercing the ears.
"Alright, alright!" Zhou Suyao couldn't stand interrupting him any longer, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise slightly. She pretended to be impatient and said, "I know, I know! I'll see to it... I'll try not to cause you any trouble, okay!"
Zhou Xuqing immediately put down his hand and burst into laughter. The speed of his expression changed was jaw-dropping and astonishing: "Hey! This is Master's good disciple!"
After saying that, he added in a frivolous tone, "Don't worry! No matter how badly you perform, Master won't despise you. After all, the main goal of our path to immortality is freedom, don't you agree, Wangcai?"
Wangcai called out to him twice.
Zhou Xuqing smiled and took out a palm-leaf fan from somewhere, then leisurely lay back on his broken bamboo chair, humming a tuneless little song and slightly closing his eyes.
He didn't say anything more to Zhou Suyao, as if the conversation just now had never happened.
She shook her head helplessly, turned and walked out of the bamboo house.
The clouds in the mountains seemed to disperse a little, and the afterglow of the setting sun gave the sea of clouds a golden edge.
Zhou Suyao couldn't help but recall what her master said.
"Disciple evaluation, restrain your edge."
To tone down your edge...?
Rao Tiandao refused to intervene, so her master asked her to tone down her edge.
This made her more and more certain that the spiritual path was not as peaceful as it seemed.
There must be some secrets that cannot be revealed.
Using humanity to refine elixirs for spiritual practice, the master said that thousands of years ago, a fairy carved an insurmountable law with her flesh and blood. But why is there still such a practice method today?
In fact, from Ming Luo's tone, it is not difficult to see that this kind of practice method has become an unspoken and customary practice method among all major sects.
Why is this happening?
Would Master do this secretly?
If the master would be like this, then were the words he said in front of the mass grave in the imperial city that day just for sensationalism?
Zhou Suyao shook her head.
In fact, even now, she is still willing to believe in her master.
She looked at the rolling hills in the distance, her gaze gradually becoming firm.
Perhaps, she should be more low-key, but when it is time to show her sword, she will never back down.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
