Taking on apprentices
No one explicitly told Bai Chuan, Qin Wu, and Bai Ji that Lin Huaiyu was Bai Yan.
But when they saw the familiar figure on the jade platform, nothing more needed to be said. That deep-seated familiarity, that aura and posture exactly like their master in their memories, revealed the truth.
Yun Qian left Cangmin Mountain, where Qi Mo, Lin Huaiyu, and Zhihua, who was usually the most talkative, were now unusually quiet.
Logically, with more people, Cangmin Mountain should be even more lively.
But the truth is quite the opposite.
Despite the increase in population, the entire Cangmin Mountain fell into a deeper silence. It was as if everyone's voice was being suppressed by some invisible weight, and even breathing was done cautiously.
Everyone fell into silence. Of course, except for Qi Mo, who was still completely baffled by the current situation.
Of all the people in the mountains now, Qi Mo didn't recognize any of them except Lin Huaiyu. But Lin Huaiyu had completely shut himself off, remaining silent and ignoring everyone.
Helpless, Qi Mo could only go to the mountaintop alone to practice his sword, hoping to relieve the suffocating oppression. But when he arrived at the top, he found Qin Wu, who was still recovering from serious injuries, already there, his sword flashing, having practiced for quite some time.
"Truly... hardworking!" Qi Mo thought to himself, praising the boy's unwavering resolve. Given time, his cultivation would surely surpass his own. He couldn't help but mutter to himself again about Lin Huaiyu. How on earth did that guy find such talented and virtuous disciples?
However, this apparent calm did not last more than a few days.
Lin Huaiyu fell ill.
Yun Qian's departure seemed to have forcibly ripped a part of his soul away. He became increasingly silent, spending his days sitting on the jade platform, his fingertips constantly calculating and deducing, seemingly tireless.
He was divining.
They recklessly and without regard for the consequences overdraw their life force, just to obtain an answer about the deceased from that vague divine secret.
But the deceased are gone, their souls scattered, so how can they leave any traces in this world for divination?
Having already been nearly exhausted from fighting the magma behemoth in the forbidden area, and with his injuries still not fully healed, his body had finally reached its limit after recklessly performing divination.
Lin Huaiyu was very ill, barely breathing, and his injuries were so serious that even Baichuan felt extremely burdened.
His current condition is even worse than Qin Wu's, who suffered from the backlash of banned drugs.
Lin Huaiyu was unconscious for seven days before she finally woke up.
When he opened his eyes, Baichuan was standing guard by his bedside.
The master and disciple remained silent, an unbreakable stillness filling the air.
After a long silence, Baichuan finally spoke, his voice hoarse: "Master, if my senior sister were here, she wouldn't want to see you like this."
Lin Huaiyu's eyelashes trembled slightly; he was clearly still somewhat unaccustomed to this long-unseen form of address. But in the end, he simply nodded very lightly.
Since then, Lin Huaiyu has stopped fortune-telling.
He simply remained quietly within Cangmin Mountain, like a silent shadow, existing in every corner, yet seemingly separated from everything around him by an invisible barrier.
As time went by, Qi Mo, who found Cangmin Mountain too quiet, took in many disciples. The once sparsely populated Cangmin Mountain gradually became bustling with activity.
But the original few people remained quiet.
Bai Ji, who was always talkative, was unpredictable. Sometimes he would stay in the mountains, and sometimes he would disappear for a period of time. No one knew where he went or what he did. Fortunately, the world was at peace, so there was no danger to his life.
Qin Wuyi practiced his sword on the mountaintop every day without fail. His sword intent became more and more refined and fierce, and he became more and more silent. Sometimes, it would be difficult to hear him say a word for ten days or half a month.
Bai Chuan, on the other hand, silently took on the responsibilities that originally belonged to Lin Huaiyu, and began to manage the affairs of the sect for him, and even... take on disciples.
Qi Mo was determined to expand the sect. He not only recruited many disciples himself, but also insisted that Lin Huaiyu take on disciples in order to continue the Cangmin Mountain lineage.
However, Lin Huaiyu remained unmoved, refusing to agree no matter how much Qi Mo pleaded. Finally, annoyed by Qi Mo's persistent questioning, he simply cast a divination for Qi Mo.
The divination clearly shows that Lin Huaiyu will only have four disciples in his lifetime.
Seeing that he couldn't persuade Lin Huaiyu, Qi Mo changed his target. Compared to the icy Qin Wu and the elusive Bai Ji, the relatively mild-mannered Bai Chuan was undoubtedly a better breakthrough point.
Fortunately, Baichuan was reasonable enough that when he was traveling around practicing medicine, he encountered two children with good aptitude and talent in medicine. With their consent, he brought them back to Cangmin Mountain and formally accepted them as his disciples.
Three months have passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside the alchemy room, the furnace fire blazed brightly, making Bai Chuan's robe, already stained with medicinal ash, appear even more mottled. He was frowning as he stared intently at the furnace's heat, with two young children standing on either side of him—his newly accepted apprentices—watching their master's every move with nervousness.
A murky demonic aura silently spread out, swirling around Bai Chuan for a moment before solidifying into a physical form.
Bai Ji casually tossed two medicinal herbs, brimming with spiritual energy and clearly of extraordinary quality, to Bai Chuan: "I stumbled upon these down the mountain by chance. See if they're of any use to you."
Bai Chuan didn't even look at it, casually put the medicinal herbs away, and replied, "Useful, of course it's useful."
"You didn't even glance at it!" Bai Ji said, displeased.
"No need to look, you can tell what it is just by smelling it." Bai Chuan said as he added fire to the furnace, carefully instructing his two disciples to watch over the furnace, before signaling Bai Ji to come out with him.
“I’ve noticed that Qin Wu has become increasingly silent these days. I don’t hear him say a word for ten days or half a month.” Bai Chuan sighed, his brows furrowed with worry. “When you have some free time, go see him and talk to him. If this continues, he might really become mute.”
"What's the point of me going?" Bai Ji said helplessly. "Last time I went to see him, I practically wore myself out, and he didn't even give me a 'hmm'."
"As the senior brother, shouldn't you at least check on things?" Bai Chuan glanced at him.
Inside the room, two young apprentices were busily adjusting the fire in the stove; though they were still quite inexperienced, they were extremely earnest.
Bai Chuan stared at their busy little figures, his expression momentarily blank. Sometimes, looking at these two children, he would vaguely think of Yun Qian. When he and Bai Ji first arrived at Cangmin Mountain, they were about the same age. It was his senior sister who raised them little by little, taught them the Cangmin Sword Technique, and guided them onto the path of cultivation.
"I'll go see him in a bit," Bai Ji agreed, then changed the subject, "By the way, these days, has the sect leader gone to Master to pressure him to take on disciples again?"
“Even if we search, it will be useless.” Bai Chuan pulled himself out of his thoughts and shook his head. “The skills of the rest of us were all taught by our senior sister. With Master’s personality, there is no way he would take on any more disciples.”
The moment the words "senior sister" were mentioned, the air between the two seemed to freeze instantly.
Even today, deep down, they have never truly accepted the fact that Yun Qian has completely left. That void, no matter how much time flows, can never be filled.
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