Dang Hun City, Hu Immortal Blessed Land.
The original ring-shaped city around Dang Hun Mountain stopped growing and developing recently with most of its resident disciples—more often than not the sect's cream of the crop—shifting their undivided attention onto the refinement path convention. The remaining disciples within the blessed lands either had greater responsibilities or they simply did not qualify to further participate in the convention.
Still, it did not stop these disciples from engaging in friendlier refinement path duels and conventions. The Refinement Path Convention was no different from a wave of unstoppable trend that took over Central Continent every century! Some disciples engaged in such competition in their residences, some rented bigger courtyards and invited their friends, and a few others hosted a friendly tournament by booking large battle stages.
It was no wonder that the construction of Dang Hun City's outer ring halted under such circumstances.
A young woman strode along the streets, her presence attracting a disproportionate intensity of attraction as the white token meant for outer disciples caught the blessed land's persistent daylight. This blessed land housed the very best or the gu masters who could pay enough contribution points to get a taste of Guts Gu, who also happened to be hidden experts in their ranks or people with a resourceful background.
However, the brown-haired young woman was no expert or someone with a great background. Her parents were outer disciples, and not the kind of experts who simply did not wish to take constant examinations and rise through the ranks. They were ordinary.
Her greatest wealth could be the attention she gained from her 'master.'
"Ah! Junior Sister Ju Lin!"
A deep voice made the woman pause as she repressed a resentful sigh under her breath before turning around.
"S-Senior Brother Qing," Ju Lin greeted as the elegant-looking inner disciple smiled softly and nodded.
"Such fortune," he said. "I was looking for you, Junior Sister. I'm participating in the refinement path tournament set in Battle Stage C. Why don't we go there together if you don't have anything else to do?"
Senior Brother Qing extended his hand in an invitation. Dressed in green and white, his long black hair tied into a topknot, he came across as an dashing young master and instantly attracted countless gazes from other female disciples. Still, the eavesdropping female disciples didn't hold any malicious thought against the young Ju Lin.
They didn't dare.
Not when everyone knew who Ju Lin's master was. Gu Yue Lo Jik, a mortal who slaughtered a desolate beast!
Ju Lin glanced down at the outstretched hand as disgust and resentment deepened in her heart. She just knew what was about to happen.
"Stick that arm where gu don't shine, Little Qing!" An aggressive shout instantly made Qing's expression darken as he and Ju Lin turned to look at the burlier newcomer. He swore off Qing's elegance with form-fitting martial attire, short greying hair, and thick grey beard.
"Have some shame, Qing Lao. You're nearly two centuries old and you're still so untalented and worthless! Peh! Forget him, Junior Sister Ju Lin. I'm here to invite you to join the friendly refinement path duel I'm hosting in my courtyard."
"Speaking of lacking talent, didn't you fail another eight-year middle examination for elite disciples?" Qing Lao sneered. "I could become an elite disciple whenever I want. However, you failed three times already."
Ju Lin watched two very old men fight for her attention as she felt more repulsed by the second. They were older than her father!
"I'm busy." Ju Lin interrupted their argument and ended the discussion before they could keep on talking. "My master summoned me."
Her words froze her surroundings as she turned on her feet and left the area.
<<<>>>
"Pfft! Hahahaha! You learned well from me. I would have been ashamed of ever teaching you anything if you hadn't hooked a couple of men or women in your charm… though you aren't all that good-looking."
Lo Jik laughed and teased as he checked the pieces of equipment Ju Lin brought at his request. The latter bristled at his words as the girl pouted and inflated her cheeks after crossing her arms and stomping her foot.
"They're just doing all that to get closer to you, Master! And I AM beautiful!"
"Nah, I have an eye for beauty." Lo Jik looked over his shoulder before returning to his task. "You're ugly."
"No, I'm not."
"You are. But I have a few tips for you to rectify that." Lo Jik's words instantly attracted Ju Lin.
"Really?" She asked with sparkling gaze, always thirsty for more pointers… just like her master. "Please teach me, Master."
Lo Jik instantly turned and stared at Ju Lin's head with surprising intensity. He beckoned the girl over as she stepped forward. She couldn't help but purse her lips and glance down as she felt the towering man stretch his hand towards her.
His fingers brushed through her short brown hair, something she maintained to mimic Lo Jik's earlier hairstyle as Bai Shou.
"Get bald."
She heard him state confidently, freezing.
Ju Lin stepped back with a flat look, her tone turning dryer than the air in Western Desert.
"I refuse."
"You'll look way more beautiful! Like me!" Lo Jik insisted as he ran his hand over his smooth head.
"Never," Ju Lin replied dully.
"Your loss." Lo Jik shrugged before smirking as he observed the girl. "Good. You made good use of the contribution points from Reincarnation Battle. Already a rank 3 gu master, huh? You're going to surpass Sister and Brother Ju at this pace."
Ju Lin also broke into a wide smile at Lo Jik's praise, basking in his attention.
"But your quick progress left you deficient in many aspects of cultivation." Lo Jik continued critically. "You still haven't mastered several basics. Lastly, you are adamant in following the strength path. I share the blame for that. So, your future is limited in terms of proper gu set because strength path is in a decline for decades." Ju Lin deflated by the end of his words.
"Tell me." Lo Jik stopped observing her and started setting up a gu formation alongside the items he'd requested from Ju Lin. "You died several times inside Reincarnation Battlefield, right? What do you think about it?"
Momentarily stunned, Ju Lin recalled those dark experiences as the mask of child-like excitement she wore around Lo Jik crumbled to reveal her innermost thoughts and maturity.
"It was cold, master," she whispered. "It didn't last for more than a second, but it felt too real. Other disciples in Reincarnation Battlefield always faced this darkness with bright smiles on their faces. I'm nothing compared to them."
"Cold?" Lo Jik hummed curiously. "Not free?"
Ju Lin's expression stiffened. Her shoulders briefly shuddered as she bit her bottom lip.
"That wasn't freedom, Master."
Lo Jik smiled and scoffed softly.
"Correct. Death leads to no release, Ju Lin." While he could set up a formation effortlessly, he still acted inexperienced in this matter. He fussed over every detail while teaching the girl simultaneously. "Look at my current circumstances. I'm very powerful, but I lack several aspects compared to other experienced gu masters."
"True freedom is not found in death, only rest can be found in that darkness. True freedom comes from ability!"
Ju Lin's gaze sparkled as she maintained her silence and absorbed all the pointers like a sponge.
"What problem cannot be solved if you have enough cultivation, experience, skill, and wealth? All of it becomes part of one's ability. You will start learning under me properly from today onwards."
He looked over his shoulder and pinned Ju Lin with a quiet stare.
"I won't give you wealth. I won't help with your aperture's cultivation either. Experience is something you must accumulate on your own. The only thing you will learn from me are my skills."
Ju Lin instantly fell to her knees, trembling with excitement. She'd insisted on calling Lo Jik her 'master,' but the latter had never truly accepted her as one. All he ever shared with her were a few pointers and laughs, something she came to treasure due to his warmth instead of some greed for power.
"Disciple is willing, Master!"
"Hmm."
Ju Lin could hear satisfaction ooze from Lo Jik's hum as she continued kowtowing with her head touching the floor. She imagined his smile brighten pride—pride in her. Of course, her master didn't stay still. He approached her, the heavy 'thump' of his footsteps making Ju Lin tremble even more with excitement.
She finally heard him speak again, his voice full of kindness and happiness.
"Good disciple. Good disciple! Get up."
Ju Lin hurriedly stood up straight, her eyes glistening with tears as her emotions came pouring out.
She used to dream of days like this!
Lo Jik reached out and firmly held her shoulders as Ju Lin closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.
'Just like my dreams… mom, dad… I finally did it! Thank you for raising me for this long, but I'm master's responsibility from now on. He… holds me just like this every night. Ah. Now, we kiss—"
"Let's get your head shaved, Virtuous Disciple."
Ju Lin froze as she slowly opened her eyes. Lo Jik didn't move any further from where he stood. That's not right. He should have been holding her close to his chest with his powerful and thick arms wrapped around her back. She should have been able to hear the comforting beats of his heart and smell his manly scent.
"M-Master?"
"I know, Lin'er." Lo Jik smiled 'knowingly' as Ju Lin blushed. However, his words were far from the sweet nothings he whispered in her dreams.
No. This was a nightmare.
"You look up to me and even wish to look like me, that's why you wear your hair like this. It's alright. I don't mind. You can keep copying me, alright? You can shave your head."
Ju Lin's lips opened and then closed before she cried again, not from overwhelming emotions but sheer despair.
'Mom, dad… I don't want master to be responsible for me ever again!'
"Oh, and let's start with your training. First thing you must learn is how to properly clean several pieces of equipment used in some unorthodox refinement recipes and prepare a few materials. Chop-chop."
She was truly a disciple… or as Lo Jik loved calling them—unpaid interns.
<<<>>>
A pair of sun shone in a neat and recently constructed bamboo shed near Shu Zhe's residence. One of these suns were bigger and less round than the second smaller one.
"Uuuu…"
Ju Lin whined cutely as she looked in the mirror for the umpteenth time while running her hand over her cleanly shaved head. Her brown eyes turned watery again, forcing her to blink out the tears.
"Sigh, I did this for your good, Little Ju. Being caught up in appearances won't do us gu masters any good." Lo Jik instructed with an ostentatiously sad sigh.
"I understand, master," Ju Lin replied, accepting his reasoning. If Lo Jik found his excuse working to be surprising, then he didn't let it show on his face. After all, he just wanted to mess with Ju Lin. Accepting the dull and monogamous routine of gu cultivation did not mean he could not brighten his day with a few splashes of color.
"Good. Let's continue the lesson."
He mostly taught her how to prepare the materials for a rank 3 gu worm. His intention of raising Ju Lin into a more than decent gu master was more than sincere, but she truly lacked many things and did not have the benefits Lo Jik enjoyed from the beginning, including his Divine Capacity, which allowed him to learn things at a greater pace at times as seen from his host's admirable marksmanship even before Lo Jik took over. Of course, that wasn't to say that Lo Jik's cultivation journey had been a breeze.
He'd already endured a lot despite his relatively short career in gu cultivation.
'I can't use Ju Lin as a proper assistant as she is right now. She cannot even compare to Refiner and Hairy Man Gu Worms in terms of assisting me in refining rare gu worms. However, relying on those two gu worms is the same as relying on myself. Me and my clones are one, singular whole. However, Ju Lin is another person. As she grows, her comprehension of the great dao is bound to be different than my own perspective.'
Lo Jik never forgot his intuition regarding raising Ju Lin. The earlier hints to refine his clone gu worms were also accumulated during his time with the young woman. As such, he was eager to see what else could be learned and absorbed.
Ju Lin might have mistaken her apprenticeship for being a one-way street where she was gaining everything. In reality, however, it was a two-way street.
So, he wasn't disappointed by her current shortcomings and looked forward to her growth.
"The lessons will differ every day. But you must persist in one discipline for the next five years." Lo Jik changed the subject after giving Ju Lin an information path gu worms that further delved into the descriptions of the most commonly available material. She'd need to buy the remaining wealth of knowledge from the sect's Education Hall. Truthfully, buying gu worms from Education Hall was a whole lot more convenient either way.
"Anything, Master!" Ju Lin straightened her back again. There it was, she thought. She knew her master well and accepted him with all her heart! So… if she had to spend the next five years doing everything in her power to make her master's life easier, so be it! Her mother raised no quitter!
Lo Jik nodded at her overwhelming enthusiasm.
"You must participate in the battle stage for outer disciples daily. Regardless of your results, you must compete. Even if you lose gu worms after losing a few matches, you must continue till you lose all your gu worms. Even if you lose all your gu worms, you must endure your opponent's derision and fight them barehanded."
Ju Lin snapped out of her thoughts and met Lo Jik's stern expression with a dazed one of her own.
"But…" Lo Jik spoke calmly. "Our relationship as master and disciple shall end if you lose ten consecutive matches."
"M-Master?" She gasped in shock.
"Every day." Lo Jik repeated. "How you maintain your win and loss record is up to you, and you must never miss the lessons every evening either. Even if I'm not present in this shed, you must continue preparing the materials in the way I taught you. You will watch and learn when I refine gu worms, and you must pay for the gu recipes you wish to acquire from Exchange Hall and refine them at your own convenience."
Daily matches, lessons, refinement tasks, and then further personal cultivation…
Ju Lin was no longer a simple child from before. From Wang Nan's ambush to other disciples trying to kill her when she still wasn't an outer disciple out of envy, and then the siege from four directions in Reincarnation Battlefield… she had already experienced more than most of her peers. She might not be an expert, but she was not a rookie in terms of combat and gu cultivation either.
Yet, she'd never forced herself to stick to such a spartan routine.
Lo Jik couldn't help but chuckle at her look and question her. "Would you like to know how I spent my day yesterday?"
Ju Lin shuddered slightly and shook her head, briefly surprising Lo Jik with her response. Indeed, she wasn't the outspoken girl from years ago when she first met Lo Jik and asked him to refine her vital gu worm.
"No, master." Ju Lin cupped her fist and bowed. "I will follow your arrangements."
Lo Jik nodded and gestured to her to leave.
'I should be allowed to feel slightly proud, right?' He snickered internally as Ju Lin closed the door behind her. 'But her head is in the gutter. Not that I can blame her. She's my disciple, after all.'
***
Alternate Title: Charming old men left and right; Ju Lin (while looking at Lo Jik): I'm into older men *Accidentally conjures disciple Qing and a few more old men*; Ju Lin is truly her master's disciple; Ju Lin being excited for pointers from Lo Jik; Lo Jik getting excited for pointers from Bai La; Ju Lin: Now, we kiss *Gets bald instead*; Lo Jik in Ju Lin's dreams: Smoldering *Actual Lo Jik: Gojo incarnate*; Official disciple; Ju Lin's parents about to get a heart attack by seeing bald Ju Lin; Tough routine; Either make it or break apart; Strict conditions; Proper nurturing; Raising a strength path gremlin; Ju Lin agenda is back
***
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