Chapter 3: Isn’t the disciple who has been trained since childhood the master’s child bride?

Xiao Yu had a disciple.

He first met her on a lone boat in the Chaotic Forbidden Sea. At that time, Xiao Yu had just gained a firm foothold in the cultivation world and, after several years of hard work, had finally acquired his own mountain peak on Gathering Demon Island.

In his excitement, he went out of the island for a bit of fun. On his way back, he found an eight-year-old girl on a dilapidated, rickety boat. She was thin and small, lying on the boat, looking pitiful.

Seeing that she was all alone, seemingly deliberately abandoned there, Xiao Yu felt a stir of compassion. Since he was living alone on a mountain peak, which was rather empty, having some company would be nice.

The girl’s surname was Bai, and her given name was Yan.

He had given her the name, and Xiao Yu thought it sounded quite good.

It was certainly much better than the unfortunate fellow next door who was named Li Fugui.

‘Xiao Yan… Xiao Yan, you have to be alright!’

On his way to Great Bamboo Sword Peak, Xiao Yu’s face was anxious. The life-bound flying sword beneath his feet buzzed and crackled as he pushed it, wishing he could install a nitrogen booster at its tail.

By the time he arrived at Great Bamboo Sword Peak, the fire had mostly been extinguished.

He only saw a wooden house that had been burned almost to ashes, and next to it, a stunningly beautiful woman holding a wok with a large hole in its bottom.

The woman was dressed in ink-black and white robes, with black hair and blue eyes. Her long hair, like a waterfall, cascaded down her shoulders, tied up with a bamboo hairpin. Her demeanor was calm and detached, possessing a solitary grace like snow and frost, a pale sky of glazed glass. Strands of sunlight sprinkled upon her, resembling the cold moon reflecting on water, exceptionally chilly and clear.

At this moment, perhaps due to the fire, the woman’s pristine white clothes were inevitably stained with some black soot. Her fair, unadorned face also had some black ash on it. Paired with the bottomless black wok in her hand, it gave off a rather silly feeling.

‘Who is this?’

Xiao Yu stopped in his tracks, bewildered.

!

As if noticing the approaching Xiao Yu, the woman’s impassive, wood-carved eyes shifted a few times. She actually threw down the broken wok and came to stand before him.

An ethereal, cold voice sounded:

“Master, you’re back? Would you like some tea, or a bath first, or perhaps… me first!”

“I… cough, cough, cough.”

Hearing such bold and suggestive words, Xiao Yu nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.

‘Are you sure there’s any tea to drink here?’

Looking at the messy scene before him, Xiao Yu composed himself and carefully examined the graceful, cold-tempered woman. After a few seconds, he spoke hesitantly, “You are… Xiao Yan?!!”

Hearing this, the woman nodded, her pair of dim eyes quietly looking at Xiao Yu.

It was a pair of light blue eyes. At a glance, they seemed no different from others, but a closer look revealed a huge difference. They had a grayish-white hue, like pupils that had lost their highlights after turning to the dark side, as dull and lifeless as a puppet’s.

“It really is Xiao Yan…” Looking at those unique eyes, Xiao Yu let out a sigh of relief. As long as she was okay. At the same time, he felt a bit emotional.

A girl changes eighteen times between childhood and womanhood!

To think that after just a few years, she had grown so much.

At this moment, a figure carrying a bucket of water arrived belatedly from behind. “Bai Yan, the water is here. Eh! Xiao Yu?”

Xiao Yu turned his head to see a charming and tall, beautiful woman.

At this moment, likely due to the fire, she was carrying a bucket of water in each hand, held low. Because of her posture, the peaks in the middle swayed precariously, threatening to burst forth. The fabric on her chest was stretched taut, and this garment was enduring suffering it was never meant to bear.

“Auntie Hu, long time no see. What’s the situation here?” Xiao Yu asked, looking at the newcomer.

Auntie Hu’s origins were unknown. She lived on the nearby Spirit Fox Peak and was said to have a significant connection to the Tushan Fox Clan. Before he left, Xiao Yu had entrusted Bai Yan to her care for some help and support.

“Oh! Xiao Yu, you’re back! Well, Bai Yan pestered me about learning to cook, wanting to give you a surprise when you returned. So she was practicing, but… there was a bit of an accident.” As she spoke, Auntie Hu’s face showed a hint of embarrassment.

“An accident? It’s fine, it’s wonderful that Xiao Yan has the heart for it.” Hearing this, Xiao Yu turned back to look at the woman in surprise, thinking to himself, ‘This is not easy! This block of wood has finally opened up! She actually learned to cook for me.’

Bai Yan was different from others. When he found her, Xiao Yu had already noticed the problem: she had no obvious emotional fluctuations. She was a living dead person.

A living dead person refers to a type of person who is born without emotions, who cannot cry, laugh, or feel fear.

Such people are like adults even in childhood, able to do anything calmly. It is said that even if their own parents died in front of them, they would not shed a single tear, as if they were puppets, which is very frightening.

Regarding this, Xiao Yu had consulted the Ghost Doctor Granny on the island, who said it was a lack of emotion, a congenital condition with no current cure. She could only rely on herself.

However, she did say that Xiao Yu could try to guide her. Even the coldest stone can be warmed. Perhaps in the future, if she understood emotions, she would open up.

Thinking of the empty, solitary boat where he found her, Xiao Yu understood in his heart. She was probably abandoned because of this reason. He couldn’t think of any other reason.

It just so happened that he was a lonely bachelor and didn’t care about such things. So he let nature take its course, named her Bai Yan, and continued to live on. Maybe he could move her and make her feel emotions!

Unfortunately, until Xiao Yu was called away by Dao to be the protagonist’s stand-in, Bai Yan had remained the same, without any change.

He never expected that in the few years he was away, she would have made such a huge breakthrough and learned to be considerate of others!

Thinking of this, Xiao Yu couldn’t help but pat Bai Yan’s head in comfort. “It’s just a kitchen that burned down. As long as no one was hurt.”

Under Xiao Yu’s touch, Bai Yan squinted her eyes in comfort, like a cat.

However, a voice shattered the harmonious scene between master and disciple.

“While I don’t want to interrupt your heartwarming reunion, I should remind you that what just burned down was your room, Xiao Yu. The kitchen had already been burned down once before.”

Auntie Hu sighed and, with a complicated expression, told Xiao Yu this fact.

“What! My room…”

Xiao Yu hurriedly turned to look at the house that had been reduced to ashes. Beneath the burning flames, there was nothing but rubble, nothing left.

Auntie Hu explained from the side:

“I was thinking, since you haven’t been back for so many years, the room was just sitting empty. So we used it as a kitchen to continue practicing. Who would have thought it would still end up like this? It burned even cleaner than the kitchen. I can only say… your Bai Yan is not cut out for cooking.”

“Is that so? Then what about the things I left in my room?”

“They were all burned up too. It happened so suddenly, most of it couldn’t be saved.”

Auntie Hu shook her head, a hint of regret on her charming face.

Xiao Yu’s body stiffened, and he screamed frantically in his heart:

‘No!’

‘Doesn’t that mean my nest egg for my wife is gone?’

That was the money he had saved for several years to get a wife. He had been afraid of danger while he was away, after all, he was playing the role of the protagonist, and the danger level was no less than catching bullets with his bare hands.

So, he had specially hidden it in his house on Great Bamboo Sword Peak, just in case, tucked inside an inconspicuous book on a bookshelf.

And now it’s gone?

‘No, wait, most of it? That means some was saved!’

As if seeing through Xiao Yu’s thoughts, Bai Yan, from somewhere, brought out a tightly sealed and securely packed box and walked over.

Xiao Yu’s body stiffened again. Was this… his collection?

During puberty, which boy doesn’t have something he wants to hide well, so that his mother, who comes to clean the room, won’t find it?

Especially in this cultivation world where there were no convenient things like mobile phones.

Xiao Yu more or less had some things he had hidden away.

He just never expected it to be brought out by the two of them now.

The two people present did not notice Xiao Yu’s strangeness. Auntie Hu even said from the side:

“Fortunately, by some luck, before we left, Xiao Yan and I found this box hidden very deep under the bed. It took us a lot of effort to rescue it from the house that was about to burn down.

It’s just a pity about the books on your bookshelf. There was no time to move them. I thought they could probably be bought on the market and weren’t that important, so we rescued this first.

Hidden so deep and wrapped so tightly, it must be something valuable, right? I’m quite curious, what valuable item could you have hidden so securely? Could it be a family heirloom…”

As she spoke, Auntie Hu extended her slender, jade-like fingers, preparing to lift the lid of the box to find out.

Bai Yan also widened her eyes and stared intently, seeming very curious as well.

“Wait a minute!”

Just as the lid was being lifted a crack, and the beautiful cover was about to be exposed to Bai Yan.

Xiao Yu shouted loudly. Auntie Hu was startled by the shout and froze for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, he acted decisively, pouncing forward with the fastest speed of his life, pressing down the lid, and then snatching the box.

With a turn of his body, he threw it towards the still-burning house behind him.

The box flew in a beautiful parabola and landed in the sea of fire next to them.

The flames, which had been somewhat weak and even on the verge of extinguishing, after receiving the box funded by Xiao Yu, instantly burst forth with a powerful momentum, swallowing the thrown box in one gulp and burning fiercely, the fire growing to an unprecedented scale.

“Xiao Yu, what are you doing?” Auntie Hu’s confused voice sounded.

Bai Yan’s gaze also followed Auntie Hu’s to look at Xiao Yu.

“Haha… just some trivial things, nothing worth looking at. Rather than letting it remain, it’s better to let it go with the rest. It can be considered severing ties with the past.”

The dazzling firelight reflected on his face, glinting with a hint of tears. Xiao Yu stood with his back to the two of them, clutching his chest as he explained. He didn’t dare to turn around, afraid they would see the pained tears on his face.

This time, everything was truly gone, nothing left.

His Meiyue Fairy photo album, the Spring and Autumn illustrations… they were all classics! Do you know how hard it is to find one in the morally strict cultivation world?

What’s more, among them was a custom-made booklet that Xiao Yu had specially commissioned from a painter-cultivator.

The art style was absolutely superb. And because of this world, the images in the booklet would even move and project in front of you. Paired with the painter-cultivator’s unique divine ability, it created an immersive experience that was impossible to escape.

And now it’s gone!

Back then, when Liu Shicheng offered a high-grade spirit stone for it, I didn’t even give it to him! Truly, fate is cruel, to be defeated by a great fire.

But in order to maintain his lofty image as a master in front of Xiao Yan, he had to abandon it with a heavy heart.

But it was, after all, something he had repeatedly studied and observed at night.

Even Xiao Yu felt a pang of heartache and couldn’t control himself. He half-knelt on the ground, staring at the burning flames, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

‘Let me take one last look at you…’

?

Seeing her master like this, Bai Yan tilted her head in a cute manner and actually stepped forward to imitate Xiao Yu, patting his head.

“Xiao Yan?!” Xiao Yu raised his head. Suddenly, he noticed that Bai Yan’s hand patting him was covered in scratches, big and small, probably all from cutting vegetables.

“Hah! Men.” Auntie Hu, from somewhere, pulled out a tobacco pipe, put it in her mouth, and walked over. As someone who had been through it all, she could tell at a glance what Xiao Yu was heartbroken about, and she had a vague idea of what was in the box.

Hoo~

She slowly exhaled a puff of white smoke, looked at Xiao Yu, and her long, narrow eyes squinted. “How long do you plan to stay this time you’re back? If you ask me, watching Xiao Yan stand guard here on Great Bamboo Sword Peak all day, her eyes worn out from watching, she’s become like a left-behind child.

Since I’m the one taking care of her usually, why don’t you just move to my Spirit Fox Peak and join my sect instead.”

“Well…” Xiao Yu chuckled awkwardly. He knew Auntie Hu was just saying things in anger, so he said, “My bad, my bad. I’m not leaving this time I’m back. I’ll stay on Gathering Demon Island.”

“Really?”

“Really. After all… if I don’t come back soon, Xiao Yan will become a young lady!” Xiao Yu held Bai Yan’s scarred, jade-like hand and looked at the wounds on it, his heart aching. After all, she was a girl he had picked up himself.

“Is that so!” Auntie Hu held the black tobacco pipe with her jade-like hand and smiled slightly. “In that case, it’s about time to arrange your wedding. I watched Xiao Yan grow up, after all. It wouldn’t be right if the wedding wasn’t grand.”

“Huh? Auntie Hu, what nonsense are you talking about? Xiao Yan and I are master and disciple. Master and disciple, you know?”

Hearing this, Auntie Hu gave Xiao Yu a disdainful look. “Come on, I know you. Didn’t you take Bai Yan as your disciple with the intention of raising a child bride? Besides, in the cultivation world nowadays, this kind of forbidden love between master and disciple is no longer strange. Why are you acting all old-fashioned and surprised here?”

“This is different, my feelings for Xiao Yan are…”

“Alright, I don’t have time to listen to you ramble on. In short, I’ve almost finished Xiao Yan’s bridal training. You don’t have to worry.

Although there might be some problems with her cooking, it’s fine. Our Xiao Yan is as beautiful as a flower. I believe you won’t reject her because of that. A young lady can’t be the one to bring up this kind of thing. It’s decided, remember to send me a wedding invitation. The little money you owe me can be considered Xiao Yan’s dowry.”

After speaking, Auntie Hu didn’t care about Xiao Yu’s reaction and walked away leisurely, holding her perennially clear tobacco pipe.

Looking at the enchanting figure disappearing in the distance, Xiao Yu’s expression was complicated. He finally understood why Bai Yan had said such astonishing things when they first met. It turned out to be the teachings of this thousand-year-old fox spirit, Auntie Hu.

But from this, it was clear that Auntie Hu truly saw Bai Yan as a daughter.

However, his feelings for Bai Yan were really…

For a moment, in front of the burned-down house, only Xiao Yu and Bai Yan were left, staring at each other.

They hadn’t seen each other for years, and now that they were together, there was a bit of awkwardness.

Looking at the beautiful lady before him, Xiao Yu pondered for a moment and said, “Xiao Yan, don’t listen to Auntie Hu’s nonsense. The things she taught you are useless. Be good! In a little while, I’ll let you try the pastries I brought back from outside, Golden Thread Jade Dew Pastry. It’s delicious.”

Bai Yan obediently nodded.

Bai Yan was a good child and always listened to him. In this regard, Xiao Yu had no worries.

It was just…

He turned his head to look at his house, which had been burned to ashes. Where was he going to sleep tonight?