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Chapter 1690: Apprenticed Disciple

“Sit. Since fate intended us to meet, let’s get to know each other. Can you tell me about yourself?”

Lin Xun started the conversation with a smile. His warm and calm voice set the youth’s mind at ease. Feeling like he was bathed in a spring breeze, the latter took a seat as he was told.

After a brief thought, he recounted his past in a clear and organized speech.

His name was Su Bai, and he was a thirteen-year-old from a remote village in the West Infinity World. For generations, his family’s livelihood had always depended on growing crops.

Some time ago, the village had been attacked by a beast tide, during which Su Bai’s parents had lost their lives to the beasts…

Listening to his story, a hint of emotion flooded Lin Xun’s eyes.

Su Bai.

His name was another thing that reminded him of Yun Qingbai.[1]

The straw-shod youth named Su Bai was incomparably anxious at the moment as he vaguely realized something and couldn’t contain the anticipation from showing in his eyes.

Lin Xun gazed at him and said, “There was once a person whose situation was very similar to yours, except that he had been forced to set foot on the path of cultivation. As a result, his life was nothing but a tragedy.”

Stunned, Su Bai couldn’t help but say, “Senior, I’m not like him.”

Lin Xun asked, “Why not?”

Su Bai took a deep breath and said seriously, “I…would only rejoice if I could cultivate under your guidance, and no one would be able to force me to do anything.”

Lin Xun smiled. This was a very smart boy.

“Why do you want to cultivate?” Lin Xun asked another question. “You have three attempts to give me a satisfactory answer, and then I will give you a chance to be my disciple.”

Su Bai became spirited and trembled in excitement.

However, he quickly took several deep breaths to calm himself down and was not in a rush to answer.

He knew that this was a test from Senior Lin Xun!

If he answered well, then he would be a carp leaping through the dragon gate and rising straight up into the sky.

If his attempts failed, then he…would remain the same useless boy who could only watch his parents fall to the ferocious beasts right in front of his eyes, unable to do anything about it despite the rage swallowing him up!

“Why do I want to cultivate?” Su Bai began to ponder, his eyes drifting off as he recalled many things.

He thought back to his parents who had worked hard all their life but were still plagued by poverty and diseases.

He thought back to the storyteller’s tales about those cultivators who called storms and wind, moved mountains and filled oceans as if they were omnipotent.

He also thought back to that utterly painful beast tide, as well as the scene back at the shore of Star Chess Sea where he had been ridiculed by Xue Yong:

“If you have no talent, it’s useless no matter how hard you keep working. This world never lacks ambitious good-for-nothings who think diligence will be rewarded and can make up for clumsiness, but in the end, they still fall far behind the other cultivators and fade into the masses. Such is the cruel reality of the Great Dao race. It’s definitely delusional for idiots to turn around their fate.”

Suddenly, a strong impulse surged into the youth’s heart, urging him to express the reason why he wanted to cultivate.

But when he was met with Lin Xun’s calm, deep eyes, he snapped out of his senses and suppressed that strong impulse.

His past had hatred, anger, sorrow, and grief, but it had already happened and could not be changed.

That being the case, one must not be confined by their past if they were to embark on the path of cultivation!

As Su Bai came to his realization, he broke out in a cold sweat. If he had just now impulsively blurted out that answer, then Senior Lin Xun would definitely be very disappointed in him.

The straw-shod youth once again fell into contemplation.

The harder he tried to ponder the answer, the more disorganized his thoughts became. Eventually, his consciousness drifted into a trance that made him unaware of the passage of time.

Lin Xun didn’t disturb him and quietly got up to leave.

……

“Xiaochong, why did you suddenly have the thought to come here and see me?”

Lin Xun found Xia Xiaochong next to a cliff. It was as though this pure and innocent young girl did not grow with time as she still maintained the same appearance as back then.

But compared to that year, she seemed less naïve and a little more beautiful.

“Ah? I just thought that I haven’t seen you in a long time, so I came.” Xia Xiaochong looked confused as she found his question to be quite strange.

Lin Xun was dumbstruck and then couldn’t help but laugh.

Indeed, if you wanted to visit someone, then you could do so straight away. Why would you need a special purpose to make a long trip, right?

This was Xia Xiaochong who had a free mind and always followed her heart’s desires. This coupled with the fact that her behaviors conformed to her nature actually brought her closer to the great dao than anyone else.

“If I didn’t come to visit you, would you go to see me instead, Big Brother Lin Xun?” asked Xia Xiaochong.

Lin Xun was momentarily speechless. He could have said he would, but when facing this sincere young girl, he was reluctant to be perfunctory.

After thinking about it, he sighed softly, “I would, but it wouldn't be now, and I wouldn’t be sure when I could either. It’s probably…”

Xia Xiaochong had already happily cut him off, “As long as you would!”

This made Lin Xun feel ashamed.

He even envied this pure and pretty young girl who was like a sunflower that gave people nothing but a warm and merry feeling.

He envied her because he couldn’t do it.

He still had a lot of things to finish. His cultivating heart, although solid, was no longer simple and pure as it had once been after all those trials and tribulations.

Lin Xun said warmly, “Since you’re here, have all the fun you can and play to your heart’s content. I’ll personally send you back when you’re homesick.”

Xia Xiaochong blinked, her clear eyes full of smiles. “You’re still as nice to me as ever, Big Brother Lin Xun. As long as you don’t mind, I’ll always be nice to you as well.”

Lin Xun burst out laughing.

Chatting with Xia Xiaochong made him feel incredibly relaxed and happy.

……

The straw-shod youth had been pondering over Lin Xun’s question for three full days.

His brows were furrowed. His face was pale. He looked like he was tired physically and mentally.

A’lu, who had been secretly paying attention to Su Bai, couldn’t help but say, “Big Brother, your question is too difficult. This little guy hasn’t even begun his cultivation yet, so how could he possibly say anything along the lines of ‘knock at the heart and ask for the truth’?”

Lin Xun’s eyes were mysterious as he replied, “Children growing up in poverty, once encountering even just a feeble glimpse of life-changing hope, will use all their strength to clutch it in their hands. Some may even be so stubborn that they would pay for it with their lives.

“Children of wealthy families, on the contrary, can never do that. They don’t have to worry about their future cultivation at all because someone else has already arranged everything for them.

“This is the disparity of origin. Out of the millions of poor people in this world, how many are able to stand out in the end?

“Even if they rise from the masses, their career and heritage are still far inferior to those from prestigious families in the end.”

After a pause, Lin Xun continued, “If this boy wasn’t from a poor background, why would he have to fight so hard for a chance to cultivate? Similarly, since he wants to turn his fate around, he will have to put in far greater efforts than others from the very first step of seeking the dao. If he doesn’t, then he will eventually fade and become a part of the ordinary.”

A’lu scratched his head. “Big Brother, with your current cultivation, won’t you just have to casually teach this kid for him to soar in the future?”

Lin Xun laughed, “If that’s the case, then I’d rather not accept a disciple. Accepting a disciple means I have to be responsible for his future path. I don’t want my disciple to live off my reputation.”

A’lu had a strange look on his face. “But it’s too difficult to become your disciple without being influenced by your prestige. If this kid doesn’t put in a thousand times more effort, then he’d have to live under your shadow for the rest of his life.”

Lin Xun agreed, “That’s why I asked him that question. Only after understanding the core of it will his future path be unaffected by me.”

A’lu was surprised. “It seems that you’ve already made up your mind to take him in as your disciple?”

“Mhm,” said Lin Xun. “At first, I wanted to see if he would become the second Yun Qingbai, but now, I just want him to be himself, a unique Su Bai.”

Then, Lin Xun smiled. “Of course, now that he has passed my test.”

A’lu was stunned. “He’s passed?”

……

“Senior, are you saying that I’m…qualified?”

Su Bai was woken up by Lin Xun, but the point was that he hadn’t come up with a satisfactory answer yet.

But Lin Xun told him that he had passed!

This made him look perplexed.

Lin Xun explained with a smile, “I wouldn’t be satisfied with any answer you could have given me as it would only be your current idea. When you embark on the path of the dao and become more powerful with time, that idea will also change.”

He paused a little before continuing, “I only hope that in the future, when you encounter confusion, perplexity, or even a calamity, you would ask why you started cultivating in the first place and already have the answer in your heart.”

Something seemed to explode in Su Bai’s mind as he felt like understood it all of a sudden, but upon careful consideration, he still didn’t have the answer at all.

Lin Xun patted his thin shoulder and said in a warm voice, “This question is a reason for you to seek the path of the dao. When you one day completely figure it out, you will understand.”

Su Bai was in a daze, but he still realized that he had received Lin Xun’s approval, and that the problem he had no answers to now could eventually be figured out in the future!

“You have passed my test, but whether or not I will accept you as a disciple is still up to you,” said Lin Xun solemnly and calmly.

Su Bai was suddenly blessed with a quick wit as he knelt down, kowtowed, and said reverently and firmly, “I wish to cultivate under your guidance, Senior.”

Lin Xun said, “For the next period of time, I will teach you the most basic cultivation know-how and grant you cultivation techniques.

“But until you have my approval, you may not present yourself as my disciple, which means that your actions will have nothing to do with me.

“If I find out that you act under my banner during this, I will definitely strip you of your entire cultivation in a way that you’ll never be able to rise again, do you understand?”

These words were like the sound of the dao knocking at Su Bai’s heart, grand and majestic.

After a long silence, the youth firmly said, “This junior understands!”

On this day, supreme Big Saint Lin Xun accepted Su Bai, a young man in straw shoes who came from a poor background, as his ‘apprenticed disciple’!

Before Su Bai was formally recognized by Lin Xun, this matter was destined to be kept a secret from the whole world except for a few people.

1. Both have the character 白 (Bai) in their names. ☜