Chapter 120: Afterward

Zheng Fa looked at the old man and found him increasingly benevolent and approachable—

High cultivation, timid nature, few troubles.

He and I are naturally destined as master and disciple!

“Don’t look at me like that!” Perhaps his enthusiasm was too obvious—the Sect Master scowled: “I won’t take another disciple!”

“Like you, I’m also someone who dislikes going out!”

Zheng Fa swore solemnly.

“My eldest disciple said that too! I believed his lies back then.” The Sect Master sneered, his expression heavy with weariness: “He sat quietly in the sect for three hundred years, then the first time he stepped out, he ran into the Demon Cult…”

“Was he killed by the Demon Cult?”

“It would’ve been better if he’d been killed!”

“Huh?”

“He seduced the granddaughter of a Demon Cult elder and took her away to renounce evil and embrace the righteous path!”

“...Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Good? Pfft! He left alone, but came back with a whole horde trailing behind him—the entire Demon Cult army!” The Sect Master gritted his teeth: “If I hadn’t had a few tricks up my sleeve and obliterated that elder’s spirit and form, wouldn’t our Jiushan Sect have been wiped out?”

…Zheng Fa listened, and somehow felt the Demon Cult elder had been wronged.

Not only did his own cabbage get snatched by a righteous pig, but then he got killed just for watching.

Wait, who’s the Demon Cult anyway!

“Then there’s my second disciple—he told me he had no interest in women, didn’t even like interacting with people!”

“That sounds perfect for you, Sect Master…”

Someone this socially anxious rarely attracts danger.

“He doesn’t just dislike people—he goes to places where no one dares go!”

“Huh?”

“He loves hunting for ancient ruins, seeking hidden caves and secret chambers.” The Sect Master’s tone was almost tragic: “Either he gets trapped in ancient immortal caves full of traps, or he digs up some sealed demonic elder—every time, I have to go rescue him!”

“...”

Zheng Fa was speechless, finally understanding the Sect Master’s fear of disciples.

He even felt a flicker of sympathy for him.

Forget someone as averse to trouble as the Sect Master.

Even an ordinary person would be Touteng over these two prodigies.

“What about your other disciples, Sect Master?”

“Aren’t two enough?” The Sect Master gave Zheng Fa a strange look: “With these two, even if I was utterly wicked in my past life, I’ve paid my dues in this one! I will never take a third disciple!”

Seeing the Sect Master’s firm resolve, Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment, then nodded: “I understand your meaning, Sect Master.”

“You understand?” The Sect Master was startled by Zheng Fa’s calmness and asked: “Aren’t you… going to plead further?”

“Would begging you change your mind?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Then I won’t put you in an awkward position.”

Zheng Fa said bluntly.

“You’re a decent disciple indeed.” The Sect Master hesitated, then spoke dryly.

“I have one request.”

“But we truly aren’t suited!”

“I’m not asking you to take me as your disciple—I’ve written a few novels, and I’d like to exchange thoughts with you.”

“Oh? You enjoy this?” The Sect Master readily agreed: “That I can do—I’ve read nearly all the novels in the Xuanwei Realm; I can give you some guidance!”

…

As Zheng Fa stepped out of the thatched hut, Yuan Shijie’s gaze held a touch of concern.

Zheng Fa shook his head at her.

Yuan Shijie glanced at the thatched hut and pursed her lips, but said nothing—she’d expected as much.

Unlike when they’d arrived, she no longer felt rushed, and made no offer to give Zheng Fa a ride down.

The two walked side by side down the mountain.

“Zheng Shidi, shall I try to persuade the Sect Master again?”

“Yuan Shijie, you’ve already done your best,” Zheng Fa declined with a shake of his head. “More would only anger him.”

“It’s fine—he’s actually a good man. He just ignores what I say—he finds anger too much trouble.”

Zheng Fa nodded.

Don’t be fooled by the Sect Master’s claims of being averse to trouble—he truly cared deeply for his disciples.

Forget the eldest disciple who tamed the demon girl with love.

Even the second disciple, the adventurer, kept getting into peril—and the Sect Master always went to save him.

Often, people avoid responsibility not because they’re irresponsible, but because they take it so seriously they’re paralyzed by it.

Someone like the Sect Master makes an excellent master!

“Honestly, not just you,” Yuan Shijie sighed. “The moment I took human form, he kicked me off the mountain and told me to follow Zhang Shijie—he said he’d never care for me again. He just loves being alone, playing with his ‘hut-in-the-heavens’ nonsense.”

“I should thank you for your kind words.”

Zheng Fa suddenly stood straight and bowed deeply to Yuan Shijie.

“I just spoke up for you in front of Zhang Shijie—wasn’t it natural for me to return the favor?” Yuan Shijie waved it off. “Though I didn’t help much.”

Zheng Fa turned back, gazing at the thatched hut on the mountainside, then said to Yuan Shijie: “There’s one thing I need to ask of you.”

“What?”

“I made a pact with the Sect Master to show him a few novels. When the time comes, could you please deliver them to him?”

“That’s all? Of course!”

Perhaps feeling guilty for failing to help, Yuan Shijie agreed at once.

…

“Zheng Fa! The Sect Master wants you to come again!”

More than ten days later, Yuan Shijie burst into Zheng Fa’s study, delighted.

“Come again?”

“Yes!” Yuan Shijie grabbed Zheng Fa’s arm, ready to take him up the mountain: “I’ve been delivering your novels these past days—today the Sect Master suddenly told me to bring you back!”

“Wait!”

“What’s there to wait for?” Yuan Shijie urged. “Your novels must’ve impressed him—he’s changed his mind and wants to take you as a disciple!”

“Shijie, tell the Sect Master I’ve just thought of a new novel—I’m too busy to come up the mountain. Here’s another one—please give it to him as an apology!”

Zheng Fa struggled to free himself from Yuan Shijie’s grip.

“Too busy?” Yuan Shijie narrowed her eyes, studying him. “Why do I feel you’re afraid?”

“Afraid? I’m not afraid!” Zheng Fa immediately shook his head, then, as if remembering something, asked: “If I wanted to stay in Zhang Shijie’s courtyard for a couple days, would she agree?”

“...” Yuan Shijie stared at him from head to toe, puzzled, then flew up to the Ninth Peak with the new novel he’d handed her.

…

“Where’s Zheng Fa!”

Yuan Shijie hadn’t expected to find the Sect Master—who hadn’t left his mountain in a thousand years—waiting at the door of the thatched hut.

“He says he’s too busy.”

“Too busy?”

The Sect Master sneered, about to speak—but then noticed the book in Yuan Shijie’s hand, and his face flickered with hesitation.

“What’s that?”

“Zheng Shidi says it’s a new novel—he’s sending it to apologize!”

“Apologize?” The Sect Master spat: “Pah! Keep it away! His novels aren’t even fit for dogs!”

With a sweep of his sleeve, he kicked open the wooden door of his hut and stormed inside.

“...”

Yuan Shijie looked at the book in her hand, then at the tightly shut hut.

Now she finally understood why Zheng Fa refused to come.

But… why?

Curiosity got the better of her. She waved her hand, and the shrubs and grass on the mountainside grew rapidly, intertwining into a single-person armchair-shaped nest.

Yuan Shijie collapsed into it, opened the novel, and was instantly absorbed.

As a cultivator, she read quickly—in the time of one incense stick, her turning fingers met empty air: she’d reached the last page.

But…

“Where’s the rest?!”

A frantic voice came from the thatched hut.

“Sect Master! Didn’t you say you wouldn’t read it?”

Yuan Shijie blinked—then realized the old man had been squatting inside the hut all along, using his spiritual sense to read alongside her.

“I didn’t want to read it—but you were sitting right outside my door reading it! Could I possibly resist?”

The Sect Master yanked open the door, his expression gloomy.

“Senior Brother Zheng… every story you bring is like this?”

Senior Sister Yuan said, as if suddenly understanding.

The Sect Master nodded.

“No wonder he dared not come up!”

“I’ll go down!” the Sect Master gritted his teeth and suddenly said.

“Master, you’re actually leaving the mountain?” Senior Sister Yuan’s expression was startled.

“Lead the way!”

Senior Sister Yuan took the Sect Master straight to Zheng Fa’s courtyard.

But Zheng Fa’s home was already empty.

The Sect Master swept his spiritual sense across the place, sneered, grabbed Senior Sister Yuan, and vanished from Zheng Fa’s home—in the next instant, the two appeared in the main hall of Senior Sister Zhang’s residence.

Zheng Fa was slinging a pack over his shoulder, still exchanging pleasantries with Senior Sister Zhang, who was still confused about the situation—he hadn’t even settled in yet—when he suddenly saw the two appear before him.

“Master?” Senior Sister Zhang’s face was filled with shock: “You’ve come down the mountain?”

The Sect Master ignored her completely, only sneering at Zheng Fa: “Run? Where could you possibly run to?”

“...I just got tired of staying at home,” Zheng Fa said, his voice low.

“Tired of home? Then finish writing the damn stories!”

The Sect Master sneered:

“In the first one, you had the male lead take on a wicked disciple, who stole his secret manual and secretly colluded with his cultivation partner to slander him as a fame-seeking hypocrite. After endless hardship, the protagonist falls into a cave, learns a supreme art, acquires a divine weapon, and gains a peerless beauty as his companion—then returns to seek revenge...”

Senior Sister Zhang and the others listened intently, feeling the story sounded quite good.

“But you stopped writing right before the revenge battle?”

“...”

Senior Sister Zhang glanced at Zheng Fa and understood why he had fled.

“In the second one, the protagonist was even worse—he was the head of a major sect, a hero famed across the land! But he turned out to be a demon race descendant, betrayed and slandered by his own subordinates, then relentlessly framed by a shadowy mastermind and his cronies—after enduring countless trials, he was finally about to uncover the mastermind’s true identity—and you stopped writing again?”

“I don’t leave every story unfinished,” Zheng Fa muttered in his defense.

“The worst one was the one you actually finished! The uncle endured humiliation and bore all the blame for his nephew, hated by everyone his whole life... finally, just as people began to understand him, the protagonist died! Dead!”

Seeing the Sect Master’s furious face, Zheng Fa grew afraid and instinctively took two steps closer to Senior Sister Zhang and Senior Sister Yuan...

But the two senior sisters swiftly dodged away, their expressions full of disgust.