Gu Yan wasn’t intending to accept Shen Yan as a disciple. This entrance test was only to confirm his objective, other matters such as establishing a relationship could be done later.
He wanted to get the Vatican Lotus that was inside of the signet ring from Shen Yan, preferably through a mutually beneficial trade. Anyway, this thing didn’t have the slightest benefit to Shen Yan, keeping it by his side would only damage his physique. If he wanted to do a trade with Shen Yan, it was not impossible.
The small ball in his arms was unhappy, Gu Yan thought about it for a moment before grasping the reason. With a subtle feeling, he left the tournament field.
Because of his expressionless face, the inner sect deacon who watched the youth leave couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Just now, the youth’s eyes had lingered on Shen Yan for a while but then simply walked off the next moment. In the end, did he fancy this disciple or not?
Somehow, this matter was spread to the head of the peak and the result was, the very next day, Gu Yan heard that the head had sent him a record.
This was the record used to record the names of the newly recruited disciples. Now that they had sent it to him and according to the messenger, the head was actually letting him have the first choice on whichever disciple he wanted.
This was probably to compensate him for pushing Jiang Tan onto him that time. Gu Yan had just put the record onto the table when the originally silent small ball in his arms moved. Jumping out of his arms, and onto the table, the small ball pressed its body against the book, looking up and staring at him silently.
Yesterday he had scratched the jaw of the small ball, coaxing “Qiuqiu, be good” until it was pacified.
This degree of jealousy… Compared to the last world, it was really not inferior.
While the cub was still very small, in this one month, it had grown a little fatter. Lying on the book, it just covered the entire surface nicely.
The low and unhappy mew was familiar, familiar enough to let Gu Yan be unable to resist teasing it. Reaching his hand towards the edge of the book under the small ball, he then lifted a finger and poked at his small paws.
The Taotie cub endured the continuous poking, mewing lowly as he refused to even move an inch. Just like how he had teased the Heidis with a cat stick in the last world.
Although Gu Yan now knew that they were the same person, he was momentarily unable to resist teasing the cat.
In the previous world, the consequence of teasing the cat was the complete loss of his morals. He was completely ‘eaten’ by the Heidis and now in this world, Gu Yan had obviously not learnt his lesson.
The more he poked, the more addicted he became. Especially when this small ball widened his eyes to look at him, it looked extremely easy to bully. Gu Yan simply couldn’t help himself.
And thus, his consequences came.
“Master. “
He had just been poking the soft belly of the Taotie cub, and in the next second, there was a flash. Gu Yan found his sleeve being clutched by a child. The black-haired child clutched his sleeve, not daring to use too much force. With lowered brows, a pair of ink-black pupils were fixed on the ground.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look at the youth. On the contrary, the desire to do so was very strong. He had just been teased too much. Right now, if he were to look at him, there will be a kind of desire to bully this person and push him down.
He was still young and of course, didn’t understand what kind of desire it was.
Respecting one’s mentor was the first rule of the sect. In the original plot before his complete blackening, while Jiang Tan didn’t have any good feelings towards this master of his, he still held basic respect. There was no need to mention what happened after his blackening.
It was different now. the youth in front of him held an indescribably strong attraction to him. Jiang Tan had even forgotten everything the youth had done before.
He only remembered that in this one month, the youth had been very indulgent towards him, to the point of spoiling him… It was almost as if the youth wouldn’t refuse him no matter what.
How could he have this sort of twisted and ungrateful thoughts? Jiang Tan creased his brows as he reflected on himself. He didn’t think further on what to do to this person after pushing him down.
Although a few years later when he recalled the matters today, Jiang Tan will feel some regret for not thinking about it further.
If he had thought about it, he would have been able to understand his own mind earlier and realised what sort of thoughts he held towards his master.
He seemed to have gone overboard with his teasing again…
Wait, what did it mean by ‘again’? Putting on an expressionless face towards the child, Gu Yan touched his head.
“You’re finally willing to change back to your original form.” Withdrawing his hand, Gu Yan deliberately lowered his voice.
It was probably due to his playfulness and because this Taotie cub was still in its infancy period, Gu Yan had not tasted any real consequences and continued to tease it.
If he was still in the previous world, Gu Yan would have already been pushed onto the bed. Apart from his panting and gasping, he would be unable to form a single coherent sentence.
Hearing this voice, though it seemed to be cold, when Jiang Tan looked up at the youth, he saw that the expression on his face was gentle.
The arch of the youth’s brows was very slight such that others would not be able to notice even if they looked, but in contrast with the youth in his memories, this trace was particularly obvious to him.
Not knowing what kind of answer would let the youth be satisfied, Jiang Tan continued to clutch tightly onto his sleeve. Without letting go, he made a small sound of agreement.
The icy attitude of the youth in front of him had already blurred away and faded out from his mind. Moving closer to the youth, he directly threw his hands around his master.
Right now, he had to raise his hands in order to even reach the youth’s waist. Even if he tiptoed and leaned his head against the youth, he would at most be able to reach his stomach.
“Master…” the Taotie cub that was not pushed aside decided to push his luck and tightened his hold on the youth.
Saying these words in his human form was in fact not any different from the small ball’s low mew. Many times, it was just to get his attention without another purpose.
It was time to stop. If he continued teasing the cub, it wouldn’t be good if it became unhappy and sulked later on…
This Taotie cub was very easy to coax and although Gu Yan was tempted to, he couldn’t bring himself to continue bullying the little cub.
“Regarding the theft that occurred in the sect, your Master <sup>1</sup> Not in a kinky way, but Shi Fu as in teacher (someone you recognise as a mentor) has already dispatched people to find out the truth of this matter.”The hug was still a little tight, but Gu Yan still did not push him away in the end, only raising a hand to touch his head. “That day, your master made a mistake. Tomorrow in the Silent Hall, I will return your innocence.”
“Understood,” Jiang Tan answered, then hesitated as he raised his head and asked in a low voice, “Does master not mind that disciple is a…”
Pausing for a while, the last two words were unable to come out. Due to his blood inheritance, Jiang Tan already knew what he was and he also knew that in the eyes of most people, Demon Beasts were an existence that needed to be eradicated.
However, in his newly awakened form with neither memories nor power… In his weakest period, this youth had taken care of him.
“As long as you do not commit any atrocious deeds, your Master will not mind.” He already knew what the other person wanted to ask. Gu Yan directly answered him with a serious attitude.
Good and evil cannot be determined by race.
Gu Yan knows what the Taotie cub will do in the original plot. Just like how in the last world, the Heidis had not destroyed the Earth in the end, this current world’s rotten ending can also be changed as long as he raised the cub properly.
“Disciple will not do anything that will make Master unhappy.” If his master did not like it, he would not do it. In front of this youth, the little cub’s thoughts were usually very simple.
This answer made Gu Yan freeze for a while because he remembered that in the last world, the other Heidis had also said something similar to this.
He also said he will not do anything that will make him unhappy.
“Qiuqiu is really obedient.” Gu Yan couldn’t resist touching the child’s head again.
This gluttonous cub was very well-behaved, Gu Yan’s confidence in raising this cub into a person with great morals and proper three world views was increasing.
Jiang Tan’s lips thinned, the pair of pupils which originally seemed human suddenly contracted when he heard the youth say those three words. He had to be obedient, only then, would his master be happy… And tell him those words again.
Gu Yan had already picked up the record book on the table while the child clinging to him continued to stare at him. Gu Yan coughed before calmly saying, “Your master has not enough time and energy to teach another disciple.”
The meaning of these words were, he will not accept other disciples.
He had just said this when he saw the pair of ink-black eyes lit up. If he were still in his beast form, Gu Yan thinks that this cub would probably be purring loudly as it rubbed its fluffy body against him.
The next day in the Silent Hall, Jiang Tan was declared innocent.
Gu Yan personally went to oversee this scene with his cold and expressionless face. When the interrogator spoke, he would look over and the pressure from his gaze ensured that no one dared to rashly slander his disciple.
Coupled with the evidence found by the inner sect deacon earlier on, those disciples that had colluded to frame their fellow disciple did not take long to own up.
The Silent Hall was a place to punish disciples who committed major crimes. When the youth ordered the disciples to be brought in for questioning, the inner sect deacon already had a slight understanding.
It seems that this peak master still cared about his only disciple even if he didn’t choose to show it. It would certainly not be possible to give these disciples a light sentence. He still wanted to be able to sit on this inner sect Deacon’s seat for many more years..
“My lord, what do you think…” He didn’t manage to finish his words before the inner sect Deacon saw the youth say coldly, “Misconduct, unbefitting of cultivators.”
Hearing this, the inner sect disciples who had just confessed morosely suddenly felt frightened and at the same time, restrained the resentment in their eyes towards the dark-haired child.
It must be because that person said something to the youth. Even if they were in the wrong, how could they be subjected to this degree of punishment?
The inner sect deacon, of course, understood the meaning behind Gu Yan’s words. Hence, after a few days, the sect spreaded word that a few inner sect disciples had been expelled.
This was very big news. In the sect, it has been a long time since anybody was expelled. Now, not only were there seven to eight disciples being expelled, they were all inner sect disciples.
As the number of people with a talent for cultivation diminished and the current world couldn’t be compared to the flourishing world hundreds of years ago, generally for disciples who have commited a crime, the sect would rarely use expulsion. Instead, they would use other punishments such as confinement and caning.
Expulsion from the sect was a very serious matter and of course, other disciples would take the initiative to understand the details of the matter and realize the origin of the whole incident.
From this day onwards, no disciples in the sect dared to rashly provoke the black-hair child who used to look like a pushover. Those who were unwilling and had malicious thoughts could only bury it in their hearts.
There was a portion of the disciples who still despised Jiang Tan. But now, no one would let their contempt for him be shown. Who could they blame for the other person’s good fortune of having a shifu who was a peak master?
“Your foundation is stronger now.”
Looking down at the small ball crawling up his leg, Gu Yan declared.
For higher level cultivators, they usually only needed a glance to tell the cultivation level of a cultivator whose level was lower than them. Before awakening the Taotie beast blood, Jiang Tan couldn’t even build his foundation and was deemed a trash, unsuitable for cultivation.
However, after the awakening of his bloodline, things had changed.
“Meow.” With a low mew, the small ball rubbed itself close to the youth’s bosom and swayed its tail gently as the youth stroked its spine.
He would raise his cultivation quickly to the extent that the others wouldn’t dare look down on him. He wouldn’t give them an opportunity to speak badly of his Master.
1
Not in a kinky way, but Shi Fu as in teacher (someone you recognise as a mentor)