44

The dark-haired child in front of him buried his head in his lap, hiding his face and thus, his expression couldn't be seen clearly. Gu Yan could only stretch out his hand to touch the child's head and gently pat his trembling back.

He had, after all, promised not to do anything that would affect the sect. That day when he arrived at the main hall of the Zhong Xuan Sect, he directly shouldered the blame for not properly disciplining his own disciple and because of that, was willing to accept the punishment on his behalf.

From the Zhong Xuan Sect's point of view, killing such a useless disciple wouldn't affect the Guan Lan sect in the slightest. In the end, it was simply a life for a life.

However, after the exchange, they would instead lose a talented disciple.

It was impossible not to demand compensation from the Guan Lan Sect especially since it concerned the sect head's beloved daughter. Zhong Xuan sect would definitely not be able to swallow this injustice.

Now the person's master said that he was willing to take his disciple's place and be punished for his crimes, hoping that they would give Jiang Tan a chance…

If the person who came didn't have any status, wanting them to make such a compromise was simply a fantasy. However, the person replacing him was one of the Guan Lan Sect's peak masters and also a once-in-a-century rare talent, there was room for negotiations.

As mentioned before, killing a disciple with only mediocre talent had no effect on the Guan Lan Sect. However, if this was replaced by crippling a talented person, it was a completely different story.

It was not easy for the Zhong Xuan sect to rise up to become one of the more prominent martial sects in the cultivation world. Apart from the Yun Yu sect, there was no other sect that could compete with them.

They had been suppressed by the Guan Lan Sect for over hundreds of years in the past, it was impossible to not have any lingering resentment towards them. Since it has come to this, they would naturally not be able to sit back and watch as the Guan Lan Sect rises to glory once more. Now that the opportunity was knocking on the door, they would not let it go.

Letting the other person cripple his own cultivation was better than them personally killing a disciple. A person who destroyed his own cultivation would never be able to cultivate again and would thus, no longer hold any threat towards their sect. Moreover, they would also not have to bear the notoriety of killing another person.

There was only one way to destroy one's cultivation. Generally, the elders of the Sect would only punish disciples who have committed grave sins in this manner.

Gu Yan did it with his own hands. This method was very traumatic and destructive to his body and would require at least one and a half years before he could recover. He was sent back to his sect for recuperation by Shen Wang who had rushed over and had to lie in bed to be taken care of for two whole days. He was finally able to move by himself on the fourth day, only his legs were still suffering from the after-effects and unable to move.

The child in front of him had thrown himself all over his lap with his face buried in it while silently sobbing, looking extremely pitiful. Gu Yan softened his voice to coax the child.

Before coming to this world, he had been an ordinary person. Gu Yan didn't think that his current situation was unacceptable. He didn't mind this and moreover, it was the only way that he could save his disciple without affecting the Sect.

When his voice fell, Gu Yan saw the dark-haired child raise his head, his eyes were still red, accompanied by streaks of tears running down his face. In a pitiful voice, he called 'Master' while staring down at his legs.

Something dark and dense was enveloping his heart, filling it with all kinds of negative emotions like anger and resentment. He remembered the faces of those people. Each and every one of them, he remembered them very clearly.

In the future, when he grows up, just until he reaches adulthood is enough, he will not let these people off. He wants to make these people pay back a hundred, no… a thousand times for what they have done.

"Be good." Knowing that the child in front of him was crying because of himself, Gu Yan extended his hand to wipe away any trace of tears from the other person's eyes. "Your Master's legs are only temporarily disabled. After a few months, it'll be alright again."

In the original story, the child in front of him grew cold and numb because of his original body. When he was bullied by those disciples in the sect and shut in the dark room, he didn't cry once. However, his eyes were actually red from crying in front of him now...

Jiang Tan clenched his fist tightly. Originally, his Master should have been a proud person whose existence was like a god. Whenever he remembers this, the dark fog that enveloped his heart became even denser.

A Taotie beast was a fierce, brutal and violent existence. It was only because he was properly cared for and nurtured by the youth in front of him, had it become so gentle and obedient.

Now someone had dug up the fierce nature of the young cub buried in its heart, the consequences in the future were unimaginable. The only thing for sure was death would surely be the better option.

"Qiuqiu, be good." He picked up the Taotie cub who had reverted back to its original form in his arms. Gu Yan heard the low cry of the cub and gently stroked the fur along its back.

The pair of wide-eyed, pale vertical pupils staring at him was wet with tears. Leaning forward, he kissed the side of the cub's eyes and then its forehead. This time, he was putting all his effort into appeasing this cub.

No matter how big the sect was, it was not big enough to prevent the rumors from spreading. The incident with the Zhong Xuan sect was very quickly spread between disciples and soon, the entire sect knew about it.

"How does junior brother feel today?" A middle-aged cultivator recently visited the Heavenly Peak often and always brought the best quality nourishment pills.

It had already been several months since that incident took place.

"Apart from not being able to stand for a prolonged period of time, everything else is fine. I'm grateful for senior brother's concern." The look of concern on the face of the person was genuine and Gu Yan's face naturally softened when he answered. Although his original character was cold and indifferent, it wouldn't hurt to differ slightly.

While the age gap between the both of them was not small, the two men were originally disciples of the same sect. In terms of relationship, their sects were the closest to each other.

At this time, a dark-haired child came out from the inner room and greeted 'Peak master' before he walked towards the youth and carefully handed over a bowl of medicine to him.

Song Cen watched this scene in front of him. In fact, every time he came to visit, he would see this. This child was the one whom he had thrown to Gu Yan in the past to become his disciple. When he recalls this, he will inevitably feel guilty towards this junior brother of his.

Seeing that this child at least respected his teacher and his junior brother also extremely doted on this disciple to the extent of paying the price for his wrong doings… he should at least grant his wish and provide Jiang Tan with a suitable environment for growing up. He only hopes that the child will not let down his junior brother and take his kindness for granted.

"The disciples in the sect will not say or do anything unnecessary, this, your senior brother can assure you."

The bitter taste that spread in his mouth made Gu Yan unconsciously raise his eyebrows. After drinking the bowl of medicine, he nodded to Song Cen, "Thank you, senior brother."

"Your senior brother will respect whatever you choose to do." After saying this, Song Cen glanced at the child who was currently feeding a piece of candied fruit to the youth once more before leaving the Heavenly peak.

After he left, Gu Yan drew his disciple closer and touched his head, "Later on, your master will teach you how to refine a certain spiritual tool that can be used to conceal your cultivation level. Otherwise, your rapid progress might draw too much attention."

Hearing this, Jiang Tan made a sound of acknowledgment. Recently, apart from taking care of the youth, he practically spent all his time cultivating. But it was not enough… It was still not enough. He had to become even stronger, strong enough to easily pinch those people to death.

He wanted to be able to grasp the lives of those people in his palms, if he wanted them to live, they would live. If he wants them to die, they must die. Only then, will it be enough.

Gu Yan was unaware that the heart of the child in front of him had already blackened to such an extent because this child was completely obedient when it came to him. As long as Gu Yan wanted him to do something, he would comply immediately without another word.

In the short span of a few months, the recovery of his body was limited. Standing too long would cause Gu Yan to feel his legs going weak and be unable to support himself. Sitting back in the wheelchair, Gu Yan took out a spatial bag and gave it to Jiang Tan.

"The materials needed for refining are inside this bag." He was unable to refine it without his cultivation but Gu Yan believes in his own disciple's abilities. He could guide him verbally from the side.

Jiang Tan nodded his head quickly. If his master wanted him to learn something, he would learn it. Realistically speaking, if there was anybody in this world who could make this young cub become obedient, there was only one person- and that was the youth in front of his eyes.

With this spiritual tool, he was able to cover up his cultivation level. Jiang Tan's stunning cultivation speed was no longer detected by anyone. However, the cultivation level he used to fool others was already shocking enough. A disciple with a pseudo-spiritual root had a cultivation speed almost equal to the chief disciples with single or double spiritual roots, how could it not be astonishing?

With the sect's orders, some things quickly settled down and were no longer spoken of. When nobody talks about it, it will quickly be forgotten.

In a blink of an eye, six years had flown by. The young disciple who seemed to be merely in the late stage of the spiritual silence realm in front of others had in fact already reached the Nascent soul realm. This sort of cultivation speed was something that even Gu Yan's original body was never able to achieve.

Jiang Tan can feel that he was about to reach adulthood. This was similar to the bottleneck that cultivators would encounter before they make a breakthrough except his bottleneck was time.

A Taotie beast in its period of youth and one in its adulthood were two completely different entities. He was now only in the Nascent soul realm but once he reached adulthood, the limit of cultivators cannot be used to measure his prowess.

Things that are suppressed will easily be forgotten, but for Jiang Tan, he remembers it every single day. This debt had to be paid in full. Every time he remembers that incident, his eyes would become even colder and darker, filled with deep malice.

Soon he would be able to…

"Meow."

His back was suddenly stroked. The beast who was no longer a small kitten, but a big cat, suddenly mewed towards the person who had touched him. The shiny silver coat of the beast looked extremely beautiful.

In reality, his actual size was much larger than this. However, if he took on that form, he wouldn't be able to lie on the youth's legs just like now. He would directly overwhelm the youth with his size.

"Its Hai-shi[1] already." Gu Yan reminded the big cat that was on his lap.

[1] Hai-shi is between 9-11pm(2100-2300)

Resting through the night, Gu Yan knows how much hard work his disciple put into his daily cultivation… Even to the point of tormenting himself. Gu Yan wanted him to rest a little bit more.

If the other person wanted to squeeze into bed with him in his current form, Gu Yan wouldn't mind. With this thought in mind, he picked up the big cat from his lap and carried him to the bed as he lay down.

He had drunk a bowl of medicinal soup. This sort of medicine will induce drowsiness upon consuming it. Now, the big cat lying on his bed was very quiet. After Gu Yan laid down, the drowsiness of the medicine quickly lulled him to sleep.

The quilt was not properly pulled… Carefully going around the area where the youth was lying, the silver tiger cat leaped from the bed and landed onto the ground as it restored its adult human form.

He no longer had the appearance of a child as in the past. At this time, a young man was standing next to the bed, his handsome features had developed properly over time. With lowered eyebrows, the face of the man was now more suitable to be described as breathtaking.

Pulling the quilt up, he then carefully tucked the youth in. Afterward, Jiang Tan quietly gazed at the youth who had fallen asleep on the bed. After destroying his cultivation, he no longer had any spiritual energy, his alertness was also significantly reduced, otherwise, his movements would have already woken the other person.

Even while asleep, the youth's expression still remained unchanged. Jiang Tan stared intently with unwavering eyes, his gaze was as if he was looking at his most precious treasure.

Unable to restrain his impulse, he reached out a hand to touch the youth's eyebrows and knowing that he wouldn't wake up, Jiang Tan silently let go of this hesitation.

His Master was extremely beautiful. Over the years, this thought had sprouted in his heart more than once.

Losing himself in thought, his fingertips suddenly touched something soft and cool. Realizing what it was, his fingers lightly trembled and then as if he had been burnt, he quickly retracted his hand.

In the darkness, a pair of eyes continued to stare fixedly on the unknowing youth. The more he watched, the more a certain hidden and unspeakable thought emerged in his heart, like a spell.

"Master…" Whispering softly, the handsome youth leaned forward. The pair of pupils that were originally human narrowed into slits. Slowly, he gently pressed his thin lips against the youth's lips.

End of Chapter 44(technically)

Author's notes: (Kinda long but painful to translate so read it anyway yeah)<3

The author has something to say:

This is probably the 99th most long-winded author's notes. It is mainly to answer the questions in the comments _(:з」∠)_

Why iss the plot development like this and not just directly massacring everyone…

Current world cultivator's rank are as follows: Foundation Establishment → Fusion Stage → Hear stabilizing stage → spiritual silence stage→ Nascent soul stage→core formation stage → demigod stage → Immortalization → Ascension

First of all, it was mentioned before that for many years, no one has been able to ascend to the immortal stage. There are few cultivators in the immortalization stage, only large prominent sects will have one or two of such elders. Those in the demigod stage are not too little. In terms of ability, it is not to the extent that one person can single-handedly annihilate an entire sect.

Gu Yan is very talented. When he was very young, he already achieved this cultivation level(demigod)

The point is [they had to follow reasoning] and the Zhong Xuan Sect's act of putting the blame on Jiang Tan is a given and Gu Yan's action will not just concern himself but will inevitably affect the entire sect. He might start a war between the two sects. Gu Yan cannot simply disregard the people in his sect either.

If a war broke out and Guan Lan Sect disregarded basic reasoning, they will completely throw away whatever reputation they had.

In short, this novel is really not about seeking abuse, the point was that what must be experienced will be experienced. It is also a turning point for the follow-up story_(:з」∠)_

Many things have a cause and effect(reason), such as…not sure if anybody has any questions after reading this story regarding one thing and that is how in the original story, how did Jiang Tan survive without this Master to take this punishment on his behalf.

The conditions for entering the hidden realm was 'disciples whose cultivation level was above xx' and in the original story, there was no Gu Yan who fed the cub with those spiritual stones like he didn't want money. Hence, this condition was not met.

It's been a long note, thanks for reading.