Chapter 3

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Translator: pockiijr

Editor: Sal

Proofreader: Sdofu

Since Li Hong was used to living on her own, she was not particularly skilled at paying attention to details. By the time she finally realised there was something off about Chen Lin, approximately a week had passed.

Tian Shen exerted his throat and screamed in disbelief: “You have lost so much weight! You must have been treated harshly! My god, how come the great god has been reduced to this state?”

Li Hong wanted to retort that she had not chosen this identity herself, that she wanted to shed blood and tears in exasperation, but what could she do? Then she remembered her situation, and that she was supposed to watch over the crazy bastard of a god, so she could only swallow her complaints. Li Hong got so annoyed she just covered her ears, waiting for Tian Shen to stop his rant, and went to pick up the jade slips.

Li Hong certainly did not know how to teach people the ways of cultivating immortality, but the reason as to why the forbidden land was a forbidden area was not only because of the presence of the demonic tree that kills people using a whip of vines when angry, but also because this is the place where Shi Heng Yue, the founder of Hexu Valley, received his Tao in the past.

Heng Yue, through the help of this tree, cultivated immortality, made He Xu Valley, and allowed for He Xu Valley to be glorious for thousands of years, according to Tian Shen.

Li Hong guessed that Heng Yue’s actions were probably to protect this tree. People’s hearts are unpredictable. After his death, there was no guarantee that every generation of He Xu Valley would treat the tree with utmost respect. No matter how strong Li Hong is, she would never be able to move this tree. After all, it is easier for people to deal with trees than it is for trees to deal with people. He Xu left his inheritance to Li Hong, hoping that in the future, Li Hong would be able to rely on it to once again find a clear-minded disciple to protect her.

In the tree cave, while Li Heng was sorting out Heng Yue’s relics, she could not help but comment: “Was He Xu’s founder a pedophile? He paid more attention to the future of this tree than to his core disciples.”

Tian Shen thought it over and said doubtfully: “He shouldn’t be… but Heng Yue has never married anyone throughout his life.”

Li Hong picked up a book, a skeptical look in her eyes. “Your explanation seems rather unconvincing.”

Tian Shen was perplexed as he said: “… He’s dead anyways so it’s useless to keep questioning.”

“You’re right.” Li Hong nodded, and gathered Heng Yue’s written exercises and put them in order, using a cane to pull them together. Afterwards, she left to visit Chen Lin who was practicing his sword.

Ever since she had forced Chen Lin to reveal his identity, he had become all shaken up and acted unlike the usual male protagonist. He lightly said, “I do not dare talk about the master.” Chen Lin had lost everything. He no longer had a master, and wasn’t even allowed to participate in the mandatory morning class.

Chen Lin never told Li Hong about any of this, and came to the forbidden area every day to practice. He silently picked up his practice sword, which, at least still belonged to him, and practiced the movements he had learned in the past.

Li Hong never realised something was off until Tian Shen noticed the moves Chen Lin practiced every day were the same.

“This is the result of your actions, so you have to deal with the aftermath!” Tian Shen berated.

Li Hong felt that this time, Tian Shen did not say anything wrong, so she asked him about the matters regarding the real Heng Yue. She found out more about the things he left for this tree, and took whatever might be useful for Chen Lin.

She stepped on the grass with her bare feet, looking at the young man under the tree, who was practicing his moves seriously. Li Hong waited at that spot for a while. When it looked like Chen Lin had finished practicing all of his moves, she waved her hand at him, beckoning him over: “Chen Lin.”

Chen Lin turned to her, seeing his very young looking master waiting for him under the tree. She carried a bundle of randomly overlapping jade slaps.

He walked a few steps her way, bent down, and asked, “Does Master have any orders?”

Li Hong did not beat around the bush, and shoved one end of the cane onto his hands, saying: “Here, this is yours now.”

Chen could only cluelessly stare at his master.

“Cultivation.” Li Hong added.

Chen Lin shifted his gaze to the pile of jade slips. The jade seemed to have been a few years old. It stands to reason that the traces of the ancient jade of the year on the jade slips were no longer visible. This is why even though the sect understands that the jade slips store the spiritual knowledge, carry on spiritual inheritance, and are also convenient, the majority still chooses to read the books that carry history.

However, the jade slips that Li Hong had brought out were at least a thousand years old according to the year of the jade, yet the golden talisman it possessed still looked bright and brand new. This contradiction puzzled Chen Lin, but he soon realised that if the owner had strong heavenly powers, it wouldn’t be hard to maintain the original shine and quality of the talismans for thousands of years.

There were only a handful of people in Hexu Valley who could do this. Paired with the legends of this tree, it was hard to tell whose jade slips these were.

“These…” Chen Lin hesitated.

Li Hong misinterpreted his hesitance for guilt, and so she explained: “These slips were left here by Heng Yue. You won’t find anything better in the Valley…” After pausing, she continued, “If you like Xiaoyao Sword Sect’s method better, you can take these to them, I’m sure they’ll accept it.”

“Patriarch Heng Yue’s mind is a treasure of the Valley, how can I carelessly give it away!” Chen Lin was startled by Li Hong’s words and immediately knelt down on both knees. “Even if this disciple was undisciplined I would never do such a rebellious thing!”

Li Hong was startled by his sudden vehemence. She was a little embarrassed as she realised he had misunderstood. Li Hong kept silent for a while and decided to go along with it. She said timidly: “Can’t you spread around something like that nowadays?”

“Heng Yue and Feng Xishui of Xiaoyao Sword Sect often discussed things together in the past. Hence, I thought it would not be unusual to exchange such things.”

When Chen Lin heard her small voice, he raised his eyes and saw her somewhat flustered yet composed expression, he knew he had misunderstood something. Li Hong’s words did not have bad intent, and were said out of concern. Right, this tree has been sleeping in Hexu Valley for a long time after Grand Master Heng Yue’s death. She still had an unrestrained, free mind of three thousand years ago. How could Li Hong know what it was like in the sects today?

“No, I was the one who misunderstood, Master. Please forgive me.” Chen Lin hurriedly said.

Noticing Li Hong’s confused expression, he explained: “Unlike a thousand years ago, the friendship between Xiaoyao Sword Sect and Hexu Valley has soured. The cultivation method is very important to the sects, and the current cultivators are not as spontaneous and free as Patriarch Heng Yue and Senior Feng were in the past.”

Li Hong looked like she understood, but at the same time she didn’t. She just pushed the cane into Chen Lin’s hands again, muttering, “It’s too complicated. Anyway, Heng Yue said these things belong to me, and I’m giving them to you. Do whatever you want with them.”

As she spoke, she was afraid Chen Lin would think of something else, so she emphasized, “Only for you.”

Chen Lin felt as if the part of his hand that was holding the cane was on fire. Hexu Valley took him in, so of course he should hand over such an important relic to the rest of the sect. However, Li Hong’s words echoed in his mind: “Only for you.’ This made him unable to let go of the cane.

He did not dare return something given by the elders.

He reasoned, and persuaded himself, swearing to Li Hong: “This disciple must practice hard and live up to Master’s expectations.”

Li Hong nodded, but when she looked at Chen Lin, he did not seem overjoyed to have received the inheritance of the Patriarch. This was not what she expected. Was it that difficult for him to act like a normal protagonist?”

Li Hong sighed, and upon further contemplation, she asked, “I remember Heng Yue liked to sleep in a rattan bed. Would you mind sleeping on such a bed?”

Chen Lin was speechless for a while. “What’s the matter?” Li Hong asked.

Chen Lin sighed and said, “Master, that is the home of the ancestor.”

Li Hong was puzzled, and Chen Lin continued: “I am a junior, no matter the reason, I shouldn’t live in it, moreover, I’m still a disciple of Hexu Valley.”

So you actually slept outside the house this week?

Li Hong originally wanted to say that so long as he was comfortable with it, it wasn’t a huge problem. Isn’t it just a house anyway? However, looking at Chen Lin’s firm gaze, she knew his mind was set. Li Hong couldn’t help but ask Tian Shen, “Is this wacko’s setting in this world five good teenagers?”

T/N: 五好少年 which is directly translated to “five good teenagers”, is normally a way to refer to someone who holds the 5 utmost important values which are namely, caring, a good leader, helpful, a good role model as well as a good protector (as in protector of the environment etc)

Tian Shen angrily cried out, “How can you say something like that about a great god?!” After getting over his initial fury, he replied to Li Hong’s question: “Chen Lin is indeed an orphan. He was on the brink of death when he was picked up by the old man guarding the mountain gate in Hexu Valley. It’s a pity that the old man passed away shortly after Chen Lin was taken in. Although nobody in the sect cared for him, Chen Lin remembered the kindness and morality taught by the gatekeeper and grew to strongly respect Hexu Valley.”

Since it was such a personal setting, Li Hong felt that she had to change her strategy, so she nodded and said: “Okay, where do you live?”

“The place I’m living in is convenient.” Chen Lin replied stubbornly.

Li Hong immediately shook her head. “You can’t keep living there.”

The gatekeeper’s old house is cold and damp, and does not possess a lot of spiritual energy. How can I make him happy if he keeps living there? “If you do not mind simplicity, you can live here with me.” Li Hong said.

“Just live here with me! I will talk to Xuan Zhong and let him choose a disciple to lead you to practice in the inner area. You are a disciple of Hexu Valley after all, so you shouldn’t reside in the forbidden area all the time.” She urged.

Chen Lin was startled and wanted to explain: “Master, I am not—”

“I know.” Li Hong smiled, revealing a small dimple, “But I am now your master, Heng Yue was always kind to his disciples, so I want to be kind to you too.”

She stood on the tip of her toes and patted his hair: “Master will take care of you. If you have any grievances in the future, you have to tell Master.”

In Chen Lin’s eyes, this scene was a bit ridiculous. This embarrassing situation can be said to be caused by Li Hong’s spontaneous acceptance of disciples. But just as he had never blamed anyone before, he will never blame Li Hong either. On the contrary, he thought that Li Hong accepted him as a disciple so that he would no longer be lonely—for this alone, he would always be grateful to her and willing to repay her with his life.

Even if her kindness caused him a lot of trouble sometimes, he didn’t mind. Chen Lin did not possess a lot of things, so he cherishes everything he has very much.

It was the same with the gatekeeper in the past, it was the same with Dan Ling, and so it is the same with Li Hong now.

He looked at Li Hong, his gentle eyes full of gratitude. He was not scornful because of her childlike appearance. He was just simply this kind of person…

Translator’s corner:

Hi guys! I’m pockiijr and I’ll be taking over the translating of this novel from today! Hope y’all enjoyed this chapter and do look out for at least 1 chapter every week! see you 🙂