"Junior Sister!""Here!""Listen to the question!""Yes!"
With a dramatic sweep of his sleeve, Li Changshou stood tall. By the lakeside, on a patch of grass, the little girl sitting cross-legged jolted upright, brimming with nervous energy.
"Imagine this," he began solemnly. "Your cultivation is at the ninth stage of Spirit Transformation. You're flying across a deserted wilderness when you stumble upon a cultivator at the sixth stage, forcing himself upon a female Qi Refiner. What do you do?
Three choices:
A. Charge in and kill him outright, embodying justice itself!
B. Toss a magic treasure at him from afar, spoil his fun, and leave without a trace.
C. Pretend you saw nothing and slip quietly away."
Lan Ling'e blinked, puzzled. The question and its options held meanings far beyond what someone her age should understand.
"It's a single-choice question," Li Changshou reminded her with a grin. "Pick one."
"...A?" she answered, uncertain.
Li Changshou's smile faded into calm indifference. "And how do you know this man isn't hiding his true strength? That he hasn't merely pretended to be at the sixth stage, while in truth he's a master of Void Return? Any scoundrel brazen enough to flaunt himself like that is surely more vile than he appears. How can you stake your life on his honesty?"
"Then… B?" Lan Ling'e furrowed her little brows.
"Don't forget," Li Changshou sighed, "you're also a female cultivator. Should my first assumption prove true, and that beast catches sight of you—radiant and youthful—what if his lust burns hotter still? Wouldn't you be throwing yourself into the fire?"
Her cheeks flushed crimson. Dizzy, flustered, she whispered weakly, "But, Senior Brother… C is not the way of a true cultivator. Father always told us, since we were children, to stand up against injustice, to defend the weak. If everyone turned a blind eye when wrong was done, then when we fell victim… who would save us?"
"No, Junior Sister. Remember this well." Li Changshou clasped his hands behind his back, gazing at the lake's reflection. "In a peaceful, kind world, your father's teaching is absolutely right. But this is not such a world. This is the Primordial Wilderness—where immortals are as countless as clouds, and Qi Refiners battle to the death for a single treasure or root of spirit grass. Those who survive are, more often than not, ruthless.
To carry such tenderhearted ideals is to court an early grave. Our path is not to commit evil, but neither are we obliged to stop it. Better to live quietly and endure. And when, one day, you reach the summit of all living beings—when you can dictate the rules—then you may change the fate of the weak.
So. Do you understand?"
"I do!" Lan Ling'e nodded fiercely, her eyes shining bright.
Neither noticed the faint wisp of green smoke drifting from the hut nearby, curling silently behind them.
Li Changshou's voice deepened. "Junior Sister! I'll give you one more chance. Answer firmly, without hesitation! When a man assaults a woman on the road, what should you do?"
Lan Ling'e's eyes blazed with determination. Her voice was small, but rang with unusual resolve:
"C! Pretend I saw nothing and slip quietly past!"
"Excellent!" Li Changshou couldn't resist raising a thumb in approval, a swell of pride filling his chest. Two days of instruction, and already she had grasped his way of survival. A few more years, and he need never worry about her dragging him into disaster. To have such a sensible, low-profile junior sister… truly a blessing.
A cold wind swept their backs. Every hair stood on end.
"Li. Chang. Shou!"
The old, icy voice froze them where they sat. Lan Ling'e's teeth chattered.
Li Changshou forced a stiff smile as he turned, finding himself under his master's furious glare.
"Master! You've come out of seclusion? Ready to begin today's lessons for Junior Sister? Surely there's no need to raise your whisk… I'm your disciple too, am I not? Don't bully the elder in favor of the younger!"
"Impudent!"
Qi Yuan Daoist's beard and hair bristled, eyes wide as he swung his whisk. "You cowardly brat, corrupting your Junior Sister! Today this old Daoist will discipline you!"
The whisk came crashing down but a shimmer of green light enveloped Li Changshou, and in an instant he vanished, reappearing behind a willow tree, bowing frantically.
"Still using Wood Escape to dodge? You're begging for a beating!"
Fury unspent, Qi Yuan pursued. His whisk expanded, casting sweeping shadows over the lakeside. But Li Changshou slithered like an eel, slipping through every gap.
"Master, calm yourself! It's for Junior Sister's own good!"
"Our Du Xian Sect is of the Human-Teaching lineage, one of the Three Great Immortal Schools! And yet I've raised such a crooked disciple?!"
"Only because of Master's discerning eye!"
"Bah! I'll cleanse the sect myself today! Ah this rage will kill me!"
"Master, your handsomeness suffers when you're angry…"
At first, Lan Ling'e had been terrified, but soon she covered her mouth, giggling at the sight of her Senior Brother weaving and dodging under Master's whisk.
It was more play than punishment.
Until, suddenly, Li Changshou stumbled. Master pounced, pinning him down, and lashed his backside with rhythmic strikes of the whisk.
Moments later, Qi Yuan straightened his robe, glaring down at his miserable disciple.
"Reflect on your behavior! From now on, you will not teach your Junior Sister how to be a person! Finish building her hut!"
"Yes, Master…" Li Changshou groaned.
"Ling'e! Come with me! Forget every crooked word your brother has spoken. I will teach you the true Way!"
"Oh…" Ling'e obeyed softly, though her gaze lingered on her Senior Brother's swollen backside. She caught his hand, hidden in his sleeve, giving her a discreet thumbs-up.
Relieved, she let out a laugh and ran after her master.
Li Changshou lay on the grass, sighing as a passing white cloud carried him up.
"Master really didn't hold back this time…" He winced, rubbing his backside, then sighed again.
Still, Master's face had to be preserved. He was aging, struggling against Heaven's tribulations. Even the whisk's shadow had betrayed weakness—his cultivation rushed, his foundation unstable.
"…I'll just have to find a way to raise his chances when the tribulation comes."
Scratching his head, he drifted toward the third hut he had nearly finished building.
For nine-year-old Lan Ling'e, the past few days had felt like a dream.
Chosen in the marketplace by an old immortal, taken as a disciple, she had left her family with tears and blessings, then been brought here to Du Xian Sect.
And here, she met her peculiar Senior Brother.
His words always sounded reasonable yet somehow not. Master had warned her again and again: "Your brother is a strange one. Don't learn from him."
But she couldn't help feeling he was very capable.
Life here was not as rigid as she feared. The mountains brimmed with fish and game, and cultivation was not dull at all. Best of all, there was her Senior Brother sharing roasted meat, feeding fish, wandering the hills, speaking nonsense under the moonlight…
Would life always be like this?
Cuddled under unfamiliar blankets, Lan Ling'e rolled over toward the window.
A shadow stirred outside. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and froze.
There, atop a drifting white cloud, Li Changshou leaned in, waving at her.
"Night lessons, girl."
"Eh?" She blinked, then shrank back under the covers, nodding faintly. "...Mm."
"Now, the second question!"
Ah. Senior Brother truly was a strange one.
…
Ten years later.