Jiang Ling slumped listlessly on a cold stone by the roadside, staring at the last streak of the setting sun on the horizon, and was suddenly overcome with sorrow.
"All over. It's all over. Three days—where am I supposed to find a living soul to take me as their disciple? Is my 800-year path to immortality really going to end today?"
Frustration welled up inside him!
If only he'd agreed to marry into the Ye family as their son-in-law a couple of years back.
Sure, Miss Ye was a bit plump, not exactly a beauty, and had some rather… unspeakable hobbies…
But with the Ye clan's power, they would've found a way to survive the beast tide, no question.
Jiang Ling hung his head in dejection, already planning to head farther afield to Blackstone City to try his luck, when a faint rustling sound suddenly came from the grass beside him.
A moment later, a fluffy little yellow ball—no bigger than a palm—tumbled out from the dense foliage.
It looked like it had just hatched not long ago, its fine downy feathers clinging softly to its tiny body. Its pair of eyes were like pure glazed beads, filled with the innocent curiosity of a newborn creature, fixed unblinkingly on Jiang Ling.
It was a chick—bright yellow, wobbling unsteadily on its legs, barely able to stand.
Jiang Ling glanced at it, utterly uninterested.
Probably some farmer's lost chick, dropped in the chaos of fleeing the beast tide.
He stood up, brushed the dust off his backside, and prepared to head down the mountain.
But he'd barely taken one step.
"Cheep?"
A faint, high-pitched chirp came from behind him.
Jiang Ling paid it no mind and kept walking.
"Cheep-cheep!"
The chirping followed, a little more urgent this time.
Jiang Ling frowned and quickened his pace.
"Cheep! Cheep-cheep-cheep!!"
Louder now—right at his heels.
Jiang Ling looked down. There was the chick, stumbling and tumbling along, straining to keep up with its matchstick-thin legs.
Its tiny body trembled slightly with effort, its soft yellow down glowing warmly in the sunset, yet looking all the more fragile and pitiful for it.
"Hey!"
Jiang Ling stopped in his tracks, half-amused and half-annoyed by the little creature's persistence.
He turned around, deliberately scowling, and growled at the chick in a menacing tone. "Little pest! Keep following me, and I'll catch you and make chicken soup out of you!"
He bent down as if to grab it.
The chick seemed startled by his fierce expression, freezing in its tracks and shrinking back a little. A misty sheen appeared in its glazed eyes.
But it didn't run away. Instead, it stood its ground stubbornly, craning its tiny neck up at him, still cheeping softly—as if begging, or maybe calling out for something.
Man and chick stood there on the desolate roadside, staring at each other, with the afterglow of the setting sun and the distant dust clouds of fleeing refugees as their backdrop.
Looking into those pure, unclouded glazed eyes, the layer of frustration and despair that had settled over Jiang Ling's heart felt like it had been gently pecked at by something soft.
Suddenly, an utterly absurd yet lightning-fast thought flashed across his mind, illuminating his despairing heart like a bolt of lightning!
The system said he needed to take a disciple—it never specified that the disciple had to be human, did it?
Slowly, slowly, light returned to Jiang Ling's eyes.
By the end, his gaze was as bright as if he'd just found a rare treasure!
He dropped to his knees in a hurry, the movement so abrupt it stirred up a gust of wind that startled the chick.
But Jiang Ling didn't care about that right now.
He held out his slightly trembling hand and gently, reverently stroked the tuft of soft down on the chick's head. Then, in a deliberately low, mysterious voice, he began to speak slowly:
"Little friend..."
He paused, as if choosing his words carefully, his gaze faraway, as if piercing through the mists of eternity.
"I see it in you—a peerless bone structure, a natural aptitude for the Dao. Though your form is still young, your wisdom shines from within. Deep in your bloodline, there flows an aura of… why, the grandest Dao imaginable! A talent like yours comes along only once in ten thousand ages!"
Jiang Ling's tone grew more solemn by the second. He pointed to the barren, silhouetted peak of Primordial Beginning Mountain in the distant twilight. "This mountain was once the sacred ground of the ancient Primordial Beginning Immortal Sect! It holds unfathomable mysteries. That we should meet here today—it is the will of heaven!"
The little yellow chick: "...Cheep?"
Are you messing with me?
Jiang Ling paid no mind to whether it understood him or not, pressing on with his deadpan spiel. "I, Jiang Ling, am the Sect Master of the Primordial Beginning Sect. Today, acting on heaven's behalf, I take you as my very first disciple—the founding heir of our sect. I bestow upon you the name Jincancan (Golden Glow). From this day forth, you shall be the Senior Brother of the Primordial Beginning Sect. The path to the Great Dao awaits you!"
As he spoke, he solemnly tapped the chick's head three times with his finger—his makeshift version of the initiation ceremony's energy infusion.
"From now on, stick with your master, and I promise you—you'll never go hungry! Not even for a single bite!"
He almost roared the last four words, his voice ringing with the desperate resolve of a man staking everything on a single throw of the dice.
"Cheep?"
[Ding! Detected that the host has successfully taken a disciple. Race: Chicken (suspected).]
[Disciple status confirmed: First Disciple of the Primordial Beginning Sect!]
[Novice Quest: Passing the Torch (Part 1) Completed!]
[Quest Reward Granted: 1 x Supreme-Grade Defense Formation Disk — "Nine Heavens Earth Dragon Guarding Array". Reward delivered!]
As the system's notification echoed in his mind, Jiang Ling suddenly felt a heavy thud in his palm!
A palm-sized, ancient-looking formation disk—neither metal nor jade, covered in intricate, profound runes—materialized out of thin air. It was cold to the touch, emanating an indescribable aura of heavy pressure, and nearly snapped his wrist with its weight as it landed in his outstretched hand.
"Hiss!"
He gasped, fumbling to cradle the disk that was his ticket to survival, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to leap out of his throat.
It worked!
It actually worked!
A tidal wave of ecstasy erupted in his chest like a volcano.
His heart was racing out of control.
The system had recognized it!
This wobbly little yellow chick was officially his first disciple!
The supreme-grade formation was his!
"Hahahahaha! Heaven hasn't abandoned me, Jiang Ling!"
He couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh, his voice bursting with the unbridled joy of a man who'd just cheated death.
When one door closes, another opens—truly, heaven was looking out for him!
No time to waste celebrating, though. The shadow of death still loomed overhead.
Jiang Ling clutched his lifeline carefully, spun around, and sprinted toward the entrance of the Primordial Beginning Sect as fast as his legs could carry him.
"Hold on tight, disciple! Your master's taking you home!"
The wind howled in his ears, his tattered servant's robe flapping wildly behind him.
His lungs felt like they were about to burst, but he didn't dare stop for even a second.
In his arms, Jincancan rolled its glazed eyes, struggling to cling to his robe with its tiny claws, its little body pressed tightly against him as it let out a series of faint cheeps.
Foolish mortal!
You're about to strangle this emperor!
Let go at once!