Enforcement Hall.
Inside one of the inconspicuous underground detention cells, a young man rested his back against the damp wall, meditating.
Handsome, clean, and calm. He carried the airs of a lonely, banished immortal without a worry for neither heaven nor earth.
Spiritual energy ripped around him with a resonant cry of chiming swords. Even in this isolated environment, his sword intent accompanied him wholeheartedly.
It was as if to say, when the world abandoned him, that one sword would cleave through it for his sake.
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! How did a brat like you end up here? Are the outer sect Elders blind or something?"
Startled, Lu Xuan looked up from his meditation only to find an old man squatting nearby.
Lu Xuan's eyes flicked with a hint of astonishment.
He can't see through this old man at all!
"Don't bother looking, your cultivation is far too shallow even with your inheritance and insight. That kid said his Boss Lu obtained an immortal's inheritance, it seems that his words carry some truth."
Hearing the old man's words, Lu Xuan's lips twitched. Did that bastard expose me just like that?!
For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The old man gave Lu Xuan a sidelong glance and snorted. "Don't think too highly of yourself, kid. An immortal inheritance isn't all that. Well, maybe here in the lower dimensions, which explains why you're so secretive."
Scratching his long beard, the old man stood up and circled Lu Xuan, examining him closely.
The more he looked at him, the more he felt that this kid would surely satisfy his granddaughter's requirements, just like that servant boy said.
That boasting wasn't mere empty words it seems.
Moreover, that kid said if his granddaughter were rebellious and didn't listen to him, why not find a match secretly, let them fall in love, while taking the talented man as his disciple?
Even if he couldn't control her directly, can't he do it indirectly through his disciple?
The more the old man thought about it, the more he liked it. Girls are destined to fall in love someday, why not guide the current instead of blocking it?
Isn't it because she wanted to find the handsome soulmate that she left in a fit of stubbornness and joined the Spring Requiem to begin with?
Suddenly, Lu Xuan felt a shiver run down his spine. However, he quickly understood Mingyuan's strategy and guessed the old man's identity.
He also understood that Mingyuan didn't fully expose his secret, only partially so, just enough to draw the attention of a capable backer.
However, this backing seemed to carry ulterior motives.
"Brat, do you want to be my disciple?" Asked the old man.
Lu Xuan went silent, calculated with his fingers, and deduced that he had future master-disciple karma with the old man.
It's just that he went through countless ups and downs and a life-threatening crisis before their karma intersected, resulting in the discipleship.
He was stunned for a moment and wondered to himself, Was Mingyuan aware of all this, or was it a coincidence?
The old man raised an eyebrow. "You even know how to calculate karma? From the looks of it, you even glimpsed this old man's lines of karma too?"
He was astonished.
Karma wasn't as insubstantial as many claim it to be, it was a mystical force with mystical weight.
Since Lu Xuan can calculate him, it means the former's karmic weight equaled his if it didn't already surpass it at this point in time.
How heavy can a brat's karma be?
The old man did his separate calculations and saw the original trajectory of things, and he was just as astonished.
He frowned.
It seemed that their mentorship was predestined to happen, though the karma involved was pushed to take place in advance.
This misdirection of destiny should result in a backlash from fate onto whoever caused it.
That wasn't something to be taken lightly.
If the old man saw Lu Xuan by accident and calculated their future relationship, he would simply wait and let things take their natural course.
He wouldn't take the initiative to carry the weight of the misdirected fate, he didn't want the backlash to taint his karma and influence his future tribulations.
Moreover, misdirecting the forces of fate and karma isn't so simple, even if one had the will.
Usually, under the influence of those forces, that servant boy would be guided elsewhere or interfered with as he searched for help.
All kinds of unreasonable coincidences should have stopped him, but that brat found him regardless.
Hm, as expected of someone I couldn't see through, could he be an expert in disguise?
The old man stroked his beard, deep in thought.
Lu Xuan furrowed his brows because he knew just as much as the old man if not more than him, and so he was also deep in thought.
Old and young, the former squatting and the latter seated against the wall, locked their eyebrows tightly, both deep in thought.
An outer sect disciple on patrol walked by and saw this scene, stunned. "Hey! How did you get in there?!"
Then, the alarm bells rang far and high, alarming the Deacons, Elders, and Hall Master.
…
Not far away, Mingyuan heard the alarm and sighed in relief, "An old immortal and a reincarnated Dao Lord, how terrifying…"
He patted his chest, turned around, and left.
What an exhausting task, he needed seven days of sunbathing to wash away the fatigue.
As for the backlash from fate? Please, he was the darling of fate. Fate couldn't even gift him enough cultivation insights and resources, let alone be harsh enough to punish him.
Don't be ridiculous.
He was such a cowardly humble servant, why would fate waste time on a little character like himself?
…
[Acquired Fate's Gift: Sword Intent Increased!]
[Acquired Fate's Gift: Realm comprehension increased!]
[Acquired Fate's Gift: Cultivation base increased!]
Reclining while sunbathing, Mingyuan thought back to the awkwardness between himself and Lu Xuan.
He didn't know why, but Lu Xuan was acting unsettled and uneasy around him lately.
It had been two months since the detainment incident, and with the old man's help, Lu Xuan quickly gathered the materials for a perfect foundation, thus reaching the next level in his cultivation.
The biannual outer sect competition is around the corner, and those geniuses have started to breakthrough one after another.
Mingyuan rubbed his chin. "Here I thought our brotherhood could withstand the test of time, I didn't think Boss Lu's heart was so fragile…"
Smack!
"Whose heart is fragile?!" Lu Xuan, appearing behind Mingyuan, slapped the back of his head and scoffed.
Honestly, he did freak out for a while, not understanding Mingyuan's motives.
However, as time passed, his Master said that some things didn't need too much thinking.
A pure relationship without gains or losses was just a fantasy. If Mingyuan's help now had a price and a cost for the future, then he might as well take as much as possible while he still had the chance.
Lu Xuan also thought about it for a very long time before finally deciding to let things develop naturally.
In any case, Mingyuan had offered him nothing but help and support, even if he had ulterior motives.
Moreover, that senior sister wasn't half bad.
Thinking about his Master's granddaughter who started to occupy his mind recently, Lu Xuan smiled.
"Damn, that's the look of someone knee deep into his feels… sigh, women… how terrifying!"
Lu Xuan's lips twitched in anger, his face turning red.