The matter of taking a master is a highly meticulous affair in Lixun.
From the celestial sects above to the schools below, aside from a rare few slothful souls, nearly everyone follows the etiquette and sequence of the master-disciple ceremony and the Six Rites of Apprenticeship.
Though the sequence of the master-disciple ceremony is largely similar across the board, regional customs have, over the course of thousands of years of inheritance, inevitably introduced many differences.
Add to that the desire of each sect to highlight its own uniqueness, and the result is an even more intricate variety of practices.
However, the Six Rites of Apprenticeship stand apart.
Compared to the ceremony itself, these can truly be called an unchanging tradition, passed down for ten thousand years.
Even now, in Lixun, whenever people mention gifting when taking a master, they adhere to this unified rule.
The gifts must include dried meat—known as shuxiu—as well as qingcai, lianzi, hongzao, hongdou, and longyan.
Altogether, these six kinds each carry their own meaning.
Whether to add other gifts as well depends on personal preference.
But this is the custom among humans; as for the hundred demons, very few monsters ever find interest in such tedious procedures for taking a master.
There was once a demon, who, upon learning of this during a time of unrest, made a most disrespectful comment:
“Taking a master? Isn’t it just about kowtowing, nodding your head, passing down a technique, and learning a few things? Why all this trouble? Lixun people are truly like their butts are on fire and their hands can’t keep up—so fussy.”
The next day after making this comment, the demon was chopped into pieces no bigger than minced meat by a group of human cultivators.
Truly a miserable end.
Yun Mu recounted this possibly true, possibly false tale with a solemn face, then bowed to the door before Ruomu, saying, “So, for the sake of my own safety, I hope you’ll accept the gifts I’ve prepared.”
***
A long silence.
At last, with the creak of Ruomu’s door, a voice responded.
“…So that’s why you put off cultivating with me by a day? Doesn’t sound particularly proper
Within the peach blossom grove, Eleven emerged from her small wooden hut.
She still wore that mask, but instead of her usual fitted brocade, she wore looser silk clothing, and in her every gesture, she unwittingly revealed a hint of spring’s melting snow.
“Actually, it’s not entirely for that reason,” Yun Mu said again, sensing the woman’s presence.
“Then what other reason is there? Speak, let your master hear it.”
“To be honest, I’ve been through two master-disciple ceremonies before, but neither time did I complete the Ceremony of Completed Rites. Both times, I broke with proper procedure, and I’ve always regretted it.”
Of those two times Yun Mu spoke of, the first was with his childhood schoolteacher, the second under the moon with Xue Linxi.
The first ended with a simple bow and was done, the second was muddled and informal—neither could be called proper.
“So… this time I’d like to complete the Ceremony of Completed Rites, to show my respect for you.”
“Ceremony of Completed Rites, respect… ah, what a hassle…”
She cast a glance at the boy bowing before her, then lifted her gaze to the sky, where the sun had yet to rise, and yawned.
“Awu… you’re here far too early. Even when I borrow the purple qi from the east to cultivate, I don’t rise this early. This is really wearing me out.”
His arrival had completely interrupted her usual rest.
“Ah? Really… Sorry, I didn’t consider it fully. I thought, judging by my pace, you’d just be waking up when I got here… didn’t expect to be too early…”
“All right, no need to explain. I’m not angry. As for these things… just keep them in your qiankun pouch, I don’t eat qingcai anyway, it’s not tasty. Besides, I’m really tired now—come call me again in half an hour.”
“Okay, I understand…”
Seeing that Yun Mu was about to go on, Eleven interrupted, scratching her untied, messy silver hair as she turned to head back inside.
She’d only taken a few steps when she heard behind her the sound of the boy clumsily packing things away.
Turning to look, she saw him pulling out a burlap sack from who knows where, slowly putting things inside, even grabbing at the ground at times—awkward and fumbling.
The sight made Eleven frown slightly under her mask.
“Yun… Little Mu, where’s the Power of Yunxi that Yunxi attached for you on the white silk? Why is it gone?”
“Oh, that? Yesterday while I was gathering lianzi, I had her take it back. Though it’s really convenient to use, it’s not my own power. If I rely on it too much, I’ll get lazy, and that will plant the seeds of arrogance. Then I’d really be finished.”
“So… you gave it up just for that?”
“I suppose so. There’s an old saying in Lixun—rely on yourself rather than on others. That’s about it.”
“But Tushan Yunxi wants to recognize you as her foster son. You don’t need to refuse your own mother’s help, do you?”
“But after all, I’m only a foster son, right?”
For a moment, she was speechless.
The boy’s caution and desire for independence were things she hadn’t expected.
“So, Master, could you teach me a similar technique? Or… do you have any methods to enhance other senses? I want to try.”
“Isn’t that still asking for help from someone else? Still just a kid.”
The impression Eleven had formed in her mind collapsed in an instant.
“A master and a foster mother are still different, aren’t they?”
“I don’t really get it… but I do have some Sense Enhancement Techniques, though they’re a little tough. I don’t know if you can handle it.”
“I can endure hardship.”
“I figured. Just don’t regret it when the time comes.”
She had just turned to go back, when she noticed the boy still hadn’t stopped his actions.
In her dark eyes, a few strands of golden light flashed.
“By the way, where did you pick this lotus pod?”
“The lotus pod?”
Yun Mu fumbled and picked one up, waving it before her before putting it in the bag.
“Hmm… It’s actually quite strange. I thought you couldn’t pick lianzi this season, but after I said I needed gifts, Miss Huai Zhi took me to a Lotus Pond, and inside were plenty of mature lianzi.”
“Lotus Pond?”
“Yeah, Miss Huai Zhi said nobody wanted them, so I could help myself.”
As he spoke, half the lotus pods had been packed away when he suddenly felt a cold hand grab his wrist.
“Nobody wants them, huh…”
A white-haired elder’s image flashed through Eleven’s mind.
The corners of her lips, hidden under the mask, curled up for a moment.
But then, as if remembering something, she asked,
“By the way, Little Mu, when did you set out from the foot of Qingqiu Mountain for this peach grove?”
Eleven held his arm, halting his packing.
“Around… the Chou hour? I can’t see clearly, but I got up at my usual time, shouldn’t be wrong.”
“Chou hour?”
Eleven looked at his sincere face, her tone unusually moved.
“Do you know what time it is now?”
“Now? If it’s as you said, Master, I guess it’s not yet Mao hour? Hmm… Yin hour?”
He guessed, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head.
“Correct, but I have no reward for you.”
After a sharp rap on the head, before he could react, the bag in his hand disappeared, replaced by the bundle of qingcai he’d first packed away.
“What’s this, Master?”
“The lianzi, hongdou, hongzao, longyan… I’ll accept these. As for the qingcai, you keep it.”
“Qingcai should taste… all right? You don’t like it, Master?”
“I don’t. The taste makes me physically nauseous.”
“Okay… I thought you’d like it, since… My master liked it a lot.”
“Since?”
“Ah, nothing. Actually, it’s because I like it, so I just assumed you would too.”
With a hurried reply, the rustling sounds resumed.
Eleven glanced at the fresh food in the bag, then stored them all away in her own qiankun space—making sure to put them at the very back.
Looking up, she saw the same familiar scene.
“Tell me, where do you get so many bags? Didn’t Tushan Yunxi give you a qiankun pouch or some magic tools as a gift?”
She bent down in front of Yun Mu, studying him with some confusion.
“Or have you not learned how to use them yet?”
“Qiankun pouch? What’s that?”
“As the name implies, a little pouch with worlds inside, a handy magic tool that can store many things. Very common.”
“No, she said I’m not her foster son yet, so she can’t give me too much. She just gave me some clothes before leaving for now.”
“Uh… Tushan Yunxi, that woman. Now’s the time she starts worrying about appearances? Where was this attitude before? Seriously.”
“And she said, since you’re my master, anything I need you’ll give me, so…”
Yun Mu raised his head in her direction, his tone unusually bright.
“Master, what do you plan to give me?”
“A slap.”
“Eh?”
“Eh, what? You show up at dawn to bother me and want a gift too? You sure have guts.”
Before he could respond, Yun Mu suddenly felt a powerful force yank him by the waist—familiar, yet somehow new.
Unlike the suffocating embrace last time, this one was much gentler.
“Master Eleven, what are you doing?”
He could still speak and breathe.
“What am I doing? Of course I’m taking you to bed.”
“To sleep? But I’m not that tired…”
“Anyone who’s been walking all night is this energetic. If you doze off during cultivation, I won’t be so lenient then.”
“Ah? Oh… okay…”
With that, he fell silent, letting her tuck him under her arm like a comforter and carry him inside.
She even held him close like a pillow, falling asleep with him right in her arms.
What… what’s going on?
Aren’t master and disciple supposed to sleep separately?
Feeling her gentle breathing from above and the warmth rising from her body, drowsiness soon overtook him.
He curled up slightly, turning his back to her, and drifted off to sleep.
From his body, streams of green, blood-red, milky white, and pink energies emerged from his forehead in sequence, arranging themselves in a living spiral above his head.
Finally, a surge of inky black rose up, instantly enveloping and devouring those powers, transforming into brilliant starlight that flowed back into Yun Mu’s body.