[Target scanning in progress.. ]
[Name: Shang Baiyu %x *.. ]
[Age: 17.]
[Spirit Root: Dual Fire and Wood Spiritual Roots.]
[Cultivation: Early Foundation Establishment.]
[Constitution: Pill Dao Prodigy.. ]
[Gender: Male %x *…… ]
[Overall Score: 80, meets high quality standard.]
Staring at the newly-accepted disciple’s panel displayed by the system, Lu Li couldn’t shake the feeling that this setup looked awfully familiar.
After all… besides the gender and name, this Young Master Shang of the Pill Cauldron Pavilion had a status panel nearly identical to the standard configuration for the second disciple, Gong Shangyu, who also cultivated pill arts in the game.
To the point that Lu Li even wondered whether that Gong Shangyu, always scheming to concoct strange medicines for her master and plotting to drug him, could be a long-lost daughter of the Shang family.
After all, in the game, Gong Shangyu was originally a Beggar that Lu Li picked up himself.
Despite his doubts, Lu Li didn’t dwell on it for long.
After all, Shang Baiyu was male, while the original second disciple Gong Shangyu was, without a doubt, female—besides, Gong Shangyu was still a Beggar at this point and should be begging in the streets of the capital of Jin Country right about now.
No matter how imaginative Lu Li was, he couldn’t possibly connect that dirty, down-and-out little beggar, Gong Shangyu, with the well-mannered young master in front of him.
Moreover, in the original game, Gong Shangyu wouldn’t even advance to Foundation Establishment for at least another two years, so compared to Shang Baiyu’s cultivation and peerless talent, she was far behind.
So, after looking over the new disciple’s panel, Lu Li was only mildly puzzled, but didn’t give it much thought.
True, the new disciple’s stats were extremely similar to Gong Shangyu’s, but this kind of panel was actually quite common in the cultivation world—not at all as special as Gu Qingying’s Hidden Constitution or Dual Light and Dark Spiritual Roots, which needed to be actively concealed using cognition alteration.
Of course, the real reason Lu Li didn’t suspect Gong Shangyu was because Gu Qingying had used her own system to help Gong Shangyu hide her status.
And the reason Gu Qingying helped Gong Shangyu was, naturally, because they were both riding in the same boat now!
If she didn’t step in, with Gong Shangyu’s terrible personality, she’d probably expose both her and Gu Qingying’s true identities to Lu Li in a heartbeat, dragging Gu Qingying down with her!
In a sense, Gu Qingying was now caught in Gong Shangyu’s snare with no way out.
Yet, playing the “husband” role, Lu Li was completely oblivious to all this.
At that moment, he was fully immersed in the joy of receiving his disciple acceptance reward from the recruitment system.
[Ding! Detected: The disciple you’ve accepted is at the same cultivation stage as you!]
[Achievement Unlocked: The Accomplished is the Teacher.]
[Reward: Grandmaster-level Moon Refining Technique.]
[Grandmaster-level Pill Refining Technique: Greatly enhances host’s technique and insights in pill refining.]
“Hm~ Not bad, not bad. That’s a decent reward~”
“And after accepting Shang Baiyu, I’ve also completed half the task of recruiting two disciples.”
Immersed in the joy of earning system rewards and dreams of spirit stones rolling in, Lu Li was completely preoccupied.
Meanwhile, the newly accepted Gong Shangyu suddenly approached Lu Li’s side with a shy, slightly suspicious blush on her cheeks.
She held in both hands a finely crafted red booklet exuding a faint sandalwood fragrance, and then, very ceremoniously, presented it to Lu Li.
“Hehe~ Mas… Master, since you’ve just agreed to take me as your disciple, according to our hometown’s custom, please sign your name here on this Apprenticeship Letter to complete the ceremony.”
Lu Li, hearing this, thought to himself that these noble family disciples really did have a ton of rules—taking in a disciple was being made into such a formal affair—but for the sake of that bottle of Condensing Pill Powder and a long-term meal ticket, he naturally had no reason to refuse such a small request.
He took the Apprenticeship Letter and glanced over it.
It was filled with the usual platitudes about respecting one’s master and studying diligently, nothing out of the ordinary.
“Very thoughtful.”
With no suspicion, Lu Li channeled a thread of spiritual power into his fingers, and signed his name at the end of the booklet in the space reserved for that purpose.
As soon as Lu Li finished signing, a sly, scheming glint flashed across Gong Shangyu’s eyes.
She quickly and carefully stashed the letter away, holding it as if it were some priceless treasure, an utterly satisfied and slightly foolish smile on her face.
Both Lu Li and Gu Qingying, who was observing coldly from the side, felt bewildered by Gong Shangyu’s demeanor, utterly unable to fathom what she was so pleased about.
Lu Li cleared his throat, deciding to sort out how his two disciples should address each other in the future.
He looked at Gu Qingying, then at Gong Shangyu, and hesitated for a moment.
“Uh… Qingkong, since you joined the sect before Baiyu, you should be the senior disciple.”
“But, Young Master Shang…”
“Uh, but Baiyu is older than you, and his cultivation is a whole realm above yours.”
“So, you two should…”
Seeing Lu Li’s awkwardness about how they should address each other, Gong Shangyu immediately chimed in with a “sincere” smile.
“Hehe… Master, there’s no need to be troubled! We’ll each call each other as appropriate! I’ll call Brother Gu ‘Senior Brother’, and he can call me ‘Big Brother’. Doesn’t that work for everyone?”
“Aiya… Master, don’t worry, our relationship is great! We’ll definitely get along just fine!”
After saying this, she tried to slap Gu Qingying on the shoulder like a buddy, only for Gu Qingying to dodge in disgust.
But with Lu Li present, Gu Qingying still forced out a smile uglier than crying, and nodded heavily at Lu Li.
“Y-yes… Master, we’ll get along well from now on…”
Looking at the tangible awkwardness between his two disciples, Lu Li felt that something was off, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Scratching his head in confusion, he turned and left the cabin.
As soon as Lu Li was gone, Gong Shangyu’s true colors immediately surfaced.
Hugging the “Apprenticeship Letter,” she started giggling foolishly, even spinning around on the spot.
Gu Qingying, seeing her so pleased with herself, couldn’t help snapping, “Hey! Gong the Second! What are you grinning at, holding that tattered letter like you’re a weasel that stole a chicken?”
Gong Shangyu wasn’t offended at all.
On the contrary, she triumphantly waved the letter in front of Gu Qingying, her chin practically pointed at the sky.
“Tattered letter? Junior Sister, open your eyes and see what this really is!”
Gu Qingying took the booklet with suspicion.
It felt warm to the touch and seemed perfectly ordinary.
Then Gong Shangyu gave a mysterious smile and, like performing a magic trick, channeled a thread of spiritual power into the booklet!
Suddenly, a change occurred!
Lu Li’s vigorous signature and the typical apprenticeship phrases began to quickly fade away, as if being washed off by water!
In their place, line after line of small, faintly pink spiritual characters, written with special invisible ink, slowly surfaced beneath the vanishing text!
At the very top, it read—Marriage Contract!
Peak Master of Broken Affection Peak, Lu Li, and Shangyu of the Gong Clan, having found mutual affection, hereby form a Dao Companion bond…
Below that was a series of “clauses,” like sharing resources, dual cultivation of pills and swords… all sorts of unequal agreements.
At the bottom, Lu Li’s freshly signed name was clearly imprinted next to the “Husband” title!
Gu Qingying’s eyes widened into perfect circles.
Even her hand holding the booklet trembled as she pointed at Gong Shangyu, her voice breaking, “You… you… Gong Shangyu! Shameless! You used cuttlefish ink and invisible ink to forge a marriage contract! This is outright deceiving your master and ancestors!”
Gong Shangyu snatched the booklet back, lovingly wiped it, then broke into a radiant, infuriatingly smug grin at the stunned Gu Qingying, lazily declaring:
“Hehe… Forgery? This marriage contract has Master’s personal signature and spiritual imprint—impossible to fake~”
“As for the content~ who said you can’t write something extra on an Apprenticeship Letter?”
Gong Shangyu leaned closer, hiding her lips with a fan, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction and the thrill of victory;
“So, my dear little Junior Sister~”
“From now on, shouldn’t you start addressing me, most respectfully, as… ‘Master’s wife’?”
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