Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 253 [Old Wang's Story] (6200)

Chapter 247 [Old Wang's Story] (6200)

Old Wang eventually told Chen Yan a story.

His own story.

·
Many, many years ago, during a selection process for prospective outer disciples at the Heavenly Demon Yin Yang Joyful Union Sect, there was a young man named Wang Guishan among the disciples in that batch.

Wang Guishan's background was better than that of many of his fellow prospective disciples.

He wasn't a pure rogue cultivator—his biological father was an outer disciple of the Heavenly Demon Yin Yang Joyful Union Sect, but due to limited talent, he didn't stay in the sect to cultivate. Instead, he was sent to other places to manage the sect's local businesses as a minor steward.

He married and had children locally—he married a woman from a minor, insignificant cultivation family, who was also a low-level cultivator.

Oh, in the cultivation world, this kind of behavior isn't called taking a wife. To use a more sophisticated term, it should be called a "Daoist partner."

Wang Guishan was born into such a family. His father was an outer disciple of a sect that inherited the legacy of a sage, and also a minor steward. This status was nothing more than an ant in front of powerful figures, but it still carried some weight in front of ordinary cultivators.

Fortunately, Wang Guishan was quite talented, at least more so than his father.

With a father who was a disciple of a saintly sect, the father naturally arranged for Wang Guishan to go to the Heavenly Demon Yin Yang Harmony Sect to participate in the selection of the outer court's prospective disciples.

This was the best future his father could come up with for him.

Wang Guishan's cultivation path initially went relatively smoothly. He was naturally talented, and his father was a disciple of a sect, so he had some connections.

Back when that batch of selections took place, among the outer disciples in charge of the assessment were some of his father's acquaintances and fellow disciples, who took good care of Wang Guishan.

Therefore, Wang Guishan did not have to put in much effort to stand out in that round of assessment and selection, and finally passed the selection to become an outer disciple.

Wang Guishan was of a tranquil nature and disliked fighting, so he was well-liked in the outer sect. His fellow disciples were all willing to befriend him, and even his teachers liked his detached character.

He had also studied under a good master, an elder of the outer sect, who was skilled in alchemy and herbal medicine identification. Wang Guishan himself did not like the aggressive cultivation path, but he was very dedicated to the path that required patience to identify herbs and refine pills.

Later, he also dabbled in some skills of weapon crafting and manufacturing.

It can be said that for the first ten years or so in the sect, Wang Guishan followed the route of a "tech geek".

Imagine a fellow disciple who is unassuming and doesn't compete for anything, who enjoys tending to spiritual herbs and flowers in the herb garden, or locking himself in the alchemy room to concoct potions, or perhaps making interesting little magical artifacts in the weapon-refining room.

He was also kind to others. Whenever his fellow disciples came to him with something to ask for his help, he would listen with a smile.

Finally, he would give one or two pills that he had refined himself to his fellow disciples who were in trouble.

Who wouldn't like these kinds of fellow disciples?

In addition, his talent was truly remarkable, and he progressed smoothly in both alchemy and weapon crafting.

Even his master had high hopes for him: "Your personality is naturally suited to the path of my sect. If you settle down and do well, you will surely have a place among the outer sect elders in fifty or sixty years."

Then, something went wrong.

·
When Wang Guishan was in his thirties, he went down the mountain and picked up a person.

a little girl.

Wang Guishan encountered an abandoned village of mortals on his journey, only to find it deserted after being ravaged by evil demons.

Wang Guishan was drawing water from a well in this abandoned village when he saw the little girl lying next to a collapsed wooden fence.

I was so hungry that I almost choked.

Wang Guishan was kind and gentle. He gave the little girl a bite to eat and saved her life.

He left a bottle of fasting pills for the little girl before leaving.

But as he walked, the little girl followed him all the way.

He walked for several miles, and the little girl followed for several miles. Finally, when Wang Guishan turned around, he found the little girl had fainted on the roadside behind him, her feet covered in blood.

Wang Guishan turned around.

Over the next three days and three nights, he extracted clues from the little girl, and with her, he traveled to three nearby mountains, personally killing two evil demons from a village near the cholera outbreak, thus avenging the little girl and her entire village.

Just as he was about to take the little girl to a populated place and find her a good family to take her in, the little girl said something to Wang Guishan.

“You killed the evil demon and avenged my whole village. You are my benefactor.”

"Please, take me with you. I want to follow you, serve you, and learn your skills—I can stay with you for the rest of my life, respect you, serve you, and attend to you..."

These words did not move Wang Guishan.

But the little girl said one last thing.

"That day you left, I followed you all the way. Actually, you're an immortal; if you wanted to shake me off, I couldn't catch up with you at all. You deliberately walked very slowly so I would follow behind, didn't you?"

Wang Guishan fell silent.

He is a disciple of the Heavenly Demon Yin Yang Harmony Sect, which means he confronts his inner demons directly.

Another way to put it is "seeing one's true nature and understanding one's mind".

Do not deceive yourself about your true thoughts.

Wang Guishan brought the little girl back to the sect.

He settled the girl in a small courtyard in a nearby village at the foot of the mountain outside the gate.

I stayed there for three years.

Over the course of three years, Wang Guishan frequently came down the mountain to visit the little girl.

The little girl raised a brood of chickens, four ducks, and two geese in the yard.

Every time Wang Guishan came, he would bring a lot of food and some pills that he had personally refined to help the little girl improve her physique and strengthen her muscles and tendons.

He taught the little girl body-strengthening exercises.

He even taught the little girl martial arts, but unfortunately, the little girl's talent for cultivation was too weak.

At first, it took me a full six months to even get the basics right. That was because I didn't have enough talent. Even if I went to the capital of a big city to receive free training in martial arts, I was only given three months. If I couldn't get the basics right after three months, I would be driven back to be a mortal.

The little girl hadn't learned anything in six months.

Wang Guishan comforted the little girl, and the little girl outwardly accepted Wang Guishan's comfort. When Wang Guishan was around, she acted normally, as if she had already willingly given up her cultivation.

She would do Wang Guishan's laundry—although Wang Guishan could use cleaning techniques to wash clothes with just a flick of his fingers, she insisted on washing them by hand with her calloused little hands.

When Wang Guishan came to visit her, she killed one of her chickens, made a pot of chicken soup for him, then moved a stool to sit beside him, rested her chin on her hands, and watched him eat.

Despite her lack of hope in cultivation, she didn't say it aloud, but she practiced relentlessly day and night, neglecting sleep and meals. She even spent her time meditating and entering a state of deep concentration instead of sleeping.

It wasn't until one day when Wang Guishan came down the mountain to visit her and entered her home that he discovered the little girl had fainted inside.

He was emaciated and barely alive.

Wang Guishan revived the little girl. When she woke up, tears streamed down her face as she looked at Wang Guishan, whose expression was grave and who was sighing. She pleaded with him, "Don't be angry. I won't force you anymore. I'll never ruin myself again. I'll never cultivate again. I'll live a peaceful life as an ordinary mortal and serve you for decades. After I die, please bury me at the foot of the nearby mountain..."

That time, Wang Guishan made the first major decision of his life.

He thought about it all night, and the next morning he said to the little girl, "It's a promise, you have to take care of me for the rest of your life. My life is not just a few decades."

This time, after returning to the mountain, Wang Guishan began frantically tinkering with all sorts of things: elixirs, magical artifacts...

He visited the little girl less often, and the frequency decreased.

He only came down the mountain once a time, depending on how much food the little girl's family had stored, and that food was almost gone.

People in the sect noticed that Wang Guishan, their once kind and generous junior brother, had suddenly changed.

In the past, when fellow disciples sought his help to repair a magical artifact, he would accept with a smile. It didn't cost much money, and he would simply wave his hand and say with a smile, "If you want to thank me, senior brother, next time you go out traveling and come across any interesting herbs, please pick a couple for me."

In the past, when fellow disciples encountered difficulties and complained to him, he would smile and slip one or two pills he had refined into their hands, saying with a smile, "If you are grateful to me, senior brother, bring me back some delicious food from other places when you go out in the future."

Because of his personality, his room was always filled with many strange things that his fellow disciples brought back from their travels in various places.

There are rare flowers and herbs, seeds of celestial plants, strange and unusual minerals, and rare foods...

These things actually provided him with considerable assistance and broadened his knowledge on his path of studying medicine, alchemy, and weapon crafting.

But gradually, everyone noticed that this junior brother had become more realistic.

When someone asks him for help, he will grit his teeth and give a wry smile with a hint of embarrassment: "Senior brother... if you want to repair this thing, I'll charge you thirty coins."

Many things, when you put them into words, are just like that.

If it's a matter of affection, then it is an affection.

If it's a transaction, then... there's no room for sentimentality.

Wang Guishan's popularity gradually declined—not to the point of being bad, but gradually, there were fewer and fewer people among his fellow disciples who often praised him and spoke well of him.

His fellow disciples, who were willing to be his friends, gradually lost contact with him.

But one day, Wang Guishan came down the mountain and went to the little girl's courtyard.

He gave the little girl a pill.

One [Spirit Pill].

It's the kind of pill that can boost one's affinity for vital energy in a short time, drastically increasing the probability of entering the path of cultivation, even for those who are considered useless.

Chen Yan had bought this pill before. One pill cost ten thousand jade coins.

Wang Guishan, a junior disciple in the sect, saved up 10,000 coins to buy the Spirit-Connecting Pill and then gave it to the little girl.

A few days later, the little girl began her cultivation journey and became a cultivator at the first level.

Three months later, the little girl went up the mountain to participate in the selection and assessment for the first batch of prospective disciples of the outer academy.

Wang Guishan refined several bottles of pills for her, some to enhance physical strength, some to nourish the primordial spirit, some to clear the mind and sharpen the senses, and others to improve the efficiency of vital energy circulation.

The price Wang Guishan paid was that the elders of the alchemy room discovered that some medicinal herbs had been wasted, and then they called Wang Guishan over and reprimanded him.

Wang Guishan remained silent and accepted the punishment without saying a word.

With these resources invested, the little girl successfully passed the selection, ranking in the middle among the disciples who passed the selection in that batch—her talent was really just so-so.

But Wang Guishan was very happy; the little girl had officially joined his sect and would become his fellow disciple.

Most importantly, she can live in the outer gate of the mountain, so if he wants to see her again, he doesn't have to wait many days before he can go down the mountain once a year.

He wanted the little girl to enter the alchemy hall so that he and she could spend time together day and night.

The little girl then told him that she wanted to go to Jing'an Hall.

Because Jing'an Hall teaches many combat and offensive spells, making it easier to make rapid progress in cultivation. The little girl said she wanted to become a skilled cultivator—just like the one she had witnessed Wang Guishan selling methods to kill evil demons.

Wang Guishan actually felt a little uneasy because... that time he killed the evil demon was the first time in his life he had ever fought a magical battle.

He is by nature a person who dislikes conflict.

But the little girl also told Wang Guishan that she wanted to join Jing'an Hall because it was easier to make meritorious contributions there. Accumulating merits would allow her to advance her disciple level and go to the Scripture Pavilion to exchange for more advanced techniques and magical abilities...

She wanted to reach even greater heights—Wang Guishan understood this.

"Brother Guishan, I want to become someone who can stand by your side and be worthy of you."

The little girl looked at Wang Guishan with sparkling eyes.

Wang Guishan fell silent once again.

·
Jing'an Hall does indeed have many opportunities to make meritorious contributions—but those require going out to kill evil spirits.

Wang Guishan asked his fellow disciples at Jing'an Hall to take good care of the little girl, and in return, he often repaired damaged magical artifacts and spirit swords for his fellow disciples at Jing'an Hall free of charge.

When the little girl went out with her fellow disciples, she encountered evil spirits and monsters. After the battle, she returned injured. Wang Guishan would bring her medicine and even take care of her personally.

The little girl said that during the last battle, she encountered a turtle demon. Her spirit sword was not sharp enough and could not cut through the turtle's shell, which is why she was injured.

Wang Guishan went back and sold the spirit herbs he had cultivated for eight years, exchanging them for four coins' worth of refined gold essence. He then personally forged the little girl's spirit sword again, adding the refined gold essence to it, making the spirit sword three times sharper.

The little girl said that she encountered an evil cultivator who was harming people. The cultivator's spiritual power and divine consciousness were strong and he was good at bewitching people's minds.

Wang Guishan plunged into the weapon-refining hall, working tirelessly for a month, helping with the simplest and most arduous forging tasks day and night. His body was almost dried out by the earth fire from forging magical artifacts. He earned enough merit points and rewards to buy a [Heart Protection Ring] from the artifact hall, which could defend against divine sense attacks, and placed it on the little girl's finger…

The little girl said...

Wang Guishan...

The little girl said...

Wang Guishan...

Gradually, Wang Guishan's master's gaze towards him grew increasingly cold.

Since Wang Guishan wanted to address the little girl's numerous difficulties, he had to expend a lot of effort to seek out or earn the things the little girl needed.

Gradually, he stopped spending time tending to the medicinal plants in the herb garden and stopped locking himself in the alchemy room to work with potions...

The disciple whom the master praised most often was no longer Wang Guishan.

Until one day.

Wang Guishan went to see the little girl and saw that she was pale and looked exhausted as she came out of the training room.

The little girl told him that she had gone into seclusion four times, but was unable to enter the third realm and was stuck at the Returning Origin Realm, unable to break through.

Wang Guishan looked helplessly at the stubborn girl he had raised, at the resentment in her eyes, and at her unquenchable ambition.

He really wanted to tell her that she lacked talent and that she had only been able to cultivate to the Returning Origin Realm by investing a lot of resources, far exceeding the investment of her fellow disciples, to become a second-realm cultivator.

He really wanted to tell her that the reason she couldn't break through to the next level and take the stage was because her primordial spirit cultivation was far from sufficient, and her divine sense was inadequate.

Wang Guishan couldn't bring himself to say it. Looking into the fire in the girl's eyes, he knew he didn't want to be the one to extinguish it.

From then on, Wang Guishan gave all the Spirit Tempering Pills allocated by his sect to the girl.

He gave up his spot to the little girl every year for the few opportunities he had each year to listen to the "enlightenment bell" to enhance his talents.

He spent three years saving up enough jade coins, ran away from the sect, went to an auction house, and bought a bottle of pills made from demon cores that could enhance one's primordial spirit.

On his way back that time, he was robbed by evil cultivators with malicious intentions. Wang Guishan fought a bloody battle and was stabbed three times. His own spiritual sword was broken and lost. He ran back to the sect with all his injuries.

Thanks to that bottle of pills, and the opportunities from the Spirit Tempering Pill and Enlightenment Bell from a few years ago.

The little girl finally got her wish, broke through her cultivation level, and became a cultivator at the third realm.

The first thing she did after emerging from seclusion was to run to see Wang Guishan. Wang Guishan was still recovering from his injuries at the time. Seeing the excited little girl standing in front of his bed, he smiled and took her hand.

This time, the little girl subtly turned her body to the side and dodged it.

"Senior Brother Guishan, from now on I am a third-realm cultivator just like you! I can finally stand tall beside you!"

Wang Guishan looked at the little girl and asked softly, "Then, what about us..."

The little girl said easily, "Of course we're family for life! I've said it before, I'll always admire you, respect you, serve you, and take care of you for the rest of my life... I'll always be your sister! You'll always be my dearest brother!"

·
"No, I can't listen to this anymore."

Chen Yan stared wide-eyed at Lao Wang: "Why didn't you slap her face so hard it was crooked back then? That filthy, rotten bitch!"

Old Wang remained calm, glancing at Chen Yan: "If a story doesn't involve some foolish mistakes, can it still be called a story?"

·
Sister? Brother?
Wang Guishan fell silent.

After the little girl left that day, he kept asking himself a question.

All these years, I've treated her with all my heart. Is it really just that I see her as a younger sister?
I... am I missing a younger sister? Am I lacking family affection?

After that day, Wang Guishan recovered from his injuries and stopped going to Jing'an Hall to look for the little girl.

He couldn't understand how things had turned out this way.
Sister? Brother?
So in those years, those ambiguous words, like "serving you for decades" and "being together for a lifetime."

Siblings?

While I was eating, she pulled up a small stool and sat down next to me, resting her chin on her hands and looking at me with bright, sparkling eyes...

Siblings?

Was I misunderstanding something? Or was she intentionally misleading and guiding me?

Yes……

He didn't see the little girl for a long time, but a few months later, the little girl came to see him.

The little girl told him that the fourth elder of Jing'an Hall wanted to take on disciples and was going to hold a small competition within Jing'an Hall.

After accepting a disciple, there will be an opportunity to compete for the position of chief disciple of Jing'an Hall in the future...

Only the chief disciple of each hall in the outer sect will have the opportunity to compete for a spot in the inner sect in the future.

Wang Guishan really wanted to tell her: You're so lacking in talent that you need a Spirit Pill even to get started in cultivation!

The head of the outer sect? A spot in the inner sect?
But he didn't say it.

The little girl told him that if he wanted to gain the favor of the Fourth Elder, he needed to learn some powerful spells so that he would have a chance to win in the competition.

She wanted to exchange it at the Sutra Repository, but... she didn't have enough merit points or enough jade coins.

The little girl looked at Wang Guishan with bright, sparkling eyes.

Wang Guishan remained silent for a long time.

Then he thought: This is the last time.

Let this be the end of our acquaintance over the years.

Wang Guishan took out all his merits and jade coins and gave them to the little girl.

Disappointment showed on the little girl's face—this number wasn't enough; it was still far short.

Before she left, Wang Guishan didn't notice that the little girl stared blankly at the medicinal herb field that Wang Guishan was in charge of for a moment.

·
Then, two things happened.

One incident occurred a few days later when the medicinal field under Wang Guishan's jurisdiction was robbed, and a century-old [Seven-Turn Heartless Fruit] was missing from one of the immortal plants.

Wang Guishan was held accountable and ordered to be imprisoned in the "Heart Demon Cave" to reflect on his mistakes.

Fortunately, his father, the steward of the outer sect, rushed back to the sect from out of town after receiving the news. He knelt before the elders for an hour and took out a sum of his savings to compensate for the losses.

As a result, Wang Guishan was punished with six months of reflection.

Another thing is that the junior sister exchanged for a powerful and domineering combat technique in the Scripture Pavilion.

A month later, he won third place in the Jing'an Hall competition and was accepted as a disciple by the Fourth Elder, just as he had wished.

·
After reflecting on his actions for half a year, Wang Guishan was released and immediately rushed to Jing'an Hall!

He knew very well that he had never stolen the "Seven-Turn Heartless Fruit"!
That fruit is only a hundred years old and far from ripe!
Moreover, that fruit was a medicinal ingredient that his master valued highly. His master had been waiting for many years for that fruit to ripen so that he could use it to refine a kind of elixir that his master needed!

As his master's disciple, Wang Guishan would never do such a thing!
but……

Anyone who can enter his room, take his magic array token, and enter the herb field...

When he was held accountable, he didn't say anything immediately, but he probably guessed who it was.

When he was being questioned, he wanted to speak several times, but the image of the little girl who had followed behind him, walking barefoot for miles until her feet were blistered and bleeding, kept flashing through his mind...

Saying it out loud would ruin her future.

I've raised her myself for thirty years!

He wanted to stand before her, look into her eyes, and ask her the question himself!

Listen to her answer, observe her facial expression, and watch her eyes!

But when he went to Jing'an Hall, what he saw was...

The girl held the hand of a male disciple, her eyes seemingly shining.

He recognized the male disciple; he was the second disciple under the Fourth Elder.

He heard the girl say to the male disciple: I can finally stand beside you...

·
Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!
Chen Yan laughed loudly, clapping his hands vigorously and praising, "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!! Simps deserve to die a horrible death, this story is truly gratifying!"

Old Wang looked at Chen Yan with a dark expression.

Chen Yan curled his lip: "Don't tell me you didn't do anything, just secretly left heartbroken, found a secluded place to wipe your tears, and then hid in the shadows, licking your wounds, while watching that bitch continue to rise to prominence!"

Old Wang rolled his eyes.

·
This chapter is the update from August 1st.

Just wanted to say something. The 2nd is my birthday, so I'm taking a day off to rest. I'll be updating as usual on the 3rd.

Since it's my birthday, I might as well be shameless and ask for some encouragement—give me some votes!

·
(End of this chapter)