Under One Person: Rebuilding the Glory of the Beast Master

Zeng Su remained silent for a moment.

He knew Zuo Ruotong would ask this question sooner or later, and he had already thought about how to answer it.

"Disciple..." He paused, then decided to tell the truth, "For the past three months, I have been studying the Reverse Rebirth Triple Technique and have tried to cultivate it several times, but I have been unable to get the hang of it."

His tone was calm, without disappointment or resentment; he was simply stating a fact: when facing Zuo Ruotong, there was no need to pretend, just be sincere.

Zuo Ruotong picked up her teacup, took a sip, put the cup down, and looked at the surging sea of ​​clouds outside the door.

Do you know why?

"I understand," Zeng Su said. "My Qi is too hard, which contradicts the 'softness' required by the three requirements of reversing the cycle of rebirth."

Zuo Ruotong nodded: "Since you know, then I won't say anything more. I called you here today not to ask how your Reverse Life Triple Cultivation is going—I already knew you couldn't succeed."

Zeng Su was slightly taken aback.

"I called you here to ask you something else." Zuo Ruotong turned to look at him, her clear eyes holding a gentle scrutiny. "You can't master the Reverse Life Triple Level, so what do you plan to do?"

Zeng Su did not answer immediately; he understood the meaning behind Zuo Ruo's fairy tale.

This is not a simple question. It's like a master asking his apprentice: If you're stuck on one path, are you going to keep hitting a brick wall until you're bleeding, or are you going to try a different path?

Another master might encourage his apprentice with phrases like "persevere," "hard work pays off," or "even an iron rod can be ground into a needle." But Zuo Ruotong is different. He is a pragmatic person who knows that some paths cannot be traversed simply through hard work.

Reversing the cycle of rebirth is such a path.

If you don't have the aptitude, forcing yourself to train will only ruin you. Those members of the San Yi Sect who went wrong, weren't they all training like their lives depended on it? And what were the results? Some lost their arms, some lost their cultivation, and some almost lost their lives.

"Disciple has made up his mind." Zeng Su raised his head and looked into Zuo Ruotong's eyes. "Disciple does not intend to waste any more time on the Reverse Life Triple Stage."

Zuo Ruotong didn't speak, she just looked at him.

"I came to the Sanyi Sect to find a place where I could cultivate in peace. In these three months, I have come to realize one thing—my path is not in the Reverse Life Triple Realm, but in the Beast Master realm."

Zeng Su paused for a moment, then continued, "This disciple will continue to study the other techniques and skills of the Three Ones Sect, and will no longer get bogged down in the Reverse Life Third Level. This disciple will focus his energy on his own path."

After he finished speaking, Qingxu Hall was quiet for a moment.

Zuo Ruotong suddenly smiled, a smile that carried a sense of relief and contentment.

"I'm more pleased that you've figured this out than that you've mastered the Reverse Life Triple Level." Zuo Ruotong picked up her teacup, took a sip, and said, "In the more than a thousand years of history, the Sanyi Sect has produced countless genius disciples. Some of them are exceptionally talented and advance rapidly, but in the end, they get stuck at a certain bottleneck and can't overcome it in their entire lives. It's not because they didn't work hard enough, but because they were too fixated on a certain path and forgot that the path is made by walking, not given by nature."

He put down his teacup and looked at Zeng Su: "It's good that you're not attached. Only by not being attached can you see clearly."

Zeng Su lowered his head: "I will remember your teachings, Master."

Zuo Ruotong waved her hand: "Don't keep 'teaching' and 'remembering' all the time. You're just like Sichong and Chengzhen. Be more comfortable in Sanyi Sect and don't be so tense."

Zeng Su couldn't help but smile.

"There's one more thing," Zuo Ruotong suddenly remembered something, "I heard you've been looking for a new tamed beast lately?"

Zeng Su's heart skipped a beat—Lu Jin's words, spoken to him just yesterday, had already reached Zuo Ruotong's ears today.

"Yes." He did not deny it.

"Did you find it?"

"Not yet," Zeng Su replied truthfully. "Although Mount Taimu is a place of spiritual beauty, there aren't many beasts with potential. I've traveled to many places around here over the past three months, but haven't found any good prospects."

Zuo Ruotong pondered for a moment, then said, "The Sanyi Sect has been established for over a thousand years. The surrounding forests have been thoroughly cleaned up by our ancestors countless times. Any truly spiritual creatures have either been subdued or have wandered far away. The chances of finding anything good around the sect are slim."

Zeng Su nodded, which was why he had Bai Jiahei search deep into the back mountain.

"However," Zuo Ruotong changed the subject, "there are indeed some places deep within Mount Taimu that even the Sanyi Sect rarely ventures into. If you want to go, I won't stop you. But there's one condition—"

He looked at Zeng Su, his tone becoming more serious: "You are only eight years old. No matter how strong your cultivation is, you are still eight years old. You are not allowed to go into the deep mountains alone. You must be accompanied by an elder or a senior disciple of the sect."

Zeng Su wanted to say that he had Baijiahei by his side, but when he saw Zuo Ruotong's eyes, he swallowed the words back.

"I understand," he said.

"Good, you've got it." Zuo Ruotong picked up her teacup. "Go on!"

Zeng Su stood up, bowed, and turned to walk out the door.

As he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Chief."

"Um?"

"Thank you," Zeng Su said, his tone more sincere than it had been three months ago.

For the past three months, he has felt very at ease at the Sanyi Sect. It wasn't because the Sanyi Sect's techniques were particularly strong, nor because the Sanyi Sect's resources were particularly good, but because there was a sect leader here who truly treated him as a disciple.

Zuo Ruotong asked him if he was eating well, if he was used to the accommodation, and if the roads were passable.

Zeng Qing'an would also ask these questions. But Zeng Qing'an was his own grandfather, a blood relative, so it was only natural for him to ask these questions.

Zuo Ruotong is not his relative, yet he still asks these questions.

This is my master.

Zuo Ruotong looked at him and smiled.

"Go ahead," he said.

Zeng Su walked out of Qingxu Hall and took a deep breath while standing on the platform outside the door.

A mountain breeze blew from afar, carrying the scent of pine needles and earth. A sea of ​​clouds surged beneath our feet, and sunlight streamed through gaps in the clouds, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow on the mountain peaks.

He suddenly realized that his trip to Sanyimen was worthwhile.

It's not because of the Triple Rebirth, nor because of the reputation of the orthodox Xuanmen sect, but because Zuo Ruotong is here.

A person who truly deserves the title of "Great Ying Immortal".

After Zeng Su left, Zuo Ruotong put down his teacup, a hint of regret in his eyes. In fact, for the past three months, Zuo Ruotong had been searching for a suitable sect or school for Zeng Su. Zeng Su was very talented, and he did not want to see Zeng Su's talent go to waste.

However, the methods of beast masters are really too few in the world of supernatural beings. Even if there are a few active sects and families, their methods of inheritance are probably no match for Zeng Family Village. After all, powerful supernatural beings also came from among the ancestors of Zeng Family Village.

Therefore, sending Zeng Su to those places was no better than sending him to the Sanyi Gate.

"Ugh!"

Zuo Ruotong sighed softly, feeling somewhat derelict in his duty as a teacher.

"A new tamed beast?" Zuo Ruotong murmured, feeling that he could help in this regard.

Zeng Su returned to his courtyard to continue his cultivation. For him, life had not changed. Cultivating and increasing his strength was what he needed to do at the moment. As for other things, there was no time to consider them yet. In this chaotic world, only strength was the foundation of everything.

As for Baijiahei, as soon as it finishes its daily cultivation, it strides towards the back mountain, greeting the senior brothers and sisters it encounters along the way, collecting some snacks as "tolls," and then disappearing into the depths of the forest.

For the first few days, it returned empty-handed, its nose wet and its body covered in leaves and dirt, clearly having spent the entire day in the forest. But it was in excellent spirits.

"Did you find anything?" Zeng Su asked while brushing its fur.

Bai Jiahei shook his head and snorted.

"It's okay, if we can't find it, we'll just forget about it."

More than half a month passed like this, and the area they explored by day and night became farther and farther. Sometimes they would not return until it was completely dark, and their bodies would still be covered with the coolness of dew and night fog.

On February , the dragon looked up.

He returned home later than usual that day, working day and night.

The sun had already set, leaving only a last sliver of dark red afterglow on the horizon. Zeng Su stood at the entrance of the small courtyard, gazing towards the direction of the back mountain, feeling a little anxious.

Although Bai Jiahei is tough and thick-skinned, the depths of Taimu Mountain are, after all, a primitive forest rarely visited by humans. Who knows what might be hidden inside?

"Junior brother, Brother Bai hasn't returned yet?" Lu Jin walked in from outside, carrying a bag.

"Not yet." Zeng Su shook his head.

Lu Jin put his things down, walked to Zeng Su's side, and looked towards the back mountain as well: "Don't worry, Brother Bai is such a big guy, who would dare to mess with him? It's good enough if he doesn't bully others."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a muffled running sound came from the direction of the back mountain.

The ground trembled slightly, and the remaining snow on the pine trees fell down in a soft rustling sound.

Zeng Su and Lu Jin exchanged a glance and simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

The massive figure, white and black, burst out of the bamboo forest path at great speed, the strong wind it generated causing the bamboo on both sides of the path to sway wildly.

It ran up to Zeng Su and suddenly stopped, its four hooves carving four deep furrows in the mud.

It was carrying something in its mouth, something black, and it was impossible to see what it was.

"Hey Baijiahei, what's that in your mouth?" Zeng Su walked over.

Bai Jiahei spat the thing at Zeng Su's feet, then raised its head and nudged Zeng Su's hand with its nose, letting out an excited hum.

"Master, this is a good find!"

Zeng Su looked down and saw that it was a piece of tree root.

To be precise, it was a section of tree root about the thickness of an arm, with a dark brown bark and a pale yellow cross-section, emitting a strong herbal aroma.

He squatted down, picked up the piece of tree root, and examined it carefully.

He didn't recognize what kind of medicinal herb it was, but he recognized the rich Qi it contained; this piece of tree root contained extremely abundant Qi.

Qi doesn't only exist in humans and animals; plants can also generate Qi. Once Qi is generated in medicinal herbs, they can be called rare and precious materials. Of course, they are not as magical as in the legends, but they are still priceless.

"This is—" Lu Jin leaned closer for a look, his eyes widening in surprise, "This is Solomon's Seal? Such a big Solomon's Seal?"

He reached out and took the piece of tree root, examining it repeatedly until he was increasingly astonished: "No, this isn't ordinary Solomon's seal, this is—"

He suddenly looked up at Bai Jiahei and asked, "Brother Bai, where did you find it?"

Bai Jiahei snorted and pawed at the ground with its hooves.

"You mean there's still one there?" Lu Jin pressed.

Bai Jiahei nodded.

Lu Jin gasped and turned to Zeng Su, saying, "Junior Brother, this is over a hundred years old. If you take just this piece and sell it outside, it'll be worth at least several hundred silver dollars."

Zeng Su looked at the Polygonatum in his hand, but what he was thinking about was not how much it was worth, but rather—there must be something special about the place where this kind of medicinal herb can grow.

Perhaps it's a legendary spiritual vein, or something else entirely.

"Bai Jia Hei," he said, carefully putting away the Huang Jing (a type of medicinal herb), and patting Bai Jia Hei's head. "Can you still find that place?"

Bai Jiahei nodded vigorously.

"Take me there tomorrow."

Baijiahei nodded again, then nudged Zeng Su's hand with its nose, meaning "I'm hungry." It preferred home-cooked meals to finding food outside.

Zeng Su smiled, turned around and went inside to prepare food for it.

Lu Jin squatted down next to Bai Jiahei and whispered, "Brother Bai, you're amazing! You found such a good thing after just one trip. Can I go with you tomorrow?"

Bai Jiahei glanced at him and snorted, meaning "depending on my mood."

Lu Jin chuckled, took out the package from his pocket and opened it—it was a package of dried meat.

"Brother Bai, this is a gift for you, top-quality beef jerky."

Bai Jiahei's eyes lit up instantly.

The next morning, Zeng Su packed his things and prepared to set off.

He packed dry rations, a pot of water, and the short blade and golden talisman he had taken from the green-eyed man in his bundle.

Baijiahei was already waiting at the gate, full of energy, pawing at the ground, eager to show its owner the good stuff it had found.

Just as Zeng Su was about to leave, he heard a series of hurried footsteps behind him.

"Junior brother, wait for me!"

Lu Jin ran over from the bamboo forest path, carrying a bundle on his back and a short sword at his waist, fully armed. There was still some dew on his hair, indicating that he had been hiding here for a long time.

"Senior brother, what's wrong with you...?" Zeng Su looked at him.

"I'll go with you!" Lu Jin said, panting. "Didn't the sect leader say that you can't go into the deep mountains alone? You have to be accompanied by an elder or senior disciple. I'm your senior brother, a senior disciple, so it's perfect for me to accompany you."

Zeng Su opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Lu Jin added, "If you don't let me go, I'll report this to the authorities. Then you won't be able to go."

Zeng Su looked at Lu Jin's face, which was full of "you can't do anything about me," and sighed helplessly.

"Okay, let's go together. But there's one condition: you have to listen to me once we're out."

Lu Jin patted his chest and assured him, "Of course, you're Brother Bai's master. Who else would he listen to if not you?"

Bai Jiahei snorted beside him and exchanged a glance with Lu Jin, indicating that the two had already reached a deal.

Lu Jin chuckled. He patted Bai Jiahei's belly and said, "Brother Bai, I brought you some dried meat to eat on the way."

The white and black ears twitched, and the boy nodded with obvious satisfaction.

Three people, or more precisely, two people and a pig, set off along the path behind the mountain.