First senior brother

"master said that there would be a dual element cultivator here that would be more unique than the tree of us, thus qualifying to be his fourth and last disciple....which is you, am I right?

Fang Qiu had somewhat expected it hearing their explanation but was still stupefied.

me? How would I be even more insane than this crazy trio right in front of me, my ability just lets me eat stuff, how does that compare to the rank thirty-five soul eye. Fang Qiu couldn't comprehend it so he just decided to ask for some kind of proof before continuing this strange conversation.

"Is there any kind of test? Or how would you figure out that I am actually the person whom you all are looking for."

"Master just told us to find the dual element cultivator in this sect recruitment and send him a message when we did, your qi signature feels like a rare element but also familiar hence why you are most likely the person we need since these are signs of dual element users, also factoring in my increased luck due to my element we shouldn't have the wrong person. Also, by now master should be arriving at any second so we will be able to confirm right away." Su Meimei replied.

And as if they practiced this beforehand, a huge shadow could be seen passing over their heads right as she finished her sentence. "Wooooooooow….such a big bird!…I wonder how it would taste..."

"What are you thinking of my dear junior brother? No need to be amazed you will certainly surpass master in the future, then his silver eagle will be just like an ant before you." Fatty Zhang replied, but Fang Qiu wasn't amazed at all, not that he would admit to it so he nodded his head absentmindedly.

Yes, his mouth was open, but not from shock. Instead he was drooling whilst fantasizing about all sorts of dishes he could make out of the silver eagle.

By this time even the elders from the 8 great sects and other smaller sects had noticed the beast and were on full alert. "why would a silver eagle be coming to this small city?" Silver eagles are at the very least revolving core stage beasts and none of the elders present has the power to even take a hit from it, let alone protect everyone present.

thoughts were racing through every elder's head with some even debating whether to flee or not. But the eagle soon landed in the plaza revealing the cultivator on top.

Many elders relaxed upon seeing him, since this meant he likely didn't have any malicious intentions. If he wanted to kill them he could've done so long ago. all it took would be a single attack from the silver eagle in mid-air and the plaza would be razed to the ground.

Fang Qiu was also looking at this so called future "master" of theirs to see what he was like.

Not even a second later Fang Qiu's facial expression turned weird.

floral patterned shirt, sandals...with white flower patterned socks, a huge wine gourd on his back, a shiny bald head and a nice big beard…now he understood how the three of them could be his disciples. The old man was even crazier than the three of his disciples combined! Sandals with socks? Fang Qiu wished he was blind so he wouldn't have to see that monstrosity.

Even the elders from the many sects present were giving odd looks to the "expert" on top of the silver eagle.

Finally getting off the eagle the cultivator walked straight towards his three disciples ignoring the elders present from the eight great sects, though, walking straight was an overstatement. he was walking as if he was drunk. Fang Qiu even pitied the man being such a powerful cultivator yet having some physical disability in his legs.

Seeing Fang Qiu look at him as if he was retarded or something made the old man's mood instantly sour. He spent all this effort to make a grand entrance for his fourth disciple, even sending the other three down first in order to make an introduction yet he ended up looking at his master as if he was some kind of retard.

"I get it now, the kid must be stunned into stupidity by how majestic and grand his master looks! Yes, that must certainly be it!

After all, how could anyone look at my great self without a look of veneration and admiration in their eyes." the old man with the flower pattern shirt thought to himself. And the more his thoughts wandered off the bigger his smile became.

In the plaza of one of the cities belonging to the Barnum kingdom. A weird scene was taking place in the sect examinations this year.

Thousands of mortals and cultivators alike staring at a cultivator walking like he was drunk whilst having a creepy smile on his face. Some women were even hiding their young daughters behind their backs hoping the creepy old cultivator didn't swing that way. in fact, some women were even hiding their sons....

finally realizing the mood wasn't one hundred percent correct the man just stopped walking and beckoned the four to come over. In fact, they didn't really have a choice since the moment the old man waved his hand a water bubble carried them over without them having any chance to resist. the other three were already used to it, but to Fang Qiu this was the first time meeting a water element cultivator up close.

Before the many people in the plaza could react they had already disappeared on the back of the silver eagle like they were never there.

Many women were thanking the heavens that the creepy old man didn't pick their sons and daughters for a long time after they left, or who knew how long they would keep their innocence for.

____

Whilst the sect entrance examinations down at the plaza in the city were slowly ending, Fang Qui was in the clouds on the silver eagle flying god knows where. In the first couple of hours which seemed like minutes the old man explained a lot about this world and answered a lot of Fang Qui's questions making him see the old man in a different light.

First of all, the world seemed way bigger than he initially estimated. The city Fang Qiu was from was called the boundless city since it was situated next to the boundless forest where Fang Qiu lived most his life. The boundless forest spanned most of the continent and the place Fang Qiu spent most of his life was only a tiny corner on the outskirts. the city had about a dozen towns and hundreds of villages beneath it, with the boundless city in turn being one of the many cities below the Barnum Kingdom. Then there was the six great empires, each having nearly a hundred kingdoms below them. The Barnum kingdom belonged to the Baihe Empire, and was one of its weakest kingdoms.

Yet this was not the end, Fang Qiu learned that the area he was in now was known as the southern continent, with the entire world consisting of five such continents: south, east, west, north and central. and to top it all off each continent had its own culture, rules, Empires and famous cultivators with the central continent being the center of this world. the headquarters of all major sects and families like the big eight were all situated in the central continent.

Fang Qiu also learned that the four of them came from the central continent where the old man is quite the famous character. he even hired one of the most famous diviners of the central continent in order to find his fourth disciple which turned out to be Fang Qiu. Fang Qiu had already admitted to being a dual element cultivator as Fatty Zhang had guessed. after all, wouldn't it be sad if he turned out to not be the cultivator they were looking for long after they left.

Fang Qui had also gotten a lot of answers to his own Questions from the mysterious old man. He asked about their identities, why did the old man need a fourth disciple? were they part of a sect or what were they exactly and what was the goal of this group of people? why did the three of them accept the old man as their master? And lastly in what way was he more special than Fatty Zhang since according to the old man's rules every successive disciple has to be more unique than the previous?

To which the old man simply responded "I'm guessing you know about your senior brothers and sisters already, so let me tell you some things about myself that you might want to know." Seeing that he got Fang Qiu's interest he calmly continued: "I'm a water element cultivator."

after what seemed like an eternity Fang Qiu responded: "thats it? old man are you delusional? where are the moving background stories and the interesting plot twists? at the very least tell me your name! or am I supposed to accept some nameless old sandal wearing baldie as my master?"

"Hey now, no need to get agressive, none of your senior brothers or sisters know my name, yet I don't see them complaining about it" the old man rebutted

Facing the other three Fang Qiu was stunned. "Even they don't know his name? I knew they were crazy but I didn't think they were crazy enough to even accept a nameless cultivator as their master"

his thoughts were racing but the other three seemed already used to it, Blind Ye even turned over to Su Meimei whispering "I never even knew master was bald, let alone knowing his name. By the way…what are sandals?"

Overhearing the whispering Fang Qui felt like straight up jumping off the eagle and ending it all. none of these four were even remotely normal!"

"Do you want to know why master Only revealed his element? Fatty zhang asked Fang Qiu. Seeing Fang Qiu's face light up he took that as a yes and continued. "actually this Question answers some of your other questions aswell."

Figuring out his identity and background is why we are his disciples, and if you become his fourth living disciple you will also have to join us in this adventure.

So, we are traveling the different continents with master in order to strengthen ourselves and also try find clues as to what our master's real identity is. This gives us the freedom we want and also a good teacher to guide us along the way. Master might look a bit odd and loves to drink but he's actually a very good teacher, and in the two years we have followed him he was always able to answer all our cultivating questions, even though he uses a different element from us.

And now you can join us in the search aswell!"

To be honest Fang Qiu was not against this lifestyle. In sects you had to follow many rules and constantly keep your face and reputation in mind. you could never do crazy things or you would risk losing your sect's support or dying. And living in the forest all his life he was used to being free, sadly due to his need for resources joining a sect was the only solution for him up until today.

And being a loose cultivator or mercenary was also very risky since you had to fight every day in order to get cultivation resources to get stronger.

Yet this group of crazy people honestly had a lifestyle that fit Fang Qiu's style a lot. They travelled wherever they wanted, could do whatever they want without having to care about their face or reputation and on top of that they had a powerful cultivator to protect them and a weird but great goal on their cultivation journey by trying to figure out who their master exactly was. And who doesn't like a bit of mystery!

And right as all these thoughts coursed through Fang Qiu's head Fatty Zhang continued "We already know a couple of things about master, and in order to win the bet we have to follow a couple of rules, which us nor master will break under any circumstances.

First of all master will follow us wherever we go, he can even join us on missions but he will not interfere in anything we do and cannot help us in any way during our missions. He can only help us with cultivation related issues or questions.

Secondly, Master will only protect us from people more than a full cultivation realm higher than our strongest member, which currently is Blind Ye at the eighth stage of foundation realm. so master will not interfere as long as our opponents are eighth realm revolving core or lower even if they kill us all." Feeling a sudden drop in the mood Fang Qiu looked around to see a lot of sad and darkened faces…

"We even used to have a senior brother...technically Meimei is the second disciple, but sadly old first passed away before I even got the chance to know him well.

First senior brother followed master since he was a child and his dream always was to figure out master's real identity one day.

Sadly, he passed away… and master didn't break his rule to save him. He knew master wouldn't break his rule yet still ran in to save us…we owe him our life, hence why we made it a rule to continue his dream, and figure out master's identity in his stead!" Fatty third said in a saddened and pained almost hoarse voice as if reliving that day.

Even Fang Qiu couldn't help but turn silent after hearing this…

After composing himself Fatty Third continued, though the tone now was a bit more somber and sad.

"The third rule is that we cannot intentionally or directly offend people more than a full realm above us or master will not protect us.

Fourth: master has to assist us to the best of his abilities when we have questions regarding cultivation or any other matters but the questions cannot be related to figuring out his identity.

And lastly we can make any bet with master, but we have to place an equal reward in exchange for what we ask of master.

We can use these bets to gain small benefits or in order to have master reveal certain parts of his identity if we win. Of course if we lose..."

Fatty Zhang finished his explanation after a couple of minutes and not long after Fang Qiu also got to know why they accepted the old man as their master.

Turns out the old man was at least a Divine spirit realm cultivator which as at the top of any continent in power level.

Qi refining, foundation, revolving core, nascent soul, divine spirit, false immortal.

The chance of having a divine spirit cultivator teach them with his full attention whilst also protecting them at times was something even most of the top sects couldn't offer.

And yes, they probably could have found a different divine spirit or even false immortal cultivator and make them their master with how rare their abilities were, but they would probably have to follow all sorts of rules and make all sorts of compromises compared to the carefree lives they had now.

after listening to the whole explanation it was finally the old man's turn to explain some things.

" now that you know why they accepted me as their master and what life as my disciple is like, it's not so bad now is it?" and Fang Qiu had to admit it did sound like an exciting way to live.

" as for why I know you are more special than Fatty three, I would have to tell you a story first.

Have you ever heard of the ten great core spirits?"