A LOWLY WORLD THAT NEVER STOPS GIVING

At last, Old Lao nodded, clearly satisfied with his speech. The bronze-eyed old man then turned around and grabbed a few things, which he then handed over to a relieved Cheng Hao: he was finally done.

Most would find quite a lot to dissect in that last bit.

To the youth, in particular, there was the confirmation that Old Lao wished to create an upheaval in the Sect. In between the lines, was also the intention of doing so without having to go through the proper hierarchy.

As for the ramblings about a Sect's management and the lessons behind it, Cheng Hao could probably lecture on the matter himself, going so much more in-depth that he would make the old man look like a charlatan. After all, he was preaching to the Rebel who upheaved the Nine Heavens.

"Good job listening to all that!" teased Old Lao.

'Die in a ditch, would you?'

The gatekeeper continued, "Here are your sect robes. Your copy of 'Basics to Martial Cultivation', which I highly recommend taking a look at, should be on a table inside your hut's living room. I wish you luck." The gatekeeper handed the child the sect's Vacant Disciple clothes, consisting of a long, black robe reaching to the floor. A striking white pattern ran from the right shoulder to the left ankle, where it melded into blackness.

Old Lao then pointed behind his back, "Those keys hanging from the carriage are spares for people looking to live together: your key is in the robes' inner pocket. After pondering for a while, I have chosen to give you hut #5-742; the 5th hut in the 742nd ward. The 742nd ward is right down this road, just a few dozen minutes' worths of walking."

He then winked, "Just between the two of us, that area has very few people, so you won't need to worry about anyone coming to look for trouble. After all, I wouldn't want such a cute little Junior to be bullied, right? Well, I wish you good luck!"

What he actually meant was clear as day. Be it the Apparition from stepping into the Inferior Stage or whatever following actions Cheng Hao might take, the Reverend Stage powerhouse would have his back in taking care of the aftermath.

"Thanks for your hard work, Senior Lao!" Cheng Hao cupped his hands and bowed to the old man.

Before he even heard a reply, he had turned around and had left. Only after putting some distance between himself and the darned geezer did his steps finally slow down. Like so, he advanced while observing his surroundings, all the while drawing a mental map of the place.

The old man looked at him, a cheeky smile on his wrinkled face. 'To play games with this old man', he chuckled, 'was asking to reveal all their secrets!'

Happily musing how the youth still had many years to go before he could tussle with a powerhouse, Old Lao was rather elated: not only would this experience teach the shrewd child a lesson in regards to a strong cultivator's means to discern falsehoods, but he had also taken it as a chance to establish his unwavering authority in this relationship. One day, he would even cement this by revealing the real use of the hairpin the child used to adorn his hair...

"Eh, I look forward to the face that child will make. Immortal Blood, yet he'll have used it as a hairpin... He'll be fuming!"

...

Similarly, unbeknownst to the gloating elderly, Cheng Hao had effortlessly accomplished every single goal on his shortlist.

Reminding himself that, his sour expression gradually eased up.

Alas, he, too, chuckled: how cute this 'Old Lao' was. Compared to some other Reverend Stages he faced back in the day, he could be considered to have a good brain.

Dusting his robes, he recognized he had gotten to brush off his acting against a decent opponent.

As the youth moved towards the rendezvous he had set with Blindlight, his sunny mood had him happily strolling as he sang a folk song.

The crystalline melody was met with a short silence until the crickets started to sing back at him in heartfelt elation.

Indeed, the Great Sage's talent pool was like a bottomless well.

...

When the old man finally couldn't see the small back anymore, he sighed and began pondering out loud, rapping his fingers on the wooden table.

"If his talent can match even a tenth of his early intelligence and raw instincts... But then again, the Zhao Bu youth from that Hei's faction is quite a bit older and a lot more experienced. Let alone a Vesper under the Sirius, he'd be a mere stepping stone for the Zhao Clan's child to get his hands on the Sect's resources... And for that darned snake, Old Hei, to sweep in at the very last moment, and send this world and countless others to ruin."

"Indeed… keeping the child a secret and supporting him from the shadows until he has developed sufficiently is the right decision. Going through the correct proceedings is a luxury we can't afford."

The old man was once again reassured of his decision.

Then, he lifted his head. Seeing the sky had long since turned dark, he decided to close his stall and head back to rest and think the details through. It was pretty late and as such the yearly entrance exam should also have come to an end a while ago, so there shouldn't be any more people arriving. With that thought in mind, he turned around and was about to head back...

"Ah! Senior! Senior! Could this Senior please wait a little bit more before closing?!"

…when a youth's voice had him come to a stop in shock.

When Old Lao turned around, he couldn't help but be slightly startled: in front of him, a panting young boy that couldn't be more than eight years old had approached him.

'...Am I seeing this properly?'

The poor old man blinked once, twice, three times. The wrinkles at the sides of his eyes and mouth wriggled like snakes, the deep frown on his head as if carved by a knife. His jaws had even gaped so wide one could easily fit two Goldys in there.

Needless to say, he was astonished! If he weren't a hidden powerhouse... Any other elderly but him might just have soiled their robes!

And how could he not be startled? To see any younglings passing the perilous Entrance Exam of the Sect was rare. Even rarer was for those two youths to pass it at the same time.

And more than that, it was simply irrational for both of them to come to his stall!

Of course, since Old Lao wished to recruit unknown talent, he had secretly connected a few dozen or so nearby entry points to his Hexagram. However, compared to the thousands more scattered about, what were the chances of this happening?

'That aside…'

For it to be this late, wasn't it way past the closing time for the stalls? Was the Vacant Elder in charge forcefully dragged away from his post to file a complaint and didn't bother to turn off the teleportation Hex, to let this happen-

'...Ah. Liu Biao.'

Old Lao felt the urge to rub his temples as he examined this latecomer.

This eight-year-old boy was dressed incredibly well, with refined, expensive clothes adorning his whole body.

He had shoulder-length purple hair: some of the strands faded into shades of blue at the tips, and it gave the youth a somewhat otherwordly impression. His flawless features and long, purple eyelashes seemed to have been sculpted from the finest jade. His green eyes looked like two emeralds, a painter's dream. He had an oval and perfectly symmetrical face, and smooth, dark purple lips. This young boy was undeniably handsome, but it was a beauty different from Cheng Hao's girly looks. Instead, it was the fragile, ethereal perfection of a jewel.

A night breeze messed up the old man's pristine white beard as he asked in a stupor, "Young boy... it couldn't be that you have passed the new disciple entrance exam, could it now?"

The young boy gasped for air and then innocently nodded and replied with a crystalline voice. "I-I did. Can I now enter the sect? I am not too late am I? There was nobody at the station, but the Hexagram was still brightly lit, so..."

"..."

The young boy seemed to be extremely worried. "I... I really do need to get in!"

"Pff-AHAHAHAH!" The old man finally got over the shock he pointed his chin upwards. His loud fit of laughter, as his frustration and indecisiveness melted away, echoed in the courtyard.

Naturally, the emerald-eyed boy's gaze rapidly turned to distrust.

"Ahem! Well…" Old Lao coughed with a slight blush, expertly gaslighting the happenings of just now. "It's not that you're too late, you just surprised me, that's all. However... can you come here for a second and let this old gatekeeper check something?"

Before even receiving a reply, he grabbed the youth's hand and felt his pulse. Immediately afterwards, amidst some initial puzzlement, incredible excitement and euphoria became visible on the old face full of wrinkles. He let out another round of roaring laughter.

The unfortunate young boy who had to experience such swings in the old man's mood was so startled that he fell on his back.

Just as the old gatekeeper was thinking of what hut he should assign this child, a daring thought flashed through his head.

'Usually, rabbits would have more than one hole. However, I really can't help being greedy this once.'

He cast his gaze upon the emerald-eyed boy and he smirked even more as, the more he reflected on it, the more he felt he just had the greatest idea ever!

By the time the child got up, the old man was still jubilant. In fact, he was stupidly grinning and had shoved a set of robes into the kid's arms, as if he were afraid of him not wanting them.

"You see," he said, "you are rather young, junior... This Old Lao thinks it would be better not to live alone at such an early age! Coincidentally, another young man that has the same age as you has also passed the exam, so how about moving together with him? You might get to be friends, and one day even become sworn brothers. Seeing that you both passed the exam so young, you must both be geniuses, so you could even help each other out when it comes to cultivation! What do you think, junior?"

The purple-haired child's eyes instantly grew solemn for some reason, as his fists clenched in excitement. Then, after reigning in his thoughts, he robotically replied "Of course! Father has said numerous times that on the road of martial cultivation, the more friends one has the better!"

Luckily, it looked like this child's father knew his stuff...

...Not.

'If you're going to make up a story, you might want to ask Hao'er to help practise.'

The old man's eyelids twitched at the performance that was almost painful to look at.

'Mmm… With that solemn look at the mention of Hao'er, I wonder what their connection is- Ah, I should head back quickly to make preparations for their Apparition!'

As he remembered that, Old Lao suddenly harrumphed and hurried with an anxious tone, "Hurry, then! That other junior was here up until a short while ago and was taking his sweet time. If you run, you might just catch up to him! He's in hut #5-742; 5th hut in the 742nd ward. Here's a spare key. Now, go!"

"...Yes, Senior Lao. Thanks for your help!"

With those words, the emerald-eyed child nodded resolutely and ran on the paved road in the direction the old man was pointing to.

His Clan had sent him to this backwater place with no explanation, and few words in terms of guidance.

He knew only one thing: he had to find 'Him'.

But then, he was told that he wouldn't be made aware of who 'He' was, or how to find 'Him'.

Since there would be no reason.

According to his esteemed Father, he'd immediately realize if it was the right person or not. That 'He', too, would know right away and have all the answers needed. That so long as the blood of the Clan flowed in his veins, it would only be a matter of time.

And indeed.

Ever since his arrival in this lowly Plane just before, a path of unmistakable coincidences had come to form before his emerald eyes, as if Fate was paving a road.

Around him, the crickets sang a folk song as he followed that paved road.

The lone youth soon found himself running.

Now more than ever, a Karma of unimaginable proportions guided his steps, as his heart sang with the crickets.

...

Old Lao stared at the countless stars glinting up in the sky. "Paragons above men... or mere crab generals of shrimp soldiers? Twin stars in the vast cosmos, glinting brightly until the end of time, or twin reflections atop a lake, bound to distort and fall apart at the slightest ripple? Only time will tell..." The old man closed the stall and made it disappear with a wave of his sleeve, possibly having placed it within some sort of Heaven&Earth pouch of his own. He shook his head and looked at the twinkling stars overhead expectantly. Then, his figure distorted as he began disappearing, raising a cloud of swirling dust.

Only in his last moments, did he raise his head and spare one last glance off in the distance.

Immediately, the bronze quivered.

A golden streak brighter than any light had swum past his vision. Ancient memories of yore older than old were jolted from the depths of his current 'shell'. As his pipuls dilated, Old Lao couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air as only two words, spat in horror and reverence, were left in his wake.

"Blind...light?"

Against all odds: the name of a Primordial uttered by mere Mortal lips.

This plane that never stopped giving, its Mysterious Light-Shadow Sect, and now this Old Lao; all harboured a huge secret that eluded Cheng Hao's wildest expectations.

Indeed.

This lowly world was far from simple.