Ma Bo's Story (Arc 1)

"Right," Feng Yongrui sat up on the bed. Everything that happened today was so fast that he almost forgot.

At that time, Ma Bo's pendant had broke and revealed two things. Ma Bo had a Demonic Constitution and he had a lightning attribute spirit root!

"Argh, I was so focused on the Demonic Constitution that I forgot about that!" Feng Yongrui cried.

He pursed his lips and shook his head.

"Tsk, tsk, no wonder..." Feng Yongrui said.

Ma Bo's cultivation had been suppressed not only because he actually had a Demonic Constitution, but also because his real attribute was lightning, not water!

"I'll have to talk to him about this tomorrow," Feng Yongrui muttered.

For now, his disciples must be tired. Feng Yongrui took a deep sigh and went to bed.

That night, Feng Yongrui had dreams of blood being absorbed by the ground. He saw a pile of bones scattered on the pagoda and a million worms dancing in front of him tauntingly.

It was a terrible dream.

When he woke up, Feng Yongrui was sweating all over. He got dressed and prepared breakfast for everyone.

As usual, the Master and disciples gathered in the Hall to eat breakfast together. The only difference was... there was another person in the room. The youth.

Speaking of the youth, Feng Yongrui had finally come up with a good name for him. He couldn't keep calling him "the youth" forever, right?

"I've decided to name you Zhong Weimin," Feng Yongrui said. "It means people's hero... I hope you grow to be a righteous person blessed with fortuitous encounters and using your strength to help the people."

Feng Yongrui had thought long and hard for this name. Initially, he had just wanted to name the youth casually. After all, wasn't the youth originally their pet?

But the System had advised him to give the youth a proper and elegant name, since the youth was now a human. Feng Yongrui had agreed.

"Zhong Weimin..." the youth enunciated each word carefully, as if savoring its taste.

"Hahaha... I can't believe this is my name now..." A bitter smile laced his lips and Zhong Weimin looked up, blinking a few times.

Ma Bo patted Zhong Weimin's shoulder. "Do you not like the name?"

"If you don't like it, I can change it," Feng Yongrui said, his hands sweating with anxiety.

It took him a long time to think of this! Argh, as expected, he wasn't good at naming people. If he had a child, it would be better for his wife to name him/her.

"I like it," Zhong Weimin said hastily.

"Well, that's good. Feng Yongrui distributed the usual food boxes and handed Zhong Weimin his usual dog bowl.

Feng Yongrui paused.

Well, this was awkward. Zhong Weimin was originally a dog, right? Should he give Zhong Weimin dog food or human food?

Zhong Weimin was not offended and received the dog bowl with both hands.

"It's okay. I can change from dog to human pretty quickly now, so I'll just eat this in my dog form. It tastes pretty good anyway," Zhong Weimin said.

Feng Yongrui was relieved, and they began eating.

Halfway through the meal, Feng Yongrui finally opened his mouth and asked Ma Bo if he had anything he wanted to say.

"You don't have to force yourself to tell me everything," Feng Yongrui reassured him. "I know that sometimes, recalling the horrid memories from the past can be painful. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to."

Ma Bo nodded gratefully.

"However, I'm afraid you have to tell me about you constitution and your spirit root... After all, those two things affect your cultivation progress," Feng Yongrui said.

Ma Bo nodded in understanding. He was already prepared for this. He knew that his Master was kind and wouldn't pry his secrets, but he wanted to tell his Master several things.

All the fear and reluctance he had in his heart had disappeared. He fully trusted his Master, so Ma Bo began speaking with ease.

He explained that he was born in a rural village. His family was really happy to have him, because he was their first and only son. Ma Bo's father was the village chief, loved and respected by the people.

Ma Bo's father's best friend had died a few years ago, leaving only Hou Renshu, his son. Since Hou Renshu was the son of his best friend, the village chief took him in and raised him as his own. Ma Bo and Hou Renshu were best friends who grew up together.

Everything was fine and well.

However, when Ma Bo was around five years old, a cultivator visited their village. Everyone welcomed the cultivator with open arms, and the villagers were awed by his strength. But when the cultivator, saw Ma Bo, he was disgusted and cursed him.

The villagers were confused, but then the cultivator explained that Ma Bo had a Demonic Constitution. Fueled by the cultivator's words, the villagers grew afraid of him and shunned him.

Then, things reached a breaking point when Ma Bo got into a fight with another child in the village. The child had mocked Ma Bo and his parents, saying that Ma Bo was the Demon's spawn and that his mother, who gave birth to him, must be a Demon too.

Furious, Ma Bo had beaten up the child and the two got into a fight. The result was the other child lost two teeth while Ma Bo's body was riddled with bruises.

The child's parents were not good people. The child's father had long coveted the position of village chief, and so he blew up the matter, claiming that Ma Bo's Demonic Constitution made him bloodthirsty and evil.

The child's father told the other village that in no time at all, Ma Bo would grow into a savage monster and kill everyone. Under his instigation, the villagers grew angry and even more fearful towards him.

The villagers respected their chief, but they were even more afraid of Ma Bo. The villagers pressured Ma Bo's father to kill him. Of course, Ma Bo's father refused.

How could he kill his own son, his flesh and blood? He refused and persuaded the villagers that it was all nonsense.

The villagers pretended to obey, but in the dead of the night, they set fire to Ma Bo's house, intending to kill him and his parents.

At that time, Ma Bo happened to go to the toilet with Hou Renshu. When they returned, the house was already on fire. The villagers had surrounded the house, watching with apathy and cold eyes.

Ma Bo's parents were still inside, so Ma Bo rushed through the flames and inside the house. He found his mother lying on the ground.

Her legs were buried under a fallen beam, and she could not move. Although Ma Bo and Hou Renshu tried to lift up the wooden beam, they were nothing but 5-year-old kids.

Ma Bo's mother had given him a pendant, telling him to wear it. She whispered that this pendant had been given to her by a traveling cultivator when she was pregnant with Ma Bo.

Ma Bo had been crying furiously at that time, his heart breaking into pieces. He wanted to save his parents, but his mother urged him to run.

The fire was getting hotter and hotter, so Hou Renshu dragged Ma Bo out of the house. The two of them ran away from the village, fleeing into the darkness of the night...

In any case, the two of them made it out alive. The pendant from his mother was a strange item that hid Ma Bo's Demonic Constitution. Ma Bo and Hou Renshu became beggars and drifted from town to town.

One day, when Ma Bo was 8 years old, hiss spirit root underwent a change. His spirit root was originally a water attribute spirit root, but now it mutated and became a lightning spirit root.

At that time, Hou Renshu and Ma Bo were apprehensive and wary of strangers. When they were beggars, there were several times when Ma Bo's constitution was almost exposed.

So, Ma Bo hid his lightning spirit root and pretended he had a water spirit root instead. It was around that time that the two of them heard about the Immortal Pathway Sect.

They both decided to try their luck and join the sect... and they were here now.

Feng Yongrui listened to their story with great interest, feeling sorry in his heart. His two disciples really went through a lot...

By this time, all of them had finished eating, and Feng Yongrui put down his chopsticks.

"Alright, here's what I think," Feng Yongrui spoke. Feng Yongrui began by thanking Ma Bo for telling him all of this, and for trusting him.

Then, Feng Yongrui assured the two of them again by saying that he accepted Ma Bo for who he is, and that it didn't matter that Ma Bo had a Demonic Constitution.

Now, they had to talk about cultivation methods.

***