Ceremony

He blinked his eyes while shaking his head as he raised his head to look at the old man, "Old man, what kind of magic trick is this?"

The old man's lips twitched as he looked at the excitement in the little kit's eyes.

He then recalled how he was just 'humiliated' by the kit and harrumphed showing an expression of superiority as he said with pride, "What magic trick? Don't talk nonsense alright? This is the power of cultivation."

"Wow, I too want to learn how to do this," For the first time, Flare had shown great enthusiasm in learning something from the old man.

Though the old man was happy hearing his request, he still haughtily spoke, "Silly kids like you would never be able to do anything like this. Hmph."

He even put an extra pressure on the word 'kids' when he spoke, showing his dissatisfaction about how the kid treated him to be someone too old.

Flare came back to his senses at that extra articulation and couldn't help rolling his little black eyes at the childish old man.

His back that was straightened at the earlier excitement was relaxed again as he lowered his head in a bored manner once more.

The old man was shocked that the excitement that he had created in this little kit was extinguished within a span of a single minute.

How could this kid become his disciple if he couldn't even make him excited with the concept of cultivation?

During his thousands of years of age, this was the first time the old man faced such a situation where he didn't know what to do.

Of course he didn't notice the calculations in the little kit's eyes since the kit had lowered his head in order to hide his emotions.

In the end, the old man relented and took a deep breath before another gust of wind passed through. He changed his black hair back into his previous style of shiny white hair, looking as calm, composed, collected and elegant as the moment when Flare had first seen him.

The old man spoke in his 'usual' calm voice, "If you want to learn those things, it is not much difficult. But I would never teach anything to any random kids that I meet randomly inside a forest."

Though he did not say his words clearly, Flare was smart enough to understand that the old man was insinuating him to become his disciple, and only then would he teach him things that he wanted to learn.

Flare felt that he had succeeded by making the old man offer him to teach the 'magic trick' that he wanted to learn. Yet, somehow deep within, he still couldn't help feeling that he fell for a deep trap this old man had laid for him.

Nevertheless, since Flare wanted to learn the 'magic trick' and the old man had once again 'offered' him the chance, he did not waste anymore time before he accepted it, "I will be your disciple anyway. So I won't be any random stranger any longer. So there is no need for you to worry about it."

The corners of the old man's lips curved upwards looking at the raccoon baby that had a combination of meekness and arrogance on his face.

'Looks like I got myself into trouble getting this kid as my pupil, huh?' He lamented to himself.

Though the words were not said aloud, Flare looked at his expression and asked, "What are you thinking about me, old man?"

The old man felt like he was caught red handed and coughed to cover up his embarrassment before shaking his head, "Nothing. What would I have to think about you? Anyway, since you decided to be my disciple, let's finish the ceremony required for it."

Flare turned serious as he looked at the old man waiting for the instructions regarding the ceremony required to turn their relationship from some random strangers to the important Master and Disciple.

The old man used the most basic and simple words to describe the process that they should perform and Flare not only listened intently but also he stored everything in his memory under the 'important' category.

Later, the old man was sitting on his rock as usual while the small body of a raccoon was diligently kneeling in front of him.

Though for a non-human body, kneeling is not very comfortable, Flare doesn't want any loopholes in anything important just because he couldn't transform himself into a human.

There were two cups, one in front of each, while Flare respectfully took the tea kettle and poured it in both the cups with perfect technique.

The small body of a raccoon pouring tea for a man actually looked very funny in a way.

But the way Flare had done everything with prim and proper manners, the old man couldn't bring himself to laugh at his cute looking disciple.