Volunteering as a Disciple

When Shen Ying woke up, the sky had already turned dark. The rabbits were nowhere to be found, and there was no one in sight except for a man who was still in a bloody white set of clothing sitting opposite of her, looking at her with a perplexed expression on his face.

Shen Ying was blank for a moment before recalling who this person was. Oh… it's that pit guy.

"What happened to the rabbits? Where have they gone?" She turned around to take a look and then realized that the cottage was already fixed. It had become even bigger than before—from a small straw cottage, it had transformed into a huge five-room straw house. What a great bunch of rabbits!

"After they were done with fixing your house, they were afraid of disrupting your sleep, so they went back first." Yi Qing explained as he pointed to a pile of food ingredients, "This was left by the Rabbit Monarch who said that this is today's portion."

"Oh." Shen Ying scratched her head and stretched her lazy bones. She walked to the pile of ingredients and conveniently picked up one of them. Her brows furrowed as she said, "Why is it carrots again? Sigh… They are indeed a bunch of rabbits. Yesterday it was red turnips, today it is white radish. Holy shit! There's also green turnip. Don't tell me they are giving me purple ones tomorrow?"

Yi Qing followed behind her with an array of thoughts surging in his mind. Even a ten thousand-year-old Ice Ginseng and thousand-year-old Green Spirit were treated just like normal carrots—she was indeed a hidden expert.

(⊙_⊙)

"Forget it, I shall make do with this and just eat it." Thinking it was really just carrots, Shen Ying sighed. With a carrot in hand and a vegetable basket in the other, she munched on the carrot as she prepared to go into the house. However, when she turned her head around and saw Yi Qing, she paused for a moment.

"Hey? Why aren't you going?" She chewed on her carrots, making loud crunching noises as she said, "You can walk, can't you? You want to stay here and freeload? I only have carrots." She then offered the basket towards him, signalling for him to feel free to take any.

Yi Qing's heart was warmed and he immediately saluted her with cupped fists. "Thank you Senior, but my meridians have already been recuperated. I do not need this."

"Oh." Shen Ying had no idea what he was saying but could only guess that he meant he did not want to eat. "In that case, goodbye!" she said, keeping the basket. She then turned towards the house.

"Senior Shen!" he shouted after her hurriedly.

"Huh?" Shen Ying turned her head around once again and asked, "Is there still anything else?"

Yi Qing furrowed and relaxed his brows in turn, seeming to be very conflicted. His expression kept changing from hesitance to worry, then it showed adoration followed by anticipation and so on. After a while, he seemed to have finally mustered up courage and dropped down onto his knees, respectfully giving a bow. "Senior, please accept me as your disciple!"

"Huh?" She was immediately dumbfounded. What was going on? What disciple? What did he hope to learn from her? To be a total lazy shut-in?

"I am an itinerant cultivator with no home, sect nor master. Currently, I am a Golden Core Sword Cultivator wholeheartedly seeking the Dao, and my wish is to use the sword in my hand to eliminate all the heretic spirits in the world." Yi Qing earnestly said, "I am so lucky to have gotten to know you Senior, and I truly admire Senior's righteousness. Pardon my boldness in asking you to accept me under your wing, but I do hope that you will allow it."

He then conscientiously gave her three loud kowtows with a face of eagerness.

"Are you… kidding?" Shen Ying's mouth twitched. Was this person alright in the head? He did seem to have an allergy towards carrots. Could this be some kind of post-allergy symptom?

"Senior." His expression grew more solemn as he continued, "You and I were complete strangers, yet you rescued me in a time of danger, aided in my recovery and took care of me in all other aspects. I am afraid that I will never be able to repay all your kindness in this lifetime."

"So… you want to bite the hand that fed you?" Did he actually want to rely on her? She was already destitute. What a funny way of thinking he had!

"Senior please do not be mistaken," he explained hurriedly. "I truly admire you, Senior, which is why I want to learn under your wing. It is not solely because of your cultivation, but more so due to my respect for your virtues and ethics."

It was universally known among all the cultivators in the world that cultivating the heart and mind to achieve immortality was the orthodox way, just like how he had stepped into the Dao and set his determination to eliminate all heretic spirits in the world as his Dao Heart. He was an itinerant cultivator and he had seen numerous individuals, who held the respect of the public and were viewed with high prestige, commit sinister and atrocious deeds in secret. More often than not, the higher one progressed in cultivation, the more easily one forgot the original purpose in their heart and become burdened by mental demons. But who in the world could truly be void of any selfish motives, and who could maintain such kindness? Even he could not guarantee if there would come a day when he would deviate from his path and become lost. Hence, he had preferred to suffer hardships through solitary cultivation rather than to follow under the wing of any other just so that he would not be implicated with such karma, even if he possessed an Innate Sword Embodiment.

However, Shen Ying was different. Her cultivation had reached a level that others could only admire from a distance yet she preferred to live in seclusion within these deep old forests, and by the entrance of the Demon Realm at that. Neither pursuing any fame nor fortune, having no fear of death. The rarest quality was to have a kind heart that did not falter, to extend a helping hand to strangers. To be able to hold on to one's heart's original purpose up till now—what was Immortal Ascension compared to this?

His heart had been surging with emotions the moment he realized the truth. Such a person was like a clear spring in this filthy world. He wanted to be just like her, to forever stay true to his heart, and even more so to become as strong as her.

"I am truly sincere in learning cultivation from you, Senior. Please grant me this chance!"

"Are you for real?!" This person must be seriously ill in the head. What should I do? So troublesome!

"The sun and moon, as well as heaven and earth can testify my sincerity!"

"Heh heh…" Shen Ying's mouth twitched as she suddenly snapped, "I do not accept!"

She turned around and went into the house, slamming the door shut.

What! Taking in a disciple?! Even in primary school she was held back a year twice.

o(╯□╰)o

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"Exalted Immortal, what happened to Benefactor?" The Rabbit Monarch could not hold back from asking any longer as it pointed outside of the house and said, "I saw that he has been kneeling for three days."

"Benefactor?" Shen Ying took a while before she realized that the rabbit was referring to Yi Qing. "What else could it be. Probably because he takes things too hard!" Ever since that day, this person had been truly pestering her, wanting to become her disciple desperately. No matter how patiently she coaxed and persuaded him, even when she resorted to trickery, his determination to become her disciple never wavered. He had been kneeling in the yard for three days and did not want to get up in spite of everything. This had reduced her quality of sleep recently.

Sigh. If she had known, she would not have fed him so many carrots. Now look at what the post-allergy symptoms had made him become.

"Oh right, did you bring the item that I requested for previously? Did you bring it along?" She simply took over the basket from its hands and started looking through it.

"Yes I brought it, I brought it." The Rabbit Monarch nodded hastily. "How could I dare forget instructions from the Exalted Immortal?" He took out a bunch of meats from the basket which included pork, lamb and beef. "These are what I made my rabbit grandchildren rush throughout the night to the mortal town fifty kilometers away to get. They are still fresh!"

"Mortal town?" Shen Ying turned back to glance at the rabbit.

The Rabbit Monarch was immediately panic-stricken and said, "They manifested into human forms and used the pearls given by the clam demons to exchange for them, so they did not scare anyone."

"Oh, that's hard on you." She picked up a piece of meat and ran straight to the kitchen at the back. After having munched on carrots for several days, there was finally meat to eat, and more specifically there was pork. The images of different pork dishes flashed across her mind: spicy pork stir-fry, braised pork in brown sauce, boiled pork… The mere thought of them already had her salivating.

But then the problem came—she did not know how to cook them!

Groan~~(╯_╰)b