267: Chapter 263: Tactful Refusal 267: Chapter 263: Tactful Refusal In terms of age, Chen Hai’s grandfather, had he not died young, probably wouldn’t have been older than Hu Laodao before him.
Thankfully, Chen Hai wasn’t drinking tea when he heard Hu Laodao express his desire to become his disciple; otherwise, he estimated he would have, just like Old Mrs.
Wu, sprayed his tea all over Hu Laodao’s face.
“What do you mean by that, Old Mrs.
Wu?
Is what I said so amusing?”
“In our Cultivation World, it’s the accomplished who lead.”
“With Senior Chen’s strength and realm, he’s more than qualified to be my master.”
“To follow the senior and frequently receive his guidance is my good fortune, my chance.”
…
After wiping off the tea that Old Mrs.
Wu had sputtered onto his face, Hu Laodao looked at her with dissatisfaction, glaring at her fiercely.
In the past, he had been content with the status quo and had long since lost his ambition.
In his view, this was probably as far as he would get in his lifetime; achieving more in his Cultivation journey was unlikely.
Yet now, having witnessed Chen Hai’s Little Five Thunder Skill, flickers of hope were rekindled in his heart.
At his age and at his current realm, the idea of witnessing the end of the Cultivation path was certainly not realistic!
For him, breaking through to the next realm, the Day Tour Realm, and seeing what it was like would mean contentment and a death without regrets.
To fulfill this wish, he would spare no expense, paying any price necessary.
As for losing face by taking a young person like Chen Hai as his master, Hu Laodao didn’t care in the least.
Why should he care about the opinions of mundane people?
Is face worth anything?
Compared to the grand event of breaking through his current realm to enter the Day Tour Realm, everything else was insignificant.
“Hu Laodao, with Senior Chen’s power and realm, he’s certainly eligible to be your master,”
“But have you not looked in the mirror to see your age?”
“For someone like you to become a disciple, surely you would completely dispose of the senior’s dignity…”
Old Mrs.
Wu said with disdain, curling her lip in mockery.
Harsh as her words were, it had to be admitted, they were indeed the truth.
With nothing to say in response, Hu Laodao simply rolled his eyes at Old Mrs.
Wu, choosing to ignore her.
Shifting his gaze away from Old Mrs.
Wu, he glanced surreptitiously at Chen Hai with the corner of his eye.
It seemed he wanted to see Chen Hai’s reaction!
Not only him, but even Old Mrs.
Wu, who was mocking Hu Laodao with her words, was also paying close attention to Chen Hai’s expression.
Should Chen Hai nod and agree to accept Hu Laodao as his disciple,
perhaps, Old Mrs.
Wu herself might follow Hu Laodao’s example and seek the same fortune, to become Chen Hai’s apprentice.
Although she was not a true descendant of Taoism and relied entirely on the Great Immortal’s Borrowing Technique to perform spells,
if she were to become the disciple of Chen Hai, who had mastered Thunder Skill, even the Great Immortal behind her would likely treat her with respect.
Despite her aged appearance, with chicken-skin and crane-hair, she was only just over sixty.
The reason she looked so old was precisely because of the price she had to pay every time she borrowed power from the Great Immortal.
Should she become Chen Hai’s apprentice, protected by a powerhouse of Taoism, she might be able to perform spells at minimal cost, borrowing mana from the Great Immortal with ease!
“Taoist Friend Hu, didn’t you have a mentor when you truly entered the path of Tao Cultivation?”
“For orthodox Taoism, changing allegiances is akin to betraying one’s master and ancestors – a grave taboo!”
“Are you sure you want to join my sect?
Are you not afraid that your ancestors will not stay peacefully in their coffins?”
After staring in bewilderment for a long time, with a peculiar expression, Chen Hai spoke.
He had intended to flatly reject Hu Laodao’s unrealistic fantasy.
But seeing his sincere expression, as well as his aged, haggard face, he felt somewhat reluctant.
After all, respecting the elderly and cherishing the young had been a beautiful tradition of Yanhuang Country for many years.
Besides, the elderly are often very stubborn in their beliefs.
Should he refuse, and if the old man couldn’t handle the rejection, he might not think it through and despair to the point of suicide; that would be a great sin on Chen Hai’s conscience.
“Senior, my lineage comes from the Chaoyang Taoist Temple.”
“Decades ago, the entire temple was destroyed overnight in a fire.”
“By chance, I survived solely because I was visiting my sick father in my hometown.”
“To speak frankly, I’m no different from an unaffiliated cultivator; changing sects and becoming a disciple under the senior holds no taboos for me.”
…
Without any sense of burden, Taoist Friend Hu earnestly explained to Chen Hai.
Indeed, he had become a Cultivator under the masters of Chaoyang Taoist Temple.
However, after Chaoyang Taoist Temple was destroyed and the Taoist lineage was severed, his faint connection with the ancestral grandmaster had also been completely cut off.
Unable to visualize his own ancestral grandmaster, in order to continue his cultivation, he could only rely on absorbing the energy of incense offerings and that bit of Moonlight Power when his Divine Soul departed his body in order to strengthen his Divine Soul.
If not for this, after more than fifty years of cultivation, he wouldn’t have only just stepped into the Night Tour Realm so simply.
“Taoist Friend Hu, I myself am also an uncultivated novice in the realm of cultivation, with hardly any experience worth mentioning!”
“Even if you were to take me as your mentor, I simply couldn’t guide you.”
“After all, my cultivation to this date has all been a matter of blind practice…”
Chen Hai sighed with a hint of speechlessness in his heart.
He spoke gently and persuasively, trying to talk Hu Laodao out of the unrealistic idea of taking him as his master.
“Senior, I know I am of mediocre aptitude, and it’s only natural that you don’t wish to take me on as a disciple.”
“It’s just that, not being able to step further into the Day Tour, there’s always that bit of reluctance in my heart!”
“It seems, it’s my fate, that I have thought too much!”
With a sense of melancholy, Hu Laodao said with a downcast face, expressing his feelings.
Although Chen Hai had not explicitly refused him, the meaning implied in his words was quite clear to Hu Laodao.
For a Tao Cultivator, having a master’s guidance is incomparable to groping around alone.
Hu Laodao had been in the Night Tour Realm for more than a decade.
His current Realm, although not yet at the peak of the Night Tour Realm, had reached the Late Period.
Without guidance, relying on his own power, he truly hadn’t much assurance of advancing further into the Day Tour.
By becoming a disciple under Chen Hai, he felt that at least, the chances of breaking through could increase by two or three-tenths!
But now, after Chen Hai’s tactful refusal, his hopes of advancement seemed to have been thoroughly dashed…
“Taoist Friend Hu, don’t put on such a disheartened look.”
“Although you missed the opportunity to take the senior as your master, it’s rare that the senior is here, and if there is anything you don’t understand about your cultivation, it’s a good opportunity to consult and ask for advice from him!”
Seeing that Hu Laodao’s attempt to become a disciple had failed, Old Mrs.
Wu quickly extinguished the unrealistic thought she harbored.
In an attempt to ease the awkward atmosphere inside the tent, she swiftly changed the subject, making a suggestion to Hu Laodao.
“To say ‘consultation’ is not really appropriate, after all, I haven’t been on the path of cultivation for very long.”
“In the realm of unprecedented supernatural events, compared to you two Taoist Friends, my insights and experiences are far less by who knows how much.”
“We’re all just here to exchange and discuss ideas about cultivation; it can’t be said that one person is consulting another!”
With a faint smile, Chen Hai responded.
As long as the old lady and the old Taoist in front of him were not adamant about taking him as their master, other matters were negotiable.
Hu Laodao was feeling disheartened and hesitant to speak for the moment.
Old Mrs.
Wu proactively initiated a conversation and started exchanging ideas with Chen Hai.
In less than half an hour, as Hu Laodao’s mood slightly improved, he also joined their discussion on the Tao.
…
The weather in March is as fickle as a woman’s face; it changes at a whim.
Though only ten or twenty days had passed since the Spring Festival, according to the solar calendar, it was already early March.
Last night had been filled with flashing lightning and incessant raindrops, but this morning, the clouds had dispersed, and the sun was once again hanging high in the sky.
At a little past nine in the morning, shortly after having breakfast, Chen Hai and his companions were once again invited to the tent where Fang and the others were staying.
The group from yesterday had two or three people sent to the hospital overnight, and now, including Fang and Ye Cheng, there were only four or five left.
“Everyone, last night was relatively peaceful; that thing did not appear.”
“Today the weather is good, and it’ll definitely be more convenient for us to do something in this broad daylight.”
“I wonder if you have any ideas on how to locate the hiding place of that thing?”
After inviting Chen Hai and his friends to sit down, Fang got straight to the point.
He had actually asked them this question last night.
However, after witnessing Chen Hai easily knock down the Big Camphor Tree with a single palm, he had new thoughts in mind.
Zhou’s leg was broken, and everyone else was dusty and injured.
Given the circumstances of last night, it was normal for Fang to be in a bad mood, but after one night, his spirits had recovered a good deal.
His demeanor now was amiable; Fang’s words seemed to be asking for Chen Hai, Hu Laodao, and the third person’s opinions, but his gaze was fixated on Chen Hai.
Not only him, but Ye Cheng and the others, as well as Hu Laodao and Old Mrs.
Wu, were all looking at Chen Hai at the same time.
The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.
Undoubtedly, in the eyes of everyone present, Chen Hai was certainly the most capable among them.
PS: Continue to write; there will be another chapter later!