Su Bei rode his flying sword at top speed, returning all the way to Bujian Peak amidst the admiring gazes of a crowd of female disciples.
By dusk, the conversations of the Sword Sect disciples could still be vaguely heard along the way:
"Have you heard? The Fifth Elder brought a woman back with him this time when he returned to the Sword Sect!"
"Ah! Such a gentle, tender, and peerless good man like the Fifth Elder actually has a weakness for women?"
"Alas, men are all like that."
"But that woman doesn't look very old either, does she? Maybe around seventeen or eighteen?"
"Yet the Fifth Elder is over five hundred years old!"
"Do you think it's possible that this person is a new disciple the Fifth Elder has taken in?"
"Yet the Fifth Elder is over five hundred years old!"
"..."
Su Bei had nothing to say!
After all, with someone as outstanding as himself, no matter where he appeared, he would undoubtedly be the most dazzling one.
Some people have their heroic bearing penetrate their entire lives from the moment they are born!
Fallen leaves rustled, and Bujian Peak was dyed with crimson clouds.
Looking at this scene, Su Bei let out a soft sigh:
"The sect's disciple-recruitment ceremony a month from now..."
"..."
Normally speaking, this was definitely a major plot event!
The kind of major plot event that could definitely get entangled in all sorts of causal relationships!
Who knows, that foolish woman Wénrén Píngxīn might have a brain fade and invite all the major sects across the world to attend as spectators...
Then there was no need to think about it; as the host of this gathering, he would definitely be the kind of character who either gets his face slapped or is forced to have his face slapped.
—And then came the clichéd plot he could imagine with his toes.
As the renowned Fifth Elder of the Sword Sect in the Twenty-One Provinces, the moment he opened his eyes he was at the Mid Soul Formation stage of immortality and chivalry, having spent decades bored on Bujian Peak with internal harmony within the sect...
Counting those various protagonist templates from Qidian, the cliché things like bone-digging and being good-for-nothings needn't be elaborated.
What about those novel genius-style, invincible-style, all-heavens-style, exposure-style, empress-style, and villain-style stories from Fanqie?
Which one had anything to do with him?
The system-style?
Oh please, if a transmigrator didn't even have a system, could they still be called a transmigrator?
Therefore, after such a long time, Su Bei gradually came to realize one thing.
He very likely was not the Son of Destiny of this world!
And upon learning that his system was simply a disciple-recruiting feedback mechanism, Su Bei, who was already reluctant to sit cross-legged in meditation and practice, directly poured all his energy into those things called quirky and clever skills!
Since he wasn't the protagonist, why bother having the mindset of a protagonist?
Imbued with the excellent philosophy of stealing leisure amidst busyness, Su Bei accomplished virtually everything that transmigrators loved to do!
Things like high-purity distilled liquor, lazy rocking chairs, mahjong, playing cards...
"I wonder how my disciple is doing?"
"..."
Su Bei shook his head, pushing these troublesome thoughts out of his mind, put away his sword, and descended onto Bujian Peak with supreme swagger and grace.
Yet the next moment, Su Bei felt something was amiss.
He gave his nose a sharp sniff.
The air was permeated with a strong fragrance of fiery liquor.
Oh no!
Su Bei was shocked and dismayed.
Could this spendthrift disciple of his have actually gone and drunk "Karasho, Water of Life," which he had refined as a "drunkard's potion"?
It would be fine if Xiao Ruoqing had cultivation!
The crucial point was that she was currently just an ordinary person, wasn't she?
This was his precious tool-person, what should he do if she drank herself into some kind of accident?
His salted-fish lifestyle relied entirely on this disciple!
Su Bei swallowed hard, then rushed headlong toward the Thatch Cottage in a panic.
Pushing open the door—
"Hiccup! Master, you're back."
Xiao Ruoqing looked at Su Bei with misty, seductive eyes and gave a gentle hiccup.
Her pair of beautiful eyes were like autumn water, and her already somewhat tattered white silk robe was crookedly and improperly draped over her body.
Her eyes were hazy, and a hint of intoxicating flushed red bloomed on her tender, slender neck.
A beauty intoxicated, her rosy cheeks glowing.
—If one ignored the iron wok she was holding in her hand, Su Bei would indeed have liked to describe the woman before him this way.
With flushed cheeks, Xiao Ruoqing looked at Su Bei and staggered toward him.
Placing her ten fingers on Su Bei's chest, she gazed into his eyes, her breath venting like orchids.
—Emitting a rich, mellow fragrance unique to "Karasho, Water of Life."
"Master, Qing'er, hiccup!"
"Qing'er is stewing chicken soup for you, oh!"
"Hiccup! Master, wait a little longer, this chicken was not easy to kill at all!"
"..."
Su Bei's mouth twitched as he looked at the chicken inside the iron wok.
From the corpse of this chicken, one could vaguely tell what kind of devastation it had suffered during its lifetime.
This was definitely the Phoenix-Feathered Big-Headed Chicken that he had painstakingly raised on the mountain peak for fifty years.
The Phoenix-Feathered Big-Headed Chicken that he carefully tended to every day and was on the verge of attaining the Dao to become a chicken deity in a matter of days...
Just like that, it was ruined by this spendthrift wretch?
In her daze, Xiao Ruoqing looked at Su Bei with a triumphant expression, showing off the chicken in the wok that was already stewed beyond recognition.
Then, with practiced movements, she carried the iron wok while hiccuping and rummaging through the cabinet.
"Hiccup!"
"Need to add this in..."
Right in front of Su Bei, Xiao Ruoqing nonchalantly picked up "Henbane"—the deadly poison of the Twenty-One Provinces—alongside the laxative "mirabilite" next to it.
With cautious, extremely even, and delicate movements, she sprinkled it into the chicken soup.
Then, taking dreamy steps with her eyes blinking cutely, she looked at Su Bei with utmost sincerity and eager anticipation.
"Master, drink the chicken soup!"
"Drinking chicken soup is such a wonderful thing..."
"..."
Thud!
After Xiao Ruoqing placed the chicken soup on the table, her whole body pitched forward and collapsed flat onto the floor.
Su Bei: "..."
...
Su Bei looked with dark lines on his face at Xiao Ruoqing, who had collapsed on the ground, dead drunk.
Then he glanced at the empty liquor bottle on the table.
Frowning, he gently cupped his chin and couldn't help falling into a deep reverie.
Could it be that all disciples like to spike their master's chicken soup with laxatives upon meeting?
But this was too open and aboveboard, wasn't it?
Without hiding it at all?
Could it be that this disciple of his was naturally aloof, a bit of an airhead, and possessed dark-belly attributes?
"Alas..." Su Bei sighed with a headache.
Then he scooped up Xiao Ruoqing, who was lying on the ground, into his arms in one sweep.
The soft, warm touch instantly spread all over Su Bei's whole body.
Su Bei gave a light cough, repeating incessantly in his mind.
Ahem, this is my disciple!
This is my disciple!
"Mm-gh!"
Seeming to feel herself being picked up by Su Bei, the woman in his arms murmured.
Then she threw her arms around Su Bei's neck and thrust her red lips forward.
From this angle, as long as Su Bei lowered his head slightly, that stunning scenery could come entirely into view.
Her peerless face was flushed with intoxication, only the words tumbling from her mouth made Su Bei feel increasingly awkward no matter how he listened.
"Master... Master, hehe..."
"Master, why haven't you died yet..."
"When are you going to die, Master..."
"..."
Su Bei tilted his head back, gazing up at the sky, trying his best not to lower his head to look at those jade-like peaks of suet, and sighed gloomily.
Did this female disciple of his have something wrong with her brain?
Could it be that she also had yandere tendencies?
Right at this moment, a rapid sound of tearing through the air came from above the firmament, accompanied by an unmasked, open and aboveboard, deafening noise that resounded throughout the entire Bujian Peak.
From far away, Su Bei could already smell that familiar aroma of liquor.
"Fifth Senior Brother! Hiccup!"
"Junior Brother has come to bring wine..."
"Hiccup..."