"Hmm..." The white-bearded old man paused, his turn to be puzzled.
"To be your apprentice for one year..." Li Chunfeng said with a straight face.
"Two years... Hahaha..." The white-bearded old man replied, then burst into laughter and rose into the clouds, leaving Li Chunfeng no chance to say another word.
Li Chunfeng watched the old man's receding figure, puzzled as to why he was laughing, but what was done was done, and for the next two years, he was considered tied to the Fenghua Sect.
Only the crowd remained baffled, whispering among themselves, and some walked right up to Li Chunfeng to mock him without the slightest bit of mercy.
"You brat, don't know what's good for you. Being Elder Ruyuan's apprentice is a blessing you wouldn't cultivate in three lifetimes."
"Indeed, this is the first time I've ever heard of a time limit between master and apprentice..."
"Right, a master for a day is a father for life. Not only do you feel no gratitude toward your master, but you even want to sever the master-apprentice bond. That is sheer rebellion against heaven and earth."
"Rebellion against heaven and earth..." Anger flared in Li Chunfeng's eyes, and that phrase echoed repeatedly in his mind, as if he had been transported back to that night eight years ago.
He had been bound to the Spirit-Breaking Platform of the Li family, and that night a crowd had pointed their fingers right at his nose, spitting curses: a rebellious wretch, a demon who murdered his mother and brother, an abomination to heaven and earth who deserved a miserable death, the unfilial son of the Li family.
That night, no amount of words could clear his name, and he had suffered unspeakable humiliation. He bore not only the agony of losing his loved ones, but also the pain of being misunderstood and wounded by his own flesh and blood. Ever since that night, he had been the unfilial son—the unfilial son of the Li family, the unfilial son of Tianchu City, and the infamous unfilial son throughout the Mutian Continent.
That night, Li Chunfeng's clenched fists were like solid iron hammers, and he had desperately wanted to swing them at those people, to shatter the mocking words pouring from their mouths. Yet at this moment, because of those very same words, his hammer-like fists teetered on the edge of control and release.
His mind was pierced piece by piece by those thorny words, dragging up the buried past and laying it out to dry right before his eyes. Painful memories surged, making his internal organs tremble, and he lost himself entirely in that segment of the past.
"Elder, please take me as your disciple! I will follow you for the rest of my life..." Among the crowd of rogue cultivators, someone suddenly raised both arms, fell to his knees facing the sky, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Elder, consider me instead..."
This comical stunt elicited roaring laughter from the crowd, which also snapped Li Chunfeng out of his impulse and eased the resentment in his heart regarding the past. He could not simply let those unmerited, filthy accusations be pinned on him, nor could his mother and brother die in vain; he had to uncover the truth, and for now, he had to learn forbearance.
He forced down the needle-like stabbing pain in his heart, relaxed his tense muscles, and tried his best not to think of that wretched night.
"Leng Zhaoyue..."
"Leng Zhaoyue..."
"What is wrong with you? Someone is calling you..."
The cultivator called Xiao Shizi walked up to Li Chunfeng and said loudly.
"You've become an apprentice now, could your ears have gone bad too..."
Only then did Li Chunfeng remember that, to avoid drawing attention, he had used a different name for himself on the Fenghua Sect's name stone—Leng Zhaoyue.
As for why it was Leng Zhaoyue, so much time had passed that his memory was a bit hazy; he only felt as though someone had once addressed him that way.
"Heh..." Li Chunfeng used a silly laugh to mask his hidden inner thoughts.
Then he asked, "What is it, Senior Brother?"
"Everyone has already formed teams. The remaining four of you make just one group." Xiao Shizi motioned with his eyes toward the three people not far away.
Li Chunfeng looked at the three individuals in the distance. All of them were bona fide "masterpieces of humanity," clearly failing to meet the public's standards for "cultivation" ability. Of course, he probably fell into that same "masterpiece" category himself, seeing as no one had bothered to team up with him voluntarily.