Gift?
After nearly half a month of focused cultivation, Chen Ye’s taut nerves slightly relaxed.
Upon hearing this, curiosity arose within him, and he stepped out of the Quiet Chamber, only to see a massive wooden box placed prominently in the center of the courtyard.
Bu Feifan circled the box, pinching his chin in astonishment and said:
"Strange... I think I hear breathing."
"Breathing?"
Chen Ye’s heart skipped a beat, sensing something amiss, and he slightly probed it with his Divine Sense.
Inside the box was a familiar aura, quietly lurking.
"Nonsense! Utter nonsense!"
Chen Ye’s face instantly turned ashen!
Without hesitation, he rushed forward and forcefully lifted the heavy lid of the box!
Inside, there was a soft brocade laid out, and his first disciple was quietly curled up within, her cascading black hair falling down, accentuating her palm-sized pale face.
She had fallen into a deep sleep, her long, curled eyelashes casting a faint shadow under her eyelids, her breathing steady.
Thinking about it, the journey from Lisong Valley to Lingyin Sect takes several days; the travel fatigue must have unknowingly put her to sleep.
Yet even in sleep, a faint worry hovered between her brows, and a trace of cold sweat lingered at her temples.
Chen Ye bent down, extending his hand to awaken her.
But before his fingertips could touch her cheek, those tightly closed eyes opened.
"Master..."
Upon seeing her master, tears welled up in the obsidian-like eyes of the black-haired little girl.
Her voice was hoarse, tugging at one’s heartstrings.
"You..."
Chen Ye instinctively wanted to scold his reckless disciple, but seeing her with those aggrieved eyes, the words stuck in his throat.
"Zhiwei, what’s going on here?"
He could never have imagined that the gift Mao Qingzhu spoke of was his disciple... calling it a gift was more like a fright.
Zhiwei struggled to sit up in the box, her body appearing small and frail compared to the giant wooden box,
"Aunt Mao told me you were at the sect... then I pleaded with her to bring me to find you. Aunt Mao arranged for a Foundation Establishment True Man to escort me here."
Chen Ye opened his mouth, wishing he could find Mao Qingzhu and give her a piece of his mind.
His current situation was fraught with danger at every turn, teetering on the edge of peril.
Zhiwei coming to him would add nothing but risk and it would be far safer to stay put in Lisong Valley!
He sighed deeply: "Do you know how dangerous this is? This is not a good place!"
"Zhiwei knows it’s dangerous, but..."
The little girl stubbornly lifted her face, looking intently at her master, and spoke each word clearly,
"I can’t let Master stay here alone. I came to serve Master, no matter if it’s a mountain of knives or a sea of fire, even an abyss..."
Before she could finish, her master sharply flicked her smooth forehead!
The pain filled her eyes with tears, looking at her suddenly stern master with grievance.
"What nonsense about a mountain of knives and a sea of fire!"
Chen Ye scolded, annoyed, but seeing his disciple’s tragic, death-defying appearance, he couldn’t help but flick her forehead again.
"Ouch... Master..."
Zhiwei retreated with a pout at being flicked.
She was indeed more mature than Qing Jun in her thinking, but having been knocked twice by her master without reason, even she couldn’t help feeling wronged and confused.
"A little girl like you, what business do you have in an abyss?"
Chen Ye reached out, firmly supporting his first disciple under her arms, and lifted her high out of the wooden box,
"Master isn’t dead yet, do you need to accompany him to the grave? Next time you say something so inauspicious, see how I deal with you."
"But... but isn’t Master going to Songyang Cave Heaven?"
His first disciple, lifted high, persisted in asking without giving up.
Chen Ye sighed inwardly.
He knew that by saying those words, this girl had already made up her mind to go to the Grotto Heaven with him in her heart.
But as her master, how could he bear to see his disciple plunge into peril?
"Indeed, Zhiwei should wait at home for Master to return."
"Home?"
Zhiwei shook her head stubbornly, looking earnestly at her master,
"Wherever Master is, that’s home."
"Nonsense!"
Chen Ye’s brows furrowed tightly,
"Inside the Grotto Heaven, danger lurks everywhere; even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator has a slim chance of survival! What are you, a child in the Qi Cultivation Stage, going to do? Go to your death?!"
"But Master’s cultivation is also in the Qi Cultivation Stage..."
The black-haired little girl said softly, hitting the mark precisely.
Feeling a bit affronted...
Chen Ye’s old face flushed, and he emphasized, "Master is at the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer! The peak of the Qi Cultivation Stage!"
"Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer is still the Qi Cultivation Stage, isn’t it? Besides, didn’t Master have his cultivation restricted and his strongest Magical Treasure taken away?"
Zhiwei stubbornly argued, seemingly impossible to convince the little girl otherwise.
"Silly girl, if Master dies in there, who else will inherit his legacy for revenge?" Chen Ye had to try a roundabout approach, "Don’t you want to seek justice for Master? To cut down those in the Lingyin Sect who conspired against him, one by one?"
He stopped lifting her high, instead drawing her into his arms, soothing her like a young beast, gently patting her tender little back.
Zhiwei’s small face pressed against her master’s warm chest, her muffled voice came out:
"First of all, regardless of whether Master is injured, Zhiwei will avenge him. Secondly..."
"Zhiwei doesn’t understand righteousness; she just wants to stay by Master’s side as long as possible. The matter of revenge can be left to Qing Jun."
What a selfish first disciple.
Chen Ye’s heart was filled with both compassion and sighs, and he couldn’t help but pinch her soft, delicate ear, yet even pinching her ear, he couldn’t bear to apply any force, only gently massaging it.