Forty-fourth: Without Moral Integrity

  "No way!" Before Xiao Yao could respond, Baozi jumped in and answered for her, "Pfft! What 'excellent appearance', you just said she was plain-looking earlier, how can you change your tune now?! Xiao Yao, I won't let you agree to this scoundrel's proposal!"

  "Huh?" Zi Dong's innocent face turned lazy once again, "Did I say that? Fine, I'll change it... So, let me rephrase: Your looks are average, but your talent is not bad. How about becoming my apprentice?"

  "No way! I don't care what you say, it's not going to work!" The leopard's fur stood on end, completely disregarding the fact that he was still being held upside down by Xiao Yao, who had a grip on his tail. He swung his paw and swiped at Zi Dong.

  "Little guy, that's not right," Zidong said with a smile, finding it amusing. "I was asking your master, not you. How can you answer for them? If you're not well-behaved, I'll have my disciple sell you off later."

  The leopard was ignited in an instant, its eyes almost spewing fire as it charged forward with all its might. "You little scoundrel! I'm your grandfather! Xiao Yao! Don't pull my tail, I'll bite this shameless thing to death!"

  "What does Zhong Rou think?" Zi Dong didn't even glance at it, only looking towards Xiao Yao.

  "I'm not interested." Xiao Yao rejected bluntly, surprisingly this time she and Baozi's thoughts were unexpectedly consistent.

  Zi Dong seemed unsurprised that she would refuse, smiling and saying: "Good disciple, you really hurt your master's heart. Is it because you think your master is not strong enough or are you worried that your master will not be good to you?"

  How dare she! She had already refused, yet this person still dared to change the way he addressed her, it's really too shameless! Xiao Yao narrowed her eyes and only spat out four words: "No teacher's virtue."

  Zi Dong was taken aback at first, clearly he hadn't expected this reason either. He then burst out laughing and said, "Haha, this is quite interesting! But I think you're just right for my taste, this apprentice is mine!"

  Xiao Yao raised an eyebrow, can one really take in a disciple by force? In her opinion, a master should teach with words and deeds, and the disciple should be sincere. If the person is not worthy of admiration and respect, she would not have become their apprentice. Now, these two people, the master's heart was insincere, and the disciple was unwilling, they were more like enemies than master and apprentice. Did they want to live a long life?!

  "You're either genuinely willing to take me as your disciple, or you think it's amusing and want to raise me to pass the time. You know what's in your heart. Now I'm going out, if you block my way again, don't blame me for being impolite!" As she spoke, Xiao Yao released her immortal aura, and the Heavenly Majesty Ceremony became even more apparent. "Even if my strength is not as good as yours, it's not difficult to fight to the death!"

  Seeing her aura, the atmosphere around her seemed to change, Zi Dong's phoenix eyes slightly raised, different from before. This made him feel that the aura on her body was vaguely dangerous, making even himself, who was at the top of the Xian Ling realm, feel a sense of crisis. How many more surprises did this girl have in store?

  As he thought, a flash of sharp light flickered in his eyes, but his mouth was pitifully saying: "The disciple is so fierce, accepting the gift from the master, but not willing to acknowledge the master, this is not righteous."

  Xiao Yao furrowed her brow, "Fellow Taoist, don't speak nonsense. When did I ever take your gift?"

  "Storage bracelet." Zidong smiled brightly, "Are you going to rely on it, disciple?"

  Xiao Yao's heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously clenched her fists: the storage bracelet was indeed obtained from his immortal mansion, but it was worn on her wrist, covered by her Taoist robe, how did he know?!

  Zi Dong himself caught the unusualness and comforted, "Disciple, don't be alarmed. Since I've accepted you, I won't take it back. As long as you're willing to call me Master, that's enough. After we pay our respects with tea, I'll have an even more generous initiation gift."

  Pshaw, what a ridiculous initiation gift! Who are you trying to fool? She's not someone who can be fooled by a couple of words and become timid and weak-kneed!

  "This object was obtained by me in an abandoned cave, it is ownerless. Moreover, I almost lost my life to get this object, now you, fellow Taoist, speak empty words saying that the bracelet belongs to you, which is not convincing enough, do you have any evidence?"

  "Hmm, when did my Zidong Village become a deserted cave mansion?" Zidong said with a helpless expression, "Although I don't have concrete evidence, for the convenience of knowing where the treasure went, every treasure that was sent out has no marks on its surface, but each one carries my divine aura. As long as you get close, you can sense it. What object, when, and where it was placed, all can be roughly detected." After finishing speaking, he still looked at her with a very sincere gaze, indicating that he absolutely did not lie.

  Everyone has mentioned Zidong Village, at this moment any argument is pale. Xiao Yao finally couldn't calm down, wanting to cry but having no tears: What kind of person is this! They actually tampered with every single treasure, it's really too frightening!

  She hastily transferred the items from her storage wristlet to a storage bag and handed it over to Zidong, "Since this is indeed a fellow practitioner's item, please take it back. As for taking on an apprentice... I admit I'm not capable of that, so please look for another talented individual."

  Zi Dong didn't even glance at the bracelet, only narrowing his phoenix eyes slightly. He took a quick look and suddenly felt a surge of anger, "Don't want to be master and apprentice? How should we proceed then? Peng Yong that scoundrel came back from the Western Extreme with a face full of bitter resentment, looking for me to settle accounts. He said I sent someone to obstruct him from getting the Water Moon Mirror, and also said that if it weren't for my instructions, that thief wouldn't have given up on other precious treasures and only wanted to fight with me over the broken mirror. This put me in a difficult position, directly framing me as the culprit. Shouldn't Rong Rou take some responsibility? Or perhaps Rong Rou thinks being master and apprentice is not good, does he hope to...

  "No!" Xiao Yao hastily cut him off, shaking her head like a rattle drum. One look at his eyes and she knew he definitely wasn't saying anything normal.

  "Alright," Zidong also let out a sigh, "I didn't have that idea either, let's just remain as master and apprentice."

  Xiao Yao's eyes welled up with tears, and she almost shouted towards the sky: "Damn it! Son of a bitch!" When she stole the Water Moon Mirror from the immortal mansion earlier, did she ever say that someone had instructed her to do so? How could Xiao Su, that bastard, think in such a complicated way? No wonder he didn't pursue her again afterwards. He must have thought that she had a powerful backer and didn't dare to act rashly!

  At this moment, even if a thousand grass mud horses rushed past, they couldn't calm down Xiao Yao's mind: Wouldn't he have recognized himself as early as the first time they met half a year ago? He didn't look for trouble with her at the first opportunity, probably because Yu Feng's matter temporarily diverted his attention. Then wasn't he following her from the start to strike back and toy with her?!

  "When... did you find out?" Xiao Yao struggled to regain her voice, as if seeking confirmation.

  "Isn't it said that you'll know as soon as you get close?" Zidong smiled harmlessly, "About half a year ago, I suppose."

  Woe is Xiang Yao, she's desperate, what to do? She accidentally revealed the truth.

  In fact, the truth is roughly what she guessed. To say that her luck was indeed very bad, this Zi Dong was originally a Western Extreme cultivator, and it would be extremely unlikely for him to encounter Zi Dong after being brought to the Eastern Extreme by the Void Storm, but he just happened to run into him.

  At first, Zidong just wanted to tease her, thinking it was a small punishment for himself to take the blame. He had no intention of taking her as his apprentice. But after following her for seven days, he found that this girl and her spiritual pet were quite interesting, one seemed to understand him very well; the other always wanted to fight with him. Now that he discovered she could enter and exit the void at will even though her cultivation was only at the Huan Shen stage, he thought this person and beast were even more interesting. Suddenly, he had the idea that having such an apprentice by his side would never be boring.

  Now looking at Xiao Yao's extremely wonderful expression and the small beast hanging upside down with its teeth and claws, he felt that his decision was correct. He said: "Disciple, rest assured, as long as you acknowledge me as your master, I will definitely teach you well and not be perfunctory. The heavenly material is precious and endless, how about it?"

  Xiao Yao took a long time to calm down, and with a still somewhat stiff face, she said firmly: "No!", at this moment she felt that refusing was the right thing to do!

  Zi Dong's eyes blinked, and he vaguely felt that he had somehow made things awkward, but still didn't give up and tempted: "I'm Zi Dong, after all..."

  "I know you're that Zi Dong..." The last two words were something that Xiao Yao couldn't bring herself to say.

  "Don't be so hasty in refusing me, as long as you come to your senses, you can always find me, and the timing is forever." Having tried everything, Zidong also stopped pressuring him. As the saying goes, "without desires one becomes strong", she had no demands on him, making it difficult for her to entice him, yet he himself was taken with this very aspect of hers - wasn't this a case of self-inflicted trouble?

  This man is unpredictable and does whatever comes into his head. Xiao Yao was afraid he would change his mind again, so she hastily nodded in agreement, hoping he would leave soon.

  Zi Dong saw that she was perfunctory and didn't mind, only reminding her: "Next time you enter or exit the void, be careful. Any cultivator who has reached the Unity stage has the ability to tear through the void, and those old guys have always liked to fight in the void. My future disciple must not be discovered again."

  Watching him disappear into the void, Xiao Yao couldn't help but curl up her mouth corner. One lesson wasn't enough? From now on, when cultivating, she would probably have to use Yang Tuo's "Divine Breath" clock all the time.

  Then, Xiao Yao also came out of the void, looking at the blue sky and white clouds outside, the warm sunshine, she let out a deep sigh, her mood gloomy. After being frightened by Zi Dong like this, for these two days, she didn't dare to enter the void to meditate again.

  After thinking about it, she felt that the cave was not very safe either, fortunately, she went to the Baiyu Pavilion Academy. It turned out that a cultivator of the Convergence Period could tear through the void, so it seemed that she still needed to understand more about the common sense of the Xianling world and try to minimize falling into unfavorable situations.

  This time, Xiao Yao stayed in the White Jade Pavilion Academy for over a month, and within her authorized limits, she had almost read through all the available books and jade slips. Only when there were no more books to read did she leave the academy.

  It's been over a month, Zidong shouldn't appear again, right? After all, he still needs to start forging the "Lingkong Jiezi", and can't stay away forever.

  Thinking of this, she returned to the cave again, but never expected that Zidong was gone, and instead came a Luo Jianying!

  At this moment, someone is sitting cross-legged in front of her cave's gate!