In the morning, Tang Bao kept bouncing on Hua Qian Gu’s face to wake her up. When she refused to get up, it playfully dipped its tail into an inkwell and crawled onto her face, dragging its tail all over her face to draw a big turtle. Then it shouted there was snow outside. Upon hearing that, Hua Qian Gu jumped up and ran out. Wow!! This was her first time seeing snow!!! Hua Qian Gu and Tang Bao had a lot of fun playing outside, including having a snowball fight with each other. After some time, Hua Qian Gu decided to look for Bai Zi Hua to tell him it was snowing.
Hua Qian Gu happily ran to Bai Zi Hua’s room, he was not there.
“Teacher! Teacher!” She knew no matter where he was, he always heard her.
Sure enough……
“I am on the Lou Feng boulder.” Bai Zi Hua’s voice rang out. Hua Qian Gu quickly ran out of the hall.
Bai Zi Hua crossed his arms and stood at the mountain’s ledge, looking out at the endless sea and majestic mountain. His white robe was difficult to see in the falling snow, his black hair whipping wildly in the wind.
Hua Qian Gu laboriously climbed up, seeing Chang Liu towering and imposing amidst the white snow, feeling intimidated. The wind was stronger along the mountain’s ledge, and the snow completely covered the ground making it slippery, it seemed as if it would be easy to fall down. Nevertheless, she was not afraid, Teacher was standing next to her.
Hua Qian Gu happily held onto his sleeve to prevent the wind from blowing away her small body.
“Teacher, what a heavy snowfall, hahaha, this is my first time seeing snow! It didn’t snow last year at Mount Chang Liu.”
“Um, the time for the Demon God to be reborn is drawing closer, unstable conditions are affecting the world. Lately, there are frequent earthquakes in the southwest, war in the north, continuous droughts in the east, floods, pests, crop failures, famines are occurring everywhere. Also, demons and monsters are out of control, even disrupting Heaven. It is becoming colder every year, the snow next year will probably be much worse…… Xiao Gu, how long have you been at Chang Liu?”
“Teacher, I’ve been here for two years. I’ve followed you for a year, I’m almost 14.”
Bai Zi Hua nodded slightly: “Your cultivation is somewhat successful, are you still afraid of evil spirits?”
Hua Qian Gu shivered, lowering her head: “I’m still afraid……”
“Evil spirits are things in this world, the main difference is they do not look like humans, you need to stay calm, view them with objectivity. If you are scared without even seeing them, how can you destroy them?”
“Teacher, how to tell between good and evil, demons and immortals will always oppose each other?” She was not clear about Sha Qian Mo, but did not know how to ask about him.
Bai Zi Hua thought for a moment: “You need to be firm, to have virtuous beliefs, but sometimes it is hard to differentiate black from white. It is fine as long as you defend what you believe in. The resurrection of the Demon God cannot be avoided, but this should not be thought of with pessimism. Everyone is in charge of their own fate, which is why you only need to try your best. As long as you are not ashamed of yourself, not ashamed with the world, that is what matters.”
“I understand, but Teacher, forgive me for asking this, you don’t like anything, your life isn’t too happy, why are you still here?” Hua Qian Gu looked up at him in puzzlement.
Bai Zi Hua was a little startled, shook his head and said: “Xiao Gu, you must remember, with great power comes great responsibility. If you only do things you like and avoid responsibilities, that is disgraceful. If you want to forget everything, to live a simple life, that is not easy. I do not like this life, but I also do not like anything at all. However I live, it does not matter.”
Hua Qian Gu’s heart was crushed.
“Sometimes not having emotions is a misfortune, never feeling sad, but also never feeling happy, the price to pay is perhaps too great, which is why reaching enlightenment and becoming immortal is not necessarily a good thing. Xiao Gu, your fate is destined to be difficult, experiencing many hardships, the outside world is much larger and perhaps more suitable for you, Mount Chang Liu for you, it is too small.”
As soon as Hua Qian Gu heard this, she was very scared, kneeling immediately: “I don’t want to, I don’t want to go anywhere, I only want to stay here with you.”
Bai Zi Hua turned to help her stand up, now seeing she wore a thin shirt. He carefully brushed off the snow on her knees, taking off his white outer cloak to cover her.
“Why wear thin clothes, you will catch a cold. I wanted to talk with you, not get rid of you, you should see how scared you are.”
Hua Qian Gu breathed deeply, clenched her teeth, anxiously looked at him.
Bai Zi Hua saw the painted turtle on her face, almost laughed out loud. Tang Bao sat on her shoulder, winked at him with a smirk on its face.
Bai Zi Hua tried to hide his smile, helping her to wipe off each line of ink, the two of them seemed like two statues on the Lou Feng boulder. Hua Qian Gu did not dare to move, afraid she would disturb this gentle moment with him.
She continued to live a simple life at Jue Qing Hall, Teacher seldom taught her himself, the most he did was pointing out her mistakes, guiding her back to the right direction. He never restricted her from doing anything, most of the time he assigned bundles of books for her to read.
Hua Qian Gu did not understand at first, then she slowly realized, the immense information she read gradually seeped into her mind, her knowledge increased significantly. The valuable ancient books were dry and difficult to understand, no one explained them to her, she had to try very hard, but during the process, her ability to analyze and learn surpassed other people. Gradually, without anyone reminding her, a lot of ancient incomprehensible theories easily made sense to her.
She finally understood Teacher’s kindness, give a person a fish and the person would eat for a day but teach a person to fish and the person could live forever, if he taught her she would always be in his shadow, never achieving breakthroughs on her own. Also, regarding the theories in cultivation, everyone had a different learning style, Teacher did not want to force his thinking onto her, he wanted her to rely on her awareness of herself to improve. He never imposed strict requirements on her, only watched over her. He hoped she would not need encouragement or help, she studied out of her own willingness, on her own schedule, cultivation was hard but gradually became easy for her.
In conclusion, Teacher did not teach her mystic arts, he taught her the most important thing, how to study on her own.
At first, her cultivation was behind Ni Man Tian and Qing Shui.
But lately, her cultivation improved tremendously, breaking through the Kan Xin level. At Chang Liu, achieving such success in such a short time, this was rarely done in centuries.
What was more amazing, palace flowers, palace jades…… of other people only reflected the color of their cultivation element, but her palace bells slowly had all colors of the five elements. The bells hung from her sword, shining brightly.
Looking at the bells shimmering like a rainbow, she was overflowed with joy. She knew Teacher wanted to weaken the aura around her body, wanting her to study all five elements, without skipping any element. Hence she did not specialize in one particular element, and her attack strength was not strong. However, she slowly improved in all five elements, her progress sped up, she became more powerful. Regardless of who her opponents were, she had a chance against them.
Now Hua Qian Gu was certain, she had the kindest and most powerful Teacher in the world.
In a flash, she lived in peace for three years at Mount Chang Liu.
Hua Qian Gu was now 17 years old, but still looked like how she was at 14, a child who had not developed fully, without any changes. Her personality also did not change, still the same two buns on her head running back and forth through Jue Qing Hall. Tang Bao did not grow longer, but its width was noticeably wider, becoming a lot chubbier.
“Gu Tou, what are you painting?” Tang Bao chewed a peach blossom biscuit into a small house, sticking its head through a hole to look around.
Hua Qian Gu bit her brush, laughed hehe, said mysteriously: “I’m painting Teacher.”
“Are you sure you’re painting Teacher? Not the Black Guard and White Guard of Hell?”
“Of course it’s Teacher, I’m painting his naked back.”
Tang Bao spat out pieces of the biscuit, causing Hua Qian Gu to knock on its head a few times.
“You dare to spit food at Great Teacher’s picture, aren’t you afraid I’ll twist you like a flour bun?”
“Huhuhu, I’ll tell papa, Gu Tou mama is becoming more violent!” Tang Bao covered its head and hid in the small house.
Hua Qian Gu bit her brush and looked up at the sky, remembering Teacher’s naked back that night, her face full of excitement, her drools continued to flow. Alas, the blame should be on the arts that required practice like playing the zither or painting, she knew the theories, she could look at any painting and knew everything about it. However, if she had to paint, she was useless.
She wanted to paint Teacher, then always carry the picture with her, but she could not make it look good no matter how much she tried. Bai Zi Hua, Bai Zi Hua, in this world, probably no painting could fully capture his grace, appearance, style, temperament.
“Xiao Gu.”
Suddenly, a voice rang out in her ears.
Hua Qian Gu quickly put away the painting, panicked and replied: “Yes, I’m here.”
“Go to the front hall, I need to talk to you.”
“Yes, I’m coming.”
Hua Qian Gu quickly hid the painting, then ran to the front hall.
“Teacher, I’m here!”
Bai Zi Hua put down his teacup, nodded and said: “The sects guarding the holy instruments have all been exposed. Chun Qiu Bu Bai said next month on the 15th, he will lead monsters and demons to steal the holy instruments, but he sent the fighting notice to all four major sects that are far away from each other, it is hard to know what is not true. Based on their strength, they cannot attack all four major sects at the same time, he probably wants to spread out the sects coming to the rescue, he will just attack one major sect. The four major sects are located in various directions far from each other, it is difficult to help them even if we travel thousands of miles each day. Your cultivation has not reached the upper level, but you can help one sect. This time, you can leave the mountain with the other disciples, think of it as a learning experience, all right?”
She would have to leave the mountain by herself, she did not want to, huhuhu, she did not want to be even a step away from Teacher……
“I’ll follow your order.” Hua Qian Gu respectfully bowed her head.
“Pack your things, you will leave tomorrow.”
“Yes.” Hua Qian Gu slowly turned to leave.
“On the way, you must listen to Luo Shi Yi, you cannot run wild.”
“Yes.”
“Bring a lot of clothes, it will be cold at night.”
“Yes.”
“Bring Tang Bao along, if necessary, it can help you.”
“Yes.”
“Go to the medicine room to get some blood clotting herbs and Hui Qing pills, if injured, you will need them.”
“Yes.”
……
“Xiao Gu.”
“Huh?”
“You must be careful, stay safe.”
“I know, Teacher, hahaha……” Hua Qian Gu could not help but laugh, running out of the hall, her heart filled with happiness. Teacher also did not want to be separated from her, but that was normal, she had not gone anywhere in four years, and this was a dangerous mission to fight monsters and demons. No wonder Teacher worried!
Rest assured Teacher, Xiao Gu would not disgrace you on this trip! Hahaha!