15: Chapter 15: Reluctantly Accepting a Disciple, Rewarded with a God-Level Concealing Breath Technique!

Having made up his mind, when Su Changge looked at Ye Qingyao kneeling on the ground again, his gaze had completely changed.

This was no longer some hot potato.

This was clearly a walking, kowtowing quest reward!

Of course, the act had to be complete; he had to maintain the right posture.

He couldn't appear too eager, as that wouldn't fit the indifferent persona of a "hidden Master."

Su Changge remained silent for a long time.

So long that Ye Qingyao's heart sank straight to the bottom, thinking all her hopes were about to vanish like bubbles.

Just as the icy chill called despair was about to submerge her, Su Changge finally let out a long sigh.

That sigh seemed to traverse eternal time and space, carrying endless vicissitudes and an unspeakable sense of helplessness.

"Fine..."

He spoke slowly, using a tone that suggested he was making a massive compromise and concession.

"Seeing as you are sincere and possess the 'Innate Dao Embryo,' and indeed share some fate with my lineage..."

"As your Master, I shall accept you."

Every word struck against the strings of Ye Qingyao's heart.

A massive surge of ecstasy, like a volcanic eruption, instantly breached all her defenses, making her delicate body tremble with excitement.

She succeeded!

She... succeeded!

However, Su Changge was not finished.

He paused slightly and added in an even more "reluctant" tone.

"However, the rules of my lineage are strict. Those without great perseverance and great wisdom cannot receive the true legacy."

"Your Heart-Nature is currently still impetuous and your Foundation is unstable, so you shall start as a... Named Disciple."

"Once your Heart-Nature is steady and your cultivation is successful, I will then consider whether to accept you as a Personal Disciple."

Su Changge played this hand with seasoned perfection.

Accepting her only as a "Named Disciple" was intended to instantly drop her expectations to the lowest level!

After all, with a Named Disciple, the Master doesn't provide much guidance and everything depends on one's own comprehension. Wasn't that only natural?

This way, even if he taught her nothing in the future, he would have the perfect excuse.

'I really am a mediocre little Genius of language!' Su Changge gave himself a thumbs-up in his heart.

He originally thought that upon hearing she was merely a "Named Disciple," she would show some disappointment.

To his surprise, after Ye Qingyao heard this, far from showing any disappointment, her face burst with an even more fervent radiance!

A Named Disciple?

Even a Named Disciple is a Disciple of an Immortal Venerable!

As long as she could stay by the Immortal Venerable's side, let alone a Named Disciple, she would be willing to even be a servant girl tending the fire!

Furthermore, the Immortal Venerable had personally promised that there would be a chance to become a Personal Disciple in the future!

What did this mean?

It meant the Immortal Venerable had already recognized her potential!

"Disciple Ye Qingyao thanks Revered Master!"

She was beyond excited and respectfully kowtowed three times to Su Changge, each one loud and clear.

Each collision of her forehead with the bluestone ground produced a dull "thud! thud! thud!" sound, as she didn't use a single shred of spiritual energy to cushion the impact.

When she raised her head again, her smooth forehead was already red and swollen, but her eyes were startlingly bright, as if stars were burning within them.

She changed her form of address.

Her voice was crisp, every word resolute.

"Disciple pays respects to Revered Master!"

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for completing the mission: Accept the Empress as a Disciple (First Stage)!]

[Mission Reward: Divine Level Breath Concealment Technique (Passive), has been issued!]

[Skill has been automatically loaded for the Host!]

The moment the System's notification sound faded, an invisible and intangible yet vast and boundless power instantly enveloped Su Changge.

From his Physical Body to his Soul, and even to the System deep in his mind, everything seemed to be wrapped in a mist of absolute isolation Laws.

He clearly perceived that between himself and this world, there was an additional layer of separation that could not be observed or deduced.

From this moment on, he was himself.

An independent, unsearchable individual.

Unless he actively revealed his trump cards, even if an Immortal Emperor descended, they wouldn't hope to see through the slightest bit of his reality!

"Awesome!"

A sense of absolute security surged through his limbs like a warm tide. Su Changge felt his walking posture become three times more confident.

He looked at Ye Qingyao, who was still kneeling on the ground, and in a great mood, he waved his hand casually.

"Rise."

"Thank you, Revered Master!"

Only then did Ye Qingyao dare to stand up from the ground, still standing respectfully to the side with her head bowed, not daring to look directly into Su Changge's eyes.

Su Changge looked at her well-behaved and obedient appearance, nodded with satisfaction, and then raised a finger to point.

He pointed toward a few even more simple and dilapidated thatched huts on a nearby hillside.

Those were storage rooms built back when the Sect's Disciples had come to help.

"In the future, you shall live over there. Go tidy it up yourself."

After saying that, he ignored Ye Qingyao, turned back to his own thatched hut, lay down on the grass again, and closed his eyes, adopting a posture as if he were entering a meditative state.

In reality, he was blissfully calculating how to spend his skyrocketing emotion points.

Meanwhile, Ye Qingyao looked in the direction Revered Master pointed, and a tidal wave of shock rose in her heart once more.

What kind of place was that?

It was even simpler than Revered Master's residence, almost leaking air on all sides, barely able to provide shelter from wind and rain.

No sense of grievance arose in her heart; instead, she was filled with a massive wave of emotion and realization.

"I understand!"

"Revered Master is doing this to temper my Heart-Nature!"

"Allowing me to guard against arrogance and impetuosity amidst the hardships of the mortal world, to solidify my Dao Foundation! This is the true Supreme Dao!"

"Revered Master has taken such pains; I, your Disciple, will never let you down!"

Ye Qingyao bowed deeply once more toward Su Changge's back.

Only then did she walk toward that dilapidated hut—which in her eyes was filled with "Daoist Zen intent"—with a mood bordering on a pilgrimage.

At the same time.

The news of Ye Qingyao becoming Su Changge's Disciple swept through Changge Peak like a storm and spread through the entire Taixuan Sect even faster.

One stone stirred up a thousand waves!

"What?! That Genius girl Ye Qingyao, who has peerless talent and was turned away by even the Sect Head and various Elders, actually took the Little Martial Ancestor as her Revered Master?!"

"I heard she took the initiative to kneel and beg for apprenticeship! She knelt outside the mountain gate for an entire day and night!"

"My god! Who hasn't seen Ye Qingyao's arrogance? To make her willingly perform such a grand ceremony, just what kind of heaven-reaching figure is our Little Martial Ancestor!"

"Is there even a need to ask? He must be a banished immortal walking the earth!"

The entire Sect was in a complete uproar.

The admiration and curiosity of countless Disciples and Elders for Su Changge reached a new peak once again.

In Su Changge's mind, the notification sounds for incoming emotion points began to frantically spam the screen once more.