15: Chapter 15 This master and disciple are destined to be together with me.

Yun Yun had already put on a set of casual clothes suitable for bathing. She turned her body slightly, leaving only her snow-white, fragrant shoulders exposed.

However, in this dim, low-light environment, the sensation it gave was even more direct.

“Greetings, Sect Leader.”

Gu Han cupped his hands and bowed in greeting. He lowered his head, no longer looking at Yun Yun, his tone neither humble nor arrogant.

“What is your name?” Yun Yun asked.

Hearing how Gu Han addressed her, she understood that he was a Misty Cloud Sect disciple.

This was a youth who looked to be about the same age as her disciple, Nalan Yanran. His cultivation was actually the same as Nalan Yanran's, a 3-star Dou Practitioner; he definitely wasn't a nobody within the sect.

“Outer Sect Disciple, Gu Han,” Gu Han replied.

“So you are Gu Han.” Yun Yun sized Gu Han up from head to toe, surprise rising in her heart.

She had naturally heard of this individual, who possessed the top cultivation talent among the Preparatory Disciples.

If Gu Han didn't have Ice Attribute Dou Qi but Wind Attribute Dou Qi instead, he would have had an even better chance than Nalan Yanran to become her personal disciple.

“When did you break through to Dou Practitioner?” Yun Yun rested her chin on one hand, asking with interest.

“Twenty days ago,” Gu Han answered honestly.

This was the kind of thing Yun Yun would know as soon as she asked back at the sect; there was no need to hide it.

“Twenty days?” The surprise in Yun Yun's spirited eyes could not be hidden at all. “You only took twenty days to stabilize your cultivation and break through to 3-star?”

“This disciple had good luck. I found the Profound Ice Strength in the Merit Hall, and then half a month ago, I discovered a Seasonal Yin Wind at the peak of the third mountain. After cultivating here for a period of time, I broke through to 3-star yesterday,” Gu Han answered with some reservation.

His tone was cold, carrying an innate sense of detachment, yet it gave off a very solemn and serious feeling.

Yun Yun did not question him. Everyone had their own secrets; as long as Gu Han did not harm the interests of the Cloud Mist Sect, the stronger his talent, the better.

“What kind of token do you hold? How is your treatment within the sect? Have you encountered any unpleasantness?” Yun Yun felt a sense of appreciation for his talent, and three questions slipped out in quick succession.

A youth with such a clean background, raised by the Cloud Mist Sect from an orphan, would have higher loyalty than average disciples. Combined with his peerless talent, he was simply the best candidate to be groomed as a future pillar of the sect.

Gu Han did not answer. Instead, he raised his head to meet Yun Yun's gaze and asked, “Sect Leader, am I to answer your questions like this?”

He was only wearing a pair of undergarments, and everything below his navel was submerged in the hot spring.

The distance between him and Yun Yun was no more than two meters, and the latter was also dressed quite lightly.

“Why not?” A hint of playfulness and amusement surfaced in the depths of Yun Yun's eyes.

Ordinarily, if she didn't silence Gu Han, it would only be because of his talent and worthiness of cultivation.

But now, after a series of events, Gu Han's honest and even 'cold' behavior gave her a mischievous urge to tease the young lad.

Not to mention, although Gu Han was young, his physique was very good. One could tell he cultivated very hard and focused on tempering his body.

“You are the Sect Leader.” Gu Han bowed again and began to answer honestly with his head lowered.

The underlying meaning was: you have high status and great strength, so naturally, you have the final say.

Looking at his somewhat 'humiliated' appearance, Yun Yun felt a slight sense of apology, but more so the pleasure of breaking some sort of taboo.

After patiently listening to Gu Han's answers, she suddenly changed the subject: “How did you get here?”

Her voice carried an unprecedented icy pressure.

“At the bottom of this hot spring, there is a secret passage leading to an outdoor hot spring,” Gu Han answered candidly. “I was curious where the passage led, so I swam nearly fifteen zhang from the outside, and ended up here.”

A secret passage?

Yun Yun immediately released her Dou Qi to sense it.

At the bottom of the hot spring pool, she discovered the entrance to the secret passage Gu Han had mentioned.

It seemed that everything that happened tonight was a coincidence.

As the Sect Leader and a Dou Huang expert, she couldn't possibly do anything to a genius disciple of the sect over such a small matter.

“You haven't taken a master yet?” Yun Yun looked at Gu Han and suddenly asked.

“Within the sect, there are no elders who specialize in Ice Attribute Dou Qi,” Gu Han replied.

“Even so, you can still take a master. The treatment of a personal disciple is better, and you would have a Dou Wang Elder personally guiding your cultivation,” Yun Yun analyzed for Gu Han, clearly wanting to bind him to the sect through a master-disciple relationship.

After a slight hesitation, Gu Han replied, “I don't know much about the sect elders, and I don't know which one would be suitable for me.”

“If the Sect Leader wishes for me to take a certain elder as my master, I am naturally willing.”

“But I have one request.”

“What request?” Yun Yun became interested.

In this kind of situation, she was only afraid that Gu Han had no requests.

“My teacher's seniority must be equivalent to the Great Elder's,” Gu Han answered.

Within the Cloud Mist Sect, Yun Ling was of the same generation as Yun Shan, making him Yun Yun's senior.

However, Yun Ling did not come from the Sect Leader's lineage, so Yun Yun didn't necessarily have to call him Martial Uncle.

“Seniority?” Yun Yun didn't expect Gu Han to care about such a thing.

Gu Han didn't explain; he just lowered his head and bowed, waiting for Yun Yun's answer.

“Wait until this Sect Leader returns to consider it.”

Yun Yun did not give a definitive answer either.

“Yes.” Gu Han had no objection and took the initiative to say, “Then I shall take my leave.”

Yun Yun nodded slightly in agreement.

Gu Han took a deep breath, dove into the hot spring, and swam toward the bottom.

Watching him disappear, leaving only ripples behind, a strange feeling rose in Yun Yun's heart.

Besides that, there was also an indescribable sense of oddity.

“Swish.”

Yun Yun rose and left the hot spring. Natural energy directly transformed into a cool breeze to dry her body. A brocade robe appeared out of thin air, covering her graceful figure, leaving only her fair swan-like neck exposed.

Dou Qi surged out and transformed into green wings. Her figure flashed as she reached the outside of the cave, then she flew rapidly up the cliff. Before long, she arrived at a huge rock in the middle of the forest.

Looking down, she immediately saw the outdoor hot spring pool Gu Han had mentioned.

Not long after, a figure surfaced from the hot spring and slowly walked to the shore.

“As it turns out, that Dou Huang was Yun Yun.”

“Have I gained her favor?”

Gu Han thought with doubt in his heart. At the same time, he took a towel from his storage ring to dry his body, then put on his Outer Sect Disciple clothes again and walked toward the bottom of the mountain.

Once he was out of sight, Yun Yun took to the air, turning into a streak of green light that shot toward Yun Lan Mountain.

Dozens of breaths later, she arrived at the courtyard belonging to her, the Sect Leader, on the mountain peak.

“It's late today; I'll see Yanran tomorrow.”

Looking up at the moon, Yun Yun walked into the courtyard and returned to the bed in her bedroom.

But after sitting down, she found it difficult to sleep for a while. Gu Han's youthful but very handsome and seemingly somewhat cute face flashed in her mind from time to time.

“What is wrong with me?”

On the other side, Gu Han used his token to enter the Cloud Mist Sect's mountain gate. He traveled all the way back to his small courtyard in the outer sect, entered the secret room, and continued his cultivation.

First, set a small goal: surpass Yun Yun!

This feeling of having to lower one's head before someone else was very unpleasant!

But before that, let's check today's opportunity.

“Hmm!?”

“This master and disciple pair are fated with me?”