Wang Lin felt warmth in his heart. For the past month, he had to get used to people deriding him. Now that he was back home, he felt the warmth of his parents.
“Second brother, Wang Lin is really an immortal disciple. Your sixth brother is blind and said a few harsh words. I hope brother won’t take it too serious. You know me, I have a sharp tongue, but a soft heart. It was all for Wang Lin’s own good.”
“Second sister in law, when I told my daughter that I didn’t betroth her, she panicked and said that she absolutely must marry your family’s Tie Zhu. Let us settle this marriage.”
“Lao Er, your fifth uncle is old. In the future, the Wang Family will depend on you guys. Your fifth uncle has always had an eye for your son. In my eyes, he is even more promising than your older brother’s son.”
Wang Lin’s parents’ faces were glowing. After the birthday party started, all the relatives praised Wang Lin non-stop. Even a few who drank too much started causing a ruckus about banding together to get back the inheritance Wang Lin’s father deserved. Wang Lin’s father only smiled, not taking it seriously. He knew far too well how these relatives were.
Wang Lin’s father no longer cared about the things of the past. He just wanted Wang Lin to become better and better, nothing else.
After a lively day, when it was dusk, all of the relatives left. Wang Lin was looking at the gifts in the yard. His heart filled with emotion. He remembered reading from a book saying when one achieves success, those around him benefit as well. He finally understood those words.
That night, Wang Lin’s parents asked him how his life at the sect was. Seeing the anticipation in his parents’ eyes, he lied to them for the first time. He described to them how popular he was, and how he practiced immortal techniques. His parents listened in awe.
For his parents, no matter how harsh being an honorary disciple was, no matter how much people ridiculed him, he would endure it, because ever since he was little, he had never seen them this happy.
“It’s only ten years, I’ll endure!” Wang Lin secretly decided in his heart.
Wang Lin stayed at home and spent time with his parents for two days. On the third day, his parents and everyone in the village sent him off. He put the immortal talisman on his leg and left.
Even when he was far away, he could hear the voices of the villagers.
It was getting dark. The sky filled with dark clouds. There was thunder in the sky, and the high humidity caused mist to appear.
Wang Lin couldn’t help but speed up. He arrived at the Heng Yue Sect at midnight, then went to lay in his bed. Zhang Hu was still snoring. Wang Lin tossed and turned, but couldn’t fall asleep. In the middle of the night, thunder roared outside and a flash of lightning lit up the room. Wang Lin touched the bead next to his chest. When he went home, he had his mom make an inner pocket in his shirt.
Want Lin took out the stone bead and studied it in the light from the oil lamp. He rubbed his eyes as he took a close look at the cloud patterns on the bead.
“This isn’t right. I remember that last time there were five clouds, but now there are six.” Wang Lin was surprised, he sat up and counted. Indeed, there were six clouds.
He was very surprised and couldn’t think of a reason. This increased his curiosity toward the stone bead. He put it back in his pocket, turned off the oil lamp, and went to sleep.
Outside, the wind was howling, thunder was roaring, lightning was striking, and rain was pouring from the sky. The rain slammed against the window. Wang Lin was suddenly awakened by a burst of cold air. He opened his eyes and was dumbfounded.
The continuous lightning lit up the room. The room was full of thick mist. The table, ground, and even the beds were wet. However, except for a damp spot where he stored the bead, Wang Lin was completely dry. He looked at Zhang Hu and saw that his body was surrounded by a white mist. His were clothes wet, his body was covered in frost, and his teeth were clenched shut.
“Zhang Hu! Zhang Hu!” Wang Lin was surprised and quickly got up and shook Zhang Hu. However, Zhang Hu showed no sign of waking up, and his breath was weak.
Wang Lin was very anxious. He was about to head out to look for other disciples for help, when he suddenly stopped and touched his clothes. A doubt raised in his mind.
“Why is it that even though we are in the same room, and both beds are soaked, every part of my body, except for this damp spot, is dry?” Wang Lin pondered, then suddenly took out the stone bead from his breast pocket.
At that moment, all of the water droplets trembled and slowly began to float. Even the white mist on Zhang Hu started to form water droplets.
Lightning flashed again and Wang Lin noticed that all the water droplets looked like crystals and charged toward the stone bead in his hand.
Wang Lin quickly threw the stone bead and dropped to the floor to avoid the water droplets.
The mysterious bead fell in an arc and rolled to the corner after it hit the ground. All the water droplets quickly shot toward the bead and disappeared into it.
A moment later, all the water in the room disappeared. Even the beds were now dry. Zhang Hu’s breathing returned to normal.
After a long time, the thunderstorm still raged outside, but the sky was no longer pitch black, and rays of moonlight broke through. Wang Lin stood up and hesitantly picked up the stone bead. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it had changed.
The number of clouds on it had increased to seven!
The scene before had caused his curiosity for the bead to increase, but also instilled a bit of fear into him. If he hadn’t woken up in time, Zhang Hu would have been frozen to death.
As to why he himself wasn’t affected, Wang Lin could only guess that it was because he drank a lot of water that had the dew from the bead mixed in.
However, Wang Lin was very curious about what the clouds on the stone bead do. But he eliminated the idea of going outside and letting the bead absorb more water. He was afraid the scene would cause everyone to notice.
After hesitating for a while, he carefully put the bead back into his pocket. Not long after, dawn came and as Wang Lin was about to leave to do his chore when Zhang Hu jumped out of bed screaming, “Water! Water! The thirst is killing me!”
Zhang Hu ran to the table in a daze. He tried to pour a cup of water from the container for a long time, but not a single drop came out. He rubbed his eyes and saw the bedding was crumpled into a ball, then he stared at Wang Lin and said, “Wang Lin, when did you come back? This…did a ghost do this?”
Wang Lin smiled, then he opened the door and said, “I don’t know. When I got back, it was already like this. Why don’t you try asking the other disciples? However, if this gets to the elders, you would have to go through the trouble of explaining this and possibly get interrogated by them.”
Zhang Hu shook his head, and said, “Forget it, I won’t ask. If I get questioned by the elders, it would be hard to avoid punishment.”
Wang Lin didn’t mind him and walked out the door. It was still raining outside, so he quickened his pace, afraid that the bead would cause some disturbance in the rain. He took a deserted path to the eastern gate. All the water that fell on him was absorbed by the bead, and he was afraid someone would notice. At first he wanted to hide it in his room, but then decided it was safer to hide it outside.
Wang Lin went to one of the places that he had previously hid a gourd containing dew. It was very early in the morning and not many people had awakened yet. He made sure no one followed him before burying the stone bead there.
After that, he let out a sigh. He intended to wait for the rain to stop, then come back to take his treasure back. Wang Lin left very cautiously, making sure no one else was around, and made his way to the chore house. When he got there, he was just about to pick up a bucket when the weasel faced yellow clothed disciple came out. Disciple Liu was a bit startled when he saw Wang Lin, but quickly changed his expression to one full of enthusiasm as he rushed forward to snatch the bucket from Wang Lin’s grasp. He said, “If it isn’t brother Wang! How was your trip home? Are your parents doing well? Your senior has missed you on these days you were gone.”
Wang Lin was stunned, he was very familiar with that face. It was exactly same face his relatives had at the party, but Wang Lin wasn’t sure what Disciple Liu was trying to do.
“Brother Liu, my parents are doing well. You don’t need to worry.” Wang Lin carefully replied, as he wasn’t sure what Liu was up to.
Disciple Liu warmly said, as he puffed his chest, “Brother, from now on you don’t have to wake up so early. Your big brother was joking with you, telling you to fill ten vats a day, but you went and seriously believed me. From now on, you only need to fill one vat a day. Even if you don’t finish in time, you can go eat when food is served. If anyone gives you any trouble, just tell your big brother!”
Wang Lin’s face changed color. He hesitantly asked, “Big brother, is there some matter you wish for me to attend to?”
Disciple Liu’s face was full of discontent, and pretended to be angry. “Little brother, how could you be so cold with your big brother? You are my little brother, naturally I should care for you. In the future, your issues are my issues. As for these chores, just do some work to say you worked. In the end, if you do good or bad is just my opinion. Since it’s raining today you don’t need to work. That’s right Elder Sun came looking for you a few days ago. Now that your back, it’s best to go check in with him.” He finished speaking and watched Wang Lin’s reaction carefully.
Wang Lin muttered to himself and kept from laughing out loud. In his heart, he had guessed more than half the story after listening to the Disciple Liu. Elder Sun must have come looking for him after he left, and Disciple Liu must be afraid of any grudge between them, that’s why he is so friendly today. He didn’t bother to point out the misunderstanding, and imitated what Disciple Liu did when they first met and snorted.
Disciple Liu’s heart skipped when he saw Wang Lin’s expression. This confirmed his own suspicion, this trash really was living the dream: to be able to get the attention of an elder. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so arrogant. This kid looked like one that would hold a grudge. He thought to himself, “He will definitely take revenge on me later.”
Disciple Liu had been an honorary disciple for 13 years, and had spent 6 years at the chore house. He had never before seen an elder seeking out an honorary disciple personally. It was already a rare event for an inner disciple to be sent by an elder.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered the fact that Wang Lin had offended the elder, but it was only his speculation. However, he wasn’t sure. It wouldn’t be an issue if he was right, but iwa scared of what would happen if he was wrong. He had been in the Heng Yue Sect for many years, and knew exactly how insignificant he was.
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and took out a piece of yellow paper, then handed it to Wang Lin. “Little brother, when senior brother saw you last month, I ignored you. This is just a little gift not worth anything. You have to accept it. If you don’t …”
Before Lie could finish, Wang Lin had already grabbed the yellow paper. When he saw it earlier he noticed it was the immortal talisman used when honorary disciples go home.
“Thank you senior brother. This little brother doesn’t want to be arrogant, but elder is waiting for me. We will have to catch up next time.” Wang Lin said while chuckling.
Brother Liu was a bit envious as he nodded. “The elder is more important, little brother should go quickly.”
Wang Lin was calm on the surface, but on the inside, he had many doubts about Elder Sun. Why did he personally come looking for him? Wang Lin leisurely walked to the courtyard with these questions in his head. He had gone thoroughly analyzed the situation, but in the end, he couldn’t come to a conclusion.
“Could he have found out about the stone bead?” Wang Lin thought. He pondered the question for a bit. He didn’t have the ability to bribe the elder, and if he didn’t go, he would offend the elder, so he might as well pretend he didn’t know anything. Since the bead was not on him, he stopped thinking about it and walked forward.
Not long after he arrived at the courtyard and announced his presence, the same youth in white appeared and was surprised. He quipped, “What, you have to visit home again?”
Wang Lin raised his brow, right before he was about speak, Elder Sun’s voice came from within the courtyard.
“Quickly, bring him here! Without delay!”
The disciple in white’s mouth twitched. He gave Wang Lin a thoughtful look, then headed back into the courtyard. Wang Lin followed silently.
After arriving at Elder Sun’s residence, the youth in white left. Before leaving, he shot Wang Lin a questioning look.
Wang Lin was a bit nervous as he pushed open the gate and entered. The moment he entered, he saw an old man coming out from a room in the garden. The old man’s face was full of wrinkles, his were eyes bright, and he scanned Wang Lin with a cool look.
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