The moment Sulan laid eyes on this junior disciple, he knew without a doubt that the guy carried the same aura as himself.
That unmistakable vibe of being surrounded by prodigies while being the only screwup in the bunch.
If it weren't for maintaining his senior brother image, Sulan would've rushed forward to grab this kid's hand and invite him to join some organization like "Worldwide Screwups Unite as One Family."
"Senior Brother, I..." The junior disciple opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.
"It's fine. I totally get it." The only difference between you and me is that you've been exposed while I haven't.
So why would I be the type to mock someone when I'm just as bad?
"Junior, if you think what I'm saying makes sense, you might as well use it to motivate yourself. Only with a strong and determined heart can you walk further on the long path of immortality."
"Thank you for your guidance, Senior." The junior disciple quickly bowed, touched by the care and advice.
This incident made Sumin respect Sulan even more.
If he were some hypocrite with hidden motives, even if he could fool specific people, he'd inevitably show his true arrogant colors when dealing with others day to day.
Frauds can only fool some people for so long, they can't fool everyone forever.
But Senior Sulan treated people the same regardless of their status, staying true to himself inside and out. He truly deserved to be called a sage walking among mortals.
"Junior Sister, next I'll take you to the weapon vault so you can try out what kind of weapon suits you best. Master left a token with massive amounts of sect contribution points stored in it. I can exchange materials and prepare some weapons and armor for you. Whatever else you need, we can directly exchange for it with contribution points." Sulan felt zero guilt about using his Master's contribution points to support his junior sister. He was calculating whether they should activate Heavenly Jade Peak's mountain-sealing formation once they bought everything they needed.
Sumin wanted to follow in her senior's footsteps, so unsurprisingly she chose a thin sword.
Though she had trash spiritual roots and would probably never have hope of cultivating, Sulan felt it necessary to teach her some swordsmanship so she'd at least have the power to protect herself against ordinary people.
With this in mind, Sulan handed over the token and requested a hundred pounds of forging materials including Cold Star Iron and Heavenly Flame Steel, commissioning the weapon-crafting steward to make several swords, one for regular use, one as backup, and another as backup for the backup.
After completing the entire trip and ensuring they wouldn't need to leave Heavenly Jade Peak anytime soon, Sulan finally brought his junior home.
Ah, I've stubbornly survived another day!
Sulan marveled at how difficult it was just to live and breathe.
In this brutal cultivation world full of cheaters who didn't play by the rules, only the soil beneath Heavenly Jade Peak could bring him the slightest sense of security.
He looked at his adorable loli-junior.
Now that I have her, at least I will have an extra layer of protection in front of Master.
Sumin accidentally stepped on a small stone, lost her balance, and nearly fell.
Quick-eyed and quick-handed, Sulan reached out to steady her.
Having lost her balance, Sumin found herself leaning half her body against him.
The person in his arms was like the moon.
The girl's cheeks turned pink and her breathing quickened slightly. Shyness and panic flickered in her eyes, but she didn't pull away.
After all, this little accident wasn't intentional, her Senior was just being kind by helping her up.
Sulan felt her soft, delicate white hand. Her skin was smooth and supple, almost silky. A subtle, elegant fragrance drifted into his nostrils without him realizing it.
The next moment, both of them instinctively pulled apart.
The atmosphere was rather ambiguous, tinged with awkwardness.
After all, they were an inexperienced young man and woman.
"Th... thank you, Senior Brother." She lowered her head shyly with a tender voice. She tucked her loose hair behind her ear, though the gesture was unconscious, it was genuinely quite charming.
Sulan gave an honest smile and scratched his head tactically. "No problem."
Both wanted to find some topic to cover up that flutter of summer passion in their hearts.
"Speaking of which, I heard before that Senior Brother single-handedly took down a Level 3 Ghost King in just your second year."
The girl's gaze wandered, stubbornly refusing to meet Sulan's eyes.
Sulan recalled that experience, and complex emotions surged to him.
In his memory, that training session had indeed encountered some minor trouble. But where was there any Level 3 Ghost King? At most it was a ghost soldier at level 1, otherwise how could he have dealt with it in just a few moves?
Never mind level 3, if that ghost soldier had even level 2, they all might have been wiped out.
The others had gotten careless and fell victim to the ghostly wails and poisonous smoke, which was why they'd had no power to resist. As for himself, probably because crossing worlds had made his soul relatively strong, he'd managed to withstand the ghost soldier's mental attack.
Afterward, those seniors and juniors exaggerated the ghost soldier into a Ghost King. Sulan could understand why.
As long as you make the enemy sound impressive enough, your own failure becomes a matter of bad luck rather than lack of ability.
In many situations, this was standard operating procedure.
So he hadn't exposed them at the time.
Later the sect sent people to investigate the scene, and they came back without raising any objections. Most likely it was because Taojia, who'd been part of the group, was some elder's grandson, so they chose to turn a blind eye to their exaggerations.
Being in the same sect where you see each other constantly, many people choose not to offend others if they can avoid it.
Looking back now, the rumors about himself had gotten more ridiculous as they spread. Maybe it had something to do with those early achievements.
Forget it. It happened six or seven years ago… no point dwelling on it now.
So he responded casually: "Yeah, something like that happened."
Sumin's eyes sparkled as she became even more convinced that her Senior was deeply mysterious. If it were any other cultivator who'd accomplished such a feat, they'd probably boast about it endlessly, but this young man before here remained calm and breezy as if it were just some trivial matter.
What do you call a master? This is what you call a master!
"Senior Brother, you're really amazing."
Sulan's smile carried a hint of bitterness.
Amazing? That word has never applied to me!
What if I told you I've been cultivating for eight years and I'm still at level 1? Would you believe me?