Under One Person: The Seeker of the Dao in the Lü Family

Chapter 100 The Old Celestial Master: My poor crippled junior brother, he has no descendants yet.

Longhushan

At this time, the old Celestial Master was facing a problem, a problem caused by a man named Ding Shian.

In front of the gate of the Celestial Master's Mansion, the old Celestial Master pushed Tian Jinzhong to stand at the threshold. He looked at Ding Shian, who was kneeling in the square with a resolute expression, and his eyes, hidden under his long white eyebrows, widened slightly.

These were eyes that had seen all the vicissitudes of life, calm and unwavering. The old master looked at Ding Shian with these bright and restrained eyes, as if judging whether the other party's attitude was genuine.

Ding Shian knelt in the center of the square, his eyes fixed intently on the Taoist priest who wore a Taoist robe and seemed as ordinary as the old man next door.

"Disciple Ding Shian wishes to become a disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion and cultivate under the guidance of the Old Celestial Master!"

After saying this, he bowed respectfully to the old Celestial Master, his forehead touching the ground with a deep, resounding sound, demonstrating that he had performed the proper etiquette.

Seeing this scene of utmost devotion, the old master pushed his wheelchair unmoved, still behaving like an ordinary mortal, without the slightest ripple of emotion.

In his wheelchair, Tian Jinzhong, who had been being pushed by the old celestial master to relax in the spring, recovered from the series of upheavals. He stared at Ding Shian, who was behaving respectfully, with his blood-red eyes for a while, then looked up at the old celestial master behind him without saying a word.

Ding Shian did not hear the old Celestial Master's response, so he remained kneeling in the square, bowing his head in the direction of the two high priests.

A gentle spring breeze swept across the area in front of the Celestial Master's Mansion, causing the hems of the three people's clothes to flutter softly.

In the gentle breeze, the old master squinted his eyes again and answered slowly, "But I remember I have already taken on a last disciple."

The last disciple is the last true disciple accepted by the master, after which the master retires and no longer accepts direct disciples. Only grand-disciples accepted by the disciples will follow.

The Celestial Master's last disciple was his tenth disciple, Zhang Lingyu.

Ding Shian, standing in the square, was not surprised by the Celestial Master's words. He calmly raised his head, looking at the old Celestial Master with the same unwavering gaze as before, and said firmly, "Disciple Ding Shian hopes to become a disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion and follow the old Celestial Master in cultivation!"

The old master raised an eyebrow, as if he remembered something. He looked at Tian Jinzhong, whom he was pushing, and then at Ding Shian opposite him.

Ding Shian's words made it clear that the other party didn't care about status and was determined to cultivate with him.

While others can be firm, the Celestial Master's Mansion cannot put on airs, after all, Ding Shian still has some reputation and popularity in the martial arts world.

If Ding Shian, one of the "Two Heroes," were to be relegated to a menial job within the Celestial Master's Mansion, a position even lower than that of a nominal disciple, it wouldn't necessarily cause any serious problems, but it would still have a negative impact.

Fortunately, there is an extremely suitable alternative.

The old master's small eyes quickly scanned back and forth between Tian Jinzhong and Ding Shian several times, becoming increasingly satisfied with the idea that had suddenly popped into his head.

"I'm quite clever," the old celestial master thought to himself, but outwardly remained unmoved as he stroked his beard.

"Um?"

Tian Jinzhong, in his wheelchair, keenly sensed something was amiss. This familiar feeling... could it be that his senior brother was plotting against him again?

Tian Jinzhong looked at the old master behind him with a smirk, his feelings growing stronger. He wanted to speak, but considering that Ding Shian was an outsider present, he could only keep quiet for now and sit in his wheelchair with a frown.

The old master stroked his beard and looked at Ding Shian, sighing as if in helplessness.

"Sigh~"

"Although I have many disciples and grand-disciples, my poor junior brother Tian has never had a single disciple in his entire life."

"I remember my master told me to take good care of my junior brother, but I am, after all, the Celestial Master and his senior brother. An elder brother is like a father, and my care for my junior brother is the same as that for my master."

"I can give the care of my elders, but I am powerless to give the care of my disciples and descendants."

"How pitiful! My junior brother Tian has been disabled for half his life, and now he doesn't even have a successor to take care of him in his old age."

"How can I face my master and my deceased fellow disciples now?"

As he spoke, the old Taoist master raised his sleeve to cover his face, his wide Taoist robe completely obscuring his face.

"Senior brother, you..."

Upon hearing this, Tian Jinzhong, who was in a wheelchair, understood what the old scoundrel behind him was up to. He was about to speak up to stop him, but the black hand that the old master reached out from behind made him freeze in his wheelchair, and he could only stare blankly at Ding Shian.

The moment he noticed Tian Jinzhong's unusual behavior, the old master quickly lowered his right hand, revealing half of his face, which was flushed red.

He quickly brushed his right hand, hidden in his sleeve, across Tian Jinzhong's back, as if patting him to help him catch his breath.

But only Tian Jinzhong, who was being touched, knew that the old master had directly struck his acupoints, locking his meridians and rendering him unable to move or cry out.

Tian Jinzhong, who had been attacked while in his wheelchair, could only stand there stiffly, as if he couldn't catch his breath. The old master quickly bent down and cried out in grief.

"Junior brother! Junior brother, you can't be hurt!"

"I haven't even found you a suitable apprentice or successor yet, how could you leave before me..."

The old master lowered his body, leaning halfway against the wheelchair to stand, his flushed cheeks peeking out from under the cover, perhaps from anxiety.

He squeezed his eyes hard, and a few glistening tears slid down his cheeks, making him look extremely sad.

"Junior brother, if you have a disciple, I will treat him as my own son and train him as my personal disciple. Don't worry, I will find a disciple for you right away."

The old celestial master swiftly covered Tian Jinzhong's face, which had turned from red to purple with anger, with his Taoist robe, and stood up, saying sorrowfully.

It looked as if Tian Jinzhong had already passed away.

Just as the old master was slowly pushing his wheelchair away, Ding Shian's voice came from behind.

"Disciple Ding Shian wishes to become a disciple of Daoist Tian Jinzhong. I humbly request the Celestial Master to accept me!"

The old master, who had his back to Ding Shian, smiled smugly, then quickly wiped his face, erasing the smile completely, and turned around to ask incredulously.

"Child, are you sure you're not playing a trick on us, brothers?"

As he spoke, he widened his eyes, those eyes that had been hidden before looking directly at Ding Shian.

Ding Shian, standing in the square, bowed again to the Celestial Master, saying, "Disciple Ding Shian greets Master and Senior Uncle!"

"Okay, okay!"

Upon seeing this, the old Celestial Master was overjoyed. He suddenly released his wheelchair, strode a few steps toward Ding Shian, grabbed his hands, and was about to rush into the Celestial Master's Mansion.

"Come on, come on, I've calculated that today is an auspicious day for you to become an apprentice. I'll take you to the Ancestral Hall first."

"After paying homage to Heaven and Earth, being included in the register, and receiving the talisman, he is now my close disciple."

As they passed Tian Jinzhong, the old Celestial Master grabbed the wheelchair with one hand and tightly held onto Ding Shian with the other, rushing into the Celestial Master's Mansion.

The white-haired old master dragged the two along at breakneck speed, shouting out in his loud voice.

"Qianhe, Rongshan! Come here, both of you! We've got business at Longhu Mountain!"

"Pah! It's your Uncle Tian who's going to have a disciple!"