SQLJBFDTW Chapter 106

Chapter 106 Reunion, Sect Reunion

In front of the Moon Gazing Platform, Lord Mu Yuan’s secluded cave dwelling indeed showed signs of opening. The crowd set up formations to protect him, with the Sect Leader standing at the front, pacing back and forth.

Finally, he waved his hand, instructing all of Mu Yuan’s disciples to stand at the front.

Chao Jianxue was extremely uneasy. He wondered if his Shifu’s seclusion had gone smoothly, what he would say upon seeing him, and what he himself should say. His heart was in turmoil, terribly nervous, even more so than the first time he had slain a demon.

Finally, the cave dwelling opened, and Lord Mu Yuan emerged in a white robe.

Qiu Shui rushed forward, crying, “Shifu!”

Chao Jianxue was also excited and wanted to step forward, but he suddenly felt a sense of homesickness and hesitated, shrinking back.

Lord Mu Yuan’s temples were streaked with white hair, and his face was still as they remembered it, but where Chao Jianxue had previously felt mostly sternness from that face, he now saw more kindness.

His gentle gaze swept over them, and he said with a smile, “Your teacher has secluded himself for decades before; why are you all crying like this?”

Mu Yuan looked at Chao Jianxue and beckoned him over. Chao Jianxue finally leaped forward, hugging him tightly, and murmured, “Shifu, I’m back.”

His eyes were moist, and after blinking twice, tears fell from his eyelashes.

“Great Ascension Realm?” Mu Yuan asked in surprise.

The Sect Leader said from the side, “Both of your disciples are already in the Great Ascension Realm. As a Shifu, you are exceptionally fortunate.”

Mu Yuan then looked at Yu Wei, who was behind him. He was completely different from the disciple in his arms, who was covered in tears and snot. At this moment, standing there, he resembled accumulated jade on a mountain, or a row of emerald pines, possessing a unique purity that others lacked. He chuckled, “Yu Wei, come over here too.”

Yu Wei’s heart stirred, and he stepped forward, also embraced by Mu Yuan. He was taken aback.

Lord Mu Yuan patted Yu Wei and Chao Jianxue on the shoulders, and said with relief, “Even if you weren’t in the Great Ascension Realm, you would still be excellent.”

Yu Wei’s expression was somewhat dazed. It was the first time he had been embraced like this by an elder. This was the feeling.

To be trusted, to be recognized, it didn’t matter if he didn’t do his best, he would still be tolerated, still be loved and cared for.

He was very close to Chao Jianxue, and when he turned his head, he saw his smiling eyes. The corners of Yu Wei’s lips also curved up, and he said in a low voice, “Thank you, Shifu.”

Mu Yuan was greatly shocked to learn about the Qishan incident. He was Qishan’s fellow disciple, and he didn’t know that he had such a past with Ying Xiange, only that the two were close friends.

On the pavilion of the Moon Gazing Platform, there were still the remnants of their chess game left behind, but now everything had changed, and there was no end to the game.

The Sect Leader comforted him, “Everything, you and I, will have a day of death. Take it easy.”

Mu Yuan shook his head and said, “I was too obtuse to see that Senior Brother had such thoughts. It’s just a pity. In that case, has the great demon in Fumo Pass been completely eliminated?”

“Your two disciples and Lord Ziwei participated in this matter. It was they and Qishan who joined forces to kill the great demon,” the Sect Leader said.

“I see,” Mu Yuan was still worried, “Great demons are cunning and not so easily killed. Otherwise, the several True Immortals wouldn’t have joined forces to only seal it thousands of years ago. We must still be careful.”

The Sect Leader nodded, “You’re right. I will discuss with the other sects to ensure that no future troubles are left behind.”

“Shishu…” Mu Yuan opened his mouth with suspicion.

Knowing what he was worried about, the Sect Leader’s lips turned down, and he stroked his long beard, “I won’t interfere with your disciple anymore. The path of a half-demon is already difficult enough. If he really wants to break through, let him. Anyway, you’re the one cleaning up the mess now.”

Mu Yuan then smiled openly.

“What are you saying, Shishu?”

“But I see that the child with the surname Yu is also a little dangerous. He has always been different from the other disciples. As his Shifu, you should take care of him more,” the Sect Leader reminded again.

Mu Yuan said, “Naturally.”

At the same time, the two “dangerous” people in the Sect Leader’s mouth were messing around in the kitchen behind the Wuwu Sect’s dining hall.

As Chao Jianxue kneaded the dough, his palm was immediately covered in sticky dough. He shook his head, “Add some more flour for me.”

Yu Wei obediently poured some, and white dust flew up.

This time, when kneading again, Chao Jianxue used all his strength, and the veins on his arms bulged. He thought his hair was in the way and asked Yu Wei to tie it up. Yu Wei hesitated, “Shixiong, wait a moment, I’ll wash my hands.”

“No need, it’s already covered in flour. I’ll wash my hair later.” Chao Jianxue leaned his head over carelessly, so Yu Wei patted his hands and helped him put his hair up. After tying it up, Chao Jianxue wailed again, “It’s dry again. Add some more water.”

Yu Wei added water again.

“…Add flour.”

Add flour.

“Still need to add some water, a little bit…”

Add water.

Repeating the action of adding water when wet and adding flour when dry, finally, the dough in Chao Jianxue’s hand grew from the size of a palm to the size of the entire cutting board, finally achieving a delicate balance of water and flour, neither dry nor wet.

The chef who was cooking in the kitchen came in to take a look, heartbroken and left with a look of lamentation.

Chao Jianxue rolled up his sleeves and slapped the dough with his mouth pursed. Yu Wei was ordered not to interfere and watched quietly from the side, his eyes bright. It was the first time he had seen Shixiong create such a spectacle, and he didn’t want to miss a bit of it.

When Chao Jianxue was wearing clothes, he was on the lean side, but as a sword cultivator, he was definitely not so thin that he had no strength to truss a chicken.

The thin muscles on his exposed arms were slightly bulging, but his skin was fair. The golden ring on his arm was already tight, but now it was even more tightly clamped, highlighting a bit of the allure of tightness. However, he himself was completely unaware and only focused on kneading the dough. Yu Wei’s Adam’s apple bobbed, forcing himself to look at the dough.

The dough was divided into several small pieces, and Chao Jianxue began to see the dawn of victory, putting all his effort into rubbing the noodles.

Although the noodles that were rubbed out were uneven in thickness, crooked and twisted, they were at least in the shape of noodles.

Yu Wei also rolled up his sleeves to help him rub them together.

“Why did Shixiong suddenly want to do it himself?” Yu Wei asked.

They had agreed today to have a simple meal with their fellow disciples to celebrate Shifu’s exit from seclusion and to celebrate the reunion of the sect.

But Chao Jianxue was still holding back his own little plans. He smiled slyly and only said, “This is a token of my appreciation.”

When Nan Shan arrived, the noodles were already in the pot.

He poked his head in to look at the noodles floating in the water and exclaimed in surprise, “Did Senior Brother really make this?” In this pot, the noodles were uniform in thickness and had been pulled into just the right shape, looking very presentable.

Looking at the noodles in the other pot, they looked a little worse. Floating on the water, they were a bit of a disaster.

Nan Shan said with certainty, “I know, this pot was made by Senior Brother, and that pot must have been made by Junior Brother.”

Chao Jianxue’s face was covered with flour, and his tone was without fluctuation, “You’re wrong, completely wrong.”

“Really?” Nan Shan didn’t believe it.

Chao Jianxue pointed to the good pot, “As real as it gets, personally handmade by yours truly.”

He had only adapted a little at first, but he quickly got the hang of it and did it perfectly.

And the disastrous floating noodles in the other pot were indeed made by Yu Wei.

Nan Shan didn’t know that Yu Wei only made good congee and didn’t have the talent for anything else. At first, Chao Jianxue couldn’t believe it either. He thought that Yu Wei had the protagonist’s halo and that everything he did would be good. Later, after seeing it more, he knew that Yu Wei was actually an expert at blowing up kitchens.

Chao Jianxue had just asked, “How did you learn to cook congee?”

Yu Wei said shyly, “When I was young, I read in a book that you should take a cup of rice and immerse it in water to the depth of one finger joint. I learned it from that.”

So, his ability to cook congee was actually his only cooking talent point.

In the other pot, Chao Jianxue also stewed chicken soup. All the ingredients were already in the kitchen. Nan Shan exclaimed in surprise, saying, “I thought Senior Brother was lazy and didn’t know how to cook, but it turns out I was narrow-minded.”

Chao Jianxue said while scooping soup, “Don’t look at me like this. When I was in the Demon Realm, I lived on my own too!”

Especially when he went to dangerous places to cultivate alone, sometimes he was hungry and could only do it himself. He was not used to many of the foods in the Demon Realm, and no demons would cook food that humans ate. It was truly a skill forced out of adversity.

Yu Wei felt a little distressed after hearing this and helped him serve the soup.

Chao Jianxue drove the two of them out, telling them to wait for him at the Moon Gazing Platform first.

On the Moon Gazing Platform, the crescent moon was like a hook. After ten thousand years, the bright moon still hung high, but now the Wuwu Sect was on the ground, unlike before when it was suspended in mid-air, so the moon looked distant.

Mu Yuan said, “I think it’s better now. In the past, we were too close to the moon disc, and occasionally we felt desolate when looking at it. Now that we are all on the ground, I feel more at ease.”

Several jars of wine sealed with red mud were placed beside the pavilion. They were Mu Yuan’s treasured fine wines. Chao Jianxue had secretly dug them up before, so he knew the good and bad with one sniff. Mu Yuan had taken out the best batch from his storage.

“I didn’t let you drink before because you were still young. Tonight, let’s drink openly, my disciples,” Mu Yuan said with a hearty laugh.

The disciples looked at each other. In fact, long before Mu Yuan knew, the “young” ones had already secretly tasted it.

It was only a little stronger than what they had secretly drunk before. Qiu Shui took a sip and, as if she had never drunk it before, pretended to cough.

The others showed off their acting skills, but only Yu Wei drank it calmly, without any abnormalities.

Mu Yuan said, “Your Junior Brother is still the most amazing. These jars of wine were passed down by my Shifu, your Shizu, Lord Bao Yun, and it’s been over nine hundred years…”

Yu Wei coughed stifledly.

As soon as Chao Jianxue heard “nine hundred years,” he didn’t dare to drink it like a cow, and carefully and respectfully placed it in front of him. If he got drunk, he was afraid that this immortal wine would reveal his true form.

Mu Yuan drank cup after cup, sighing, “It was also at the Moon Gazing Platform that I, your Shizu, Qishan, and several Shixiong and Shimei drank wine together. Who would have thought that after all this time, only I am left in this lineage…”

“I don’t ask you to have great achievements or great abilities, only one thing: to live out this life without regrets. Since ancient times, there have been many detours in cultivation. Even if you ascend, it is difficult to resist the loneliness of thousands of years. There are not a few True Immortals who have become demons. Therefore, you should only cherish the present, and that will be enough.”

The four listened, inevitably feeling some sadness.

Chao Jianxue stood up to liven up the atmosphere and said, “I personally cooked noodles. Shifu, please grace us with a taste!”

Mu Yuan was stunned and smiled, “Alright.”

When the bowl of noodles was brought up, the chicken soup was mellow, and the noodles were very chewy. Mu Yuan originally thought that Chao Jianxue’s cooking skills were just for fun, but he didn’t expect him to actually have some skill, saying, “Jianxue, your cooking is really good.”

“Of course!” Chao Jianxue’s tail was about to wag to the sky.

Taking advantage of the others’ lack of attention, he secretly poked Yu Wei, smiling at him and saying, “What’s different about yours compared to the others?”

Yu Wei’s eyes widened slightly. Perhaps it was because he had been drinking, his reaction was not as quick as usual, and after a long time, he said, “It’s one.”

A complete, uniform in thickness, smooth in taste, perfect noodle!

Chao Jianxue had put in a lot of effort.

“Look below, there are two eggs!” Chao Jianxue whispered, smiling as if taking credit, “Even Shifu only has one.”

“The time was a little rushed, so don’t dislike it, but after all, I made it with my own hands, so give me some face. I ate what you made too.”

While Yu Wei was tipsy, Chao Jianxue leaned close to his thin red ear and said in a biting tone, “Happy birthday, Junior Brother…”