The Left Protector broke out in a cold sweat on the tip of his nose. “This… Exalted Lord, the person in your portrait looks very similar to the Immortal Lord Yan Shu. As for those who admire the Immortal Lord, they are too numerous to count, and imitators are as common as crucian carp crossing a river, countless indeed.”
“Yan Shu,” Mu Tinghan repeated.
The Left Protector nodded, realizing something. “The strongest person in the cultivation world, the Immortal Lord Yan Shu, is gentle and kind, recognized by the entire cultivation world as the white moonlight. Those imitators can at best capture two or three parts of his demeanor.”
“Gentle and kind…” It must be him! Mu Tinghan stood up. “Where is Yan Shu, the Immortal Lord?”
“Reporting to the Exalted Lord, the Immortal Lord is an enshrined elder of the Danyang Sect. The Danyang Sect is holding a disciple recruitment ceremony recently, and the Immortal Lord will surely return to the sect,” the Left Protector said.
The Left Protector: Finished, if I know this much, will I be silenced and exterminated?
Mu Tinghan murmured: “I cannot frighten him…”
The disciple recruitment ceremony.
Among the mountain peaks, clouds and mist coiled, with over a dozen chairs suspended in mid-air, all occupied by people, except for one largest empty chair. In the distance were layers of suspended stone steps, where ordinary people would be dashed to pieces if they were slightly careless and fell, not to mention that oppressive pressure was currently being exerted upon them.
The Danyang Sect’s recruitment standards have always been harsh.
On the steps, youths were struggling to climb upward, crystal droplets of sweat rolling down. Having spent an entire morning under the scorching sun, they looked somewhat disheveled, but their eyes were bright, and hope could be seen within them.
Hope. It was something Yan Shu had once desired above all else, yet now he loved watching it get crushed away bit by bit.
The tardy white-clad immortal wore a gentle smile. “Apologies, I am late.” His voice was as soft as a spring breeze, and his peerless appearance resembled that of an immortal descended to earth, causing not a single elder or sect master present to display the slightest dissatisfaction.
The First Elder asked in surprise, “Why does the Immortal Lord have the time to come out of seclusion to select disciples today?” This person was a regular fixture of year-round seclusion.
Yan Shu said, “It has been a long time since I came out, and the palace was too desolate, so I came out to see if there are any cute and lively youths.” He sat upon his chair, lowering his gaze to admire the flourishing youthful vigor of the youngsters, wearing an encouraging look that made him resemble a gentle elder.
His snow-white hair refracted light, soft as fine silk, and his glazed-colored eyes were clear and pure, placid and tranquil, as though they held the vicissitudes of thousands of years of worldly dust, yet also like an untainted child.
“The Immortal Lord still loves youths just as much as before. It is a pity that the disciples already admitted have no hope left, though. I hope they will not die of regret once they find out about this,” the Second Elder joked.
“Elder, please do not jest,” Yan Shu said. “I am merely an idle wanderer.”
“The Immortal Lord is the one joking. If the Immortal Lord is an idle wanderer, what does that make the rest of us?”
The Third Elder watched Yan Shu and the other elders exchange casual pleasantries as usual, not uttering a single word. He had never been able to understand how Yan Shu managed to do it.
How did he manage to make people effortlessly forget the lives of tens of thousands of demon soldiers beneath his hands, choosing instead to believe that he was a “gentle and kind” person? How did he manage to make his connections span across the entire cultivation world, with those who admired and adored him as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river? How did he manage to… still remain like an ordinary person?
The most terrifying thing was that, even though he clearly knew how dangerous Yan Shu was, whenever he watched the white-clad person get teased with a slight redness blooming on his earlobes, he would still feel a sense of pity and fondness arise in his heart.
Not daring to dwell on it further, having already felt Yan Shu’s subtle and pervasive scrutiny, the Third Elder hastily cast aside his lingering thoughts. “Everyone, please stop teasing the Immortal Lord. Look at the disciples instead; this batch has quite a few good seedlings.”
Yan Shu withdrew his gaze.
He truly was a rare and clever man.
He also could not be bothered to humor these elders, turning his attention to look along with them at the disciples. As a result of this look, his spiritual energy overflowed out of control across his entire body, forming a heavy spiritual pressure.
The surrounding elders instantly found it somewhat difficult to breathe.
Yan Shu stared fixedly at a certain person upon the steps, who possessed a delicate appearance, pink lips, black-and-white distinct almond-shaped eyes, and a naive yet indifferent temperament…
It was that heartless person who had taken away his sincerity a hundred times only to cast it aside like worn-out shoes.
For just a fleeting instant, Yan Shu reined back his spiritual energy. “Apologies, everyone… Just now, I thought I sensed traces of the demon clan, but I must have been mistaken.”
The elders said, “It is nothing. The Immortal Lord’s caution is something we cannot hope to match.”
“A mistake is a mistake; I was simply being overly suspicious,” Yan Shu said.
Everyone unanimously declared that the Immortal Lord had done nothing wrong.