Chapter 744: Chapter 723: Extra: Days in Ancient Times_4

A tall and a short figure stood facing each other.

The man with a calm demeanor and gentlemanly air looked serious, "Let me tell you first, learning martial arts too early might prevent you from growing tall. Of course, it might also help you grow taller. Do you really want to learn now?"

The little child, who resembled a dumpling, stood with her head held high, even her round belly sticking out.

She shouted loudly, "I want to!"

"Then don’t regret it later."

At this point, little Tuanzi, who didn’t understand what growing tall was, shook her head vigorously.

"I want to learn, I want to learn!"

She pressed her tiny paws on her little mouth and then released them, giving a gesture towards Tantai Yan, "Love you, Master!"

For more than two years, this scene frequently played out at the grass hut on Jiming Mountain.

Having formally started learning the Listening Wave Sword, Tuanzi was overly engrossed, waving her little wooden sword in the grass hut’s hall, unwittingly chopping off a corner of the table.

"Miaomiao!"

A handsome and charismatic man grabbed a broom, while little Tuanzi, clutching the wooden sword, had already fled into the mountains.

Round and round she went.

...

While beginning to learn hidden weapons, little Tuanzi wanted to find pebbles by the creek, but had nothing to hold them with, so she eyed the jar of wine that Tantai Yan had bought.

She offered the wine to a few newly bought ducks, took the jar to look for pebbles, and after returning, put the jar back in its original place.

At night, as usual, Tantai Yan wanted to sip little wine while enjoying the moonlight.

"Clink clink."

Tantai Yan was stunned, "Clink clink?"

Looking carefully, what poured into the bowl wasn’t wine but clear pebbles.

"Miaomiao!"

Someone grabbed a broom, someone ran away at full speed.

Later, the master and disciple were in tears as they ate a meal of drunken duck. The master wept for the jar of good wine, while the disciple cried because it was so delicious. Later still, when the disciple went mad after eating the drunken duck and broke his beloved wine glasses, the master wept again.

...

One morning, waking up, the first thing little Tuanzi did was check under her pillow for her candies. Finding more than half were gone, she squealed in rage.

"It must have been Master who stole them!"

The system could no longer understand this pair of master and disciple.

At first, it was apparent the master wanted to teach the disciple properly, but later on, the master was clearly playing pranks on the disciple, even showing immaturity beyond the disciple’s. It decided not to intervene further.

A huffing Tuanzi stormed into her master’s room, looking left and right, yet unable to find the missing candies, she could only leave with her cheeks puffed up.

She murmured all the way, finally finding her master by the creek, grilling fish.

Seeing food made her forget her anger, she approached with a beam, sweetly calling ’Master’ and successfully exchanged the affection for a grilled fish.

Compared to previous times, this time the master’s grilling was quite good.

"Master, you’re the best~"

Tantai Yan was quite pleased.

This was his best grilling yet, so he wanted to have a little wine while enjoying the tasty grilled fish.

The disciple was quick to act, and so was the master; he immediately used Qinggong to dash back to fetch the wine.

When he returned, both the fish and the disciple were gone, leaving only some fish bones on the ground. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Miaomiao!"

Grabbing the broom he always carried, the person hiding in the shadows watching scampered away again.

...

During this period, Tantai Yan would occasionally take his little disciple down the mountains to uphold justice and challenge martial arts schools. On one hand, he thought his little disciple was too proud, which wasn’t good; on the other, he couldn’t resist showing off to others how talented and diligent his disciple was, drawing plenty of resentment for her.

Each time they visited a clan, someone would challenge little Tuanzi.

Little Tuanzi won some and lost some. When she won, she was joyful, but when she lost, she’d return bruised and battered to seek her master’s comfort, secretly training harder with a resolve to win back next time and beat the opponent black and blue!

During this time, Tantai Yan frequently told little Tuanzi she had many senior brothers, yet Tuanzi never met any of them, often cursing in her heart that her master was a big liar.

The big liar master said she has senior brothers, but she hasn’t seen them.

The big liar master said she’d never grow tall, but that’s surely false.

The big liar master said she couldn’t eat too many sweets, surely false too.

The big liar master promised to always be with her... that’s also false.

The night before their farewell, Tantai Yan specifically transferred some inner strength to his little disciple.

He coaxed her, "With this inner strength, when you go back, you’ll surely become the best under the heaven; happy?"

Tuanzi pouted, "Not happy to be the best without Master."

Tantai Yan coaxed again, "I calculated a divination; we’ll meet again someday. Is Master’s skill not to be trusted?"

Master is the best; she must trust Master.

But finding the Spirit Jade Master left in her bag, she no longer believed in Master.

She thought this Spirit Jade was a Sect Leader’s token, yet the system also hinted that it held mysterious powers, though its specific uses were elusive even to it.

This mystical Sect Leader’s token was given to her, so what about Master?

Before Tuanzi set off, she secretly left the token behind. She tried hard to forget it.

As long as she forgot, she wouldn’t recall Master’s intent of not seeking her again.

She tried hard, even asked the system for help, winning a drug in a lucky draw, which she tearfully ingested. Returning to the modern world, when the senior brother took out the Spirit Jade, she hopped mad with anger, claiming Master deceived her, and also didn’t give her the Spirit Jade.

One night long after, she suddenly dreamt of Master secretly slipping the Spirit Jade into her pocket the night they parted.

She remembered again.

Xia Dynasty.

Tantai Yan and his little disciple went through the late Jianhe period together and witnessed the new emperor’s ascension, changing the era name to Chuping.

After sending off his little disciple, he became a solitary figure once more. Though unexpectedly discovering the Spirit Jade she had left behind one day, he didn’t hold out much hope.

"Gotten used to the hustle and bustle," he lamented one day, lying on a recliner like an old man, "settling down to silence now is rather unsettling."

Before the melancholy could fully grip his heart, an odd wind blew, and his senior disciple suddenly appeared in front of him.

Instinctively feeling the other was about to leave soon, he hurriedly said, "Go find your Junior Sister Miaomiao!"

The senior disciple’s appearance and departure gave him new hope.

Day after day, he slept clutching the Spirit Jade, and welcomed new disciples: second, third, up to ninth. And then he sent off second, third, up to ninth.

But fate seemed to be playing tricks on him, the disciples with Spirit Jade could go find his little disciple, but he alone could not.

Having heard of similar Spirit Jades appearing in the imperial palace, he returned to the capital for the first time in decades, even venturing into the palace at night, unintentionally starting rumors of haunting, only to leave with disappointment.

Day by day waiting, time wore down the hope that was hard to ignite once more.

This day, Tantai Yan practiced several profound skills in succession, then unleashed his inner strength into the forest as a release, frightening birds and beasts into fleeing.

Only when he was exhausted, his robes were raked by the returning Inner Strength, did he stagger back to the grass hut.

It was then that a strange force suddenly appeared, and the Spirit Jade in his pocket grew hot as if burning.

Without hope, he still couldn’t help but open his eyes wide, then noticing his current disheveled state, he hastily used his Inner Strength to fetch himself a robe.

In the new world, the first thing Tantai Yan did was change robes, sprucing himself up to look energetic, before setting off with a swish of his sleeves to find his disciple.

Whether it was due to excessive vanity or fear that his disciple might be saddened seeing him in a messy state, was something no one knew.