A Thought Through Eternity-Chapter 68 - Don’t Run, My Nephews!
Chapter 68 - Don’t Run, My Nephews!
Bai Xiaochun was very good in deriving pleasure from other people… Now that he had found himself as the Sect Head’s Junior Brother, he swaggered down the mountain elated, heading for the Mission Exchange Pavilion.
With a dry cough, Bai Xiaochun adjusted his clothing and put on the airs of a senior, raising his small chin and clasping hands behind his back.
As one of the most popular areas on the Scented Cloud Mountain, the Mission Exchange Pavilion was naturally filled with a huge crowd. Everyday, many outer sect disciples would come and go, one could hear the clamor even from far away.
It didn’t take long for Bai Xiaochun to reach the Mission Exchange Pavilion. He stood there with what he thought to be a kind smile, gazing at the outer sect disciples.
As he appeared, almost instantly, his presence was noticed. The group of outer sect disciples just in front of him, who were originally discussing what mission to take, immediately froze after seeing him with the corner of their eyes.
”It’s… It’s Senior Uncle Bai. Greetings, Senior Uncle!”
”We pay our respects, Senior Uncle Bai!”
They hastily went to cup their fists in a greeting to Bai Xiaochun. As the words spread, more and more people noticed Bai Xiaochun, and soon, the vast majority of the present outer sect disciples made their way to Bai Xiaochun in order to pay their respects.
“Good work. Good work, everyone.” Hearing ‘Senior Uncle Bai’ made Bai Xiaochun’s insides burst with delight. He smiled and waved slightly to the crowd as he walked forward.
The surrounding outer sect disciples conversed in hushed voices as they looked at Bai Xiaochun with envy.
“Senior Uncle Bai is the Sect Head’s Junior Brother…”
The people working at the Mission Exchange Pavilion, in particular, got up the second they saw Bai Xiacohun approaching, halting all operations in the area simply to greet him, making Bai Xiaochun even more excited.
“You guys continue with your work, don’t mind me. I’m just here to check on the outer sect disciples of our Spirit River Sect for Senior Brother Sect Head.” Bai Xiaochun laughed in his heart. His words prompted the disciples to greet him once again, even the elders of the Pavilion, noded at him respectfully.
But… Even though Bai Xiaochun told them not mind him, he did not leave the area, but instead walked around in the crowd, smiling and nodding to the disciples. These three words ‘Senior Uncle Bai’ were repeatedly heard from the present outer sect disciples, some repeating them more than a dozen times.
Gradually, the crowd began realising that Bai Xiaochun’s presence here was just to fish for attention... Bai Xiaochun knew when to stop and with a wave of his hand, he swaggered off, allowing the Mission Exchange Pavilion to resume its normal operations.
“Ah, I have so much power with this title.” Bai Xiaochun’s eyes were shining this morning. He found it very relaxing, but more importantly, he realised the difference between him and other people brought by his new status.
“Honourable Disciple, Sect Head’s Junior Brother… With this status, no one would dare mess with me in the entire sect!” Thinking of this, Bai Xiaochun laughed as he hurried to the Ten Thousand Herbs Pavilion.
The Ten Thousand Herbs Pavilion… was crowded, as usual.
It didn’t take long before Bai Xiaochun reached the pavilion. He looked at the ten stone steles as he listened to people calling him ‘Senior Uncle Bai’. He seemed wistful as he lingered there for a long time. Only when the surrounding gazes began turning weird did he reluctantly leave. Even though dusk had arrived, Bai Xiaochun was tireless as he continued visiting places where outer sect disciples gathered.
Xu Baocai was just leaving his courtyard when he noticed Bai Xiaochun and quickly cupped his fist.
“Ah, Little Bao. Your cultivation hasn’t changed since I left half a year ago, that won’t do, you shouldn’t be negligent.” Bai Xiaochun patted Xu Baocai on the shoulder as he spoke, proud of his quirk.
Xu Baocai was stunned for a moment, blinking. Little Bao? Ever since he was born, only his father had called him that, did Bai Xiaochun have the right to call him that? After thinking of this, his heart was filled with awkwardness. But in the end, he dared not argue and only nodded in agreement.
“I… Uh, my esteemed self!” Bai Xiaochun suddenly noticed that a simple “I” would not fit a position as high as his, so thinking of how Li Qinghou addressed himself, he used “my esteemed self.”
“My esteemed self is unfamiliar with the area. Little Bao, would you take my esteemed self around for a little tour?” Bai Xiaochun coughed dryly, his hand placed on Xu Baocai’s shoulder as he lifted his chin.
Helpless, Xu Baocai showed Bai Xiaochun around.
As the outer sect disciples started returning to their courtyards, they noticed Bai Xiaochun. Many of them had already greeted him in one of the pavilions, but having encountered him again, after exchanging glances with each other, they had no other choice but to greet him once again.
Bai Xiaochun once again felt the glory brought by his new status, pleased with everyone paying their respects to him, he basked in it until late at night before he was content to leave.
On his way, he passed by a Spirit Tail Chicken coop and bursts of ‘Senior Uncle Bai’ sounded out yet again. On his way back, two Spirit Tailed Chickens were already in his hands.
“These are the benefits brought by my status. Ah, I once had to steal to eat these chickens. But now, just a snort with Sect Head being my Senior Brother, who would dare to oppose me!” Bai Xiaochun hummed a tune as he triumphantly returned back to his cabin.
Just as the sun rose on the next day, Bai Xiaochun hopped out from his bed in high spirits, tidied his clothing and tried out different expressions in front of the bronze mirror until he picked one befitting of his position before finally going out.
He started treating this as… his duty...
He chose somewhere else other than the Mission Exchange Pavilion such as the other gathering places on the Scented Cloud Mountain, and even places where a small competition was being held.
Throughout the entire day, his ears filled with the greeting ‘Senior Uncle Bai’. All this made him feel as though he had achieved his goal of immortalising himself, which made him very happy, so… three days, four days, five days....
Ten days in a row, he had taken such strolls, in the end, every outer sect disciple on the Scented Cloud Mountain had called him Senior Uncle Bai at least a dozen times. For the masses, calling a youngster Senior Uncle was already ridiculous. Every once in a while was fine, but as they had to do it again and again, they became increasingly dejected.
These days, Bai Xiaochun lived his life to the fullest. He especially loved meeting acquaintances, every time he saw one, he would call out to them...
“Ah, Nephew Yiduo… Oh, don’t go, come here. Long time no see.” One day Bai Xiaochun noticed Zhao Yiduo, his eyes brightened and he immediately approached him. Hearing Bai Xiaochun call him “nephew” , his brows twitched.
”Senior Uncle Bai, We… met so many times these past days…”
Blinking, Bai Xiaochun coughed dryly. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, he noticed a familiar figure in the distance and immediately turned around to leave.
“Yo, isn’t that nephew Zi’ang? It’s been a while!’ Bai Xiaochun let Zhao Yiduo go as he locked on to his new target with a delighted expression.
Chen Zi’ang was going crazy. These days, he had been meeting Bai Xiaochun about three times every single day. He had heard that everyone who was acquaintanced with Bai Xiaochun on the Scented Cloud Mountain had been repeatedly visited, just like him. Rumour has it that an unfortunate fellow who liked to call himself the Wolf God received at least a dozen visits per day.
”Senior Uncle Bai... I’m sorry, I have some unfinished business.” Chen Zi’ang almost ran away as he quickly escaped.
After the tenth day, most of the outer sect disciples of the Scented Cloud Mountain started avoiding Bai Xiaochun, pretending not to see him as he approached. This displeased Bai Xiaochun, so he became more proactive.
“Oh, my esteemed self think you look quite familiar. Come, come, haven’t we met before?” Bai Xiaochun caught one of Zhou Xinqi’s admirers, to his great distress. Pulling him aside, they spoke for an incense’s worth of time. Not until the disciple called him ‘Senior Uncle’ thirty times did the frown on Bai Xiaochun’s face had vanished, so he finally let him leave.
But this didn’t resolve the problem as people began to hide from Bai Xiaochun from there on. Feeling he should be more proactive, he began to cough loudly to alert others of his presence.
It wasn’t too effective, and Bai Xiaochun was not too happy. Fortunately, there was another sweet girl apart from Du Lingfei on the Scented Cloud Mountain.
That was Hou Xiaomei. She paid him a visit almost every day on her own initiative and without him even needing to cough, she would bounce around him, sweetly shouting ‘Senior Uncle Bai’ without getting tired.
If one were to look around, they would notice that all the outer sect disciples were bitter. On the other hand, Bai Xiaochun had never felt more alive. Hou Xiaomei, who in the past had received his guidance regarding the mysterious Little Turtle, had now practically worshipped it. She once followed behind Bai Xiaochun, inquiring about the Little Turtle.
“Little Turtle? That is a mystery, a peerless talent among the Spirit River Sect that would appear only once every ten thousand years! This kind of person is like a cloud, an entity we can only look up to in awe and respect!” Bai Xiaochun gave a dry cough after boasting, desperately suppressing his impulse to reveal to his Junior Sister that he was the Little Turtle. He had decided that he’d only reveal his identity before a great audience.
“I think so too. I’ve talked with many other people, and they all think that Little Turtle’s disregard for fame and fortune are as remarkable as their thirst for the medicinal knowledge! Indeed, like a cloud in the sky!” Listening to Hou Xiaomei’s words, his eyes sparkled.
There was a time when the people of the sect suspected Bai Xiaochun of being the Little Turtle, but it was soon rejected. After all, everyone’s image of the Little Turtle was completely different of Bai Xiaochun’s, and in the end, the ten stone steles recorded no names, only symbols. As such, identifying the Little Turtle was quite difficult.
Hearing this, Bai Xiaochun decided he hadn’t paid enough attention to Zhou Xinqi, one of the five beauties of South Bank.
“I wonder what that proud Heaven’s Chosen, Zhou Xinqi, calling me Senior Uncle Bai would be like?” Bai Xiaochun thought, suddenly filled with excitement as he started searching for Zhou Xinqi every day.
His hard work payed off, eventually, he noticed Zhou Xinqi flying away on a blue damask.
“Niece Xinqi!” Bai Xiaochun quickly yelled out.
Zhou Xinqi’s face darkened instantly. She had heard how Bai Xiaochun had been acting during the past month, and knew what the situation was like for the outer sect disciples of the Scented Cloud Mountain. She felt shivers ran down her spine when the word ‘Niece’ entered her ears. She pretended not to hear anything and quickly accelerated. But she would have never thought that... Bai Xiaochun would persistently sprint after her.
“Niece Xinqi, come, discuss life with this Senior Uncle.” Bai Xiaochun was extremely excited. After searching for Zhou Xinqi for such a long time, now that he had found her, how could her simply let her go?
Zhou Xinqi clenched her teeth, accelerating once again, quickly leaving the Scented Cloud Mountain before Bai Xiaochun could catch her.
Looking at her disappearing silhouette, Bai Xiaochun sighed regretfully.
”It’s fine. I can’t fly, huh? I will be able to fly pretty soon. There’ll be plenty opportunities to get you to call me Senior Uncle.” Bai Xiaochun was gloomy. Seeing that it was late, he decided to search for Du Lingfei.
As soon as Du Lingfei noticed him, she giggled.
”Senior Uncle Bai, Senior Uncle Bai, Senior Uncle Bai....”
Bai Xiaochun immediately became cheerful, the more he stayed with Du Lingfei, the more lovely he thought she was. Due to her contributions to the sect, she was taken as a disciple by an elder. She was assigned to Donglin City to work for the sect, which was a great opportunity for her - just a few years of working there could promote her into the inner sect disciple.
She would have quite the high position in that city, the resources available to her would be much better than those in the sect.
Bai Xiaochun sent her off regretfully. Afterwards, he went back to Scented Cloud Mountain to look for entertainment.
Time passed and another month flew by. In the entire Scented Cloud Mountain, the words ‘Senior Uncle Bai’ had become a taboo. When people thought of it, they would smile bitterly..
Fortunately, Bai Xiaochun also felt going any further would cross the line and decided to move on.
“I’m the Junior Brother of the Spirit River Sect’s Sect Head! I am the Senior Uncle of all disciples, my status is not limited to merely the Scented Cloud Mountain. I can’t display favoritism, I should go visit the other mountains.” Bai Xiaochun thought righteously, and headed for the Purple Cauldron Mountain...
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Guaranteed chapter from last week.
Translated by: Marcus
TLCed by: Nat Nat
Edited by: Crimsonguard, Arch
Translated by XianXiaWorld
