Retelling

Liu Feng wiped his sweat as he sighed.

The sun started to set in the far horizon, while the moon peeked on the other side.

He finally made it to the village.

As he recomposed himself, he contemplated that the distance between his hut and the village felt longer whenever he was in a hurry.

Arriving before the gates, Liu Feng noticed the village's depressing mood.

"Oh no, what happened?"

He entered the village, making sure to maintain his composure.

After listening to the gossip around, Liu Feng had a vague understanding of the situation.

Apparently, beasts have been attacking the village for unknown reasons. The last wave that occurred just earlier today ended with most warriors injured and incapacitated, and two casualties.

Liu Feng paid respects to the dead warriors, recalling his dead friends in the Great Order Sect.

An item flashed in his mind.

"I need 100 million DP..."

This task felt herculean to Liu Feng, who was struggling to earn any DP.

He put it aside in his mind for now.

While Liu Feng was preoccupied, the villagers remembered his identity.

"Hey, isn't he that vagabond cultivator?"

"The one that abducted Shu Fanrong?"

"Yeah, he's wearing the same dark robe."

Their expressions darkened when they thought of how much Shu Dashou and his wife suffered over the past week or two. However, as he was a cultivator, none of them dared to step up.

"Wait. Isn't Shu Fanrong back? That little girl was carrying her father earlier."

"She was also the one that defeated the foxes, right? Her father said so."

"Doesn't that mean she really went to cultivate in the mountains?"

Thinking of the life-changing scene that they saw earlier, they couldn't help but think back to the time when the cultivator dressed himself poorly and asked for disciples. What if they were the one that he took to the mountains?

"Alas, what a missed opportunity."

"What? What missed opportunity are you talking about? Isn't he right there?"

"Yeah, I also remember Shu Dashou last week, spreading the news..."

Before Shu Dashou started to get disillusioned by Liu Feng's promises, he had enthusiastically endorsed the latter's upcoming recruitment drive.

The villlagers, however, were simply unconvinced and even scornful. They were the type that needed to see to believe.

Now that the evidence, Shu Fanrong, showed herself, the villagers wanted to jump at the opportunity to curry favor with the cultivator and become his disciple.

Before long, Liu Feng found himself quietly surrounded by a sea of people, watching his every action. None of them wanted to be the first to move, so they waited for someone else first. After all, what if they offend the cultivator for invading his personal space? That would be a tremendous mistake!

Meanwhile, Liu Feng felt uncomfortable with the villagers' gazes. He hastened his pace, heading to the Shu family home. He remembered where it was ever since the bulky Shu Dashou came out of such a small doorframe, impressing Liu Feng.

He knocked on the door with the first part of the "William Tell Overture" rhythm, waiting for someone on the other side to respond.

Of course, Shu Fanrong, not getting the reference, opened the door normally, leaving Liu Feng disappointed.

"Master! You're awake!"

Shu Fanrong jumped towards Liu Feng and hugged his thigh.

"What are you doing here, Little Rong?"

"I wanted to test my strength! Did you see the big foxes outside? That was me!" Shu Fanrong looked a bit smug.

"Eh~ I don't remember giving you permission to go far, though?"

Shu Fanrong's face froze for a second, before changing to a pleading expression.

"Master, I'm sorry. You looked like you were gonna sleep for a long time so I just left..."

"Ahaha, don't worry about it." Liu Feng ruffled Shu Fanrong's hair. "I was just kidding."

Shu Fanrong lightened up. She headed out to play with her friends.

Judging by the situation outside, it seemed to Liu Feng that his disciple did the right decision by coming here. Otherwise, those two casualties would have turned into a massacred village instead.

Meanwhile, watching his daughter interact with the mysterious cultivator left a strange aftertaste in Shu Dashou's mouth. He stood up to greet Liu Feng.

"Senior Liu."

"Ah, your name was...?"

"Ahem, my name is Dashou, surname Shu. Pardon me for asking but-"

"I know, I know. I took a bit too long to bring your daughter here. First of all, I apologize."

Liu Feng clasped his hands and bowed before Shu Dsshou, leaving the latter flustered.

"Aiya, Senior Liu, you don't need to do this."

Shu Dashou was utterly confused.

If he had one word to describe cultivators, it would definitely be "prideful". These people had no sense of guilt nor shame. Unless, of course, the other party was stronger than them. Otherwise, it was impossible to expect to be treated as a human.

Shu Dashou both detested and feared cultivators because of this reason.

However, the cultivator infront of him broke this rule.

"Well, seeing you and your wife's state, I don't think an apology is enough."

Liu Feng headed towards Wen Yingyu.

She looked like a critically ill patient. Her skin was pale and her body was thin.

Liu Feng looked at Wen Yingyu's eyes, fiercely glaring at him full of murderous intent.

As he tried to grasp her hand, she slapped Liu Feng away and retreated into the bed.

"I'll give you some time to calm down. For now, I apologize for leaving you anxious about your daughter's state." Liu Feng sighed while rubbing his hand.

As he turned around to head out, Liu Feng heard a faint voice.

"...why?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you take my daughter away from me for so long?"

Wen Yingyu's breath hastened. There was fear and anxiety from her trembling voice, but both these emotions were flooded over by anger.

"It's a long story."

Shu Dashou arrived and brought Liu Feng some tea that he had hastily prepared.

As he sipped, Liu Feng recalled the events that led to this moment.

"Your daughter—she was the first to approach me."

Wen Yingyu and Shu Dashou listened intently.

"This was about two weeks ago. At that time, I've only just recovered from the attack."

"The attack?"

"Hm? You don't know about it? A bunch of sects ganged up on our Great Order Sect. As far as I know, I am the only one to survive."

The only one to survive.

These words brought a chill to the couple's spines. Wen Yingyu started to imagine a scenario wherein everyone in the village was massacred except her. She didn't have the mental capacity to survive that torment.

As for Shu Dashou, a flash of anger and bitterness appeared on his face for a second.

Noticing these subtle changes, Liu Feng continued, "To continue the sect's legacy, I decided to succeed as the sect master and went down the mountain to recruit some disciples. Unfortunately, no one was convinced."

Shu Dashou raised his eyebrows. Nobody stepped up? This was a real cultivator that appeared right in front of them! How dumb can someone get?

"As I was about to give up, your daughter showed up, asking me to be her master. She also mentioned that her parents had left her, so I just assumed she was an orphan and brought her up the mountains with me. She's been cultivating there diligently."

"Ahem, why did you accept our daughter? Even if you were desperate, surely Rongrong wouldn't have fit even your sect's lowest standards?"

"Ah, I think you have a fatal misunderstanding about your daughter's talent here. See, her potential, it's not visible on the surface. But a little scratch, and boom, it's gold! I just so happened to see that little trace."

Liu Feng lied as naturally as he breathed.

He was aware that luck played a huge part in "unveiling" Shu Fanrong's talent, but that wasn't a very convincing tale to tell her parents now, was it?

Meanwhile, Liu Feng's standing in Shu Dashou's eyes went up.

"That examiner told me my Rongrong would never even reach the first realm," Shu Dashou thought to himself, "but Senior Liu saw through her buried talent? He must be an expert of high caliber!"