Chapter 5:Accepting a disciple

"Are you alright?"

Samuel looked down at the attractive woman who was still faint in his arms. Her charming face was flushed and her eyes fluttered rapidly.

His inspection of her physical form left him with the impression that she was fine. His soul sight was much of the same.

If anything, her soul was roiling in arousing emotions which were odd given the only time he noticed something like this was when a master was helping a disciple cultivate, intimacy between lovers, or... when a mortal gazed on their form for too long without proper suppression.

Samuel wanted to slap himself, realizing he might be too much for the young woman in the final stages of her teen years.

He remembered when he had those hormones, it was a difficult time, finding himself oddly attracted to the feminine form(that was when he had fallen into step with Lucia) with only his love for cultivation seeing him through.

"Uh-huh..."

Was all Elizabeth could stammer, her breath caught in her throat.

Samuel closed his eyes willing all the essence he was leaking into the atmosphere to dissipate into atmospheric essence. It was trace amounts of a unique variant of vital essence that everybody leaked. If you had positive emotions towards that person such as infatuation, that was reinforced. Same for negative emotions such as fear. It did not affect neutral emotions.

The more powerful one was the stronger the effect, and the larger the difference in essence between individuals the more it affected the weaker individual.

So it was no wonder everyone looked so flushed, to use soul sight he had leaked a tiny fragment of his essence, and the oceanic difference made sure that even that was enough.

He strangled the trace flow of essence to the outside world. That should bring them back in line.

It had a visible effect, within seconds most no longer gawked at him as they once had, though some did still steal glances.

The woman in his arms also came to herself and her blush deepened even greater. This time, he assumed in embarrassment.

"Can you please let me go?"

"Of course."

In one fluid motion, she was back on her feet, one hand on her bountiful chest.

The first thing she did was look for the other master who had made himself scarce by now.

Then she once more looked at Samuel with a keen eye but respectfully asked.

"Honored elder. I am sorry for my shameful display. But I must ask. Why are you here?"

"I saw potential in you and have come to ask you to be my disciple."

Elizabeth became immediately defensive.

"Why? An honored elder such as you must have no end to their options. Why a lowly mortal like me."

There was quite a bit of apprehension in her voice along with a tinge of hope. The mortals around her were angry now.

Two masters came to her, one of whom was sculpted by the gods themselves. She directly challenged the previous one and the current one was also not looking promising.

The men and especially the women would sell their souls to demons if it meant they could be under the man that stood before them.

Samuel, however, noticed none of this. Taking what she said at face value.

"A fair question. You see, despite spending over a century in my cultivation I have never taken in a disciple. A fault of mine that I wish to rectify. As to why you. The rules in this sect state that the first disciple a master takes in must be a mortal they find physically appealing. You are very physically appealing, on top of which I find your potential to be rather great. Not quite strong enough to risk a heaven's chosen awakening but strong enough to catch my eye. Does this answer your question?"

Simon's delivery was very one-note yet very pleasant given the natural timber of his voice.

The words stated, however, made the young woman look down in a mixture of appreciation and embarrassment.

For such a handsome man to say he was attracted to you was always an ego boost.

"I see."

There were a lot of complicated thoughts and emotions bundled in those words. A lifetime's worth. But beneath it, all was a bundle of emotions that she had not felt in a long time, hope and joy.

Samuel, now without soul sight, could catch none of it. He merely raised his eyebrow.

"I am sorry for being rude... but that is not an answer..."

This interaction was very astonishing to the people around them. Cultivators, especially the heaven's chosen tended to be very aloof and self-important. For one to engage in such quiet banter with

Elizabeth was good at catching lies, her upbringing demanded she do so. Unlike, the last 'master', this one was being incredibly sincere.

A little too sincere, which was the cause of the blush on her face.

"I will agree but I have one condition."

That was odd, it was normally the masters that set the conditions but Samuel was anything but normal. Besides he was curious.

"Name it."

"Please never abuse my trust."

Samuel was slightly confused at the request. Was trust not the foundation of any good relationship? He made a mental checklist to ask Lucia later.

But this also slightly deflated him, he had thought it to be a more unreasonable ask. Something he could plan around and exercise his mind. Wanting to see if she would ask for something more he said.

"Done. But that is too little of an ask. Give me another, and I shall grant it to my utmost ability."

Elizabeth was shocked at the frankness of his words. There was very little going under the surface outside of the words coming out of his mouth.

His words were true.

A gift she had from birth, a curse she could not get rid of. The ability to see lies. Yet here, she felt none at all.

A childish fantasy lost under years of harsh reality bubbled to the surface. She smirked.

"Make me a cauldron."

"Do... Wait?! WHAT?!?"