"You can see my gender." Yu Li asked cautiously. This man was a cultivator and he could see her gender that pretty much say that he has powerful cultivation. As not even Shen Min'er could see her true form, would he trouble her because of that treasure since he is more powerful?
Lei Xieren nodded. His face still had a smile and he was looking at her as if glancing at a treasure.
"What do you want?" Yu Li asked trying to sound brave.
"Nothing! Don't be scared. Thank you for helping me." He sincerely conveyed his gratitude.
Yu Li looked at his face again and dispelled the idea that he was trying to snatch something from her.
"Help? What help?" She asked him. "How are you going to repay me since I helped you?"
She directly wanted rewards from him. Lei Xieren liked her.
"Good! Very good! Precious girl, come and greet me as your master."
This girl was very much like him and didn't like to coat her words in sweetness. He simply likes her character and bluntness. She will be a perfect student for him. She was so good at insulting him. He has never been insulted by anyone.
"What?" Yu Li was dumbstruck. What was wrong with this man? Who takes a stranger as a student? She had never seen people picking students like vegetables from the market. "You are joking, right? Otherwise, I can only think that you are ridiculous and will not take you seriously." She voiced her opinion.
"No! No! It's not like that. I am perfectly fine and I want you as my student." Lei Xieren quickly told her else she misunderstood his actions. "You helped me in reaching the Sage realm by truly insulting me from your heart. This is how I want to repay you. Didn't you ask me to give you something in return?" He explained and tried hard to make her agree to be his disciple. He could not let this gem go away.
"You are so precious and alone – a brilliant crossdresser with a poisonous mouth and no spiritual powers." Lei Xieren complimented her. "I am Lei Xieren, master of Snow Sword Peak from the eastern continent's Heavenly Dao Sect." He introduced herself to make a good impression on her.
How could he have the heart to leave her alone? He must make her his disciple at any cost. He must return gratitude with gratitude.
She was so brave that she came here alone and helped him in crossing the last barrier that he couldn't overcome in the past fifty years.
This was fate.
He was finally a Sage realm expert. His senior brother was right. He has divined that he would meet his benefactor in the western continent but after searching for ten years, he had lost all hopes in increasing his cultivation but he had accidentally found her.
"Eastern continent?" Yu Li didn't know much about it as she had not started her cultivation journey and was completely oblivious to the eastern continent's pattern. "Heavenly Dao Sect? Do you know Shen Guo Valley?" She tried her luck and asked him about it.
Although she knew that her mother was from that place and was also chosen as the next sect leader, her two elder sisters were living there but as a six-year-old, she had no idea how to go there and contact them.
The barrier between the western and eastern continents was so strict that it would take days for the reinforcement to come and protect her.
Lei Xieren didn't expect that she would ask about Shen Guo valley. Was that sect more famous than his sect in the western continent?
"Why do you ask...um…? What should I call you?" he asked embarrassed.
"Apologies, I am Yu...Li Yu." Yu Li changed her name to hide her identity before knowing his true personality.
Lei Xieren heard the stutter in her words and immediately realized that she was still doubting him.
"Little one, I promise not to harm you as you are my benefactor and in future will be my last disciple. This is my reward for you. Please accept it." He clearly told his intentions. "So, you can tell me your real name… Yu Li." Lei Xieren guessed.
Something flashed in her eyes at his words and Lei Xieren immediately noticed it, "If I wanted to harm you I would have done it in the beginning so you can trust my words. I just guessed your name. Frankly, I do all this too whenever I am in hiding."
Ye Yu Li nodded and didn't say anything waiting for him to explain more. She was meant to study in Shen Guo valley if nothing happened tonight but since Shen Min'er knows that her father has given her the treasure, she would not be safe in that sect it is better to go with this man if he was a good person.
"Why are you so serious? It is not cute. You are a girl, on top of that, forget it. I will not take this to heart. I know it is a sect filled with crazy woman's that love to experiment by using the reason of making new medicine. Heavenly Dao sect is much better than that stupid place. I am not insulting women but that Shen Min'er is nasty. No good can come if you stay in contact with her." Lei Xieren kindly tried to poison her mind against Shen Guo valley after all he wanted to swindle...er...protect her from them.
Either way not everything he said was untrue, Shen Min'er is a scoundrel that could take Shen Hui Lin's place any day so how can Shen Guo Valley prosper under her command? They need a sect leader who is the true descendant of the Shen family to maintain the sect.
Yu Li was even more shocked to hear Shen Min'er's name from Lei Xieren's mouth. It was clear he hated her.
"Thank you for your guidance but I can't understand how did I help you without doing anything?" She can feel that he wanted to reimburse her but she has to know what kind of person he was before deciding to join him.
Lei Xieren smiled in return. "I am sorry, little girl. I didn't explain it properly. In plain words, you insulted me which in turn filled my wishes and I was able to become a true sage realm expert."
Yu Li was speechless. "Your wish was to be insulted by others."
"Uh...you can say so, I was born in a good family and had a little bit of talent so without doing anything I got everything but because of my position no one has truly insulted me from their heart and the troublemaker that I am, I was not satisfied and it gave birth to a heart demon stopping from ascension." Lei Xieren told her everything.
How did his senior brother ask him to visit the western continent to find the person who would help him?
How he got only praises for his good looks and power?
His wish to get insulted and have a word fight was not attained in these ten years. He was desperate so he came to find some treasures in The Stormy Abyss to kill some time but who would have thought that he would be stuck here for three years by falling on a volatile floaty land.
"Why are you stuck here? Your cultivation is high so can't you destroy the volatile land?" She was curious.
Since he was not Shen Min'er's accomplice and was a funny man she decided to hear everything.
Lei Xieren smirked, happy to hear the praise in her words. "Want to know? Accept me as your master, first."
He was not stupid. He could see that the girl was too smart for her age. She was interested in listening to his story then he would use this to make her accept him. Even he didn't know why he was trying so hard to make her agree to his condition but he liked the little girl so he would do anything to get a 'yes' from her.
Yu Li rolled her eyes. "You are funny. Fine, if you really want to do this then don't blame me after when I leech off you." Her entire personality changed in an instant before she was indifferent as ice but now she was like a warm sun attracting others. "Where is my gift? What are you giving me to get me as your last disciple?"
Lei Xieren felt a crisis in his heart but looking at the girl in front of him he rubbed it off. How can a cute little girl who helped him in breakthrough be bad?
He skimmed his storage ring but could not find anything exceptional other than cold weapons, medicine, and other necessities. What should he give her as a master?
"Little girl! I don't have anything nice that I could think of so why don't we do this later. For now, accept me as your master. How about it?" He asked her sadly. He was truly poor after spending ten years in this poor continent. He would never accept that he was too lazy to find good things while searching for his benefactor.
Yu Li's face changed in an instant. "Don't try to trick me. You said you were rich...you can't even give me a meeting gift." She made a sad face as if blaming heavens for bringing her in this place.
"Uh...it's not like that I am very poor, it's just that you can't even use spiritual power so I can't give you anything from this weapon's collection. I am a great swordmaster so I have a stack of weapons." Lei Xieren was conflicted but he decided to lay everything on the ground for her to choose. "How about it? You take anything that you like. It doesn't have to be your life-long weapon."
With that said, he spread everything in front of her and asked her to chose anything.
Yu Li's eyes widened in disbelief as the foolish man really laid everything out on the ground for her. She was just teasing him. Who would have thought that he was truly a softy from inside that could not bear the sad face of girls?
There were so many weapons. Swords, saber, spear, anything that she could think of and the important fact was that they were all spiritual weapons.
"These are all spiritual weapons. You can't feel it yet because you are not a cultivator. These are meant to be the lifelong talisman or weapon that a cultivator gets after clearing Condensation Stage so even if you pick one and it has no affinity with you then it is just a scrap of metal. It is
The fate that binds the cultivator and his lifelong talisman." Lei Xieren taught her.
Yu Li was not completely oblivious to these things. She has read novels and watched so many fantasy dramas that she knew that what he was saying was true. Besides, she needs to open that ring and without a teacher, she could not enter the path of cultivation and would not know what was hidden inside.
"Thank you but I was just testing you. I wanted to see whether you are truly soft or were just pretending in front of me for a reason. I m sorry. I am willing to accept you as my teacher."
Yu Li knelt down and kowtowed three times with sincerity. Considering that she has accepted him as his master then she would fulfill this duty properly by treating him kindly in the future.
Yu Li had a strong character that seemed cruel to others sometimes but she was also an honest person when it comes to her values that she believed in her life.
"Master, please accept this disciple."
Lei Xieren smiled in happiness after adding his benefactor to his family. Once a master is a father for life. "Good disciple get up. From now on you are my fourth and last disciple. Master will protect you."