While Feng Yongrui was busy thinking and talking with the System, Ma Bo and Hou Renshu had exchanged glances several times. After they both had kowtowed towards their Master, he told them to get up and correctly guessed that Hou Renshu was the older one among the two.
Ma Bo was impressed and secretly wondered how Master was able to know this. Didn't they both say they were ten years old? How did Master know that Shu Ge was older?
Their Master was definitely an expert! Ma Bo thought.
Hou Renshu was more mature. He did not fully understand the world of cultivation, but he knew that knowing someone's age was a simple matter for Nascent Soul Cultivators, who could even split the sky and overturn the mountains during their fight.
However, after their Master had said some perfunctory words, he was silent, making Hou Renshu and Ma Bo become anxious.
One moment, their Master's face was calm. In the next moment, his face was etched with lines as he frowned. Soon, his jaw was clenched and he looked like he was suppressing anger.
Ma Bo's heart beat faster and sweat dropped from his eyebrows. Did Master find out? Did he find out about 'that'? What should they do?
Hou Renshu's face was not any better. He clenched his fist so hard that his nails almost drew blood. If this Master dared to hurt them...
Hou Renshu's nerves were tense. He watched as the Master's expression loosened and his hands reached inside his sleeves.
What was Master going to do...? Hou Renshu and Ma Bo watched as Feng Yongrui took something out from his sleeve.
When Feng Yongrui took out the items, he was shocked. The items were... just normal jade pendants?!
Sigh, what could he expect? Something that cost him only one point each was definitely a good-for-nothing item. The System cheated him!
"Host, please do not slander the System," The System's grumpy voice sounded in his head.
"The Disciple Welcoming Gift is made of the purest white jade in the world. It was stored in the Ice Lake for 1,000 years and refined in the Nirvana Fire for another 1,000 years. It can keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and has numerous uses. Host, do you not want it anymore?"
"I want it, I want it," Feng Yongrui hurriedly said to the System. What a joke! What if the System really took it back?
He extended his arm and handed a jade pendant to each of his disciples. "Here's a little something for you two. When I'm richer, I'll definitely give you something better."
Hou Renshu and Ma Bo accepted the gift and thanked him warmly.
"Alright, there's no need for thanks. Go to your rooms and rest. Tomorrow, you should meet me here at noon."
"Understood, Master." The two disciples saluted and left.
When they had left the study and were sure that no one could hear them, Ma Bo whispered, "Shu Ge, do you think Master is poor?"
"Shh..." Hou Renshu pursed his lips. "How would I know?"
Ma Bo held the jade pendant in his hands. It was cool to the touch and engraved with certain words that he could not understand.
"Shu Ge, what does this say?" He pointed to the engravings.
Hou Renshu squinted and brought the jade pendant closer to his eyes. He looked at it left and right but could not understand it and simply shook his head.
"Hmm... I wonder if this is some sort of ancient language. Can I see yours?" Ma Bo stretched his hands out.
Hou Renshu placed his pendant on Ma Bo's hands and the two peered at the jade, squinting and thinking.
"I don't know, but the engravings on your pendant and mine are different. Maybe we should ask Master someday," Ma Bo said.
Hou Renshu nodded. Even though their Master was poor, he had given them a gift. He didn't seem that bad...
However, Hou Renshu found it strange that they would meet their Master at noon tomorrow. Was he not planning to teach them cultivation methods?
If he did want to teach them, wasn't it better to start early in the morning? Hou Renshu was quite troubled, but he decided to go with the flow and take things as they go.
Actually, Feng Yongrui's reasoning is simple. He didn't want to wake up too early.
While Nascent Soul Cultivators didn't need to sleep, Feng Yongrui's habits were hard to change. He still wanted to sleep and rest.
Also, he was afraid that if he told his disciples to meet him in the morning, he would oversleep and be the late one instead.
At that time, wouldn't he lose face as their Master? And also, wouldn't this be giving a chance for the System to mock him?!
When Ma Bo and Hou Renshu had left, Feng Yongrui eased his tense muscles and flopped on the bed. He was too unprepared, and his nerves were taut like a string.
Sigh, tomorrow they would definitely hope for him to teach them cultivation methods and stuff, but he was still quite clueless in that aspect!
Feng Yongrui clenched his fist. Time to get into "teacher mode".
First, Feng Yongrui sneakily spied on his two disciples. He had to know what kind of spirit root they possessed. Ma Bo's spirit root was a water attribute while Hou Renshu had dual spirit roots, namely water and metal.
Spirit roots are the core of cultivation, allowing mortals to overcome their limitations, absorb spiritual Qi, and ascend as an immortal.
There were 5 common attributes or types of spirit roots which are fire, water, wood, earth, and metal. Of course, there were people with rare attributes too, like the girl with ice attributes who made two elders quarrel during today's Disciple Entrance Ceremony.
Generally, the more attributes one's spirit root has, the harder it is to cultivate.
It's like juggling balls in a circus. The more balls you have, the harder it is to concentrate and balance and juggle them. If you only have one ball, you just need to focus on that one and work hard to improve your skills on that single ball.
Attributes were also divided into ranks based on its innate talent. Spirit roots could be high-grade, middle-grade, or low-grade.
Even though Ma Bo had a single water attribute spirit root (which was a good thing), his spirit root's talent was mediocre, if not lacking. Ma Bo only had a low-grade spirit root.
If he had a high-grade water spirit root, he would be considered talented and would probably be picked to be someone's inner disciple.
Anyway, Feng Yongrui had determined his disciples' spirit roots.
Next, he scoured the Immortal Pathway's library. As an elder, Feng Yongrui was allowed to go anywhere except certain, forbidden areas that were only accessible to the Sect Master. This meant that Feng Yongrui could pick any books from the library.
As a Master, Feng Yongrui did not want to be lacking when teaching his disciples. If he could, he would prefer going to the System Mall and look for any cultivation books or methods for his disciples, but at the moment he was too poor and could only abandon the idea.
The Immortal Pathway's Library was vast and filled with all kinds of books. Cultivation techniques, array and formation techniques, books on herbs and alchemy... Everything was there.
Feng Yongrui asked the librarian to give him all the books on water attributes and metal attributes. There were so many of them that in no time, Feng Yongrui was surrounded by a mountain of books.
The librarian glanced at him and shook his head, wondering why this elder, who was usually cold and taciturn, would suddenly read so much.
Feng Yongrui ignored the librarian's gaze and instead talked to the System. The two came to an agreement: the System would help Feng Yongrui sort the books in exchange for 1 point.
Feng Yongrui would open each book and skim through the contents, letting the System see everything in it. The System would then judge whether the book was good or not.
If it was considered good, meaning it was suitable for the kids, then Feng Yongrui would put them in one pile. If it was not suitable or just wasn't good enough, Feng Yongrui would put them in another pile.
It took more than an hour for Feng Yongrui to finish separating the books into two piles, but the work wasn't over yet.
From the pile of books that were "good", Feng Yongrui would divide them into three piles again: one pile was for Ma Bo only, another was for Hou Renshu only, and another pile was books for the two of them (such as the basics of cultivation, etc).
Several hours passed and Feng Yongrui was finally finished. He stretched his limbs and yawned. Outside the library, darkness had descended and nighttime was here already. Feng Yongrui tidied up the messy books sprawled on the floor, kept the books he needed, and bade goodbye to the librarian.
He had formulated his lesson plans for tomorrow, and he was so excited that his stomach was practically jumping up and down. Spending one point for this was worth it. Feng Yongrui couldn't wait to see what the next day would bring.
***
Ma Bo: Master is an expert! He knew that Shu Ge is older than me at first glance!
Feng Yongrui: Ahem, no... I was just guessing based on your height...
***
If you could choose the type of spirit root you could have, what would it be and why?
Comment below~