She was almost in tears when, after a long while, the Old Taoist Priest finally turned his head, giving her a deep, profound gaze before turning to look at the statue of the ancestral master,
"Ah..."
With a deep, drawn-out sigh, the Old Taoist Priest's countenance grew dejected, a bitter expression permeating his face as though he had aged decades in a single breath. His hoarse voice spoke,
"It's all fate! Fate indeed!"
Having said this, he extended his hand,
"Help me up!"
Gu Shi Yi, with an uneasy face, helped him stand up. The Old Taoist Priest sat cross-legged on the bed and motioned for his disciple to sit across from him. After a long silence, he said,
"Show me that thing..."
"That thing..."
Gu Shi Yi did not grasp his meaning for a moment. Seeing that the Old Taoist Priest was looking at his collar, Shiyi understood and hurriedly took out the little mud man. The Old Taoist Priest took it from his hand. The little mud man, seeming fearful of the Old Taoist Priest, stiffened, not daring to move, and looked at him with a nervous expression. The Old Taoist Priest examined her carefully and sighed,
"With your level of cultivation, to have transferred her to this realm and for her to have not dissipated into nothingness but instead possess this, is indeed great fortune!"
Thus, it truly was fate! Soul Capturing Across Realms was something even his own master in his prime couldn't do, let alone Shiyi, this half-baked practitioner. Fear must be attributed to the power of the Tongxuan Bright Mirror, indicating its immense divine abilities!
The thought caused the Old Taoist Priest's heart to ache once more, as he remembered that he was a mere month away from truly making the mirror his own. Unable to help it, a sweetness rose to his throat, but seeing both his disciple and the clay figure looking earnestly at him, he forced himself to take a deep breath and swallow the blood back down,
"Huh..."
Exhaling a long breath, the Old Taoist Priest looked up at Gu Shi Yi,
"What you did last night was extremely perilous. One misstep, and both you and she could have been sucked into the void between the two realms, a place where you can neither live nor die, but wander aimlessly forever! Gu Shi Yi... you truly are recklessly brave!"
Gu Shi Yi turned pale upon hearing this,
"Master, was it really that dangerous? I thought if the spell failed at worst I would just lose some of my essence..."
And Yanyan was still acting like a resentful ghost over there!
The Old Taoist Priest glared at her,
"Truly a case of the young calf not fearing the tiger. Only you would dare to do such a thing!"
"Ah!"
He sighed, realizing that it was partly because Shiyi had a Pure Yin Body, making her exceptionally compatible with the little mirror.
"Ah... it is indeed fate!"
Seeing the Old Taoist Priest continually sighing made Gu Shi Yi's hair stand on end, and sensing she had caused serious trouble, she attempted a forced laugh,
"Talking about the young calf, I'm a thirty-year-old 'old calf' now!"
Then, mumbling with her head down,
"And... Master, you never told me that this little mirror shouldn't be used!"
The Old Taoist Priest glared at her again, then heaved another sigh,
"Ah, you are right. This matter... it's my fault. Now that it has come to this, there are some things I won't hide from you anymore!"
Having said this, he looked up at the sky, and handed back the clay figure to Gu Shi Yi,
"Take good care of her!"
Gu Shi Yi took the Little Mud Man, and in front of the Old Taoist Priest, boldly stuffed him back inside her garment. The Old Taoist Priest, seeing his disciple's unreserved and casual nature, could not help but twitch at the corner of his eyes and then shook his head with a sigh,
"It's all my fault! All my fault! Back then, I couldn't accept that my senior brother took over control of the sect after Master's death, so I took the treasure and fled with you. After hiding and running for so many years, I raised you to be like this!"
The Old Taoist Priest, a lifelong bachelor, would have known how to raise a child, which is why his disciple turned out to be so "bold and uninhibited," completely ignorant of worldly manners, just like a wild person from the mountains.
Gu Shi Yi had been his disciple for twenty-five years; she was curious and had asked about the past, but the Old Taoist Priest's lips were sealed tight as a clam's, not willing to reveal a single word. Today he finally mentioned past events, and the curious cat inside her was scratching at her insides, prompting her to exclaim,
"Old man, just spit it out! After all these years, which sect were you from, and what is the origin of this mirror? You've never talked about it. You can't just leave me halfway..."
The Old Taoist Priest glared at her,
"What's the rush? Am I not trying to figure out how to start?"
This tale would indeed be a long one, but it had to be clearly and thoroughly explained.
Let's say, eighty years ago, the Old Taoist Priest was just a snotty little brat who had become an orphan due to the ravages of war. He was picked up by the roaming master of the Tongxuan Sect, Wang Qingyang, and made his Closed-door Disciple. The Old Taoist Priest's surname was Qi, with the common name of Niuer, the youngest among his disciples, ranked ninth, and his formal name was Qi Jiufeng.