A couple climbed the Immortal Mountain, carrying their child.
They had long heard that an immortal who helped the common folk resided nearby, and after much hardship, they had finally found the location of the Immortal Mountain.
As they reached the summit, the mist gradually dispersed, revealing a man with hair whiter than snow and an aura of transcendent purity.
He had been waiting by the cliff’s edge for some time.
“Great Immortal… please take our daughter!”
The mother knelt before the man, holding the child.
The father knelt behind her.
Seeing this, the white-haired man spoke calmly.
“Why?”
“Our daughter has suffered from an incurable disease since birth. We, husband and wife, have exhausted our entire family’s fortune for her sake over these years—”
After listening, the white-haired man roughly understood the situation of this couple who had traversed countless mountains to find him.
His gaze fell on the child in the woman’s arms.
The little girl, about six or seven years old, had a face pale as paper and radiated a bone-piercing chill.
Even held tightly, she still trembled faintly.
“What is her name?”
“Mu Chunxiang.”
The woman answered hastily, a faint spark of hope igniting in her eyes.
—
This was the first time Chen Juenian had encountered such an illness.
A very strange disease.
It caused those afflicted to be born with an innate, un-warmable chill and sealed their meridians, making it impossible for spiritual energy to circulate within them.
This not only blocked her path to immortality but also drastically shortened her lifespan; she wouldn’t live for many years.
The wandering cultivator-physicians in the Mortal Realm were utterly helpless against it.
No wonder the couple had spent their entire fortune yet couldn’t save this girl.
The cultivator-physicians lacked the skill, and the mortal pills were simply ineffective.
No, even eighth or ninth-grade Heavenly Tier pills couldn’t cure this disease.
If left a little longer, the illness would eventually seal the girl’s internal organs, causing her to die in endless agony.
Just as Chen Juenian was using his spiritual energy to remotely observe the girl’s condition, she suddenly opened her eyes slightly.
“You… who are you?”
“The one who can save you.”
“Where’s my mother?”
“She entrusted you to me.”
“Will I ever see them again?”
Chen Juenian gently shook his head.
Her parents had entrusted her to him, clearly because they were no longer capable of raising this child.
“…”
Tears welled in the corners of the girl’s eyes.
She was sad because her parents didn’t want her anymore.
She also knew she was a burden to them.
She truly wanted to die.
If she died, she wouldn’t burden them anymore.
But every time she saw her mother cry for her, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Now…
Perhaps she no longer had a reason to live.
“…”
Chen Juenian waved his hand, summoning several extremely precious medicinal herbs from a cabinet beside him.
Then, flames ignited in his palm as he personally refined an Immortal Elixir.
This elixir, combined with his overwhelmingly powerful spiritual energy, could instantly shatter this so-called incurable disease.
It was fortunate she had met him.
This illness truly only he could cure.
Before the girl could die from giving up completely, Chen Juenian forced the pill into her mouth and circulated his spiritual energy to break open her ice-sealed meridians.
His spiritual energy carved a direct path to her dantian for the elixir.
In the end, he succeeded.
“Done. The strange illness on your body has been completely eradicated by me.”
“…”
Feeling her body gradually warming, the girl lying on the bed looked at Chen Juenian with slightly astonished eyes.
“Your name is Mu Chunxiang, correct?”
Chen Juenian looked down at her, his tone solemn.
“Promise me you will live well. Things like abandoning your own life… never do them again.”
—
After about a month, the girl had finally fully recuperated her frail body.
Following Chen Juenian’s instructions, she came to the center of Juenian Mountain’s peak and waited quietly.
“Mu Chunxiang.”
“I’m here… Benefactor.”
Chen Juenian, his hair completely white, suddenly appeared before her and looked down.
“You possess an extremely rare Ice Spirit Root. If you can walk the Immortal Path, your future will undoubtedly be limitless. Are you willing to become my disciple?”
After a brief hesitation, Mu Chunxiang responded softly with her childish voice.
“I am willing.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Chen Juenian reached out and touched the top of her head.
‘This time, nothing will go wrong, right? This girl seems quite obedient and well-behaved.’
‘Sigh… I hope one can graduate normally.’
“From now on, you may address me as Master. I already helped you unblock your meridians a month ago. And what I just transmitted into your spiritual consciousness is a cultivation technique. If you have any questions about this technique, come to my room and ask.”
“Mm. Master, I understand.”
“Any other questions?”
After Chen Juenian released his hand, Mu Chunxiang looked up at this extraordinarily handsome man.
“Master, am I your first disciple?”
“You could say that.”
The others had all been expelled by him, so Mu Chunxiang could barely be considered his first disciple.
—
Sensing a pair of eyes peeking at him from behind the door, Chen Juenian put down the book in his hand and called out.
“Chunxiang, is something the matter?”
Seeing that her master had noticed her, Mu Chunxiang stopped peeking and walked straight into Chen Juenian’s room.
“Master, I’m not interested in martial techniques…”
She was now fifteen or sixteen.
The grown-up Mu Chunxiang had lost the childishness of her youth, but her words and demeanor remained as cold as frost.
Ignoring Mu Chunxiang’s still somewhat regrettable figure, Chen Juenian looked directly at her captivating beauty.
He could not possibly have those kinds of thoughts for a girl he had raised from childhood.
So, even facing such an ice-cold beauty, Chen Juenian remained as steady as a mountain.
“What about extraordinary arts?”
Mu Chunxiang shook her head.
Not interested in martial techniques or extraordinary arts?
Then what to learn?
Chen Juenian looked down at the book he had been reading.
“What about this?”
He picked up the book in front of him, letting Mu Chunxiang see the character for ‘Commerce’ on it.
“This is?”
“It won’t grant you greater personal strength, but it is enough to let you command stronger people.”
Mu Chunxiang lightly bit her lip. She actually… didn’t want to learn this.
She had found a book with incomprehensible content under the floorboard of her own room’s bed.
That book was filled with things unknown to her, and it had sparked a strange curiosity about the master who accompanied her day and night.
“I… want to learn this.”
“Good. I happen to know a little about this path. Come here.”
Mu Chunxiang sat on the cushion beside Chen Juenian, then leaned lightly against her master to listen to his teachings.
She could feel her heartbeat quickening…
She had often leaned against her master before, but today, the feeling was completely different.
“What I will teach you is the Ping Duoduo Business Method. Remember…”
—
“Do you miss your parents?”
Chen Juenian looked at Mu Chunxiang, who had just broken through to the Core Formation Realm, and asked.
Parents?
To say she didn’t… would be a lie.
In Mu Chunxiang’s childhood memories, her parents were indispensable.
Back then, they had sold off their family property without hesitation, just to cure her of the malignant disease.
She would never forget their kindness.
“Yes.”
“Would you like to see them?”
“Mm. Master, I miss them.”
Chen Juenian nodded, then gestured for Mu Chunxiang to follow him.
“Hold onto me. Don’t let go.”
Seeing her master open his arms for her, a trace of shyness suddenly arose in Mu Chunxiang’s heart.
‘Is this really okay?’
Upon embracing Chen Juenian, Mu Chunxiang instantly felt a surge of masculine energy, which perfectly complemented her own Yin-soft constitution.
Feeling utterly comfortable all over, she unconsciously grasped a strand of Chen Juenian’s hanging white hair and brought it to her nose, sniffing it lightly.
“We’re here—Chunxiang?”
Pretending nothing had happened, Mu Chunxiang released Chen Juenian, maintaining her usual cold expression.
They had arrived at a small town in the Mortal Realm.
Using his immense power, Chen Juenian had concealed their forms and kept them suspended in mid-air.
Mu Chunxiang spotted two familiar figures almost immediately in a small courtyard.
Though their faces had aged considerably and their hair had turned gray, she still remembered their features.
Besides them, she also saw a little girl.
“…”
“They are all healthy, including your younger sister. Do you want to go down and see them?”
Chen Juenian turned his head to look at Mu Chunxiang.
“Disciple… doesn’t want to anymore. They are happy now. If…”
“When they sent you to me back then, they entrusted you to me with hope—their hope was that you would be healthy and well with my help. So, disciple, you needn’t worry that your appearance will reopen old wounds. Perhaps they would be overjoyed?”
Encouraged by Chen Juenian’s words, Mu Chunxiang changed her mind and expressed her wish to go down and see her parents.
Chen Juenian brought Mu Chunxiang down into the courtyard, revealing their forms in a spot where the three people in the yard couldn’t detect them.
“Mom—”
Mu Mother, who was tending the fire, suddenly stopped her work.
The voice felt familiar, but she couldn’t be sure.
Mu Father heard it too.
They both looked towards a spot in the courtyard and saw Mu Chunxiang, now a graceful young woman dressed in white.
“Chun… Chunxiang?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Chunxiang! Is it really you?”
Mu Mother stood up excitedly, wanting to embrace her daughter.
But as she ran up to Mu Chunxiang, she suddenly realized her clothes were stained with charcoal dust.
Looking at her ethereally dressed daughter before her, Mu Mother ultimately did not get to embrace the child she hadn’t seen for decades.
Right then, Mu Chunxiang stepped forward and hugged her.
“Mom, I’ve come back to see you.”
Mu Father also walked over.
Unlike Mu Mother, whose eyes were only on her daughter, he noticed the white-clad man standing behind Mu Chunxiang.
“Thank you, Great Immortal! Your kindness to us is like being reborn—we… we truly don’t know how to thank you!”
“No need for thanks. I am very fond of Chunxiang. She is clever.”
After saying this, Chen Juenian turned his gaze to the little girl who had been standing still.
“What’s your name?”
The girl saw a man in white with white hair.
She had just heard her father address this person as… the Great Immortal?
“Great Immortal Brother, my name is Mu Qiu Ying.”
“Don’t be rude to the Great Immort—”
“It’s fine.”
Chen Juenian raised a hand to stop Mu Father.
He walked up to the girl, crouched down, and took out a pill, placing it in her hand.
“You have some talent for cultivation. Take this. In the future, you can become an ‘immortal’ like your sister.”
“…”
After bidding farewell to her parents, Mu Chunxiang had finally fulfilled her wish.
Chen Juenian had acted, adding a hundred years to her parents’ lifespans.
He had also given her younger sister an Immortal Elixir and a martial technique.
If nothing unexpected happened, her sister should be able to embark on the Immortal Path and provide a better life for their parents.
‘Just a light pat of the palm can grant mortals an extra hundred years of life?’
Mu Chunxiang was well-read, but she had never read of anyone capable of such a feat.
Adding lifespan to others directly, without relying on elixirs.
“Master. Why are you so good to me?”
“Because you are my disciple.”
“Your disciple has always been taking from you. Doesn’t Master want to get something from Chunxiang?”
This was the first time Chen Juenian had heard someone say such a thing.
If a master raised a disciple only for so-called benefits, then that person didn’t deserve to be called ‘Master’.
“The best repayment Chunxiang can give me is to cultivate diligently in the future. Alright, it’s time for us to return to Juenian Mountain.”
Embracing her master again, Mu Chunxiang felt an entirely new sensation this time.
Her cold body began to grow warm, simply because she was holding her master tightly.
‘What’s happening to me?’
—
“Has Master ever had a partner?”
Hearing this, Chen Juenian let out a soft sigh.
‘Where I’m from, the bride price starts at 288,000, and they want a house and a car too. How could I possibly find a wife?’
Although his looks were decent, his other conditions were rather limited.
“I have never had one.”
Hearing this, a spark of vitality suddenly appeared in Mu Chunxiang’s usually placid, pale blue pupils.
‘You mean to say, a white-haired, reclusive immortal like this has never had a partner?’
Using cultivation as an excuse to hurriedly take her leave, Mu Chunxiang returned to her room, excitedly lay on her bed, and wrapped herself in her blanket.
Completely different from her usual self, she now had none of that icy aura—
Now, she was completely a mother who lived only for her child.
Holding the thin quilt that had accompanied her for decades, she entered a state of contemplation.
Springtime warmth in her eyes, she quietly gazed at the adult gift Chen Juenian had given her, held in her palm.
Chen Juenian had given her a jade bead when she came of age.
This bead contained a certain amount of Yang energy.
Carrying it with her could neutralize the cold brought by her Ice Spirit Root.
Simply put, it made her more comfortable during a certain time of the month.
She tightly clenched the jade bead in her left hand, as if grasping her master in her palm this way.
—
In a place no one paid attention to, an organization named ‘Linlang Pavilion’ suddenly emerged.
If such an organization wasn’t enough to draw people’s notice, what if its leader was an ‘Emperor’?
The master of Linlang Pavilion was a mysterious Great Emperor.
People didn’t even know their true gender, only that this was an absolute powerhouse.
And one with a great head for business.
Upon its appearance, Linlang Pavilion instantly absorbed various merchant guilds from below the Ninth Heaven Beyond the Sky, turning them into branches of ‘Linlang Pavilion’.
Then, through extremely reasonable pricing and utmost respect for customers, it slowly won the favor of cultivators, ultimately defeating and absorbing all the established merchant guilds of the Ninth Heaven Beyond the Sky.
This new force had completely restructured the commerce of the Nine Heavens Beyond the Sky in just a hundred short years, astonishing the world.
“…”
“Master.”
After a century, Mu Chunxiang had finally shed all traces of immaturity.
Dressed in opulent gold and white robes, surrounded by the pressure of an Emperor-level existence, she stepped onto Juenian Mountain with confidence.
This time, she would directly face the person she had chosen.
“Chunxiang, I’ve heard of your accomplishments. You’ve done excellently.”
Mu Chunxiang, whose face almost never showed a smile, revealed one before Chen Juenian.
Without Chen Juenian, she could never have reached today.
To her, Chen Juenian was not just her master, but also her father, her ir.
Now, she wanted to pierce through this layer of window paper with the identity of the master of Linlang Pavilion, to drag this white-haired immortal down to the mortal dust and share a life with him.
“Mm—”
Mu Chunxiang took out a ring containing boundless wealth, walked up to Chen Juenian, and knelt on one knee.
“This disciple has received countless kindnesses from Master. Now, this disciple only wishes to carry on Master’s lineage…”
“?”
Seeing Chen Juenian frown, Mu Chunxiang instantly understood his meaning.
“If Master does not agree, then Chunxiang cannot be blamed for disregarding the master-disciple relationship.”
Almost starting from zero frames, Mu Chunxiang flung out several top-tier magical treasures from her ring, capable of restraining others, solely to force Chen Juenian to comply.
Binding Red Silk, Locking Wrist Golden Chains.
This was Mu Chunxiang’s final attitude towards Chen Juenian.
‘Where did it go wrong?’
A trace of disappointment appeared in Chen Juenian’s eyes.
He had only ever wanted a pure master-disciple bond, nothing like this.
“Chunxiang. You know, I’ve always thought of you as—”
“Chunxiang understands. But that is not what Chunxiang wants… What Chunxiang wants is you, Master.”
Perhaps her heart was clouded by passion.
After gaining power and wealth, Mu Chunxiang was tormented by love almost every day.
She understood that in this life, only Chen Juenian could satisfy her need for love.
She could never seek another.
Perhaps from the day he persuaded her not to give up on herself, Mu Chunxiang could never turn back on the path of ‘love’.
“We are master and disciple. Even if we go back to the day you came up the mountain, I only accepted you in the role of a foster father. Have you forgotten all the morals and propriety I taught you back then?”
“Chunxiang has not forgotten. But Chunxiang does not agree with what Master says. Chunxiang only wants to do what she wishes to do.”
Mu Chunxiang slowly approached Chen Juenian, whose movements were restricted, and reached out to lift a strand of his white hair.
“Master’s hair really is sweet. Chunxiang has dreamed of imagining Master’s taste… Finally… my wish is fulfilled.”
“…”
‘This girl is playing too perversely. She can even put my hair in her mouth and suck on it.’
Just as Mu Chunxiang’s gaze fell upon the buttons of his robe, Chen Juenian released his spiritual energy, shattering the red silk and golden chains.
Finally, he reached out and pressed the rebellious disciple who dared to defy her master to the ground.
“Mu Chunxiang, you still have a chance.”
“Heh… Master… Chunxiang is also an Emperor now… Don’t blame Chunxiang for not holding ba—”
Before she could finish, Chen Juenian sent Mu Chunxiang flying a thousand meters with a single palm strike.
By the time Mu Chunxiang regained her senses, the familiar Juenian Mountain had vanished from among the mountain range.
“…”
Chen Juenian did not want