Lin Fan turned around stiffly, his face plastered with an obedient smile, looking for all the world like a well-behaved model student. He watched as his master, the Wu Wei Daoist, walked out of the cottage, holding a new set of bedding.
"Master, you heard all that?" Lin Fan asked in a small, slightly guilty voice.
The Wu Wei Daoist shot him an annoyed glare, pushed the bedding into the hands of the still-dazed Yue Qingqian, and then pulled Lin Fan to a corner of the courtyard. He lowered his voice and scolded, "You brat, what do I usually teach you? A cultivator should be brave and diligent, striving against the heavens! But you, all day long you study how to dig holes and play dead, and now you want to corrupt your new junior sister!"
Yue Qingqian, holding the soft bedding, looked curiously at the master and disciple whispering in the corner. Although she couldn't hear the specifics, she could sense that her senior brother seemed to be getting a lecture.
"Master, I must disagree," Lin Fan defended himself in a whisper. "This isn't a crooked theory, it's the supreme truth of the Great Dao. Think about it, how risky is it to strive against the heavens? Nine and a half out of ten become cannon fodder. Only by going with the flow... no, by cautiously going with the flow, can one live a long life. And only by living a long life can one see the end of the Great Dao!"
"You!" The Wu Wei Daoist was so angry his beard trembled. "Qingqian is a good seedling, possessing the rare 'Innate Sword Heart.' She is destined to become a pillar of the sect! What she needs is tempering, battle, and to forge an invincible Dao heart that can overcome any obstacle! Not to learn from you how to avoid challenges!"
Lin Fan nodded repeatedly on the surface, feigning acceptance. "Yes, yes, Master is right. Master is brilliant."
Deep down, however, he was complaining relentlessly: "Innate Sword Heart? Isn't that like carving 'I'm a genius, come kill me' on her forehead? A Dao heart? My Dao heart is as stable as a ten-thousand-year-old turtle; it never wavers. That's the most supreme Dao heart, okay!"
Seeing Lin Fan's "repentant" look, the Wu Wei Daoist's anger subsided a little. He sighed, thinking that his eldest disciple was good in every way, except that he was too cautious, overly so.
He ignored Lin Fan, turned to Yue Qingqian, and immediately put on a kind smile. He took out a thin booklet from his robes: "Qingqian, this is the sect's basic mind technique, the 'Azure Origin Art.' Take it and study it for now. With your Sword Heart, you are naturally suited for sword cultivation, but a tall building rises from the ground up. You must not aim too high too soon. You must first build a solid foundation in Qi refining."
"Yes, Master!" Yue Qingqian respectfully accepted the manual. This was the normal master-disciple routine she had imagined.
"Alright," the Wu Wei Daoist waved his hand. "I must return to my seclusion to comprehend the Great Dao. Fan'er, take good care of your junior sister. If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible!"
With that, the old Daoist's figure transformed into a wisp of clear wind and vanished, as if he had never been there. In reality, he was just going back to his own cottage for a nap and to avoid the sect's annoying meetings.
With the master's departure, the small courtyard returned to its tranquility.
Yue Qingqian stole a glance at her senior brother, asking tentatively, "Senior Brother... was Master angry at you just now because of me?"
Lin Fan stood with his hands behind his back and turned around. There was no trace of having been lectured on his face; instead, there was a sense of profound, worldly wisdom.
He faced the morning sun, tilting his head up at a forty-five-degree angle, and slowly waved his hand. "Junior Sister, you don't understand. Master... he is too traditional. He has yet to grasp the true essence of our lineage's legacy."
"The true essence?" Yue Qingqian's curiosity was piqued.
"Indeed," Lin Fan turned to her with a solemn expression. "The true Great Dao is not about fighting and killing; that is the way of brutes. The true Great Dao is to survive, to live on peacefully and securely, to watch the world change, to wait for the seas to turn into mulberry fields, until all your enemies have died of old age. This is the ultimate truth!"
This shocking statement left Yue Qingqian stunned. Although it felt wrong somewhere, upon careful consideration, it seemed... to make a lot of sense?
Seeing his junior sister lost in thought, Lin Fan knew the time was right.
He smiled faintly and said, "Junior Sister, you are new here. As your senior brother, it is only proper that I give you a welcoming gift."
With that, he turned and entered his cottage. A moment later, after some clanging and rummaging, Lin Fan emerged carrying a pile of strange items, which he solemnly placed before Yue Qingqian.
Yue Qingqian's eyes were filled with anticipation. This was a gift from her legendary senior brother. Would it be a divine weapon or some spirit pills?
Lin Fan first picked up a piece of clothing. It was a dusty gray robe, old-fashioned in style, with coarse fabric, looking even more tattered than what a beggar might wear.
"Junior Sister, this is the 'Dust-Hiding Robe'!" Lin Fan introduced. "This robe has no defensive properties; it will even suppress the flow of your spiritual energy. But it has one great advantage—it's ugly! And it makes you look exceptionally poor! Wear it, and I guarantee that when you walk down the road, no one will bother to give you a second glance, completely eliminating the possibility of others coveting your treasures!"
Next, he picked up a stack of yellow paper talismans. "These are 'Minor Illness Talismans,' not for attack. If you encounter someone trying to provoke you, remember, never fight back! Just quietly stick one on yourself, and your face will instantly turn pale, you'll start panting and coughing nonstop. Generally, any cultivator with a normal brain won't bother with a 'sickly weakling'."
Then, there was a brand-new-looking small iron shovel. "This is the 'Spirit-Working Shovel.' Although it's made of common iron, I've modified it to be especially good for digging holes. Junior Sister, you must remember that a comfortable and safe hiding place is far more reliable than a top-tier defensive magical treasure."
Finally, Lin Fan took out a thick, beast-hide-bound book. On the cover were several large characters he had written himself—Three Hundred Rules for Avoiding Disaster in the Sect.
Yue Qingqian was completely dumbfounded. She was holding an ugly robe, carrying talismans that would make her sick, with a shovel for digging holes at her feet. Her mind was a complete blank.
She had imagined countless welcoming gifts, but she had never expected this combination. The style was completely different from the wuxia stories of swordsmen roaming the world and seeking heroic vengeance that she had envisioned!
Seeing his junior sister's dazed expression, Lin Fan nodded in satisfaction, believing she had understood the true meaning behind it all.
He patted Yue Qingqian's shoulder earnestly. "Junior Sister, what Master gave you is technique. What I am teaching you is the Dao! The Dao of survival! These gifts are far more precious than any divine weapon or pill. You must diligently cultivate the technique Master gave you, but you must never forget the foundation I am teaching you. This is the very basis of our Lesser Peak's legacy!"
With that, Lin Fan pointed to the empty space behind the new cottage intended for Yue Qingqian.
"Alright, your first lesson begins now. Go, behind your residence, and dig an escape tunnel thirty yards deep, with three misleading exits and ten defensive arrays. I will come to inspect it tomorrow morning."
Having assigned the task, Lin Fan walked back to his cottage with his hands behind his back, feeling satisfied with his work, his merit and fame deeply hidden. He had successfully planted the first seed of the "Dao of Stability" in his junior sister's pure heart.
In the courtyard, only Yue Qingqian remained, holding a pile of strange "generous gifts," utterly bewildered in the early morning mountain breeze.
She looked at the Spirit-Working Shovel in her hand, then at her senior brother's closed door. A thought uncontrollably surfaced in her mind:
"My senior brother... seems a bit different... from the legends?"