Before his little disciple could ask any further, Elder Baili patted his head. "Alright, alright, I already know: You want to know how I took in your big senior martial brother, right?"

Yun Bei Fen’s eyes glittered and he nodded his head like a chicken pecking rice.

Baili Chao sighed at that. His disciple was slow on the uptake when it concerned cultivation but he sure was good at being cute. If he ever met a demonic practitioner he might just be able to be an unknowing little bunny and they might ignore him. That could probably be counted as a skill as well.

Anyway … "Things were quite straightforward with your big senior martial brother. That day I was —"

"Out to do something for Sect Master Zhang?" Yun Bei Fen cutely blinked his eyes, feeling that he had already seen through everything.

His Master’s lips twitched. "No."

"But you were visiting a village, a town, or a city, right?"

"No! Just let me tell the story."

"Oh. Alright." Yun Bei Fen tried to curb his excitement but his eyes were still sparkling just as bright as before. Obviously, he was thrilled to hear about this story as well.

Seeing his expression, Elder Baili couldn’t work up any anger for being interrupted so often. He just sighed and continued. "Actually, at that time, I was not outside for the Sect Master and I wasn’t visiting any dwelling either. Instead, I was on my way to visit an old friend. Traveling outside when it was getting dark, I saw a fire being lit somewhere on a crossroads. I went over to ask if I could sit down and found a woman and a young man. The woman was sitting at the fire, roasting some fruits while the man was standing to the side, waving what seemed to be an old sword.

"Feeling that it wouldn’t be right to approach a woman who was sitting alone, I instead went to greet the young man and asked him if he would mind if I sat with them."

"So what did he say?" Yun Bei Fen clutched his Master’s arm with urgency, seeming even more curious than before even though the end of the story may have been obvious.

"He glanced at me and then continued to wave the sword. I was … quite confused. Anyway, the woman finally called out to me, saying that I could sit with them but didn’t have to bother talking to her son since he wouldn’t answer if it didn’t have anything to do with swords."

"So that person was senior martial brother?"

Baili Chao gave his disciple and confused look. Who had he thought it would be if not his senior martial brother? "Yes, it was. Anyway, I was quite surprised and couldn’t help but ask further. As it turned out, he had been like that from a young age. His mother didn’t know why for sure but she did think it had something to do with what his father told him when he left for war. Anyway, she seemed quite tired."

Yun Bei Fen looked at his Master in a daze, not quite understanding. "So … How did he become your disciple?"

"Well, we talked for a while longer all the while your senior martial brother was waving that sword. When he finally stopped, he just ate a few bites and then went to sleep, hugging that sword to his chest. I couldn’t help but think about what that woman had told me for a good part of the night.

"The next morning, when I saw that the first thing he did after waking up was to go and swing that sword again, I asked her what she thought about letting him come with me to the Teng Yong Sect so he could learn how to use a sword there. Also, he would be taken care of there and she wouldn’t have to worry.

"She was reluctant at first but then, looking over at her son, she finally sighed and nodded. Then she merely told him that he should follow me to learn how to really use a sword and that was that. I took him with me to visit that friend of mine first and then took him back to the Teng Yong Sect. From then on, he’s been my disciple." And, well, he was still just as obsessed with learning the way of the sword. Not that that was a surprise.

"So it was like that!" Yun Bei Fen nodded as if he had suddenly been enlightened. Then, he still tugged at his Master’s sleeve. "Master."

"What?" He had told him everything there was to say, hadn’t he?

"Then how did senior martial brother Mei become Elder Feng’s disciple?"

Baili Chao’s lips twitched. "I don’t know. Go ask somebody else." With that, he got up and walked away. Hmph. He had talked for so long and still the only thing that brat thought about was his senior martial brother Mei. He really couldn’t help but feel cheated. At least with his other disciples, there had been some warning as to how difficult they’d be to raise but this one … He had thought he just took in a cute little bunny but … he had turned out to be just as weirdly obsessed with something as his three senior martial brothers.