Tang Xiaoyu took on two female disciples, and was quite happy in his heart. He bought several bowls of porridge from a commoner's family and had the two young girls drink it.
Why buy it instead of asking for free food? Tang Xiaoyu didn't have the nerve to ask for free handouts with his old face.
It wasn't that the commoners were heartless, but that everyone was very poor, and no one wanted their own children to go hungry.
At the same time, they were also influenced by the idea that if they didn't provide, someone else would.
With full bellies, the two girls became much more lively.
"Master, where are we going?"
"Back to Qingshan Daoist Temple."
"Is that far?"
"Very far, extremely far, it will take half a year of walking to get there."
The two girls were frightened: "That far?!"
"Yes! Very far, but as long as you keep faith in your hearts, it won't seem far."
Shanshan asked in puzzlement: "What is faith?"
"Simply put, it's the values we live for."
"Although I don't really understand, I'm living for revenge."
Tang Xiaoyu didn't say much more. As long as they had a direction in their hearts, that was good. What the result would be was a matter for the future.
"Do you know the general location of the bandits?"
Shanshan affirmed: "I know, just forty li north of our village in the dense forest."
"Did they commit many bad deeds?"
"Oh yes, if we didn't pay them grain and money every year, they would have killed us all long ago."
Tang Xiaoyu nodded. He didn't want to ask why there was a massacre of the village this time, because there was no need.
"Do you want to see how I'll avenge you?"
Shanshan resolutely said: "Yes, I want to watch them die one by one."
Tang Xiaoyu looked to Wenwen again. Wenwen was a little afraid, but still nodded her head and said: "Wenwen will go too."
After walking for several days they arrived at the bandits' lair.
"Either close your eyes, or keep them open. Today Master will teach you one thing - to get rid of weeds, you must pull them up by the roots."
He'll leave the empty blather to the villains! Tang Xiaoyu went straight into killing, without too much bloodiness - he just snapped each person's neck.
Cries for mercy, shrieks, shouts rang throughout the entire forest.
Tang Xiaoyu said nothing, showed no compassion, because this was exactly how the villagers had previously acted.
The more they begged for mercy and shrieked and shouted, the colder Tang Xiaoyu's face grew.
When the last bandit fell, Tang Xiaoyu turned and asked: "Is it over now?"
The two girls were scared pale. They just nodded.
But Tang Xiaoyu said: "No, this isn't over. The chickens and dogs were accomplices too. What they ate was your blood and sweat. Maybe they even have the bones and flesh of your loved ones in their bellies."
"What should you do about them?"
Shanshan coldly said: "Skin them and pull out their tendons, flay their hides, and eat their meat."
Tang Xiaoyu was astonished. [She makes eating them sound so murderous!]
Wenwen instead said: "I'm going to smash all of their babies and eat them."
Tang Xiaoyu realized she meant the eggs.
He couldn't help sighing: "Now that's truly sparing none of the dogs and chickens."
After rescuing the trapped villagers, Tang Xiaoyu took some of the bandits' riches and food, leaving the rest for the villagers to deal with themselves.
Shanshan said: "Master, we skinned and pulled the tendons from the chickens and dogs, and we'll eat them along the way."
Wenwen said: "Master, I brought the chicken babies too, and we'll eat them later."
What could Tang Xiaoyu say?
"Alright, let's set off then!"
As they went, Tang Xiaoyu taught them the Tao Te Ching, taught them cultivation, taught them how to conduct themselves, taught them the ethics of being human.
"Master, why don't those Immortals deal with the bad people in the mortal world?" Shanshan asked.
"Because they cultivate immortality purely for their own selfish desires, not for the sake of all living beings under heaven."
"Let me ask you again - why are you cultivating immortality? Isn't it for revenge, for longevity?"
The girl nodded: "Yes!"
"You see, you're also doing it for yourself, without thinking of others who suffer."
"I used to naively believe that cultivators wouldn't interfere in mortal affairs. Later I came to understand - they don't interfere in matters from which they have no benefit."
"If there is benefit, mortals are just ants in their eyes, to be crushed as they please."
Wenwen crisply said: "Then I don't want to cultivate immortality. I don't want to become a bad person."
Tang Xiaoyu smiled. "What you cultivate isn't important. What's important is your heart. If you have an awed heart, what does it matter if you cultivate demonic arts?"
[I always thought I understood everything clearly, only to discover in the end that I never truly understood anything. If human nature could really be understood, could it still be called human nature?]
After half a year of walking, the two girls had grown a lot, especially in willpower, which Tang Xiaoyu greatly admired.
Entering Qingshan Town, Tang Xiaoyu again had Daoist robes tailored for them, and bought some daily necessities.
Walking on the stone-paved mountain path, the girls were very fond of it, skipping and playing tag on the stones, utterly delighted.
Whenever they met passing villagers, Tang Xiaoyu would greet them with clasped hands. The responses he got nearly drove him to despair.
"Daoist Tang, you brought the children back? Tell us, what were you up to out there, look how you made the poor girls suffer."
Tang Xiaoyu explained: "These are my newly accepted disciples."
"Don't try to fool us, we know your ways. Little Black Daoist told us everything already."
The villagers got more and more heated: "Daoist Tang, I have to tell you straight, what's the harm in everyone knowing about this kind of thing?"
"We're all family here, why hide things and keep secrets from us? Tell it out, we won't laugh at you for it."
Tang Xiaoyu explained: "Please listen to me, it's really not what you're imagining. They truly are my newly accepted disciples."
"Daoist Tang, stop explaining. We all understand. Hurry back now!"
"I already know everything, just go back!"
Tang Xiaoyu reached out to them: "Please don't go, listen to me!"
"I know it all, go back quickly!"
Black-faced, Tang Xiaoyu led the two girls back to the temple.
As soon as they entered the gate, the villagers who had come to offer incense all looked toward the two girls behind Tang Xiaoyu.
One woman said: "My, how spirited and pretty these two girls are, if only they weren't so skinny and tanned."
One old woman immediately began lecturing Tang Xiaoyu, not even calling him Daoist anymore: "Little Tang! Today granny really must say a couple words to you. Look at yourself - for the sake of your own reputation you made the poor children suffer like this!"
Saying that, she took out some sweets from her clothes: "You two pitiful girls, hurry over to granny now."
She pushed the candies into the girls' hands, caressing their cheeks, heart aching for them!
Then she went over to smack Tang Xiaoyu: "You wretched boy, look what you've done to these young ladies. If I ever see you mistreating them again, I'll break your legs."
How could Tang Xiaoyu dare dodge? He could only hang his head wretchedly and explain: "Granny, they're my newly accepted disciples, not my girlfriends. You've misunderstood."
The granny was even more angry: "A real man will take responsibility for what he's done. If you did wrong then reform yourself, you're still a fine lad."
Tang Xiaoyu quickly begged forgiveness: "Granny, I was wrong, I was wrong, I'll reform, I'll reform. Just watch how I conduct myself from now on."
"That's better. The rest of you, stop gossiping. Give the boy a chance to mend his ways."
One after another, the others said Tang Xiaoyu should treat his girlfriends well this time, and they would forgive him, and so on.
Seeing the situation, Granny spoke up: "Let's all go home for today! Little Tang and the girls have had a tiring journey, let them rest up well."
Tang Xiaoyu looked at Granny gratefully. The others also gradually dispersed, each one exhorting him before leaving.
Tang Xiaoyu kept an awkward, apologetic smile until he finally saw off the villagers. Then his face immediately darkened again.
ave】 Shen Qingling was a man with peerless looks, a cunning mind, and the ability to play both the aloof noble and the innocent sweetheart—a master of seduction who could outplay any player. But after an untimely death, he found himself bound to a system and transmigrated into the tragic "true young master" of a melodramatic novel. In the original story, his childhood sweetheart treated him as a backup plan, his fiancée swore to break off their engagement for the sake of the "fake young master," and his own sister saw him as the family's disgrace. He was nothing more than a rat everyone wanted to stomp on. System 077: "Your mission is to change the original fate and conquer the goddesses." Shen Qingling: "Thanks for the invite. If seduction had tiers, I’d be max level." His childhood sweetheart knelt, begging for forgiveness: "Qingling, I was wrong. Please give me another chance." His ex-fiancée refused to marry anyone else: "Shen Qingling, I was blind before. In this life, I’ll marry no one but you." A yandere CEO went mad for love: "Shen Qingling, you can only like me. I’ll stop at nothing to make you mine!" His green-tea sister clung to him daily: "Brother, look at me, won’t you? I’m more obedient than them—I love you the most~" At first, they scorned and trampled on him. Later, they burned themselves like moths to a flame, all for his sake. His looks were his weapon, his sweet words the bait—heroines obsessed over him, villains turned to madness for him. Shen Qingling became a true male siren, igniting battlefield after battlefield of women fighting for his affection. Years later, when System 077—now one of the elites—was asked how to become as outstanding as it, it lazily exhaled a smoke ring and replied: "Just know how to cheer ‘666’ at the right time."
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
