The Origins of Junmu and Jun'anshi

Gu Changyuan looked at their dumbfounded expressions, smiled, and waved his hand, his tone as casual as ever.

"As for introductions, you guys can get to know each other yourselves. There are too many of them, so I won't introduce them one by one."

The two snapped back to their senses. Hearing their Master's words, they couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

Master said he wanted to be casual, but this was taking casualness to the extreme.

To actually make them step forward and introduce themselves without even helping to mediate.

Complaints aside, the two still nodded respectfully, then walked forward side by side, approaching the ten Demon Ancestors one by one.

Each time they stood before one, that senior brother or sister would briefly introduce themselves.

With every introduction, the siblings would bow respectfully and address them as senior brother or senior sister.

After a full circle, the two had memorized the names of their ten senior brothers and sisters, as well as their true forms.

Although they didn't fully understand what their seniors' true forms were, just hearing the names made them sound incredibly powerful.

They returned to Gu Changyuan's side and stood silently.

Gu Changyuan waved his right hand.

The table was instantly filled with various spirit fruits, pastries, immortal wine, and more.

"Sit."

Everyone took their seats.

Just as they sat down, Chi Huang couldn't wait to speak.

"By the way, Xiao Kong, Xiao Shi, I just heard you say that you were saved by Master on a barren mountain?"

Her fiery red eyes were filled with curiosity.

"Why were you there? Did your previous sect bully you?"

As she spoke, she clenched her right hand into a fist and raised it forcefully in front of her, looking ready to beat up anyone who bullied them on their behalf.

Hearing Chi Huang's words, Gu Changyuan suddenly realized that he had never actually asked about the backgrounds of these two new disciples.

Although the two claimed to be rogue cultivators, he could tell at a glance that they bore obvious traces of a sect and were not born wanderers.

Now that they had become his disciples, it was only right to understand their past.

Gu Changyuan's gaze fell on the siblings, his tone casual.

"If Little Huang hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten. I still haven't learned about your backgrounds. Is it convenient for you to talk about it?"

As he spoke, several slices of bright red, juicy watermelon brimming with spiritual energy appeared in front of him out of nowhere. He looked completely ready to sit back and enjoy the gossip.

Jun Mukong: "..."

Jun Anshi: "..."

Looking at their Master's expectant expression of being ready for a story, the corners of their mouths couldn't help but twitch.

Master, are you serious with that eager, gossip-loving look on your face?

The siblings exchanged a glance, took a deep breath, and sat up straight.

Fine.

It wasn't as if there was anything they couldn't say anyway.

Jun Mukong slowly opened his mouth, his voice calm.

"Actually, my sister and I don't know who our biological parents are."

He paused, his gaze growing somewhat distant, as if looking into the far-off past.

"We were picked up by our former master in a forest."

The two slowly recounted their origins.

When they were still infants in swaddling clothes, they were found in a deep, ancient forest by a cultivator named Kong Chen.

He had been ordered to go to a forest near the sect to find a specific medicinal herb, but he heard a sound.

The crying of babies.

The sound was very weak, as if they had been crying for a long time. It was a bit hoarse but still rang out stubbornly.

Kong Chen followed the sound and, at the base of an old tree, found two small swaddles.

Two infants lay there side by side.

Kong Chen was stunned.

He looked around but didn't see a single person.

The surroundings were dead silent; only the cries of the two babies echoed in the quiet forest.

He hesitated for a moment.

Then, he remembered his own background.

He, too, had been picked up by his master when he was an infant.

If not for his master, he would have died long ago on that cold winter night.

Kong Chen squatted down and gently picked up the two babies.

He decided to take these two children with him.

Just as he was about to leave, his gaze fell next to the two swaddles. There lay two small jade plaques.

The fronts were engraved with their names: Jun Mukong and Jun Anshi.

The backs were engraved with the characters for Brother and Sister, respectively.

This was also the reason why, growing up, they always knew who was older.

Kong Chen was startled.

He had never seen the material of these two jade plaques before.

The aura emanating from them was mysterious and profound. With his cultivation base, he couldn't see through it at all.

But he could clearly sense that the richness of the aura far surpassed any treasure he had ever seen.

This was definitely not something an ordinary family could produce.

He thought that perhaps the parents of these two children had been forced by unavoidable circumstances to leave them here.

Since that was the case, he didn't give the two children new names, but instead used the names on the jade plaques.

Jun Mukong, Jun Anshi.

Kong Chen brought the two children back to his sect, the Yuntian Sect.

The Yuntian Sect was located in the Western Region of the Central Continent. It was not a top-ranking sect.

Kong Chen's status in the sect was somewhat special; his master was a patriarch of the Yuntian Sect.

Because of that patriarch, even though Kong Chen's cultivation wasn't high, his seniority within the sect was quite significant.

Many elders had to call him Martial Uncle when they saw him.

But after that patriarch passed away in meditation, Kong Chen, who had mediocre talent, would not have been qualified to stay in the Yuntian Sect if not for the lingering respect for his master.

Once the patriarch was gone, many people in the sect began to criticize Kong Chen and secretly ostracized him. Both overtly and covertly, they felt he didn't deserve his current status, hoarding resources without having the strength to back it up.

Even some of the elders had a lot of grievances against him, only maintaining a surface level of respect out of courtesy.

Kong Chen never cared about this idle gossip. He simply settled down quietly in the sect with the siblings, hiring female cultivators skilled in childcare to look after them.

Occasionally, he would go out to complete missions in exchange for cultivation resources, watching them grow up bit by bit.

However, fate didn't give him much time.

Two years ago, Kong Chen met with an accident during a mission.

In that battle, he perished.

When the news reached the sect, Jun Mukong and Jun Anshi were waiting for him to return in their small courtyard.

What they waited for was their master's cold corpse and a few broken relics.

That year, they were in their early twenties.

After their master passed away, their situation became even more difficult than Kong Chen's had been back then.

Those who used to gossip behind their backs now couldn't even be bothered to keep up appearances.

Cold words, sarcastic remarks, and hidden attacks came one after another.

Those disciples who had once been somewhat polite to them because of Kong Chen's seniority now looked down on them with an air of superiority.

They practically had the words "You don't deserve to be here" written on their faces.

Jun Mukong and Jun Anshi endured it for two years.

For two years, they silently cultivated, silently lived, and silently endured it all.

Until a few days ago.

Jun Mukong had a dream.

In the dream, there was a desolate mountain, and an opportunity was waiting for them there.

He told his sister about the opportunity that might appear on the desolate mountain.

After hearing this, Jun Anshi remained silent for a long time.

Then she said,

"Brother, let's go."

There was no particular reason.

They simply did not want to stay there any longer.

Thus, they gathered the last few remaining items from their Master's room and quietly slipped away from the Yuntian Sect under the cover of night.

Upon reaching that barren mountain, they buried their Master's belongings and erected a simple tombstone.

Afterward, they began to search the desolate mountain for the fortuitous encounter Jun Mukong had mentioned.

They failed to find the opportunity, but instead crossed paths with a group of bandit cultivators.

As for what happened next, Gu Changyuan already knew.