Chapter 142: Undermining One's Disciple Without Hesitation

After following his unscrupulous master for quite a stretch longer, Gu Shenyu finally earned a moment to rest. Glancing at his master, who still wore an expression of utter disdain for his walking speed, Gu Shenyu could only tell himself to stay calm and refrain from losing his temper with an elderly man.

The Beggar Chicken Grandpa, sensing the steady breathing of that punk not far behind him, smiled and shook his head. "Take a rest! Tomorrow we have a full day of travel ahead. Once we reach our destination, finish up whatever needs to be done, take another day to rest, and then you can finally set off to find your friends."

"Great! You promised, so don't go claiming you forgot all about it when the time comes!" Gu Shenyu propped his chin in his hand, looked at his master ahead of him, and said with a helpless sigh.

The Beggar Chicken Grandpa couldn't help but wonder why this little brat held such a grudge. What did he mean by claiming he wouldn't remember? Did he look like someone who didn't keep his word?

All right, perhaps he had fooled the brat once or twice, but how could a junior speak to him like that? It was completely humiliating!

After a sound night's sleep, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa hauled the still-drowsy Gu Shenyu up to resume their journey for the second day. Come to think of it, after all this time, Gu Shenyu still didn't even know what the Beggar Chicken Grandpa's real name was. Suddenly, he was terribly curious!

"Grandpa, Master, would you be so kind as to tell your humble disciple your esteemed name?" Gu Shenyu jogged up to the front of the Beggar Chicken Grandpa and asked in a quirky, exaggerated tone.

Hearing this, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa raised his head, glanced casually at Gu Shenyu, withdrew his gaze, and calmly walked right past him.

Magnificently and splendidly, Gu Shenyu was ignored by his good master once again. He felt ready to burst into tears.

"Master, please, just tell me! Look, I've been following you for several months now. How can you not even tell your dearest disciple your name?" Gu Shenyu admitted to himself that he was laying it on thick.

"Ahem, ahem." The Beggar Chicken Grandpa gave a couple of dry coughs and continued walking. However, if one were to stand right in front of him and look closely, they would surely notice that his old face was slightly flushed.

Seeing that his master remained completely unfazed even after such nauseating flattery, Gu Shenyu decided to pull out a heavy artillery shell. "Master, oh Master~ my dear, wonderful Master~ please hurry up and tell me your name. Your disciple admires you so deeply. Only once you tell me your name will I be able to call it out properly in my dreams~"

This time, upon hearing these words, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa broke into a violent fit of coughing and finally came to a halt. How had he never realized that Gu Shenyu possessed such a mushy, nauseating side?

Turning back to look at Gu Shenyu's ingratiating, flattering smile, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa waved a hand impatiently. "Stop calling me that. You'll be told when the time is right. What's the rush? Shoo, shoo, shoo, get away with you, stop being an eyesore in front of me~"

Seeing this reaction from the Beggar Chicken Grandpa, Gu Shenyu covered his mouth with a smirk. So even a master who always wore such a thick skin had moments of thin-skinned embarrassment! What a rare and precious sight!

The Beggar Chicken Grandpa couldn't be bothered to entertain Gu Shenyu's antics any longer. After tonight, someone would naturally tell his good disciple what his true name was and what kind of identity he held... as long as his good disciple wasn't too shocked when the time came, that was all.

Watching the wisps of cooking smoke rising not far in the distance, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa smiled and shook his head, seemingly filled with a multitude of emotions, though he remained silent. That distant town held countless memories for him. Having wandered outside for so long, it was finally time for him to return home and take a look.

At that moment, Gu Shenyu did not notice the slightly sentimental expression on his master's face. He was entirely consumed by the thought that in just a couple of days, he would be able to go find his companions! He would be able to find Yin Su, the person woven into both his love and his hatred!

I wonder how they are doing right now? Has Yin Yao found her parents? Where is Ji Xuanyu right now? Is he by Yin Yao's side? What about Li Su? Is he also following Yin Yao? And Yin Su, where is she?

Ever since arriving in this world, Gu Shenyu had thought about a great many things: he had landed within the territory of the Tiger Tribe on this continent, and his innate power belonged to the Tiger Tribe. Could this be more than just a coincidence—could it be some sort of arrangement? For instance, the fact that he appeared in the Tiger Tribe's territory rather than anywhere else—did that imply that the place where every person arrived was somehow connected to the power they possessed?

If that were the case, then when the time came, he could head first to the Phoenix Tribe's territory to look for Yin Su, and once he found her, they could go together to find Yin Yao. That way, he could find at least two people at once!

With this thought in mind, Gu Shenyu formulated a plan. In truth, he knew that although his master sometimes seemed thoroughly unscrupulous, his genuine intentions were always good. Every single day, his master was devising ways to train him, genuinely caring for his physical well-being and invisibly helping him elevate his strength. He had to admit that his current cultivation had already reached the mid-stage of the Void Emperor realm! His progress was exceptionally fast!

Looking at the back of his unscrupulous master walking ahead, Gu Shenyu wore a faint smile. It was no longer the carefree, devil-may-care grin he used to flash before the Beggar Chicken Grandpa; this smile was gentle, yet it came straight from the heart.

Moving at their absolute fastest pace, the master and disciple duo managed to reach the town ahead before dark, squeezing the journey into the shortest possible time frame.

This was the second person—or rather, the second group of people—Gu Shenyu had laid eyes on besides the Beggar Chicken Grandpa in the past two months. There was no helping it, considering that the paths the Beggar Chicken Grandpa always chose to lead him down were perilous routes that ordinary people never dared to tread, all under the high-sounding excuse of "training him."

Seeing so many people, all of them lowering their heads and busy with the tasks in their hands, occasionally patting each other on the shoulder, exchanging warm greetings, inquiring about each other's recent circumstances, or offering up some food from their own homes—everyone seemed to get along with one another in perfect harmony.

Seemingly infected by this atmosphere, Gu Shenyu felt his entire being relax, and the lingering annoyance he had felt from their hurried march vanished in an instant. Seeing the relaxed expression on the punk's face, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa smiled as well. "What do you think? This place isn't bad, is it? Tonight, we'll lodge in this village for the night and set off again tomorrow. Go on now, go negotiate with the villagers here. I'll wait for the good news that you've successfully borrowed a place to stay."

With that, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa shook his little wine gourd and strolled off to the side, leaving Gu Shenyu stranded right where he was. Along the way, he exchanged greetings with the villagers and managed to scrounge up some food for himself, leaving Gu Shenyu alone to stare at his unscrupulous master's retreating back while weeping silently on the inside.

In the end, relying on his glib tongue, Gu Shenyu finally secured the help of one of the villagers. The actual sequence of events went somewhat like this: Gu Shenyu approached a villager, offered a friendly greeting accompanied by his most sincere smile, and stated his purpose. The villager then let out a startled cry: "You and your master need a place to stay for the night?" That exclamation drew the attention of others, forcing Gu Shenyu to smile, greet everyone one by one, and explain the situation concerning himself and his master...

He painted their plight as slightly more destitute than it actually was, prompting the villagers to enthusiastically extend helping hands, eagerly inviting Gu Shenyu and his master to stay at their respective homes. Gu Shenyu could only think to himself: Why were the local customs here so unpretentious, and why were the villagers so fiercely hospitable? They left him with so many things he hadn't yet managed to say! He had still wanted to embellish their tragic backstory with even more heart-wrenching details!

Not far away, the Beggar Chicken Grandpa was lounging in the branches of a large tree, sipping his little flask of wine and watching Gu Shenyu's dazed expression with amused delight. He had deliberately taken numerous detours just to bring his rebellious disciple to this village with its simple, honest folk! All of this was simply to give the brat a pleasant shock—to make him understand that the world wasn't entirely filled with bad people; good people existed too!

That little brat had previously maintained his guard against him all this time, never daring to completely let down his guard and trust him. The old man had been deeply disappointed by that, though he figured it was likely a result of the environment the boy grew up in. That was why he came up with the idea to bring him here!

While a person certainly needed a degree of vigilance, possessing an excessive amount of guard was never a good thing.

Taking tiny, appreciative sips of the wine from his gourd—which he had just wheedled out of the villagers—the Beggar Chicken Grandpa looked utterly content. He wasn't the least bit worried that Gu Shenyu wouldn't be able to handle the overwhelming hospitality of the villagers.

Gu Shenyu naturally did not live up to his unscrupulous master's expectations. Looking deeply moved, he profusely declared that he would choose the very first villager who had helped him and thanked all the other villagers for their kindness. Then, he began looking around anxiously to see where his dear, wine-loving, beggar-chicken-obsessed master had wandered off to.

When he finally spotted his master, he wept bitterly in his heart once again.

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[Out of Bounds / Trivia]
*Flawed Princess* by Lin Linlin Xiaowei
When the destitute last princess of a fallen dynasty encounters the peerlessly dashing and roguish warlord of the Republican era.
One of them is utterly brazen.
Trying to run away from an arranged marriage? Fine by him. You run, and he will catch you, treating it simply as a way to cultivate affection.
Shaving your head to become a nun? Agreed. You're a modern woman anyway, you probably don't care about such things.
The other is utterly arrogant.
Dueling within the inner courtyard? Did you think she was raised on a vegetarian diet? She learned just by watching.
Scheming? Can those clumsy little plots even be brought out into the open? My dear wives, please return to Flower-Fruit Mountain and cultivate for another five hundred years before coming back.
Vying for favor? ...As for that... let's just skip it. I fundamentally oppose arranged marriages...
Witness the inner-courtyard psychological warfare of Yehenara Wenlan, the last princess. Outwitting concubines, rivaling the first love, defeating bed-crawling maidservants, and holding tightly onto the love she desires.