The Daily Task of Preventing My Disciple from Turning to the Dark Side

Chapter 1: I Finally Found You
In front of Lofty Cloudy Sect Mountain, there were hundreds of youngsters waiting for their trial on an enormous gray slab that was known as the plaza.

The array for the trial was already open. The pressure of the atmosphere also turned low. Above the trial, a wide expanse of black clouds suddenly appeared, resembling the top of a straw hat as it lingered above the peak of the trial. The mountain wind was frantically blowing out coarse sand as it turned and shuffled throughout the mountain. The sound of the wind was similar to the mournful howl of a wolf. The sound of it made people feel oppressed within the gloomy weather.

Lofty Cloudy Sect is a famous cultivation sect in Cang Lan Continent. The gates only opened to accept disciples once every ten years. All of the present youngsters were eager to try their luck. It didn’t matter what their identity was, as long as they could pass the trial of Lofty Cloudy Sect. If they could do this, then they would be able to shed their mortal body and exchange their bones, setting off onto the way of becoming an immortal.

Around the plaza, there were more than ten gray pillars, and on each of the pillars, there was a fierce dragon head. It is said that the forefather of Lofty Cloudy Sect had used a dao technique to maintain it, and that it had the ability to ward off evil spirit. They have already towered there for thousands of years, but the wind and rain didn’t leave any sort of mark on them.

It was at this moment that a person floated down gently, like a feather, from the tallest pillar.

The person who made an appearance at the trial looked to be around twenty years old. His stature was slim, perhaps somewhat thin and weak. His beautiful face looked like a piece of work sculpted under the utmost care. It would be hard to find a flaw even if you tried to. He was wearing a delicate wide sleeved robe with not even one speck of dust on it. The only decorations he had on it was the lapel and an adornment of golden bamboo leaves on the cuff. His waist long hair was bundled up by a golden jade crest. In the breeze, his hair slightly moved with it. This appearance gave him the image of an ethereal beauty-aloof, pure, and noble.

His sudden appearance caused all the disciples in charge of the trial to be both in awe and stunned in their spot.

Once they were able to react, they cried out, “Greetings to Great Martial Uncle! We respectfully welcome Great Martial Uncle for visiting!” The young cultivator disciples, wearing third generation clothing, immediately bowed down to make their salutations. They were so nervous that they were trembling all over.

Lofty Cloudy Sect had six palaces, twelve halls, thirty-six peaks, and seventy caves. The remaining small caves were countless. However, these six palaces consisted of the Sect Master’s Palace, and Chongyang Palace. These were also assigned to him by Lofty Cloudy Sect.

Mu Chen was the head of the fifth palace called ‘Yanyang Palace’.

Even though Mu Chen started cultivation late, his superiority was higher than the Sect Master by tenfold and he was even ranked fifth. Whenever the Sect Master saw him, he would have to bow down and call him ‘Fifth Martial Uncle’.

As the number one alchemist who made pills, he was at Foundation Establish when he was sixteen years old. He was not even there for a hundred years till he became a genius alchemist. It was a pity that Mu Chen’s temperament was cold, and he never once appeared in areas that were heavily populated. He went his own way as he wasn’t fond of becoming friends with others, forever being known as a mysterious being.

How could anyone not be shocked at such a being making an appearance at the trial?

All the people at the trial seemed to forget about it and their sights focused on Mu Chen’s figure. The people standing opposite of him only dared to look at his clothing, fearing that if he looked at them, it would be in a profane way and only disaster would befall upon them.

Mu Chen was not bothered by his surroundings. Instead, he minded his own business and swept a glance past his surroundings. One foot stepped in an extremely practiced way onto a dragon’s head as if he had stepped on it countless times before. The disciples of Lofty Cloudy Sect all sucked a breath seeing this movement. Mu Chen seemed not to have found his movement inappropriate as his face still remained as cold as frost when he looked down upon all the people below him. His phoenix eyes slightly narrowed.

He was looking for someone. He was looking for a child, to be more precise. He didn’t know anything about the child’s age or his appearance.

Mu Chen swept his gaze past every single child at the trial until his sight fell upon a child wearing black. The other children at the trial were more than ten years old, but this child was much younger, looking to be around five to six years old. The boy was now sitting by himself, and meditating on the slab. Mu Chen didn’t know if it was on purpose or on accident, but there wasn’t anybody around the boy.

The child was malnourished and sickly in appearance, but his soft and naive face was very pretty. He seemed to sense that someone was watching him since he opened his eyes to look at Mu Chen in the sky. His delicate peach flower eyes seemed to banish all light, deep and pitch black like ink. Next to his eye was a vermillion tear shaped birthmark. It was so bright and eye-catching that it was extremely conspicuous.

In a flash, Mu Chen landed next to the child, looked down, and examined the child’s face. His sight was fixated on the boy’s bright, tear-shaped birthmark. A small amount of a certain feeling flashed through his normally apathetic eyes as he asked the boy, “What is your name?”

His voice was just like his normal temperament, cold and without cheer. The sound gave people a slight chill. The question Mu Chen had asked roused anyone that was staring blankly. It also allowed the stunned child before him to regain his senses.

“Gu Yunjue,” the child answered while revealing a loveable smile, looking a little bit shyly at Mu Chen. Within his pitch black eyes was only the sight of Mu Chen’s figure. His gaze had already changed compared to the others, filled with such a breathtaking appearance.

Mu Chen nodded, and within the puzzled gaze of others, he picked Gu Yunjue up. Without another word, he carried the boy in his arms, and left.

“Great…Great Martial Uncle!” One of the third generation disciples hurriedly said something to try to stop Mu Chen. The child whose name was Gu Yunjue was chosen by the Sect Master. Gu Yunjue was barely six years old, but already cultivated Qi in his body successfully. He also had the Fire Spirit Root. No matter how the trial went today, he was supposed to enter the main peak. Now he was being carried away, what would he report to the Sect Master?

It was a pity that the immortal had already left with a light wave of his sleeve, only leaving behind the elegant fragrance of medicine.

Two old men hidden in the clouds far away looked at this unforeseen event, and one of them to the other said in a low voice, “The boy is so young yet he already has stepped into the Demigod Stage. This soft and tender boy seems to be quite the delicacy.”

The Cultivation Levels were divided into the Qi Condensation Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage, Core Formation Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, Demigod Stage, Synthesis Stage, Immortalization Stage, and the Ascension Stage.

The Qi Condensation Stage was the only one divided into nine layers. The other stages were simply divided into the early, middle, and late stages. Mu Chen had barely walked onto the path of immortality for one hundred years. Even if he was already at the Demigod Stage, he was a youngling in the eyes of other cultivators.

The other man sneered, “I advise you not to cause any disturbance. If you screw up the plan, we’ll see whether the master turns you into a blood slave or turns you into mince meat for the magic beasts.

The former person to have spoken heard what the other man had said just now and trembled, not daring to talk anymore. The two men looked in the direction that Mu Chen left in, hid their presence, and tailed behind from a distance. From a distance, they saw a small hand that waved at them. In an instant, the two understood and nodded their head. In a situation where nobody could sense them, they changed directions and hid themselves.

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The way Mu Chen carried Gu Yunjue was awkward. Before Mu Chen’s revival, he only had Gu Yunjae as his disciple. That Gu Yunjue was already raised until he was more than ten years old by the Sect Master before he was passed to Mu Chen. At that time, he was already past the age of being carried. To be exact, Mu Chen didn’t even know how Gu Yunjue looked as a child. If it weren’t for that vermillion tear birthmark near the side of the boy’s eye, it would have taken Mu Chen quite a bit of effort to him.

In Mu Chen’s past life, he took in Gu Yunjue by the Sect Master’s recommendation. He didn’t expect that fifty years later, Gu Yunjue would take advantage of his seclusion and mount a sneak attack on the forbidden area. This sneak attack caused the sealing rock of the immortal and devil realm to break, and the whole immortal realm fell into a terrible crisis. Gu Yunjue was originally a genius cultivator, but turned into a Devil Lord of the Devil Realm. Mu Chen had been shut into the Spirit Suppression Pagoda by the immortal realm as they believed that Mu Chen was involved with Gu Yunjue. What they didn’t expect was that it was the start of another conspiracy.

The person that went to save him, in the end, was this disciple of his that ended up betraying the Sect.

It was a pity that Mu Chen had already been affected by fire poison when he obtained the Essence Flame. With the Spirit Suppression Pagoda bearing down on Mu Chen’s spirit power, his soul had already become unstable. When Gu Yunjue rushed into the Spirit Suppression Pagoda with his body reeking of blood, he transferred all of his power to Mu Chen to save him. In the end. Gu Yunjue was sneakily attacked by Mu Chen’s good friend whom he went through life and death with.

As a result, he didn’t escape the fate of death.

Even after he had revived, Mu Chen never understood why Gu Yunjue, who hadn’t lived enough, take the risk to come and save him? What ended up being the boy’s fate after that? With his cultivation powers gone after falling into the hands of those hypocritical immortals, his demise was probably a miserable one.

When Mu Chen had revived, the first news he heard was that Lofty Cloudy Sect was holding a trial to accept new disciples. Mu Chen’s mind suddenly started to work. He thought that if he were able to obtain Gu Yunjae and raise him by himself, wouldn’t he be able to put an end to Gu Yunjue being lured in by the devil cultivation and reverse their fate together? He would attempt to do this by teaching the boy through words and examples, and by loving him dearly. That way, it wouldn’t end up being a waste of Gu Yunjue rushing into the Spirit Suppression Pagoda, calling him master, and using all his power to save him, only to lose his life in the end?

When Mu Chen first saw the child, his feelings were complicated. He didn’t expect that Gu Yunjue would be a malnourished and sickly child. His clothing was shabby, and he looked as if he endured a lot of bitterness. He looked like a lonely soul, so small, and already being pushed out by everyone else.

Mu Chen felt that the child in his arms was too stiff, grabbing his hair tightly, and not saying a word. Mu Chen believed that it was probably because the child was nervous at being carried away for no reason. It was already enough that the child wasn’t crying or creating a fuss. Thinking about that point, he patted Gu Yunjae on the back. With as much comfort as he could muster, he said, “Don’t be afraid, I…I am the Sect Master’s Martial Uncle.”

Clearly these words were convincing. When the other cultivators saw Mu Chen, they all were distracted. The child had the same expression as those third generation disciples, emotionally trembling before bowing down to the ground, and greeting him with: “Fifth Elder”, “Martial Uncle”, “Great Martial Uncle”, “Great-Great Martial Uncle….” It was all these types of greetings and so on.

Gu Yunjue obediently nodded his head and pushed down the expression on his face, gradually relaxing.

Mu Chen felt comforted by the boy’s obedient attitude, and let out a sigh of relief himself. If the child had ended up crying, Mu Chen would have no idea how to comfort him then.

Mu Chen wasn’t a man of many words, so he carried Gu Yunjae to the Sect’s Disciple Registration Area silently before making a stop partway in the sky. “I want to accept you as my personal succeeding disciple,” he said to the child in his hold.

He had originally wanted to explain to the boy what the difference between a normal disciple and a personal succeeding disciple was. However, the child unexpectedly reached out a hand to touch his face, and seriously asked, “Personal succeeding disciple means that you will raise me until I’m older, and then I’ll do that same when you get older.”

Mu Chen gazed at the sky, before nodding his head, “You can say it like that.”

While his disciple was small, he would raise him. He would offer him the best resources, best environment, and the utmost concern and care for his well-being. He would teach him by words and examples, keep him close to him, and be around the boy at all times to make sure he didn’t go on a crooked path. When his disciple grows up, he must respect whoever taught him. He also must be filial as the person is a ‘teacher for a day, and a father for life.’

Gu Yunjue smiled in satisfaction, “Then let’s make an agreement with the heavens as our witness.”

Mu Chen nodded his head in amazement at the boy. He was such a young child and he would unexpectedly use the heavens to make an agreement with him. He did this even while knowing that the heavens had a fatal restriction on cultivators. Should Mu Chen even say the boy is intelligent or crafty?