Under One Person: Feng Shui Master, I Will Protect the Mountains and Rivers with My Own Body

"Then... I'll ask you today, do you want... to become my disciple?"

Zhang Zhiwei's abrupt and inexplicable question completely baffled Yan Sen.

If his brain were a computer CPU, it would probably be burning up by now.

He? Became his own great-grandmaster's personal disciple?

From now on, Zhang Zhiwei and I will each discuss our own views?

There's an age-old saying that the relationship between a master and disciple is like that of a father and son. If we follow this line of thought...

From now on, I'll have to call my great-grandfather "Dad"...

In that case, my father would be of the same generation as my great-grandfather...

My dad's become my grand-master...

Is this correct?

Yan Sen's mind went blank for a brief moment.

"Grand Tutor, you're teasing me..."

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Yan Sen forced a smile and gave a dry laugh.

"This joke isn't funny at all; it's even a bit lame..."

He shrank back into the chair, adopting a hopeless and incompetent posture.

"I don't have the time to joke with you."

Zhang Zhiwei leaned forward, his eyes narrowed, his pupils gleaming, staring directly into Yan Sen's eyes. "I'll ask you one more time, are you willing to become my disciple or not?"

His tone became more forceful, and he pressed on with an unquestionable air.

Yan Sen was not intimidated by Zhang Zhiwei's serious demeanor. He shook his head vigorously without much hesitation.

"No way! Absolutely not!"

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Zhiwei raised an eyebrow, a hint of emotion finally appearing on his usually placid face—a mixture of anger and amusement, like an elder teasing a child. "Do you think I'm not qualified to be your master?"

As expected of the old man, he immediately slapped a huge accusation on me.

"Of course not!" Yan Sen quickly waved his hand. "If you, sir, aren't qualified to teach me, then probably no one in the entire world of supernatural beings is!"

"But I still don't want to worship you!"

"Hmm? Why is that?"

"You think about it."

Yan Sen spread his hands, shrugged, and looked completely innocent and aggrieved.

"If I really become your disciple, wouldn't I become a senior disciple? I'd become a fellow disciple with Master Rongshan, Master Youyi, and Xiaoyu, and most people on the mountain would have to call me Uncle Master or Master Master."

"Isn't this great? Isn't it impressive?"

"What's so great about it!" Yan Sen pouted, looking unwilling. "If it really turns out like that, how am I supposed to scam people in the future? The dignified Junior Uncle of the Celestial Master's Mansion, the Old Celestial Master's personally taught and closed-door disciple. The title sounds impressive, but if I act even slightly recklessly outside, like faking an accident or getting a stunt, wouldn't I be disgracing our Longhu Mountain?"

He sighed, looking quite serious: "I'm a junior. Even among the younger generation, I'm one of the youngest. So, even if I do something outrageous, people might just say 'That bastard is really mean,' but no one would really hold a grudge against a junior. That would be too embarrassing."

"Grand Tutor, if I were to become an elder, I would have to put on airs, and that would be exhausting. So I will not bow to you."

These words were spoken with confidence and clarity, and were refreshingly unconventional.

Zhang Zhiwei's eye twitched slightly.

Looking at Yan Sen's shameless behavior, his urge to punch him grew stronger.

I really want to slap him!

That's what the old Celestial Master thought... and that's what he did... He suddenly swung his wide Taoist robe sleeves.

"Snapped!"

A solid slap landed on the back of Yan Sen's head.

"Ouch!" Yan Sen cried out in pain, instinctively covering his head and wincing in pain.

"You wretched child!" Zhang Zhiwei scolded angrily, "Since you know your own bad habits, can't you be a little more serious and control your temper?"

"It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature!" Yan Sen rubbed his head and grinned. "Besides, Grand Tutor, my state of not pandering, not pretending, not distorting my nature, and living out the true nature of life is also one of the concepts advocated by our Taoist predecessors."

Zhang Zhiwei looked at the young man in front of him and suddenly suppressed his anger.

He straightened up, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and his eyes returned to their previous calm and serene state.

"Then... if I tell you..." The old master's voice was very soft, but it carried a strange, seductive quality.

"If you worship me, you will know all the secrets about the Jia Shen era, the truth about your great-grandfather Yan Hong, and all the other things you want to know."

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the room instantly froze...

Yan Sen's hand, which was covering his head, froze in place.

He slowly wiped the smile off his face, and the probing look in his eyes became increasingly obvious.

"Are you... serious?"

"Hmph, what do you think?"

The old man and the child stared at each other, neither speaking, as if invisible currents were colliding in the air.

A moment later, Yan Sen suddenly narrowed his eyes, chuckled, and broke the silence in a seemingly joking tone.

"You...you wouldn't be thinking of making me the next Celestial Master so you can retire gracefully and enjoy your old age, would you?"

Zhang Zhiwei neither confirmed nor denied this.

"Little brat, don't try to trick me into saying anything..."

As the old master spoke, he turned around without much expression on his face and walked back to sit down at the Eight Immortals table.

"Bow to me, or go back to sleep now."

"Choose for yourself, hurry up, don't waste my time. Your old man-wearing tactics won't work on me."

Yan Sen stood rooted to the spot, his super brain starting to operate at an ultra-high frequency.

First, based on what the Grand Tutor said before, it can be confirmed that the Grand Tutor definitely knows the answer to the question he raised.

But the condition he told me was that I had to become his disciple first.

Why?

If he didn't want to talk about it, he could have just refused or made up an excuse. Why go through all this trouble to take me as his apprentice?

"If I choose to bow to you, Grand Tutor, what happens after I finish bowing?"

Yan Sen tentatively took a step forward.

"From now on? From now on you'll take my surname, Zhang, how about that?"

Zhang Zhiwei picked up the purple clay teapot, took a sip of water, and spoke in an extremely calm tone, turning a question into a statement.

"Whoosh!"

It was as if a bolt of lightning had flashed through Yan Sen's mind, illuminating his doubts.

Changing your surname to Zhang makes sense now, I see...

He understood everything instantly.

"I understand now, Grand Tutor."

"I'm not asking you anymore, I'm going back to sleep."

Yan Sen exhaled a breath of stale air, and the tense muscles all over his body completely relaxed.

The moment Yan Sen heard his grandmaster tell him to change his surname to Zhang, a clear logical chain formed a perfect closed loop in his mind.

The first rule passed down through the centuries at the Celestial Master's Mansion is that every Celestial Master must have the surname Zhang.

If the next successor is not originally surnamed Zhang, then before inheriting the position of Celestial Master, they must abandon their original surname and be given a surname by the previous Celestial Master, which is called "adopting the surname Zhang".

This is based on Zhang Zhiwei's earlier statement that "you can learn the secret by becoming an apprentice."

Yan Sen arrived at the only reasonable conclusion:

That is

The questions I want to know will most likely only be answered when I become a Celestial Master.

The fact that his own grandmaster spoke in such a veiled manner was likely because the information was probably not passed down orally.

Instead, it is passed down directly to the next generation of Celestial Masters through a certain ritual or a certain inheritance.

Furthermore, this strange technique definitely contains extremely powerful "restriction techniques".

It forbids those who carry on the tradition from disclosing this information to outsiders in any form.

So, a new problem arises.

Who is the person who can set up a restriction on the world's number one superhuman in the current supernatural world?

There is only one answer.

That was Zhang Jingqing, the previous Celestial Master of the Celestial Master's Mansion and the master of my own grandmaster...

Therefore, the truth is quite obvious.

That ritual, which holds all the secrets and is subject to absolute restrictions, is the highest secret passed down for thousands of years by the Celestial Master's Mansion—the Celestial Master's Ceremony.

To know the secret, one must receive the Heavenly Master's ordination; once the Heavenly Master's ordination is received, a restriction is placed upon one, and from then on, one's life will be beyond one's control, devoid of freedom.

The Grand Tutor didn't not want to tell him, but he couldn't.

"Not asking anymore?" Zhang Zhiwei put down the teapot, slightly raised his eyelids, and glanced at Yan Sen. "Are you content with that?"

"I'm not willing to accept this. But I won't ask you anymore."

Yan Sen pulled up a chair, sat down very naturally, and poured himself a glass of iced tea. "I did my best. I've been out there for five years, investigating everything I could. Whether the result is good or bad, my father and I will accept it."

He held his teacup, watching the rising steam, and said in a somewhat desolate tone, "After all... what can be changed is called fate, and what cannot be changed is called cause and effect."

As he spoke, Yan Sen raised his head and looked at Zhang Zhiwei.

This old man, known to the world as "the best," still maintains his unwavering and serene demeanor.

But in Yan Sen's eyes, the large robe he was wearing at that moment seemed to be locked with countless invisible, heavy chains.

A strange sense of sympathy suddenly rose in Yan Sen's heart.

He is the most powerful fighter in the world of supernatural beings today; it is no exaggeration to say that he is unrivaled among all heroes.

But at the same time, he is also the least free person on the entire Longhu Mountain, and even in the entire world of supernatural beings.

Because he cannot even speak freely.

The Celestial Master's Ordination is both a legacy and a cage.

The body is locked up, and the heart is locked up.

"I will... come and play with you more often in the future, without any sense of hierarchy..." Yan Sen said earnestly, looking at Zhang Zhiwei.

Zhang Zhiwei paused slightly in the teacup he was holding.

He looked into Yan Sen's eyes, and there was no longer the previous curiosity and thirst for knowledge in his eyes, but rather a trace of heartache and sympathy.

"Aren't you curious why I haven't told you?"

The old master looked at Yan Sen, his tone suddenly becoming somewhat strange, with a hint of a smile that he tried hard to hide.

This brat is actually feeling sorry for me?

"I'm not curious anymore." Yan Sen blew on his tea, took a satisfied sip, and said, "You have your reasons..."

"Aren't you curious why I insisted you bow to me just now?"

Zhang Zhiwei leaned forward, somewhat relentlessly pressing his advantage. His series of heavy punches landed on nothing, and the unpleasant feeling made his breathing become slightly heavier.

"I'm not curious." Yan Sen put down his teacup and looked at him with a smile. "You have your reasons... Anyway, you won't hurt me, so I'll just listen."

"Since you've already said that, it would be very impolite of me to keep asking you questions."

"Tsk."

Zhang Zhiwei remained silent for a while, then suddenly laughed.

It was a smile that came from the heart, yet carried a hint of helplessness.

"Being too smart can take away a lot of fun, little Yansen."

The old master originally planned to keep teasing him, to pique his curiosity, and then tell him something he himself didn't know.

Unexpectedly, the little fox saw through his plan, leaving him in a difficult and awkward situation.

"I think I'm too smart. You'll miss out on a lot of fun, won't you?" Yan Sen mercilessly exposed the old master's perverse sense of humor.

"fart!"

Enraged, Zhang Zhiwei slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups clang loudly.

"Get out! Go back to sleep! Just looking at you annoys me!" The old master grabbed the iPhone 4 from the table and waved it around like he was shooing away a fly.

"Alright!" Yan Sen quickly stood up, walked to the door, turned around and bowed to Zhang Zhiwei with a bright smile, "Grand Tutor, goodnight. Playing on your phone less is bad for your eyes."

"roll!"

The door creaked shut.

The room returned to silence.

Zhang Zhiwei held his phone, the dim light from the screen illuminating his face.

He didn't immediately open the game, but quietly stared at the closed door, the smile he couldn't hide gradually widening until it turned into a sigh of helplessness and relief.

"Slippery..."

It seems this clever little guy really guessed it.

And the guess was almost spot on.

Zhang Zhiwei leaned back in his chair and looked up at the dark ceiling.

The Heavenly Master's restriction was like a leech, etched deep into his soul.

There are some things that even if he wants to say or do, he can't bring himself to say them, let alone do them.

He had thought that Yan Sen would agree without hesitation in order to find the answer and save his father.

But after figuring out the pros and cons, the child's first reaction was not to fight for the position of Celestial Master that could elevate him to the top, nor to complain about his elder's concealment.

Instead, they chose to give up.

Choose to protect this old man who is already bound by shackles...

"I haven't spoiled you for nothing all these years."

Zhang Zhiwei shook his head, pulling himself out of his thoughts. His fingers expertly swiped across the screen, tapping on that familiar icon.

"Whoosh—smack!"

Accompanied by the comical sound effects of Angry Birds hitting green pigs, the night at Longhu Mountain remained deep and quiet.