It's not easy being a Master

8

"Bud sprout? Bud sprout!"

These past few days had been extremely tiresome for Shen Zhixian.

Even if he had to deal with Yan Jin and feigned politeness with Song Ming, these matters had not been extremely tiresome. At least these people were living, breathing individuals who could understand and communicate with him.

"Chirp!"

The tiny bud with dark green grass-like leaves sprouting from the top of his head was a startling sight. It enthusiastically stared at Shen Zhixian and extended a tiny leaflet hand toward it's head, as if asking for his tangled mess of grassy hair to be meticulously combed.

Shen Zhixian took a deep breath and lifted the bud sprout by the top of his head. Resisting the urge to rub the tiny thing into a dumpling and throw it away, he controlled his facial expression so it wouldn't look too sinister. He said through clenched teeth, "Next time, don't ask me to let you nest on top of my head again."

He was a normal big man, and he didn't want this green thing on his head at all!

The tiny grass bud in his palm shook his grass blades like an obedient child and innocently chirped.

"All you do is chirp, chirp, chirp. Are you a little sparrow..." Shen Zhixian muttered as he looked around. Then, after putting the thing in his hand into a porcelain bottle, he warned, "I'm going to practice. You're not allowed to come out."

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!" The little grass bud probably didn't like being compared to a little sparrow. It immediately changed its tone and twisted around in the porcelain bottle until a crack appeared in the middle and the bottle shattered into pieces.

Having regained its freedom, the little grass bud cheered happily and swayed on thin roots toward Shen Zhixian. Grasping his clothes, it climbed up very flexibly, it's long, grassy hair swaying with every move.

Shen Zhixian: "..."

He expressionlessly picked up the little grass bud, expressionlessly opened the door, and expressionlessly dug out a small pit in the ground by the door.

He dropped the little grass bud in, covered it with soil, and even went so far as to cast an incantation spell to prevent the bud from easily slipping out.

After doing this, Shen Zhixian closed the door and went back to his room to think and practice. He recently found a lot of books and was looking through them for knowledge to practice seriously.

The little grass bud struggled in the pit for a while and found that he couldn't really get out. It was startled and increased it's struggles, but to no avail.

It muttered angrily, its leaves covered in mud, and pulled its roots hard. 　　

Shen Zhixian listened to it angrily chirping outside, feeling a little funny and a bit helpless.

He didn't expect that the grass bud he had bespelled and placed on the Cliff of Reflection that day would actually have such a great ability. Instead of freezing to death on the cliff, it scurried down to find him and refused to leave.

Why a grass bud? At that time, in addition to the fragile dead leaves, Zhen Zhixian could only control this grass bud. 　

As he continued to read and practice, he suddenly realized after a while that there was no sound outside.

This little grass bud was very magical and would make all kinds of strange sounds. As long as it wasn't sleeping, it would make a lot of noise. Why was it so quiet now?

Even the mud here was full of spiritual aura. There was no harm in planting it there. Could this little guy struggle too much and hurt himself?

Shen Zhixian was a little worried. He lowered the scroll and quietly went to the door to check up on it. At this moment, he saw the little grass bud struggling to pull the last of its roots out. It turned back to looked back at him angrily.

It stretched out its leaflet arms and the breeze suddenly lifted it up into the air, carrying it away. Shen Zhixian was shocked and, unwilling to let it be exposed to other people, pursed his lips and chased after it, shouting, "Grass Bud!"

The little grass bud was really angry. Rely on its own small leaflets and tiny grass sprouts, it flew faster and faster with the wind. It knew how to avoid being seen by people, primarily to prevent having young disciples from discovering it and chasing it about.

Shen Zhixian came to a stop when he saw some young disciples up ahead. He hurriedly dealt with the disciples' courtesy but, by then, the little grass bud had already slipped away at a corner.

He had no choice but to look for it in that general direction, and as he walked, he realized that this road was familiar. Wasn't this near Yan Jin's residence?

As the fifth elder, Shen Zhixian had a main peak all to himself. He stayed at the top, followed by his personal disciples, then ordinary disciples toward the bottom. 　　

These self-disciplined ordinary disciples directly worshiped the name of Shen Zhixian and were happy to get his personal guidance. But, in truth, they were disciples in name only. They practiced and learned in unified ways with no special treatments or instructions. They also usually helped with some chores. In Qingyun Sect, the disciples must take care of their own necessities.

The sound of trickling water reach Shen Zhixian, and he realized that this was where the disciples draw their water. 　　

Shen Zhixian didn't think must about it. He took a turn, lifted his eyes, and froze. 　　　

A skinny teenager, wearing a worn and faded moon white gown, stood with his back to Shen Zhixian. He was fetching water, drawing the heavy buckets full of water one by one. 　

Then, the teen turned around and came face to face with Shen Zhixian. 　　

Shen Zhixian looked at him in disbelief and glanced down at the buckets he was carrying. These chores were supposed to be completed by ordinary disciples. Since Yan Jin was his personal disciple, why did he have to do them himself?

They looked at each other in silence, until a bit of green flashed and the little grass bud emerged from the bushes next to Shen Zhixian, happily running toward Yan Jin.

WTF?!!

Yan Jin quick reflex jerked into motion before he could think. He raised his hand and a whole bucket of water splashed onto the grass bud, who was rooted in shock. The impact of the water pushed it to the ground, with leaflets and grass sprouts fluttering.

Mud splashed on to the small leaves. The now even dirtier grass bud laid stiff on the ground, motionless and still in shock. 　　

Shen Zhixian looked at the bud's angry little face and was about to laugh and then speak, when a disciple appeared and angrily marched up to Yan Jin.

"Yan Jin! Why are you so slow?! Senior Brother Yan Shen is in a hurry to use it. Ahh! How did you make such a mess! Are you a waste?!"

The young disciple probably heard noises and promptly ran to harrass Yan Jin with curses at the ready. Seeing the mess on the ground, he could not help but become angry and wanted to scold the person. Suddenly, a gust of wind rose and along with it came a flash of green.

A loud slap resounded.

After landing a perfect strike, the little grass bud flew toward Shen Zhixian and buried itself in his sleeves, only exposing the tip of a small leaf to watch the excitement.

The disciple's cheek quickly turned red and swollen. He felt as if he had been slapped hard. But he didn't see anything!

Being messed with in front of Yan Jin, he felt as if he had lost face. Turning around angrily, he said, "Who is being unbridled here? See if I can't handle you-"
The angry voice came to an abrupt end.

Shen Zhixian lifted his gaze, shook his sleeves calmly, the motion turning the spooky little grass bud upside down, and murmured quietly, "What do you want to do with this elder? Say it. This elder will listen."

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Xixi:
If you're as confused as I was about the chain of events here, it appeared that there's a time skip of a few days between the previous chapter and this chapter. So, the grass bud had been with Shen Zhixian for a few days now.

Also, too bad Yan Jin was reborn before he completely darkened. That would have been an interesting story. He would have probably turned these disciples wanting to bully him into mincemeat. But then, I guess we would have a different kind of male lead.