The years I was in the human world

Lu Zhouxue stared at Wei Ruge in a daze, but his eyes were completely distracted and his mind was elsewhere. An indescribable loneliness surged from his whole body, as if he was a steep cliff on a snowy mountain, desolate and cold.

"I'm not disciplining you, I..." Wei Ruge suddenly couldn't say the words of advice. There were too many unspeakable things in Lu Zhouxue's eyes, regret, attachment and a kind of real helplessness. It was a pain that Wei Ruge could not understand no matter what. He felt sad just looking at those eyes.

Lu Zhouxue avoided Wei Ruge's gaze and looked at Baili Changqing who seemed unkind because of his anger. He suddenly calmed down. There was nothing else in his words except the indifference towards strangers: "Even if the heaven admits it, you and I should know that the so-called master and disciple are just a facade, and they are all acting. Why should Master take it seriously?"

"I am not Zhu Huang Yu Zhao, so Master, you don't have to look for her shadow in me." Lu Zhouxue said slowly. He finally called out the title of Master under the warning and coercion of Heaven, but he and Baili Changqing knew very well how true and false this so-called master-disciple relationship was. "So, don't use the rules for treating Yu Zhao to restrict me."

"Lu Zhouxue." This was the first time Baili Changqing called out Lu Zhouxue's name since he came out of seclusion. Even though the latter had offended him in every way and had tried to sever their master-disciple relationship several times, at this moment, he still spoke to Lu Zhouxue calmly like an elder who was tolerant of the younger generation.

Even though he was very sad because of Lu Zhouxue's words: "In your opinion, I am treating you as Yu Zhao, so I stopped you from doing anything reckless, right?"

Lu Zhouxue didn't answer, but his eyes revealed that meaning.

Baili Changqing understood. Lu Zhouxue's reaction made his usually calm mood unexpectedly feel a little disappointed, but it was also within his expectations. He did not argue that he had never regarded Lu Zhouxue as Yu Zhao, and he was too lazy to explain why he valued Lu Zhouxue. He just felt sorry for his bones.

Baili Changqing took out a blood-red jade pendant with a phoenix carved on it. He looked directly into Lu Zhouxue's eyes and said, "I discipline you because you are also my disciple. It has nothing to do with Yu Zhao. I am not so old and dim that I cannot tell the difference between men and women."

It's not the so-called love for the person and the dog in him, it's simply because he is his apprentice, so he is disciplined, protected, and... valued.

"This was originally Yu Zhao's apprenticeship gift. You don't want to admit it and believe that I think you are her. So I will return this jade pendant to you." Baili Changqing handed the jade pendant to Lu Zhouxue, who didn't take it. He just looked at him, his eyes no longer calm. "I still regard you as my apprentice."

Baili Changqing had no shortage of disciples, but now he stubbornly maintained the master-disciple relationship with this stranger who showed up halfway, and even tolerated his repeated offenses. Lu Zhouxue couldn't understand the actions of this ruthless swordsman, so he accepted the jade pendant. Even though he had resisted in every way before, he was moved by the other party's words "You are my disciple". Master...

"Thank you." Lu Zhouxue said, and put the jade pendant into his sleeve like the hairpin Xiao Fengzhuo gave him before, and hid it in his spiritual sea. The expression on his face was still cold, but only he knew how happy he was.

I get close to him just because he is him, not because he looks like anyone, and certainly not because of his relationship with anyone.

As soon as Lu Zhouxue left, Baili Changqing, who was always calm and composed, suddenly sat down dejectedly, his face showing the exhaustion of a broken heart. As a ruthless swordsman, how can he be really ruthless as long as he is human?

"Master." The master who had always been strong and omnipotent suddenly showed his weakness, which made Wei Ruge feel distressed. He sat down beside Baili Changqing worriedly and said to her, "After all, he is not your senior sister. Why should you be sad because of his words? You still have your disciple. Your disciple will always accompany you and will never let you down."

"Ruge, do you also think that Master regards Lu Zhouxue as your senior sister?" Baili Changqing is a ruthless person who cuts off all emotions and love, but he cares about his disciples. Now the eldest disciple has betrayed the sect, the second disciple died for no reason, and only the youngest disciple is left. How can he remain indifferent to the dwindling number of his disciples?

Baili Changqing's usually indifferent eyes showed pain and confusion. He seemed to want to get an answer from his apprentice, but he also seemed to be just talking to himself. Wei Ruge felt sorry for him, but still told him the truth: "If not, why are you so obsessed with him?"

"Master, I am going beyond the mark, but I have to say it. You can tell people apart, but you really don't see the shadow of my senior sister in Lu Zhouxue?" Wei Ruge knelt in front of Baili Changqing, grabbed his master's hand which was full of calluses from sword practice, and spoke earnestly, "Master, you practice the ruthless way, but you value love the most. Don't trap yourself. You still have me and Senior Brother."

Baili Changqing always felt that he did not regard Lu Zhouxue as Yu Zhao, but now that his young disciple asked so openly, he found that he was not completely fair. He indeed did not regard Lu Zhouxue as Yu Zhao, but looked for the shadow of his disciple in him.

"Master, I will never let you down." As a young girl, Yu Zhao was bright and charming in a red silk dress, as warm as the sun, so he named her "Yu Zhao" in the hope that she would always be so bright and warm.

“Master, I said I was careless, do you believe me…?” The girl who made the mistake stood beside the collapsed house and looked at him embarrassedly. Although she was admitting her mistake, she did not show much fear. She carefully observed his expression, and when she saw that he was not really angry, she shamelessly came up to him and acted like a spoiled child, “Master, I was wrong, I won’t dare to do it again next time, please forgive me~”

The cute and lovely girl hugged his arms and acted coquettishly. At that time, Baili Changqing was not as intimidating as he is now. At most, he just had fewer expressions. After getting along with him for a long time, Yu Zhao could judge whether he was really angry or just at a loss as to what expression to make.

He was about to give in, and the words "never again" were stuck in his throat before he could utter them. The young man spoke with a clear voice, "You can take advantage of Master's soft heart and do whatever you want, Junior Sister. You said the same thing the last time you broke Master's bathtub while he was taking a bath."

The equally young Lin Xiyang took the ruler in his hand and lifted Yu Zhao's collar and took him out of his arms. The young man bowed respectfully to him and said, "Master, you are always so soft-hearted. If you continue like this, this little girl will definitely go crazy."

As he spoke, he picked up the ruler and was about to hit Yu Zhao's palm. The girl immediately yelled, "Brother, Master doesn't even punish me, you have no right to hit me!"

While Yu Zhao howled, he pulled away Baili Changqing's hand and hid in his arms, saying, "Master, save me. My senior brother is so fierce and always beats me."

Lin Xiyang respected his master, so he naturally didn't dare to make any move on Baili Changqing. He raised the ruler in his hand and gently dropped it into his palm, saying helplessly, "You can do whatever you want just because your master is protecting you. I can't control you anymore."

At that time, Yu Zhao, who was curled up in Baili Changqing's arms, raised her head and made a face at her senior brother. Baili Changqing lowered his head and saw a small swirl of hair. The eldest disciple standing in front sighed softly: "Master is always like this. You have spoiled this girl to death."

"She's just a little girl, it's okay for her to be a little lively." The master, whose thoughts were revealed by his disciple, embarrassedly excused himself. The indulgence in his words and actions was by no means false, he really treated Yu Zhao as the apple of his eye.

"She is over two hundred years old and still a little girl." Lin Xiyang said unhappily, but he didn't really have the heart to punish this junior sister from a foreign race. After all, he threw away the ruler in his hand. Faced with the old and the child who were pretending to be good and cute, Lin Xiyang, as the eldest brother caught in the middle, worked hard to clean up the trouble caused by the junior sister.

"You should control your temper. You always bully your senior brother like this. It's only because Yangyang has a good temper that he doesn't mind you." Baili Changqing doted on his apprentice and gave him verbal instructions. He patted his apprentice on the forehead and said, "You are always so lawless. What if you suffer in the future?"

"Master, how could I bully him?" Yu Zhao covered his forehead and pouted as he looked at Baili Changqing. Seeing him frown, he immediately changed his words and said, "Master, if you want me to change, then I will change. But with Master and Senior Brother here, how can I suffer any loss?"

The memories came to an abrupt end here, and Baili Changqing closed his eyes helplessly. With Yu Zhao protected by him and Lin Xiyang, she would not have to be afraid even if the sky fell. But when she was wronged, neither of them was there.

Baili Changqing once again experienced frustration. He was the current number one swordsman, but also a lonely man above everyone else. His eldest disciple was missing, his second disciple was dead, and everything in the past had disappeared into thin air. He didn't even have a chance to make amends.

Wei Ruge was right. The Yu Zhao who would act like a spoiled child in his arms was not the Lu Zhouxue today who did not need the protection and love of the elders.

"Master? Master!" Baili Changqing's thoughts returned. He saw his little disciple kneeling in front of him, looking at him with a worried look on his face. Wei Ruge clenched his fists and made a firm and moving promise to him in his young voice: "I will do my best and swear to be on par with Master."

"I, your disciple, will accompany Master to see the scenery on the nine-story building." Wei Ruge spoke each word with the stubbornness and courage of a young man, "On the road to the great road, Master will not be alone!"

Even though Baili Changqing was used to seeing the autumn colors of the world and the troubles of the world, he was still moved by the fiery heart in Wei Ruge's words. He nodded, reached out and patted Wei Ruge on the shoulder, saying, "Good boy."

Wei Ruge was actually not like his eldest disciple, Lin Xiyang, who was always calm and reserved, and had never had such a striving moment.

The priceless silk was cut into scattered pieces by a sharp dagger, and Lu Zhouxue scribbled lines on it with blood-red ink. Then it was piled aside casually like unwanted rags. He continued to vent his anger by cutting another roll of silk into tattered strips.

Lu Zhouxue naturally did not impulsively rush into the City Lord's Mansion to save people. When Wei Ruge left Baili Changqing, he saw him sitting alone on the eaves, cutting silk in silence.

Wei Ruge looked down at the silk that he had cut, some of which were even the priceless shark silk. Wei Ruge didn't know what he wanted to do, so he just thought he was in a bad mood and was venting his anger. He shook his head and sat down next to Lu Zhouxue: "It's really a waste of good things to use such fine silk to vent your anger."

Lu Zhouxue continued to cut without mercy, with a calm expression: "What are you doing here?"

"Master just cares too much about Senior Sister. Don't resent him." Wei Ruge avoided Lu Zhouxue's question and said that he came here to persuade them to reconcile. He still felt sorry for his master, so he couldn't bear to see Lu Zhouxue's cold and arrogant attitude towards Baili Changqing. "He actually...really treats you as his disciple."

Otherwise, he wouldn't have forced Lu Zhouxue to draw his sword.

Lu Zhouxue paused while sketching the pattern on the silk cloth. A ball of thick ink fell from the tip of the pen, spreading a large area on the cloth. The cloth was wasted. He threw away the unusable piece of cloth, picked up a new one, sketched it smoothly, and said slowly: "When we parted, we were moved by the old things, let alone I was once an old friend?"

"It's human nature to think of someone when seeing something. I understand." Lu Zhouxue's tone was calm, completely different from his previous appearance covered in spikes.

Wei Ruge naturally couldn't understand his sudden change of mood. He looked at him worriedly. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "The look you gave me earlier was so sad. Who did you think of?"

Lu Zhouxue stopped cutting strips of cloth and used the cut strips of cloth with strange patterns to wrap around the branches of acacia trees that had been cut from somewhere. While wrapping them, she casually answered Wei Ruge's question: "What does it matter if I remember it or not?"

Lu Zhouxue was in a trance for a short while. Even though a thousand years had passed, he still remembered Xiao Yueheng. He still felt regretful and sad when he thought of that person, but he didn't know whether that person cared. He shook his head in self-mockery and gently added the second half of the sentence: "After all, the person is no longer here..."

So the answers are all unknown.

"Ah? Sorry." Wei Ruge realized that he had said something wrong and lowered his head in embarrassment. He hurriedly picked up the cloth strips and locust branches beside him and tied them up to cover his face. He said embarrassedly, "I'm sorry to ask about your sad story..."

"It's okay." Lu Zhouxue shook his head. He said these things only when he suddenly felt inspired. This thorn has been buried in his heart for thousands of years, and it will not become inflamed because of Wei Ruge's words. He turned his head and looked at Wei Ruge's lowered head. There was sympathy, pity, and a strange sadness of sharing the same suffering in his eyes.

Lu Zhouxue subconsciously felt that he and Wei Ruge were the same type of people, but the silly boy in front of him didn't seem to realize it yet.

"It's all tied up, you--" Wei Ruge was holding a locust branch tied with cloth in his hand. When he raised his head, he met Lu Zhouxue's complicated gaze. Just like before, he couldn't understand what was in those eyes at this time, but he felt inexplicably sad.

So the usually heartless man also became disappointed. He restrained his expression in an instant, looked at Lu Zhouxue helplessly, and said cautiously: "Brother? What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Lu Zhouxue hastily retracted his gaze, realizing that he had revealed his emotions too much. He avoided Wei Ruge's sight and took the locust branch from his hand, but the man next to him stared at him like a puppy, as if he would fight to the end if he didn't say anything.

Just as Lu Zhouxue was about to use some excuse to evade him, a pair of smiling eyes suddenly flashed through her mind. For some reason, Lu Zhouxue imitated Xiao Fengzhuo's unfocused manner and coaxed him, "Nothing, I just thought you were smart."

"Oh, really?" Wei Ruge really didn't think it was wrong, and happily approached Lu Zhouxue, like a big dog that had been praised, "Do you really think I'm smart? Master always says I'm stupid, and I say I'm not that bad."

Lu Zhouxue said nothing more. Wei Ruge was indeed not that perceptive about ordinary things, or could be considered stupid, but he could see clearly some things that even smart people could not figure out, just like the master-disciple relationship between Baili Changqing and himself.

Lu Zhouxue sighed in his heart, a wise man who appears foolishly, life should be easy for such a person.

"Go back, Junior Brother." Lu Zhouxue jumped down from the roof holding the finished spirit banner. Wei Ruge was a little confused and asked stupidly, "Do you recognize the Master?"

"Yeah." Lu Zhouxue thought about it, turned back and nodded gently. In life, having more bonds is not a bad thing. At least Baili Changqing treats him well.

Wei Ruge laughed happily, jumped down from the roof, and reached out to hold Lu Zhouxue's shoulders: "Come on, Senior Brother, let's go tell the Master!"

"Not yet." Lu Zhouxue shook his head again. Facing Wei Ruge's accusing gaze, before the other party could speak, he continued, "Azhuo's life or death is unknown. I have to go save him first." As he spoke, he shook the spirit flag he had just made in his hand towards Wei Ruge.

Wei Ruge felt cheated for a moment. He pointed at the thing in Lu Zhouxue's hand and said in disbelief: "So you didn't leave not because you felt guilty, but because you were busy preparing the magic weapon to save people?!"

Guilt? What a mess? Lu Zhouxue didn't quite understand Wei Ruge's train of thought, but what the latter said was indeed exactly right, so he nodded and said, "Okay, Junior Brother, don't stop me, I'm going to save my kitten."

As she spoke, Lu Zhouxue's cold expression softened unexpectedly, and Wei Ruge felt like he had seen a ghost.