tincan nest

Despite the fact that Grandmaster wanted to take things easy and be left alone, there are always going to be people trying meet with Shizun... and it's not like SJ didn't know why.

Heading into the back courtyard, SJ found Shizun tending the garden as usual. He wasn't sure what Shizun enjoyed about gardening all the time but ... side-eyeing the extremely rare plants Shizun had somehow managed to cultivate despite their historic impossible-to-cultivate reputation, he could only sigh.

As long as Shizun was having fun...

Rounding the all-seeing creeper vines and frost honey sky lotus, SJ finally caught sight of his Shizun, the Sect Master Grandmaster of Huan Hua Palace. (Shizun kept wanting to step back from the position and joked he was more like the sect's grandfather, not the sect leader, but please. With Shizun's leadership, who would accept his retirement any time soon? They just started calling him Grandmaster instead. Anyway, it was better than the "Palace Master" Shizun's failure of a disciple wanted to be called.)

Despite his age, Shen Shizun was still tall and graceful. He might have a mature face, but it was still smooth and elastic unlike many ancestor cultivators decades younger than him.

The beard was trimmed short, unlike the long beards like all the other cultivators his age, and it was neat and tidy, unlike all the greasy and unkempt rogues and bastards SJ had seen in his time on the streets.

That beard and the long white hair half pulled back in a topknot combined with Shizun's broad shoulders and narrow waist had seduced far too many people. SJ couldn't help glaring at his shizun.

Did he know how many people he had to chase away daily?! No! Of course his shizun didn't, he NEVER notices their advances!

Even though the man was the smartest, craftiest person alive, Grandmaster Shen couldn't tell someone was interested in him even if they bluntly told him! And many people had!

Either Shizun wanted to be an ascetic, or no one had caught his eye. Didn't matter - SJ would chase them off until his shizun indicated differently.

After everything he'd done for Huan pHua, Shizun deserved to not be bothered by unwanted advances!

Shizun revealed all the conspiracies, punished all evil-minded sect members, and redid the entire sect's authority system to prevent the terrible things from happening again.

Normally SJ would scoff at the naivety of believing one could set up a sect to avoid corruption, but seeing how Shizun did it by utilizing people's natural suspicion and eagerness to point fingers while mitigating the overeager by clearly defining the rules and punishments for false accusations ... SJ knew Shen Shizun wasn't someone who didn't understand reality and the darkness within people.

After all, Shizun never pretended that material wealth wasn't important like some other sects that liked to act like they were above material needs.

When SJ asked his shizun about it, Shen Shizun just chuckled.

"Whether it's money, resources, or power, they are all things that can be used. Some sects like to scoff at us and call us moneygrubbers, but how many times do they come asking to borrow money when they come against a problem they can't just fight? And in the first place, can we truly be a righteous sect if every solution is to subdue the opponent? Would we not just be tyrants?"

"Isn't that what it means to be the strongest?"

Shizun chuckled again. "Is "the strongest" truly the best thing? Let me tell you, Xiao Jiu, the only constant in life is human dissatisfaction, and all jealous eyes will target anyone who act oppressively. It's far better to pretend to be mediocre and let everyone think you're doing them favors. Besides, they're so righteous, they wouldn't let you do them favors without having to pay you back."

That sly smile and glint in his shizun's eyes... Although Grandmaster Shen was widely known as a wise and benevolent leader, SJ was fully aware that his shizun secretly devious and crafty. And SJ fully approved of it.

It was strange. Supposedly the Grandmaster had been cowardly and overly suspicious for many years before that sad excuse of a failure took over, but his personality now was nothing at all like the Sect Master in the memories of the elders.

The most common theory was that Grandmaster had been pretending to be useless in order to catch his head disciple and make an example of him... but that didn't feel right to SJ.

With everything he knew about the Grandmaster, SJ knew that Shen Shizun was good at reading people (except in romance) and swift and decisive in nipping trouble in the bud.

Not only would Shizun have put a swift end to the man's ambitions, he wouldn't have accepted that failure as head disciple in the first place!

In SJ's opinion, that poisoning did something to Shen Shizun. Either Shen Shizun had been slowly poisoned the entire time, leading to his strange personality, or that was truly Shen Shizun's previous personality. Either way, the final poisoning most likely caused Shen Shizun to undergo a breakthrough in both mentality and cultivation.

How else can you explain the massive power increase and completely different temperament otherwise?

Either way, SJ appreciated the change, even if he hated how it happened.

It's just, with all Shizun's breakthroughs (at his age!), his appearance grew sturdier and more vibrant while his firm and dependable temperament deepened and became even more attractive, drawing all sorts of bees and butterflies wanting to be the old man's cultivation partner!

Unaware of SJ's thoughts, SY just cheerfully waved and said, "Xiao Jiu. Is there something the matter?"

Facing Shen Shizun's warm smile, SJ deflated.

Forget it... as long as Shizun's happy.

"Hm? Is that Shen Jiu? Let this old man see how you're doing~"

... This was another thing SJ didn't understand. Shizun's weird friend, who came to talk about vulgar books and bicker about pointless things and took him out on stupid "adventures" that always went strange, so different from how Shizun normally was... but maybe that's the point.

Maybe Shizun never wanted to be so serious and have to overhaul the sect. Maybe he just wanted the freedom to tend his garden, chat over tea with some foolish friends, and travel around without any responsibilities.