Although Han Yuan was a little older than Cheng Qian, according to the order of their joining, he became his fourth junior apprentice. Cheng Qian was the "last disciple" for only a few days before he became his senior apprentice.

It can be seen that the back door of the Fuyao faction is not closed tightly.

As for the beggar's chicken...naturally most of it went into the master's stomach as a tribute.

Even the chicken couldn't stop Master Mu Chun from talking non-stop. I don't know where his urge to preach came from. While eating, he asked, "Where did the chicken come from?"

Han Yuan had a very clever tongue and some unique skills - he didn't need to use his hands to chew chicken bones. He just stuffed the whole thing into his mouth, puffed up his cheeks a few times, and after a few crunches of the bone, he could spit out a clean and complete bone.

He rudely spat out the bone in his mouth with a "Pah" sound, and replied to his master: "I stole it from the village ahead."

Confucius said: "Don't talk while eating, and don't talk while sleeping."

Beggar's chicken is naturally delicious. Cheng Qian was hesitating whether to follow his master to tear a chicken leg to eat. However, after seeing this scene and hearing the whole story, Cheng Qian resolutely retracted his hand and silently gnawed on the rock-hard pancake.

Can Han Yuan, with this style, make any stylish chicken?

From this perspective, although Cheng Qian is still young, his Taoist heart and principles are much firmer than his master Bangchui.

Obviously, Master Mu Chun did not affect his appetite. He just opened half of his mouth while chewing, shook his head and said, "To take something without asking is to be a thief. How can a cultivator like me steal? Oh, this is disgraceful. I will not do it again!"

Han Yuan responded sullenly. The little beggar didn't understand anything and didn't dare to refute.

"Stealing is not allowed, but cheating is probably allowed." Cheng Qian thought sarcastically, and then he remembered the unknown tolerance he had just given to his master in the heavy rain, so he could only sigh secretly with a rather vicissitudes of life, "Forget it."

The fourth junior brother, Han Yuan, had a small nose and small eyes, a slightly overbite chin, and a pair of small eyes that always flashed with a cunning and slippery light, making him look very unpleasant.

Cheng Qian was not very happy when he saw Han Yuan. Not only did he look shabby, but Han Yuan also had the title of "junior brother". Cheng Qian had a hard time getting a good impression of any words related to "brother" or "brother". But he just silently disliked him, and on the surface he still pretended to be friendly and gentle.

In the Cheng family, the newly-cut clothes belonged to the eldest brother, and the milk paste with sugar was for the younger brother. Cheng Qian never got any good things, but he was often assigned to do chores. Cheng Qian was not kind by nature, so he naturally felt resentful, but he also listened to the old student's words of "fathers are kind and sons are filial, brothers are friendly and younger brothers are respectful", so he often felt that his resentment was unreasonable.

For a little boy like this who had not had time to develop his self-cultivation, Cheng Qian could not really have no complaints, so he had to pretend to have no complaints - now that he has joined the sect, he still behaves like this.

Since the master went back on his word and opened the closed door again, Cheng Qian had no choice but to act like a senior brother.

There were errands to run along the way, and as the senior brother, he would come and give food and drink to his master first and then to his junior brothers. It was never easy to do this, so Cheng Qian had to check himself from time to time to prevent losing his dignity of being gentle, respectful, frugal and modest.

Cheng Qian often demands this of himself - his father was poor and rude all his life, and he was not kind to him. Cheng Qian listened to the old student and did not dare to hate his father openly, so he could only pity him secretly. The young boy often thought in his dreams at midnight that he would rather die than become a person like his father.

Therefore, this gentle and decent appearance was something he had painstakingly maintained for himself amidst confusion and dilemma, and he could not afford to lose it under any circumstances.

However, Cheng Qian soon discovered that although he had done a good job, this junior fellow apprentice was really not worthy of any care - not only was he hideous in appearance, but his temper was also very annoying.

First of all, Han Yuan is a talkative person. Before he picked up this little beggar, it was his master who was in charge of making noise the whole time. After picking up this little beggar, even Master Mu Chun seemed much more quiet.

The little beggar seemed to be inspired by his master's remarks on "stealing chickens and dogs", and he made up a story about how he defeated a ten-foot-long weasel and stole a fat chicken.

He choreographed the story in a way that was well-organized, with twists and turns and dramatic ups and downs, all of which highlighted his own wisdom and bravery.

Cheng Qian tried to raise a reasonable question, asking, "How could there be a weasel that is over ten feet long?"

Han Yuan was provoked, and he immediately puffed out his chest and raised his head to defend himself, "Of course it's a spirit, Master, can a weasel become a spirit?"

After listening to the story of the weasel spirit, the master seemed to have a strange expression on his face, as if he had a toothache or a stomachache. After a long while, he replied in a leisurely and absent-minded manner, "All things have spirits, and they can probably become spirits."

Han Yuan seemed to have received great affirmation. He raised his chin slightly towards Cheng Qian with an expression that could not be concealed. He said in a gloomy tone, "Brother, this is because you are surprised by what you have seen. If humans can cultivate to become immortals, then animals can naturally cultivate to become fairies."

Cheng Qian didn't answer, but sneered to himself.

If a weasel is really more than ten feet long, its four legs would not be enough, and its long body would definitely have to rub its belly against the ground to move.

Could it be that a demon cultivator would work so hard for a long time just to develop a solid, hairless iron belly?

Cheng Qian couldn't understand what the demon cultivator was trying to do, but he understood what Han Yuan was trying to do.

This little beggar was like a leech growing out of a stinking ditch. Once he smelled blood, he would desperately suck and snatch it. He was vicious in his bones - Han Yuan was competing with him for the favor of his master.

The little beggar seized every opportunity to show his master how brave he was, and at the same time he took every opportunity to discredit his "weak and vulnerable" senior brother. Seeing him jumping up and down, Cheng Qian found it ridiculous, so he imitated the old student and gave his fourth junior brother a half-sour and spicy final verdict in his heart: "A gentleman is always poor, but a villain is poor and licentious. [Note] - Little beast, what a thing!"

Just after Cheng Qian heard about Han Yuan’s “brave fight against the weasel spirit”, the next day he saw with his own eyes how “brave and extraordinary” his little beastly junior brother was.

That day, the master was leaning against a tree for an afternoon nap, while Cheng Qian was flipping through an old book in the master's backpack. The old book used difficult words and Cheng Qian was not well-educated, so he was "unfamiliar" with most of the scriptures. However, he enjoyed it and did not find it boring - no matter what was written in the master's book, this was the first time in his life that he had touched a book openly.

The two little disciples picked up by Master Mu Chun were one as still as a wooden stake and the other as agile as a horse monkey. The wooden stake Cheng Qian did not move at all, while the horse monkey Han Yuan could not stop for a moment.

At this moment, Han Mahou had run off to somewhere unknown and Cheng Qian was enjoying some peace and quiet. However, his peace and quiet did not last long as he saw Han Yuan running back crying again.

"Master..." Han Yuan whimpered and acted coquettishly.

The master responded by snoring softly.

Han Yuan continued to wail, glancing at Cheng Qian beside him as he did so.

Cheng Qian suspected that his master had actually woken up and was just pretending to be asleep. He wanted to see how they would get along. But now that his junior brother was crying like a wretch, he couldn't just ignore it. So he put down the old scripture and asked in a friendly manner, "What's wrong?"

Han Yuan: "There is a river ahead. I wanted to catch fish for my master and my brothers, but there was a big dog by the river and it chased me."

Cheng Qian sighed secretly, of course he was also afraid of vicious dogs, but Han Yuan's eyes rolled around. What had been said was that, the junior brother was filial to the master and the senior brother was fishing, but was bullied by the beast and wanted to ask the senior brother to intervene. How could the senior brother shrink back?

He had no choice but to pick up a large stone from the ground, weigh it in his hand, stand up and follow Han Yuan to the river, and continue to say in a friendly manner: "Okay, then I'll go with you to take a look."

Cheng Qian was prepared. If he really encountered a vicious dog, he would smash his junior brother on the back of his head with the stone in his hand, making sure to smash the little beast into a big melon with broken skin and exposed flesh, and then hand it over to Brother Dog for disposal.

Unfortunately, when the two arrived at the river, the dog had already left, leaving only a few rows of small footprints on the ground.

Cheng Qian lowered his head and studied the two lines of footprints. He estimated that the "evil dog" was less than one foot in size and might be a naive little stray dog.

Han Yuan, this little beast, is simply incompetent at everything he does, never satisfied with what he eats, a eunuch who fawns on the world, shameless, and timid as a needle. He only knows how to win favor by blowing a horn loudly.

Thinking this way, Cheng Qian put his hands holding the brick behind his back and looked at his good-for-nothing junior brother gently. He didn't want to hit him anymore - Cheng Qian was too lazy to argue with him.

The two men hurried back with the caught fish. The master had already "woken up" and was looking at them with kindness and satisfaction.

As soon as Cheng Qian met his master's gaze, he felt a heaviness in his stomach and an unbearable nausea.

Before he could say anything, Han Yuan had already come forward flatteringly and described in front of his master a story with exaggeration: "How his senior brother wanted to eat fish, how he defeated a vicious dog with a head as big as an ox, and how he went through untold hardships to get into the ditch to catch fish."

Cheng Qian: “…”

He was almost laughed at by this talented junior fellow apprentice.

In this way, Cheng Qian followed an old swindler and a small calfskin dealer and walked for more than ten days.

The three finally arrived at the sect.

This was the first time in Cheng Qian's life that he traveled far away from home. With the company of his eccentric master and fellow apprentice, he saw many strange things in the world and became quite calm and composed.

He originally didn't have much hope for the "Fuyao Sect", which sounded like a makeshift troupe. He thought that it might just be a wild Taoist temple in the wilderness, where people would have to burn incense and kowtow to the "ancestor" who was not dressed in lewd clothes but always had a smile on his face.

But the sect's behavior greatly exceeded Cheng Qian's expectations.

I saw that the Fuyao Sect occupied a small hill alone. The hill was surrounded by water on three sides. Looking up from the foot of the hill, one could see raging green waves in the mountains, and traces left by the wind.

The sounds of insects and birds are mixed with the occasional cry of cranes, and occasionally a fleeting white shadow can be seen passing by, which immediately fills the air with a fairy-like aura.

There are gentle stone steps in the mountain, which obviously are cleaned frequently. A small stream flows down from the top of the mountain, making a gurgling sound.

Climbing up the steps to the middle of the mountain, Cheng Qian saw a courtyard house in the shadow of the mountain top. In front of him stood an ancient mossy stone gate on the mountainside, with the word "Fuyao" written on it in a flamboyant style.

Cheng Qian couldn't tell whether the handwriting was good or not. He just felt that the two words seemed to be flying off the door, with a kind of arrogance that was as high as the sky and as deep as the abyss.

This place is not some fairy mountain surrounded by clouds and mist and away from the worldly affairs. However, there is an indescribable spiritual beauty in the mountains. Cheng Qian felt it as soon as he stepped into the mountains. With every breath, he felt a lot lighter.

He glimpsed a palm-sized sky from the shade of the green trees, and a unique sense of the vastness of the sky and the earth as if he was sitting in a well and looking at the sky rushed straight to his brows. He felt so comfortable that he wanted to laugh and shout around the mountain.

But Cheng Qian held back - he didn't dare to make noise at home, for fear of being beaten by his father. He certainly wouldn't do that here, for fear of losing the gentlemanly personality he had overheard in front of Han Yuan, a dirty villain.

The master patted the heads of his two new disciples and said kindly, "Come with me to burn incense, bathe and change clothes. I will take you to pay homage to your..."

Cheng Qian thought casually: "The grandfather who always smiles?"

The master said, "Big Brother."

The author has something to say: Note: A gentleman is firm in poverty, but a villain is licentious in poverty - "The Analects of Confucius·Duke Ling of Wei"