Chapter 45: 45.The Dilemma

"So, Grandmaster Lan," Elder Lin looked at the calm face of the elderly man who was sipping his tea in silence.

"Isn't it time you tell me the truth?" She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him.

"Are you going to open your mouth or not?" She asked trying to keep her sanity in check.

"About what?" Feigning ignorance, Grandmaster Lan showed a questioning look.

"….."

Elder Lin normally respected Grandmaster Lan but this time she was a little frustrated by his act.

"The family head of Le Family." He looked seriously at Elder Lin. He elegantly placed the cup on the table and looked at Elder Lin with a serious face, "He asked me for a favor."

"Just because he asked of you, you willingly brought in the member of the traitorous family to be disciple of our sect??" Elder Lin could not believe her ears.

She had expected a profound reason but not this.

"You know how much trouble Le Family had caused in past don't you?" At this point Elder Lin was huffing, her breathe uneven as she tried to calm down her anger.

Chaotic scenes from centuries ago played inside her mind making her grit her teeth as she tried to calmed down but in vain.

She could never forget the scene of her hometown plunging into sea of fire and burning down to ashes right before her eyes when the FORMLESS attacked her hometown when she was just a small kid.

She tightly shut her eyes cutting off the scene form her mind. She did not want to think about that fateful and cursed days. It was all in the past.

But that did not mean she had forgiven the one responsible for it.

"Le Family…" She spit out the each word, her pure hazel eyes containing a little bit of murderous intent.

"Le Family should just die already." She sounded scornful, almost villain like when she cursed for the downfall of the Le Family.

"Elder Lin!!!"

Grandmaster Lan thundered, his calm face showing lines of anger and worry.

"Please watch your words."

"Right, sorry for the emotional outburst. Something happened the last night and I guess I am still affected by it." She humbly apologized to him.

Although she treated and took care of Le Fangling, she was still not  sure about the emotions she had especially after she found out about the strangeness in her body.

Since Grandmaster Lan seemed to not know anything, Elder Lin decided to keep her mouth shut about that and see the things through herself.

Grandmaster Lan noticed this and looked at the female before him with a complicated emotion in his eyes.

No one spoke a word, both of them lost in their own thoughts.

"That girl Le Fangling." He spoke breaking the silence they were in. 

"What about her?" Elder Lin had gained back her composure. Seating herself properly in the cushion she asked curiously.

"That girl…she reminds me of you." Grandmaster Lan let out a long sigh looking outside the window. An image from the past came rushing in his mind.

"Hmm??" Elder Lin presented her surprise. She did see they were both girls and beautiful but as for other similarities she was not sure she and Le Fangling matched in any way.

But Grandmaster Lan was busy in his own thought.

[Two hundred years ago.]

[City of thousand Lantern]

A major crisis had taken place in a city located at the border of southern and western province, a city of trade and prosperity.

This was the only city in the twin star continent which was devoid of Cultivators and martial art practitioners.

The Daoist master, sword master and fighters under the Le family who had undertaken the task of sealing off the Formless portal that had appeared out of nowhere made a small blunder.

Using the strongest sealing talisman and mantra they had sealed off the portal that had appeared in the center plaza of the city.

"This would be enough."

"But sir…won't it be better to completely eradicate it?" The town Mayer who was a simple mortal humbly asked the masters but all he got back was cold sneer and humiliation from them,.

"What right does a puny human like you have to doubt our work." A bulky man stepped forward haughtily shoving the mayor backwards.

"We are doing you a favor by even coming here." Another man laughed out shrilly while he mocked the mayor and the city people.

"You people stop it." The one in charge, Le Qian Ning; the house head of the Le family gestured them to stop behaving like some delinquents.

"We will take a rest and come back tomorrow to completely destroy it." He gave a slight bow to the mayor and motioned the disciples to follow him to their inn.

But that small blunder resulted in another devastating event in the history of mankind.

The portal which was supposed to have been sealed off was secretly opened and left open by someone from the Le Family when the whole city was asleep.

Thousands of flying spirits and monsters came out of the crack in the dimension plundering the whole city.

FORMLESS; they were creatures that had both physical form and spiritual form.

The humans living in the city were hunted down, eaten, killed, absorbed, possessed and all other gruesome things one could imagine.

That was how the most prosperous city of once upon a time was reduced to ash in a single night.

Grandmaster Lin had been an assigned the task of going out on patrols and purifying the city of thousands lantern after the havoc caused by the FORMLESS.

But they had arrived at the city only two days later and by the time they had arrived, everything was too late.

He looked at the ruined city, smoke emitting from the collapsed buildings and bridges. Corpses of people lying here and there, some intact while some were dismembered to the point they were unrecognizable.

If one did not look carefully, it would be hard to separate if those organs belonged to a human or animal.

"Such a misfortune." He shook his head feeling distraught.

He felt something was pulling his cloak making him halt on his step.

A girl of 11 years old looked at him with her deep hazel eyes, her tiny hands grabbed on to his cloak stubbornly.

"What is it child?" He looked at her and asked solemnly, but softened a little when he saw her sorry appearance.

"Please take me in as your disciple."

She spoke in her tiny and hoarse voice, her eyes staring at him intently with a deep hope hidden with in them.

He looked at the girl who was begging him to take her in as his disciple. She was covered in dirt, her dress ragged and tattered indicating she had lived in streets all this time.

A poor orphan child.

'Her parent must have died in the chaos of that night.' A thought came to his mind but that was all, He felt no pity or no compassion towards the sorry figure that was standing before him.

"Stay away..don't touch the great immortal master with your filthy hand." A disciple of his yanked away her hand that was clutching onto his outer cloak.

"Let her be!" He motioned his man to step aside when he saw the stubborn look on her face.

The man heard him and quickly moved away.

"Child, do you know what you are saying??" Grandmaster Lan asked sternly, his voice carrying strictness and a terrifying aura.

Although trembling, she looked at him with her fiery eyes which were determined. It was hard to find anyone with burning fire as strong as hers in that time and to top it off, she was a girl and a child at that.

"I want to be strong." She spoke each word carefully, making sure her intention and sincerity reached the powerful man before her.

"You look strong." She added on what she thought after seeing him among the crowds of other cultivators.

"What's your name?" He was impressed with the way the girl presented her determination.

"Its' Yuan, Lin Yuan." She spoke without any hesitation.

Grandmaster Lan nodded his head and stood up from his crouched position. He turned around and walked two step away from her before stopping.

Without turning back he spoke in a clear voice.

"Aren't you following?? Lin Yuan?"

Her eyes lit up upon hearing her name.

"Yes, I am." The girl tottered right behind him following him with the brightest smile he had ever seen.

He was not a man with soft spot for anyone and neither did he ever consider himself a pious person but looking at the sparkly eyes of Lin Yuan made him feel like he did something human in a long time.

-

[Back to present]

A smile appeared in his face as he recalled the day he met his first personal disciple, currently who was the Elder Lin of Eternal Blossom Sect.

"What are you thinking about?" Elder Lin asked curiously noticing the rare smile on the apathetic face of the old man. Not that she cared but she was still curious about things.

"Nothing at all…just a proud and stubborn hamster." Grandmaster Lan waved off her question.

Elder Lin raised her eye brows in an arc. She did not believe him one bit.

"DING DONG DING!!!"

Just then a loud bell rang Three times, the sound echoing throughout the hills and mountains of the Vermillion Bird peak.

"Well there is your cue." Grandmaster Lan stood up from his place and looked at Elder Lin who too was standing up from her seat.

"Go and greet the new disciples that have enrolled this year." He looked at Elder Lin and gave a brief smile. He had high hopes for student this year.

Meanwhile, one of those new disciple who was supposed to enroll this year was now looking at the red tomato face of her senior sister.

"Senior s-s-ister!!" Le Fangling stuttered as she came face to face with An Cheng.