The twelve Senior Uncle Bamboo Poles, named after the twelve earthly branches, were responsible for guarding the forbidden area behind the mountain. However, this job was extremely difficult because in the vast expanse of Shuling Mountain, there was hardly any place off-limits. Even beneath the Cloud Path Sect, where the earth dragon was suppressed, the founding ancestor LingZhao Immortal didn't forbid disciples from wandering around. The only exception was this area behind the mountain, where people were not allowed to enter casually.
This restriction only made everyone more eager to enter. Moreover, the punishment for trespassing was somewhat playful—no immediate penalty, but accumulating offenses would result in punishment once every three years.
This punishment method seemed almost like a game. From the perspective of the Senior Uncle Bamboo Poles, if they truly wanted to keep people out, they should have set a more severe punishment. But LingZhao Immortal refused to do so.
As a result, over the years, there were always young disciples who attempted to sneak into the area behind the mountain. Some wanted to see the supposedly ferocious Iron-Eating Spirit Beasts, others hoped to catch a glimpse of LingZhao Immortal on the Heavenly Observation Platform, and some simply treated it as an adventure game, trying to break through the defenses of the twelve guardians.
The Senior Uncle Bamboo Poles were very troubled by this.
Just when the disciples had grown older and become more sensible, no longer treating the area behind the mountain as their playground, a new batch of mischievous disciples arrived.
Shentu Yu was the first to come and collect his disciple, as he was the closest. As he approached, he overheard his disciple talking with a few fellow disciples: "It's my fault. My reckless driving got us all in trouble."
Another girl said, "How is it Big Sister's fault? It's all because The Second couldn't sit still in the car, fidgeting around."
The one-armed youth didn't mind taking the blame, and playfully bumped the others' arms, "Hey, we're all brothers and sisters from different parents, why bother about that? Don't worry, my master said the punishment is very casual. When he was punished before, he just had to plant bamboo on a hillside."
Another young man still seemed shaken: "I was scared to death when we fell just now. I thought we'd be smashed into a pulp."
The youngest and most reserved boy in blue clothes carefully asked if anyone was hurt from the fall.
The disciple replied, "We didn't get hurt. When I saw we were about to fall, I was afraid something bad would happen, so I instinctively steered towards the area behind the mountain. I knew the Senior Uncle Bamboo Poles were guarding this area, so we'd definitely be caught before hitting the ground."
Shentu Yu thought: Hmm, my disciple is indeed clever, knowing how to protect herself.
As soon as he appeared, his disciple immediately fell silent, looking at him with an extremely innocent smile. The other disciples instinctively put on similar smiles, seemingly well-trained in this regard.
Xin Xiu stood up, ready to follow her master back, but Shentu Yu gestured for her to sit down, "Wait for me here first."
Xin Xiu sat back down, and along with her junior brothers and sisters and the Senior Uncle Bamboo Poles, watched as her master walked into the bamboo forest behind the mountain, disappearing behind a clump of purple bamboo.
"Senior Uncles, aren't you going to stop my master from entering the area behind the mountain?" Xin Xiu asked.
Senior Uncle Bamboo Pole replied, "The founding ancestor said that Senior Brother Shentu can enter the area behind the mountain freely."
Such special treatment, could it be... that her master was the founding ancestor's own child? Just as Xin Xiu thought of this, The Second quietly asked her, "Big Sis, could it be that Uncle Shentu is actually our founding ancestor's own child?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? If he really was, wouldn't I know about it?" Xin Xiu reflexively knocked The Second on the head.
The others were gradually picked up by their masters or senior brothers and sisters, leaving only Xin Xiu sitting there waiting for her master to return. She rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought. Could her master be going to steal a panda for her?
This guess, though not entirely correct, wasn't far off. Shentu Yu had first gone to see his master, LingZhao Immortal.
The Heavenly Observation Platform was located in a valley behind the mountain. It was an extremely ordinary-looking platform, square and plain, neither tall nor large. Wild grass and flowers grew between the cracks of the steps, giving it an abandoned and neglected appearance. The only special feature was a jade tree in the center of the platform, glowing brilliantly.
Shentu Yu stepped onto the platform and bowed.
"Why have you come?" A voice came from the jade tree.
"It's about my young disciple Xin Xiu," Shentu Yu replied.
"Oh, so you've taken a disciple?" LingZhao Immortal asked.
Shentu Yu said, "It's the person you mentioned to me last time, Master."
The jade tree was silent for a moment before LingZhao Immortal spoke again, "Didn't I tell you that this person has a predestined relationship with you from a past life?"
Shentu Yu was a bit confused: "Yes, it was because Master said this child and I have a predestined connection that I took her as my disciple. Although I don't know what kind of connection it is, taking her as a disciple shouldn't be a problem, right?"
LingZhao Immortal didn't respond.
LingZhao Immortal didn't know what to say.
He had already cultivated to the level of a true immortal and no longer concerned himself with many matters. However, he had a particular fondness for his disciple Shentu Yu. So when he noticed something unusual about Shentu Yu's fate, he casually did a divination and discovered that his love life would be fraught with difficulties. In an attempt to help him avoid some tribulations, he had given him a hint. Who knew it would backfire... These two were not supposed to become master and disciple.
LingZhao Immortal said, "Never mind." It's better to let them figure things out on their own.
Shentu Yu didn't understand, but he didn't ask. After all, his master often spoke in half-riddles, leaving things vague and unclear. He continued to state the purpose of his visit: "My disciple Xin Xiu has a great fondness for Iron-Eating Spirit Beasts and wants to take one back to raise."
LingZhao Immortal: "...Go ahead."
Shentu Yu bid farewell to his master and went to search for a suitable Iron-Eating Spirit Beast in the area behind the mountain. It had been a long time since he had last been here. Although this place was where he had lived in his early years, after the passage of time, with the growth and decay of mountain vegetation, it had taken on a different appearance.
Xin Xiu had grown a bit bored waiting and had started leaning against two bamboo poles, reciting the Golden Fire Method. She discovered that she could now use a small amount of metal-attribute spiritual energy. She had just tried coating her fingernails with metal-attribute spiritual energy and found that digging in the soil was as easy as scooping sand.
The two large bamboo shoots at her feet, still covered in soil, were what she had casually dug up while experimenting. They were entirely purple, with velvet-like shoot sheaths. Purple bamboo was only found in a few clumps in the area behind the mountain, and she hadn't tasted these purple shoots before. It would be nice to take them back for a taste.
If the Senior Uncle Bamboo Poles hadn't been looking at her so strangely, she would have dug up all the large shoots around her.
Seeing her master appear, Xin Xiu was startled at first, then delighted, her face beaming as she went to greet him.
"Master! Is this for me?!"
Her eyes were fixed on the bundle in Shentu Yu's arms, inwardly praising it. It was too cute; the only thing in the world cuter than a giant panda was a baby giant panda!
Look at this fluffy little thing, like a glutinous rice ball. It was like a black sesame tangyuan on a spoon, bitten to reveal the black sesame filling inside.
The cub's tender cries were endearing, and the way it nestled in one's arms, raising its head, made it look even more like a small child.
Xin Xiu: "Master, let me hold it!"
Shentu Yu handed the little one in his arms to another little one, "Be careful in the future."
"Yes, yes, I'll definitely prepare lots of delicious bamboo shoots for it every day! I'll take good care of it!" Xin Xiu promised readily.
Shentu Yu: "I meant for you to be careful not to get hurt by it."
After all, it was a spirit beast known for its ferocity. Even though it was just a cub, it was still several times older than his disciple. It could easily hurt her if she wasn't careful. Shentu Yu had initially not wanted his disciple to raise an Iron-Eating Spirit Beast too early, worried that she was too young and her cultivation level too low, making her vulnerable to injury from the spirit beast.
Xin Xiu: "...Me? Get hurt by it?"
She examined this adorable, innocent-looking baby panda, only half her size, and couldn't imagine how it could hurt her. Was it going to scratch her with its claws? Haha!
Her master was being too alarmist. Such a small creature couldn't possibly be dangerous. She chalked it up to her master being overly concerned as a first-time parent figure.
Xin Xiu hugged the furball and found its weight unexpectedly heavy, like a solid iron ball. If she hadn't cultivated immortal strength, making her much stronger than ordinary people, she definitely wouldn't have been able to lift it.
Even though she had never hugged a giant panda in her previous world, she knew that those pandas certainly weren't this heavy. She even wondered if the pandas here really ate iron, with their bellies full of weights.
However, being able to hug such an adorable black sesame tangyuan-like baby panda was worth the extra weight. She didn't mind.
"Let me carry it," said Shentu Yu, well aware of the Iron-Eating Spirit Beast's weight and wanting to relieve his disciple's burden.
Xin Xiu hugged the panda cub even tighter: "No, no, I can carry it myself."
She was quite fond of the baby panda and busied herself making a small bamboo basket as a bed for it. She then went to ask Shentu Yu if such a young panda cub could chew bamboo or if she should find some milk for it.
Shentu Yu replied, "You don't need to do much for it. It's not that young anymore and can survive on its own. When it's hungry or thirsty, it will find bamboo itself."
Xin Xiu thought to herself that her master was so reclusive and antisocial that he probably didn't know how to raise a panda properly. She decided not to listen to him.
She took the panda cub to soak in a hot spring, bonding with it. She also dug up plenty of bamboo shoots and cut some fresh bamboo to bring back and try feeding it. Being wild-born, the cub was very easy to care for and ate whatever she gave it.
However... in the middle of the night, Xin Xiu was awakened by a crunching sound. She discovered the panda cub gnawing on the bed. It had already chewed a large hole in the not-so-small bamboo bed.
Xin Xiu said, "No wonder I felt a chilly breeze on my bottom. If you keep chewing in this direction, I'm going to fall through!"
She sat up, holding her blanket, and rubbed her forehead.
She had forgotten that in this bamboo house, the roof, floor, and furniture were almost all made of bamboo. For a giant panda, it might be like living in a house made of chocolate, with edible things everywhere. It was only natural that the cub would wake up in the middle of the night, smell the tempting aroma, and start gnawing.
"You won't eat the fresh bamboo, but you insist on chewing these old bamboo pieces. Do you prefer crunchy textures?" she asked.
Xin Xiu tried to pick up the busy bed-chewing panda cub. Little did she know that this bed had been slept on by Shentu Yu for many years, imbued with his scent and the spiritual energy that permeated the entire bamboo house. For a spirit beast, such bamboo would naturally taste the best.
The little rice ball, not wanting to be separated from its food, clung reluctantly to the bed leg. Unhappy with Xin Xiu's attempt to move it, it raised its small black paw and swatted the nearby bamboo chair.
The chair shattered into pieces before Xin Xiu's eyes.
Xin Xiu: "..." How could such an adorable little paw have so much strength?
Her master appeared at the doorway downstairs, probably having heard the commotion. A lantern floated in front of him, illuminating the scene in the room. The remains of the bed and chair were scattered everywhere, while his disciple crouched to one side, watching the Iron-Eating Spirit Beast cub gnaw on the bed leg.
"Come with me," the master said, his tone rather stern.
Xin Xiu stood up to follow him, thinking that her master probably felt she shouldn't have let the pet sleep on the bed with her, causing a disturbance in the middle of the night.
Shentu Yu turned his head to look at her and said in a softer tone, "I wasn't talking to you. Go back to sleep."
The panda cub that had chewed up the bed walked past her on all fours, head hanging low, following Shentu Yu.
Xin Xiu: "?" Master, haven't you mixed up who you're supposed to be talking to?
She leaned on the railing, watching her master downstairs talking to the panda cub. She couldn't hear clearly what he was saying, but found the scene somewhat amusingly absurd.
Shentu Yu: "When I chose you, didn't I tell you that my disciple is still young? You're many years older than her, so how can you bully her?"
The little rice ball sat in place, head drooping.
Shentu Yu: "Humans are fragile, especially since she hasn't transcended mortality yet. How could she withstand your iron claws?"
The rice ball made a couple of grunting noises, and Shentu Yu's expression softened slightly: "It's good that you know you were wrong. Don't do it again, or you won't be able to stay here."
Seeing the rice ball nod, Shentu Yu brought it back upstairs and said to his disciple, "I've scolded her."
Xin Xiu picked up the curled-up little creature and glanced at the broken bed inside, casually joking, "Master, why don't you just make me an iron bed? That way, it won't smell tempting and want to eat it."
Shentu Yu's tone didn't sound like he was joking at all, "She would eat an iron bed too. We'll change it to a wooden one."
Xin Xiu: "...Huh?"
Could it be that in this world of immortal cultivation, giant pandas really do eat iron?
