“What an awesome status,” he thought, his eyes shining. Not only did he feel incredibly happy, most importantly, he could tell that his status was vastly removed from everyone else.
“Prestige disciple. Junior Brother of the Sect Leader. Might as well just say that nobody in the sect will ever dare to provoke me, right?” Having reached this point in his train of thoughts, Bai Xiaochun laughed heartily and hurried off in the direction of the 10,000 Medicines Pavilion.
The 10,000 Medicines Pavilion… was also packed.
It didn’t take long for him to get there, and when he did, he looked up at the ten stone steles and listened to everyone call him Sect Uncle Bai. He stood there for quite a while, sighing, until strange expressions began to appear on the faces of the disciples. Reluctantly, he left. By that time, evening was falling, but he didn’t feel tired at all, and went over to one of the locations where a lot of Outer Sect disciples resided.
Xu Baocai had just stepped out, and when he saw Bai Xiaochun, he immediately clasped hands.
Bai Xiaochun thumped Xu Baocai on the shoulder and then spoke in a wise, reprimanding tone. “Ah, it’s you, Little Treasure! After all the time I’ve been gone, you haven’t made much progress with your cultivation base! We can’t have that! You need to work hard at your cultivation!”
Xu Baocai’s jaw dropped, and he blinked. His heart trembled a bit after hearing Bai Xiaochun call him ‘Little Treasure’. At this age, only his father would call him something like that, and even then, only in private. Despite feeling a bit odd, he didn’t dare to say anything, and merely nodded in assent. 1
“I… um, I mean, as an important person like myself….” Bai Xiaochun suddenly realized that with a position like his, it would be improper to simply refer to himself as “I”, and so he decided to try to make himself sound like an important person, like Li Qinghou. He cleared his throat. Clasping his hands behind his back, he stuck his jaw out and said, “As an important person like myself, I’m not very familiar with this area. Could you show me around a bit?”
Xu Baocai had no choice but to immediately begin to show Bai Xiaochun around.
More and more disciples were returning home, and when they caught sight Bai Xiaochun, they looked a bit surprised. Many of them had already seen him earlier at the Missions Office and the 10,000 Medicines Pavilion. Seeing him here caused them to exchange quizzical glances. However, they had no other option than to clasp hands and offer greetings.
Bai Xiaochun once again revelled in the glory of this status. Joy surged in his heart at the sight of one Outer Sect disciple after another offering greetings. It was late at night before he finally left, feeling very pleased with himself.
As he walked along, he saw the Spirit Tail Chicken farm, and decided to stop by. Before long, calls of ‘Sect Uncle Bai’ could be heard. When he left, he held two Spirit Tail Chickens in his hands.
“Ah, the perks of having status. When I wanted to eat chickens before, I had to steal them. Now I can just take them openly. Who would dare to provoke me now, huh? My Elder Brother is the Sect Leader!” Bai Xiaochun hummed a little tune as he strolled back to his residence, emanating an air of pride and complacency.
Early the next morning, when the sun had just risen, Bai Xiaochun crawled out of bed, feeling in very high spirits. Straightening his clothes, he looked at himself in his copper mirror and selected the best pose he could come up with, then stepped out.
Then he went about doing things in a very serious way, as if it were… his job….
He didn’t go to the Missions Office, but instead, visited many other locations on Fragrant Cloud Peak. He even went to watch the fighting competition….
Throughout the day, he heard countless people call him Sect Uncle Bai. To him, it was almost as if he had become an Immortal. His spirits were so high he nearly burst. And then… the third day arrived. Then the fourth, and the fifth….
He strolled around the sect for more than ten days in a row. By that point, virtually all of the Outer Sect disciples on Fragrant Cloud Peak had called him Sect Uncle Bai, and were on the verge of going crazy. To call a kid like him Sect Uncle might be fine if it only happened once. But the more they had to call it out, the worse they felt.
Bai Xiaochun’s days were long and fulfilling, and he especially liked it when he ran into people he knew. He would quickly hurry over and call out a greeting….
One day he saw Zhao Yiduo. Eyes shining, he hurried over and grabbed his arm and said, “Sect Nephew Yiduo, long time no see! Don’t rush off!”
When Zhao Yiduo heard the term ‘Sect Nephew’, his face twitched. “Sect Uncle Bai, we’ve… we’ve run into each other several times in the past few days….”
Bai Xiaochun blinked, then cleared his throat. It was at that point that he saw someone else nearby, someone who had noticed him and was just turning to leave.
“Eee?” he said. “Sect Nephew Zi’ang, long time no see!” He quickly released Zhao Yiduo and hurried over to stand in front of Chen Zi’ang, face beaming.
Chen Zi’ang seemed to be on the verge of going mad. He had run into Bai Xiaochun every day recently, usually at least three times…. From what he had heard, it was the same with everyone who personally knew Bai Xiaochun. The person who had it worst of all was an unlucky fellow who called himself Lord Wolf, who supposedly was visited by Bai Xiaochun dozens of times per day….
“Sect Uncle Bai, uh… I have something to take care of, I have to run.” Chen Zi’ang promptly fled as though his life depended on it.
Ten days later, the Outer Sect disciples on Fragrant Cloud Peak had begun to pretend not to notice Bai Xiaochun. That of course left him less than pleased, and forced him to take the initiative more often.
Bai Xiaochun grabbed one of Zhou Xinqi’s former fans and said, “Aiya! You seem so familiar! Come, come, as an important person like myself, I sometimes forget things. Have we met already?”
The disciple looked downright wretched as Bai Xiaochun began to chat with him. After enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, and after the disciple had called him Sect Uncle Bai more than thirty times, Bai Xiaochun finally seemed pleased, and allowed the miserable-looking disciple to leave.
However, such a strategy wasn’t really viable long-term. After realizing that everyone was avoiding him, he decided that he needed to take more initiative. In the following days, he would frequently clear his throat to alert people to his presence.
The results were only average, leaving Bai Xiaochun feeling quite down. Thankfully, there was another girl besides Du Lingfei whom Bai Xiaochun found quite charming.
It was Hou Xiaomei, who would take the initiative to come find him every day. There was no need for him to clear his throat; she was so enthusiastic she could hardly stand still in front of him, and would follow him around fawningly and call him Sect Uncle.
The other Outer Sect disciples felt a bit sick when they saw that, but Bai Xiaochun was delighted. Some time ago, Bai Xiaochun had provided her with some education regarding the mysterious little turtle of Fragrant Cloud Peak. She still adored the little turtle, and on one occasion when she was walking around with Bai Xiaochun, she asked him what he thought of the little turtle.