My Master Always Wants Me to Defy Him

The Purple Ruins Realm opens once every thirty years. On the day it opened, four blood-red words appeared carved into the mountaintop: I want an apprentice.

Everyone was stunned. The geniuses of every sect stepped forward, offering their talents: "A born fire spirit core, seen only once in a thousand years!" "A born ice spirit core! A rare treasure!"

The current realm master shook his head. "Their aptitude is insufficient. We are not fated to be master and disciple."

The cultivators asked, "May we ask what you..."

The current realm master replied, "Aptitude doesn't matter. The key is that they wear black, have a poker face, and defy every convention. Oh, and they should be capable of betraying their master..."

The cultivators, trembling with fear: "...You could just say you're interested in the Rakshasa Venerable."

The current realm master: "Huh? He's too ugly. No."

*

Jun Changle, lord of the Purple Ruins Realm, was a wild and carefree youth with swordsmanship beyond compare. He once slew countless demons by the banks of the Heng River. He should have been enjoying his youth, but his natal sword suddenly broke, and he vanished from the world. Everyone outside believed he had long since died, yet the sword he forged could withstand heavenly lightning. In a cultivation world plagued by chaotic spiritual energy, it was hailed as a life-saving divine weapon.

His sudden call for an apprentice threw the cultivation world into chaos. Everyone speculated that his days must truly be numbered, unaware that...

Trapped in the realm, he had picked up a new hobby: reading romance stories.

Jun Changle would read nothing but master-disciple romance. He dreamed of having an apprentice who would betray his master, but his body and soul were too weak for him to leave the realm easily. All he could do was console himself by indulging in the juicy master-disciple drama happening on the neighboring mountain.

Then one day, he could take it no longer and summoned candidates from across the world to select an apprentice. None of them quite fit the bill. Just as he was sighing wistfully on the mountain, he found a beautiful ancient mirror by a cliff. A man appeared in the mirror, heard him sighing over the story, and sent him a soft, pink little dumpling.

The little one wore black, had a cold expression, and was covered in injuries. He was clearly the sort of poor soul from a storybook, unloved by both parents.

Jun Changle: This child is destined for greatness! A forbidden master-disciple romance is within reach!

Later, his dream came true, except his one apprentice turned into three.

*

Inside a golden cage woven from heavenly silkworm thread, the infamous man looked at him with a sinister, frenzied gaze. "Master, who do you really like? Me? Xie Nian? Or that bastard you broke your natal sword for hundreds of years ago?"

Jun Changle: Well, maybe, but... you don't have to call yourself a bastard, do you?

A wolfhound apprentice who can make himself jealous to death, attacking x a timid, beautiful, people-pleasing but formidable master, receiving

Theme: Keep striving, face life bravely, and never bow to adversity