"Xiao Er is not afraid of hardship!" The young man said resolutely.

  Zhao nodded and said, "Hmm, you're so young, yet you were able to live alone on that cliff for over ten days. This determination is indeed beyond what ordinary people can achieve! But compared to the hardships of cultivating Taoist magic, this is simply not worth mentioning! If you want to become my disciple, you'll need to get your parents' permission first!"

  The young woman, who had been shocked into numbness by the sudden turn of events, heard this and hastily also kowtowed to Zhao Di: "I beg of you, Island Master, to take my son as your apprentice!" Her husband didn't say a word, but he continuously bowed his head, revealing an extremely expectant gaze, clearly also earnestly entreating Zhao Di to accept their son as his apprentice.

  Zhao Di fell silent and instead stared at the young man for a few moments.

  This young man is getting more and more pleasing to the eye, being both intelligent and strong-willed, with a clear and simple family background that won't leave any trouble. The only drawback is that this young man's spiritual roots are quite ordinary, but Zhao Di's own spiritual roots aren't great either, so he doesn't mind it too much!

  After some thought, taking him as a disciple doesn't seem like a bad idea!

  Then he said seriously: "Shi Shuo, if you worship me as a teacher and practice the method, can you achieve the goal of abandoning distractions and diligent practice?"

  "My disciple can do it!" The young man replied decisively.

  "Later on, if Master has any instructions, can you follow them with all your heart and strength?" Zhao Di asked again.

  "A disciple's life is saved by the master, and in the future, I will definitely follow the master's orders and go through thick and thin!" The young man seemed to have been prepared for a long time and responded very fluently.

  "Alright, from today on, you are my apprentice."

  "Thank you, Master!" The young man was overjoyed and knocked his head on the ground several times. Suddenly, he felt an invisible force gently lift him up, and to his surprise, he stood up without realizing it.

  A middle-aged couple standing by felt a mix of emotions, both extremely happy and somewhat reluctant to part. Meanwhile, Old Zhang was already so excited that tears were streaming down his face, muttering to himself: "I never thought that after me, there would be another immortal master!" Even his son-in-law, whom he had always looked down on, now seemed especially lovable. After all, without this son-in-law, he wouldn't have this precious grandson who made him feel like he could die contentedly.

  Zhao Di's mood at this time was also good, and he said to the three people: "In consideration of Shuo Er's face, I will exempt you three from punishment, but in the future, without permission, do not dare to step into Luojia Mountain again!"

  Before his words had fallen, he had already grabbed the young man's arm and disappeared into the clouds and mist of Lushan Mountain.

  Three people gazed at the sea of clouds surging between the mountains, lost in a long and deep thought...

  Zhao Di built a new simple cave mansion for Shi Shuo in a mountain peak next to his own cave mansion. Then he handed over the "Chu Lang Jue" gong method and several bottles of Qi Dan medicine, letting him slowly comprehend and cultivate. He himself had also practiced this "Chu Lang Jue", recording some of his experiences on jade slips, waiting for Shi Shuo to make small progress in his cultivation, possess spiritual awareness, and then he could take a look at them.

  In addition, he also gave Shi Yao several magical instruments, handed over some things, and then ordered him to cultivate quietly in the cave mansion, without necessity, not allowed to go out.

  Zhao Di himself also returned to the cave mansion and began a long period of meditation and cultivation.

  It's been seven or eight years again in the blink of an eye.

  For ordinary people, seven or eight years is enough to change many things. Birth, aging, illness and death, young people gradually grow up from carefree to shouldering the heavy burden of family; wrinkles quietly climb onto the face of a girl who is no longer young; middle-aged people begin to slowly decline, their bodies day by day going downhill...

  For a high-level cultivator, seven or eight years is just an extension of a moment in meditation!

  Zhao Di finally raised his cultivation to the peak of the late stage of foundation building in these few years, and as long as he breaks through the bottleneck of forming a dan, he can enter the ranks of dan-forming cultivators.

  But in order to further increase the success rate of the elixir, he must make another preparation and temporarily leave this Luli Island.

  That day, he came to Shi Guang's cave mansion.

  At this time, Shi Yao had grown into a handsome and elegant young man, although there was still some childishness between his eyebrows, but the unique temperament of an immortal cultivator who was free from worldly dust was revealed without reservation, and he was completely different from the clever and quick-witted mortal boy before.

  "Shuo'er pays respects to Master!" The young man, seeing Zhao Di, joyfully paid his respects. This master of his would come to visit him every three to five years, pointing out the doubts in his cultivation and bringing him a batch of spiritual elixirs each time, making his cultivation worry-free.

  Although these spiritual elixirs and medicines are nothing to Zhao Di, they are extremely precious and effective for a Qi Refining stage cultivator.

  It was with the help of a large amount of spiritual medicine that the young man's cultivation made rapid progress, and in seven or eight years he had already reached the twelfth layer of the Qi Refining stage!

  This speed surprised Zhao Di, although he had provided a lot of Qi-refining pills to Shi Yao, but with the other party's Four Spirit Root qualifications, it seemed that it shouldn't be this smooth!

  He even re-examined Shi Yao's spiritual roots and indeed found that he had four spiritual roots.

  Zhao Di couldn't think of anything else, so he attributed it to the diligent and hardworking youth's single-minded pursuit, which made him very happy.

  Shi Shuo arrived a little earlier in the foundation-building period, and he could provide some assistance to him a little earlier. Even if it was just letting him gather some information, his cultivation at the Qi Refining stage was clearly not enough.

  Zhao Di's visit to Shi Shuo this time is also related to this matter.

  Zhao Di saw Shi Shuo's clever courtesy and nodded his head, indicating that the young man should get up, then sat down on a stone chair.

  He took out a storage bag and placed it on the stone table beside him, instructing: "Shuo'er, there are several Foundational Elixirs inside. I had them specially refined for you. With your current cultivation level, it's about time to start breaking through to the Foundation stage!"

  The young man was overjoyed, but the foundation-building pill required fourth or fifth-grade demon pills to refine, which were extremely precious to foundation-building cultivators and not easily used to refine foundation-building pills. Except for some sects and family core disciples, ordinary qi-refining cultivators couldn't even hope to get them.

  But his master unexpectedly gave it to him easily, and it sounds like there's more than one!

  With his humble background and pseudo-spiritual roots, he managed to follow such a generous master, truly a stroke of good fortune! He couldn't help but feel that choosing Zhao Di as his master was indeed a wise decision.

  "Thank you, Master!" Shi Yue happily gave another big bow.

  Zhao waved his hand, and with a serious expression said: "This time, I will be leaving Lianhua Island for a period of time, it may be several years or even several decades, and I don't know when I'll return. For now, I'm entrusting the island to you to manage. In this bag, there are some spiritual stones, talismans, spell arrays, a few decent magical tools, as well as several bottles of medicinal pellets that will be beneficial for cultivators in the foundation-building stage. These treasures should be enough for you to protect yourself and have plenty left over during your ordinary foundation-building period."

  "Master, are you going out this time to break through the Golden Elixir?" the young man asked, as Zhao Di had mentioned this matter to him before.

  "Not bad," Zhao Di acknowledged: "This time the master will close the life and death pass, if not successful, I will never leave. So some things must be handed over to you."

  "Master, please give your orders, I will definitely obey!" The young man said seriously.

  Zhao nodded and said, "After I leave, you will close up here to break through the foundation. If you succeed, you can go out and travel around. But remember not to reveal your identity, and be careful everywhere. The world of cultivating immortals is full of blood rain and treachery, you must experience it for yourself before you can achieve anything!"

  "In the course of your travels, if possible, discreetly help me find out about a person's whereabouts. This person is called Yun Mengli, a female cultivator in the late foundation-building or core-formation stage, who has a jade slip in her storage bag that records this person's appearance. However, this person usually does not show their true face to others and may not use their real name either. So it may be quite difficult to gather information about them, and it won't be easy to get any leads in a short period of time. You'll need to put in more effort. Additionally, this person is extremely skilled in the way of arrays. Be sure to note that this matter must be conducted discreetly, without letting others catch wind of it. This matter isn't particularly urgent either, so take your time."

  "Master, is there any message you want me to pass on to this senior?" the young man asked.

  "It's all right, as long as we can get news of this person, there's no need to leave any information. The master only needs to know if the person is safe and sound, that's enough!" Zhao Di said softly.

  (Second update! Thanks to everyone who voted for this book on Sanjiang, as a token of gratitude, I'll add an extra chapter tomorrow. Each account on Sanjiang can vote once a day for a week, so please collect and recommend votes!)