I am a Furnace

Chapter 1: An adopted furnace

When shizun killed my former sect master, I remember his confusion when I asked, "Are you my new master?"

He lowered his blade from my neck. After a silence, he replied, "Yes."

My shizun hugged me in his arms and took me away. When we arrived at Cloud Peak, I realized very early on that no one in this sect was as smart as my shizun. All the sect members we passed looked at me like I was some dirty, worthless thing, to which I thought, so it's only my new master that has eyes.

I didn't mind it back then, because not everyone knew the true value of exquisite goods. Even if blood dirtied my body, the value of I held was far beyond pearls, jewels, and treasures.

It was when I jumped into shizun's bed only for him to roll me out onto the floor that I realized my new master didn't understand my true value, either.

So I told him, like providing a handling guide for newcomers, "I am a pure yin constitution furnace, the best furnace for dual cultivation. By using me, you'll no longer need to struggle hard on the path to cultivation; with my body, I can bring you to heaven and ascend you to immortality." Knowing that my new master seemed quite cold, I advertised, "I've never been used, in excellent condition, trained to guarantee your satisfaction. The only flaw on my body is the cut you made on my neck." I was very clear on this, because if my new master wanted to find any fault with me, it was his own doing.

But instead of appreciating my high quality, shizun became angry. "I have no intention to ever use you in such a way," he spoke through gritted teeth. "Never offer this again."

He tried to shoo me out, only for me to squawk, "What?" I grabbed onto his sleeves desperately. "But this is what I trained for! For fourteen years, my entire life, all I've done is work hard to become the most excellent furnace for my master! Then you killed him. Now you're my new owner. Aren't you going to be responsible for me?"

Shizun pursed his lips. He stopped trying to yank his sleeve out of my hands, and he looked at me in the same way that he had when he'd lowered the sword at my neck.

He bent down so that we were at eye level, and he hovered a hand over my shoulder before gently setting it down.

"I will be responsible for you," he told me. "But I will not be your master. I will not be your owner. If you desire to stay with me, then you must address me as your teacher, your shizun. You must agree to forsake all that you have learned in the past and begin anew under my teachings. Do you understand?"

In fact, I had found it very difficult to understand the difference.

But even then, one thing was for sure—I wanted to stay with him. He'd been very nice to me, even if he had rolled me onto the floor.

So I called him, "Shizun."

Shizun had smiled, very faint and slight.

He pat my head, his warm, reassuring hand softly rubbing my hair.

"Remember. From now on, you are not a furnace. You are my disciple."

Shizun gave me my own room with a small bed and blankets that smelled of mulberries. Everything was different compared to my old home in the demonic sect. Even the moonlight from the window looked a little brighter.

Although I didn't know it at the time, the day shizun took me home would be one of the best days of my life.

Ever since then, my days only became better and better.