Published: March 2, 2025
Chapter 206: Master-Disciple Relationship (Combined Chapter)
Thus, Liu Yu had no burden or guilt in moving closer to the Yan Family.
"In order to ensure the orderly inheritance of the sect, an apprentice recruitment ceremony is held every thirty years. As long as the foundation establishment time does not exceed forty years, any foundation establishment fellow disciple can participate."
"It has been twenty-four years since the last apprentice recruitment ceremony. Has junior brother Liu ever thought about participating in this one?"
Yan Hongyu did not directly answer Liu Yu's question but instead asked another.
In the cultivation of immortality, "wealth, partner, method, and land" are emphasized, where the importance of partners ranks just after resources, showing how crucial they are.
Having a renowned master guide one can save a lot of detours during cultivation. Additionally, it equates to having a strong backing within the sect.
For Liu Yu, if he had a master guiding him during the qi refinement stage, his cultivation speed could be improved by at least twenty to thirty percent.
Moreover, having a master to vouch for him would make it much easier to exchange for foundation establishment pills, without the need for elaborate planning.
If he couldn't find Geng Yuanzhang for help back then, Liu Yu would have been at a loss.
The master-disciple relationship is generally divided into two types: direct disciples and named disciples.
Direct disciples are usually accepted by cultivators to pass on their skills, ensuring their teachings do not come to an end with their death.
Thus, when their lifespan ends, although they die, their teachings live on.
Because direct disciples are meant to inherit the master's teachings, they are often kept close and constantly guided, resulting in a very close relationship.
If a disciple is bullied or treated unfairly, the master will intervene, and both parties are considered of one mind and body.
Some cultivators believe that the master-disciple relationship is even closer than that between parents, as parents merely provide a physical body, while the master offers the hope of longevity.
Thus, even if a direct disciple’s cultivation level surpasses that of their master in the future, they must still respectfully address their master, and the relationship and titles do not change with cultivation levels.
If a direct disciple disrespects or betrays their master, they will face condemnation from all in the cultivation world, and even those following the demonic path despise such "traitorous disciples."
As for named disciples, the relationship between the master and disciple is not so close.
Named disciples often receive a few words of guidance from the master but do not get the true inheritance. They may have the title of disciple but lack the substance of the relationship.
Both parties only have a superficial relationship, where the disciple relies on the master’s name for a semblance of support.
The apprentice recruitment ceremony has become a tradition of the Yuan Yang Sect, held every thirty years. Any cultivator whose foundation establishment time does not exceed forty years can participate.
Liu Yu had heard about the apprentice recruitment ceremony.
The difficulty of improving one's cultivation level increases, resembling a pyramid, where the number of people at the top level is far fewer than those below, often by tens or hundreds of times.
The Yuan Yang Sect has over twenty thousand qi refinement stage disciples but only a little over four hundred foundation establishment cultivators on record. This disparity is largely due to the fact that foundation establishment cultivators have a lifespan twice that of qi refinement stage cultivators.
On average, out of one hundred qi refinement stage cultivators, only one progresses to the foundation establishment stage.
The difficulty of progressing from foundation establishment to golden core is even greater; it is uncertain if even one out of a hundred foundation establishment cultivators will succeed.