Sat in a luxurious looking padded chair, Lou Chang was behind a long wooden desk as Hartley and Lou Chingham entered the office, all three exchanged greetings then Lou Chang invited them sit on a pair of padded chairs on the other side of the desk while he had his head down shuffling through some parchments on the desk.
Lou Chang found the one he was looking for then got straight to the point and began to speak.
"Hartley there are four mountains with core disciples stationed, they are Stella mountain, Violet mountain, Archane mountain and Cyclops mountain. Each year there is a set amount of missions assigned to each set of core disciples to complete."
He shuffled through a few more parchment and continued without lifting his head.
"These missions are usually only done by a team of core disciples assigned to a certain mountain, we currently have no missions assigned to the Stellar mountain but Violet mountain is short handed at the moment so they have requested three of ours to join them and complete their assignment."
Lou Chang finally lifted his head to see if Hartley had any questions, Hartley stayed quiet so he continued.
"Under the leadership of of Lou Tai from the violet mountain you are to link up with two fellow Stella mountain disciples. You, Lou Rylai and Lou Ang will execute an eradication mission, a week from now you will link up with them at an inn situated in the Cosmos region on the road to the Calabar Province, there you will need to seek and destroy a bandit gang that has been wreaking havoc against businesses of the Waltham province. This mission should be simple enough, We usually complete these missions by ourselves to get more resources for our mountain but this time we will split the proceeds and clan points, any questions?"
Hartley shook his head, he understood the mission.
"Then that's it, and take care" Lou Chang finished then went back to fiddling with the parchments spread across his desk.
Hartley left the building and rented another horse at the stable, he had to pay 10 gold for the last one he rented because he lost it on his first date which he paid without batting an eyelid surprising the stable boys.
Hartley left the Lou clan thinking it was time he bought his own house away from the Lou clan, he still had a lot of sell-able items in his space ring, he was planning on checking out house prices.
Hartley reached the armory store just as Zhi Ruo was closing down business for the night, he tied the horse to a wooden post dismounted and made his way inside, when he entered there was no one present but Zhi Ruo who was in the back, he went up to the counter and shouted "delivery!"
Zhi Ruo heard him and quickly came out, she feigned anger when she saw him, pouted and said
"you still remember me, where have you been? wasn't your death match yesterday?"
Hartley smiled and said "I'm sorry Ruo but something came up and I couldn't make it back, did you miss me?" She didn't answer but she came from around the counter and began to thoroughly check his body for injuries, when she discovered none she breathed a sigh of relief, she had thought something had happened to him when he didn't return yesterday and it had been weighing on her mind, she hugged him and said
"I'm glad you are ok, I was worried."
Hartley planted a tender kiss on her forehead and said "sorry I didn't comeback yesterday" He then proceeded to tell her what happened...
Twenty miles from the central regions of the Waltham province, in a humble two bedroom house isolated from any neighbors. There were two people in a bedroom.
One spouse was complaining to the other,
"why can't we do it Ruo?"
Hartley complained with a belly full of grievances,
"I told you, during a certain time of the month a woman's body is not well" Zhi Ruo said while giving him the death stare, "just go to bed" after hearing this for what must have been the hundredth time Hartley was still confused.
"What's wrong with your body Ruo? are you injured? did you get into a fight with someone? who's been bullying you?"
Hartley machined gunned a plethora of questions in one breath, With a scalding blush on her face Zhi Ruo replied
"its ladies' stuff, Hartley please just leave it at that"
Hartley frowned and got a little bit closer, touching her shoulders tenderly then saying
"come on, let me just put in the tip just one time"
Zhi Ruo's face flashed with anger and she rolled around in the bed and delivered a kick to Hartley's pelvis sending him rolling out of the bed with a look of surprise, he crashed onto the floor and sprawled out with his modesty exposed to the night air.
Zhi Ruo then angrily said "either come to bed and sleep or stay there and play with your self for the rest of the night!"
With a snort she turned back around and covered herself with the soft sweet smelling fur.
Hartley felt wronged, he crawled back into bed keeping a clear distance between himself and Ruo and fell asleep. In the morning when Zhi Ruo went to make the breakfast, Hartley just sat there hugging his knees, eyes red with puffy bags under them looking like a poodle who had been beaten by its evil owner.
Ruo saw this when she came in with the food, she sighed..... went over and kissed him on his forehead saying,
"Hartley you wouldn't know this because you haven't lived with a woman before, at a certain time of the month every woman goes through lady stuff and it makes them moody, you know I love you please forgive me for last night."
Harley's face brightened and he said "Ruo why can't you tell me about this lady stuff?"
Ruo's face blushed as she ordered "EAT!"
Hartley did not continue to argue this time...
The days came and went and these days Hartley would ask if Zhi Ruo had any lady stuff before he would climb into bed, everything soon went back to normal, Hartley informed Ruo about his plans to buy a house somewhere remote, he asked her to ask around because he had to take care of his mission in a couple days, he gave her every thing of value in his space ring for her to keep and start selling, except for the medicinal dans he had to save those for her, she had made a lot of improvement and was now approaching the 8th layer of the houtian realm, with these pills she should be able to reach the peak of the houtian realm before she reached 22 years old.
Hartley wasn't worried anymore.
The day quickly came for Hartley to leave, this was his first time really leaving the Waltham province, he used the horse he rented started his journey on the long road to the Cosmos regions.