Ugh... Ash woke up, feeling like shit, while holding his head with one hand.
Butt naked in a room, where you could hardly see anything standing or in it's place, Ash widened his eyes wondering what hapened while he was cultivating.
What expression would Ling and her parents have on their faces if they saw this mess.
"Not good..." Ash hurried up to stand, but his legs were wobbling from lack of energy. He had to go to the toilet ASAP.
' Plughrh' he threw up. Some black and smelly substance came out of his mouth. Imediately after that Ash felt something sticky on his hand.
"What's going on... Damn it!" he cursed. The sticky thing he felt was the same black substance that came out of his mouth a second ago.
Looking up at the mirror, Ash saw something horrifying. There was a black creature, as if it just came out of tar.
Touching his cheek with his hand, Ash thought "This black thing is actualy me?"
After taking a shower several times, untill he no longer looked like a black monster, and brushing his teeth thoroughlfully, Ash went and made his bed, making sure to put a new quilt, and finaly cleaned his room.
" Dinner is ready." a calm voice entered Ash's ears. He somehow could recognise the voice as Bai Juan's.
Turning back though, Ash could see nobody in the room. " Probably one of their strange tricks again. " he thought.
'Knock, knock'
"Ash, you up already?" Bai Ling knocked on the door.
"Yes, give me just a moment..."
Bam, "Ouch"... Kreek.
After hastily dressing up for school, Ash opened the door and said good morning to Bai Ling, as they both walked to the 3rd floor.
"He smells nice." Ling thought to herself as she smiled.
No girl liked stinky boys and as a cultivator with sharpened senses, she could tell if someone stank from 50 meters atleast, which was realy annoying in school, especialy when the class had sport.
If Ash knew about her incredible sense of smell, he would be sweating right now from shame.
It would be strange if he still smelled after those baths, but his room...
Good thing cultivators had the habbit of placing array formations where they lived, thus every room had an isolation and an air cleansing array formation along with multiple other arrays, helping cultivation and privacy protection.
Not knowing how to use them or what actualy were array formation, Ash was oblivious of Bai Cheng's little spying on him last night.
As the one who built the house's arrays, Bai Cheng could control them as he pleased with only a single hand gesture.
Knowing that the kids were going down side by side, he smiled and put down the newspaper.
Suddenly Ash felt a creeping shiver on his spine.
....
" He realy did open a meridian after just 5 hours of cultivation." remarked Bai Juan as she watched the kids being taken to school by uncle Lee.
"We made a good choice giving that kid a chance.. Who would have thought that Ash was born for cultivation?" Bai Cheng sat next to Bai Juan as he drank tea.
Watching as the car drove off, nobody could guess his thoughts. The gears of his brain started spinning as he smiled gently, expectation and wonder, written on his face.
...
"By the way..." sitting in the car, on the back seat along with Bai Ling, Ash got curious "I still haven't seen your bother." he remarked.
"He is in the upper realm and probably cultivates." Bai Ling answered briefly. Her expression turned a bit gloomy.
Her brother, Bai Jian, was a cultivation maniac and he hardly expressed any interest in anything that was not cultivation.
Thus, not spending a lot of time with his family, so he and Bai Ling could be considered strangers.
Seeing her gloomy expression, Ash proposed
" I intend to skip years!"
"What do you mean?" Ling lifted her head as she stared at Ash with curiosity.
" I'll cultivate and study hard so we can go in the upper realm as soon as possible and go out on an adventure!" Ash exclaimed with excitement.
Staying for long periods of time in one place was boring. He wasn't made for this, no! Adventures, abandoned ruins and mythical creatures awaited him out there!
What kind of treasures could he find? What kind of emotions could he share with Ling while adventuring?
Maybe a adventure was the thing he and Ling needed to become closer and rid themselves of the hidden awlkwardness between them.
Because it's not time that brings hearts together, but the moments people share with eachother.
"Will you grant me this wish, Ling, and join me?" Ash was staring at Bai Ling with dreamy eyes as if he had already acomplished his dream.
"Adventure..." Bai Ling lost herself in thought.
Excitement was slowly building in her heart.
Girls her age, no matter if it was in the mortal or cultivation world, all dreamed of going on an adventure with a prince charming on a white horse.
At this moment the idea of going on an adventure with Ash was planted in her heart as a seed, growing with each passing day.
"Hm, sure... But only if you can beat me in a one on one battle in 5 minutes or less. Otherwise you can dream of adventuring with me." she respodned with a disdainful smile.
"Good luck reaching my realm. " Bai Ling giggled as she thought, mocking Ash, but deep inside she sincerely hoped for Ash to become stronger than her.
Bai Ling was at the 'Soul Enhancement' of the ' Small Circle of Body and Soul Transformation' realm and she didn't want to protect Ash 24/7 while in the wilderness from every mosquito in existance.
Instead, as a girl, she wanted to be protected and cared about. Have a pillar of support in her life, that wasn't her parents.
" I have to beat her?" Ash thought. He didn't like how that sounded. "Beat you in a game of chess?" Ash asked her, looking at her with innocent eyes.
Nobody in the mortal world talked about beating anyone without specifying about anything exept hooligans. Bai Ling wasn't a hooligan, was she?
"A match in which I beat you until you become unconscious." she rolled her eyes at him and turned to the window. (1)
"Hooligan... She must be one for sure." Ash thought while imagining Bai Ling squating over him with a bat in hand and a lollipop in her mouth. Was he destined to live his life with a hooligan for wife?
He neither knew martial arts, nor how to wield a weapon. How was he supposed to 'beat' her? Not to mention that her talent and realm were probably higher than his, as her parents were freaks with unimaginable powers....
Remembering what happened yesterday, Ash thought "Do I need to exhaust myself to death to reach her?"
(1)- pure sarcasm, for those who didn't cach it.