"Madam Wen."
"…Madam."
""Madam Wen.""
Wen Jiayi snorted on the inside. The servants of Han De's abode kept calling her that, to emphasize her status with all the subtleties that came with it. She was both a part of the family and an outsider at the same time.
"Madam Wen."
'…'
Yet another maid with impeccable beauty deeply bowed to Wen Jiayi as she passed by. The purpose behind her taking a walk was to clear her mind. Not interact with the servants. The Wen family servants would never dare to do such acts. It was quite unfortunate that this wasn't the Wen territory.
"Madam."
"Madam Wen."
Wen Jiayi ignored everything. Among the sea of servants, the only one with a rather unique appearance approached her with confident steps. Wen Jiayi couldn't discern that servant's cultivation, meaning, this one had a rather high status compared to others.
Hundreds of servants she had seen so far were all female. Not entirely unusual, but conspicuous enough for Wen Jiayi to notice. The servant with high cultivation was also a woman. It was obvious she was practicing a unique cultivation method too. Wen Jiayi spoke without giving her a chance to introduce herself.
"Where are the disciples?"
The response was immediate.
"My lord Long De's disciples are resting."
'My lord?'
Was this supposed to be a provocation? Was she supposed to act enraged? Wen Jiayi couldn't tell. This woman was claiming to be Han De's wife. Directly to Wen Jiayi's face.
'Probably a sore loser that has some support from a Long family elder.'
Wen Jiayi agreed to the engagement due to many different reasons, but status wasn't one of them. As the Wen heir, she just wasn't interested in those matters. Obviously, the same couldn't be said for others, since marriage was the quickest way to increase someone's status.
All of this was expected. In fact, it would be problematic if Han De didn't have people vying for his attention.
"I will meet them now."
The servant bowed reverently and followed Wen Jiayi's orders. The latter expanded her immortal sense around the palace. This much was acceptable, since she was to be the owner of this place in the future.
Han De's disciples, whose information wasn't provided by the Long family, were gathered underneath an exotic tree. Though all of them sat close to each other, Wen Jiayi sensed some distance between Yu Xian and the rest. The four female disciples seemed to be wary of him.
'Their instincts aren't bad.'
"… used to be in the Forgotten Realms. A world that was considered a part of the frontier. Most worlds cannot support higher cultivations. In such places, experts would have to seal their own power.
In the Whispering Realms where the Long family resides, there are no limitations. Higher beings can use their power without concern. This is why Whispering Realms is also known as the gathering point for higher beings."
The girl in mid-teens was speaking with exceptional composure, while others were listening intently. Yu Xian both listened and translated everything to Liang Cuifen.
Wen Jiayi couldn't help but notice that the three disciples were quite the beauties.
The youngest one had striking bright red eyes and an air that made her center of attention. For some reason, Wen Jiayi thought the little girl was staring at her. There were many walls between them, yet the feeling of being observed was strangely persistent.
The middle one was the epitome of traditional beauty. It felt as if the way she breathed was an accumulation of countless tribulations. Her azure-colored eyes were exuding confidence, and decisiveness.
And the eldest one, showed remarkable elegance through her every action. Her jade white skin had a healthy glow to it, while her green eyes had a curious shine to them. Something about her felt slightly off, but Wen Jiayi couldn't tell what.
She had an intuition that these disciples were anything but ordinary. Compared to them, Liang Cuifen looked like a peasant. But of course, that wouldn't last long, since the girl had an extreme yin physique. Soon her beauty would match, if not surpass that of other disciples.
'Beautiful servants. Even more beautiful disciples…'
Wen Jiayi had to admit, Han De's reaction to her, was making less sense in hindsight. If he was surrounded by beauties from all sides, why was he still so inexperienced? Why was he blushing just because she touched him? Why would his heart start to race when she got close to him?
"S-senior sisters, what is m-master like?"
Yu Xian translated Liang Cuifen's question to the three disciples. Wen Jiayi was also curious about their answer. She stopped just before entering the courtyard and listened.
"Master is an unfathomable expert! According to a Long family elder, his understanding of the Blazing Sun scripture surpassed those of the Celestial Realm masters!"
The little girl's excited voice was filled with admiration. It seemed she had boundless respect for Han De. Wen Jiayi was puzzled, however. The Blazing Sun Scripture was an ancient Fire element cultivation method, notorious for its absurd difficulty of cultivation.
Evidently, the little girl was practicing this method, to a great degree of success! Her Fire Qi was the purest Wen Jiayi ever seen, yet her roots didn't seem to be anything special. While thinking about this, she did not notice the subtle expression of the servant beside her.
"Um... Was that person, master's wife?"
Wen Jiayi immediately thought of the servant beside her. Did this little servant introduce herself as Han De's wife to them as well? She truly had some ambition…
It was the middle disciple that answered the question.
"We don't know. Master is engaged to the genius of the Wen family, Wen Jiayi. That woman was Li Ling. There is no need to give her any thoughts."
'… When did that Li family B#$%& came here?'
More importantly, why did Liang Cuifen ask whether she was Han De's wife?
It was entirely within that B#$%&'s character to attempt seducing someone else's fiancé. Wen Jiayi's eyebrows subtly went down. Then she heard Yu Xian's voice, but this time he wasn't translating for Liang Cuifen.
"Could she be his concubine?"
The question wasn't out of the ordinary, since many men in higher places had many wives and concubines. However, his completely natural tone made Wen Jiayi smile.
'Maybe I should introduce that B#$%& to Yu Xian…'
Even the thought of it was extremely exciting! Maybe then she could copy some of the earlier chapters of the graphic novel and give it to her after the deed was done, just to watch that B#$%&'s reaction.
Wen Jiayi collected her thoughts and finally entered the courtyard without letting herself be announced.
Han De's disciples' attention immediately landed on her. Two new ones were surprised, while the three original almost seemed to be expecting her.
"Disciple Yao Qing meets master's wife."
The rest of them followed suit after Yao Qing's greeting. Wen Jiayi acknowledged them all, except for Yu Xian. While the thought of matchmaking him with the Li B#$%& was exciting, she still couldn't forget what happened in today's chapter.
This discrepancy was noticed by all. Including Yu Xian, who immediately figured out the reason for this behavior.
Hostility, was sometimes born not of hatred, but out of interest. Especially when the person didn't know how to convey that interest.
Compared to Yu Xian, everyone else in the courtyard was nothing but children. Naturally, a super-genius like Wen Jiayi wouldn't have enough time for social interaction among her peers, making her even less in sync with her desires. It was clear that Wen Jiayi's hostility against him was actually an interest.
The corners of Yu Xian's lips twitched. Two of Han De's women became interested in him, a lowly Qi Condensation disciple! These women really had discerning eyes! This…
This… wasn't a good development. After he thought about it, the situation was actually nothing to laugh about! The entire reason he was here now, instead of living as a God-King, was the betrayal of his wives!
'I will have to warn him somehow.' thought Yu Xian. Even if Han De was a typical rich young master, even if he had dubious motivations, he still deserved to know the truth. As a man, he had to know!
Everyone else was oblivious to his thoughts. However, quite unfortunately for Yu Xian, Wen Jiayi did notice the movement of his lips. How could a mere Qi Condensation disciple hide anything from an Immortal Realm expert?
The graphic novel had an expression-based art style where most of the detail was missing. Aside from hair color and clothing, most characters looked similar. The biggest distinction between the protagonist and the hundreds of other characters was their mannerisms.
For a moment, the image of the graphic novel Yu Xian overlapped on to the real Yu Xian. The two versions of the same person had the same half-smirk. An expression that the former Yu Xian would make whenever he saw a beautiful woman.
Wen Jiayi's face distorted with disgust.
She waved her hand and sent Yu Xian away with the power of space. Yu Xian the fictional character's behavior irked Wen Jiayi to no end. Now that he was a real person, the danger of killing him was too strong. If he stayed within her sight, she had no doubt she would end up cutting him to pieces.
She turned towards the disciples and spoke without delay.
"That boy might be talented, but don't trust him. If he tries to approach you, just break his spine."
The original disciples were surprised, but then again, their master also had some reservations against him.
With the exit of Yu Xian, Liang Cuifen had lost her translator and couldn't understand anything. Wen Jiayi recognized this, and translated her words through voice transmission, surprising the young woman greatly.
Wen Jiayi inadvertently frowned. Some of her favorite characters were hurt by the serial scumbag. She couldn't forget how her favorite character Shi Chun cried and begged him to stop, yet that piece of trash still took many more wives. As her killing intent rose, Wen Jiayi saw the innocent disciples in front of her. The little one and Liang Cuifen seemed especially vulnerable in her eyes.
"Be wary of men like that. Don't trust their sweet words, don't believe their lies."
Four disciples awkwardly nodded in agreement. Wen Jiayi's overbearing aura didn't leave anything up for discussion.
Soon, Wen Jiayi controlled her aura and brought down the energy within the courtyard. She couldn't let a piece of trash affect her judgment and actions.
"It must be strange to see your master get engaged so suddenly. The Long and Wen families' history starts even before the primordial times. Though our lives may not have intersected until now, we are a perfect match for each other in every aspect."
Wen Jiayi was surprised at how easily she could say those words. However, what she said was… true. When she really thought about it, she couldn't refute herself. Even their age was extremely close to one another. In any case, she had already made the decision, it was useless to overthink the matter after this point.
She wasn't the only one that was surprised.
Liang Cuifen was one step ahead. She was utterly astonished. As if the beauty of the pink-haired Wen Jiayi wasn't enough, she was extremely confident as well. From how she carried herself to how boldly she dressed, Wen Jiayi was the opposite of Liang Cuifen, in nearly all aspects.
Liang Cuifen could only watch in stunned silence and agree with Wen Jiayi's words. Like Han De, Wen Jiayi was truly from a different world. Just looking at her was enough to make Liang Cuifen blush.
"It makes me glad that my fiancé has promising disciples like you. In the future, I hope you will rely on me, as you have relied on your master."
Just as Yao Qing suspected, Wen Jiayi was making her best attempt at cooperating with this arranged marriage. The timing was earlier than expected, but their master wasn't a regular cultivator, such deviations were to be expected.
Jin Shu also appreciated that Wen Jiayi put importance on their master-disciple relationship. She was half-worried that Wen Jiayi may end up dissatisfied with them. In the Jin family, she had witnessed many jealousy fueled arguments. Thankfully, Wen Jiayi's temperament seemed to be above such frivolous matters.
The reactions from the disciples fit Wen Jiayi's expectations. Except for the smallest disciple. The one called Ning Bi. For some reason, she looked like she was holding back her frown.
Ning Bi… didn't like how this woman declared herself as a match to their master. In her eyes, there could be no such thing. Could this person awaken extinct bloodlines? Could this person create legendary body constitutions?
The answer to those questions, was no. These feats were a secret of their master, so Ning Bi couldn't use them to openly refute her. Even if she used other impossible achievements of their master, this woman was supposed to be their master's fiancé! As a disciple, Ning Bi had to avoid creating problems!
This was a vexing feeling that Ning Bi never felt before.
Wen Jiayi took another look at the little girl. Her bone structure looked like she was 13 years old. A sensitive age whether one was a cultivator or a mortal.
Ning Bi's reaction was rather amusing, and Wen Jiayi was tempted to leave her alone for now. But, in the interest of protecting them from Yu Xian, she decided to coax the little girl instead.
As she met the glowing eyes of Ning Bi, she casually smiled.
"I can see why Han De is so fond of you. No wonder he's trying so hard…"
Why would Han De need a flame from the previous cycle? It didn't take a genius to realize the connection. Ning Bi was the only Fire element disciple of a Light element master. Not to mention the fact that Ning Bi was using the Blazing Sun Scripture as that mother and daughter pair.
A mixture of embarrassment, curiosity, and concern immediately appeared on Ning Bi's face. For Wen Jiayi, who spent an inordinate amount of time dealing with old foxes, the little girl was like an open book.
'She's way too easy…'
If the little girl were too easy, Yu Xian would have an easy time too.
Wen Jiayi also noticed how the air turned odd after what she just said.
Yao Qing and Jin Shu were more adept at controlling their emotions and expressions. One was due to her rich experience, and the other was because of her upbringing. Unfortunately, neither one was able to fool an abnormal Immortal Realm expert like Wen Jiayi.
"Trust in your master. His cultivation may be low, but he isn't weak. Power can take many forms. You are also part of his strength. And so am I."
Ning Bi took a moment to digest Wen Jiayi's words, then nodded in agreement. Wen Jiayi looked sincere when she spoke of their master. Concern for her master overtook the wariness she felt towards Wen Jiayi. What could it be that her master was trying so hard for?!
Wen Jiayi smiled once more.
'Weak to compliments to herself, and weak to compliments to her master. Looks a bit obsessed…'
An obsession could be a good thing as long as it didn't become one's sole purpose in life. There was no way Han De wasn't aware of the little girl's nature. Considering how the girls were wary of Yu Xian, perhaps they were warned by their master. Maybe they were the reason why Han De was so unwilling to take him as a disciple.
The disciples seemed a bit too devoted to their master. Normally Wen Jiayi wouldn't have batted an eye, but for some reason, the Long family didn't include any information about these three girls. Her intuition was telling that there was something amiss.