Chapter 29 – Sparked Rivalry (2)
= Business District, West Area of Mountain Goose City =
The western district of the Mountain Goose City, the territory of Wei Clan was as prosperous as ever, especially during the annual examination season. Many noble clans and small families brought their promising young children to the Mountain Goose City to join the annual exam event, and they usually rested in the western district.
Aside from Wei's clansmen, ordinary criminals and rogue cultivators didn't cause trouble here as too many noblemen and strong warriors were around, patrolling their turf. Only a few stray youngsters that visited this city fell prey to random gangsters.
However, a lone woman with skimpy short kimono braced the danger. Deep in a secluded alley, she stood in front of a closed blacksmith shop, waiting for a certain someone that she had texted.
Soon, the wooden doors opened. A young blacksmith rushed out with a bright smile.
"Jiang Lan!"
Xie Tian called out the visitor's name as he leaped forward to embrace her. However, Jiang Lan dodged the hug. Xie Tian caught the empty air and stumbled on the ground.
"Behave, silly Tian. You're already 17. You're no longer a kid."
Xie Tian slowly got up and looked at his crush. The girl that he fell in love with was now a sexy adult. Her bare shoulders, short skirt, white skin, thick thighs, and her bosoms were so attractive that the guy forgot to breathe.
"Y-You're beautiful."
"Of course. I've reached the Bone Refining Realm level 8, and I've become a disciple of the Silver Phoenix Sect. Obviously, my physique has changed."
"Wow. Congratulations!"
Despite saying that, Xie Tian wasn't shocked nor surprised as if this feat was nothing for him. Still, he was happy that his assumingly girlfriend had achieved her dream.
"Come, come. Let's talk inside. The blacksmith is dirty, but I'll arrange a place for you."
Jiang Lan revealed a bitter smile and shook her head, "There's no need."
"Oh, are you in a hurry?" Xie Tian looked sad.
"Not really, it's just…"
The girl didn't dare to reveal her thoughts. However, she decided not to reveal her trouble and gave him a spirit stone.
"Take this."
Xie Tian tilted his head as he accepted Jiang Lan's spirit stones. Unlike raw spirit stones, which were commonly traded in the market, her stones were brand new refined Yin stone.
"What's this for?"
"That's a low-grade refined Yin stone. It's different than the raw stones since it can be traded for 1,000 raw SS. With this, you and your family won't have a problem with money again."
"???"
Xie Tian had over 500 raw spirit stones, so he didn't have trouble with money. On the other hand, he was confused about why Jiang Lan gave this thing to him.
"I don't need it. You're a cultivator, so you should keep it."
"…"
Jiang Lan didn't know what to say to Xie Tian. She wanted to chase him away from this city and live a happy life elsewhere, so she could marry Miaomiao without a guilty conscience. Still, she couldn't muster her courage to confess that she already had a husband.
Seeing that Jiang Lan looked trouble, Xie Tian tried to console her by revealing a few of his secrets, "Hey, you know what? I had a fortuitous encounter last month, and I'm now a cultivator. Can you sense my current strength? I'm stage 2 at the moment. I'm thinking that I will take the annual exam to enter the Mountain Goose Sect. Say, do you think your Silver Phoenix Sect can accept a male disciple? If possible, I want to join the same sect as you. Oh, hey, do you know what happened after you left our village? I ran into…"
Xie Tian kept blabbing and telling his adventurous tale about how he ran into trouble left and right, but he acquired power, resources, and cultivation techniques in the end. Unfortunately for Jiang Lan, she didn't pay attention to the details.
Jiang Lan's brain stopped functioning when she heard that Xie Tian was a 2nd stage cultivator, "…How? C-Cultivator? How did you-?"
"Wait here. I'll show you something."
Xie Tian ran back into the blacksmith without noticing Jiang Lan's current expression. Unbeknownst to the lovestruck young man, his crush had an ugly expression.
"… I've sacrificed everything to reach this point. Did I hear that you've reached the 2nd stage within a month!?"
Nobody could hear Jiang Lan's angry voice or see her frustrated expression. Instead of being happy for him, she was jealous of his achievement.
She and her family fall into debt to get a chance to cultivate.
She and her parents almost died trying to absorb energy from spirit stones.
She was sold to a brothel because of her incompetence.
And most importantly, she was forced to sell her precious pride as a woman, her virginity, to a stranger.
It was fortunate that Miaomiao was adopted by Xu Xiuying, and he wanted to marry Jiang Lan. Or else, she would have continued living the rest of her life as a sex slave forever.
On the other hand, Xie Tian was a man, so he had nothing to lose. Moreover, he became a 2nd stage cultivator within a month because of his luck.
Jiang Lan lamented that heaven was unfair. Why did she have to suffer to obtain this strength when Xie Tian could achieve the same thing by being lucky?
Also, she questioned why Xie Tian didn't come and free her after he had obtained the fortune. If the fortuitous encounter last month gave him so much boon, why didn't he use it to free her from the brothel so that she didn't have to sell her body?
At first, Jiang Lan wanted to cherish Xie Tian's feelings. But now, her love turned into hate and envy. From her perspective, Xie Tian was a selfish bastard that didn't deserve to become a cultivator.
Even though it was unreasonable, Jiang Lan blamed everything on Xie Tian. She concluded that her ill fate was his fault.
Frustrated by the unfair fate, she threw the refined Yin stone into the blacksmith and used her Yin Qi to write a few words on the ground in front of the shop.
[I already have a husband! Leave me alone!]
In tears of anger, Jiang Lan ran away, returning to Poseidon Spa House by herself.
…
A few minutes later, Xie Tian returned with a few old books in his hands. They were the secret techniques that he kept hidden from everybody else as they could boost his cultivation strength from zero to stage 2 level 1 within a month. Also, he had a pair of spatial rings with many rare herbs and pills inside.
"Jiang Lan?"
As soon as Xie Tian got out of Luo Cheng's blacksmith shop, Jiang Lan wasn't there anymore. He looked around, searching for her. However, he couldn't find the girl anywhere.
"Where did she go?"
Xie Tian scratched his head in confusion. He walked around to see if Jiang Lan had pranked him. Obviously, that wasn't a prank.
Xie Tian sighed and returned to his blacksmith, but his feet stumbled on something on the ground. They were the carved words on the stone road.
"…"
Reading the message, Xie Tian's bright eyes dimmed. He peered into the shop as he had sensed something inside for a while now.
*Kluk* *Kluk*
Rolling on the wooden floor was the refined Yin stone that Jiang Lan tried to give him.
"…"
Nobody could understand what Xie Tian was thinking, but his eyes were bloodshot. He was on the verge of crying, but Xie Tian swallowed back his tears. He gazed at the sky and recited a phrase that Luo Cheng had taught him.
[A woman's mind is as mysterious as a deep sea. Should you desire a dao partner, never search for one until you've attained the dao. Else, you will never reach the dao because of your partner.]
At first, Xie Tian didn't understand Luo Cheng's guidance. But today, he understood a part of it as this experience taught him the hard way.
The first love was always the most intense and long-lasting. When it was crushed, the pain often created a deep scar in one's heart. Some people might never find true love like their first love again.
Xie Tian's Qi ran wild because his broken heart formed an internal devil, which continue to haunt him. He vomited several mouthfuls of blood while he clenched his chest.
…
It took Xie Tian an hour to pacify his Qi and minimize his injury. He entered the old blacksmith shop and closed the door.
In the darkness, Xie Tian's eyes were bright. At the price of a heart devil's curse, the previous dimmed and sad eyes were no more as Xie Tian gained enlightenment from this heartbreak. In the future, his resistance against a woman's seduction would help him reach his dao… only if he could survive until then.
After all, Xie Tian was a protagonist, who was destined to either rise above all cultivators in this continent. Or, he might be destined to die by the hands of a certain villain mob character, who was manipulated to be Xie Tian's rival by a certain greater power.
.
.
.
Jiang Lan returned to the sect at night. By the time that she got back to her room, Miaomiao and Qi Hong were already there to handle Zheng Liqin. The elder was taking this broken loli away as Miaomiao had done his job.
"Ah, welcome back. Where have you been?"
Miaomiao was worried if Jiang Lan had some difficulty during her closed-door training or she had suffered an injury. He rushed to her side and took a good look at her face.
Traces of tear covered Jiang Lan's pretty face. She had been crying when she ran back to the brothel.
"What's wrong?"
Jiang Lan didn't answer. She simply gazed into Miaomiao's eyes and questioned him, "Do you love me?"
"Of course, I love you. If not, I wouldn't have freed you and ordered you to move in with me."
"Then, love me more! Make me stronger!"
"…"
Miaomiao didn't understand what Jiang Lan had in her mind, but he guessed that she wanted to dual-cultivate again. Still, there was a 3rd wheel in the room.
Qi Hong had been observing Jiang Lan for a while. Her eyes opened a bit as she stared at this girl in solemn.
Still, she resumed her poker face and walked out of Miaomiao's room, but she didn't forget to whisper Miaomiao.
"I'll text you tomorrow. For now, have fun with your girl. If I were you, I would have broken this girl's mind ASAP. Remember my words, having a silent broken sex slave is better than having an ambitious self-centered wife."
"???"
Miaomiao frowned and glared at QI Hong, but the latter simply smiled at him and left.
'I know that women are usually the source of trouble, but why did she call Jiang Lan a self-centered wife?'
Miaomiao turned to Jiang Lan, who was acting suspiciously. She had cried, but she also seemed frustrated by something.
Had it been the modern world, Miaomiao would have consoled her and tried to discuss the problem. But as he was exploited left and right by Qi Hong and Xu Xiuying, Miaomiao began to develop trust issues.
It was difficult to predict a human's emotion or behavior. Therefore, if there was an available shortcut to solve this problem and read someone's mind, one might be tempted to use it.
And Miaomiao possessed that shortcut, the dual cultivation system skill.
'Should I temporarily break her and interrogate what she did? I guess I should ask her normally first. Then, I'll break her and ask her again. If her words match, I'll let her recover. But if she lies to me…'
For a second, Miaomiao's eyes were cold and sinister. They were the same eyes when he looked at Zheng Liqin or the bar thugs.