When Xieren woke up, he felt two pairs of arms tightly gripping onto his robes, being fully awake, he knew what had happened in bed...
"Xiao Ling, wake up... We are going to go train now!" Xieren nudged the little girl, she groaned sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Master..." Xiao Ling smiled, her eyes drooping slightly as Xieren could feel his heart skip a beat.
"Come on, let's get up" He encouraged the little girl as the duo silently left the room, leaving Akagi who was still soundly asleep...
•••••
"Today is the last time we will be staying in this forest, I decided that we leave the empire and go somewhere very special" Xieren told her, while Xiao Ling had taken into a stance, balancing several cups of water on her joints...
"Master, please stop talking!" She cried out, the water in the cups trembled, causing wet spots to form on her clothing.
"Hmm... no I'd rather not" He snickered in amusement, seeing her look frustrated, yet determined.
"It's been hours now, can you please shut the f*ck up?!" She grumbled.
Xieren was stupified, when did this little lady learn such vulgar language! Who the f*ck spoke in such manners infront of her?!
"Xiao Ling, where did you learn such bad language from?" He asked her curiously, hoping to beat the fellow that acted so indecently Infront of this little flower.
"Master you said it!" She smiled with a toothy grin as he cleared his throat awkwardly.
"What will you do now, Milord?" An annoyed voice entered his ears...
"Whatever do you mean?" He whistled innocently, encouraging his disciple not to use such words ever again, until she reaches a proper age...
"No! Don't listen to Milord, ladies should never use such words!" Akagi spoke, glaring at Xieren for tainting the little innocent soul.
"Pssh! That's unfair, women need their rights to speak and act the same way as men do!" He retorted.
"Hmph! Women do not need to use such vulgar words and sully themselves." Akagi countered.
"Oh? My dear wife, you say such words however..." Xieren moved closer to her, then whispered into her ear, "during our wedding night, you sullied yourself a lot didn't you?" He turned to his disciple.
"We will be watching you from the treetop, come back once you are done, okay?" Xieren then held Akagi, and jumped onto the branch she sat last.
"Milord, please stop reminding me over what happened that day..." She flushed, pinching his arm and hoping to inflict some pain.
"But it was a memorable night was it not?" He kept his chin on her shoulder as she went through his hair.
"But it was so... shameless!" She covered her face bashfully, Xieren could only let out a fit of laughter at her reaction.
"You broke through to the Celestial Knight realm, and I, to the Celestial Emperor realm..." Xieren gave away his realm, shocking his wife who stared at him in awe...
"Milord, you are already very powerful... why do you keep cultivating?" She questioned him curiously, what was his goal? What was his purpose? Surely somebody of his calibre has a drive to obtain such extraordinary results!
"Why? Well... there are many, one is to return to a place, a very special place that is so unbelievably far, and see how it is doing... Another is to create a safe place for my Xiao Ling to grow into a powerful cultivator..." He spoke, his voice was full of enthusiasm, Akagi kept gazing at the gentle smile on his face dreamily...
"I see..." She nodded, taking mental notes of his words.
"Where is this place that you want to visit?" She asked him, trying to get more out her mysterious husband.
"Hmm... simply put, it's a blue sphere with green spots... hovering along an orange ball of fire in a dark place..." Xieren felt nostalgic, while he had no memories of the inhabitants of the said world, the wonders he saw had stuck to his mind, never forgotten...
"And in the green spots, are some of the most magical constructs you will ever see... a triangular pillar made of metal that pierces the heavens, an unimaginably long ancient wall which stretches miles long... I need to see it again..." Realising he had talked more that he was supposed to, Xieren kept quiet and enjoyed Akagi's company...
"When did you go and see them, Milord?" Akagi whispered.
"I too have the question Akagi..." He said, snaking his hands through her clothes, cupping a feel of her twin peaks...
"N-Not here..." Akagi held onto his arm, her breathing hitched and her mind constantly enticed her to let go of Xieren's hands and enjoy...
"Master!" Xiao Ling shouted, she had a grin on her face and walked over to the, taking in long strides as she did so.
Xieren let go of Akagi, who covered her mouth feeling the fingers run through her little red knobs as he turned to his disciple curiously.
"Yes, my cute little disciple!" He jumped down, smothering her with his love... for cute things...
"I did it!" Xiao Ling exclaimed, pushing her master away and covering her hands with Qi, this resulted in a gasp of shock as Xieren wiped a tear from his eye dramatically and patted her head.
"Look at you, growing up so quickly..." He smirked, moving over to a clearer mass of land, one with little vegetation...
"Now, since you have completely gotten used to controlling your Qi... I think it is time we start learning some martial techniques..." Xieren announced, directing all of Xiao Ling's attention towards him.
"Since you are my disciple, it is only right that I pass down my techniques to you, don't you think so too?" He asked, hoping to get an answer.
"Un!" She nodded, her eyes sparkling as she imagined being like her master, beating up the bad fellows...
"Good! However, before we begin, I need to tell you that my martial art is very special... If someone sees it, they might kidnap you and force you to give it up!" Xieren warned, earning a pout from Xiao Ling.
"So many smelly eggs in the world!" She complained.
"Indeed, it is a very tragic thing..." He sighed, kneeling down to her level.
"That is why, I hope that you will become a very powerful cultivator, so nothing bad happens to you..." Caressing her cheek gently, he kissed her forehead.
Xiao Ling giggled, "Do it to my mouth like you did with Big sis!" Puckering her lips at his face, making weird noises...
"Erm... I can't do that little girl, wait until you are eighteen for that!" Xieren felt a glob of blood on his throat, this little devil has seen what he thought he had done in secret!
"Milord, did you really take her in as a disciple or as a harem candidate?" Akagi asked him, a frown formed on her beautiful face, surely her Lord would not do such a thing...
"Of course not! I'm not into loli! She's only eight years old, Akagi, get your mind out of the gutter!" Xieren denied the accusations vehemently, which further intensified her suspicions.
"Whatever, Milord. Many nobles have several concubines, it is only natural that you do too...(1)" She stated with a shrug.
"What?!" Xieren's eyes widened, his nose bled a little, fantasizing over it.
"My father, brother, they all have concubines, so why would it be weird for you to have one too?" She asked him curiously.
"And besides, I'm your wife. Concubines have no authority over anything..." Akagi smiled smugly as Xieren shivered.
"But isn't that wrong?" He retorted, what happened to being faithful to the wife?
"I don't see any problem, as long as you don't bring more than four and throw me away..." Akagi sighed.
"Milord, in this world of ours, women are treated as objects and are used to keep or be thrown away... Perhaps my way of thinking is faulted, however, as a noble lady, I must tolerate any action taken by the husband..." She smiled. Xieren who heard what she said, stood dumbstruck...
'This isn't Earth anymore... and societal norms are still primitive...' He sighed, feeling a little downtrodden, because deep down he knew that he was elated...
"I see... Thank you for informing me Akagi" He replied tiredly.
"It is a wife's duty, Milord" Akagi humbly stated, elegantly sitting on a boulder, with a purple oil paper umbrella over her...
'Maybe I can solve Mei's problem...' Xieren told himself.
He then turned to his disciple who looked down, much to his confusion.
"Master..." She spoke bashfully, Xieren realising she had overheard his and Akagi's conversation, wanted to take a rock and strike himself with it until he collapses.
"Little girl, I will now give you some scrolls containing the methods of my martial arts, read it carefully and follow the drawings... If you have an question, ask me" Xieren then took several books out of his space ring and passed them onto Xiao Ling.
"Make sure to take good care of them..." He requested her, they were part of the limited stock of his "Divine Providence arts"...
An ancient art he had found by chance in a lucky encounter inside a cave...
•••••••••
(1): If you have not realised it yet, this novel is heavily influenced by Ancient Chinese cultures; In ancient China, the society leaned towards Monogamy(One wife) however, it was acceptable to have several concubines... so... they found a loophole in the rule...