:::
[ If you can do it slow then you could do it fast.]
:::
_____________________________________
Third POV
Zhi Ruo quickly snatched the bowl of soup and the plate of shuǐzhǔ ròupiàn (Sichuan Pork). Her hands agile and her moves smooth without delay she had already wrapped up the dish and was bolting out of the window.
Her white dress fluttered by the cold wind of the night, clicking her tongue in annoyance when she heard the loud voices coming from entrance. She quickly tumbled on the soft ground from below.
"Who told you to leave the food and present yourselves in front of the Masters ah! You didn't even have an ounce of shame! Dirty servants!" The loud voice of the head steward rang through the hallway leading to the kitchen.
She could hear the clear sound of a rod hitting the skin. "Nubi apologizes! Ah! Please spare some mercy on nubi! Ahh! " The continues pleas from the servant mama's made Zhi Ruo have an headache.
( Nubi - •servant• a term that servants use to address themselves in an humble way.)
"Luck is looking down at you from above this time, the Masters are in a good mood. I could spare you some mercy -" the head steward continued to babble on. Zhi Ruo didn't listen anymore and ran.
The food on Zhi Ruo's hand was running cold and she can't help but circulate some Qi in her dantian and started to use qinggong, and flew on top of the trees, her figure fast but still visible.
( Qing Gong - Chinese for "light body skill" )
Although she haven't entered the ranks of cultivation and thus cannot use techniques cultivator practitioners use. But due to Zhi Ruo's knowledge as an immortal and as a transmigrated person, as long as she have some qi she can make do of what she has.
Zhi Ruo Gritted her teeth as the toll of using a technique without entering ranks, hit her with fatigue. Her dainty paleish forehead was covered in sweat as she flew in the trees. Her eyes scanned the environment and concluded that she was almost back.
A few seconds or so she encountered the rundown path and still did not stop. She went and dashed through her house and upto the gates and finally on her front door. She finally halted, she took a deep breath and leaned her body on the doorframe.
Zhi Ruo smiled and looked down on her arms, the food was safe. She hurriedly closed the gate and her doors and went to her bedroom, she opened the rushed clothe that she used in wrapping the food. The soup and the dish did not spill.
Without waiting for anything Zhi Ruo quickly ate all of the contents of the bowls. She rested for a bit on the rags she calls her bed. She looked around for the crystal that has been drained by it's original blue color. She found it and popped it on her mouth like candy
The hard crystal melted on her mouth and turned to liquid, with a gulp she swallowed it all. The Qi around her flew frantically to her body, in haste Zhi Ruo threw the bowls and clothe to her lotus dimensions and quickly sat down she closed her eyes and started to cultivate.
All she has to do was enter the ranks of Cultivation and she can quickly ascend her rank, with the help of her lotus dimensions she can do anything.
[ Progress to entering the cultivators rank :70% ]
Zhi Ruo let out a breath, and focused on getting all the floating orbs that surrounded her body. She feels like her dantian was going to explode, and she wondered if she had gone overboard on the crystal. Zhi Ruo's body can't handle the dense qi that was rampaging and threatening to damage her meridians. She can't help but let out a silent scream.
[ Progress to entering the of cultivators rank : 90% ]
Zhi Ruo held on she grasped the Qi and started forcefully leading it to her foundation like building blocks she stacked them up until her foundation was clearly stable enough.
[ Congratulations you have successfully entered the ranks of cultivators]
B
But she didn't stop there, but continued to work on her dantian, her foundation was getting larger and larger. She pulled the Qi into threads and like a repeating machine she continued to weave it around her dantian.
Her brows were soaked with sweat, her body shivered on the Qi that was dancing around her. Wether it was on the outside or in her meridians, the Qi was too powerful that she had to out on more speed on her concentration.
[ Congratulations, you have entered the first rank of cultivation: Gathering; Concentration rank 1 ]
"The flow of the Qi has gotten more smoother now..." Zhi Ruo opened her eyes at the robotic voice. Her eyes trailed on her arm noting on the fact that it has also been slightly covered with aching muscle. She smiled pleased, normally the average person to get into the ranks of cultivation would take atleast a week of secluded cultivation. And some even use medical guide to advance faster.
And if you are unlucky enough, you would fail the first steps of cultivation and end up with a backlash that usually results the cultivator being crippled. That means he or she won't be able to cultivate ever again.
Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching her rundown home. She quickly hid the bowls and went to her rock hard bed. She pulled the sheets and covered her body. Closing her eyes she listened more carefully on the footsteps. Whoever it was, the steps were covered unprofessionally meaning that the person who was sneaking didn't have the ability.
"Ugh...." A grunt came from the doorstep of her room. Zhi Ruo reminds herself to be still, she feels the needles on her hands. Her fingers tense, and was ready to move anytime.
"That bitch, where is she...better hurry...need the money....." An obvious voice of a man rustled outside trying to open the locked door. A click was heard and the man let out a satisfied laugh.
She can feel the man coming near to her bedside. The heavy breathing was heard, as the man leaned down to perversely smell Zhi Ruo.
"Rape and kill, hehehe she's quite a beauty." The man paused a second before viciously yanking Zhi Ruo's hair. "Wake up you slut!" Before the hand of the man hit Zhi Ruo awake. The intruder found himself not able to move. When he turned to look at his hand, he found another boney hand holding it up. Panicked the man turned to look at Zhi Ruo. A pair of cold eyes, was greeting him.
"Ahhh-" the man's scream was muddled as Zhi Ruo inserted a needle on his hand. The screams became some mere gurgling. The ice cold look from Zhi Ruo made the man swallow his creams.
"Who sent you here," using her other hand she grabbed the slimy man by his face. The man struggled to get free, but he knew it was futile. Zhi Ruo kicked his knees, the man silently screamed in horror as he collapsed on the floor with his broken kneecaps. Zhi Ruo undid the needle.
"Who sent you here!" She asked again. The man screamed, Zhi Ruo punched his nose. "It was them! Let me go!" Zhi Ruo let go of his hands, but he couldn't move. Because Zhi Ruo already inserted a needle at the back of his head, making him paralyzed from shoulders down.
"Are you brain dead?" Zhi Ruo sat down on her bed. "State a name or you'll lose one of your ear." The man let out screams, but nobody would hear them. They were in the most isolated courtyard.
"Nobody said you were this vicious! Ack! They said you were an ugly wrench!" The man spit out profanities. Zhi Ruo was getting impatient. Using her new accumulated Qu she solidified it into her finger, and cut of one of his eye. The man let out an anguished scream.
"Speak!" Staring at Zhi Ruo, with his bleeding ear. He can't help but regretting it in his heart. He had been deceived! So he would betray! "SU YANG! it was Liu Su Yang! Arghhhhh!" The man coughed out blood. "It was her! She ordered me to rape and kill you!"
Zhi Ruo raised an eyebrow "so it was the concubine," Zhi Ruo was pleasantly surprised, "does she want to get rid of me that much? I didn't know that she was this desperate. Tell me how much did she pay you?" Using her feet she nudged the intruder.
"100 taels!" The man immediately answered, his face was already covered in blood.
"That little? Hahaha did she actually think that I was that easy to bully?! Bullshit!" Due to her rage she kicked the man on the ground. "This is still my first day here and she is already making trouble for me?!" Zhi Ruo Gritted her teeth in annoyance. She took a deep breath and her appearance returned calm.
Zhi Ruo raised her hand, and brought it down to the man's head. The sickening crack of the man's skull echoes throughout the room. The floor was dyed red, and the man laid dead.
Zhi Ruo's body was enclosed with the aura of the lotus, she pulled out a stone. And she threw it on the floor, the stone sucked up the blood, and the body. Making the stone turn red, she walked up to the stone. Looking at it, and finally stepping on it. The stone melted on her foot and disappeared.
"It seems like I won't be getting much sleep this time. What a pain." Saying those words she went out of her bedroom. Her dress, swayed by the wind, her figure flickering through the Shadows.
______________________________________
Zhi Ruo's POV
I went too the courtyard that was being occupied by concubine Su Yang and her daughters. The only courtyard occupied by a concubine that was decorated lavishly, among other concubines that general Liu have.
The Ningjing courtyard, or better known as the serenity courtyard.
(宁静/ Ningjing - Serenity)
I see the Shu daughters in there own room as I approach the lit courtyard. Each of them had their own servants attending for them, brushing and wiping their body. They were looking at the bronze mirror putting on liquids on their faces while being complemented by the servants.
I went to the first room, where Liu Ya Ren occupies the older one of the two sisters. She was putting some powder on her face, as the servant delicately combed her hair.
"Second Xiaojie is so beautiful! No one could compare with our second Xiaojie!" The servant bootlicked Liu Ya Ren, and Ya Ren hummed as she listened to the servant. Ya Ren always received the best because she was already at Gathering; Core Formation Rank 3 with dual element.
Which put her on the limelight out of General Liu's daughters. And on top of that, she received well education making her one of the top 3 most talented ladies in the empire.
But comparing her with her younger sister in terms of appearance she was much more lacking. And in due to this both sisters had been competing. Making her more prone too judgemental eyes of the public. She tries to compensate this, by putting more makeup on her face and going to the auction house every now and then to buy beauty products.
But people in this time haven't discovered yet how toxic the chemicals that they put on the beauty products. Making Ya Ren, who always put products on her face, have a much more thinner face and was always careful not to scratch her face. Because a small scratch like a pimple would be a big wound due to her thin face.
It was also due to this fact that, she doesn't go out in the sunlight because it could easily burn her face. With her always buying products and medicine for her face. Caused quite a large sum on General Liu's salary.
______________________________________
-Scarlett