Lan Bei Er still looked bewildered at my question, but she then assumed that I was doing her a final courtesy. Asking for her name before I killed her, or something along the lines of that.
"Peak Master Hei, what do we do with this girl?"
One of the demonic cultivators of my sect swooped to my side, eying Lan Bei Er. She glared back, conjuring her white qi about her to form a defensive posture. However, I simply raised a hand to dismiss him.
"Leave her to me."
"What about the rest?"
"You guys can do whatever you want with them."
"What? Wait!" Lan Bei Er protested, but I shook my head.
"Sorry, but I can't help them. I'm one of the three peak masters of Heaven and Earth Sect. I can't ignore the fact that you guys trespassed into our territory."
The demonic cultivator – if I wasn't mistaken, his name was Bu Xia – bowed his head, but he was smiling lecherously. No doubt he was assuming that I planned to have some "fun time" with the woman I had captured. They were already having fun with the rest. I could hear their screams of despair and pleas over the distance, even as they were being dragged away.
Lan Bei Er looked pale. As much as I felt sorry for her, I didn't do anything. Make no mistake, I was still a demonic cultivator. I wasn't interested in notions of justice. Perhaps it was a carryover from my previous world and former life, but I also wasn't an arrogant sociopathic murderer who slaughtered everyone in my path.
"Come with me," I told her. Lan Bei Er regarded me suspiciously, and then she held her staff up defiantly.
"No."
She never saw me move. The moment she blinked, I disappeared from right in front of her. Her eyes widened, but before she could look around, I hit her at the back of her neck and knocked her out. Catching her before she could fall to the ground, I then carried her toward my abode in the Human Peak. I glanced back to see what happened to the other female orthodox cultivators.
Their fates looked bleak. But there was nothing I could do. It was primarily because they attacked me first, I didn't have any desire to help them. Also, if I were to help them, the other demonic cultivators in my sect wouldn't be happy about it. They would be suspicious of me, complain to Master (the sect leader), and then those girls would die (or worse) anyway. Meanwhile I would be reprimanded and lose my position.
That might sound callous, but I was a demonic cultivator. Why the f should I care about doing the right thing?
On the other hand, if I were to bring only a single girl home, then nobody could accuse me of hogging all of the girls, letting them go or doing anything suspicious. They would think I just wanted at least one of them for myself, and be satisfied with the others. Nobody was going to question me as long as I acted in accordance with the ethics established within the sect.
So I lay Lan Bei Er on my bed, and then went off to meditate elsewhere. That previous battle wasn't going to be the last, so I had best train and become stronger. I had no designs on the position of sect leader, and I honestly couldn't care less about the conflicts against the orthodox sects. I simply wanted to live peacefully.
However, in this cruel world and within a demonic sect, I had no way of living peacefully unless I was strong enough to protect myself and my home. Morals and ideals were great and all, but without strength to back them up, they were empty words.
"Ah!"
Lan Bei Er finally woke up, sitting up in my bed. She reached for her staff, only to find it lying against the wall several feet away. She then turned to stare at me warily, her hand raised to her chest in an almost defensive posture. I rose from the floor and took a seat on a chair by a table that was filled with a teapot and cups.
"Would you like some tea?" I asked pleasantly. Lan Bei Er didn't reply, glaring at me for a few moments. Instead, she issued a question of her own.
"What did you do to me?"
"Knocked you out. Or would you prefer to have been killed instead?"
"Perhaps." Lan Bei Er swallowed. It took her a few seconds, but she managed to get a sense of where she was, staring at my bed in horror before glaring at me. She looked as if she was going to bite her tongue and kill herself. "I would rather die than be sullied by you."
"Uh…what? Sullied by me? What sort of nonsense is going on in that head of yours?"
Lan Bei Er looked surprised. "You…you aren't going to…force me to…sleep with you or something?"
"Why would I do that?"
Her shoulders slumped in relief, but she remained wary. Her hands clenched on both the front of her dress and on the sheets on my bed. "Then what do you plan to do with me?"
"Let you go," I replied. "But obviously I can't do that in front of my subordinates and fellow sect members. They'll never allow it. So I brought you here to hide for now. When there's an opportunity later, we'll move. But there's too much activity right now."
Lan Bei Er looked extremely shocked. "W…why would you help me?"
"Would you believe me if I tell you that I fell in love with you at first sight?" I scratched my head and smiled sheepishly. "If possible, I would like to marry you."
"Huh?!"
For a moment, Lan Bei Er stared at me, her face red and her mouth moving soundlessly. She spluttered, unable to form any coherent sentences. Then she fell silent and pondered for a few moments, allowing everything to sink in. Finally, she lowered her head.
"I'm sorry. That's simply not possible."
"Ouch." I clutched my chest. I knew that I was going to be rejected. Of course…we were enemies, after all. I was a demonic cultivator and she was an orthodox cultivator. There was no way she would simply accept my confession and proposal. Sighing, I adjusted my glasses and leaned back against my chair. Pouring myself a cup of tea, I downed it before sighing. I thought I was prepared, but it still hurt.
Meanwhile, Lan Bei Er continued to watch me suspiciously, as if expecting me to fly into a rage and assault her at any time. But I didn't. Instead, I offered her a cup of tea. She accepted it and drank it before blinking and realizing too late that I might have slipped some poison or aphrodisiac into it.
"We're drinking the same tea, lady," I told her, gesturing toward my cup. "No need to be so on guard."
Lan Bei Er blinked, then drank the rest of the tea compliantly. She still looked uneasy, so I kept my distance. I wasn't a brute. If I wanted to win her heart, I would do it by appealing to her, not by force. Physically assaulting her and forcing myself upon her would only have the opposite effect.
"My dream is to get married and live peacefully," I told her after taking the cup from her and placing it on the table. "That's all. So you don't have to be afraid of me. Unless you provoke or attack me first, I will have no reason to hurt you."
"Right…" Lan Bei Er recalled the battle. "You only fought back when Long Ao Tian and Xia Ning Xue attacked you. Otherwise you didn't…do anything."
"See? I'm not such a bad guy."
Lan Bei Er frowned. "I still don't trust you."
"I don't blame you." I sighed and placed my cup down. "Anyway, you'll have to be patient. It'll take a while before my fellow sect members settle down."
Stepping out of my house and into the courtyard, I returned to training. As the sky above darkened, day turning into night, I continued practicing the breathing methods and physical techniques that Master had imparted to me. The Heaven and Earth Sect was special in that we made use of both yin and yang qi in our cultivation techniques, ensuring that we maintained a harmonious balance between them. That meant that practicing the techniques both during the day, when yang qi was at its most potent, and night, when yin qi dominated, was most effective.
The leaves drifted in the air around me while I swung my sword. Black and white qi swirled around me, and perspiration dripped down my face as I struggled to maintain some sort of balance between them. I had to have equal amounts of each. Otherwise I would suffer demonic possession or whatever it was called.
I suddenly remembered that I had a guest in the middle of my practice. I should have prepared some dinner for her. Stopping my training, I sheathed my sword and hurried back to my house.
The interior was empty.
"Damn it!" I should have watched over her more closely. I was too naïve. Either that or I was too absorbed with my training. Honestly, I was planning to let her go, anyway. But the problem was that my fellow sect members were still pretty active at this time. There was a high chance of her getting caught if she moved out now.
Normally I would just leave her to her fate. It was her fault for not listening to me, after all. But I remembered her, determined, defiant and resolute…beautiful and proud. I wasn't lying when I told her I fell for her at first sight.
"Damn it…"
Cursing again, I shook my head and forced myself to calm down. Righting my breathing, I closed my eyes and extended my qi senses.
There. I could pick up her presence not far away from my position. She hadn't gotten very far. I quickly moved after her, but I was almost too late.
Lan Bei Er was rushing through the woods, hoping that the trees would provide cover. What she didn't know was that there was an array around its edges, which tripped when she ran over it. Immediately, a group of five demonic cultivators descended upon her.
"Nowhere to run, huh…"
Realizing that she was surrounded, Lan Bei Er spun about to confront her pursuers. She held her staff up and conjured a barrier, but the five of the launched a concerted attack.
Pure Yin Demonic Claws!
Blood Crimson Slash!
The combined strikes shattered her barrier and caused Lan Bei Er to fall back, blood dripping from her mouth. She scrambled to her feet and reached for her staff, but one of them kicked it away. Another grabbed her long hair and pulled her head back.
"Ah…!"
Lan Bei Er was unable to suppress a shriek. Tears ran down her face as she struggled, but she could see the other demonic cultivators close in on her, licking their lips and leering at her. She placed her teeth on her tongue, ready to end her life before she could be tainted by the likes of them.
"Let go of her."
The five demonic cultivators turned around and stared at me. I was strolling into the woods, my hands behind my back and my expression severe. The leader, Mo Yi, chuckled.
"Ah, Peak Master Hei…what brings you here?"
"She's my woman. I allowed her to move about freely, and you guys decide to take her?" I glared at them for a moment before pushing my glasses up my nose. "You really have guts."
Inwardly, I was hoping that they would back off upon recognizing me. Mo Yi and the others were core disciples, but none of them possessed the same authority that I did, as a peak master.
However, my hopes were dashed when Mo Yi and his friends threw their heads back and laughed.
"Your woman, Peak Master Hei? Well, she's ours now!"