Having been bedridden all his life, the number of people Ding Bojing had come across in his life wasn't much. Apart from his parents, sister, personal doctor and maidservants, he hadn't come across anyone else.
So, when he saw a different face for the first time, he was stunned. His frozen expression didn't ease up, but gradually changed to a look of appreciation and admiration.
To most people, there were specific standards of beauty. If most people were told to grade Li Luo's looks, they would pass her off as an average looking person. To someone like Ding Bojing who had been surrounded by beauties all his life, including his elegant mom and breathtaking sister, he had quite an experienced eye. Even his maidservants were carefully selected beauties, so his standards were high.
Yet, upon seeing Li Luo, he froze. This could be mostly attributed to her clear crystalline eyes. Those eyes plus the faint intent they radiated gave her a simple yet unique aura. Comparatively speaking, her eyes were cuts above those of his mom and sister.
Li Luo didn't like the way he was staring at her. Though it wasn't lascivious, she was wary of such suspicious stares.
Ding Peng broke the silence. "You must be Li Luo, Kong Xiang's friend'
"Greetings, Senior" Despite coming from a poor background, she wasn't lacking in proper courtesy and etiquette. She took the offered seat near the bed, and declined the invitation to drink tea offered by Shi Lifen.
The atmosphere was thrown into silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Ding Xiaolong was thinking about cultivation matters in her sect, her father was going through a mental list of his friends and enemies to identify who might have poisoned his son, his son was occasionally stealing glances at Li Luo wondering how best to strike up a conversation with her, while his mom was looking at her son with a doting motherly smile.
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Kong Xiang took some time to find Ding Bojing's Chambers. He was pleasantly surprised to see Li Luo, having thought they would meet at their shed.
"Kong Xiang" Her tone held a faint sign of relief which was noted by Ding Peng.
"It seems they don't quite trust us" he missed inwardly.
The duo sized each other up and grinned competitively upon sensing each other's cultivation realm.
"We would like to take our leave now" Kong Xiang said. Having fulfilled his end of the deal, he had no qualms using their resources to complete Body Tempering as they had agreed on that beforehand.
"We would like to offer you some tokens of our appreciation before you go" Kong Xiang wasn't ignorant in the ways of the rich and knew these gifts were to show their interests in forming a relationship with him. He had no issues with that.
Ding Xiaolong first handed him the other Cultivation Arts; The Aqua Source Mantra and Herculean Thunder Art. He accepted it gracefully. Next, she handed him and Li Luo a VIP card that allowed them to buy or sell things at their store at 30% discount. Li Luo was confused about why she was also given this card, and Ding Xiaolong only smiled and said that the token was an appreciation of her talents and potential.
Ding Peng mysteriously chimed, "I also have some gifts to give you" A longsword appeared in his hands. The hilt was made of pure gold, and the blade was metallic and shiny. It gave off a sharp elegant aura. Li Luo's eyes started to shine.
Ding Peng chuckled and tossed the sword at her. She grabbed the longsword's hilt, and slashed at the air. This movement instantly transformed her to a sword bearing war goddess, and the happy glint in her eyes failed to obscure her innate imperialism, capturing everyone's attention. Ding Peng coughed, drawing everyone's attention back to the present.
"And" he said, "THIS!"
"What is this?" Ding Bojing looked at the wooden staff in distaste. There was no helping it, compared to the beautiful longsword taken out before, this plain looking staff left an unpleasant feeling in the mouth.
"This Staff is named Morschive" Shi Lifen looked at it sentimentally. " I gave this staff to your dad in our early as a token of love"
Ding Xiaolong wanted to dig a hole in the ground to escape this embarrassment. What token of love? The staff looked like a dry piece of wood used to make firewood.
Kong Xiang scratched his head awkwardly as the two grown ups looked at each other with lovey-dovey eyes. Li Luo happily tightened her grip on the longsword and chuckled.
"Don't think the staff is ordinary. For a wood elemental attribute martial artist, this wood enables them to control all the plants and vegetables within a half mile radius provided their origin energy doesn't run out" Ding Peng said. Shi Lanfei continued "Casting the Holy Wood Method with it doubles the area to a mile"
Kong Xiang's eyes were shining with an intensity no less than Li Luo's upon hearing the effect of the staff. He took it and grandly flourished it. Unfortunately, coupled with his handsomely honest face, it made him look like a cute farmer. Ding Xiaolong turned away to hide her chuckle. Shi Linfen did the same. Ding Peng and Ding Bojing's lips twitched furiously, and Li Luo sniggered at his vain attempt, forgetting she had initiated one just some moments ago.
Kong Xiang helplessly stopped his display and sighed helplessly.
'Just why did I have to take after Grandpa's sagely looks!'