*Knock. Knock. Knock.*
Shui Han Yin raised her fist and knocked on the door several times, looking around cursorily. The last thing she wanted was to be seen by the rest of the clan.
Perhaps if it were an ordinary girl, there would be no questions, but Shui Han Yin was the daughter of a patriarch, so the situation unfolded from a completely different angle.
Her father's overprotection really annoyed Shui Han Yin, but there was nothing she could do about it anyway, the patriarch's orders were the law in their clan.
Sometimes, of course, it was nice to be cared for. Especially if it was too annoying for those young gentlemen, the other clan members of the eastern region, who were always trying to please Shui Han Yin somehow. Father always helped in such situations, even if it was over the top.
And though the girl thought she could always understand what her father was thinking or how he was acting, something unforeseen happened.
Her overprotective parent suddenly decided to marry off his daughter to an unknown man. And even worse, he left it up to this mysterious young man to decide everything.
If he likes Shui Han Yin, then consider her given to him. And if the proposal is rejected, everything will go back to normal, and she will be the little princess of the Shui clan again.
For the first time in her life, the girl felt like a thing. The father who had taken care of her for eighteen years was unrecognizable.
It was clear to her that arguing would get her nowhere, and the groom was a complete bastard. He had never once talked to her properly in all that time!
Shui Han Yin was in utter despair. After thinking it over, she concluded that the only solution was to talk to this strange young man from the higher realm herself.
The princess resolutely went to his courtyard and, mustering her courage, knocked on the door. After a few breaths there was no answer, and the girl stubbornly continued knocking.
*Knock. Knock. Knock.*
Only a few dozen breaths later, a cold male voice rang out from behind the door.
"Who?"
Shui Han Yin was slightly surprised. The voice did not belong to a middle-aged man, but rather to a young man who was probably a few years older than her.
That voice was familiar for some reason. With a furrowed brow, Shui Han Yin tried to remember how she knew him, but she couldn't find an answer, so she discarded the thought, thinking it was just an impression.
"This is Shui Han Yin, daughter of the patriarch of the Shui Clan. I'd like to have a little talk, if you don't mind."
**********
"This is Shui Han Yin, daughter of the patriarch of the Shui Clan. I'd like to have a little talk, if you don't mind."
When he heard the gentle female voice, Yang Ming wanted to ignore her at first, and the girl's insistence was starting to annoy him.
But just as he decided to chase the pesky little girl away, the system alert went off.
*Ding!*
[You have met the heroine!]
*Ding!*
[User received 100 points.]
Yang Ming was taken aback. The scoring system was strange again. Last time, someone had humiliated a hero without his involvement, and points were awarded, but he didn't interfere, did he? Why had this happened?
At first he wanted to ignore the incident, but the same situation was happening again, just with this girl.
'She only came to talk, so why were the points credited?'
'Something's wrong here' — Yang Min thought. And sure enough, he found a solution. If you can't find the answer yourself, ask the system for it.
"System, why were the points awarded? I didn't even do anything."
[The user must find the answer himself. Don't use the system as you please, use your brain. Or is your brain rotten?]
"Huh?"
To say that Yang Ming was shocked is (to say nothing)not an exaggeration. For the first time in his life, he was so surprised by the system's prickly response. It wasn't just that it didn't give him a good answer, it also made fun of him.
After cursing to himself, Yang Ming decided to learn more functions of the system. If heroes can be absorbed, then what about heroines? If they could be used, wouldn't that be better than absorption?
The answer lay in that little girl.
Putting on a mask of benevolence, Yang Ming decided to have a little talk with Shui Han Yin, and find out what to do with her next. Letting the girl go was no longer an option.
The young man opened the door, but before he could say anything, Shui Han Yin excitedly exclaimed:
"It's you!"
It was as if thunder struck Yang Ming. For a long time he did not utter a word, as if he had turned into an icy statue.
The expression on his face grew darker and darker, as if a heavy burden had been placed on his shoulders instead of the desired answer.
Shuddering, he quickly slammed the door, already cursing himself for his decision.
The damn system had set him up, Yang Ming thought. Remembering that the girl was listed as a heroine, he groaned to himself. If she's a heroine, what the fuck is he, a hero?
It is impossible to imagine her as a heroine, rather a villain or worse.
It's all the damned system's fault...
His first thought after meeting Shui Han Yin was to immediately leave not only the Shui Clan, but also the lower realm. But after realizing that she would be able to find him in the higher realm as well, Yang Ming despaired completely.
From the beginning he wanted to get rid of his problems by shifting the blame to others or to the same characters, but this woman ruined all his plans.
She was trouble personified, crazy as hell. And, worst of all, it was impossible to kill her.
For two reasons, first, because of the system. To kill the princess right now meant that she and Yang Ming would die together. But even if she didn't have her divine halo, there was still no way to finish off Shui Han Yin.
It wouldn't work because of the second reason. It was that the forces behind the girl's back were at least as strong as Yang Ming's. It was impossible to determine their exact number, because he didn't know who exactly was supporting this madwoman.
And the whole damn thing started because of the past owner of the body. He was the one responsible for meeting her.
Thinking back to their meeting, Yang Ming shuddered, still trying to find a way out, which was not there yet.
**********
24 hours ago. The lower kingdom, the Forest of Demons.
"Is this the lower kingdom?" — Yang Ming dryly asked the man across the street.
"Yes, master. That old slave left him three hundred years ago." — Shui Wai Tian answered.
At first glance, this man looked like an ordinary old man found everywhere, but in the lower realm he was a legend. The first man in history to reach the late stage of Mortal Ascension(4). After passing through the lightning of heavenly tribulation, he was able to ascend to the higher realm and became a legend thereafter, the tales of which were passed from mouth to mouth.
Many thought that after his ascension to a higher realm he became almost a god, but unfortunately they were deeply mistaken.
Together with this, the old man was humiliated to the point that he became almost a test monkey.
His whole life after (entering) ascending to the higher realm was filled with gloom and despair. Shui Wai Tian dreamed every day of returning to the lower realm, until one day he met Yang Ming. It seemed as if fate itself had helped him get rid of his shackles and become what he was now. Yang Ming's slave.
It may have been humiliating for a legendary man, but after experiencing the full burden of a higher realm where there was no room for the weak, Shui Wai Tian felt not constrained and resentful, but on the contrary, only happy. Serving a person of such magnitude as Yang Ming was the pride of his life.
After entering the higher realm, practitioners of the lower and middle realms usually became cattle for personal use that were used, for example, in experiments. Such cases in the higher realm were common and unremarkable and could easily show what the phrase "The weak become the prey of the strong" means.
Yet Shui Wai Tian was lucky. Instead of all that, he simply served the young lord of the Yang clan, nothing more or less, always showing him the same respect as his father.
This time he came to the lower realm with two tasks. The first was to help Yang Ming with the task of patriarch of the Yang Clan, and the second was to visit the Shui Clan from the eastern region. After all, they were his descendants.
**********
Cultivation levels: Lower realm.
Initial Ascension(1) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.
Earth Ascension (2) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.
Heavenly ascension (3) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.
Mortal ascension(4) — Initial stage — Middle stage — Late stage.