I watched their little journey together from the carcass of that leopard beast. I might not have known what those two were saying the entire time, but I could most definitely make out the expressions and actions of the two.
The position of the ring was right in between both of them which made it incredibly easy to see their faces and what they seemed to be doing. That hateful man surnamed Ye was always trying to strike up conversations between the two. His eyes seemed glued to Jinzi for most if not all of his time beside her as his head was also similarly turned to face her. His mouth constantly opened and closed and on his face seemed to always be a constant smirk, although slight.
It made me wonder how he still had topics to talk about even though he barely gained any responses. Was it simply ignorance of her dislike or is it persistence in order to get a reply of any kind?
She didn't ignore him every time, but it was still more often than not that even after he spoke numerous times she wouldn't udder a word. In fact it even seemed to surprise him as times when she responded and he would gain a burst of excitement or joy.
Jinzi of course would barely respond to him and most of the time she had her eyes facing forward. There were occasions in which she scanned the environment as she turned her head from side to side.
His actions seemed simply like a man who wanted to get to know a girl, but combined with his other actions turned it a bit complex. His thoughts are dictated by his second head caused me to only feel a sense of disgust when thinking about him.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Ying'er, come here. I'd like for you to meet someone."
Hearing my darling call for me I immediately set down the jade tablet and got up. Exiting the room there were three people waiting for me to which I smiled at. One was a very familiar man who I've spent the last decade with, another was a mildly familiar middle aged man and the final one was an unknown woman.
"Ying'er you've already met Hao Wang, the head of the Hao family, but this woman here is one of his concubines, Qian Hong. Concubine Qian, this is my wife, Jing Xiuying." His hand appeared on my waist and pulled me a bit closer toward him. In response my smile widened a bit as I leaned a bit of my body onto him.
Once that woman and I were introduced to each other we exchanged some pleasantries as we all walked along the hallway to the lobby.
"So Brother Jiang, what brings you to this little competition? It couldn't be to see these fledgling cultivators right?"
"You're right Brother Wang, we actually brought along with us a contestant to compete in this competition with. I'm guessing you did the same as well?"
"What?! Did this Brother and Sister actually bring their own little contestant? And here I was hoping that my own child would win the competition."
"Don't worry Brother Hao, there's still hope for that child of yours. The one we brought over isn't aiming for first, as long as their name is mentioned then they would have passed the little exam I've given them."
"Oh? That's a little bit of a relief, but how come your goal for this contestant of yours is so low?"
"Well they haven't actually been cultivating for long, a around month at most and that's only if they've been cultivating every day."
"They've only been cultivating for a single month and you're putting them through this competition? Anyway, what happens to be the name of that contestant of yours?"
"Her name is Xue Jinzi, what about your child? What's their name?"
"Oh him? His name is Hao Fang. I hope that child of mine does well, I can only hope. He should have just passed into the 7th layer though so there shouldn't be too many troubles for him."
After a short walk we reached the lobby. There a number of guests gathered around and chatted with one another. After spending another incense stick of time or so darling and I grabbed a few of the refreshments at a nearby table.
"Hello there Lord and Madame. We noticed that you were speaking with Lord Hao just now. Do you mind if I ask what you two spoke about?"
From the crowd one of the men appeared and approached us. It's clear that he only approached us purely because of our connection with Hao Wang. When we first walked through here he had only given us a few glances.
His question was a little rude, trying to pry into our conversation, but it didn't seem to affect my darling as he responded with an amiable smile.
"We just happened to be discussing about a few of the contestants."
"Oh? I put my bet on Lord Hao's eighth child.
Say what is your connection with Lord Hao? I noticed that you had entered the room together."
"That? We just have a little friendship. Now if you'll excuse me I'd like to enjoy my time with my wife."
Hearing those words made me warm inside as I grabbed onto his free arm, ignoring the facial expression of the other man.
"Come on, let's go somewhere else! That balcony looks like a nice spot to relax!"
I dragged his arm away with me toward the balcony I pointed at beforehand. And from there we came upon a nice view of the setting sun. It wasn't as wondrous nor mystical as the view we had on our mountain, but it certainly had its charm.
Here another momentary memory was created as I leaned onto his chest. When I took a quick peek at him he noticed me immediately, but I wouldn't just look away from him. No, as his wife if even I wouldn't dare to even look him in the eyes then who will?
We gazed into each other's eyes before he gently placed a hand on my shoulder. That hand snaked its way around under my chin and he pulled it up. He gave a charming smirk before kissing me. As he did I noticed the two small gatherings of men and women respectively inside as they looked toward us. It didn't even seem like the two parties knew of the other's presence.
***
(Xue Jinzi POV)
"Sister Xue, how long have you been with the sect for?"
'Oh my god!! Will he shut up?! For the last half hour he's been asking me random questions!! Please, no one will think you're mute if you don't talk!'
"Please, stop…talking…"
"Don't be like that! Sister Xue, if I don't ask you anything I feel that our journey will just be too quiet."
"..."
"How about this Sister Xue, I'll only ask a few questions an hour, but you'll have to answer them. Does that sound like a good deal?"
"Fine! Sure, whatever! Just stop asking so many of them! My ears hurt from hearing you so much!"
"Haha.. Alright, First I'd like to know what happened to that Big Sister from before? Why isn't she with you now?"
"Big Sister? Which Big Sister?"
"Of course it's that Big Sister that was with you when I saved both of you from that bastard. He was trying to force both you and your Big Sister to come back with him, remember?"
At the end of his sentence there were hints of confusion.
"Oh? Of course I remember, but I don't count that time as you saving us."
"Now that you remember, could you answer those questions of mine? After all, now I only have a limited number of questions I can ask."
"That woman is fine and now she should be staying with her husband and others who only came to drop off people."
"H-husband?! She has a husband?"
"Yes"
"N-no! That wasn't meant to be a question! What's that Big Sister's name?"
'There's no way I'm selling her out like that! Besides, this was your idea! Already trying to break that promise of yours!? I guess I don't have to answer his questions with the truth, as long as I actually answer. There's no reason not to answer any of his small questions though.'
"I'm sorry, but you already asked your 3 questions for the hour. I won't be answering anymore of them."
"W-what? No please! That last question was only an accident! I didn't mean to! Just one more please!"
"Nope! And nothing you say will convince me otherwise, it was your idea in the first place and you're trying to break it already?"
I closed my eyes and looked away from him as a sign.
"*Sigh* You're right, I'll just be more careful next time I ask!"
…
Time passed and after two full hours with him I had already gained 6 points. That was almost 3 times my previous speed. It made me wonder how he managed to always encounter them so much. Was there just something attractive about him and these monster beasts or is he just the incarnation of bad luck? Or would it actually be good luck? At this point I had no idea.
It was kind of weird though even after that first hour had passed he hadn't asked me another question. I even had a thought at one point to ask him myself if there was anything wrong. Luckily, I caught myself before I did so as I realized that it was actually better that he didn't. For the next few hours he still said nothing and I enjoyed that silence as long as I could. From time to time I become lost in delusions of scenarios that have yet to happen. More specifically when I finally tell Big Brother my request.
Now after a few hours, the sun had long since disappeared from the sky. The beasts we faced varied a bit more as more predator beasts appeared and prey creatures vanished, but overall there were more beasts in general. Now we faced around a whole 5 beasts an hour; each one even lasted almost an incense stick if not more at times, but occasionally this Ye Chen took a few kills saying that he didn't want to completely stagnate. At this point he was fairly focused on making sure that there weren't any beasts who would ambush us and making some conversation probably wouldn't be too high of a priority. Though quite frequently he would make small comments about our battles with the beasts.
We hunted beasts together throughout the entire night for extra points. As cultivators of our strength we of course had increased endurance to stay away longer without being tired, but too insane an amount yet. A mortal human could stay up for 16-18 hours a day without being too tired, but as I am now I could probably stay up for 30-32 hours. Luckily, I had taken a short 4 hour nap on the first day so I should be good for a while more.
There was no way I was going to sleep with this pervert was near me. Who knows what he'll do to me the moment he sees any weakness in me. Even if I have to, I'll push myself to stay awake until that third day is over, then I can fall into the warm embrace of Big Brother.
Soon the sun was starting to rise once more and I realized I might have overestimated my energy reserves. Those almost constant battles drained me quite a bit. Perhaps that was why he stopped asking me anything, to conserve even the tiniest portion of energy.
Big Sister had given me a pill to restore my energy, but those warnings about pills I heard from Big Brother still worried me a bit as I wanted to have a stable foundation. I guess I'll have to take them, but that'll only be if I truly can't bear it anymore.