The way a rumor works is that if one person tells two people, those two people can then tell two people each. Then those four people can also tell two, or three, or four.
The passage of the rumor grows exponentially with each passing second and eventually, the rumor becomes something that everyone has heard.
Some people will choose to believe it.
Others will deny it as they will only believe it when they've seen it with their own eyes.
"Yi Tian has changed."
"Something is different about that loser."
"I heard that he argued back."
"I heard that he punched the guy in the face for touching him."
"Yi Tian told them that from now on, anyone that messes with him will have to pay."
The rumor about what had transpired in the library was amid the process of being shared throughout the city.
And the subject of the rumor was currently at a blacksmith.
* * *
For So Chunghee, a 50-year-old man with a thick beard, it was just another regular old day.
He woke up early in the morning before the sun was even up, ate a quick breakfast, got dressed, and left for work.
As a blacksmith, a lot of the time he was working was spent surrounded by fire and the sound of metal.
Today was just like yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that as well.
Hammering the piece of metal in the same spot over and over, changing the shape to suit what he needed, the sound of the bell hanging on the door rang.
Ding!
"A customer. First one in a while," he muttered as he handed his hammer to his assistant. "Keep hitting it. I'll be back."
Wiping his hands with a towel, he opened the door which connected the forgery and his shop.
As he was greeting the customer, "Hey, welcome to my store. How may I—", he saw who it was that had entered.
It wasn't a face he had ever seen personally before but it was a face that everyone in the city knew from the posters as well as the descriptions that had been spread about him.
'Handsome man with curly black hair that reaches his shoulder. Red eyes which he inherited from his father, the hero. This has to be Yi Tian, the Yi clan's disgrace,' So Chunghee concluded.
Yi Tian was checking out a sword when he turned to look at the man who stopped mid-sentence.
[So Chunghee]
[Inner Thoughts: What's Yi Tian doing in my shop? Is he looking to buy a weapon for himself? For someone else?]
[Loyalty Points: 42 (Indifference)]
[Cultivation Level: None]
[Cultivation Method: None]
[etc.]
'Indifference? For me who is hated by everyone, that's the equivalent of being liked,' Yi Tian laughed internally.
The system wasn't able to show the status screen of just women. It could also do the same for men, except the Love Points stat is replaced by Loyalty Points.
"How can I help you today, customer?" So Chunghee asked, remaining professional and trying his hardest not to show that he knew who was in front of him.
'If it was a blacksmith who hated me in his position, their first reaction might be to assume that I'm here to make a mess or waste their time since I can't even use qi and don't know martial arts. This blacksmith is rather open-minded compared to them.'
"I'm here to commission a weapon," Yi Tian told the blacksmith.
[Inner Thoughts: Commisioning a weapon? Well, it's not like I don't have time since there haven't been that many bookings lately. I'm curious why he wants to commission a weapon instead of just buying one of the already-made ones here but... I'm just someone who makes weapons. Who am I to question their intentions?]
"What would you like?" So Chunghee asked.
The reason why Yi Tian was having a new weapon made from scratch instead of buying one of the ones on the shelves was because truthfully, he wanted something unique that was only meant for him.
It was another dream of his that he had to keep suppressed due to his lack of talent.
Now that he was a cultivator, he was planning on properly learning martial arts and how to use weapons.
Couldn't he have been doing those things even without being a cultivator?
He could still be a regular human and learn how to fight and train his body.
Yi Tian knew that but he chose not to for his mother.
If he were to train and practice martial arts but still failed to acquire any qi in his body, it'd only fuel the humiliation.
As stated before, he didn't care if the words were pointed at him but if they were pointed at his mother, he'd be devasted.
"I'd like a sword," Yi Tian answered the blacksmith. "I don't care about the price. Use the best ingredients you have, the hardest mineral, whatever you feel is necessary. Just make me the best sword you're capable of making."
[Inner Thoughts: ...Does that mean I can attempt to make the sword that my master had dreamed of making his entire life but failed to do so since he was lacking the funds?]
So Chunghee couldn't help but have that selfish thought in mind.
Even though it was a customer's money, the instant he heard that there was no limit to the price, he wanted to fulfill one of the things he had always wanted to do, surpassing his deceased master.
[Inner Thoughts: As long as I don't tell him... it shouldn't matter. I'm still technically following his instructions.]
Yi Tian felt tempted to let out a chuckle but held back.
He didn't care that the blacksmith planned on using his money in such a manner.
As long as he succeeded in making the best sword he was able to make, one that was unique and unlike no other in the world, nothing else mattered to Yi Tian.
"Come back in eight weeks. No... six," he told Yi Tian who nodded and left.
As soon as the door closed, the smile on So Chunghee's face grew.
"Finally... I can finally do what that old bastard couldn't. I'm going to make the sword you've been bragging about for years. But guess what master, what's the use bragging about a sword you were never able to make. Now you're dead and I'll be the one to take credit for your life's greatest work," So Chunghee said while looking up.
[Loyalty Points: 63 (Like)]
* * *
When he returned home, six hours had passed since he left.
Yi Tian went to his room and saw that Tang Mei was still sleeping on his bed.
"This girl. She's going to ruin her sleep schedule," he said as he placed a finger on his chin.
Thinking about something, it took him no more than ten seconds for him to make up his mind.
Leaving the room temporarily, Yi Tian returned a few minutes later with two additional people. Specifically, two female servants.
If using the Leech Method on a regular woman only produced a few P.E. then all he had to do to increase that number was to use the method only multiple of these women at the same time.
* * *
A few hours later.
'Eight P.E.,' Yi Tian counted the total acquired Perverted Energy he had gained during the foursome.
As he and the two female servants were making a lot of noise, it was inevitable that Tang Mei woke up and when she did, he was going to make her join them but she moved on her own without his instruction.
[Love Points: 89 (Infatuated)]
That was her current feelings towards Yi Tian.
For the other two:
[Love Points: 54 (Interested)]
[Love Points: 61 (Like)]
'Even though I made all three women experience multiple orgasms, only Tang Mei's feelings changed that drastically.'
This difference in change amongst the three women could be that Tang Mei's first time was more memorable so she was impacted more than the other two who weren't virgins, or she was more perverted than them so she enjoyed the sex more, or maybe it was because it was a one-on-one session when she became infatuated with him unlike the other two women who had to share.
It could be one of those or all three.
[Perverted Energy: 11]
Looking at the amount of P.E. in his possesion, Yi Tian couldn't help but feel like using one or maybe two to try out his new technique.
It could technically be considered a waste since he couldn't naturally regenerate it unlike qi.
Instead he had to actively do something to acquire it.
But also, it wasn't like P.E. was a limited resource.
'I can always get more,' Yi Tian thought as he looked at the three women sleeping on his bed.
The smell in his bedroom was raunchy and when they wake up the next morning, he was going to make them clean up their mess as well as his.
Walking out to his private garden, he took a deep breath.
His heart was racing just at the thought of using a qi technique.