The young girl was confused at Xu Que’s words. She eyed Xu Que, wondering why he knew so little.
“My Lord, are you really a friend of Jiang Hongyan?” she asked.
“Of course!” Xu Que nodded. “She just never told me anything about her family!”
“But everyone in the East Continent knows about the Jiang Family! Why don’t you?” The girl blinked.
“Because I am not from the East Continent,” Xu Que replied calmly.
The girl nodded. Since Xu Que was not from the East Continent, it made sense that he did not possess this seemingly common knowledge.
“My Lord,” the girl began, “while it is true that Jiang Hongyan is a member of the Jiang Family, it has been foretold that her future holds nothing but misfortune. Her mother also suffered this ominous fate. Before Jiang Hongyan was born, her mother was able to suppress this ominous fate. However, once she gave birth to another unfortunate soul, both their fates were sealed. Their mere presence was enough to bring great misfortune upon the Jiang family as well as catastrophic damage. Anywhere they went, bad luck would follow.”
“How do you know that the misfortune was because of Jiang Hongyan and her mother having an “ominous fate?” It might just have been a coincidence!” Xu Que said, shaking his head.
Xu Que didn’t believe in this so-called ominous fate. Fate was something invisible and senseless. There was no way to prove that such a thing even existed.
“It was no coincidence,” she said. “Ask anyone. They will be able to list off many ominous things that happened after Jiang Hongyan was born. Did you know that her parents died while searching for a method to change her fate? Luckily, just before they died, they found a magic art capable of temporarily suppressing her ominous fate. This art was incomplete, but still, it was something.”
“Even before this discovery, Jiang Hongyan made great leaps in her cultivation. She became virtually invincible among her peers. It remained this way for several years. Her status as a sovereign was well-deserved. It is a pity that the fate-suppressing magic art is still incomplete. As it stands, she cannot even make it to the Infant Transformation Stage. If she could only find the rest of the incantation, she would be able to reach the highest level of the Void Training Stage with the snap of her fingers. She would maybe even jump straight to the Form Synthesis Stage!
“She is… so awesome!” Xu Que uttered.
Xu Que was practically speechless. He thought that the improvements to his cultivation level that he made by killing people were impressive. He didn’t expect the Water Empress’ skills to be even more awesome!
Could it be true that she would have reached the Form Synthesis Stage by now if she had been able to find all six parts of that magic art?
“Why doesn’t the Jiang family help her to complete the fate-suppressing magic art?” he asked. “If she had the complete art, the Jiang Family would have another powerhouse at the Form Synthesis Stage. Wouldn’t they want that?”
“When she was first born, the Jiang Family wanted to help Jiang Hongyan and her mother find a way to reverse their ominous fate,” the girl explained. “However, once Jiang Hongyan’s parents died about one hundred years ago, everyone in the family stopped caring about her. Part of this was because the Patriarch of the Jiang family had just started his secluded cultivation, so he wasn’t able to direct the Jiang family on how to handle the situation. Without his guidance, the members of the Jiang family decided to seize her parents’ belongings and distribute them amongst themselves. They then drove Jiang Hongyan out of the East Continent to forever rid the Jiang family of her ominous fate.”
“Sh*t! The Jiang family has no shame! How dare they bully my… ahem, bully a little girl?” Xu Que said.
He hadn’t known much about the Water Empress’ past. No one ever told him about it. No one ever wanted to. Now that he knew more about what she had been through and what she was still going through, he felt so pissed off!
He hadn’t expected the Water Empress to really have such an unfortunate past. He had known that she lost her parents when she was young, but he didn’t know that her relatives took all of her parents’ belongings and kicked her off the continent. She was a sovereign, yet she had to wander from place to place until she decided to make her home on shabby Five Elements Mountain.
“Alas, big families like the Jiang family are full of internal conflict,” the girl said. “I doubt they would ever accept Jiang Hongyan as their Holy Virgin. Word has begun to spread that there are other ancient magic arts in the South Continent that could suppress her fate. People on the East Continent are afraid that if Jiang Hongyan uses one of these magic arts to complete her cultivation, she will become an even stronger powerhouse. The Jiang family is especially worried about this happening. They are afraid that if she completes her cultivation, she will come back to the East Continent and seize the Jiang family’s power.”
The young girl shook her head. It seemed that she felt sympathy for Jiang Hongyan.
Xu Que was amazed at how calm the Water Empress always was. How could she ever be calm after being thrown through so many of life’s horrible twists and turns?
If someone had ever treated me like this, I would have destroyed them, or at least given them a little taste of their own medicine.
Xu Que hoped that the water Empress had been able to put the third part of One Turning Into Three Pure Pellucid Ones to use. Surely, she had been able to use it to further her cultivation. Perhaps she could reach the Void Training Stage even without the other six parts.
“My Lord, here’s my advice for you. Please, stay out of this. You see those elites over there?” she said, referencing the young cultivators who had entered the lobby. “Those are sovereigns of the Jiang family and the Gong family. I’m glad I warned you about all this because if they knew you were a friend of Jiang Hongyan, they would definitely be out to get you!” she warned.
The girl, having declared her final warning, left to help the group of influential cultivators check-in.
The Jiang family and the Gong family?
Xu Que looked at the group of cultivators. The young girl had begun to check their IDs.
The young man who was at level ten of the Infant Transformation Stage was undoubtedly the leader of the group. Xu Que would have a tough time if they ever got into a fight. The two ladies behind him were at level nine of the Infant Transformation Stage. The rest of the cultivators in the group were all at level six or seven of the Infant Transformation Stage. If they all decided to attack Xu Que together, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Xu Que counted himself lucky that he didn’t have “I am a friend of Jiang Hongyan” written on his face.
The group of cultivators had all been checked in now and began to walk past him to find their rooms.
“D*mn! I need to improve my strength, and fast! I have to seize this precious opportunity to be the hero and save the damsel in distress!” Xu Que murmured to himself.
“What?” said one of the female cultivators, stopping and staring at Xu Que with a puzzled expression.
Xu Que stared back, like a deer caught in headlights. He didn’t want to do anything to provoke these people. His mind raced for how to get out of this situation. However, the girl that was staring at him was so beautiful that her gaze was making him nervous.
Sh*t! Why are you staring at me like this? Is it wrong for me to be so handsome?
Xu Que frowned slightly. He didn’t have one ounce of caring for these people knowing that they were from the Jiang and Gong families. The girl staring at him also frowned.
“Gong Yue, what’s wrong?” a man in the group asked.
Gong Yue shook her head.
“Nothing, let’s go,” she said.
The group of cultivators proceeded forward, ignoring Xu Que.
They all seemed quite arrogant. It was no surprise that they had no interest in speaking to a cultivator like Xu Que who was only at level four of the Infant Transformation Stage. It was only Gong Yue who had given him any notice.
Gong Yue suddenly stopped. She turned around to look at Xu Que again.
“Fellow cultivator, what’s your name, please?”
Her companions came to a stop as well. They were confused as to why she was so interested in this guy.
Xu Que was also shocked.
Why is this lady at level nine of the Infant Transformation Stage asking me what my name is?
“I am Li Bai of the Exploding Heavens Faction,” he said calmly. “I am an apprentice of Yui Hatano. What can I do for you, young lady?”