Chapter 61: Chapter 61
Now that the agreement was established, Hei decided to ask some further questions.
"So, tell me more about this fiancé of yours."
"What exactly do you want to know?"
"What's his background?"
"He seems to be from the Zhu Clan. It is a powerful and well-known clan with a good reputation."
"How powerful?"
"No weaker than the Radiant Jade Sect. I've heard that they have a minute realm cultivator."
Hearing these words, Hei entered thought. If this clan had a minute realm cultivator, then it was very possible for them to have been involved in the disappearances.
Hei couldn't care less that the clan was well-known and reputable. It was very easy for those who appeared to be upstanding to have a hand in the underworld.
This was enough information about the fiancé, next Hei wanted to know about the situation itself.
"So, if we recall the events of a few days ago, it would lead one to believe that you have an… interesting perspective."
Jingfei blushed, she looked to the ground.
She tried to explain herself.
"That was a special case!"
Hei raised a brow. It didn't seem to be a special case at the time. One would assume she would have reacted like that on any normal day.
"I'm just wondering how you could have a marriage when you have those kinds of reactions. Shouldn't you be strongly opposed to this?"
What Hei found even more strange was that the sect would allow this marriage to proceed, when it was clear that they were teaching the disciples things that didn't go well with marriage at all.
Jingfei seemed to be confused by Hei's question. She raised a brow as she responded.
"Why would I be opposed?"
"Because… He's a man."
"What exactly do you think this is? Do you think we're afraid of all men or something?"
"That is what one would assume, isn't it?"
Jingfei shook her head.
"Wouldn't that be irrational? We are taught the dangers of men, but we still know that there are good men out there. It's just that most of them aren't good."
Hearing this, Hei was left speechless. Truthfully speaking, that wasn't necessarily incorrect. But it depended on how one defined 'good'.
Jingfei continued.
"It's just like those men who died to protect their families back then. We all know that for family, men can be good, which is why we are not afraid of marriage. But unfortunately, most men are not family, which makes them dangerous."
Hei had a response for this.
"But even for family, there can still be dangers. Even your own husband could do something terrible to you."
"Of course, we also know that. But there's only so much suspicion you can have before it starts consuming you. In order to maintain a healthy mind, one has to accept certain possibilities."
Again, Hei was without words.
It was true. At any time, something bad could happen to someone. But to constantly think of such things would be a great hindrance in everyday life.
It seemed he had been too judgemental in his thoughts of what the sect was teaching the disciples. But he would be able to determine the truth for himself after listening to the teachings.
Jingfei continued.
"It essentially boils down to whether or not we want to have children. Those of us who don't, never need to interact with men at all, but most of us do. Which means we'll have to get married. Conveniently, the sect evaluates all prospective husbands."
Hei was curious.
"Oh? How effective has the evaluation been?"
Jingfei smiled.
"There has never been a complaint thus far. The sect is very good at what they do."
Hei added on.
"Or they weren't able to come back to tell you."
"Hmm. That is also a possibility. But most of those who get married, remain in the sect. As for those who leave, we don't really know."
These words caused Hei to think some more.
"So, you're telling me that the sect teaches you to fear all men except those chosen by the sect. Is that correct?"
"If you want to simplify it."
"Hmm."
This sounded odd to Hei, but there wasn't enough evidence to tie it to anything else.
"So, when is this marriage supposed to take place?"
"At the end of the year."
"Oh? So we have some time to work with."
The end of the year wasn't coming for quite a while. It was plenty of time for Hei to make some arrangements.
"The rescue of your mother is going to take a while. I'll handle that and the rest. However, we are going to need to make you stronger."
"Why do I need to get stronger? Will you be needing me to fight?"
"No, that won't be necessary. But I don't really want to have a weak maid, so…"
Originally, Hei had wanted to have Jingfei handle her own problems, but this was much more than he thought it was going to be.
Even her gaining strength was optional, but it would be useful in the future.
"…"
Jingfei stared at Hei with a blank expression. She had assumed he would be wanting her to improve her strength so they could go and rescue her mother together. But that seemed to not be the case.
"Are you sure you won't be needing me to…"
Jingfei's sentence trailed off when she saw Hei waving his hand. It seemed her participation was completely unnecessary. Which felt quite strange.
"So, I don't have to do anything?"
Hei smiled.
"No, just let your Young Master Hei handle it."
Hei got up and both the table and chair disappeared. He then gestured Jingfei to follow behind him as he went back to his room.
He wanted to see what's his sisters had done with it while he and Jingfei were gone.
When they got there, Hei could already see that something was wrong.
But it was only Hei.
Jingfei had sparkly eyes as she witnessed the scene in front of her.
Hei stepped past his door into his room, and what he saw left him speechless.
"What… What have you done to my room?"
Hei was almost in tears as he said this.
His hand-scraped hardwood floors were nowhere to be found, instead, there was a fluffy pink carpet.
And as if that wasn't enough, the blanket he had handstitched from countless threads was now replaced by an army of stuffed animals stitched together.
What of his barrier and extended floor? Again, nowhere to be found. Instead, there was now a wall, with several windows, and pink curtains to match the carpet.
Bai, Mei, Qiuyue, and Fang Ren all turned around to greet Hei and Jingfei who had returned.
They were still in their renovation work, but Bai and Mei came up to Hei with smiles on their faces.
"How do you like it, Brother?"
"Mm. Isn't it much better than before?"
"This…"
Hei didn't know what to say. He wondered where Bai and Mei even got this kind of sense of style from. He had never seen them interact with anything pink like this, or any stuffed animals for that matter.
Sure, Bai had a doll which Shao Chen had created for her, but that was only one. How had it become this?
After a moment of speechlessness, Hei was able to respond.
"What do you mean better? You changed the whole atmosphere! What happened to my hand-scraped hardwood floors? My barrier? The extended flooring? All of that took me a lot of effort to create. How could you do this?"
After giving them his heartfelt opinion, Hei noticed all of the young ladies looking at him with confused faces. It was as if he had said the most nonsensical thing in the world.
Jingfei spoke first.
"What are you talking about, Young Master Hei? From what I can see, the room is now three times better than it was before."
Hei turned to Jingfei with a raised brow, but before he could say anything, Qiuyue added on.
"You see, Jingfei? This is why people say you have poor comprehension ability."
Hei's eyes sparkled as he turned to Qiuyue, but his expression quickly dimmed after hearing her following words.
"It is clearly 3.7 times better."
Bai added on.
"Actually, Senior Sister Qiuyue, I found it to be 3.71 times better. I think you missed that particular section over there when you did your calculations."
Bai pointed over to the place where the simple wooden table used to be. Now, there was a stylish glass table, occupied by three teddy bears.
It just so happened that one of them was white, one of them was white with red ears, and the other was brown.
After seeing this, Qiuyue realised her mistake.
"Ah, you're right. I didn't include the new table. It really is 3.71 times better."
Hei was wondering what planet he had stumbled onto. Since when had style been something quantifiable? Especially since they completely changed the entire atmosphere.
Seeing the drastic changes and all the new additions to his room, Hei had a question.
"Where did you get all of this stuff?"
This was what he wanted to know. When they got here, they were empty-handed. Where had all these things appeared from?
In response to his question, Bai and Mei both tugged at strings around their necks, revealing the rings that were strung to them.
Hei was surprised to see this.
"Spatial rings?"
Bai and Mei both smiled and giggled.
"Where did you get them from?"
Bai answered.
"We used our winnings from the challenges to exchange for these spatial rings and a few of the things you see here."
Hey again looked around the room. He was now seeing a tremendous waste of merit points.
"You spent merit points on these things? And instead of getting useful things, you filled your spatial rings with stuffed animals and various other ornaments?"
This seemed to be a gross misuse of spatial rings. He had never heard of anyone in any story, be that a boy or girl, using a spatial ring to carry around stuffed animals.
Bai raised a brow.
"Oh? What should we have gotten instead, Brother?"
It wasn't just Bai, everyone looked at Hei waiting for his answer.
Hei felt that this was an extremely strange situation. Why did it seem like he was the only one who didn't make sense in a world full of crazy people?
But after some thought, he really couldn't come up with anything better to purchase. As envoys of the heavens, who were practising the Way of Essence, they had no need for cultivation resources or the like.
Which meant that they could do whatever they wanted with their wealth. Even if they flushed it down the toilet, they wouldn't really lose anything.
Of course, they could give it to subordinates to strengthen them, but right now, the only subordinates were Liling and Jingfei. And they had already given Liling many resources.
Jingfei, of course, had her own merit points, with which she could buy her own resources.
So, there really wasn't anything strange about his sisters squandering their merit points on frivolous things.
"I guess… You did well?"
That was all Hei could say.
But he did have one more question.
"Why aren't you wearing your rings and instead, hanging them around your necks? Are they too big for your fingers?"
Hearing this, Bai looked to the floor and Mei fidgeted a little.
After a short moment, Mei responded.
"I refuse to wear a ring unless you place on my finger."
"Wow…"
Hei rolled his eyes in response to Mei's words. They were just too ridiculous.
But when he looked around the room, he noticed that Jingfei, Qiuyue and Fang Ren seemed to be caught up in some strange atmosphere.
Hei turned to Bai with a raised brow.
"And you? Is it the same thing?"
Bai didn't say anything. She was still looking at the floor as she slightly nodded her head.
"…"
Hei had no idea what to do in this kind of situation.
He placed his hands on both of their heads and spoke with a smile.
"Then, I guess you're just going to keep wearing your spatial rings around your necks from now on."
Both Bai and Mei puffed their cheeks out as they looked at Hei.
They turned around and walked grumpily back to the others, where they continued their renovation work. Jingfei joined them.
Hei just watched with a blank expression as they turned his room unrecognisable.
'It's a good thing I created a model of it this time.'
Chapter 62: Chapter 62
Hei had initially been shocked by the changes to his room, but after a while, he realised he was overreacting.
This was the foundation he was creating for the Shao Clan, which we would be leaving to them anyway, so them changing it wasn't anything to complain about.
Besides, he had already created a mental model of the room, so he could recreate it whenever he wanted.
After thinking these things, he was now able to calmly observe as his sisters and the others did their redecoration.
And now that he was watching them with his own eyes, he could see that they were putting quite a lot of effort into it.
He watched as Bai pulled out a headboard from her spatial ring and placed it behind the bed.
The headboard had 'Shao' embroidered on it and seemed to have been custom-made.
Of course, it was also pink.
The same went for the bedside lamps they had added to either side of the bed, which had pink lampshades. They were held up by small white tables.
To finish up, they added a chandelier and hung it at the centre of the ceiling.
After they had finished their work, they turned back to Hei.
Bai and Mei walked to Hei before asking for his opinion.
"How do you like it, Brother?"
They both waited for Hei's response.
Hei looked around the finished room. He had to admit that it looked quite nice. But the problem was, it was a little girl's room.
Before answering the question, he looked to the others and asked them his own question.
"What do the three of you think?"
The three looked to each other before Qiuyue answered.
"It's 3.94 times better than the original."
They all seemed to have the same answer as none disagreed
This time, even Bai didn't have anything to say.
Hei was interested in their response. He really wondered how they quantised the appearance of a room.
Since they were no longer needed here, Hei decided to have them leave. Jingfei led Qiuyue and Fang Ren around the residence, showing them everything she knew about.
After the others had left, Hei walked over to the new glass table. He picked up the brown bear and sat in the chair it had been occupying, before placing it on his lap and inviting his sisters to sit.
Bai and Mei followed suit, and after all three had sat down, Hei spoke.
"So, where exactly did you get this sense of style from?"
Bai and Mei looked to each other before turning to Hei.
Mei answered.
"This is part of the information we gathered. After getting the basic information about residences and how the sect works in general, we purchased some information jades on style."
He was even further confused. Not only had Bai and Mai wasted their merit points on stuffed animals and other ornaments, but they had also purchased fashion magazines.
How did this make sense?
When he had said to gather information, he meant cultivation techniques and battle techniques. And if they had the time, studying professions wasn't a bad option.
When had interior designer become a popular profession among cultivators?
But to be fair, he hadn't actually looked it up. It was entirely possible for interior designer to be a profession that many cultivators had.
What further made it odd, was the fact that Jingfei lived in a cultivator cave before he came here. And he had seen her cave. It wasn't anything impressive, to say the least.
Hei decided to call them out on it.
"But what about cultivation techniques and battle techniques?"
Bai responded.
"Of course, we also purchased cultivation techniques and battle techniques, but the thing is, before initiation, the things we can purchase are extremely limited. On top of that, one also has to progress within the sect in order to gain access to certain resources."
Hearing this, Hei now understood. From Qiuyue's explanation, Bai and Mei had a large number of merit points. If they were unable to use them to purchase cultivation techniques before initiation, then it really didn't matter what they used them on.
They had clearly already managed to find a way to amass a large number of merit points. And even if they didn't have any, Hei had not expected them to have started purchasing cultivation techniques at this stage anyway.
But when he found out that they had purchased all of these trinkets, he assumed that they were using their merit points wastefully.
He had neglected the fact that it was Jingfei who had been the medium for all the purchases thus far. He had no idea what kind of access privileges disciples had before initiation.
Since Bai and Mei hadn't necessarily wasted their merit points, Hei decided to move on.
"Then can I see the information?"
He was interested to find out what was in the information jades that made all five young ladies give the same answer.
Bai and Mei happily handed Hei the information jades, which he used his spiritual perception to check.
After having seen what was in the information jades, Hei took another look at the room.
He was now able to analyse it in the same way that the others had, and sure enough, he also found this new design to be 3.94 times better than his original design.
"Wow… It really is 3.94 times better, according to these jades."
As he imagined how his room previously looked, he could see how every change Bai and Mei made was to increase the score given by these information jades.
They had used a fairly complex method to give value to style, but the issue was, all of it leaned more towards what Hei would imagine a young lady's taste would be.
Sure, the jades included styles that were more to Hei's taste, but they were all marked lowly on the scale.
Hei imagined that these would be the preferences of the minority of young ladies within the sect, causing their scores to be low.
This made sense. The information came from a women-only sect; thus, most of the information would be tailored to women and young ladies.
Of course, there would be those whose tastes strayed from the norm, but for the most part, it wasn't surprising.
The only thing Hei wondered was why Bai and Mei chose pink and white as the main colours.
As he looked around, analysing the room through the method provided by the jades, he realised that changing anything to the way was before, would only decrease the score, and it would do nothing to restore the previous atmosphere.
That meant, if he wanted his atmosphere back, he would have to completely revert the room to its original form.
He considered doing this, but as he looked at all of the small details that Bai and Mei added, he decided it was also worth preserving.
Even the amalgamation of stuffed animals that they called a blanket had a certain appeal to it.
All in all, the room was actually pretty nice. But it was just the wrong room for him.
"I do quite like it. But there was a special quality to the way it was before, so I will be recreating it and living there most of the time. This'll be a special room only used when you come to visit."
Bai and Mei both nodded their heads. They had no problem with this.
When they had originally insisted on sharing a room with Hei, they assumed he would be letting them live here for the entire time. But since it was only once a week, it didn't matter where he was the rest of the time.
At this moment, Hei realised something.
"Why didn't you guys just modify a different room? Why did it have to be this one?"
Bai and Mei both looked to each other. After a moment, they turned to him with raised brows and responded.
"You said your room was nothing compared to the other ones, so we thought improving this one would be best."
"That's right, why would we choose a different room?"
"…"
Hei was left speechless. It was true, he had told them his room was nothing compared to the ones he had created for them. So, 'improving' this one was the logical choice.
Hei decided to move on. He had other things to tell his sisters now.
"Anyway, let me update you on the Jingfei situation."
Bai and Mei gave Hei their attention. They were interested in Jingfei for their own reasons.
Hei continued.
"It turns out Jingfei has a marriage proposal that she wants to get out of. And her original plan was to have me become her fiancé.-"
Before Hei could continue, Mei cut him off.
"Oh?"
Mei was already clad in her Berserk Aura, and the natural Qi told Hei that she had activated her spiritual perception.
Mei was currently trying to locate Jingfei.
Hei noticed this, so he interrupted her by patting her head.
"Calm down, Mei. What's gotten into you?"
Before she could respond, Bai spoke.
"I think it's because of her nature as a spirit beast. Now, how did you respond to Senior Sister Jingfei, Brother?"
Bai spoke as if she was being reasonable right now, but the natural Qi told Hei that she had also activated her spiritual perception.
Hei couldn't help chuckling as he realised what was going on.
"So, are you also a spirit beast, Little Bai?"
Hearing his words, Bai blushed and looked down at the table. She didn't think she was being so transparent.
This caused Hei to laugh even more.
"Well, of course, I didn't agree to it. But your reactions were a bit too strong, don't you think? Jingfei probably felt cold chills just now."
Now both of them were looking down at the table.
Having teased them enough, Hei rubbed their heads and continued.
"It turns out that the rabbit hole goes much deeper than that. Jingfei's mother is the sect leader. Over the years, a bunch of disciples have been going missing. And now the sect leader is also missing and is currently being replaced by the vice sect leader.
Bai and Mei looked to each other and seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
"Second-in-command?"
They both said this at the same time, and Hei nodded his head.
Over the years, Hei had taught his siblings the common phrases that he used in his plans. Second-in-command meant that the second-in-command was trying to take over.
"That is what I'm assuming given the current information, but there is a slight chance I'm wrong. We'll see about that."
Hei always included the possibility of unique plots appearing, so he never claimed to be 100 per cent sure. But he was always fairly confident.
He continued.
"Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be handling this one by myself."
Hei didn't want to get his sisters involved in this. He was fairly confident that the themes were going to get quite adult in this particular side quest.
If his speculations were correct, then this thing tied back all the way to the origin of the Radiant Jade Sect. But this was a bit of a wild guess, so he decided not to share it.
It was entirely based on the fact that there was the obscure rule of the peak leader of the Man Peak being able to invite a male disciple.
If he was correct, then the remnants of the original incident were still here, and this was all just a continuation of past events.
Bai and Mei seemed reluctant to be excluded from the fun, but they realised that if Hei was not inviting them, then it was no place for them.
He was surprised that they didn't put up any resistance, but he could still see that they wanted to be a part of it.
It's just so happened that he had something they could do.
"That being said, there's still something I may need your help with."
Hei could see their eyes sparkling as he said this.
He continued.
"It's nothing exciting, really. It's just if you decide to leave the sect, I want you to stay together. And if you encounter someone who attempts to assault or kidnap you, capture them for me."
The two seemed to be confused by their brother's instructions.
Hei could see this, so he clarified.
"It just so happens that I have a pretty good means of interrogation. If you bring one rat to me, it will lead us to the rest."
Hearing these words, the two understood what he was saying.
Since the kidnappings were connected to the missing elders and sect leader, their brother was aiming to find the kidnappers.
Once he found one, he could find the entire group, and once that was done, he would be able to take a bird's-eye view of the entire situation.
"If it does happen, and that's an if, I don't want you to try to intentionally lure them out, then I want you to condition the person to fear me before you bring them to me. That will make the interrogation much more effective."
Hei was planning to try his new interrogation techniques to see how effective they were.
After making sure that the two girls know his intentions clearly, Hei continued.
"On top of that, I want you to spread news of me being a hero among the juniors of the sect."
After hearing these words, Bai and Mei had confused expressions. Why did their brother want to be labelled a hero? Didn't he always say to be low-key?
Seeing their confusion, Hei elaborated.
"Through this whole Jingfei situation, I have seen a chance to potentially take the Radiant Jade Sect in as a subordinate as well. And being known as a hero among the new disciples would be quite helpful for that."
Bai and Mei were surprised that their brother was trying to subordinate another group so soon. It was only a short while ago that they had essentially captured the Fang Clan.
Bai responded.
"Are you going to do the same thing you did with the Fang Clan's matriarch? Will you be rescuing Jingfei's mother?
Hei nodded his head. He was pleased that Bai was able to catch on so quickly.
He was indeed going to make use of the fact that rescuing Jingfei's mother was part of his plans.
This, combined with what he was doing with the man peak, would at the very least, create the image of a hero in the minds of all disciples of the sect.
There was only one more question.
"What will you do with the Radiant Jade Sect, Brother?"
Mei added on.
"I also want to know."
Hei scratched his head.
"Actually, I didn't really intend to do anything with them. They're just a collectable on the way. Maybe we'll have use for them at some point."
"…"
"…"
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