Chapter 63: Qipao or Hanfu?

"Then he gave Liling a proper burial ceremony and threw the three goons into the forest for the wolves to eat. He followed it up by destroying the entire group of bandits to the point of no return. After successfully defeating the bandits, he felt like there's no point in living in Noncho anymore, especially since the person he considered dear passed away. So, rather than just a simple revenge against the Blood Moon Sect for destroying the Taiyi sect, he aimed to eradicate evil off this world entirely—a really noble goal." I concluded Zhangsun Shan's tutorial tale.

"I see. What happened to the seventh heaven's healing technique then?" Goldy asked.

Rather than the tale, he was interested in the skill—damn greedy dragon. Just shed a few tears now, will ya? It was touching!

"Well, he took it as the only thing left of Liling. Before doing so, he went to the shrine and asked for the Tao sect elder's blessing. So, technically, he became a member of the Tao sect as well—not that anyone knows about it." I replied.

"That's how you got the health bar, huh? Weird. Which other game explained how the character gained a health bar? There's something fishy about it." Goldy replied upon listening to the entire tale.

"I know, right! That's what us gamers thought as well. So, most of them skipped this part because they thought that it was useless. However, I was a sucker for the story, so I sat through it." I replied.

"Wait a minute. This is one important segment of the hero's life, right? How come you forgot about it?" Goldy asked, looking all suspiciously at me.

Well, what he said makes total sense. It should've been an important storyline. But…

"No one cared. So, I didn't either. I heard someone say that the main story is way more interesting, so I speed ran through the tutorial. I mean, even if you don't remember the hero's noble dream, it ain't gonna matter because in the end he faced Blood Moon Sect, anyway." I replied.

Goldy sighed. "Can't believe that we might've missed an important treasure because you can't remember a damn storyline!" He spoke.

"Hey! Be thankful that I remember this at least. I know the plot of about a thousand of so stories. And yet, I could pinpoint into one and remember the tale. You know how hard that is with multiple stories in the same genre?" I asked.

"Hmm, I can't argue against you on that. You're right. I should be thankful that you remember. I apologize for acting this way." He didn't waste any time to apologize.

This is why I like Goldy. When it's his mistake, he doesn't beat around the bush and straight up apologizes. He deserves mad respect for that.

"Great! I accept your apology. So, what are we gonna do?" I asked.

"Maybe we can rob the scripture just like we did with the sects?" Goldy suggested.

"Hmm, I don't know man. It felt fine when we did it to those sects because I remember them being total arses once Wang Lei died. They are people who deserve to get robbed, although it's for their future crimes that the alternate reality version of them did. But that kinda behavior doesn't sprout out randomly. It's always been in them. Anyway, Liling differs from them. She was sassy but kind. I don't wanna rob such a person." I replied.

"Then what are we gonna do? I mean, she's not gonna give you the scripture unless she considers you as family. I mean, the main lead of the world took an entire year to get recognized as family. How will you tackle that problem?" Goldy brought for the factual questions.

He's right. How am I even planning to do that? If I could only receive it by joining the Tao sect, I'm fine with it since I'm already in two sects, including Goldy's one. A third one isn't that big of a deal. But how could I convince her?

"I honestly don't know. Maybe we should try approaching her as the empress. Maybe that would work. Or I'll force her a little after helping her out." I replied.

"I see. Hope it works out though." Goldy spoke.

"Me too, Goldy. Me too." I can only be optimistic as heck at this point.

So, since we decided that I'm not gonna go with the cat burglar shtick, I put that aside and packed the empress clothes. However, I noticed that those were way too bloody to wear, so I chucked them aside as well. The mask looked sleek, though. Hence, that was the only thing that I kept.

Before actually heading to Noncho, I wanted to buy my new set of clothes, so I headed out for shopping. At almost the same time, pops returned with the good news that the grant was approved, which meant that we'll receive money for maintenance now. Smooth!

Anyway, amid all the excitement, when I told him I wanted to go shopping, he actually agreed. Although, to protect his daughter, he assigned a few of the sect members with her, including Guo Ning. I mean, the protection squad looked baffled as heck since they were few that knew my capabilities. However, for the sake of keeping the secret, they came.

Since we were already in the shopping mood, I bought a costume for Guo Ning as well. While I bought myself a Qipao (Cheongsam), trying something different from the last time, I stuck with Hanfu for Guo Ning. I would've bought it as well, but Qipao seemed to attract me this time around and I kinda wanted to check the mobility in it. However, I wasn't confident in wearing the Qipao alone, so I bought light colored trousers as well. But then I changed my decision once again since Hanfu had their own sort of charm that Qipao kinda lacked. And my lack of courage in pulling off Qipao influenced my decision as well. Someday, when I'm actually confident about killing it with Qipao, I'll choose it. Until that day, Hanfu, you're my mate!