章 253: A request for the endless ocean.
The sudden voice obviously caught Liang Chen's attention and made him halt his cultivation, a sliver of interest and exasperation flashing through his pupils. He was interested because his senses had been spread out to cover the surrounding area, yet he had failed to catch even a single trace of Tien Shih as she approached.
As for why he also felt exasperated, it was because the current situation was eerily familiar to him. But luckily, when he spoke up and allowed her to enter, Tien Shih was clad in an exceedingly normal black robe, her short hair somewhat disarrayed. Her blue eyes barely showed any emotion, allowing Liang Chen to heave a short sigh of relief.
"Great, you're actually wearing proper clothing."
Tien Shih, who had been in the process of opening her mouth as she entered, couldn't help but stop completely in the face of Liang Chen's words. They had caught her so off guard that she only managed to utter a confused sound.
"Heh?"
Her confusion was well-founded, but Liang Chen had no interest in discussing past events so he only waved his hand with a calm and casual smile.
"It's nothing, just forget about it. So, what can I help Young Miss Shih with? I don't imagine you've come here so late just because you want to have a nice chat."
Liang Chen stood up from his cross-legged position while speaking and stretched his body, swiping his interspatial ring and pulling out a jug of spicy wine once he was finished. He filled two cups and placed one on the other side of the table situated in front of his couch, Tien Shih taking a seat on the opposite couch and grasping the cup while she moved directly onto the main subject.
"I want your help. There'll be a meeting between the Tien and the Enlai family in four days, well, more of a grand banquet. It'll serve as an opening to a few sparring matches we'll use to decide on who gets temporary ownership of some of the more contested territories we keep fighting over. I want you to stay close to Younger Huang during this banquet, please protect him when the Enlai family decides to try something against him."
These sparring matches should be the challenge that Tien Huang had spoken about earlier, and since he also commented on how they were bringing it forward rather quickly, Liang Chen also guessed that it was rather uncommon to do so. But the frequency at which they fought over territory didn't really matter much to Liang Chen, he was a touch more interested in Tien Shih's confidence.
"You seem quite confident that they'll try to do something to him."
Her words didn't leave any room for doubt, the Enlai family was definitely going to try something against Tien Huang during the banquet. As for why they were going to try something against him, Liang Chen wasn't quite sure, as Tien Huang's earlier words suggested that Tien Shih was going to be the fighter. But Tien Shih quickly clarified the misunderstanding with a shake of her head.
"That's because he is going to be one of our fighters, and I am planning on sabotaging their fighters so it only makes sense that they do the same, that's how it always plays out. And it's better to have an extra eye out than to have one less eye out."
She didn't hide the fact that she intended to secretly act against the Enlai family, nor was Liang Chen surprised by it. The Tien and the Enlai families were rather large, so it was only natural that they would secretly act against each other to further their own position, Liang Chen had already seen these things back on his home planet. He didn't immediately answer her question, posing one of his own instead.
"If you don't mind me asking, why come to me?"
He had a hunch that she had likely noticed something about him, but it shouldn't have gone any further than just a hunch or the like. With that being the case, it was rather strange for her to come to him with her request, especially when there should be others in the family that could do it. Tien Shih had clearly expected his question, already having her answer ready the moment he closed his mouth.
"When we first met, I almost called you harmless but changed it to peaceful. The two sound similar, but there is a very fine difference between them. One can do no harm, while the other is capable of causing great harm but chooses not to. And when I saw you, I knew that you belonged to the latter category, you are far from harmless."
It wasn't exactly the most direct answer to a question he had ever heard, but he remained silent as she didn't seem like she was done answering. And sure enough, although she halted a bit at the start, she elaborated further on her answer.
"I... I have the best senses in the family, not even Father could beat me in that area. Danger, treasure, hidden places, I can spot them all with impeccable accuracy, it's exactly these senses that have given me the duty that I'm forced to carry out. And when I look at you, these senses flare up higher than they ever have before. You are an ocean, endless in size and depth, the waters so dark that you can barely see into them, the horrors lurking beneath remaining out of sight until they surface."
This was the problem with trying to remain low-key when you started to interact with stronger people, they were rarely as stupid or blind as you would hope. Such people often had senses sharper than others, and if the person you interacted with had an ancestor who used to be a strong cultivator, especially a body cultivator, their senses might be enhanced even further thanks to said cultivator's bloodline.
Her senses had flared up more than he expected, he had never been called a dark ocean hiding multiple horrors, but he had already expected her to have noticed something so he didn't show too much surprise at her statement. Instead, he showed a bit of curiosity as he raised his eyebrow.
"So you admit that you find me scary, yet you ask me to protect your younger sibling?"
She had no concrete proof of his strength and even less evidence pointing at his goals, yet she wanted him to protect her little brother. Then again, Liang Chen himself put a lot of faith in his own senses, they had saved him quite a few times in the past. As for Tien Shih, she wasn't bothered much by Liang Chen's suspicions, such unfathomable people would always have their own stories to tell so it wasn't strange for them to find other people suspicious.
"You've had plenty of chances to attack Younger Huang, yet you haven't done a single thing. In fact, you've even prevented a fight from breaking out. So while I don't know what your exact purpose here is or why you are trying to pretend like you are wounded, I believe that you are at the very least a good person who isn't out to harm us. And as such, I ask of you again, please keep an eye on Younger Huang and the rest of my siblings during the banquet, I swear that I will reward you with whatever you want afterwards."
Tien Shih lowered her head slightly as she once again made her request. In truth, this was one of the main reasons she had asked him, because she felt that he was a good person. He felt like an infinite ocean hiding an endless number of horrors, and she had undeniably felt the sensation of unfathomable danger from him.
But even so, she hadn't felt any animosity or cruelty from him, and danger was different from animosity. So she trusted her senses and placed her bet, believing that Liang Chen was the type of person that her senses told her. Liang Chen studied Tien Shih's face once she raised her head again, letting out a soft sigh after observing her eyes for a few seconds.
"... I really seem to have quite poor luck when it comes to what sort of people I run into. Tien Huang stretched out a helping hand to me despite being a stranger, so it's only fair that I repay it. I'll protect him, but only as long as he himself doesn't step out of line, I don't need to carve a fourth regret into my soul."
Liang Chen had hoped to remain hidden for as long as possible, but he seemed to have the sad fate of meeting people with sharp senses wherever he went. But since Tien Huang had decided to help him despite not knowing him or his circumstances, it was only fair that Liang Chen help him should he need it.
Of course, Liang Chen still had his boundaries, if Tien Huang overstepped them too much then it might just be Liang Chen who attacked him. Tien Shih's tired face bloomed into a faint smile when Liang Chen agreed to her request, not bothered by him adding something on to the request. She downed the remaining wine in the cup and stood up, cupping her hands and giving a slight bow.
"That's fine, we all have our boundaries and ideologies, but Younger Huang is a good child, he shouldn't overstep any sort of boundaries. So I'll thank you in advance for protecting at least him. I'll also tell you this, I don't know how much Younger Huang knows, but I'm certain he's also discovered a few oddities about you. And if he has discovered them, then Grandfather has definitely been told about them, so he might try to bother you during the banquet, please ignore his blunt nature should he do so."
She had the sharpest senses in the family, but that didn't mean that the others in the family were completely inept. That was especially the case with Tien Huang, who had been with Liang Chen the longest and was thus the one with the highest odds of discovering something. She thanked him for his time and then moved to leave the house, stopping by the door and giving him a final piece of advice.
"And oh, that wine was pretty good, but if it's spicy wines you like then the Enlai family is quite famous for them, I recommend checking out some of the stuff they bring along for the banquet."
Her words weren't meant to serve as a warning or the like, it was a simple piece of advice that she gave based on what she guessed his preferences were. She left after leaving behind her words and closed the door behind her, Liang Chen lowering his head with another sigh while patting the head of Yumao, who had popped up from his shadow.
"Ha~ah, let's just hope that the banquet and the sparring matches pass nice and peacefully, that would be for the best. And if they ask us to participate in the sparring matches then we'll just have to decline, not like they can force us."
Protecting Tien Huang and his siblings if necessary was one thing, but actively taking part in the sparring matches was something else entirely. Should they try to push him into that then he would just have to use his injuries as an excuse. And if that wasn't enough for them, then he would just have to leave, something he hoped to avoid for now.
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ShiranuiShukumei
ShiranuiShukumei A sentient pepper is making me write this, please call the ghostbusters to help me.
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