บท 15: Brother-in-law

(Pov Itachi)

Shuji was heading towards the New Moon City after processing the rest of the purification energy he received from his Ace soul clone's new bloodline. After absorbing all of the energy, he was now much stronger and felt his brain was more precise. Previously even with the addition of memory partition, he still wasn't at 100% combat effectiveness due to the peculiarity of the situation. Even with having a thought partition controlling the other body, it was pretty hard to get used to feeling two sets of senses. This had gone away with the purification energy because the energy had purified his mind and removed the external stimuli. As he was thinking, he was pulled out of his thoughts by Jasmine.

"So we aren't going to the Blue Wind Capital?" she asked from within the Sky Poison Pearl.

"No, we are going to take a bit of a vacation… we will stay for two weeks and see where fate takes us," Itachi said calmly. After speaking, Shuji thought about what to do and finally decided to head towards the New Moon Profound Palace for the banquet that was coming up in the future. Not only was there the banquet, but he also wanted to meet Cang Yue. He had always thought that she was one of the best in the original novel but left to manage a kingdom for no real reason.

He made a plan to conceal his cultivation to their level for the banquet so he could join as well. After all, an Earth Profound Realm cultivator fighting a Nascent Soul was a massive difference. After doing a little research, he learned that the banquet began in about two weeks, so he had made his decision to rest for two weeks. For all the time that he had been in this world, he had never really stopped to rest. He was always thinking of plans for the future or training that he never slowed down to enjoy himself. This was not to say that he didn't enjoy acting cool and training, but everyone needs a little break.

So for the next two weeks, he did nothing but relax and visit some of the stores around town. He tried various cooking stalls and often gave them critiques to help us with his inheritance from the Shokugeki No Soma world; he was one of the greatest chefs alive currently. After finishing his time as a tourist, he headed to the New Moon Profound Palace. As he walked inside, he saw three short men trying to bully a tall and strong one. It looked pretty funny seeing this tall, muscular man getting bullied, but then he saw who it was.

"It's Xia Yuanba! He was Xia Qingyue's brother!" Shuji thought. Knowing that this would be his future brother-in-law, he decided to save him. He went towards the three stooges who had turned around and faced him.

"What? You got a problem, big guy? Do you even know who I a–" *SLAP* Shuji b*tch slapped him without wanting to hear him finish. The man was incredibly weak, being only in the Elementary Profound Realm, which led to him losing a lot of teeth from the slap. The three stooges were shocked! They couldn't see his cultivation, so they thought he was just an average person. They wanted to tell him that they were students of the New Moon Profound Palace to intimidate him, but they didn't expect this? Now one of them was on the floor unconscious, and the other two were frozen. Shuji flared his Sharingan to frighten them and said, "Apologize and get lost."

After Shuji said that, they immediately apologized to Xia Yuanba before running away with the unconscious person. Xia Yuanba looked up towards Itachi gratefully, but he was shy and didn't know how to express himself. He felt that Itachi was cool and mysterious. His unique clothes and the mysterious aura that he emitted made him look at him with interest. Suddenly he was snapped out of his musings by Itachi.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha. Do you mind if we eat something at the inn right here." he asked Yuanba while pointing at the inn he spoke of. Xia Yuanba was surprised that he wanted to talk to him. Too shy to question it; However, he just nodded sheepishly.

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"So…" Itachi said. "Tell me, in a fight will all three of them do you think you can win?" he asked seriously. They sat at the inn's tavern, and a maid came to take their orders before leaving. Yuanba thought about what he was just asked. It was true that they were in the same cultivation as him but they were far weaker than him. "But they are three…" he thought and didn't know what to say to Itachi.

"Let me answer for you. If you were to have fought you would have defeated all three." Itachi said lightly. To Yuanba this was shocking! He looked at Itachi with wide eyes. "I … will defeat them?" he thought to himself. He was brought out of his musings once again by Itachi.

"I don't know why you have such low self-esteem towards yourself but listen to me," he said attracting Yuanba's attention. "Those who forgive themselves, and are able to accept their true nature… They are the strong ones." Itachi said with some melancholy. Yuanba however did not pick up on this due to the words resounding in his ears like thunder. To Yuanba who had lived as a fat kid who was bullied and always had to save this quote hit him deeply. No matter how strong he had become he could not accept who was and always will be. He had grown up to be a strong man but still shy and intimidated. What Itachi said to him hit so close to him that he would have thought that he knew who he was.

Itachi looked at him and decided that he understood the message he wished to convey started to stand up. Yuanba who was still in a daze saw this. He looked up and asked, "Who was it that you knew that was strong?" Itachi who heard this had a face of melancholy.

"It was my best friend…" he said lightly. After this he put some money on the table for his meal before saying, "However strong you become, never seek to bear it all alone. If you do, failure is certain. Take it from experience…" he said before turning into a flock of crows.

Jasmine who was inside of the Sky Poison pearl at this moment was thinking to herself. She didn't understand what happened to Itachi in the past but knew it must have been bad. "I'll find out more about you one day Itachi Uchiha…" she thought to herself.

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In front of the New Moon Banquet venue stood Itachi. It was a very large complex with lots of decoration. Itachi was walking inside when he was stopped by a guard. "Stop! State your name and what sect you're from!" the guard said. Itachi used a small genjutsu before saying, "Itachi Uchiha from the New Moon Profound Palace."

Under the small genjutsu, the guard let him enter in a daze. He entered the complex and after several walks, he entered the Great Hall where all of the guests were. Inside were many people who acted like aristocrats or arrogant young masters who acted like lords. Shuji who saw this snorted in his mind. "Mere Nascent Soul Realm cultivators and they act as if they are the children of Heaven… Just a group of frogs in a well. They don't even know that they are one of the smallest in this vast world. Based on the geniuses of the Blue Wind Empire they look like trash compared to the weakest of geniuses from the Divine Phoenix Empire. If only they knew perhaps they would lose their arrogance." he thought to himself.

While stopping at the venue he saw a young woman that she recognized. She was Lan Xueruo or her real identity Cang Yue. She was the princess of the Blue Wind Empire who came here to look for a miracle to save her father. She had just spoken to a man she had met a few months ago when her instincts screamed to turn her head and look towards the door.]

When she looked at the door time stopped for her. In fact, it seemed as if time had stopped for most female participants as many quieted down. She saw a man who seemed to be 19 years old, 5'11, with a strong but slim body. He had long jet black hair pulled back into a low ponytail and his face was framed with split bangs that went to his chin. He had onyx eyes below which were pronounced by the long troughs going down his face. His outfit was something she had never seen in her life even as a princess.

He wore a black robe with red clouds decorating it. He had the top opened revealing a grey mesh shirt and a strange necklace of three rings with red jewels. He laid his hand in the opening of his robe instead of his sleeve which showed the strange ring on his finger. On his feet were black sandals and white bandages around his ankles. What completed the outfit was the bamboo hat with bells attached to them that jingled with each step he took.

She looked back towards his eyes only to see what seemed to be unlimited wisdom. Shock flowed through her mind and body as she began to feel her heartbeat a bit faster. She began to fantasize about the young man who was so mysterious. Young girls love to think about falling in love with the mysterious young man!

Two men in particular however noticed that the attention of their love was interested in someone else. The first was a little far away but they continued to observe the person they loved from a distance. When they looked to see what she was looking at they found a very handsome young man and they immediately become angry and viewed to teach this person a lesson. He was Xiao Luocheng.

The second young man with features so feminine he could almost be called a girl. He had met Lan Xueruo a few months ago when he was practicing and decided to travel with her because as time passed he found himself falling in love with her. Due to this, he decided to try and pursue her. Even though he wasn't optimistic about his chances, she never looked down on him and was always kind. However, when he saw that she was looking at someone he turned his head to see them only to find them and become red with anger and shock. He was Yun Che.