"…"
Stepping into the Mirrored Moon Café with Tian Cheng, Long Hua immediately sees the Owner behind the counter.
Noticing Long Hua, the Owner raises an eye.
As it is in the late afternoon, the café has a few customers seated around the place.
But despite it being somewhat busy, neither Zhou'er nor Yao Ying were present—most likely sent out to do some shopping.
Upon Long Hua coming up to the counter, and taking a seat, the Owner whispers—
"Need something?"
"I need a few boat engines."
If he wasn't labeled as a Sinner, Long Hua wouldn't have to be concerned about buying items of this nature off the market in bulk.
Adding onto the issue of needing these items in a hurry, his only option was to ask the Owner, who could be described to be a magician when it comes to getting things done—even if the equipment that is requested of is a bit on the unreasonable side of things.
"For your next excavation?"
"Indeed. How much would it take for you to get the items?"
"Hmm."
Thinking for a bit, the Owner replies—
"How about three random loots from the ruins?"
Chuckling subtly, Long Hua asks—
"You're that certain that I'd be able to make it back alive?"
With a tone that seems to be talking about something that couldn't be more obvious, the Owner asks back—
"Why wouldn't you?"
"Oh?"
A smile of amusement appears on Long Hua's face, as he rests his chin against the back of his hand, and asks—
"How are you so certain?"
"Working as the owner of this café, I've come across plenty of people from grumpy old geezers to Sinners who had been to the frontlines."
Purposefully saying this at a loud volume, the nearby customers all looked at the Owner with an odd expression on their faces.
"In any case…"
Leaning forward, the Owner whispers—
"None of them are quite like you."
As the Owner moves back, Long Hua shrugs his shoulders with a sigh, while the former adds—
"I guess, you can say, it's also because I have faith in your skills?"
"I see."
Reaching down into the counter, the Owner pulls up a box filled with cherry blossom wine, and says—
"As promised."
"Thanks."
Storing all the wine away, Long Hua gets out of his seat, and heads for the door.
"Leaving already?"
Reaching the door with Tian Cheng beside him, Long Hua replies—
"Don't see any point to linger. You got customers to attend to, don't you?"
"I suppose?"
...…
Returning to the yacht, and sitting down on the bed in lotus posture, Long Hua takes out a jade slip.
Inscribed onto the jade slip is none other than the Yun family's Cloud Ink Incantation.
During his free time, Long Hua had been making attempts to modify this cultivation method, which is more of a support cultivation method than a core cultivation method—like the Heaven Creation Mantra.
(Hmm. Females are better suited to cultivating the Yin portion, while males are more suited to cultivating the Yang portion, but…)
As far as Long Hua is aware of, his original self should be a genderless existence. In that case—
(I should be able to cultivate both.)
Rotating the Tranquil Heart Incantation, Long Hua places the jade slip down, and closes his eyes.
(Beginning with the Martial Emperor's Step… Emperor, mortal realm's greatest authority.)
Muttering the incantation needed for this divine art, golden light—akin to flames, emanate from Long Hua's body.
(Cloud Ink Incantation… No, after my modifications—it should be called the Yin and Yang Cloud Ink Incantation. World's Yin and Yang in perfect resonance.)
Rotating the modified incantation, the golden light gradually turns black and white—Yin and Yang energy.
"…"
With her vessel seated at the bed's edge, the Tai Xuan Emperor inwardly shakes her head, while thinking—
(Truly an abnormal existence… Uh?)
As the two forces of energy lean more towards Yin—black, Long Hua's appearance begins to shift towards a more feminine form.
(D-Did my eyes go bad? No, that's impossible…)
Before the transformation completes itself, the two forces of energy are quickly rebalanced, and as Long Hua continues to maintain this balance, time passes gradually.
...…
"Ai…"
Raising a sigh, Qing Ming Yang—who is dressed in black robes, glances at Xia Ri'er with a hint of fatigue on his face.
Currently, they are standing around at the edge of a cliff, and below them is a village that is completely unaware of their existence.
"…"
Looking back at Qing Ming Yang with a similar expression, Xia Ri'er, who is wearing a set of purple robes over a white layer, asks—
"We're done with the inner domain, right?"
"Indeed, our next stop is the outer domain."
Saying this, Qing Ming Yang looks towards the third person who is with them.
Glancing back at Qing Ming Yang and Xia Ri'er, the person says—
"Let's go then."
The third individual—who had accompanied them into the Leng Bing Realm, is a young man with dark blue hair and dark eyes. Appearance wise, the young man's attire consists of dark blue robes over a white layer with a light purple sash.
"…"
Looking at the young man's back, Xia Ri'er can't help but frown.
The name of this young man is Lín Yǔ Héng, a member of the Lin family bloodline branch.
Within the Ling Yuan family, this bloodline branch holds a unique position—for their loyalty is reserved solely for the Ling Yuan Ancestor himself. As such, they do not get into the family's political affairs, and maintain a neutral stance throughout most matters.
"Why did you pick surnamed Lin of all people?"
Towards Xia Ri'er's question, Qing Ming Yang shrugs his shoulders, and replies—
"My elder brother doesn't have time, and surnamed Lin's combat capabilities is one of the highest in the family's Core Formation realm talents. Ai, let's not waste any more time. The sooner we get the family's matters dealt with, the sooner we can look for a certain you-know- who."
"…Very well."
Your grand aunt—the one from Xianhe's bloodline, was named Líng Lán.
Her husband's name was Báimǎ.
From a young age, Ling Lan had been accompanied by magic beast cubs, and this caused her to develop an interest in the art of beast rearing when she grew up.
All of Ling Lan's allowance would be spent on acquiring food, or training equipment for her pets.
Occasionally, Ling Lan would even outright purchase a magic beast at an auction, and bring it home.
At some point, her pet collections had become so large that the family estate had to be expanded.
One might think that spending so much resources for the sake of a single person's hobby was inappropriate. However, she was allowed to get away with such selfishness because the magic beasts that she had raised were a valuable asset to our household.
Old histories of the household aside, the relationship between Ling Lan and Baima started when the former had been out to collect the egg of a rare magic beast.
During the collection process, the parents of the magic beast had returned, and attacked her.
But just as the two magic beasts were about to finish Ling Lan off, Baima had saved her by blocking the two beasts off with his body.
Background wise, Baima was the son of a powerful practitioner household that was renowned for focusing on only physical body cultivation.
And seeing the durability of a physical body practitioner for the first time, Ling Lan became interested in Baima.
As the two parted ways at the gates of our family's estate, our clansmen nearby felt like they were watching a young couple parting ways—with the intent to reunite a day or so later.
A naïve child might have thought that this was the beginning of a romantic story; however, they couldn't be more wrong.
Ling Lan's goal was to tame Baima, as she would a magic beast; hence, she stalked him, and knocked him out cold with a powerful magic treasure.
When Baima had regained his consciousness, he found himself in an unfamiliar dungeon, where he was chained against a wall.
With an expression of concern, Ling Lan looked at Baima, and asked if he was fine.
Having focused on physical body cultivation at a young age, Baima was naturally fine.
And that was when it all began with Ling Lan saying—
"I see. In that case, we can begin."
Taking out a whip, Ling Lan had struck Baima with it, and despite how powerful the latter's physical body had been, the latter was still made to bleed after being struck for a great deal of time.
Upon finishing their session, Ling Lan had promised Baima that she would return the next day with something of greater strength, to which, Baima had replied with—
"Bring it on, woman!"
...…
"…"
Hearing this story up to this point, the child—who is now ten years of age, can't help but look to his father with an odd expression on his face.
Blinking his eyes in amazement, the child asks—
"Why didn't Baima simply break himself out? Or rather, did he scream at all?"
Heaving a sigh, the child's father replies—
"Baima's father once told his son, "if you can find a woman who is able to make you feel pain, it means you've found the right person to marry." Apparently, this was a tradition in their household."
"…?"
"In any case, being whipped by Ling Lan was something that Baima had looked forward to daily. The cultivation method that his household possessed was rather unique; the greater the injuries sustained, the stronger one's physical body would become after the wounds healed. To them, being beaten to a pulp was their main way of cultivation."
"…To think there's such a perverted cultivation method like that in this world…"
Raising his right hand to scratch his cheek, revealing scale patterns on the back of the hand, the child's father awkwardly says—
"…Heaven and Earth are vast; there exists a myriad number of cultivation methods and divine arts, along with species of intelligent lifeforms that we cannot even begin to count."
"…What happened afterwards?"
"Afterwards…"
...…
Receiving a beating from Ling Lan daily—with her methods growing crueler and crueler by the day, Baima gritted his teeth.
Despite the immense pain that he was being subjected to, he was also excited to feel the strength of his physical body being raised every day.
That was—until the day Ling Lan brought in a massive amount of poison pills.
At first, Baima didn't think much of those poison pills, but rather quickly, he realized that most of those pills were meant to make his body more sensitive to pain.
And having been fed a massive amount of poison pills of this nature all at once, a light lash of the whip on his skin was already enough for Baima to feel as if he had just been stabbed by a scalding knife.
That day, for the first time since his arrival into that dungeon, Baima had raised a shrilled scream.
Overwhelmed by excitement, Ling Lan continued to whip Baima, while shouting—
"Submit to me! Call me queen! Yield your body and soul to me! Scream until your voice is hoarse!"
Despite Baima's submission, Ling Lan didn't cease the movement of her whips.
From then on, Ling Lan continued her training of Baima—who despite having had his physical body raised to a level that had outclassed even the ancestor of his household, he felt no joy; after all, that physical body of his was a product of pain that made him wish for death.
Towards Ling Lan, who had already become his wife by that point, Baima felt immense regret in piquing the interest of this female-devil.
...…
"…Father, are there only unusual people in our household?"
Being asked this, the child's father can't help but frown—finding it difficult to answer off the top of his head.
Eventually, the child's father replies—
"Ai, my son, the moral of this story is—do not try to be a chivalrous hero. Attempts at performing a damsel in distress rescue act—could potentially make you a second Baima."
Towards these words, the child nods his head with a solemn expression on his face.
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