Chương 20: Shen Fei
One night, as Xiao Ning'Er walked out of the infirmary after seeing Linjian, she was softly chuckling out loud as she thought about a silly thing he said just now when she heard a soft crunching sound nearby. Her senses went on full alert as she scanned the area around her with her perception. On reflex, Black Death had appeared in her hand from her interspatial ring, tucked secretly against her wrist.
Crunch.
She could barely make out a tall and lean figure resting against a tree in the darkness, hidden in the shadows. The silhouette raised his hand to his mouth.
Crunch.
He was eating some sort of juicy fruit as he silently watched her, enjoying the way she looked unnerved and panicky at the moment she realised he was there.
Crunch.
"Ning'Er," he called out in a lighthearted, yet eerie, voice, while still chewing his fruit. "I've been hearing some troubling things recently. Things about my fiancée spending a lot of time with some pretty-boy." He spat out the words 'pretty-boy' with disgust as though it left a bad taste in his mouth.
Shen Fei. She should have guessed he would come and find her sooner or later. She subtly put away her dagger back into her ring. "First of all, you shouldn't be going around listening to rumours. Secondly, I'm not your fiancée...and never will be." she retorted.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
He began to slowly mock-applaud her as he walked out from under the shadows of the tree towards her. "Does your mommy and daddy know that their daughter is being so disrespectful to my Sacred Family? Don't you know our marriage has already been determined by the elders of both families? Don't you know that your Winged Dragon Family's survival and livelihood are completely in the hands of my family? Or is this something you're still too young to understand?"
The tone of his voice abruptly turned ice cold. "Basically...we could crush you in an instant like a worm under my foot..." he threatened her, as he held what was remaining of his fruit in front of her face and squashed it with a final juicy crunch in his hand.
Her eyes glittered in the moonlight as she looked at him in calm contempt and a little bit of pity as well. She remembered how helpless the engagement to Shen Fei had made her feel in her past life, and how much the despair had darkened her heart, until Nie Li had stepped in and maneuvered against the Sacred Family.
'Never again will I allow myself to be in such a place of weakness and hopelessness,' she thought to herself with a grim determination.
"Shen Fei," she said in a soft but assertive voice. "I plan to take the test for the Heavenly Sacred Border in the near future. If I pass, even your Sacred Family cannot touch my Winged Dragon Family!"
His eyes filled with a cold fury when he heard her challenging him. Didn't this girl know how useless it was to resist him? Instead of making him feel more powerful and in control, she seemed oblivious to her plight and did not cower in fear like he expected.
He stepped closer until his face was merely a fraction away from hers and grabbed her arm aggressively, "Ning'Er, you belong to me, don't ever forget that." he spat at her face. "Don't you know that only three people in the history of Glory City have ever passed the Heavenly Sacred Border test? What makes you think that you even have a chance?! You will fail and when you realise you're a complete failure, then you will crawl to me on your hands and knees."
She could feel his hot, rank breath against her cheek and resisted the impulse to pull away, so that she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing a reaction from her. She turned her face ever so slightly to face him directly, looked straight into his eyes and replied, "Time will tell and be the proof of what I, Xiao Ning'Er, am capable of! Who knows...maybe you will be the one who will crawl on your hands and knees in future..."
When he saw that he wasn't going to get the desired response from her, he disgustedly released his hand as though he were throwing away some filthy rubbish, and began walking away. As his back was turned she heard his arrogant voice ring out, "You're too young to know how the world works yet. Don't come crying to me when your family's businesses are suppressed...don't come crawling when an unexpected accident befalls your beloved, pretty-boy!!"
It was a good thing his back was turned because this time she almost lost control as she inadvertently imagined herself plunging Black Death into the back of his head. The more she spent time with Linjian, the more she grew attached to him. His confident exterior hid a person with a deep sense of honour and loyalty, combined with a vibrant passion for life. He had suffered in order to protect her and Ziyun, and when she heard Shen Fei's thinly veiled threat towards him, she strangely felt even more riled up than when her family and herself were being insulted.
The last thing she heard as Shen Fei walked off into the distance was his cruel, mocking laughter.
.....
The next morning, she decided to stop by the Guild of Inscriptions before heading to the City Lord's Mansion. On the way, she lifted her sleeve and in the sunlight, she could see clearly see the bruises formed by Shen Fei's fingers the night before. 'Already at gold rank and he didn't hold back his strength yesterday. What a pathetic brute...' she thought in utter disdain.
As usual, when she arrived at the guild, Wang Shu greeted her with boundless energy and animated expression, "Ning'Er! I'm so glad you're here. We're almost ready to go. Hoooooyeahh, we're almost ready, all right!!" She was shocked at the way his haggard face looked as his hair sprayed out in all sorts of tangled directions and his inscriptionist robe looked like it had a few brown stains on it. What had happened here the last couple of weeks since she came?
This time he brought her to a hall where numerous items were displayed and tagged with corresponding information. He proudly showed her a whole series of scrolls made from the inscriptions she had given him, as well as the book of water-based inscriptions. There were 50 in total, either silver or gold ranked! The guild had been extremely busy.
Then he showed her a series of inscribed silver-ranked weapons and armour. The best three prototypes which were at gold-rank had already been given to her, and he showed her that he had managed to create one more set of duplicates but because of a lack of premium materials, that was all he could do for now.
"Next week, we're going to hold a massive exhibition to display and demonstrate all these wonderful creations. Influential people from across Glory City are so excited to come because this is something that can directly and immediately increase a family's battle power. Imagine if the strongest expert in a noble family got a divine weapon and fought against an equal-ranked expert from another family. Who would win? This could potentially shift the entire balance of power!"
He cackled in joy as he rubbed his hands together, " Our Guild of Inscriptionists is going to rise up from the ashes and become the most important organisation in Glory City! Hahahaha!!"
His joy was contagious as Xiao Ning'Er broke out into a broad smile and nodded along with him. She truly enjoyed to visit this old man who was so full eccentric energy. A thought came to her on how she might add to his happiness.
"Wang Shu...I want to show you something I've been experimenting with...I wonder if you would like to use it for your exhibition?" she tentatively said, as though carefully considering the merits of that idea.
His face changed to one of desperate exhilaration as spittle flew out of his mouth, "Of course, my dear!! My life has never been so fulfilling since you opened my eyes to new inscriptions!"
'I hope he doesn't faint with too much excitement,' she thought to herself as she took out the Cloak of Misdirection and paper talismans from her interspatial ring.
"Marvelous! Magical! Magnificent!! Glory City has never seen a genius close to yourself. Lord Ye Mo? Bah! He pales in comparison to your transcendent talent!" he gushed in half joking, half serious flattery, as he carefully handled and gently caressed the inventions that she had made as though they were his newborn babies.
The good thing about the items were that silver ranked inscriptionists could create them, but the skill required would be a little harder to find. At the very least, there would be repeated failures before a successful one was created. But even if the guild could not replicate them by the exhibition, the existing ones could be utilised for display to further reinforce the start of a brilliant new era for the Guild of Inscriptions!
Xiao Ning'Er was not overly concerned that the Sacred Family or Dark Guild would get their hands on the lifesaving items she had created. They were only at silver rank after all. She would take some time this week to create new ones that were at gold rank, and she had not revealed to Wang Shu the more intricate gold rank inscriptions and requirements yet.
Regardless, this would usher in a whole new paradigm of adventuring for Glory City as individuals would have access to far more powerful measures to protect themselves and avoid demon beasts. Within the St. Ancestral Mountain Range, where most of the demon beasts had only reached silver rank, the Cloaks of Misdirection, in particular, provided an immeasurable advantage in evading dangerous beasts.
When the exhibition took place a week later, there was an uproar that rippled throughout the entire city. The Guild of Inscriptionists had uncovered unbelievably formidable inscriptions from the Age of Darkness. Not only that, the weapons using these inscriptions could manifest amazing power and special abilities that were completely unheard of! And most shocking of all, they had found a way to draw out the power of inscriptions, not only on equipment and scrolls, but on incredibly practical talismans.
The more influential families immediately began demanding for the prices of the displayed items, unable to control their anticipation in increasing their power and influence. With this level of demand, Wang Shu was able to set sky-high prices and there were still orders, which at the current capacity of the guild, was filled up for three whole years!
Suddenly, there was a large influx of applicants to join the guild and learn up the art of inscriptions. Xiao Ning'Er cautiously warned Wang Shu not to only select the most talented, but to also vet through their backgrounds, in case of any linkage to the Dark Guild. Coincidentally, no one related to the Sacred Family managed to gain entry in these early stages...
The next few years would see an unprecedented growth and expansion of the Guild of Inscriptionists with training centers, marketplace shops, and strategic partnerships with blacksmith and weapon-smith guilds, as well as stores selling rare materials. The overall strength and combat ability of Glory City would rise substantially with so many more trump cards available to each family.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
AerynSun
AerynSun 20 chapters! This was the first major milestone I wanted to reach and I can't describe the sense of satisfaction I get from reaching it.
Long nights, restless sleep, immersive writing...
I need to start focusing on my other novel! Let's see if I can resist writing a chapter for this one every day because I'm falling in love with the characters. :)
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