Two days later.
He sprinted through the wilderness that seemed to stretch on forever, going faster than motorbike in a highway. There was a huge smile on his face as he leaped up in the air and crossed an entire river, landing on the other side where he continued running. Uncaring of the world's troubles, of the burden upon his shoulder, more than happy to forget everything and just be himself for a moment. Wild and free.
'Maybe, just maybe… being a cultivator is not so bad after all.' He thought as he stopped at a hill full with wild flowers and plopped down, grinning lazily as he enjoyed the sun on his skin.
In his past life, he had enjoyed hiking in the forest and mountains. But he'd never dared to go too deep due to fear of wild animals. Nor had he dared to run freely lest he break his leg and strand himself in the middle of nowhere. In this life, he had none of those concerns. The only thing stopping him from going into a hike was the the closest forest near Nine Sect Peak was Forbidden Forest.
Not to say that the wilderness here was free of wild Spirit Beasts. But it just wasn't anywhere near as dangerous as the Forbidden Forest. And he could enjoy himself much more freely here.
A part of him even wondered if he should go back to the sect at all. Life here was good. After dealing with the top-tier combatants of the Qin family, and handing over the two 2nd Tier Gu to his parents, his grandfather and uncle had taken over the rest of the deals and hassles.
In a month, Qin Ling will be married over to his cousin Li Ming and as a dowry, his family would receive Two of the Qin family's Mid-grade Spirit Lakes, two-thirds of their territory, a dozen valuable mines, six large shops in the main marketplace of the Nine Peak City, and many other such valuables. Lastly, Qin family would submit to the Li family, and become their subordinate.
He had no doubt that the Qin family would want revenge for this humiliation. But with only one mid-grade spirit lake, nothing in their treasury thanks to him, and only one Foundation Establishment cultivator remaining in their family, while his own family now had 11 such combatants, for once, he was not worried.
"Are you done playing around, Junior brother?" A sensual voice arrived via the wind as Zi Mo walked into his vision, blocking the sky with her form. "If so, we should continue over to the Ashen Ridge Mountains."
Rou Lin was standing behind her, having joined them for this expedition to the Ashen Ridge Mountains to gain some much needed combat experience against spirit beasts. She also looked confused by the closeness he and Zi Mo had been showing this entire journey. He wanted to tell her, but Zi Mo had stopped him. Taking a great deal of amusement in confusing her junior sister.
"Those mountains aren't going anywhere. Why don't you two come and join me for a moment? Bask in the sun, smell the flowers, and enjoy the beautiful scenery around us." He said, offering them a seat beside them.
Zi Mo gave him an inscrutable look and then turned her head to gaze at the scene around them. As if gazing at the flowers around her for the first time. "I don't see what's so special about this place. If it's flowers you enjoy then the gardens in Alchemy Peak have far more beautiful ones. The fragrance they release is far better as well."
He blinked and then looked at Zi Mo once again. Wondering if she was jesting or if she truly did not see the beauty around them. Maybe, being a bit of a NEET in his past life had given him a different view of the world outside than someone from a Xianxia world.
He then glanced at Rou Lin and raised an eyebrow. And while she did look a bit willing, she also looked hesitant as she glanced at her Senior Sister, looking for permission.
Zi Mo simply rolled her eyes at that and turned away. "Play in the dirt if you want. But don't take too long. We've already wasted too much time here and I would like to return to the clan and continue cultivating after we're done here."
Rou Lin arrived beside him and gently laid down on the soft grass. "Sorry about that. She's… not behaving herself recently."
'Maybe because I've refused all her advances.' He thought. But then again, if Zi Mo wanted to get together with him, then she should just say so instead of leaving a dozen hints for him to take the first step. Though admittedly, he himself wasn't sure if he would even accept her offer or not at this point.
But even if he refused her, it would actually be conclusive, rather than the strange sexual tension that now existed between them. Because yes, he wanted to fuck her, even if he wasn't sure if she was the right woman for him. Mostly because of how little he knew of her.
"Don't think much about it. Are you enjoying this trip?" He asked as he side glanced at Rou Lin and once again found himself appreciating her etherial beauty. Cultivators in this world were truly a step above even the most beautiful mortal women. And he wasn't sure if he would ever get tired of that.
"Hard to do so when Senior Sister Zi Mo keeps complaining about how we're wasting our time by walking to the Ashen Ridge Mountains." Rou Lin said with a soft giggle, likely finding herself just as amused by the lack of composure of her usually reserved Senior Sister.
"You look tense. Is it about the spirit beasts you're about to face in the Ashen Ridge Mountains?" He asked and Rou Lin nodded.
"Not all of us are prodigious enough to kill Spirit beasts of the same level of cultivation, let alone those above us." She said, giving him a mock glare.
"What can I say. I'm built different." He replied in mock arrogance. But Rou Lin seemed to take his words as a fact and nodded.
"That's obvious to anyone who has seen you fight." She said and turned to the side to face him, her face only a few inches away from him. "I heard that you've mastered Sword Intent. Is that really true, brother Yuan?"
"Maybe. I'm still figuring it out." He replied, and it was the truth. After having cut off the Yin Qi that Zi Mo was using to increase his arousal, as well as temporarily cutting off his own feelings for her, he had realised that there was far more to it than he'd previously thought and had begun experimenting with Sword Intent since he returned.
The end result was... the more he learned, the more confused he became regarding Sword Intent. The only thing he could guess was that it was a bit of a conceptual weapon. Something he realised after he cut off the disease from one of his spirit herbs. And cut off the will of the Heaven Devouring Lake-heart Gu to escape its confinement.
He could even cut the air resistance in front of him while running through the grasslands. Which once again, made no sense until you think of Sword Intent as a conceptual weapon.
So, while he had not been wrong in thinking of Sword Intent as something similar to Armament Haki, it was also clearly far greater than just that.
Of course, even with all his abilities, there were limits to what he could cut. For example, he couldn't cut the space in front of him like Virgil with his Yamato Sword. Nor could he cut the 'talent' away from a cultivator and pass it around like candy. That one in particular had been a disappointing find, as otherwise he would no longer have to worry about his and his parents' lacking Cultivation talent.
In fact, he was sure that part of the reason why Zi Mo was sending him so many 'fuck me' eyes was because of his rapidly growing understanding of his Sword Intent.
"With a sword talent like yours, why did you not join the Sword Peak?" Rou Lin asked and he gave her an annoyed glance.
"Can you back off a little? You're blocking the scenery." He said, though it was mostly because her close proximity was flustering him. And being on the other end of Zi Mo's many seduction attempts had already put him on edge.
"Ah. My apologies brother Yuan." She said, only now seeming to realise how close they'd come as she backed off, her cheeks tinged red.
He ignored her embarrassment and simply looked at the sun once again. Wondering if it was just as large as the sun back in Earth. Considering that what little records there were of this world in their sect recorded only one continent. And even that continent alone was hundreds of times the size of Earth's entire surface area. He could only imagine the size of their planet, and the size of the sun it'll take to hold such a large planet into orbit.
"You can just call me Li Yuan, or Yuan. Brother Yuan is too long." He said and for some reason, Rou Lin's cheeks became even more red.
Oh wait, wasn't there a custom in this world of only family members or those that are very close can call each other by their given name?
"In that case, you can call me Rou Lin as well, brother Yuan, no, I mean… Yuan." Rou Lin said hesitatingly.
"Very well. Linlin." He said, giving her a nickname instantly.
"Rou Lin. Not Linlin." She said with a huff.
"Yeah. But Linlin sounds cuter."
Rou Lin pouted like a chipmunk and looked like she was going to reply but then Zi Mo appeared from nowhere, blocking the sun once again and giving him a rather annoyed look.
"Are you two done lazing around in the dirt?"
"Apologies, Senior Sister." Rou Lin said as she quickly got up and brushed the dirt and grass from her dress. "We were just getting ready to leave now."
Zi Mo nodded and then turned to look at him, raising a delicate eyebrow as if questioning if he really intended to spent the entire afternoon there.
He wanted to, but this woman really didn't knew how to enjoy her life, and he won't let him enjoy his either. So with a sigh, slowly got up as well. "You're a killjoy, you know that."
"And you're far too unappreciative of the gifts you have." She said and turned to leave before suddenly…
Pa!!!
Zi Mo and Rou Lin both froze. Then, Rou Lin hurried away while Zi Mo slowly turned to glance at him, her eyes narrowed as her eyes shifted to the palm that had just smacked her in the ass. And what a soft jiggly ass it was. 10/10. Would smack again.
"Am I? I think I'm rather appreciative of my gifts." He said with a roguish grin. Or at least he hoped it was a roguish grin and wasn't coming off as creepy. He supposed the only difference was whether man giving that grin was handsome or ugly.
Zi Mo stared at him with a complicated expression, flickering between anger and embarrassment before she finally settled at annoyance.
"You're lucky I tolerate you." She said as she walked away, her hips swaying enticingly with each step as she did so.
'Tolerate me, my ass.' He thought with a scoff as he followed.
—————
He stood in the middle of a field of corpses and glanced at his sword that had not even a single speck of blood. His sword intent having killed the 1st and 2nd Grade Spirit Beasts charging at him long before they ever reached him.
Of course, had they reached close enough, his Infinite Micro Slash Domain Art would've slashed them to pieces, but that seemed unnecessary brutal. And he took care to put them down instantly without letting them feel much pain.
After all, as much as he would like to hold the moral ground and say that the Ashen Ridge Mountains belonged to his family, this world actually belonged to the spirit beasts just as much as it did to the humans. With both sides in an eternal war for more land and resources.
He then turned to the side where Rou Lin was still battling the Low-stage 2nd Grade Spirit Beast under the watchful eyes of Zi Mo. She looked a bit injured and exhausted, her steps faltering as she struggled to keep up.
Opposite to her, the spirit beast didn't look much better either, as it was covered in numerous wounds, with blood coating most of its fur. But unlike Rou Lin, the beast was still able to move around without any difficulty, showing off the immense vitality that Spirit Beasts are known for.
He placed all the corpses inside his Ancient Spatial ring, planning to harvest and deal with them later on before he walked over to Zi Mo and sat down.
Zi Mo gave him a side glance and then returned back to watching the fight. "You've seen them as well?"
He hummed. "Are they barbarian tribesmen?" He asked, his gaze shifting to a distant place where his Spirit Residue Following Technique was able to see the Qi of multiple humans hiding behind tall grass.
"Yes." She said then glanced at him once again. "Do you intend to kill them?"
"I'm not sure." He replied.
"What do you mean you're not sure? Were they not the one whose actions led to the fall of the last Family that ruled these mountains?"
"Yes." He replied, not elaborating any further.
"And?" She asked.
"When does a war end?" He asked in turn.
"Are you really asking me when does a war end?"
"Humour me."
Zi Mo thought on it for a moment before she replied. "When one side wins obviously."
"Then how come these Beast Tribes are still here? Still waging war on the Golden Sun Empire, even if it's only against the outermost regions."
Zi Mo frowned at his words. "What do you mean?"
Instead of telling her about the Beast God Empire, he simply replied. "A war does not end when one side wins. It ends, when the other side accepts their defeat and surrenders."
Having seen America sloughing through both the Vietnam and Afgan war despite its highly trained soldiers and far better equipment, he knew that war was far from simple.
And while he knew that wars were waged quite differently in this Cultivation world, he wasn't about to become arrogant and believe in his family's victory even if they had a Golden Core Cultivator on their side.
"Isn't that the same?" Zi Mo asked.
"You look at those Tribesmen, and tell me." He said. After all, the Golden Sun Empire had defeated the Beast God Empire eons ago. But was it truly a victory if their empire's border keep getting attacked by the Beast God Empire's descendants to this very day?
Zi Mo turned back to focusing on Rou Lin's battle. "You're talking in riddles. Just tell me what you intend to do. Make friends with them?"
"I have no clue either. But everything begins with a talk, no?" He said as he got up and started walking in the direction of the hidden tribesmen.
The barbarian tribesmen attacked him as soon as he approached, so his plan for 'Diplomacy' died in its crib.