Mission: Seduce the Master!

Zhang Mei was confused. She could describe Xu Mei with all the bad words in the world, such as shameless, greedy, restless, annoying, and so on. But even Zhang Mei understood that when it came to matters such as marriage and relationships, Xu Mei was extremely serious.

"W-wait. I think your ability to speak has worsened over the years. Repeat, who is your partner?"

"Hm? I think it's you who is getting old. You can't even hear properly," Xu Mei retorted, and then added with a proud smile, "He is my disciple. I recently 'borrowed' a technique from you for him."

"..."

The head of the Starry Stream Sect looked at Xu Mei with an emotionless face, and then sighed, shaking her head.

"You're crazy."

"What for?!"

Xu Mei was angered. Why was this woman trying to insult her for things she hadn't done? Moreover, she didn't understand what the problem was!

Zhang Mei also noticed this. She looked at Xu Mei with an inscrutable face. Then, as if explaining to a child, she spoke slowly and carefully.

"You are the Master, and he is your disciple. Therefore, you have the same relationship as a parent and offspring. That is, by entering into a relationship with him, you are violating traditions, and your relationship can be considered taboo. In short, you're in trouble," Zhang Mei explained, and then added, "Although, your reputation was already in trouble, so... nothing new. I wish you luck,"

"...Can you stop mocking in such moments? It's starting to annoy me," Xu Mei said with a snort, and in response to all of Zhang Mei's arguments, she said, "I have never cared about traditions, let alone how people will react. What do I care? The worms can scream, but the immortals in the heavens won't even pay attention."

"A strong statement. With such a point of view, you haven't grown up at all, which might be for the better," Zhang Mei said, and then showed curiosity: "Although I'm not very interested, to keep the conversation going... why did you choose a young man who is old enough to be your distant descendant?"

"Listen, stop rubbing salt in the wound!" Xu Mei shouted angrily, but still began to tell about him: "Xie Qing is a very good man, and also a man. He is handsome, talented, charming, and a beast in bed. His embrace is strong and warm, his voice is pleasant to the ear, and he smells like a scent that turns me into a gentle kitten. He has a great future, moreover..."

Zhang Mei fell silent. Five minutes had passed, and Xu Mei was still praising Xie Qing and boasting about their relationship. The old woman felt bitter. She thought:

"I asked you out of politeness, but you took it for granted! And now you're boasting about your relationship! And I'm still alone... we're the same age! The heavens are unfair!"

***

"Achoo..."

Xie Qing sneezed loudly when he felt someone talking about him. He wiped his nose and then looked around.

"So this is the inner court. It looks... deserted."

He was puzzled. In his opinion, the inner court should have been as lively as the outer court, but here it was as if there was no one. Mainly, the place was occupied by only important pavilions governing the inner and main court and a bunch of houses.

Since there were many disciples, even in the inner sect, they had to squeeze in. But if you were very talented and showed good results, they could give you a house without roommates, which was also good.

"Well, I don't care. I live at my Master's expense, so it's fine for me," he thought, shrugging his shoulders.

His goal for visiting the inner court was to see how everything was arranged there. Mainly, it was a straight street, with houses or pavilions on both sides. If you went straight, you could reach the gates of the main court.

"Well, there's nothing to catch here. I need to go back to the pavilion and cultivate," Xie Qing thought and began to turn around.

But suddenly, someone called out to him.

"Hey! Disciple, why are you without a uniform and in the inner court?"

"Hm?"

Xie Qing turned his head and saw that he was being spoken to by a disciple dressed in orange clothes. He had gray hair and brown eyes.

"Qi Condensation cultivator, fifth stage. He is equal to my cultivation level, not bad," Xie Qing thought, looking at the disciple with an appraising gaze, and then casually added: "I am allowed not to wear a uniform and in the inner court, because I am a disciple of the inner court."

"What?"

The disciple, hearing this, was suspicious of this information. The number of inner court disciples was relatively small, and a record was kept of each disciple, so he was a little surprised.

"Seriously? I trust you, but according to the rules, I need to check your token," the disciple said in a more polite tone.

"Fine," Xie Qing replied and then took out a silver-colored token. When the disciple saw the information, he nodded and returned the token.

"Alright, I've verified your identity. Sorry for the trouble."

Xie Qing nodded with a smile and said goodbye, watching the disciple walk away. He smiled when he saw that he had left.

"Interesting. It seems that it's quite common here to intimidate newcomers. But seeing my cultivation level, he changed his mind. Too bad, I would have beaten his face, and at the same time tested myself in battle," Xie Qing thought, rolling his eyes at the obvious stupid attempt at provocation.

In the sect, disciples were steps to greatness for each other. Therefore, he did not harbor any illusions that someone would be kind to him.

***

It was already evening. Xie Qing finished meditating and sighed loudly, getting a small dose of pleasure from the feeling that he was getting stronger.

"Increasing the cultivation level is difficult at this stage, but I am much faster than my peers. I may be able to reach Core Formation in half a year."

Half a year sounds long for ordinary people, but cultivators living for centuries perceive such a term as if a week has passed.

Therefore, Xie Qing's growth was absurd. Even his Master, a famous genius in the past (of which Xie Qing was unaware), was much slower than him.

For example, a very good result for reaching Core Formation was considered to be at the age of 30-35, and a genius could achieve this level at 20-25 years old. Xu Mei reached this at 23.

And if you count, then... in half a year, Xie Qing will still be 18, that is, he will be the first of his kind! This was unprecedented!

However, it still seemed to him that such a term was too long.

"In half a year, there will already be that legendary event... The Ancestral Cave. If I get there, I will get a lot of benefits. Most likely, the Heavenly Sword Sect has already chosen the necessary candidates, and if I insist, I will only provoke the rest," Xie Qing thought, and then sighed: "I need to contact Daoist friend Huang. But only in five months."

First, he needed to prepare. It was not excluded that on the spot there could be a skirmish with the disciples of other sects. Even if on the surface they were allies, among them reigned an atmosphere of competition!

Everyone wanted to grab a piece of the heritage for themselves. If they get some technique or item, or something more global, it could become a reason why your life will be targeted!

But was Xie Qing afraid? No, of course not. He was excited, and his hands itched with the desire to rob... ahem... politely ask to borrow some items.

This was not prohibited by law, and it was encouraged. Even if some items were not useful to him, Xie Qing could sell them to the sect and stay in the black. And if it was a technique, he would learn it and sell it. That's all.

"It's already evening. Has the Master still not returned?" he thought, getting up from his place.

He stretched a little. Although it was not required, habits remained habits. He went to the cabinet and took out spiritual wine to relax a bit.

Pouring himself a glass, he sat by the window and began to drink wine, looking at the bustling courtyard where the disciples had gathered.

"Hm? It's not often that people gather near the pavilion. This is a fairly protected area," he thought, and then eavesdropped on the conversation, opening the window. He was surprised: "We have a visitor? Not just anyone, but the head of the Starry Stream Sect? Oh..."

Although he did not immediately recognize the identity of this person, after some thought, his body trembled. How could he forget about this? It was from her that Xu Mei stole an important cultivation technique.

"Who goes where, but I went to see the wonders of the cultivation world. Goodbye, sect..."