Immortality Starts With Generosity

It had been surprisingly peaceful ever since his confrontation with Lan Yao. For a given definition at least. He still had multiple Swords of Damocles hanging above his head at any given moment, but the one he most expected to cut him immediately hadn’t. He wondered if it had to do with how their meeting ended. While Lan Yao skillfully defused any potential rumor about her cultivation they still had a large audience. For someone with so many secrets to hide and so many people to hide them from, Lan Yao probably wasn’t willing to move until she was sure she didn’t have any eyes on her. Chen Haoran was thus left with copious free time he used to worry about the rest of his problems.

Like how Song Yuelin kept plastering him across the training field. Chen Haoran had been caught off-guard by yet another vicious backhand that knocked him so hard into the earth he left behind a trench.

“We should end it here today, Young Master Chen.” Song Yuelin casually brushed nonexistent dust from his hand.

“Got tired of slapping me?”

“Never,” was the immediate response. “However, I believe your Lady Wife is about to exit her seclusion training.”

Song Yuelin had scarcely finished speaking when Chen Haoran shot up and raced off.

The bastard laughed. “You certainly seem eager.”

Of course he was. Lan Fen represented a layer of safety he desperately needed right now. Not to mention the fact that she was the only person who knew the politics of Clearsprings City well enough to navigate the tangle he found himself wrapped in.

As they approached the isolation room Chen Haoran sensed what Song Yuelin did; a rising mass of qi spearing into the air. Suddenly the qi shuddered and vanished and Chen Haoran was left blindly reaching for any indication it existed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Song Yuelin frown.

“Did something happen?” He had confidence in Lan Fen but he couldn’t help but get nervous whenever Song Yuelin stopped smiling.

Song Yuelin hesitated before speaking. “It… should be fine. It would be best to wait for your Lady Wife to come out on her own.”

Chen Haoran stopped a few paces before the door and quickly dusted himself off. Song Yuelin on the other hand stuffed a bouquet of Moonflowers in his arms.

“Best of luck, Young Master Chen.” Song Yuelin saluted before disappearing.

“What?” Chen Haoran looked at the deep blue hue of the Moonflowers. “Aren’t these from the qi pool?”Song Yuelin didn’t answer him. When did he even have the time? Was he really that bored fighting the bear?

Chen Haoran discarded his speculations as the door opened and revealed Lan Fen. She strode out to meet him with her head held high. Seeing her confidence he couldn’t help but reach out with his sense. No cultivation.

He knew better, but he still couldn’t help but feel disappointed. There was no need to show it though. He handed Lan Fen the Moonflower bouquet. “Congratulations on finishing your training.”

Lan Fen gracefully received the flowers. “Thank you,” she said. “I will treasure them.”

She said that and yet the reward he was expecting never came. He guessed Lan Fen wasn’t in the mood to be accepting gifts.

She reached into her robes and handed him a gold tael. “I have failed to meet your expectations. Thank you for the blessing.”

Chen Haoran stared at the tael. He reached his hand out and placed it in Lan Fen’s, wrapping the tael between their palms. A single gold tael. To others, it might look like a lucky charm. To Chen Haoran, in front of the isolation room, it signified a threat. Her meaning was clear. He felt relieved that Lan Fen was aware of Song Yuelin’s presence. Any worries he had about the man being undetectable even for her incredible senses were laid to rest.

Chen Haoran smiled. “We should continue this in bed.”

They crashed through his bedroom door like snarling beasts. In the midst of their pawing and clawing Chen Haoran had the presence of mind to slam the door closed behind them. His bed creaked under their weight when they slammed into it. He felt Lan Fen’s fingers trail across his neck like a row of daggers. He looked into her golden eyes, but they were looking somewhere beyond him. Unable to draw her gaze he unconsciously looked down at her own neck, a silver necklace wrapped around her throat and disappeared into her robe. He snapped his eyes away and they continued their act. The bed shifted and groaned with their movements. Unintelligible grunting filled the air.

It was animalistic. It was ugly.

Golden eyes finally deigned to recognize him. “He retracted his sense,” Lan Fen whispered.

Nosy bastard that he was, it seemed Song Yuelin had some decency at least. He extricated himself from Lan Fen and rubbed his neck. “Sorry, I didn’t have a better idea of how to talk without him listening.”

Lan Fen sat up on the bed and cracked her neck. “Who is he?”

Straight to business then. “His name is Song Yuelin. He’s a Chen family assassin sent to investigate me.”

Lan Fen frowned. “An assassin?”

“Manager Lin sent a report to the Chen family. You’re probably next on his list to investigate.”

“That makes no sense though. Nothing that you’ve done is worth sending an assassin.”

“The situation…” Chen Haoran hesitated. “Has become more complicated. I’m a hostage to the City Lord.”

“What?”

“The Chen family and the City Lord have made some kind of deal together. That’s the reason I’m here in Clearsprings City. Do you know anything about this?”

“No,” Lan Fen said, startled. “Where did you learn this?”

“From the City Lord himself, he confronted us in the wilderness. He seemed to think the Chen family was plotting something. He mentioned you by name as well.” He drummed his fingers along his leg. “Are you acquainted with him?”

“I was a captain in the city guards before losing my cultivation. The City Lord recognized my potential and has tried to recruit me into government service before.”

That explained why Lan Fen carried herself the way she did. She really was a leader.

“I’m assuming that’s what the Palace Exams are for then? The City Lord was worried we would muck them up somehow.”

“Yes. They are meant to select talented individuals to join the Palace School in the Imperial Capital. Students there are trained to become the future officials of the Empire.”

“What are you going to do then? Clearsprings City is hosting the Palace Exams. We’ve already been warned by the City Lord not to cause any problems.”

“You mean you have been warned.”

Chen Haoran narrowed his eyes in thought. “You think the City Lord won’t do anything if he knows it’s your plan?”

“I know he will be more than willing to look the other way once he sees the Lan family being targeted.”

Politics. Lethal politics. The one thing he wished he left behind on Earth. It was good to know an angry City Lord wouldn’t come crashing down on his head though. “Speaking of the Lan family, I had a little scuffle with Lan Yao. Are you aware that her cultivation is better than Profound-rank?”

“Are you alright?”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t hurt.” Besides his pride.

Lan Fen arched an eyebrow. Clearly, she didn’t believe him.

“To answer your question, yes. I am aware she possesses an Earth-rank method. My fall, combined with her rise, gave her the influence she needed to have me sold off.”

Lan Fen knew, she had known it for a while too. Which meant she had taken Lan Yao’s superior cultivation into account when making her plans. Chen Haoran felt all the pieces he’d been acquiring since he met Lan Fen slowly slot into place.

“Lan Yao wants me to hand you over,” he said. “I think the reason she sold you off was so she could get her hands on you without the Lan family knowing.”

Lan Fen rested her head on her hand in thought. “That confirms some of my own suspicions,” she murmured. Suspicions she seemed to be in no hurry to tell him about.

“Did something go wrong while you were training?” He couldn’t hold in the question anymore.

“I was unsure what the situation with the Liquid Meridian realm was, so I decided it would be better to hide it.” Lan Fen showed him a small smile. “I have successfully reached the Fifth-Layer.”

Chen Haoran felt the subtle grip of tension holding him fall loose. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would be enough to protect him from Song Yuelin, but just the thought of Lan Fen restoring some of her power instilled confidence. At the very least even if all she had was a Mortal rank cultivation, a Fifth-Layer Lan Fen was still far more dangerous than he was. Case in point she could completely hide her cultivation from both him and Song Yuelin.

“I guess you’re going to start attacking the Lan family now.”

Lan Fen nodded in agreement. “I am.”

“How do you plan to expose the Patriarch then?”

Lan Fen froze. Burning golden eyes pinned his gaze like a hawk. “What makes you say that?”

To Chen Haoran it sounded more like: ‘How did you know that?’ He couldn’t help the smirk that crossed his face. It was bad, but he really did take too much joy in being proven right.

“That’s your plan after all. You’re going to be exposing the fact that the Lan family Patriarch isn’t a peak Liquid Meridian realm.”