Chapter 5: Ferocious Man
Xiaojie was very pure.
Ning Xuan liked her purity.
The first time he saw her, she was copying scriptures outside a Chan temple in the neighboring prefectural city for a noble.
Her handwriting was elegant, and her appearance was delicate and beautiful.
Ning Xuan approached and asked, “How much does it cost?”
Xiaojie said indifferently, “Ten wen for a hundred characters. The paper is the finest Xuan paper, and the ink is faintly fragrant, mixed with pine resin. Although pine resin is cheap, it’s made by my own hands.”
In the gentle breeze and setting sun, she brushed back her long hair, a smile on her face as if she had understood the essence of Zen and seen through the world’s affairs. Then, in a tone that was neither humble nor overbearing, she said, “Ten wen for a hundred characters isn’t expensive. I’m not here to make money, but merely to seek peace and make a karmic connection with Buddhism.”
Ning Xuan took out a silver ingot and placed it on the table.
The ingot was heavy, a standard twenty-tael piece.
“That’s too much,” Xiaojie said.
Ning Xuan said, “I’m looking for a personal maid. If I give you this much every month, will you do it?”
Xiaojie remained silent for several breaths, then packed up her stall.
Ning Xuan asked curiously, “Aren’t you seeking peace and making karmic connections with Buddhism?”
Xiaojie replied, “Young Master, you are my peace, and you are the karmic connection granted to me by Buddha.”
Ning Xuan really liked Xiaojie’s frankness.
So, after getting into the Carriage, he took out another twenty taels and placed it on Xiaojie’s fair, slender leg.
Xiaojie said, “That’s too much.”
Ning Xuan said, “I need a concubine maid…”
Xiaojie’s face showed difficulty.
Ning Xuan took out another ten taels and added, “Fifty taels a month now.”
Xiaojie silently put the thirty taels of silver into her embrace, then happily hooked Ning Xuan’s arm.
After that, she performed her duties very well.
For two whole years.
The eldest young master of the Ning Family was not short of women. Even though he was young, he grew up surrounded by them. Yet, Xiaojie stayed by his side for two years, during his most demanding age.
Xiaojie never mentioned becoming his concubine. Instead, she always spoke of leaving to see the distant world, to witness the setting sun at the ends of the earth, and to see the lonely smoke rising from faraway rivers once she saved enough money.
Jealous maids would sometimes whisper strange things outside, deliberately letting the Young Master overhear. For example, “Xiaojie doesn’t actually want to leave; she’s just using these vixen tricks to deliberately seduce the Young Master,” or “Xiaojie actually really wants to be a concubine; she’s playing mind games, a woman with deep schemes,” or “Xiaojie appears refined and demure, but she’s so slutty when she’s with the Young Master, it’s disgusting.”
Ning Xuan didn’t hide it. While Xiaojie was nestled in his arms feeding him fruit, he told her these words.
Xiaojie did not panic. Instead, she showed a calm smile and said, “In the years I spent copying scriptures, I copied a sentence: ‘He who is not offended by others’ lack of understanding, is such a noble person, is he not?’ I am not a noble person, but I will not be angered by others’ lack of understanding.”
Ning Xuan asked curiously, “Then what do you truly think?”
Xiaojie fed the Young Master a piece of freshly caught East Sea sashimi and then looked into the distance with longing in her beautiful eyes. “My family is poor. If I followed the usual path, I would just get married, have children, and toil for a lifetime. But by following Young Master, I can earn a lifetime’s worth of money in just a few years. With this money, I can go and see the world. At that time, I will not stay for anyone. Wherever the wind blows, I will go. As for being slutty, they are not wrong. But I only want to be a woman once, so I want to give all my womanly charm to the person I care about most, and then leave here without regret.”
She smiled flirtatiously, full of charm, but there was a contradiction and reluctance hidden in her eyes.
From that day on, Ning Xuan knew that the concubine maid by his side was a “shameless creature who could lie with a straight face.”
However,
He liked it.
High-class Young Ladies could always keenly sense the reactions of those around them.
When Ning Xuan woke from his Nightmare, the muscles in his left arm tensed.
Xiaojie woke up.
She opened her eyes.
The bright moonlight poured in from outside, and the light grid on the stone slab was already very narrow.
“Does Young Master have something on his mind?” Xiaojie’s voice became calm and composed again, neither humble nor overbearing. At this moment, she didn’t seem like a concubine maid trying to please the Young Master, but like his confidante.
Ning Xuan was recalling the dream.
In the dream, the Mountain Crushing Bear Demon arrived after dawn. Did that imply something?
Did it imply that the time the Bear Demon actually arrived would be after dawn?
In the dream, he could face death with resolve and fight to the death. But only those who have truly died would know the terror of death.
His dream was already so difficult.
Outside of the dream, would he still suffer?
Why should he suffer?
He was so miserable in the dream, why did he have to fight for his life outside the dream? After all, this time he wasn’t facing a “weakened” Mountain Crushing Bear Demon, but a complete one.
No! Perhaps there was more than one.
Ning Xuan suddenly flipped over and straddled Xiaojie’s waist.
Xiaojie giggled.
But the next second, Ning Xuan flipped back over Xiaojie’s waist, quickly got out of bed, put on his boots and clothes, and at the same time, he took down Xiaojie’s light gauze skirt and moon-white silk kerchief hanging on the sandalwood clothes rack, threw them onto the couch, and said, “Let’s go! We’re leaving tonight!”
Xiaojie asked no questions. She immediately got up, immediately dressed, her movements as fast as when she took off her clothes.
Why should she ask?
Since the Young Master had made a decision, she just had to obey.
And as Ning Xuan put on his robes, Xiaojie had already dressed and retrieved a large black umbrella and a bundle containing the young master’s clothes.
She carried the bundle, held the large black umbrella, and walked out the door, asking, “Young Master, how many guards should we call for escort?”
Ning Xuan said, “Everyone!”
This time, Xiaojie was stunned.
Because the Young Master’s words were too unexpected.
They had just arrived this afternoon, and the bedding wasn’t even warm yet, and now in the middle of the night, he wanted to take all the hired hands, maids, and guards from Ning Family Villa with him.
Xiaojie asked, “What should I tell them?”
Ning Xuan said, “Just say I feel like it.”
Master Ning clearly had a lot of prestige.
With Ning Xuan’s words, everyone really followed him that night.
The kind-faced old man looked at this eldest young master with some curiosity. His sleeves were bulging, hiding the Pear Blossom Needles that Ning Xuan had used countless times in his Nightmare.
This old man certainly didn’t believe that Ning Xuan was really leaving “out of capriciousness.”
Why?
Because he was Old Ning’s son.
Therefore, the old man was extremely curious about what would happen at the villa.
As they reached the foot of the mountain, he quietly instructed a quick-witted guard.
The guard detached himself from the group and quietly hid in a small grove at the foot of the mountain, awaiting further developments.
In the early morning, before dawn, the group returned to Xinghe County.
“My child, is the mountain too cold that you left in such a hurry?” a plainly dressed woman came out from the inner courtyard, her eyebrows slightly lowered with a trace of kindness, her eyes full of doting affection, and an expensive string of prayer beads on her wrist.
This was Ning Xuan’s mother.
She was a devout Buddhist.
“It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back,” the plainly dressed woman said. “What time is it? Xuan’er, hurry up and go to sleep.”
Ning Xuan went to sleep.
After a night of tossing and turning, his body was covered in sweat. He didn’t ask Xiaojie to serve him after bathing, but lay back on the soft couch with ease, yet he couldn’t sleep.
The sky slowly brightened.
Golden, warm sunlight descended from the sky.
By the afternoon, the old man holding the Pear Blossom Needles received the news.
“Boss, everything is normal. To my surprise, I even ran around the mountain myself. Young Master Ning is truly very willful…” the subordinate reported.
The old man said sternly, “Whether Young Master Ning is willful or not is not for you to say.”
The subordinate grinned and said, “I understand, Boss. I won’t say it anymore, okay?” He had a rough, unrefined demeanor.
After he left.
The old man said, “Everything is normal. Alas, everyone knows that Old Ning had a son late in life, but… is he spoiling this son too much?”
Thinking of Ning Xuan’s slender arms and legs, he couldn’t help but sigh.
In Young Master Ning’s room, the windows were closed.
Ning Xuan looked at the panel.
[Heavenly Demon Scroll]
[Life Attribute Gate 1: Mountain Crushing Bear] (Not yet summoned)
[Life (Physique): 1]
[Spirit (Mentality): 1]
He silently said in his heart, “I beseech the Heavenly Demon Scroll.”
As the thought fell, a mysterious talisman appeared in his mind. The scribbled characters on the talisman exuded a profound and mysterious aura, but he knew that these scribbled characters represented the “Mountain Crushing Bear.”
The talisman burned.
At the same time, a powerful force surged into his body.
A dark shadow slowly covered the table in the secret room, and the bronze mirror revealed a ferocious man about ten feet tall, so strong that he seemed to be covered in a layer of muscle armor.
It was like tempered fine steel armor, fitting tightly and tenaciously around his body. Every muscle was sharply defined, as if carved by a knife, containing explosive power.
On the roof, the black cat that was taking a stroll suddenly bristled, let out a shrill meow, and darted away as if electrocuted.
Ning Xuan hunched his back, suppressing his height, and looked at the oppressive figure in the mirror. He glanced at “[Life (Physique): 1 (3.7)]” and frowned slightly, thinking to himself: ‘After all, this is the strength gained by the Heavenly Demon Scroll’s addition. I need to make some improvements myself. In the past, I thought this world only had low martial arts, but it seems I was wrong. I need to search again.’
(End of this Chapter)
