"To solve any problem, there are always three ways: run, resist, or resolve." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Running's no use. If I escape Senior Brother Mo, there will be another Young Master of the Peng Clan waiting.
"Might as well stay. At least I don't have to worry about being jumped in broad daylight with the Sect enforcing its laws." Outside the Sect, the laws were more of a… suggestion.
And she would be caught and dragged back anyway. She might even be labelled a betrayer.
"Yeah, nah. We're not doing that." She shivered. The treatment afforded to betrayers… that was something straight out of a demon's mind.
She tossed the notion of running away out of the window.
Then, resolve the problem at its root?
"Disfiguring myself?" the thought popped into her mind, only to be discarded. Ignoring the fact that she did not possess the… figurative balls, it would still be of no use. This was the world of cultivation. Limb regrowth? Possible. Rebirth from a drop of blood? She wouldn't be surprised if it existed.
And the title of 'No.1 Beauty' was already out there. Anyone could force-feed her a dozen healing pills, and she would be as good as new.
Wear a veil, then? Nope. That wasn't just useless, it would do the exact opposite.
Female Cultivators of today had nothing but contempt for veils. It was a mortal concept. It represented weakness - having to cover up something they were born with.
So, wearing a veil was about as useful as strutting around in a bikini.
Stay holed up in the Sect?
Her eyes flickered to the table, where the Qi Imprint Token lay. Nope. That was impossible. Sitting around panicking about perverts wasn't a job, according to the Sect.
Then, resist until she has the ability to resolve it.
"How, then, do I gain the ability to resist?" She frowned. Power? Cultivation? Her Qi pool lay flat as a pond in winter - two months of meditating wouldn't even breathe it to life, let alone attain Third Stage Sky Spirit.
"Status, then?" she pondered. Status also came from strength. Or being related to those with great strength. Just walk beside any random elder, and the crowds bowed and scraped.
Then, one should ask: who was the biggest bully in the playground?
"The Sect."
The answer came to her immediately. With the Sect as her backer, who cared about Senior Brother Moo or Poo, Young Master Peng, Deng, Ding or Dong? They could only be obedient grandchildren when faced with the immense force that is the Purple Spirit Mansion.
Now, did the Sect care about her: a mere Outer Disciple who had not reached the Third Stage Sky Spirit even after almost a decade of Cultivation in the Sect?
'Nope. Not a single, flying fuck.'
"Then, I just have to be more useful to the Sect," she swiftly concluded. Her frown deepened. "The question remains, though: how?"
Just as she was stressing over all this, her doorbell chimed again.
"Fuuuuuuck!" She groaned, throwing her hands up. "Can these people not give me some peace of mind?! Always popping up when I least want them! Ugh!"
Stomping over to the front door, she opened it once again.
"Yes? How may I help you…?" Xiao Hong started, ready to deploy her 'fragile mourning girl' persona again, but trailed off.
In front of her was a pretty young woman with wavy brown shoulder-length hair. Her toast-brown eyes that were shaped like a deer's, along with small, pouty lips, gave her a sense of innocence. A light sprinkle of freckles across her tanned skin gave her the feeling of a lively country girl.
As she continued to stare at the girl, a rather vague sense of familiarity rose in her. Searching through the memories, she concluded, "... Ruoxi? Chen Ruoxi?"
"Why the hell do you sound so unsure?" the young woman rolled her eyes with practised ease. "Did you forget your only - er, best - friend?
"Oh, woe is me to have such a friend!" she wiped her perfectly dry eyes in mock exaggeration. She pressed her hands on her chest and lamented like she had suffered the greatest injustice in the world, "Just a few months of secluded cultivation and I was forgotten! Who, oh, who will understand my pain?"
Xiao Hong: "???"
Her lips twitched.
Where did this drama queen pop up from?
She rolled her eyes and fully opened the door. "Alright, come on in. There's no need for pointless drama. My headache has headaches already."
The young woman's eyes narrowed for a moment before relaxing. Then, she skipped in through the door left open by Xiao Hong.
***
In the courtyard, the two of them sat, a small round table with two cups of steaming tea between them.
"I say, A'Hong," Chen Ruoxi sipped on her cup of tea and made a face, "you really should learn the Art of Tea. It's like I'm slurping some sort of medical decoction made by my brother."
Xiao Hong's face darkened. Suppressing the urge to roll her eyes again, she picked up her own cup and took a deep and long slurp. After a loud, most obnoxious gulp, she let out a deeply satisfied sigh - loud enough that the squirrel across the courtyard was startled.
"At least I make an effort. Unlike someone who tosses some leaves into boiling water and calls it a day," she smirked.
"Sigh, how lamentable is the state of today's youth," Ruoxi sighed, once again donning an expression hinting at immeasurable grief and lamentation, "casually insulting their best friends like this-"
"Hold on, since when were you my best friend?" Xiao Hong held up a hand.
"Well, I am your only friend." Chen Ruoxi shrugged, stating it like a simple fact of nature, like gravity or that the sky is blue.
Xiao Hong's hand jumped to her chest. Her heart seemed to hurt for no reason.
Seemingly unaware that she had pierced her "best friend's" heart with those words, Ruoxi continued, "So, that makes me your best friend, right?"
"That also makes you my worst friend." Xiao Hong, who had barely recovered, pointed out.
"Eh, you should look at things positively, you know?" She waved her hand dismissively and gestured towards her cup, "Like this cup of tea. It's half empty. I just have to suffer through another half cup of this potion, and I'm done. What joy!"
Xiao Hong gritted her teeth. If she weren't a chivalrous young lady, she would have drowned her in a sea of the most bitter tea she could concoct!
Well even if she wasn't, she - unfortunately - could do nothing since she was too weak. As a mere Second Stage: Earthen Origin Cultivator, she had not the power to even scratch Chen Ruoxi, a prodigiously talented mid-Third Stage: Sky Spirit Cultivator!
She took a deep breath and stared at her friend. "Alright. Spit it out. What's with you?"
Chen Ruoxi sipped the last bit of tea in her cup. "Shouldn't you be the one telling me what's up with you?"
Xiao Hong blinked. "Huh?"
"Don't 'huh?' me. Tell me what's going on." Ruoxi placed her cup down and leaned forward slightly, her earlier theatrics fading, replaced by concern. "You seem worried."
Xiao Hong paused. "How did you know?"
"For Heaven's sake, we have been friends since we were ten, sister! I know when you aren't behaving normally!" Ruoxi spoke, threw up her arms in exasperation. "You're behaving so off that I almost thought you were a different person!"
She pointed at the cup of tea. "Even if your Tea Preparation skills are trash, you still have the basic respect for the craft. You'd never simply heat up old tea and serve it.
"Normally, you'd pout cutely with that stupidly beautiful face of yours if I insulted your Tea Preparation skill - not insult my own admittedly non-existent skill in the Art." She reached across the table and took Xiao Hong's hand into her own, looking into Xiao Hong's eyes. She asked earnestly, "So, tell me, Xiao Hong, what the hell's going on?"
Faced with Chen Ruoxi's small rant, a horrible chill flooded Xiao Hong's entire being. She had let her guard down! Just because she was at her home, she had relaxed, letting her true self slip through.
'What a terrible mistake! If Chen Ruoxi had realised that I had replaced Xiao Hong's soul and she reported to the Sect...' her heart thudded against her chest, trying to escape the icy grip that held it. 'I'd be done for!
'Thank Heavens she hasn't realised and still thinks I am the old Xiao Hong.'
She took a deep breath to calm down and thought, 'No. She can never know. I cannot allow the slightest doubt to form in her head.'
"Well?" Ruoxi gently squeezed her hand and urged.
"Y-You don't know?" Xiao Hong wiped her clammy hand on the inside of her sleeve and once again, pulled out her Oscar-level (according to her) acting skills and spoke 'nervously'. A bead of sweat snaked down her temple just as Ruoxi's gaze locked on hers. She 'forced' a shaky smile through her pounding heart.
Chen Ruoxi only gripped her hand tightly and shook her head. "I came here directly after exiting secluded cultivation. So, no, I don't know.
"Can you tell me?" she asked again softly, eyes filling with concern at her best friend's hesitation.
"Senior Brother Lin Fan died. And right after his Departing Rites, this was sent to me." Xiao Hong pushed a slightly crumpled invitation card towards her.
"Huh? That slow-witted shield of yours?" Ruoxi's brows flew up in great surprise as she took the invitation.
Xiao Hong's eye twitched slightly. 'The man's dead, you know? You don't have to insult him like that! He was a pretty cool guy… even if he was a bit dumb.'
"'I extend my most eager invitation…' blah, blah, blah… 'Cohort of 1580…' blah, blah, blah… 'Regards, Mo Tong.'" The girl read the whole invitation out loud and then put it down. Slightly puzzled, she asked, "What's wrong with this thing?"
"Look at the list of people invited: it only includes Sky Spirit Cultivators and above." Xiao Hong whispered despondently.
Her guest looked even more puzzled. Then, her eyes widened and she turned to her with a questioning frown, "Is this…?"
Xiao Hong just nodded weakly.
Chen Ruoxi's face turned stony. Her eyes blazed with a terrifying intensity, as a growl escaped her throat, "That motherfucking animal! How dare he?"
She shot up from her seat, and a deep, earthy-brown cloak exploded into life around her.
Xiao Hong let out a startled gasp as the very air grew heavy, weighing down on her shoulders. A strange weight settled on her, like someone had silently placed a large, invisible boulder on her head.
Ruoxi grabbed Xiao Hong's hand and stomped towards the door, dragging her along while growling, "Come with me A'Hong, we're gonna wipe that little shitstain out of existence!"
"Wait, wait, wait! Ruoxi, wait a minute!" Xiao Hong held onto her friend's hand, trying to stop her, only to be dragged along, creating two skid marks along the ground of the courtyard.
Her strained voice forced Ruoxi to stop and turn around and frown, "Why are you stopping me? Bastards like him need to be taught a lesson. That's the only way they learn: by crippling all five limbs!"
"I don't disagree, Ruoxi," Xiao Hong wheezed out, shaking her head. "But there is no use in confronting him."
"Huh? What do you mean? Tell me clearly," she demanded, her frown deepening.
"It means just that - there is no use in confronting him head-on. What reason do you have for initiating a fight? A mere invitation? The Sect will never recognise that. Some may even think that you are causing trouble for no reason. You could get punished for that!
"And, no." Xiao Hong raised her voice and squeezed her hand firmly, seeing Ruoxi open her mouth. "You cannot initiate a friendly duel since his Cultivation Base is weaker. It would be shameful as a Senior Sister to bully a Junior Brother."
She raised a hand to quell her friend's second attempt to interrupt her. "Moreover, say that the Sect allows it, and no one considers you shameful for forcing a Junior Brother into a duel, and you teach him a lesson to remember.
"What, then, are you going to do about the next one? If you solve that one, what about the one after? Are you going to keep fighting them off for me?"
She pushed the final point. "Maybe, by some miracle, you had the energy to fight non-stop. What are you going to do when someone even more powerful than you tries the same thing? How are you going to protect me then?"
Ruoxi fell silent. Her rage had cooled off slightly, and she began to think calmly.
Xiao Hong took this chance to gently coax her back into the chair before seating herself, all the while thinking, 'Why am I the one comforting her? Should it not be the other way round?'
"What should we do, then?" her friend folded her arms and asked somewhat anxiously.
"Well, I was thinking for a bit before you came along." She started to explain. "And I came to this conclusion: Status."
"Status?" Ruoxi raised an eyebrow.
Xiao Hong nodded affirmatively. "If I were backed by a sufficiently powerful force, no one would dare even think of such a thing."
"... Like that shield, er, friend, of yours? Senior Brother Whatshisname? Lin Fan?" Ruoxi rolled her eyes.
"Fat lot of good he did. Thanks to him, the whole fucking Sect knows about you, Miss 'No.1 BeAuTy oF tHe OuTeR SeCt'." She mocked ruthlessly. "Besides, do you think everyone is as dumb as him? That you can have a man wrapped around your finger with just a flutter of your eyelashes?"
Xiao Hong: "..."
She always felt that Chen Ruoxi had a problem with the whole 'No.1 Beauty' and her 'relationship' with Lin Fan, but she didn't have any evidence. So, she decided to ignore the whole thing for now.
"I meant the Sect itself," she clarified.
Chen Ruoxi gawked at her friend. Then, she carefully schooled her expression and spoke slowly, "I don't mean to offend you, but A'Hong, what the hell did you smoke?!
"Why on earth do you think the Sect would care about you? Even relatively talented Cultivators like me barely get any attention from the higher-ups, much less a nearly 19-year-old with a Cultivation Base stuck at the early Second Stage: Earthen Origin. You're statistically below average, A'Hong. No offence.
"Only monsters like that shield of yours would catch the Sect's eye."
The corner of Xiao Hong's eye twitched. This girl was brutally honest. Like, seriously, girl, a filter between your mouth and your brain would probably increase your survival rates by 50%!
"That can't be the only way, right?" she inquired. "I've seen plenty of disciples whose Cultivation Bases aren't much better than my own, but they still garner great respect from the more powerful disciples."
Ruoxi paused for a moment, then realisation dawned in her eyes. "You're talking about the practitioners of the Four Major Cultivator Arts, aren't you?"
Xiao Hong gave an affirmative hum. "I need the Sect's protection, and the best way is to learn one of the Four Major Cultivator Arts, since my talent in Cultivation is average at best. If I get good enough, I won't have to worry about all this.
"That is… not a bad idea," her friend spoke slowly.
After a short moment of thoughtful silence, she glanced at her. "But you should know that none of the Arts are easily learnt - they are a tremendous time sink and," she paused for a moment before saying seriously, "well, A'Hong, a Cultivator's greatest reliance is their Cultivation Base…"
Xiao Hong smiled wryly. "I know, Ruoxi. My talent in Cultivation isn't really there. I have no choice but to rely on this - at least to buy myself enough time."
Chen Ruoxi nodded. She did not say anything; it seemed her friend had already made a decision, and she could not think of a better solution herself.
"It is hard to figure out which one of the Four Major Cultivator Arts I should choose, though." Xiao Hong expressed her difficulties. Preferably, she would learn all four Cultivator Arts. But a single person had limited energy, after all - she needed to choose one and stick with it. She already had a preference, but she also wanted a second opinion.
The old Xiao Hong had limited knowledge about these things, after all. Most of her time was spent Cultivating and figuring out how to fool the shield, Lin Fan.
So, she hoped that Chen Ruoxi might be able to advise her.
Sure enough, after a few moments' thought, the brown-haired girl said firmly: "Alchemy. To be precise, Medicinal Alchemy. I feel it is the best option."
"Why?" Xiao Hong questioned.
"Well," the girl leaned back on her chair and extended a dainty index finger. "For one, it is easier to get started." She casually gestured to the courtyard, "You're wealthier than me. Thanks to that shield of yours. You have more than enough capital to get started."
Ignoring her friend's twitching eyelids, she raised another finger. "Secondly, demand. The supply of Pills can never meet the demand, considering the population of disciples.
"Three, other disciplines are not suitable for your situation. Formation and Feng Shui Mastery is an incredibly complex and vast discipline. Without special talent, it would take far too long to gain sufficient proficiency.
"Talisman Creation is a Lost Art," she waved her hand dismissively, "It doesn't have a future. At least, not anytime this millennium - it will take time to rebuild the inheritance of Talisman Masters.
"And Artefact Forging," her expression became slightly strange. "At the start, it will be quite laborious - you have to manually hammer metal under blistering temperatures. And to learn, you'll have to attend the lessons conducted by the Sect.
"Lessons where 99% of the participants will be men." Her expression turned stranger still, "I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't help you out with your predicament."
Xiao Hong's mouth twitched slightly. She could already picture herself whacking hot metal with single-minded intensity, sweat streaming down in rivulets and soaking her clothes. In a place that was filled with men.
Yeah, nah, she'd pass. She didn't think she could stomach that.
Chen Ruoxi smirked. Pretending not to notice her friend's constipated expression, she continued, "And Material Alchemy, despite it technically being part of Alchemy, is not nearly as profitable as Medicinal Alchemy. They are nothing more than lackeys for Artefact Forgers.
"And finally, if you want to learn this discipline quickly, just the lessons held by the Sect won't be enough. You'll need more help. And I," she patted her chest, "can help you with that."
"Hmm?" Xiao Hong was somewhat surprised. "Are you talking about your elder brother?"
"Yep." The brown curls bounced around as she nodded vigorously.
"But, would he be willing to teach someone like me?" she asked. "My achievements in Cultivation aren't there, y'know? Plus, an Alchemist like him must be quite busy…"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Chen Ruoxi casually waved away her friend's concerns. "Unlike most, my elder brother doesn't judge others by their Cultivation. So you don't have to worry about that.
"As for time…" She stroked her fist meaningfully and narrowed her eyes. "Heh," Chen Ruoxi covered her mouth to hide a smirk, but the mischievous sparkle in her eyes told it all, "he'd be over the moon to help out the 'No.1 Beauty of the Outer Sect!'"
Xiao Hong narrowed her eyes.
"Oh, don't worry~! Brother is not like those bastards who can't keep it in their pants. He's respectable. If he really tried something, Father would've made sure he was eligible to practise Sunflower Techniques," the girl giggled, noticing her reaction.
Even though Xiao Hong was no longer a man, she felt a terrible chill run down her spine and involuntarily pressed her legs together. 'Holy shit! What a hardcore family!' Despite Chen Ruoxi's lighthearted giggle, she had the strangest, most profound feeling. It was a feeling that told her the cute, freckled girl wasn't kidding. Not one bit.
A part of her brain whispered: So this is where this five-limb crippling business came from…
'Note to self: don't ever offend the Chens.'
***
"I truly don't know how to repay you and your brother for your help." A grateful Xiao Hong squeezed the brown-haired girl's hand.
"Well~" the freckled girl smirked and gestured around her, "you could always give me this excellent Courtyard of yours. I'm seriously tired of living in that shitty old apartment.
"The neighbour's a total bitch, unlike the cute little guy you have over there." thumbed towards the branch of a tree, on which sat a grey squirrel that jumped in fright, spat out the nut in his mouth and scampered back into his little treehole.
Both of them chuckled at his reaction.
After a moment, Xiao Hong spoke once again, sincerely, "Thank you, Ruoxi. Really. If you want this Courtyard, you can have it-"
"Alright, alright, I get it." Chen Ruoxi rolled her eyes. "You're super grateful, and I know that.
"And I also know how much this courtyard means to you. That Lin Fan fellow might not have your interest, but you cared for him. This is the only thing he's left you. Cherish it.
"As for repaying us, you can just give me some free pills." Chen Ruoxi shrugged. She didn't care much about being repaid. If Xiao Hong didn't make it, she would just consider it as helping out a friend; if she did, it meant forging a strong connection with a talented Alchemist. She didn't lose much anyway.
As for her brother?
Hehe.
After discussing the specifics and some more casual talk, Chen Ruoxi bid farewell to Xiao Hong - she had more friends to go meet.
Watching her friend leap onto a Flying Sword and shoot into the setting sun, her lips curved. A warmth settled in her chest. In this brutal world, there were still people who cared for her.
She clenched her fist. "I have to do this, no matter what." This was the best time for her to gain a high enough status, and she probably will never have better conditions than she does now.