Dull

Lin Ruoxi blanked out for a couple of seconds. “Why tell me this? And why now?”

Yang Chen anticipated her question, so he patiently explained everything he told Rose all over again including the part where he had to leave for Sichuan to visit Tang Sect with Cai Ning and then return to teach Rose the art of cultivation.

Since Lin Ruoxi was familiar with Yang Chen’s abilities, it was not too far fetched for her to believe.

But when he revealed that he could live on for at least a few centuries, and that his appearance would never age, she started getting scared.

She knew what Yang Chen was capable of, but never would she have thought that he had reached such heights.

Yang Chen sighed, knowing that anything else he said would cause her to worry for the rest of the night. But it was better to let it out now than to face the consequences in the future.

“Because you don’t possess the same background Rose does, paired with your despise for working out, your body is far too frail. Even if I rejuvenate your blood pressure and Qi, the strength of your vessels and bones are best strengthened on your own. Any third-party help would just guarantee that it will revert back to its original state in the future,” Yang Chen patiently explained.

Lin Ruoxi was however still in a daze, in genuine doubt if that was a joke.

After he was done, Lin Ruoxi mentioned something, albeit with a tinge of jealousy. “Are you leaving with Cai Ning to Sichuan soon?”

Yang Chen instantly felt the jealousy lurking within as he chuckled awkwardly. “Don’t worry it’s not going to take too long. I can guarantee that it wouldn’t last for more than a week. I’m not out to waste anyone’s time anyway.”

Lin Ruoxi grunted for a moment before she sighed under her breath. “Too bad I have a lot to deal with these couple of days. I need to complete several deals to acquire a few theme parks, in addition to the collaboration with Disney. Otherwise, I’d be looking forward to joining the both of you.”

Yang Chen giggled. “If you wanna tag along, just leave the responsibilities to Qianni and Mingyu.”

“You wouldn’t mind if it were them, would you?” Lin Ruoxi glared at him for a split second.

“Because I know for a fact that you would never leave Yu Lei behind.”

Lin Ruoxi grumbled from frustration. “I know it doesn’t mean much to you, but it’s my grandma’s expectations and faith towards me. My blood, sweat, and tears are the reason why it stands where it is today. Every brick and mortar in it means a lot to me. It’s not just my company. It’s the company for tens of thousands of families.”

Yang Chen chuckled lightly. “I understand, which is why I never once pressure any of you to leave your jobs. Cultivate as you will, but your life goes on as usual, not like you would improve quicker if you spend more time on it every day.”

After answering her remaining questions, Yang Chen ushered Lin Ruoxi to go back to her bedroom to get some rest.

When it was his turn to return to his bedroom, Yang Chen picked up the phone and gave Mo Qianni, An Xin, Liu Mingyu, and the rest of his glittery harem a call to explain what he had just explained in general.

Mo Qianni seemed to have found out from Rose as she was hardly astonished by Yang Chen’s explanations.

An Xin had been extremely busy these days which prompted her to leave her phone on silent.

As for Liu Mingyu, she had already dozed off early, and upon Yang Chen’s interruption erupted into furious rants before she hung up and went back to sleep.

The woman had always been the most independent amongst his lovers. After all, it was Yang Chen who was stubbornly holding onto her in the first place which led to her initial reluctant acceptance of his proposal.

The next day, Yang Chen once again left the house to take Zhenxiu for her final examination. After much revision, the teen’s senior high year had finally come to an end, which left her in immense anticipation.

Yang Chen meanwhile chose not to blindly wait for her while she did her test, but instead made a phone call to Tang Wan and asked her if she could meet him in a nearby cafe.

Tang Wan was dressed in an indigo semi-visible laced one piece, paired with her trademark huge shades as she arrived at the cafe. Her mature charm left the surrounding men spellbound.

Yang Chen nonetheless was slightly agitated by that. Why is she always dressed so extravagantly? I feel like I’m beaten down just by sitting across her, he thought.

“Can you at least wear a little more?” Yang Chen waited until she was seated before starting his rant.

Tang Wan removed her shades, revealing her mesmerizing facial features in all its glory. “The weather gets warm really quick these days, wearing too much gets me all sweaty.”

She was clearly taunting Yang Chen who was left speechless.

Tang Wan smiled ever so slightly. “Why did you ask to meet here? I always thought the only places you ever think of me has a bed by its side.”

Yang Chen was left rather dispirited as he replied, “Am I really always that savage in your mind?”

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” Tang Wan unfazedly mentioned. “If you aren’t horny all the time, why else would you want to be with me?”

Once again he was defeated by her cynicism, which led him to get straight to his point. “The main reason I called you here today, well actually initially only Ruoxi and Rose were supposed to know, but you’re special. So I want to make it clear to you, right here right now, so you can prepare for it as soon as possible.”

Tang Wan saw Yang Chen in his rare focused self and decided to go with the flow.

Yang Chen once again laid out his entire plan. “Because you are slightly older than the others, you will have to begin as soon as possible. The older we grow, the more our bodies weaken due to age, which is why I’ll need to start with basic training right now.”

Tang Wan saw how seamlessly he made it sound, unaware of the immense inner turmoil of emotions inside her.

When she heard that there was an actual opportunity to extend her livelihood and boost her longevity, the shock was too big for her to handle.

But she subsequently recalled at her previous observations of Yang Chen’s never-ending display of magnificence, most notably during her miraculous recovery in his hands.

After a solid ten minutes, Tang Wan made up her mind as she stoically declared, “I get it now. I will allocate enough time every day to boost my metabolism. But I have one request which I hope you can promise me.”

“You don’t have to beat around the bush with me.” Yang Chen frowned.

“I don’t want to wait my turn for when Ms Rose is done with the training. I’d like to practice with her.”

Yang Chen suspiciously gazed at the woman. He never expected her to be more anxious than he was.

“You don’t have to stare at me like that,” Tang Wan dispiritedly added. “I know I’m not as young as I used to be. I feel bad saying this but when dealing with a lot of things these days I just don’t have the spiritual drive as I did before. Yesterday I was a younger person, and as the days go by I can feel my innocence slipping away.

“Which is why I try to live my best life for my daughter, for you and for my family.

“I know, from the outside, I might seem as captivating and as youthful as always. But age is not something you can hide by appearance. My only wish is to make do with every opportunity life has for me.”

“It’s going to be extremely tough.” Yang Chen gave an earnest reply.

“But is it worth the effort?”

“It will be.”

“Then it’s set.” Tang Wan casually agreed. “We should make it quick. One day when I get old, nobody could physically compete with Lin Ruoxi anymore, that’s when you know you messed up.”

Yang Chen smirked. “To be frank with you, I never once compared you to Ruoxi.”

Tang Wan pouted as she rebuked, “What? Because she’s prettier than me? I’m telling you, when I was as young as she was, I was way more seductive than she ever will be. Pfft, she thinks she’s so cool playing the ice queen all the time. How dull. Hmph, isn’t she just your perfect little princess.”

Yang Chen couldn’t help but chuckle at her remarks, as he reached out his hand and gave the envious lady a pinch on the face.

“What I meant is, Tang Wan is Tang Wan and Ruoxi is Ruoxi. There will only ever be one of you just like there will ever only be one of her.”

“Fine, I’ll give you that.”

Tang Wan had a slight grin from satisfaction, her suppressed emotions, in turn, was shown through her glow.

Even when they were both heated from passion, it was not the time to act on it.

As the examination ended, Yang Chen and Tang Wan subsequently brought Zhenxiu and Tang Tang back home respectively.

That night, the family prepared a full table of scrumptious food for Zhenxiu. Guo Xuehua fired off a chain of questions to Zhenxiu regarding her exams and what colleges she intended to enter. The results nonetheless would only be released early July, which led Zhenxiu to awkwardly dodge the questions while simultaneously tempted to boast about it.

The merry days went by in a blink of an eye. Yang Chen stopped by the office every once in a while to deal with certain matters personally, while mostly helping out at home as a runner or a gardener for Guo Xuehua and Wang Ma. Other times, he just helped his women train.

Since there was plenty of time to spare, Mo Qianni, Liu Mingyu, and An Xin were dragged into the training as well. Yang Chen naturally had to repeat it all over again, but once they heard the mention of the keyword ‘anti-aging’, they were instantly on board.

As for Cai Yan, she was undoubtedly in peak physical form due to her profession. However, she was currently dealing with some international traffickers and had no time to participate in Yang Chen’s plan.

Ultimately, Cai Ning from Beijing decided to make the call and accept his invitation, having already made plans for their journey.

Yang Chen wasn’t one to procrastinate matters like these so he notified his family and the Sea Eagles before his departure. They were only allowed to contact him if they were in a situation that they could not handle without him.

Once that was settled, he went on with his promise to meet Cai Ning at the Nation of the Heavens in Sichuan.