Volume 1 - CH 13

“Young Master Ye, let’s all both be honest and straightforward.” The spirit tea had a calming effect, allowing Qin Shi Meng to temporarily put aside her prejudices against Ye Yong.

“Please speak, Lady Qin,” Ye Yong said.

“I know what you were trying to accomplish by canceling the engagement, and I hope that you can stop acting so childishly. It may bother me, but it will not affect my determination and will only make me hate you more.” Qin Shi Meng’s character and speech were straightforward, and Ye Yong liked that. However, he didn’t understand what Qin Shi Meng meant by saying that canceling the engagement was childish.

“Lady Qin, I don’t understand what you mean. Why do you think that canceling the engagement is childish? Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

“Ha. I’ve already said for us to be honest and straightforward, and yet here you are, still trying to lie and be deceitful.” Although it was a cold laugh, Qin Shi Meng still looked extremely beautiful when her mouth curved.

Ye Yong hurriedly looked away from Qin Shi Meng and looked into the distance. “I’m not lying. Everything I said was true. I canceled the engagement to give you your freedom back, if you think that everything is because of me, then there is nothing that I can say. If there is anything that I can do to help you or compensate you for the troubles I caused, I am willing to do it.”

Qin Shi Meng stared at Ye Yong’s face and couldn’t tell whether he was being serious or just acting. Ye Yong had given her a really bad impression, and this contrast with how she thought of Ye Yong made her surprised and uncomfortable. She thought that everything was within Ye Yong’s calculations. “Is that true?”

“Words that come out of a gentleman’s mouth are impossible to recall.”¹ Ye Yong said, looking at Qin Shi Meng.

The moment Qin Shi Meng’s and Ye Yong’s eyes met, Qin Shi Meng thought that Ye Yong wasn’t “Ye Yong” but rather someone else. This was because eyes were the windows to one’s soul and can reveal a ton of emotions. Cultivators were especially sensitive to these things.”

Could he be possessed? But the Ye Family has so many Nascent Soul Realm elders, and Ye Yong would have to have discussed canceling the engagement with the elders, so if he really got possessed, there was no way they wouldn’t realize that something was wrong… Could it be qi deviation? But I’ve only ever heard of qi deviation turning good people into bad people and never the other way around. Maybe he obtained enlightenment or something? Qin Shi Meng thought that Ye Yong must have had set up some kind of a trap, and she didn’t want to fall into the trap, so she shook her head. “There is nothing that Shi Meng wants Young Master Ye to do.”

“There must be. It doesn’t matter what it is, even if you think that it’s something that I can’t do, even if it’s related to cultivation,” Ye Yong baited. Normally, crippling one’s own cultivation was something that cultivators would never ever do, but Ye Yong was actually eager to do so. First, he had never cultivated before and didn’t even know the basics of cultivation. Crippling his cultivation would allow him to start from the beginning and learn the basics. Second, he had the Physique Forging Encyclopedia, and even if he wouldn’t be able to forge a divine physique, he would at least be able to forge a saint physique or something. Whatever it was, it would be better than his current physique. Crippling his own cultivation would allow him to start while possibly even increase Qin Shi Meng’s favorability rating, allowing him to kill two birds with one stone.

Qin Shi Meng froze. She was just a 17-year-old girl and had spent most of her time cultivating, so she wasn’t schemy or manipulative and had a pretty innocent mind. She thought about the things that Ye Yong would dare to do. “Cultivation? Could Young Master Ye be willing to cripple your own cultivation?”

As expected, when Ye Yong mentioned things both impossible to do and things related to cultivation, Qin Shi Meng thought of crippling cultivation, as no normal cultivator would dare to do such a thing.

Qin Shi Meng wanted to laugh at what she said as soon as the words come out. She felt that she was stupid as there was no way Ye Yong would agree to such a thing. That was fine though, as Ye Yong had said that a gentleman wouldn’t go back on his words, and he would probably get angry from embarrassment at hearing such an impossible request, and his disguise would probably be blown. Qin Shi Meng waited for Ye Yong’s answer, and unexpectedly, Ye Yong agreed to her request.

“Young Master Ye, you really will cripple your own cultivation?” Qin Shi Meng was shocked. She looked at Ye Yong’s eyes and felt that Ye Yong was being serious.

“Of course. I will do what I say, but after I do so, it would mean that you have forgiven me for what I did before, and the two of us will no longer have anything to do with each other.”

Qin Shi Meng’s body trembled from the unexpected response. She didn’t believe that Ye Yong would really do such a thing.

Ye Yong had obtained the knowledge from the Physique Forging Encyclopedia and knew where the basic veins and dantian were located in the human body. He gathered qi in his hands and aimed at his dantian.

Seeing that Ye Yong didn’t hesitate at all, Qin Shi Meng immediately forward and stopped Ye Yong.

“Lady Qin, what are you doing?” Ye Yong asked. He had also been planning to rebuild his foundation. The system was selling a Foundation Establishment Encyclopedia for 1,000 transcend. Although Ye Yong didn’t know whether or not crippling his cultivation would increase Qin Shi Meng’s favorability rating, Wu Xue would always be by his side, so it wouldn’t be difficult for him to get 1,000 transcend points.

“Young Master Ye, you win.” Qin Shi Meng’s face was pale, and tiny beads of sweat emerged on her forehead. If she had hesitated earlier, Ye Yong really would have crippled his own cultivation.

Would Qin Shi Meng be happy if Ye Yong crippled his cultivation? Not at all. Ye Yong might have always been above her and had taken away her aura of a genius child, Qin Shi Meng didn’t want to take the aura back in such a vicious way. She would fight fair and square for what she wanted.

They were already at the Foundation Establishment Realm, and Ye Yong crippling his cultivation would mean that he would have to start over and be behind by a lot. Besides, there could even be hidden injuries left in Ye Yong’s Dantian, which would affect his future cultivation. The other thing was that Ye Yong was the genius of the Ye Family and the Great Zhou Dynasty. If Ye Yong really crippled his cultivation because of Qin Shi Meng, the Ye Family would definitely not let the Qin Family go.

“Young Master Ye must have known that I wouldn’t just stand by and let you cripple your cultivation, right?” Qin Shi Meng said, thinking that her words wouldn’t have any effects on Ye Yong. “However, you are very courageous. Aren’t you afraid that I won’t be able to stop you in time?”

“I have never thought that you would stop me.” Ye Yong had thought that Qin Shi Meng was eager for his cultivation to be crippled.

“Young Master Ye, you’re joking. If you really crippled your cultivation, then I’m sure that my Qin Family won’t be able to stay in the Great Zhou Dynasty anymore.”

Ye Yong hadn’t thought that deeply and had only wanted to start from the beginning so he could get familiar with cultivating while improving his foundations. Now that I think about it, with the Ye Family’s dotingness and craziness, the Qin Family will definitely have to pay a price if something really happens to me. “Then how about you change your request, Lady Qin?”

“I never had a request in the first place, and I apologize for saying such a rude thing just now. If the engagement cancellation is real, and you and I will no longer have anything to do with each other, then this is the best outcome for me.” Qin Shi Meng could no longer see through Ye Yong. Previously, it was easy for her to guess Ye Yong’s intentions, but the current Ye Yong felt like a bottomless pit to her.

“Naturally, what I had said still counts.” Ye Yong looked at the favorability rating and was ecstatic to see that Qin Shi Meng’s favorability rating had increased from -86 to -62, that Qin Shi Meng’s attitude had changed from [Extreme Hatred] to [Hatred], and that he had gotten 2,000 transcend points.

Wait a minute. Ye Yong suddenly remembered something. Qin Shi Meng’s talents were actually way better than Ye Yong’s talent. The only reason that she was lagging behind in cultivation was that the mental that Qin Shi Meng was using wasn’t really compatible with her physique. Later, when she met the male lead, the fallen immortal elder had given her a new mental art, allowing her cultivation to soar.

Ye Yong remembered the name of the mental art and could even buy it for Qin Shi Meng in the system store. They would no longer contact each other after today, so giving her such an amazing mental art would definitely increase Qin Shi Meng’s favorability rating. Ye Yong wanted to harvest transcend points from Qin Shi Meng one last time before they say goodbye.

“In that case, Shi Meng bids farewell.” Seeing Ye Yong wandering off in his mind, Qin Shi Meng felt that there was no longer a need for her to stay, and she prepared to leave.

“Lady Qin, please wait a moment,” Ye Yong said suddenly.

I knew that there was no way that he had suddenly become a good person. Everything was surely within his calculations. He just had no choice but to shed his disguise right now because I was going to leave. Qin Shi Meng turned around expressionlessly, intending to see what tricks Ye Yong was going to play.

Ye Yong smiled modestly. “I have troubled you for so long, so it wouldn’t be good for me to not compensate you with anything.” Ye Yong took out a pen and paper from his storage, spent five transcend points to buy the introductory level of calligraphy, and started writing.

Qin Shi Meng took a look and saw that it seemed to be a mental art. She didn’t feel anything at first glance, but the more she looked, the more shocked she became.

Translator’s Notes:

¹ 君子一言，驷马难追. Means that a man does not go back on his own words, and no matter what he tries, there is no way for him to take back what he said.

Got my exam grade and got a 60%, literally just passing. Ngl I was actually expecting like 40% or 50%, so 60% is good enough for me.

Oh yeah that’s how you deal with “bad grades” if you usually beat yourself up over it, just set your expectations low.