"What is the meaning of this?" Wei Ting asked as she stomped toward her own sister, her eyes flaming.
Wei Bing met her with a flat, expressionless tone. "What?"
"Don’t ’what’ me, Elder Sister!" She grated. "Why did you accept him playing the zither for you?"
"Why do you mind?" Wei Bing replied, tilting her head. "It’s simply him thanking me. What is the problem here?"
"The problem, sister, is that this bastard Luo Ming is engaged to me." Wei Ting said, pointing at herself with her finger. "And you do not let your sister’s fiancé play the zither for you!"
"Didn’t you hear him? The engagement is void now."
"And didn’t you hear me? I, Wei Ting, am the one who decides when to end it. And I have not ended it yet. So, sister, to avoid any whispers that could ruin your reputation and mine, refuse him. This is inappropriate!"
’Reputation, heh?’ Wei Bing thought scornfully, looking at her own sister, her hatred and anger for her from her past life surging back for a moment. ’Who cares about reputation? Only fools like you cling to such a useless thing. If I could destroy this family’s reputation, I would do it gladly, you ignorant, attention-seeking fool.’
She would have loved to end all of this already. However, Wei Bing had realised that destroying her family’s reputation was far too easy for what they had been planning to do to her.
She would not stop at that. She would destroy everything from within, and make that family submit to her.
And already...
Wei Bing looked intently at her sister, and for a brief moment, her blue eyes flashed with a demonic red light.
’...I have found a way. Luo Ming, you are an unexpected variable. But you shall make everything easier for me!’
"Let’s go back." Wei Bing controlled her emotions and turned away. "Father has been calling all this time."
She said this while showing Wei Ting her Jade Transmission Shard. Wei Ting’s heart shook with apprehension, finally realising what she had done by coming here.
"Don’t say anything to them!" Wei Ting said to her sister. "I’m still engaged to Luo Ming! So nothing has changed! In fact, we’ll tell them we only confirmed his innocence. Okay, sister?"
"And when Luo Ming comes to visit us? What lies will you tell them then?"
"I’ll take care of it! Just don’t say anything!"
’Heaven-cursed fool.’ She cursed inwardly.
"As you wish. I won’t say anything."
Wei Ting heaved a big sigh of relief, wiping away a cold sweat. She bit her lower lip next, looking strangely at her sister, sensing something was off with her today.
However, she dismissed the feeling soon after, thinking not only of Lin Han, but also of how she would solve this problem with Luo Ming.
She wanted to break it all off and put a stop to everything, but only if he was guilty, since then her parents wouldn’t say anything to her.
But now that his innocence had been proven, and Luo Ming wanted to break it because of her own actions, Wei Ting didn’t want her parents to find out and be disappointed.
For that...
’A way.’ She pressed her lips together. ’I need a way out of this. Luo Ming, you arrogant bastard, how dare you break the engagement with me? You’ll never find someone better than me! Nev—!’
She stopped her thoughts abruptly, remembering Luo Ming’s heavenly beauty.
Wei Ting cursed and stomped her feet.
"I hate him! I hate him!"
Wei Bing looked at her sister and ignored her completely.
’Should I just kill her again?’
...
"This is... how I look?" Luo Ming whispered in quiet surprise, his eyes fixed on the mirror. He finally had time to look at his new appearance.
It was nothing short of heavenly.
He was truly surprised by it. His skin was flawlessly pale, as if he lacked an abundance of blood. His hair was black and glossy, long enough to reach his shoulders if left untied. At that moment, it was tied into a ponytail.
’Need to cut it. Maybe.’
His silver eyes were the most distinctive feature of his appearance.
Silver eyes, from what his memory told him, were only found among the Silver Throne, the Royal Family of the Kingdom.
The fact that his mother didn’t have silver eyes but him was truly strange.
No one had expected that.
’I look a lot like my mother.’ He added, and the thought brought a smile to his face.
Afterward, tired of looking at his face, Luo Ming sighed and went back to his bed. He climbed up and sat cross-legged in the middle.
He closed his eyes and entered deep meditation, thinking about everything that had happened since he woke up in this world.
From the framing, to the Wei sisters, to the High Elders and the matter with Shen Rou.
The only good things here were the fact that he had been given a second chance at life and at reaching his goal of building a family; a still-living mother who cared deeply for him; and powers that could doom him and help him at the same time, if used correctly.
The only frustrating part was that even with him proven innocent, the culprit had been left untouched.
And that was because of his lack of strength and influence.
As a former CEO and millionaire on Earth, Luo Ming knew exactly how much all of that mattered.
And one could hardly have influence without strength. They went hand in hand.
And so...
’I need to cultivate.’ He thought. ’And I need to do everything to grow stronger.’
Cultivation in the world of Pengu was a kind he had never encountered in his numerous reading sessions.
Here, only people who possessed a Spiritual Seed could cultivate, grow stronger, and shed their mortal skin to reach the divine.
The first rank was named the Seedling rank. The same realm he was in.
’In this rank, we absorb the surrounding Qi through a cultivation technique to nurture and refine our Spiritual Seed.’ Luo Ming absorbed the memories further. ’And the more we do that, the more it grows, and spiritual roots begin to emerge from the seed and link themselves to our internal system.’
The minimum requirement to step into the next rank — the Sprout rank — was for the Seed to have three spiritual roots.
Some fairly talented people could reach six roots.
Other geniuses could reach nine.
Luo Ming had heard that the Heaven Chosen could even reach twelve roots, the very limit of what was possible.
The more roots, the better the foundation, and the more strength one possessed.
Legends said that those who managed twelve roots received a Gift from the Mandate of Heaven.
Luo Ming was only at his Second Root.
’I’m not saying I’m a Heaven Chosen, but aiming for twelve roots seems to be the correct choice here.’ He thought, then frowned subtly.
There was one thing he had forgotten, the quality of the Spiritual Seed one awakened.
The quality was divided into five ranks: Copper, Silver, Gold, Dark Jade, White Jade.
It was simple and straightforward. Luo Ming’s Seed was at the Gold rank.
It was at the level of "talented" enough to reach six roots, but nothing higher.
However...
’There must be a way to increase my quality, right? Let’s be honest, this is a Cultivation World. Ways always exist!’
He just needed to find them. And tomorrow, in the Main Treasury, Luo Ming would have his first opportunity to at least look for one.
Eager to grow stronger and for tomorrow to arrive, Luo Ming began to cultivate with his breathing technique — Breath of Raven’s Cry — and easily slipped into a complete state of focus.
He drew in the surrounding Qi within his chamber toward his lungs, and breathed as instructed.
Slowly and steadily, Luo Ming began to feel a strange but pleasant sensation throughout his whole body, and before he knew it, he was asleep.
Soon after, Meng Lin stepped into the room and saw her son sleeping in a lotus position.
She smiled immediately, guessing he had been cultivating. Proud and happy, Meng Lin went quickly to him, laid him down peacefully on the bed, and covered him with his blanket.
Next, she took the jade pendant shaped like a silver eye — the one she had kept on her the whole time — and wrapped it around her son’s neck.
The pendant glowed with a mysterious silver light, then vanished, as if it had become invisible.
"This is for you, Ming’er." She leaned in and kissed his forehead. "This is from your grandfather."
—End of Chapter 10—