By the end of the first year, this girl had managed to devour—there was no other word for it—all the school knowledge I remembered about physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology. Naturally, my knowledge was far from complete. Who remembers the entire school curriculum for every subject?
I didn't know whether she was simply that smart by nature or whether her inheritance affected her somehow, but the girl solved problems with several variables in seconds. Integrals took her mere moments.
Even I couldn't keep up with her anymore. Most of all, though, she liked geometry, which she began actively incorporating into her lotuses. Creating a multi-tiered lotus based on Fibonacci numbers, for example, was genius as far as I was concerned. And it looked pretty beautiful too.
"Little Yue, this is truly beautiful. Keep it up."
"Brother Lun, do you remember any other beautiful numbers with meaning like that?"
"I'm afraid not, little Yue. Try coming up with something yourself. It's important to emphasize not only mathematical beauty, but meaningful beauty too. For example, your birth date, your age, your brother's age, your parents' ages, and so on. Understand?"
"Yes. That will be interesting."
An old tactic, really. A game-like approach always produced unexpectedly huge results.
Riding that wave, I got inspired myself and brought the number of petals in my ice lotus up to fifty. We were both very close to the fifth stage of the Frozen Cloud Art now. I think Qingyue had already crossed into it, actually. Her control was perfectly fine. What was the benefit? The higher her control rose, the faster her cultivation became.
After our first year of living together, we started talking more about the moral and ethical issues of this world. How do you explain colors to a blind person who's never seen them? How do you explain communism and capitalism to a girl from a xianxia world, or why authority is actually supposed to be a servant of the people? The very concept that human life is the highest value and that the point is to be happy was beyond her.
"But Brother Lun, there really is trash among people. People who are good for nothing. How can you say everyone is equal?"
"You shouldn't take it that literally. That so-called trash has parents who will grieve for their child exactly the same way your parents would. That trash has dreams. Maybe great dreams, maybe trashy ones. But that's no longer our business. And one person out of a million like that may eventually break the shackles of fate and become someone who brutally takes revenge on those who wronged him. That's a classic of the genre."
"Your stories again about different practitioners who were trash, then found some ancient inheritance and started... What was the word? Stomping everyone?"
"Why call them stories? Didn't I tell you about my clan's curse? Wouldn't I have been trash in your eyes if you'd seen me a few years ago?"
"Brother Lun..."
"Qingyue, what's our most important rule?"
"Don't be a hypocrite. Yes, you're right. I would've considered you trash and wouldn't even have paid attention to you."
"See? That's why the main rule of a sane society is: live and let live. But in our world it's almost impossible to apply. Unfortunately."
The girl gradually began to understand through examples. My personal victory was convincing her that Xiao Ying had acted decently by saving her mother, but that didn't mean Xia Hongyi had the right to sell his daughter like another piece of merchandise, nor did Xiao Ying have the right to accept that merchandise as gratitude. Yes, yes, we talked about feminism and arranged marriages, and my student didn't argue with me even once on that point. Of course she didn't—a member of Frozen Cloud Palace objecting to basic principles of equality between the sexes! They're all basically feminists there.
"Brother Lun, for those words alone you had every right to become a member of our Palace. Your views on arranged marriages for girls are very close to those of many of us. A lot of girls ran away because their father wanted to sell them to some old man or freak."
"And if their father sold them to some young, handsome genius, then everything would be fine? I don't think you understand the root of the problem."
"You're right. That really was stupid of me. Though in reality, that is exactly how things are. If a girl is sold to the kind of genius you described, she won't complain about her fate."
"And is that right?"
"No. Not for me. For others? Isn't that their personal business?"
"Actually, no. Society doesn't work like that. We don't live in a vacuum. They set a bad example, and the practice itself can never be eradicated."
"You place too much importance on society. Strong practitioners are what matter."
"And that's exactly why this world is so fucked up. One strong idiot can turn his bullshit into law and nobody can challenge it. Meanwhile thousands of suffering wise men will go unheard because they have no talent for cultivation."
"And what if a wise man becomes a strong cultivator?"
"Then he'll quickly catch the universal idiocy and forget every goal he originally had in a blind chase for power."
And I wasn't even going that deep. I was talking about basic things from my old society. It's not like I was some kind of activist in that life. In fact, people would've even called me sexist. Everything is relative.
At the start of the second year, we began hunting. Meaning we climbed down from our platform and got into fights with the countless beasts below. And it wasn't fun at all. Naturally, I tanked and took all the damage myself, but even Qingyue was wounded several times. And that helped. It really did help.
At this point even I couldn't tell whether good old adrenaline and the pile of other chemicals the body actively produces in moments of mortal danger were responsible, or whether the same profound-energy superstructure somehow helped, but during those fights our skill—our control over cold profound energy—grew by leaps and bounds.
It was still an enormous risk. The moment we got into a fight with one beast, more and more creatures from all over the location came running, and there was no end to them. Victory simply wasn't possible. All we could do was retreat and lick our wounds until the next fight.
That was how we ran into an Earth Profound steel python, and that was where our luck ran out. Not only was the snake fast—it appeared in front of us as if it had teleported—but our attacks couldn't pierce its hide either. We were helpless, and I had neither the time nor the space for the run-up needed to use Falling Star Blade.
After several seconds of fighting, all I managed to do was dash in front of Qingyue and raise my sword when the creature lunged at her.
This time my vaunted body strength wasn't enough. I was thrown aside like a broken doll with a pile of shattered bones and internal injuries. The last thing I heard was the girl's desperate scream, and then darkness.
Did I regret dying? Not one bit. Quite the opposite. What mattered to me wasn't when you died, but how. I'd died saving a girl's life. She had enough common sense to retreat quickly and climb back onto the ledge. From there, she'd be able to complete the task gradually without taking too many risks. Especially if she had enough brains to search through my things. And despite all my performative cynicism, I'd always been a bit of a show-off. Isn't that how a man is supposed to die? Saving a woman or a child—that is, heroically? Or maybe my brain was delirious in its final seconds, and if I'd been in my right mind, I'd have cursed my stupidity and found a hundred better ways out of that situation.
When I woke up, I didn't pay attention to the pain even though every cell in my body hurt. No. First, I was amazed I'd woken up at all. Second, I started thinking stupid shit like, "If this is another reincarnation, please let it not be a world of friendly ponies. I'll kill myself. I swear, if this is a pony world, I'll kill myself."
"Brother Lun, you're finally awake?"
Ah, no. Everything was fine. The cutie's worried voice brought me back to the sinful earth of pompous moral freaks. Good. No matter how much I complained, there were worse places.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Three days. Brother Lun, you saved me..."
"Doesn't look like it. Seems more like you saved me. How?"
"I just put much more power into my attack, and the snake died. Then I picked you up and ran back."
"Followed the instructions exactly?"
Of course I'd prepared instructions in case the cutie ended up alone. A couple of tricks, a formation that practically repelled beasts, scent-killing powder, a broken core from a Sky Profound beast, and so on. The beast core was kept in a jade box that contained its energy. Open the thing and such a flood of energy bursts out that any energy trail gets washed away. A good tool against pursuit. Also useful for strengthening me, now that I thought about it, but it had the earth element and I wasn't particularly interested in that one.
"Of course, Brother Lun. Without all that, I wouldn't have been able to reach the camp. There were too many beasts."
"Good. That's exactly why those supplies were there. So you used your inheritance to save yourself?"
"Yes. I used all the energy stored in the Little World."
"Useful thing. Convenient. Even if it brings a lot of trouble."
"Why?"
"Don't you know how valuable your constitution is to men? They'll hunt you for it."
The girl gave me a piercing look.
"You too?"
"Why did I spend so much time teaching you to think? Tell me yourself. Share your conclusions."
After a deep breath, the girl began her report.
"Most likely, you've already received permission from the Palace Mistress to make me yours. Am I right?"
"From the Great Mistress—that is, my teacher. But yes, I have permission. Any other conclusions?"
"But you said you were against arranged marriages like that."
She looked at me as if I'd betrayed her, and it actually stung a little.
"That is also correct, which means...?"
"You set a condition. Only if I agree myself?"
"And why would you agree? What strategy would I choose for that?"
"Bargaining. Your favorite strategy is 'win-win.'"
"'Win-win' means..."
"I know, I know: victory-victory. You'd offer me something of equal value or even more valuable to me. Right?"
"Exactly. Any ideas?"
"Brother Lun, is that why you've been teaching me all this time?"
"No. It just happened that way. Think of something else to trade for. What do you need? What could I give you that you couldn't refuse?"
"Power. A method to become stronger?"
"Dig deeper. Why do you need power?"
The girl stared at me with those enormous eyes so intensely it almost felt cold, then froze for about thirty seconds.
"Information. Of course. With your gift, you know where my mother is and how to reach her. I wouldn't be able to refuse that deal. Right?"
"Yes, exactly. But now I've almost changed my mind."
"Changed your mind? You don't want my virginity anymore?"
"Don't say stupid things, little Yue. Of course I wouldn't refuse something that valuable. But that's not the issue. I don't like your second inheritance."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Qingyue, where is it darkest?"
"Under the lamp. That's an easy riddle, and you've explained the concept to me."
"Now connect that to your 'Glass Heart.' Let's think together. What does it give you?"
"People can't lie to me. I can't be trapped in illusions or mentally controlled. Is that what you mean? So if I follow your logic, my Glass Heart itself is doing one of those things to me."
"You still want to marry Xiao Ying's son even though I told you he isn't his son, he's adopted, and that the old bastard is deceiving you, right?"
"It's simply the righ— Wait. That's it. Is that what you mean? My inheritance is making me act this way. I'm under compulsion?"
The girl started panicking and pacing around the camp.
"But that's not all. My search for Mother... You think that's compulsion too? Why?"
"It looks like someone wants you to marry that Trash, then leave him and go search for your mother, giving him the motivation to grow stronger and follow after you. Games of fate, understand?"
"How can I be sure these aren't imaginary fears?"
"Figure it out yourself. I've taught you."
"A list. Make a list of pros and cons, what you want and don't want, what's rational and irrational, then draw conclusions from that."
"Good girl. Calm your mind and get to work."
"And what if it's all true? What if my own heart is betraying me? What then?"
"You tell me. Any options? Maybe the best option?"
"Ask a competent person who has already thought everything through for help," she quoted words I'd thrown around more than once in our conversations.
"Good girl. I'd even kiss you, but unfortunately I don't have a single intact bone in my body."
The girl leaned down on her own and kissed me on the cheek, then went to make her lists. I simply activated the Great Way of the Buddha and started getting myself back into shape.