Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
Looking at the jacket in the garbage can, Xie Yujia felt like it was such a waste.
This jacket was a token of affection from Duan Yao’s mom, and it was handmade by her. However, Duan Yao threw it away immediately, which was so brutal of her.
On the other hand, Xie Yujia couldn’t understand how lost and terrified Duan Yao felt when she was sent to Ethereal Summit, and there was nothing that she could do if Hao Ren wanted to use her as his cultivation cauldron. Sky Mountain Sect intended to send her to Ethereal Summit to settle things down without worrying about her.
Xie Yujia saw that the jacket was still hanging on the edge of the garbage can, so she was about to take it out.
“Forget it, Yujia.” Hao Ren stopped Xie Yujia.
The jacket did show Duan Yao’s mother’s love, but Duan Yao was such a stubborn girl that the scar in her mind couldn’t be healed simply by a jacket.
Since she severed all ties with Sky Mountain, she wouldn’t turn back. Lady Zhen also had such a determined and resolute personality, which was probably why she like Duan Yao a lot.
Two classes passed by quickly, and Duan Yao followed Hao Ren like a sidekick; she kept pace with him wherever he went.
Therefore, when Hao Ren went to buy bubble tea, he had to get her one as well. Assuming that she might be bored in class, he decided to get her a magazine, but he realized she couldn’t read. In the end, he got her a comic book with plenty of pictures in it.
As he expected, Duan Yao sat beside him, quietly going through the comic book in the two classes.
Although she was still confused about some parts, that didn’t affect her looking at the pictures.
“You should follow the numbers.” Seeing Duan Yao reading in the wrong order, Hao Ren pulled the comic book over, ripped off a piece of paper, and wrote down a list of numbers so that she could follow the order.
Duan Yao nodded. Then, she started reading again in the order of the numbers and eventually figured it out.
She had taken a comic book from Hao Ren’s house to the Demon Sea, but she was reading it randomly.
However, with the instructions from Hao Ren, she finally learned how to read it.
It was the easiest to understand pictures. Duan Yao was reading the comic about a heroic girl, which was easy for her to relate to. Soon, a smile appeared on her face.
Hao Ren smiled when he saw her immersed in the comic book like a little kid.
Duan Yao wasn’t a bad person; she was only depressed by the law of the jungle in the cultivation world.
At noon, Zhao Yanzi showed up to have lunch with Hao Ren as she said.
When she saw that Duan Yao was still with Hao Ren, her face turned dark.
Duan Yao didn’t care about Zhao Yanzi at all; she just stood next to Hao Ren as if she were his sister.
When she was in the Demon Sea, she would think of Hao Ren sometimes, but she couldn’t tell what kind of feelings she had. Lady Zhen seemed to understand her feeling thoroughly, so she offered to bring her to land so that she could spend some time with Hao Ren.
If the turning point in her life was the day that she was sent to Ethereal Summit from Sky Mountain sect, and that was also the moment that her opinion of Hao Ren changed when Hao Ren didn’t take her as a cultivation cauldron and let her go.
She hated Hao Ren because he changed her life, but another feeling appeared in her mind since she realized that Hao Ren wasn’t like those old monsters who used young female cultivators as tools in cultivation.
She had never felt touched when all the male disciples in Sky Mountain Sect showed affection toward her, which could be interpreted as arrogance or coldness.
All the cultivators were about the same in the cultivation world. They used the strong female cultivators to enhance their own realms, and there wouldn’t be too much affection involved. However, weak cultivators would usually choose dual cultivation while strong cultivators would have many concubines.
Therefore, Duan Yao had made up her mind a long time ago that if she had to follow someone, he had to be an incredible cultivator. She didn’t have a plan for her own destiny as she could sense that Lingwu Master would decide for her.
What she didn’t expect was that Lingwu Master gave her away to Herb King Master, and the latter wasn’t like what she had imagined.
Mortals were just like ants in the eyes of cultivators… But now, Duan Yao felt like she preferred mortal life.
“Pervert! Buy me lunch!” Zhao Yanzi punched Hao Ren lightly.
She wanted Hao Ren to pick her up from her school, but she wasn’t wearing her uniform today, which made her the most noticeable person during the morning excise. The Principal even scolded her in front of the entire school.
There would be an even bigger mess if Hao Ren waited for her in front of her school. That was why Zhao Yanzi came to him.
She was in a fantastic mood today. Her face was glowing, and Ling started to suspect that instead of being single, Zhao Yanzi had gotten back with Hao Ren.
During class, Little Ling joked with Zhao Yanzi, but Zhao Yanzi blushed, which confused Ling.
“Fine, I’ll treat you to the cafeteria,” Hao Ren said with a smile while grabbing her hand.
On Zhao Yanzi’s white wrist, there was a green sword-shaped mark, which just looked like a tattoo. Little Ling saw this mark on Zhao Yanzi today, and she praised the latter for being so cool since she dared to get a tattoo when she was only in Grade Nine.
In fact, Zhao Yanzi mastered the trick of the hiding the mark on her body when she reached top-tier Core Formation Realm, and she hid the mark on her wrist instead of having it spread on the front of her body, which was ugly.
“Fine, cafeteria…” Zhao Yanzi took her wrist back and smacked Hao Ren on his shoulder. Xie Yujia smiled when she saw them teasing each other.
“Let’s go Yujia, it is on me today,” Hao Ren looked back and said to Xie Yujia, and Lu Linlin and Lu Lili opened their arms and cheered.
Dressed in black cotton stockings and a light brown casual sweater, Zhao Yanzi looked prettier than in her blue uniform, which obviously made many guys and girls in the cafeteria look at her.
“That girl has followed Hao Ren the whole day…”
“I heard that she just transferred to East Ocean university, probably a freshman…”
“There are so many people transferring here these days…”
“This is insane; so many pretty girls follow him…”
As soon as Xie Yujia and the other girls sat down, all kinds of gossips sounded in the cafeteria. Duan Yao who was the center of the discussions looked nerdy and cold, which was the opposite of Zhao Yanzi.
Hao Ren went to the line-up to order lunch, but Duan Yao chose to follow him instead of sitting with the girls, which drove Zhao Yanzi crazy.
“What is this supposed to mean!” she thought.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
All the students made way for Hao Ren when they saw him coming.
Hao Ren was stunned for a few seconds as no one was in front of him, and the woman behind the ordering window knocked the spoon, waiting for Hao Ren to order food.
“Um…” Hao Ren walked up and ordered some combos randomly. Duan Yao stayed silent, she stood beside Hao Ren and helped him bring the trays to the table.
The look on her face was calm. She wouldn’t care about anything else as long as she was with him.
Zhao Yanzi felt like it was unfair since she had to go back while Duan Yao could still stay with Hao Ren.
Now, she thought that it wasn’t a bad thing for Xie Yujia to stick around Hao Ren. However, Duan Yao was a girl with a higher realm, younger age, and stronger background…
“Third Uncle will have dinner at my home tonight. My mom invited you for dinner,” Zhao Yanzi said to Hao Ren after taking a tray.
It was time for her to proclaim sovereignty.
“Sure.” Hao Ren nodded. Zhao Kuo had reached peak Qian-level, which was great news. He had to battle Su Han soon, and Hao Ren would like to know how prepared he was.
It was Su Han against Zhao Kuo… Hao Ren didn’t know who would win. Since Su Han had come out of the Demon Sea, then it meant that she had also reached peak Qian-level.
Yue Zilong had gone back to the Dragon God Shrine, which left Zhao Kuo and Su Han as the only peak Qian-level dragon cultivators in East Ocean city.
“Senior…” a crisp voice sounded beside Hao Ren.
Hao Ren turned around and saw Xu Ke coming over, dressed in a set of sportswear with a smile on his face. Then, he sat down in a spot not far away from Xie Yujia.
It was quite abrupt for Xu Ke to sit there while other students kept away from Hao Ren and the girls.
Hao Ren didn’t know that Xu Ke was still in East Ocean University. Taiyi Cave Master was kicked out by Zhao Kuo, but Xu Ke was still here. It was clear that this young man had a hidden agenda.
“Gongzi, Xu Ke has been trying to get close to Big Zhumu these days; he is almost pursuing her.” Lu Lili went up to Hao Ren and said quietly.
When Xie Yujia saw Xu Ke, she moved closer to Hao Ren with her tray, trying to keep a distance from Xu Ke.
Hao Ren had suddenly disappeared from East Ocean University a few days ago, and Xu Ke took the opportunity to show his affection toward Xie Yujia, his senior sister, in various ways.
Xie Yujia was never upfront, and she didn’t want to cause more drama and misunderstandings when Hao Ren wasn’t around. Thus, all she did was to avoid him.
Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi’s relationship was a matter of the East Ocean Dragon Clan, but Xie Yujia always treated herself as Hao Ren’s girlfriend. She tried to maintain Hao Ren’s image and avoid any gossip that would make Hao Ren uncomfortable.
She was aware that there would be explosive gossips if she had any contact with Xu Ke, including turning down Xu Ke.
As Hao Ren got closer and closer to Zhao Yanzi, it meant that Xie Yujia and Hao Ren’s was becoming weaker. Many couples in the university broke up due to gossips and jealous comments, which concerned Xie Yujia; she didn’t want it to happen to them.
Hao Ren noticed the awkward look on Xie Yujia’s face, and he felt bad as he knew that she was very sensitive.
However, everyone in the university knew that he was Hao Zhonghua’s son, and people would even make way for him in the cafeteria. People would think that Hao Ren bullied Xu Ke if he kicked away Xu Ke who looked so innocent and was just eating there.
“Yujia…” Hao Ren reached out his hand and pulled Xie Yujia closer to him.
Disappointment appeared in Xu Ke’s eyes. It was known that Xie Yujia was Hao Ren’s girlfriend, but he didn’t think that Hao Ren would kick him away.
“Go away.” Duan Yao who sat beside Hao Ren said those words quietly.
A light green aura slowly came out of her body, and Xu Ke felt like his soul was about to fly out of his body and be sucked into Duan Yao’s eyes.
“Huh…” Xu Ku picked up his tray and walked away.
