Chapter Eighty-Seven: A Most Unwelcome Love Entanglement

Though Luoqing Shi loved beauty, her own appearance was entirely ordinary. She was not ugly, but beauty was a word that had nothing at all to do with her.

At that very moment, in the middle of a busy street, she stood with both arms spread wide, blocking Luo Changning’s path.

She lifted her chin haughtily, wearing a look of supreme arrogance. “Hey, Luo Changning, when are you coming to my house to propose?”

Luo Changning nearly spat blood at the words. Had he heard that right? Propose?

Helplessly, he shook his head. This cousin seemed to be seriously ill, with an incurable case of delusion in its final stage.

Why was it that all the other transmigrators were surrounded by beauties and had a whole crowd of considerate, gentle younger female cousins, while he, though he asked for nothing more than one person to grow old with, had to end up saddled with such a bizarre cousin?

He raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, then said coldly, “If my cousin has nothing else to do, please step aside. I still have to buy some pastries for my aunt.”

Whether Luoqing Shi was lacking in emotional intelligence or simply shameless, she did not hear the coldness and distance in his words at all. Instead, she still shouted at the top of her voice, “I’m asking you, Luo Changning, when are you coming to my house to propose?”

“I’m already eleven this year, and in a few months I’ll be twelve. It’s the perfect age to be engaged.”

Luoqing Shi was utterly unashamed, and her voice was so loud that pedestrians half a street away could hear every word clearly. Instantly, all sorts of curious, disdainful, and shamelessly amused gazes shot toward the two of them from every direction.

Luo Changning’s face darkened at once. His innocence had been ruined by this lovesick fool!

Originally, after coming to Miao Nan Province, he had planned to seek opportunities that could make him stronger. But now, not only had he failed to find any, he had also acquired a troublemaker, one who clung to him like adhesive plaster and never knew how to read the room.

He had made his disgust so obvious, and yet she still would not leave him alone.

But precisely because of Luoqing Shi’s contrast, Luo Changning missed Ma Xuee even more.

If all sisters in this world were like Ma Xuee, how wonderful that would be. Not only was she cute, she was also simple and kind, never throwing herself at handsome men like a lovesick fool.

Yes, a sister like Ma Xuee—he could afford to raise ten of them...

Far away in Annan Province, Ma Xuee had no idea that her beloved Brother Changning was thinking of her just as earnestly.

Heh. Never mind. At any rate, he had lived two lives already; there was no need to quarrel with a little girl.

Thinking this, Luo Changning activated his lightness skill and retreated swiftly, abandoning the stamping, cursing Luoqing Shi and her two personal maids behind him.

Having finally shaken off the harassment of that lovesick girl, Luo Changning did not return to the Su family estate. He knew that if he went back, he might well be blocked again by Luoqing Shi, so he simply stayed outside to enjoy some peace and quiet.

He also took the chance to see whether there might be any opportunity to strengthen himself. After all, Luo Changning already met the requirements for advancing to the Innate Realm; he had only not yet found the chance to break through.

Postnatal and Innate—only one word apart, yet worlds apart. Only by stepping into the Innate Realm could one truly be called a martial artist, a martial artist of the Radiant Glory Continent.

As for postnatal martial artists, they might resemble the wandering heroes of ancient times on the Earthdragon Continent. Even if they could not become the foremost master, they still counted as outstanding among martial artists, but in the eyes of the martial world on the Radiant Glory Continent, they were nothing worth mentioning.

And the difference between the Innate Realm and the Heaven-Transcending Realm was even more unimaginable. To say that one was man and the other god would not be an exaggeration at all!

Martial artists in the Heaven-Transcending Realm could transform true qi into the power of the life soul within their own bodies. As long as the soul remained unextinguished, they could live forever. In this world, aside from gods who could attain immortality, what mortal could ever reach such a height?

At the very least, among the current Heaven-Transcending martial artists of the Radiant Glory Continent, not one had achieved true, everlasting immortality of the life soul’s power. The longest-lived among them had merely lasted a thousand years at most, and even that would eventually come to an end.

So in truth, most Heaven-Transcending martial artists were only half divine and half human. Though called half-gods, they were still far from truly becoming gods and ascending beyond heaven.

After pondering for a long while, Luo Changning still had not decided where he should go to seek his opportunity, so he simply entered a teahouse at random and took a seat.

He ordered a pot of Cangshan Snow Green tea and sipped it slowly. Though he appeared leisurely, nothing in the entire teahouse escaped his ears.

No matter which continent it was, teahouses, wine shops, and pleasure houses were always the best places to gather information, because only those with free time and money would patronize such places.

Once people had spare wealth, idleness inevitably bred gossip. They would chat and banter with other guests at the teahouse, talking about anything from the farthest southern and northern lands to the business of hens laying eggs.

Such places were indeed crowded with all kinds of people, from every walk of life. Thus, the information one could obtain there also spanned every class and every trade.

And sure enough, Luo Changning, who seemed merely to be drinking tea while in fact catching every sound in the teahouse without missing a word, soon heard a very familiar name.

That name was: Yun Ruoyi...

“Hey, have you heard? The Yun family’s Yun Ruoyi has returned from Annan Province,” said a guest at one table.

The people at the neighboring table joined in at once upon hearing this, gossiping excitedly. “Yun Ruoyi? Who is that? I’ve never even heard of such a person.”

“Right, right. Man or woman? What do they look like? Which family are they from?” another person chimed in.

“Heh, and you still don’t know that? The Yun family—what other Yun family would it be? Naturally, it’s one of our Miao Nan Province’s hidden families!” The one who had first brought up the topic wore a self-satisfied expression, clearly pleased at knowing who Yun Ruoyi was and enjoying the air of superiority that came with it.

“A hidden family? We still have hidden families in Miao Nan Province?” A tea drinker at the neighboring table looked at him skeptically.

“Yes, yes, why have I never heard of the Yun family as a hidden family? Speaking of hidden families, I’ve only heard of the Wenren family and the Yi family.”

“Tsk, tsk, look at how little you know, and you still dare come out and mix with people!” The man shook his head, wearing an expression of deep disappointment, then cracked open a peanut and tossed it into his mouth.

“Let me broaden the horizons of you country bumpkins. The Yun family is an even older hidden family than the Wenren family and the Yi family. It is said they have existed for more than ten thousand years.”

“And that Yun Ruoyi is precisely the eldest legitimate grandson of the Yun family, the future head of the Yun family, the current young master of the Yun family!”

After speaking, he even lifted his chin at the two people from the neighboring table who had spoken up.