Chapter 5: A Vicious Man

Xiao Jie was very pure and white.

Ning Xuan liked her purity and whiteness.

The first time he saw her, she was copying scriptures for a noble outside a Zen monastery in the neighboring city.

Her handwriting was elegant, and her appearance was delicate and beautiful.

Ning Xuan went up and asked, “How much?”

Xiao Jie said lightly, “Ten copper coins for a hundred words. The paper is high-quality Xuan paper, and the ink fragrance is light, mixed with pine resin. Although the pine resin is cheap, it was made by this servant girl herself.”

In the gentle breeze and setting sun, she tucked her long hair, a smile on her face that seemed to have understood the meaning of Zen and seen through the ways of the world. Then, in a tone that was neither humble nor arrogant, she said, “Ten copper coins for a hundred words is not expensive. This servant girl is not here to make money, but only to seek peace and quiet, and to form a connection with Buddha.”

Ning Xuan took out a silver ingot and placed it on the table.

The ingot was very heavy, a standard twenty-tael piece.

“That’s too much,” Xiao Jie said.

Ning Xuan said, “I’m looking for a personal maid. I’ll give you this much every month. Will you do it?”

Xiao Jie was silent for a few breaths, then she packed up her stall.

Ning Xuan asked curiously, “Aren’t you seeking peace and quiet, and forming a connection with Buddha?”

Xiao Jie said, “Young Master is this servant girl’s peace and quiet, the fate bestowed upon this servant girl by Buddha.”

Ning Xuan liked Xiao Jie’s frankness.

So, after getting into the carriage, he took out another twenty taels and placed them on Xiao Jie’s long, fair legs.

Xiao Jie said, “That’s too much.”

Ning Xuan said, “I’m looking for a bed-warming maid…”

Xiao Jie looked troubled.

Ning Xuan took out another ten taels and added, “Fifty taels a month.”

Xiao Jie silently put the thirty taels of silver into her bosom, then happily wrapped her arms around Ning Xuan’s.

And after that, she had always done a good job.

She had been doing it for two years.

The young master of the Ning family was not short of women. Even though he was young, he had grown up in a pile of rouge. But Xiao Jie had been by his side for two years when he really needed a woman.

Xiao Jie never mentioned becoming his concubine, but always said that when she had saved enough money, she wanted to leave. She wanted to see the world, to see the sunset at the ends of the earth, to see the lonely smoke over the long river in a foreign land.

The maids who were jealous of her would also occasionally say strange things outside, deliberately letting the young master hear, such as “Xiao Jie doesn’t want to leave at all, she’s just using this vixen’s tricks to deliberately seduce the young master,” or “Xiao Jie actually wants to be a concubine, she’s just playing tricks, she’s a scheming woman,” or “Xiao Jie usually looks elegant and quiet, but when she’s with the young master, she’s so slutty, it’s disgusting…”

Ning Xuan didn’t hide it, and when Xiao Jie was snuggled in his arms feeding him fruit, he told her these words.

Xiao Jie didn’t panic, but instead showed a calm smile and said, “In the years I spent copying books, this servant girl copied a sentence, which is ‘Is he not a gentleman who is not angry when others do not know him?’ This servant girl is not a gentleman, but I will not be angry because of others’ ignorance.”

Ning Xuan asked curiously, “Then what do you really think?”

Xiao Jie fed the young master a piece of new fish sashimi from the East China Sea, then her beautiful eyes looked into the distance, showing a bit of longing, and said, “This servant girl’s family is poor. If I follow the usual path, I will just marry, have children, and toil for a lifetime.

But by following the young master, I can earn a lifetime’s worth of money in just a few years. With this money, this servant girl can go and see the world.

At that time, this servant girl will not stay for anyone. Wherever the wind goes, this servant girl will go.

As for being slutty, they are not wrong. But this servant girl will only be a woman once, so I naturally want to leave all my womanliness to the person I care about most, and then leave here without any regrets.”

She smiled frivolously, full of charm, but her eyes concealed a contradiction and reluctance.

From that day on, Ning Xuan knew that this bed-warming maid by his side was a “thing that lies without blinking and is shameless to the core.”

But,

He liked it.

A high-end young lady can always keenly perceive the reaction of the person beside her.

When Ning Xuan woke up from the nightmare, the muscles in his left arm tensed.

Xiao Jie woke up.

She opened her eyes.

The bright moonlight fell from outside, and the grid of light on the stone slab was already very narrow.

“Is something on your mind, Young Master?” Xiao Jie’s voice became calm and composed again, neither humble nor arrogant. At this moment, she was not like a bed-warming maid who was trying to please the young master, but like the young master’s confidante.

Ning Xuan was recalling the dream.

In the dream, the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon came after dawn. Was this a hint?

A hint that the real time the bear demon would arrive was after dawn?

In the dream, he could face death with determination and fight to the death, but only those who have truly died know the terror of death.

He had suffered so much in the dream.

Outside the dream, did he have to suffer again?

Why should he suffer?

He had been so miserable in the dream, why did he have to fight to the death again outside the dream? You know, this time he was not facing a “weakened” Mountain-Crashing Bear demon, but a complete one.

No! Perhaps there was more than one.

Ning Xuan suddenly turned over and straddled Xiao Jie’s waist.

Xiao Jie giggled.

But, the next moment, Ning Xuan rolled over Xiao Jie’s waist, quickly got out of bed, quickly put on his boots and clothes, and at the same time, took Xiao Jie’s light gauze skirt and moon-white silk bodice that were hanging on the purple sandalwood clothes rack, threw them on the bed, and then said, “Let’s go! Let’s go overnight!”

Xiao Jie didn’t ask anything, immediately got up, and immediately got dressed, her movements as fast as her undressing.

Why should she ask?

The young master had already made a decision, she just had to obey.

And by the time Ning Xuan had finished dressing, Xiao Jie was already dressed, and had already taken a large black umbrella and a bundle of the young master’s clothes.

She carried the bundle on her back, held the large black umbrella, and walked out the door, even asking, “Young Master, how many people should I call to escort us?”

Ning Xuan said, “Everyone!”

This time, Xiao Jie was stunned.

Because the young master’s words were too unexpected.

He had just arrived this afternoon, the bed was not even warm, and then in the middle of the night, he wanted to take all the servants, maids, and guards of the Ning family’s mountain villa with him.

Xiao Jie asked, “What should this servant girl tell them?”

Ning Xuan said, “Just say I feel like it.”

Old Master Ning obviously had a lot of face.

With just one word from Ning Xuan, everyone really followed him overnight.

The kind-faced old man looked at this young master with some curiosity. His sleeves were bulging, and there was the “Storm Pear Blossom Needle” that Ning Xuan had used again and again in his nightmare.

Of course, this old man would not believe that this Young Master Ning had suddenly called them up and taken them away just “because he was willful.”

Why?

Just because he was Old Ning’s son.

Therefore, the old man was particularly curious about what would happen to the mountain villa.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, he quietly instructed a clever guard.

The guard automatically left the team and quietly hid in a small forest at the foot of the mountain, waiting for what would happen next.

In the early morning, before the sky was bright, the group returned to Star River County.

“My son, is it too cold and damp in the mountains that you came back in such a hurry?” A plainly dressed woman hurried out from the inner courtyard to greet them. Her eyebrows were slightly drooping, with a hint of kindness, and her eyes were full of doting. On her wrist was a string of expensive prayer beads.

This was Ning Xuan’s mother.

She was a Buddhist.

“It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back,” the plainly dressed woman said. “What time is it? Xuan’er, go to sleep.”

Ning Xuan went to sleep.

After a night of tossing and turning, his whole body was covered in sweat. After bathing, he didn’t ask Xiao Jie to serve him, but lay comfortably on the soft couch, but he couldn’t sleep.

The sky slowly brightened.

The golden, warm sunlight fell from the sky.

In the afternoon, the old man holding the Storm Pear Blossom Needle received news.

“Boss, everything is normal, no accidents. I even ran up the mountain for a lap. Young Master Ning is really willful…” the subordinate reported.

The old man said sternly, “It’s not for you to say whether Young Master Ning is willful or not.”

The subordinate said with a playful smile, “I know, boss, I won’t say it again, I won’t say it again, okay?” with a rogue-like demeanor.

After he left.

The old man said, “Everything is normal. Alas, everyone knows that Old Ning had a son in his old age, but… is he spoiling this son too much?”

Thinking of Ning Xuan’s small arms and legs, he couldn’t help but sigh again.

In Young Master Ning’s room, the windows were all closed.

Ning Xuan looked at the panel.

[Heavenly Demon Record]

[Life Attribute Gate 1: Mountain-Crashing Bear] (Not summoned)

[Life (Constitution): 1]

[Nature (Spirit): 1]

He silently said in his heart, “I request the Heavenly Demon Record.”

As the thought fell, a mysterious talisman instantly appeared in his mind. The talisman’s ghostly drawings exuded a mysterious and profound aura, but he knew that this ghostly drawing represented the “Mountain-Crashing Bear.”

The talisman burned…

At the same time, a powerful force surged into his body.

The black shadow on the table in the secret room was slowly covered by a rising black shadow, and in the bronze mirror, a vicious man, ten feet tall and so strong that he seemed to be covered in a layer of muscle armor, appeared.

It was a suit of fine steel armor, tempered a thousand times, tightly and toughly wrapping the body. Every muscle was sharp and distinct, as if carved by a knife, containing explosive power.

On the roof, a black cat that was taking a walk suddenly had its fur stand on end, let out a shrill meow, and shot away like it had been electrocuted…

Ning Xuan hunched his back, suppressing his height, looking at the oppressive self in the mirror, and then glanced at “[Life (Constitution): 1 (3.7)],” frowning slightly, and thought to himself: ‘After all, it’s the power additionally increased by the Heavenly Demon Record. I have to make some improvements myself. In the past, I thought this world only had low-level martial arts. It seems I was wrong. I have to look for it again.’