After entering the room, Uncle Liu motioned for me to take a seat. I was on high alert as I awaited his actions, however, Uncle Liu said reluctantly, “Miss Ou, I haven’t gotten much time left.”
Huh? So I’m not the one dying? You are? As long as I’m not dying, who cares about who dies. (>_< what="" kind="" of="" terrible="" person="" are="">
Upon hearing that, I finally relaxed my stiffened body, falling back onto the chair, and said in a seemingly concerned tone, “Is something the matter? And don’t worry, you’ll definitely live until you’re a hundred.”
“I’m already a hundred and one this year, my only hope is to successfully fulfill my mission before I die, so I can leave feeling relieved.”
You’re already a hundred and one?! So this isn’t Uncle Liu, but Grandpa Liu. I couldn’t tell his age one bit, he must have some sort of recipe for eternal youth. Gimme your beauty secret first before you die.
“Miss Ou, you are in fact the saintess of Luo Suo Sect, your predecessor Saintess Ying Xin[1]predicted before her death that you’d appear on the ocean during a night where there were thunder and lightning. I have been here waiting for you for five years now.”
Saintess? Me? It’s quite obvious to you that in terms of looks I’m probably barely above average, and I’m not really that pure of heart, all I think about every day is how to take advantage of men, I don’t have super awesome martial arts skills, and on top of it all, I’m a crook! It’s definitely not me! (How come you don’t normally a.n.a.lyze yourself so thoroughly?)
“Uncle Liu, you’ve got to be mistaken, over the five years that you were here, there must have been dozens of people accidentally falling into the ocean. So maybe it’s not me, maybe it’s some other girl?” I’d rather die than enter the Jianghu Community!
“It’s definitely you! Saintess Ying Xin said before that the next saintess hails from a different world, when I found you on the ocean, what you were wearing was not from around here. And later on, based on the way you behaved, you didn’t seem like the women here, your cooking methods and flavours were also different from ours. As for me, I am the Left Guardian of Saintess Ying Xin of our ‘Luo Suo Sect’.”
Grandpa Liu, hold up, I haven’t agreed to be the saintess or whatever, let’s not use ‘our’ just yet. And by Luo Suo do you mean verbose?[2] Was this a sect created just for me? And your position as the Guardian sounds pretty high-ranked, but it’s for the previous saintess, so that means you’re retired? What future is there for me following an old retired guy around? No way, Jose!
“Uncle Liu, I just want to stay here in the village for a year or so, and wait for an opportunity to go home. I don’t want to go off to some other place and be some saintess.”
“I’m afraid that now it’s no longer up to you!”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Luo Suo Sect has always had an opposing sect—the Yan Luo Sect.”
Yan Le? You mean like castrated?[3] What kind of sect are they? Their name sounds freaky!
“Uncle Liu, why does this sect oppose us?” Know thyself and thine enemy, and all your battles shall be victorious.[4]
“To go into detail about this, we’ll have to trace back to hundreds of years ago.” Oh G.o.d, this is starting to sound like “Once upon a time there was a mountain ….” Grandpa Liu, did you call me over here today to tell me your last words or to tell me a story? You normally seem pretty taciturn, is it because you are dying, so you’re just gonna pour out all of your whole lifetime’s worth of unsaid things to me today? “Why don’t you just tell me roughly about it, I’m afraid I won’t be able to remember the details.” In actuality, I was afraid that listening to hundreds of years worth of history might give me a cerebral embolism.
“Centuries ago, our two sects were one and the same, the foremaster that founded the sect had two male disciples and a beautiful daughter. The two disciples had different talents and were gifted in different areas, one practiced Yin martial arts while the other chose to practice Yang martial arts, while the foremaster’s daughter practiced the saintess’s unique set of martial art called ‘Unbound Words Soul Reap’. This set of martial art cannot be practiced by just anyone, since the death of the first saintess, every one hundred years a maiden with unique bodily const.i.tutions, capable of practicing this particular martial art will emerge.” Grandpa Liu sipped his tea and continued, “Before the foremaster pa.s.sed away, he wanted to find a good husband for his daughter. In the end, the saintess chose the elder disciple that practiced Yin martial arts, and the foremaster married the two before he pa.s.sed away. However, the younger disciple that practiced Yang martial arts was also in love with the saintess and was heartbroken over this. He showed up on the day of the wedding and broke out into a drunken fight. The elder disciple joined forces with the saintess and defeated the younger disciple. He left wounded after having lost to the two of them and later founded the Yan Luo Cult within the Jianghu community. Legend has it that he has created a unique and mysterious martial arts masterpiece, claiming that future cult leaders are only allowed to practice this if they marry the saintess of Luo Suo Sect.”
“Uncle Liu, you’re not saying that I should go and marry that cult leader are you?” No way am I doing that, marrying a castrated eunuch means forfeiting any chance of happiness for the second half of me! (You mean the second half of your life, not the second half of you, make sure that you are being clear about it alright? =_=|||) Plus, a saintess only appears every one hundred years, I can’t even find a replacement! Unless he’ll allow me to have affairs, otherwise I’m taking off for sure, and bringing my “Joan of Arc” with me.
“Definitely not, please don’t worry about it saintess, and allow me to explain.”
We are fine as long as I’m not marrying the leader of the “castration” sect, I’ll let you call me saintess all you want.
“Ever since the death of the founding cult leader, centuries have pa.s.sed, and each new cult leader gave it their all in trying to marry our saintess and earn the right to learn the martial art masterpiece. But in the end, they either died while rescuing or helping the saintess, or stayed unmarried their entire life for the saintess and died unhappy and alone. None of them ever got their wish.”
It seems that I’m in pretty high demand, too bad I don’t know what that cult leader looks like. If he’s hot then I might consider giving him what he wants, as long as you give me enough benefits. But if he’s all old and wrinkly or ugly looking, then I’m just gonna let him either die young or pa.s.s away all alone and full of sadness. I gotta ask Grandpa Liu what kind of person this cult leader is. (You fickle money digger, look at how quickly you’ve forgotten Xiao Niu Zi.)
“What kind of person is the current cult leader?”
“The current cult leader is the adopted son of the previous leader, a very promising young man, he made quite a reputable name for himself with his ‘Spiralling Scales Pale Flame Palm’. However, he is strange and difficult to deal with, he does whatever he pleases, and kills at will, quite accustomed to the evil ways. He grew up watching his adoptive father wallow in sadness due to love, so he declared that if he ever meets the saintess, he will personally destroy her, and will not make the same mistake as his predecessors.”
This guy seems pretty tough! I know myself, and if I marry him, then I’d probably die within days. But if I’m going to die either way, then I’m not going to marry him. I’d rather find a few lovers with better martial art skills to protect me. There is always strength in numbers. If he wants to harm me then he’ll have to get past my “love squad protection detail” first. But by the looks of it now, my protection detail consists only of Xiao Niu Zi. I’ve got to expand my forces!