A Promise

The moment Li Qing saw Qian Renxue's golden hair, he understood.

The three conditions he had just mentioned—female, older than him, and of noble status—Qian Renxue fit every single one. Li Qing had thought he had some badass mother like the ones described in other transmigration novels, someone who could let him soar straight to the peak of life.

But reality was incomparably cruel.

He was still the same orphan he had always been, without the slightest change.

But seeing Xiao Xue meant Wu Jian was from Spirit Hall. Then which side did Gu Xiang belong to?

Li Qing's mind raced wildly.

At that moment, Xiao Xue stood outside the door with a bright smile on her face, her hands planted on her hips as she spoke smugly.

"Hehe, Li Qing, this young lady saved you. Shouldn't you show some appreciation?"

"I'll show you my—" Li Qing's gaze swept over Wu Jian, who stood silently behind Xiao Xue, and he forcibly swallowed the words that had nearly left his mouth.

"Of course I should show my appreciation. I wonder what kind of appreciation Miss Xiao Xue would like?"

"Hm?"

Xiao Xue tapped her chin with her index finger, her pretty brows knitting slightly as she stared intently at Li Qing, her eyes constantly sizing him up from head to toe.

Li Qing's scalp prickled under her gaze, and he could not help taking a step back.

"Let me tell you, I'm a man of principles. If you make any unreasonable demands, I absolutely won't agree. Even if you get my body, you'll never get my heart."

Li Qing closed his eyes and turned his head aside, looking thoroughly righteous and unyielding.

"Why don't you just die! Get your body? Pah!"

Xiao Xue immediately cursed at him, a blush appearing on her face.

"That's good, that's good!"

Although Li Qing's tone was full of relief, his face wore an extremely regretful expression.

He had reached an entirely new height of shamelessness!

About a minute later, Xiao Xue's brows relaxed.

"I've got it. I can't think of anything to ask you to do right now, so how about this, Li Qing? Make a promise to me. Once I think of something suitable in the future and tell you about it, you'll agree to it. How does that sound?"

After hearing Xiao Xue's words, Li Qing immediately shook his head, his refusal utterly firm.

"No way. What if you ask me to do something immoral and wicked?"

Xiao Xue rolled her eyes at Li Qing and shrugged helplessly. "You're far too suspicious. Don't worry, it definitely won't be anything immoral or wicked."

"If that's the case, then I'll agree!"

"Not so fast." Xiao Xue gestured with her hand, then turned to Wu Jian behind her. "Uncle Jian."

"Understood!"

As soon as he spoke, Wu Jian summoned his martial soul—the Crimson Abyss Sword!

Then Wu Jian waved his hand, and an invisible current of Soul Power forcibly pulled Li Qing forward...

He floated.

The kind where his feet did not touch the ground.

Only when Li Qing arrived before Xiao Xue did that current of Soul Power vanish.

"Hold out your hand!" Wu Jian said coldly.

"What are you doing?"

Looking at the Crimson Abyss Sword glinting with cold light, Li Qing began to panic.

Li Qing saw a flash of red before his eyes, felt something icy brush across his fingertip, and then pain surged through him.

The Crimson Abyss Sword sliced across his finger. A line of blood slid down the blade, and the Crimson Abyss Sword immediately radiated a dazzling light.

Suddenly, an invisible sword aura erupted from the Crimson Abyss Sword and shot directly into Li Qing's body.

That sword aura carried a trace of Wu Jian's Soul Power—the Soul Power of a Titled Douluo, completely different from the Soul Power within Li Qing's body.

In an instant, Li Qing felt the bottleneck in his Soul Power loosen. He had already been only a step away from level twenty-eight, and now a single strand of Swordless Douluo's sword aura had brought him directly to the threshold of a breakthrough.

Without hesitation, Li Qing sat down cross-legged, and the Scythe of Judgment appeared in his hand on its own.

At the same time, the Cai family at the entrance of Stone Forest Village received an "uninvited guest."

"Well, Cai Guangtou, why did you come back so early?"

With his hands clasped behind his back, Liu Lin leisurely strolled over to a bald man in his forties or fifties.

If Li Qing had been here, he would have recognized the bald man at a glance. Wasn't he Li Qing's first opponent in the cooking competition?

Who would have thought things would turn out to be such a coincidence? Li Qing's opponent was actually Cai Guangtou, who came from the same village as Liu Lin.

Cai Guangtou snorted coldly. "Liu the Brute, don't act so smug. If you've got the guts, let's have a match. I'll rub your cooking skills into the ground."

Liu Lin hurriedly waved his hands.

"No, no, no! We learned these few tricks from you in the first place. There's no need for a match."

Although Cai Guangtou had lost to Li Qing, that did not mean his cooking skills were poor. On the contrary, among all the contestants, Cai Guangtou's culinary skills ranked within the top two hundred.

His best result in previous competitions had been one hundred fiftieth place. It was just that his luck had been terrible this time—he had actually run into a freak like Li Qing in the very first round.

Liu Lin chuckled. "Hey, Old Cai, I heard you lost to a teenager?"

Cai Guangtou curled his lip. "Tch. Good news never leaves the house, but bad news travels a thousand miles."

"Was that teenager wearing a black robe with red clouds, built pretty sturdy, with a whole bunch of rings on his hands and a blue belt around his waist? He looked exactly like some ridiculously rich noble brat."

"Huh!"

Cai Guangtou was slightly startled. "Did you go watch my match?"

"Damn, it really was him. That kid has such great cultivation talent, and his cooking is decent too. He's fucking freakish."

"What are you muttering about over there, you brute Liu?"

"N-Nothing. Tell me, did anything interesting happen in this year's competition?"

Before long, a faint ripple of soul power erupted from Li Qing's body. After a few minutes, his Soul Power Level finally broke through to level twenty-eight.

In the mere ten days since he had left Nuo Lan Academy, his soul power had broken through again and again. This progress was simply absurdly fast!

"Phew~"

Li Qing exhaled a breath of turbid air, rose to his feet, and gave Wu Jian a slight bow.

"Thank you, Brother Wu Jian!"

Wu Jian: Why did I have the urge to pin him to the ground and rub his face into it?

Xiao Xue smiled brightly. "Oh? I couldn't tell—you've got pretty good cultivation talent."

"It's alright..."

Li Qing scratched his head. For some reason, Xiao Xue's praise did not make him happy. Instead, Li Qing felt strangely uncomfortable.

Someone with Innate Full Soul Power at level twenty telling me that my cultivation talent was good?