99+1

Li Wei and Jiang Han passed through a forest of crape myrtles veiled in rosy mist and arrived in front of the little courtyard.

Jiang Han stopped below the stone steps and stared at Li Wei. His mouth opened and closed several times, but he seemed to want to say something yet hesitate.

Li Wei was curious and was just about to ask what he wanted to say when the boy tossed out, "Go in by yourself," and before he had finished speaking, he had already dashed far away.

"What's he up to?" Li Wei muttered, too lazy to puzzle over it.

She climbed the steps and rested her hand on the verdigris-covered door knocker. After pausing, her thoughts churned.

Jiang Xinyue had called her over, probably because of the rocket-like speed of her increase in strength.

Actually, from a rational point of view, she should have played it safe.

For instance, she could first accumulate "Essence" and find the right opportunity to spend her Stat Points—or control the speed at which she spent them, disguising herself as a genius who still conformed to "common sense."

In fact, the first time Liang Qiushi and Liang Yuchuan noticed that her Vitality Value was abnormal, she had already realized this problem.

But for some reason, deep down, she simply did not want to hide it!

She even somewhat enjoyed this "madness" of breaking convention and throwing caution to the wind!

Whether it was finishing "Cold Pond Sinking Jade" in five minutes at the lakeside manor, or pushing her Vitality Value to 100 points within two short hours at the Fangcheng Hotel—

It seemed that only by doing this could she feel exhilarated, could she truly feel that she was still "alive."

What was this? Some strange psychological defense mechanism?

She gently shook her head, casting off these tangled thoughts.

Things had already come to this. Thinking more would not help; she could only meet soldiers with generals and stop water with earth.

She pushed the wooden door open neither lightly nor heavily, drew a deep breath, and walked inside.

The courtyard was arranged simply yet elegantly, not as solemn and mysterious as she had imagined.

Green bricks paved the ground, white walls served as a backdrop, and both sides were dotted with several miniature landscapes resembling Japanese dry gardens.

In the center of the courtyard, a pomegranate tree stood tall like a canopy, its branches lush with leaves.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the leaves, casting mottled, kaleidoscopic shadows across the ground.

On a reclining chair beneath the tree, a "mature beauty" in a scarlet dress lounged at an angle, her clothes blazing like fire.

When she saw Li Wei enter, she smiled like a blooming flower and raised a hand toward the indigo cushion beside her. Her voice was melodious and pleasant: "Sit."

Li Wei did not stand on ceremony. She gently closed the courtyard gate behind her, walked beneath the tree in a few steps, and sat cross-legged on the cushion. Then she spread her mouth into a brilliant smile and called in a sweet, crisp voice, "Good day, Grandma!"

Seeing Li Wei's lazy, listless appearance, Jiang Xinyue had originally wanted to tease her a few times.

But she had not expected Li Wei to suddenly raise her head and stare straight at her forehead, her eyes filled with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.

She instinctively raised a hand and gently stroked the seven-petaled Red Lotus, smiling as she asked, "What, do you think it looks good?"

"It looks great!" Li Wei nodded vigorously, then asked, "I saw that all those aunts, uncles' wives, and older and younger sisters outside have this mark too. Is there some special meaning to it? Why doesn't Jiang Han have one?"

At that, Jiang Xinyue's smile faded slightly. "What meaning? They're nothing but fools wearing crowns on the heads of macaques!"

"Wearing crowns on the heads of macaques?" Li Wei was stunned, clearly not expecting that assessment.

Jiang Xinyue scoffed. "The women of the Jiang Family all use the 'Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll' as their fundamental Mind Method. Once their cultivation breaks through to the Spirit Refining Realm and they successfully open their sea of consciousness, they can 'plant' their own natal lotus within it."

She pointed at the seven-petaled Red Lotus above her brow, which swayed faintly as though it were alive. "And this is the outward manifestation of the natal lotus's power!"

"But apart from me, your 'Grandma,' there isn't even a single mid-ranker left in the Jiang Family... So tell me, where did their 'lotuses' come from?"

"As for Jiang Han? Only women can cultivate the 'Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll.' Everyone knows that..."

"Pfft." Remembering the room full of multicolored "lotuses," Li Wei found it a little too hard to hold herself together.

What difference was that from sticking a Rolls-Royce "Spirit of Ecstasy" emblem onto the hood of a Wuling Hongguang?

What was the point? To look good?

It really did confirm that old saying: when you went out, your identity was something you bestowed upon yourself.

Unable to make sense of it, Li Wei simply could not understand.

"All right," Jiang Xinyue said, waving her hand like she was shooing away flies. "Enough about them."

Then she sat up straighter instead of continuing to recline. "I called you here this time to ask whether you're still willing to fulfill the marriage contract with the Gu Family. Or rather, are you still willing to do what Liang Qiushi asked you to do?"

"Huh?" Li Wei froze for a moment. "Didn't we already agree on that? Can we still go back on it?"

And why was she asking about a fake marriage instead of her abnormal strength? Questions filled Li Wei's heart.

Meeting Li Wei's bewildered, out-of-the-loop gaze, Jiang Xinyue rubbed the corner of her eye and sighed. "You were born into an ordinary family and never attended a martial arts university. It's normal that you don't understand your own value. How about this? Listen to me first, then make your decision."

Li Wei blinked her big eyes and nodded. "Please, go ahead."

Jiang Xinyue narrowed her long, phoenix-shaped eyes slightly and said unhurriedly, "Every year, roughly two million students across the nation take the martial arts college entrance examination. Only eight or nine hundred thousand manage to enter martial arts universities. Among those eight or nine hundred thousand, fewer than five thousand reach Muscles and Bones Ringing in Harmony and qualify to enter the Three Greats."

"Then there's the 'Minor Perfection' above Muscles and Bones Ringing in Harmony. This year's exam produced only fifteen such people: Qingyun got six, Kunlun got five, and Zhenhai got four. The admissions teachers from the three schools repeatedly visited them, promising all sorts of benefits. They fought each other until their brains were beaten out."

At this point, she gazed at Li Wei, her eyes full of complicated emotions. "As for 'Great Perfection,' it has never appeared in a college entrance examination... In the past ten years, only four prodigies have achieved 'Great Perfection.'"

"Above that, the pinnacle of 'Great Perfection,' the 'Dao-Approaching Body'... In the two hundred years since the Abyss invaded, there has only been one person: the 'Sword Immortal,' Yun Sheng!"

"And you, Li Wei." Jiang Xinyue fixed her blazing gaze on her. "You're only eighteen, yet you're one of the only two people in the past two hundred years to possess the 'Dao-Approaching Body' in the Hua Nation... Would you truly be willing to die for someone you don't even know?"

Li Wei: ???

She subconsciously glanced at her status panel—Vitality: 100 (cannot be upgraded).

Then she looked at the complicated expression on Jiang Xinyue's face.

Next, she silently glanced at the panel again.

Then Li Wei finally understood. Oh~ So she thought my Vitality Value was only 99! How small-minded. Mine was 99+1...

Still, this cheap Grandma was pretty nice. Had she developed a fondness for talent and wanted to protect her?

To be honest, when Jiang Xinyue suggested that she break off the engagement, Li Wei had indeed felt tempted for a moment...

After hearing about the feuds and entanglements between the Gu Family and the Zhang Family, and personally witnessing a sixth-rank Abyssal monster that morning, she increasingly felt that going to the frontline battlefield to "idle and slack off" would probably be far less easy and pleasant than she had originally imagined.

But when people were alive, many things could not be decided by calculating gains and losses alone.

Meeting Jiang Xinyue's gaze, Li Wei gave a sheepish grin, revealing two rows of small white teeth. "I already promised Aunt Liang. I can't go back on my word, can I? Besides, my little brother's life is still waiting for her to save."

Jiang Xinyue pressed her at every turn, refusing to give up. "I can go find Liang Qiushi and bring your little brother back. I'll personally treat him and guarantee that he'll be safe and sound."

"I can officially acknowledge you as my god-granddaughter. From now on, the entire Jiang Family will be your strongest backing. You can reclaim your original identity. Whether you take the surname Li or Jiang is entirely up to you."

"Everything I've learned in this life—including the complete 'Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll' and the 'Nine Moon Reflection Swords,' as well as the 'Four Seasons Sword Array' left behind by my mother, which is used to suppress the Jiang Family's fortune—can all be passed on to you without reservation!"

"Good granddaughter." Jiang Xinyue's tone carried an unprecedented allure. "Think it over carefully. How about it?"

Li Wei's heart pounded wildly as she listened, and she was practically drooling. Good grief! You couldn't test a cadre's resolve like this!

She pressed hard against her chest and took several deep breaths in succession before barely calming her emotions.

If I didn't have my cheat, I'd probably already be saying, "You really know how to judge people..."

Unfortunately... she still could not get past that hurdle in her heart.

She raised her head and looked Jiang Xinyue straight in the eye. Gritting her teeth, she spoke with visible pain. "Grandma, I'm really tempted, okay? But there's an old saying: when you drink water, don't forget who dug the well. Don't you agree? When I was at my most desperate, Aunt Liang reached out and pulled me up. If it weren't for her, my little brother... would probably have been gone already."

She swallowed. "So I have to carry out the thing Aunt Liang entrusted to me! If I can survive the battlefield and return, I'll come back and be your grandz... Cough... granddaughter!"

After hearing her words, the expression on Jiang Xinyue's face shifted repeatedly—surprise, scrutiny, regret—before finally settling into deep admiration.

She simply watched Li Wei in silence for a long, long time. It lasted so long that Li Wei began to feel uncomfortable. Only then did Jiang Xinyue suddenly bend forward, extend her slender hand, and gently pat Li Wei's delicate shoulder, her voice carrying a hint of emotion:

"Good child..."

Li Wei was startled at first. Then a flash of inspiration crossed her mind, and she abruptly realized.

Well, damn! After all that, was she testing my character?!