Only when the sunset had completely sunk below the horizon did Li Wei slowly pull herself out of her loneliness.
She had planned to go to bed, but then remembered how her progress in Cold Pond Sinking Jade had suddenly increased after today's battle. Her heart began to itch, and she decided to try again.
What if? What if practice could also grind proficiency? Wouldn't that mean I could try becoming the Sword God of Ten-Mile Slope?
Because "Cold Pond Sinking Jade" had no fixed set of moves, she could only imagine an enemy in her mind. Then she drew the soft sword from her waist and began brandishing it at the empty room.
Whoosh, whoosh-whoosh...
Thrust, jab, slash, tap...
In the end... the progress bar on the panel did not move an inch.
No good?
Li Wei stopped and frowned as she recalled the battle from the day.
It seemed... that only after she entered the wondrous "99+1" state had the Combat Method's progress begun surging.
Could the key be that state?
She drew a deep breath, sank her mind into the sea of consciousness between her brows, and tried to stir that pool of water.
Om—
The cool, vast aura spread through the room once more. Her almond eyes sharpened, and she swung her sword again.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
This time, she coordinated her movements with footwork, making full use of the bedroom's space.
Sword light flashed, her figure drifted unpredictably, and before long, she was covered in a thin sheen of sweat.
Yet... after dozens of strikes, the number on the panel stubbornly remained at 600.
"Damn it!"
Li Wei dejectedly returned the sword to its sheath, and the wondrous state dissipated with it.
Damn it! Does it only work through actual combat or Stat Points?
She gloomily shook her sore, swollen wrist. Then her nose suddenly caught an unusual scent.
"Hm? What's that smell...? It's pretty fragrant!"
Li Wei instinctively wrinkled her nose and sniffed around in confusion.
At some point, a very faint, secluded fragrance had begun drifting through the room...
Pure and ethereal, like the crisp air after the snow had cleared, yet carrying a trace of sweetness that seemed to exist and not exist.
This scent... feels a little familiar.
She suddenly remembered that on the Training Ground during the day, when she had been drenched in sweat from exhaustion, she seemed to have smelled something similar. At the time, she had thought it was just an illusion...
Could it be... coming from me?
A thought that made her scalp prickle rose in her mind.
Li Wei's eyes flickered uncertainly. The next second, she abruptly turned and dashed out of the bedroom, thundering down the stairs and heading straight for the basement.
Small Building had two floors aboveground and one below, with a total area of six or seven hundred square meters. The laundry room was on the basement level.
Li Wei rushed in like a gust of wind and purposefully lifted the lid of the laundry basket in the corner.
Sure enough, her changed clothes were inside. Liang Qiushi had probably disposed of the damaged dress and athletic shorts, leaving only her bra and panties lying forlornly at the bottom of the basket.
She hesitated, but still reached in and took out the bra she had worn back from Britain. It was cool to the touch and slightly damp.
Holding her breath, she resignedly brought the garment to the tip of her nose and carefully sniffed.
There was none of the sour, rancid smell of sweat she had imagined.
Instead, there was a distinct, pure, ethereal fragrance—a secluded scent identical to the one she had smelled in the bedroom!
Because it was an undergarment, the smell was even stronger!
Holy crap! Is this for real? My sweat smells good?! Is it because of the "Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll"?
No way... First my adorable little brother disappeared, and now even the sweat smell exclusive to macho men is being stripped away? Can't this cultivation method be normal for once?!
Li Wei's eyes widened as she held her underwear and sank into tremendous shock.
Just then, the light at the laundry-room doorway suddenly dimmed, and a tall figure appeared there without a sound.
Gu Jinzhi had been about to call Li Wei to dinner. Finding no one in the bedroom, he had searched all the way downstairs. But as soon as he reached the basement, he saw this scene—Li Wei had her back to him, holding a piece of underwear beneath her nose with a strange expression, seemingly... smelling it?
"What... are you doing?" he asked hesitantly.
Li Wei was still immersed in the tremendous shock of "a macho man turning into a fragrant beauty." She had no awareness of what she was holding, much less remembered that the thing belonged to her.
At the sound of his voice, she whipped around. When she saw Gu Jinzhi, her eyes instantly lit up!
As if she had seized a lifeline, she did not think twice before thrusting the bra directly beneath his nose!
"Quick, smell it! Doesn't it have a fragrance?"
The soft, cool, damp fabric nearly touched his nose, carrying that unique, clear, secluded fragrance from the girl—a scent that had caused his heart to stir faintly during the day.
Gu Jinzhi's face flushed in an instant, reddening from the base of his neck all the way to his ears. His heart nearly leaped from his chest!
He abruptly took a step back, his gaze darting away in panic as his mind buzzed.
Yet the sudden, fragrant fantasy had only just risen before he ruthlessly snuffed it out.
The Zhang Family, the Gu Family, the western frontier... an ending that was almost predestined... scene after scene flashed through his mind.
He couldn't, and he shouldn't...
"Utterly incomprehensible."
He coldly spat out those four words, turned, and hurried away, his footsteps slightly unsteady.
Li Wei watched his disappearing back, then lowered her head and looked at the thing in her hand...
Her brain froze for three seconds.
"Ah—!!!"
What the hell did I just do?!
I held my own... and made Gu Jinzhi smell it?! I even asked him whether it smelled good?!
Li Wei, Li Wei, are you a pig?!
On the verge of tears, she turned to face the smooth wall of the laundry room and began banging her forehead against it.
Once, twice, three times...
Why doesn't it hurt?
Search by the book's title doesn't find it? Try searching by the author instead! Maybe it was just renamed!
Li Wei stopped and rubbed her forehead.
It seemed... that after becoming a First Order martial artist, her physical strength really had improved quite a bit. She could even slam her head into a wall without feeling anything...
She hurriedly touched the wall tiles, which looked extremely high-end.
Fortunately, they weren't broken...
"Whew—!"
Utterly devoid of hope, she tossed the bra back into the laundry basket and floated back upstairs to the bedroom on unsteady legs.
Li Wei threw herself onto the soft bed, pulled the quilt over her head, and tried to achieve physical isolation.
But her mind was filled with the idiotic thing she had just done.
It's over, it's over. I had just socially died this afternoon, and tonight I've already buried myself in the dirt. My beloved virtue, you died so tragically...
She tossed and turned on the bed like a pancake, suffering for nearly an hour without being able to fall asleep.
How annoying!
So incredibly annoying! And there's also this bone-deep embarrassment!
In the end, she truly couldn't endure the mental torture any longer. She decided to get up and cultivate the "Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll" to see whether she could distract herself and, while she was at it, calm her emotions.
She pushed off the quilt, sat cross-legged, and began guiding the qi and blood within her body to circulate slowly along the cultivation method's pathways.
Threads of qi and blood flowed like obedient streams, ceaselessly washing over her skin, muscles, and even deeper tissues.
An extremely faint, tingling sensation spread through every limb and bone, as though she were soaking in a hot spring. Warmth suffused her, every pore stretching open. It was extraordinarily comfortable.
The nerves that had been tense earlier also gradually relaxed as the cultivation method circulated.
Li Wei felt her eyelids growing heavier...
This feels so good...
As it turned out, it felt too good.
After only a few minutes, Li Wei's body tilted, and she fell asleep fully clothed.
The next day, Li Wei was startled awake by a moderately loud knock on the door.
She sat up instantly, wide awake in a second.
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, somewhat harsh on the eyes.
"Who is it?" she asked while getting out of bed.
Gu Jinzhi's cool voice came from outside. "It's me. Get up and eat breakfast."
Li Wei jolted. Some unpleasant memories resurfaced, but fortunately, it wasn't nearly as unbearable as last night...
She cautiously lowered her head to check whether anything was exposed. She found that she was still wearing yesterday's light-gray cotton dress. After sleeping in it all night, the dress was wrinkled beyond recognition.
But she couldn't worry about that now. As long as nothing was exposed, it was fine.
Li Wei pulled open the door with complete frankness, her heart going up and down as she considered whether she should explain what had happened last night.
However, before she could sort out her thoughts,
Gu Jinzhi's excessively handsome face crashed into her eyes.
Damn, a new day begins with envying that Gu cur...
The man's gaze calmly settled on her face before sweeping over her from head to toe without leaving a trace: her long hair was messy as a bird's nest, and her dress was wrinkled beyond recognition...
His handsome brows drew together slightly.
"Go wash up," he said concisely.
"Oh..." Li Wei answered and reflexively started to close the door.
But Gu Jinzhi showed no intention of leaving. Instead, he walked past her and went straight into her room, continuing directly into the dressing room.
"Hey? What are you doing?" Li Wei froze.
Gu Jinzhi did not answer.
With her bird's-nest hair, Li Wei stood there silently for a few seconds before also turning and walking into the bathroom.
Whatever. I'll wash up first.
A few minutes later, she finished washing her face and brushing her teeth at top speed. She roughly combed her hair with her fingers, then hurried out in a flurry.
Just then, she saw Gu Jinzhi standing at the dressing-room entrance with a pure-white shirt-style dress in his hands.
When he saw Li Wei emerge, he handed her the dress. "Put it on."
"Huh?" She was somewhat bewildered.
Did this man even have to manage what I wore?
Li Wei had originally planned to wear sportswear today, since she still had to go take the assessment.
But seeing Gu Jinzhi insist, she had only just arrived and still obediently accepted the dress, then turned and went into the bathroom.
She changed in front of the mirror. The dress was well tailored and accentuated her graceful figure, though its style was a little formal. It had a hint of... office-worker air?
When she came out of the bathroom, Gu Jinzhi's gaze paused on her for a moment. Then he handed her a pair of pure-white, square-buckled, pointed-toe low heels.
"And these."
"Huh?" Li Wei resisted slightly. "Isn't this too formal?"
Gu Jinzhi looked at her. His tone remained as calm as still water, yet he dropped a bombshell.
"This is just right."
"First, we're going to the Civil Affairs Bureau today to take photos and register the marriage."
"After that, we still have to go try on wedding dresses."
Li Wei: "???"
Register the marriage?!
Wedding dresses?!
Today?!
Her mind buzzed, turning completely blank.
Wait... weren't we supposed to go show off at the Martial Arts Alliance?!
How did it suddenly become getting legally married?!
The late emperor had launched his enterprise before even halfway completing it, only for it to collapse midway...
My life of swaggering like the wind hasn't even begun. Is it already going to end?!
Before you continue