Five Fierce People

Chapter 5: 5. Ruthless Person

Xiao Jie was pure and clean.

Ning Xuan liked her purity.

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

Her handwriting was delicate, and her appearance was charming.

Ning Xuan approached and asked, "How much?"

Xiao Jie said lightly, "Ten wen per hundred characters. The paper is fine Xuan paper, and the ink is faintly fragrant, mixed with pine resin. Although pine resin is cheap, I made it myself."

In the gentle evening breeze, she tucked her long hair back, a smile on her face as if she had understood the essence of Zen and seen through the ways of the world. Then, in a tone that was neither humble nor arrogant, she added, "Ten wen per hundred characters isn't expensive. I'm not here just to make money, but to seek tranquility and forge a karmic connection with Buddha."

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

The ingot was substantial, cast in the standard twenty-tael mold.

"That's too much," Xiao Jie said.

Ning Xuan replied, "I need a personal maid. I'll give you this much every month, will you do it?"

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

Ning Xuan asked curiously, "Aren't you seeking tranquility and a karmic connection with Buddha?"

Xiao Jie replied, "Young Master, you are my tranquility, and the fate Buddha has bestowed upon me."

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 fair, slender legs.

Xiao Jie said, "That's too much."

Ning Xuan said, "I need a bed warmer."

Xiao Jie looked troubled.

Ning Xuan took out another ten taels, adding, "Fifty taels a month now."

Xiao Jie quietly tucked the thirty taels of silver into her embrace, then happily linked her arm with Ning Xuan's.

After that, she performed her duties exceptionally well.

She worked for two full years.

The Ning family's eldest young master was not short of women. Even though he was young, he had grown up surrounded by courtesans. Yet, Xiao Jie stayed by his side for two years during the prime of his life when he truly needed a woman.

Xiao Jie never mentioned becoming his concubine. Instead, she always spoke of leaving once she had saved enough money. She wanted to see the distant world, witness sunsets at the ends of the earth, and gaze upon the lonely smoke rising from the long rivers of foreign lands.

Jealous maids would sometimes whisper malicious gossip outside, deliberately letting the eldest young master overhear. Things like, "Xiao Jie doesn't really want to leave; she's just using those vixen tricks to deliberately seduce the young master," or "Xiao Jie actually wants to be a concubine; she's playing mind games, she's a scheming woman," and even, "Xiao Jie usually looks elegant and demure, but when she's with the young master, she's so slutty, it's disgusting."

Ning Xuan didn't hide it. When Xiao Jie nestled in his arms, feeding him fruit, he told her these words.

Xiao Jie didn't panic. Instead, she smiled calmly and uttered, "During the years I copied scriptures, I once copied a sentence: 'He who is not offended when others do not appreciate him, is he not a noble man?' I am no noble man, but I will not be angered by others' lack of understanding."

Ning Xuan asked curiously, "Then what do you truly think?"

Xiao Jie fed the young master a piece of fresh sashimi from the East Sea, then looked into the distance with longing in her beautiful eyes, saying, "My family is poor. If I followed the usual path, I would simply marry, have children, and toil my whole life. But by following you, I can earn a lifetime's worth of money in just a few years. With this money, I can go and see the world. At that time, I won't stay for anyone. Wherever the wind goes, I will go. As for being slutty, they are not wrong. But I will only live as a woman once, so I want to give all my womanly charm to the person I care about most, and leave here without regret."

She gave a playful smile, full of charm, yet her eyes held a hint of conflict and reluctance.

From that day on, Ning Xuan knew that the bed warmer beside him was a "shameless creature who could lie with a straight face."

However, He liked it.

A sophisticated young lady could always keenly sense the reactions of the person beside her.

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

Xiao Jie woke up.

She opened her eyes.

The bright moonlight fell from outside, and the light patterns on the stone slabs were already very narrow.

"Does Young Master have something on his mind?" Xiao Jie's voice returned to its calm and composed tone, neither humble nor arrogant. At this moment, she didn't seem like a bed warmer shamelessly trying to please her master, but rather like his confidante.

Ning Xuan was recalling his dream.

In the dream, the Mountain Crashing Bear Demon appeared after dawn. Did this imply something? An indication that the bear demon would truly arrive after dawn? In the dream, he could face death with resolve and fight desperately, but only those who had truly faced death would know the terror of it. His dream was already so agonizing. Outside the dream, must he also suffer?

Why did he have to suffer?

He had already suffered so much in his dreams, why did he have to fight for his life outside of them as well? One had to know, this time he wasn't facing a "weakened" Mountain Crashing Bear Demon, but a completely intact one.

No! Perhaps more than one.

Ning Xuan suddenly flipped over, straddling Xiao Jie's waist.

Xiao Jie giggled.

But, in the next moment, Ning Xuan flipped over Xiao Jie's waist again, quickly got out of bed, and put on his boots and clothes. At the same time, he took down the light gauze skirt and moon-white silk pouch hanging on the sandalwood clothes rack, threw them onto the couch, and said, "Let's go! We leave tonight!"

Xiao Jie asked nothing and immediately got up and dressed, her movements as fast as when she took off her clothes.

Why should she ask?

Young Master had already made the decision, she just had to obey.

And by the time Ning Xuan had finished putting on his robes, Xiao Jie had already dressed and fetched a large black umbrella and a bundle containing her young master's clothes.

Carrying the bundle and holding the large black umbrella, she walked out the door, casually asking, "Young Master, how many people should we ask to escort us?"

Ning Xuan said, "Everyone!"

This time, Xiao Jie was stunned.

Because her young master's words were too unexpected.

They had only arrived this afternoon, the bedding wasn't even warm yet, and now, in the middle of the night, he wanted to take all the household servants, maids, and guards from the Ning Family Manor with them.

Xiao Jie asked, "How should I tell them?"

Ning Xuan said, "Just say I want to."

Old Master Ning clearly had a lot of influence.

With a single sentence from Ning Xuan, everyone truly left with him overnight.

The kind-faced old man looked at the eldest young master with some curiosity. His sleeves were bulging, hiding the "Heavy Rain Pear Blossom Needles" that Ning Xuan had used repeatedly in his nightmare.

This old man certainly didn't believe that this eldest young master Ning was truly leaving "out of willfulness" by calling them up so suddenly and taking them away.

Why?

Because he was Old Master Ning's son.

Therefore, the old man was exceptionally curious about what would happen at the manor.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, he quietly instructed a quick-witted guard.

The guard automatically fell behind, quietly hid in a small grove at the foot of the mountain, and waited for what was to come.

In the early hours of the morning, before dawn, the group returned to Star River County.

"My child, is the mountain too cold that you had to rush back like this?" a plainly dressed woman hurried out from the inner courtyard. Her eyebrows were slightly lowered, with a hint of kindness, her eyes filled with doting affection, and 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 quickly."

Ning Xuan went to sleep.

After a night of tossing and turning, he was covered in sweat. After bathing, he didn't ask Xiao Jie to serve him again. Instead, he lay back on the soft couch, but he couldn't sleep.

The sky slowly brightened.

Golden, warm sunlight streamed down from the heavens.

By the afternoon, the old man holding the Heavy Rain Pear Blossom Needles received the news.

"Boss, everything is normal. Nothing unexpected happened. I even ran around the mountain. Young Master Ning is truly very willful," the subordinate reported.

The old man said sternly, "Whether Young Master Ning is willful or not is not for you to say."

The subordinate grinned and said, "Got it, boss. I won't say it again, won't say it again, alright?" he said with a rough demeanor.

After he left.

The old man said, "Everything is normal. Alas, everyone knows that Old Master Ning had a child late in life, but... are they spoiling this son too much?"

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

In the eldest young master Ning's room, the windows were closed.

Ning Xuan looked at the panel.

[Heavenly Demon Scroll]

[Fate Attribute Gate 1: Mountain Crashing Bear] (Not yet summoned)

[Fate (Physique): 1]

[Spirit (Mental): 1]

He silently uttered in his heart, "I beseech the Heavenly Demon Scroll."

As the thought fell, a mysterious talisman instantly appeared in his mind. The scribbles on the scroll exuded a profound mystery, but he knew that these scribbles represented the "Mountain Crashing Bear."

The scroll burned.

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

The shadow of a tall, dark figure slowly passed over the secret room's table, and the bronze mirror revealed a fierce man about ten feet tall, as strong as if covered in a layer of muscle armor.

It was tempered steel armor, tightly and resiliently encasing his body. Every muscle was sharply defined, as if carved by a knife, containing explosive power.

On the roof, the black cat that had been strolling suddenly bristled, let out a sharp yowl, and shot away as if electrocuted.

Ning Xuan hunched his back, lowering his height, and looked at the oppressive figure of himself in the mirror. He then glanced at "[Life (Constitution): 1 (3.7)]" and frowned slightly, thinking to himself, 'In the end, it's the extra power from the Heavenly Demon Scroll. I need to make some improvements myself. Before, I thought this world only had low-level martial arts. It seems I was wrong. I need to look around again.'