Encounter

When the scions of the Aristocratic Clan in the Great Yan reach a certain age or cultivation level, their elders will arrange for them to travel and explore.

What you learn from books is never enough; reading ten thousand books can never compare to traveling ten thousand miles. A caged bird that never leaves the house cannot control its Lineage. The experiences and knowledge gained from traveling the world will become a valuable asset for the next generation when they take power.

Moreover, it was a common way for aristocratic Aristocratic Clan to expand their networks by having their descendants travel. They would make friends with those they met during their travels, and some of these friends would give back to the Lineage as connections ten or even decades later.

Over the long years, this custom has even become a tradition, but this travel custom does not include offspring who are unable to cultivate, especially women.

There are too many unexpected events in the world, and without cultivation, these offspring are destined to have no ability to protect themselves when accidents happen.

Secondly, it's because of bloodlines.

Food and sex are human nature.

When traveling, most of the scions of the Aristocratic Clan are at the age of first love. The upper echelons of these Aristocratic Clan have all gone through that period, so they do not reject the occurrence of this phenomenon.

But the problem is that when you're looking for a partner, your partner has to be at least a cultivator.

The distinction between immortals and mortals is not just a saying.

This is a shift in mindset that can never be understood without experiencing it firsthand.

Offspring with cultivation levels tend to make friends mostly with other cultivators, while mortal offspring are completely different. Historical records show that many mortal offspring have fallen in love with strange and unusual people for various reasons.

Widows, married women, prostitutes, wandering knights, roughnecks, traveling merchants, and so on.

Compared to men, women are more vulnerable.

Even if male offspring fall in love with a mortal, at least they won't return to the mansion with a large pregnant belly.

For aristocratic families, Aristocratic Clan Lineage are always a shameful scandal. When these people come knocking with their children, should one raise them or not?

More importantly,

What if the proportion of offspring born to mortals is too high, thus polluting the Lineage's cultivation bloodline?

A large part of the power of the Aristocratic Clan families is rooted in the generations of highly skilled experts. If no exceptionally talented next generation is born for a long time, the Lineage will inevitably decline step by step.

These are lessons learned by the Aristocratic Clan families through generations of experience, and they are also the ironclad rule for the Aristocratic Clan to continue their lineage.

Long Xinling was such a scion of a Aristocratic Clan.

She has the blood of a saint, but is born with a useless body.

She won a big prize just like Xu Yuan, and like Xu Yuan, she couldn't stay idle.

She longed for freedom and the wonderful world outside the mansion.

However, compared to the extremely relaxed family environment of the Prime Minister's Estate, Long Xinling could only look at the sky outside through the thin iron bars like a caged bird. The strict family education of the Long Family in the Capital City kept her firmly confined within the Long Family mansion.

However, the only thing to be thankful for is that, like Xu Yuan, Long Xinling has an older brother who loves and cares for her very much.

On her sixteenth birthday, with the help of her older brother, the free- Long Xinling secretly escaped from the cage that had imprisoned her for sixteen years, without telling her elders.

It was on that occasion that Long Xinling, at the vibrant age of sixteen, met Lou Ji, who was only twelve years old.

Dried blood can often be seen on the brown soil of the Black Alley. Most of the neighborhoods are filthy and smelly, a mixture of blood and excrement.

However, Long Xinling didn't care. She was curious about everything new around her, and skipped and jumped around in the crowd with her eyes blinking.

When street vendors got into fights over a few coins, she would stand by and clap and cheer.

If she sees a drunkard lying on the street, she'll pinch her nose, lean over, and poke him with her finger to see if he's dead.

When she saw a snack she had never tried before, she would immediately use a large sum of money to buy it, even though it was only worth a few coins.

Her flamboyant attire and her clear, naive eyes naturally attracted a lot of attention.

Among them was Lou Ji, who happened to be passing by.

As Long Xinling swaggered through the most bustling area of Black Alley, Lou Ji, dressed in a black bodysuit, passed by him.

However, Lou Ji's attention only flashed briefly over Long Xinling.

Set aside your desire to help others and respect their fate.

She had witnessed the darkness of the Black Alley swallow up wealthy young men who came seeking fame. If it were three years ago, she might have also set her sights on this obviously naive young lady, but now, with the old man's help, she didn't need any of that.

Unfortunately, although Lou Ji let Long Xinling go, Long Xinling did not let her go.

Upon seeing Lou Ji passing by, the curious child immediately showed interest and tried to call out to her. When Lou Ji didn't respond, the child quickly ran a few steps and reached out to grab the indifferent-looking girl.

There is no other reason.

Because this is a society that values appearance, and Lou Ji was beautiful.

The kind of beauty that makes you turn around and look at someone the moment you glance at them in a crowd.

Her demeanor and appearance seemed out of place in the Black Alley, which piqued Long Xinling's curiosity.

Clearly, this kind of first encounter was not a friendly one.

Long Xinling was like a hopping fledgling bird, while Xiao Lou Ji was like a cold black cat. Her slender wrist was held, but her gaze as she looked back was so indifferent that it seemed devoid of emotion.

Under Xiao Lou Ji's watchful gaze, Long Xinling became somewhat nervous and stammered out a few idiotic questions, such as "Where do you live?", to the point that Xiao Lou Ji thought this young lady was mentally unstable.

Out of pity, after silently listening to Long Xinling's question, Xiao Lou Ji kindly reminded her.

Tell her not to flaunt her wealth in the Black Alley, and to hurry home; Black Alley are not a place for a rich girl like her.

As she said this, she glanced casually at the restless desperados around her.

As soon as they came into view, everyone made way.

The three years she worked for that old man earned her a notorious reputation in the Black Alley, even though she was only twelve years old.

What Xiao Lou Ji didn't expect was that her well-intentioned reminder didn't seem to have the effect of a warning, but instead made the young lady completely lower her guard and turn on some kind of switch.

I walked along, chattering incessantly in her ear.

To Long Xinling, this cold little girl was mysterious.

And mystery represents her curiosity.

Amidst the constant chatter that had followed them all the way, Xiao Lou Ji silently walked to the entrance of the Black Alley and uttered the second sentence they had spoken since they first met, which was also the last sentence of their first meeting.

Leave the Black Alley and go home.

Then, while Long Xinling was still in a daze, Xiao Lou Ji quietly disappeared into the crowd in the Black Alley.

Lou Ji truly hadn't expected that this annoying young lady would reappear at the place where they had met the day before.

Long Xinling directly bought a stall there.

Sitting behind the stall, completely ignoring the stares from those around her, she rested her chin on her hand, listlessly scanning the crowd around her.

It was this moment of hesitation that caused their eyes to meet briefly in the crowd.

Long Xinling's eyes gleamed with excitement.

Lou Ji turned and left with a cold expression, ignoring the excited shouts behind her.

And so their second encounter ended.

For a period of time afterward, Lou Ji specifically changed her route home.

It was because of this change that Lou Ji and Long Xinling's third encounter took place in the spacious mansion deep within the Black Alley.