"Did you kill all those thugs?"
An Jing thought for a moment, then asked another question.
"It was only a little punishment."
Chen Zheng shook his head gently.
"You..."
An Jing frowned, involuntarily releasing Chen Zheng's arm and taking a step back. Like Su Cheng, she belonged to China's Ancient Martial Arts World. At that moment, she felt that the man before her was one of those evil demonic overlords whose tales had long circulated throughout the Ancient Martial Arts World!
"Are you scared, Professor An?"
Chen Zheng asked with another smile.
"Scared? What would I be scared of? Don't tell me you're going to eat me!"
An Jing snorted, stepped forward, and hugged Chen Zheng's arm again.
"Then you'd better be careful from now on."
Chen Zheng tossed out the remark and headed out of the park.
"..."
Beside them, Su Cheng watched the two walk out practically pressed against each other, feeling a little bewildered. Wasn't Chen Zheng her personal bodyguard? How had he seemingly become Professor An's boyfriend in less than a day?
That evening, An Jing stayed at Su Cheng's home under the pretext of learning painting techniques from Chen Zheng.
Early the next morning, whether intentionally or not, when Chen Zheng came out of his room and was about to wash up, he saw An Jing practicing something in front of the enormous floor-to-ceiling window in the living room.
"That yoga pose of yours looks decent."
Chen Zheng offered his assessment with a smile.
"Then would you like to do yoga with me?"
Hearing him, An Jing replied.
"Yoga is pretty mediocre stuff. Apart from shaping your figure, it doesn't do much to help your cultivation. Beautiful Miss An, you're a cultivator too. If you want to raise your realm quickly, I have a secret method. I wonder if you're interested."
Chen Zheng replied.
An Jing slowly straightened her bent upper body, then turned around and looked curiously at Chen Zheng. "What secret method?"
"You guess."
Chen Zheng said those two words very seriously.
"..." An Jing froze for a moment, then gave him a cold roll of her eyes. Ignoring Chen Zheng, she continued her yoga.
"You've missed a chance to soar into the heavens in a single leap."
Chen Zheng shook his head gently, turned, and went straight into the bathroom to wash up.
"Hmph!"
An Jing gave a soft snort.
This fellow Chen Zheng was mysterious, with many secrets about him. She had already made up her mind to conquer this man with her charm, make him willingly kneel before her and sing "Conquest," and then teach her painting every day!
Half an hour later, at the dining table.
"There's a banquet at my family's home tomorrow night. Chen Zheng, do you want to go?"
Halfway through her meal, Su Cheng suddenly brought it up.
"I'm your personal bodyguard. Of course I'll go with you."
Chen Zheng smiled faintly.
"Um... should we go buy you a set of clothes this afternoon?"
Su Cheng looked over the rather traditional outfit Chen Zheng was wearing. Though it had a very classical style, it felt a little too casual. In her opinion, with Chen Zheng's build, he would certainly look striking in formal attire. After all, he was a natural clothes horse.
Besides, her family didn't know about Chen Zheng's existence, nor did they know that a bodyguard had dropped into her life out of the blue. Su Cheng felt that, since she would be taking Chen Zheng home to meet her family for the first time, they ought to be a little more formal.
"Speaking of which, Chen Zheng, you wore that outfit yesterday too. I remember you took a shower last night, didn't you? Yet you're still wearing the same outfit. Don't tell me you can't afford clothes. Isn't your habit of putting worn clothes back on after a shower a little too bizarre?"
An Jing frowned slightly as she looked at Chen Zheng and spoke.
"You don't understand."
Chen Zheng smiled lightly.
"What don't I understand? Let's hear it!"
An Jing set down her bowl and chopsticks and stared intently at Chen Zheng.
"Ever heard of supreme-grade heavenly silkworm silk? Ever heard of specially custom-made immortal robes that you can't buy at the True Immortal Pavilion? Do you know what immunity to all poisons and self-cleaning mean? Oh, and this outfit of mine can withstand nine layers of heavenly tribulation. If you ever cultivate to the terrestrial immortal realm and bring down a heavenly tribulation, I can lend it to you."
Chen Zheng spoke casually.
"The True Immortal Pavilion? Immortal robes? Heavenly tribulation? Hah! Chen Zheng, do you think you're an immortal descended to the mortal world?"
An Jing gave a soft snort. Clearly, she didn't believe any of what Chen Zheng had said. She thought he was spouting nonsense.
Although tales of terrestrial immortals had always circulated in the Ancient Martial Arts World, they were only legends, after all. Perhaps such figures had existed in ancient times, but none had appeared in China in the past hundred years. As for China's current Ancient Martial Arts World, the highest realm was great grandmaster. But no matter how powerful great grandmasters were, they couldn't withstand missiles. Terrestrial immortals were rumored to be extraordinary beings who could.
An Jing knew that Chen Zheng practiced ancient martial arts too, but he was only around twenty. No matter how strong he was, he absolutely couldn't be stronger than a great grandmaster. As for being a terrestrial immortal, that was even more out of the question!
"Actually, I have a few more sets of immortal robes. Would you like to try one?"
Chen Zheng gave An Jing a mysterious smile.
"Sure, I'll try one!"
An Jing thrust out her chest as she replied.
Chen Zheng raised his right hand and beckoned at thin air, and a red qipao with an exceptionally distinctive design appeared on An Jing's body.
"Huh?" An Jing froze, then jolted in shock and sprang to her feet, staring at Chen Zheng in astonishment. "Y-you... this really isn't a magic trick? How did you do that? Wait! This feeling! How is this possible! Why do I feel like my True Qi instantly grew ten times more vast after putting on this qipao? No! That's not right, more than ten times! My True Qi is at least a hundred times more substantial! Is this... the great grandmaster realm? I now have the strength of a great grandmaster!"
"That's still not right! This realm surpasses great grandmaster! Could it be the legendary terrestrial immortal realm?"
Boom!
The moment An Jing uttered the words "terrestrial immortal," a tremendous thunderclap suddenly exploded over Nan City, where the skies had been perfectly clear. Then rolling thunderclouds surged into motion!
Crack!
At that moment, beyond the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, terrifying bolts of lightning tore across the sky. The scene was bizarre in the extreme!