3 Break Off an Engagement

Ye Tian's home.

In the familiar lobby, the atmosphere today was especially serious. Both of Ye Tian's parents wore extremely ugly expressions as a pretty girl in a red dress passed a piece of hide to them.

 "Breaking off the engagement?"

Ye Meng, Ye Tian's father, gripped the hide and shot upwards, his face pale with anger as he glared at the pretty girl in front of him. "Lin Jiao, that year, your father personally agreed to this betrothal! And now, a dignified village head like him is going to break his word and break off the engagement?"

Lin Mei, Ye Tian's mother, flanked her husband, likewise glaring at the pretty girl in the red dress.

Of course they had heard that their son had no Martial Spirit, and this was now his second heavy blow. Perhaps Ye Tian's life was already ruined, and as his parents, they were very naturally furious.

"Aiya, Uncle Meng, don't say that. My daddy obviously isn't going to break off the engagement or else I wouldn't have come by myself today," Lin Jiao replied coquettishly. It had to be said that this girl was sharp, and whether it was her elegant demeanor or her beautiful face, every part of her seemed to be filled with an alluring air.

Ye Meng and Lin Mei both sighed with relief at these words, sitting back down, but the matter still wasn't resolved. Lin Mei spoke again, peering at Lin Jiao: "Niece Lin, what's the meaning of this then?" She pointed at the hide, a certificate-agreement for marriage termination.

Ye Meng also stared at Lin Jiao, waiting for her explanation.

"The meaning is clearly written there." Lin Jiao's pretty eyes glittered as she calmly replied: "Although my dad never said he wanted to break off the engagement, news about Ye Tian's Martial Spirit has already spread throughout Lin Family Village. My younger sister is a famed beauty in our village, and there's a line from your village to ours of people who want her hand. If Ye Tian were still a genius, no one would dare to make any trouble, but now…"

Now that the conversation had come to this point, Ye Meng and Lin Mei's faces fell again, already dreading her next words.

Lin Jiao looked from husband to wife, continuing coldly: "Just today, many scores of talented young men came to our house to press my father to break off the engagement."

"Hong!"

Ye Meng slammed the table, glaring at Lin Jiao and her cold smile: "Your father is the village head, yet he's so easily threatened by a couple of young lads?"

Lin Mei's expression was also unpleasant. Both of them knew that this was just an excuse.

"Matters aren't as simple as you say. These young and talented men are all-powerful in their villages, and though my father is the village chief, he cannot simply offend others left and right. Now that Ye Tian has no Martial Spirit, what can he rely on to gain my little sister's hand?" Lin Jiao sneered. 

"Cut the crap—clearly you're only here because my son has no Martial Spirit! Peh!" Ye Meng snapped back, anger written all over his face.

"Hehe, it's good that you understand. My father has taken our family's friendship into consideration and asked me to break off the engagement privately so that no one will be too embarrassed!" Lin Jiao smiled as she replied, paying no mind to Ye Meng and Lin Mei's darkened faces.

"I think he's just afraid that others will see that he cannot be trusted to keep his word, hah!" Ye Meng sneered in reply.

 "If you want to break the betrothal then we will break it! My son is upright and dignified, and even if he doesn't have a Martial Spirit, no one has the right to insult him!" Lin Mei said loudly, even somewhat shocking Ye Meng. This was his first time seeing his wife this forceful, and it was clear that she had never been this furious before.

"Then, the contract…" Before Lin Jiao could finish speaking, the door to the room opened and a calm young man walked in.

"I'll sign it!"

The young man was of course the returning Ye Tian, and his face remained coldly flat the entire while as he signed the hide and threw it to Lin Jiao.

"Tian er…" Lin Mei began, her heart filled with worry. Beside her, Ye Meng's lips quivered, but he could find no words.

As he looked over at the gazes of his loving, worried parents, Ye Tian felt his heart warming. He had been an orphan in his previous life and had never experienced maternal and paternal love, but during this life, the Heavens had compensated him and given him these parents who loved him dearly.

I'll have no regrets in this life! Ye Tian thought to himself before turning back to look at Lin Jiao. His face fell, and he called out: "Leave. This place no longer welcomes you."

"Heng. Do you think I want to be here? A cripple without a Martial Spirit wants to marry my little sister? How ridiculous! You will never be anything other than a cripple!" Lin Jiao sneered arrogantly before turning to leave.

"You…" Ye Meng began furiously, but just as he was going to charge forward to teach Lin Jiao a lesson, he was stopped by Ye Tian.

"Father, forget it. This kind of person isn't worth our time!" Ye Tian shook his head, a flash of coldness crossing his dark eyes.

"Tian er…" Lin Mei said again, walking over to her son and gazing worriedly at his face.

"Tian er, you don't need to worry. You don't need a Martial Spirit—with your old man by your side, no one will dare to pick on you!" Ye Meng loudly declared as he put his hands on his son's shoulder.

Ye Tian looked at his parents, his heart filled with emotion and gratitude, and at that moment, the languor over him seemed to lift. He nodded and said: "Dad, mom, trust me. I'm okay."

"Poor Tingting. That child is surely locked up right now so you two cannot meet!" Lin Mei sighed.

A graceful figure seemed to flash through Ye Tian's mind at these words, and his eyes dimmed a little before he shook his head and replied, "Forget it. She and I aren't fated to be together in this life. I hope she can find a better man than me. Lin Jiao wasn't wrong when she said that without a Martial Spirit, I truly am not worthy of her sister."

"Tian er…" Lin Mei knew that she had spoken poorly, her face sad as she stared at her son.

"Mother, don't worry. I won't do anything stupid. In this world, I still have you both!" Ye Tian comforted her.

"That's right. A good man will never worry about getting married. Your old man will definitely find you a good wife!" Ye Meng laughed. When he saw his son comforting Lin Mei, he knew that his son's spirit hadn't been defeated.

"En, Mother will also keep an eye out. I'll ask some friends for help tomorrow and find a girl who suits you."

Ye Tian was speechless and didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he replied: "Dad, Mom, you don't have to worry about this. Your son is still young, and it's still too early to think about starting a family."

"You can't say that—your mother and I, we were…" Ye Meng began, launching the beginnings of a long lecture, but Ye Tian was already fleeing.

"Dad, Mom, I'm going to rest for now. Call me when dinner is ready!" Ye Tian called back as he ran away.

 "This child…" Lin Mei shook her head, but her face was kind.

...

Inside Ye Tian's room.

Ye Tian slammed the door, his face gloomy and his eyes furious as he sat on his bed, staring out the window at the setting sun.

His toughness was just a mask in front of his parents to relieve them of some of their worries.

The heart was made of flesh, and after having this friendship built over all these years suddenly broken, there was no way Ye Tian wouldn't feel hurt no matter how tough his heart was.

"Why do I not have a Martial Spirit?" Ye Tian cried out hoarsely, his voice filled with disbelief as his eyes reddened.

The Martial Spirit. Everything relied on the Martial Spirit. He just needed one, and even if he had the lowest ranking Red Martial Spirit, people wouldn't have treated him this way and insulted him with a broken betrothal.

"I refuse to accept defeat simply because I don't have a Martial Spirit!"

Ye Tian closed his eyes and crossed his legs, placing his palms face upon his knees as he breathed, quietly searching for any sign of Spiritual Qi.

But even after a long wait, he still felt nothing.

Without a Martial Spirit, Ye Tian couldn't sense the Spiritual Qi of the heavens and the earth, much less absorb the Qi essence into his body. Without extracting essence from Spiritual Qi, he couldn't generate his own True Qi, and he would never be able to clear his blocked meridians and become a Martial Warrior.

Ye Tian unwillingly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with disappointment. Without a Martial Spirit, there really was no way to begin the Martial Warrior path.

"Meow…" Suddenly, a meow turned Ye Tian's head, and he looked to see a little tiger rubbing his head against Ye Tian's thigh.

"Hungry, little guy?"

As he watched the adorable little white tiger moving around, Ye Tian felt his heart lightening. He smiled and picked up the little white creature, revealing the sheepskin scroll underneath it, the 'reward' that the white tiger mother had given him.

"Meow!" The little tiger cried out, sticking out its tongue and licking Ye Tian's face.

"Haha!"

Ye Tian couldn't help but laugh aloud.

"Be patient, little guy. I'll take you to find some food!" Ye Tian said, hugging the little white tiger and leaving his room to find some milk to feed his new friend.

"Kid, where did you find this little white cat? It's cute!" Lin Mei called out kindly when Ye Tian came back out into the hall with the little white tiger in hand.

After talking to his mother again, Ye Tian found milk for his tiger and walked back to his room. He turned to the happy tiger: "Little guy, grow up quickly. Your mother was so powerful, so you will be pretty strong as well. I will never become a Martial Artist, but as long as you grow up well, I can rely on you to build a name for myself in White Cloud Town!"

Back in his room, Ye Tian placed the well-fed little tiger on the corner of his bed as he thought quietly about the future.

The little white tiger's mother was a beast in the Martial Master realm, which meant that the little tiger had huge potential. As long as Ye Tian raised it well, he would have a Martial Master beast by his side, and that wasn't much worse than becoming a Martial Warrior himself.

In all of the White Cloud Town region, there was only one person in the Martial Master Realm. If he had a Martial Master realm white tiger, how could anyone dare to look down on him?

As he thought about this "big plan" of raising the little white tiger, Ye Tian absent-mindedly picked up the sheepskin scroll, glancing over it.

Did she actually give me a useless piece of beast skin as a reward? Could it be that in her eyes, this beast skin was very valuable? Ye Tian wondered to himself as he looked over the skin, but his pupils shrank in focus as he spotted writing.

"En. This is the language of Shen Zhou Continent and it looks quite old as well…"

 Ye Tian began to read carefully. Although the characters on the scroll were ancient and somewhat out-dated, and the entire sheepskin scroll seemed to give off a musty smell of age, it was still readable.

"This author, Balata, a Magus from antiquity, was born without a Martial Spirit…"

A Magus!

Ye Tian's face changed and his eyes gleamed with curiosity as he continued reading.