Acceptance

'C-calm down. This can't be how I go out! I'm clearly at a disadvantage here, but this woman was against me from the start. I have to calm down or I might make a massive mistake. I remember her saying once before that I wasn't someone that she 'approves' of. Perhaps if I can display those qualities she could be.. less hard on me.

But first I have to get out of this situation. Alright, alight! Step one, start standing my ground a bit more, I don't want to always act like such a coward. If I'm going to embark on my path to cultivation these situations might start to become all too common.'

I used all the willpower I had in me to continue staring into her eyes. Her contrasting appearance between when we first met and now were absolutely terrifying, but I had to keep going now. I was on the brink of death, yet I wouldn't even know if it happened. My body still trembled, but I tried my best to stop it. The only place that could tremble even if it tried was my right shoulder. The hand placed atop was still increasing it's pressure, albeit by miniscule amounts.

I tried as hard as I could to perceive any movement on her face and it succeeded. There was the slightest motion in her brows.

'Okay! I don't know if that was because of me or not, but I'll take it as a win! Step two, um….uh… oh no. P-present item!'

When I finally got a hold of the jade I grabbed it and completely enveloped it in my hand as I took it out. Noticing that I lifted my hand, her piercing eyes changed their target.

"..."

I wanted to wait a few seconds to open up my hand for dramatic effect, but when her gaze landed back on me I felt a slight shiver in my spine. After which I slowly opened my hand to reveal the red teardrop jade within. It had a large crack diagonally within it and a few smaller ones spreading out from the larger one.

After alleviating the pressure on me by looking down she looked back up so soon I didn't have time to prepare myself. Although I don't believe my tough facade appeared cracked from that, it definitely didn't feel good for me realizing how easily it is for her to scare me.

Seeing that I produced something from my robes, her right hand, which held onto the knife, lowered farther and even the hand that slowly crushed my shoulder halted its pressure increase.

"This… isn't this the jewelry which my darling gave to you?"

"Y-yes, it is." I still trembled while I spoke, it seemed harder for me to completely control my voice. Perhaps it wouldn't be so hard if it wasn't for her still cold and murderous gaze.

"For what purpose have you produced this item for?"

"I-I'll tell you. A long long time ago, my grandmoth-"

"Cut to the chase, I don't care about your life story. I want to know why you brought out this item!"

When she raised her voice again my body trembled almost like a reflex. I was mad at myself, but I was even more fearful of the woman in front of me. Her cutting me off made me a little sad.

'How could Big Brother love this woman!? She's so mean! Is everything she does in front of him a lie, an act? Humph, one day I might expose her for who she really is!'

"R-right, so this piece, the red teardrop jade, is something which… y-your husband created. Its use is to be able to lightly influence his mind, but it has limited uses. I'm willing to share its uses with you. But I hace a few conditions-"

"Conditions, share? Why should I do any of that when I could just kill you and take it for myself? Hmph, alright I'll humor you once more, tell me what your conditions are."

"First of all you should stop trying to expel me from the sect and don't kill me, second I want to have a chance to be his wife too!"

"YOU WHAT?! I could consider your first condition, but you want a spot next to me with 'my' darling?! You must be out of your mind if you think I would let that slide for even a moment!!"

There was nothing, but outrage which flowed from her. The slowly relaxing grip on my shoulder instantly turned into a sharp pain which I could clearly feel was fracturing my bones and the flesh above was almost turning to pulp.

An excruciating pain I'd never felt before radiated from that shoulder and at that point I could barely even control my right arm. I took a glance at the damage to see a dark shade of purple closest to me while jutting out between her fingers were small white shards covered with a crimson shade of liquid.

"Hah…Hah…" I stared at my own ruined shoulder for a moment in shock before reluctantly turning back to face her gaze. A gaze even colder than before, but after a few moments I tried to reorganize myself, if I didn't there's a chance she would no longer give me the time of the day and kill me outright. Her brows furrowed once more, even farther than before. I knew she wouldn't take that well, but I didn't expect her to go as far as destroying my shoulder to show her anger.

I wanted to scream in agony, shout in pain, but I held back as best I could. Tears built up in my eyes which probably strained them and turned them red while my jaw trembled within, but not a drop would trail cheeks.

"..."

"I-I'm thinking of the sect master here… I heard stories about heroes having harems made up of many wives."

"That may be true for some others, but that doesn't mean it applies to everyone."

"H-he told me yesterday that we should be in 'harmony' with each other. I think that this could be a good way to make him happy."

"I can think of a better way, Give up! He isn't yours to chase after."

"I remember you telling me that I wasn't someone you 'approve' of, is there any chance for me to become one of those people?"

Hearing those words a bit of light seemed to return to her eyes and her brows relaxed. Her crushing grip was released though not entirely. She deeply stared into me like she was looking into my soul and a silence permeated the room.

***

(Jing Xiuying POV)

'I guess I did say that before, but this woman has a number of little schemes here and there. If I let her be as is I might regret it, but happiness for my darling? Is that really what he would want? I can think of that later right now I have to think about this… person.'

People I approve of… I had never really thought of the requirements for an additional wife, but I think I know in my heart what they would be. The only condition that comes to mind is the fact that they have to dedicate their whole being to darling, an unwavering loyalty.

Everyone else that I approved of is made up of those who have no romantic feelings for my darling, yet would still treat him with the utmost respect and never betray him. Those such as his disciples, not many others have my approval, but that's only because they don't have enough contact with him in the first place.

With the cold look I've had the entire time I took another look at the girl in front of me. She clearly tried to keep up a tough front, but it was all too easy to see through. Her entire body shook and shivered once in a while. Her eyes trembled easily, but she somehow managed to continue staring at me. They were red and watery like her dam would burst at any moment. There was an odd expression she was making with her lips, possibly from trying to bite her inner lips to keep from her jaws chattering within.

On my left hand a warm red coat covered the bottom with a scent of iron. Fragments of her white brittle bones covered in streaks of red poked out. The blood had been oozing out and had trailed down her arm in multiple streams finally reaching her elbow. To be honest I was quite surprised at the fact that she didn't scream or shout, only a couple audible breaths escaped her mouth.

Shifting my view down right I saw the red teardrop jade in her hands. She had been holding the item all this time in the air. The hand which held it was shaking worse than the rest of her, almost like she would lose her arm's strength at any moment and drop it.

'I suppose I could give her a chance. Times have changed and my position as darling's wife is solid, I shouldn't stop him from additional happiness. Of course that's only if he wants it in the first place.'

With a flash the dagger in my right hand disappeared back into the ring. With only my index finger and thumb I picked up the jewel and inspected it.

"Hmm?"

As I inspected the jewel I could help, but notice a certain fluctuation from it. One of the materials he used to create this was his own blood essence. Blood essence is the talent of a person usually known as the last resort of many cultivators. The type of people who use it are usually in situations in which they have no choice or else they would die. They would usually burn it within their own bodies to acquire an increased amount of power for a short period of time. But that's not the only use many also use it to bind a weapon to themselves and I suppose create artifacts too. Since it burns talent and therefore their future people are usually reluctant to use it even in life or death situations.

Most people only have a certain amount of it and most of the time it doesn't regenerate by itself. Only certain miracle pills can help replenish them, but even then they are both expensive and the amount they replenish could be hardly any.

But that doesn't mean everyone is subjected to that. Blood cultivators could expand their amount and even regain it, though through devious means. They cultivate with the blood of others and harness it as their own power, as such they are usually categorized with the demonic cultivators.

That's only a subcategory though, the main way many people could increase their blood essence and gain the ability to regenerate it is through physical cultivation or body cultivation. Darling is one such person who cultivates it, but of course he doesn't only cultivate physical, but also Qi cultivation.

There are actually 4 types of cultivation, but it's already hard enough to find anyone who would cultivate 2 types. Mostly since you have to cultivate them separately with differing processes, with body cultivation also being extremely expensive to keep up. The easiest of the 3 is the third option, divine cultivation, but it's almost impossible to cultivate it outright in the beginning of someone's cultivation journey.

The second easiest is Qi cultivation and the hardest is physical. In reality, physical and Qi are the only viable options for most people. Divine is the easiest, but also the most tedious and could fluctuate at any time. Both routes are basically the same with body tempering, but then onwards the differences begin.

But the hardest has to be Soul Cultivation, one misstep and there's a chance the person would become an idiot the rest of their lives. But the gains could also be immense as the mental backlashes from a failure is much more painful at times compared to physical cultivation. With physical you could apply medicine to make it go away, but with mental you just have to endure at times as this pain goes directly to the soul.

With a small flash the red gem disappeared from view.

"Alright, I'll accept your deal, but I'm adding a clause. I'll give you a chance to prove that you can be someone I approve of. But know this, if you fail you won't be alive to tell about it."

"I-I understand."

"Good, let's clean up and buy you that moxiong."