Meeting the "Employer"
Meng spent the rest of the day recuperating from his internal injury.
'I wasted the whole day just to recover from my injuries due to my carelessness. But at least I could use this time to recover more of my old memories from that time...I can confidently say that...the same mistake won't happen a second time.' Meng exited his house with a cold glint in his red eyes. It was visible that he was much more serious than yesterday and it wasn't just because of that injury.
[Time remaining: 6 days 2 hours, 35 minutes,14 seconds]
For the remaining 5 days, Meng kept venturing inside the forest to pick up the herbs and to kill weak profound beasts. He stumbled upon few stronger beasts but he usually used his Weak Ephemeral powder to blind them and run away or in rare cases, he would try his luck and kill them if he saw that they hesitated for a moment once losing their sight. During the entire time, he didn't meet the same beast that previously attacked him because he didn't dare to go too deep since right now he had no cultivation base whatsoever.
Right now, it was his last evening before he had to set off early in the morning for the Floating Cloud City. It would be his first time seeing the city with his own eyes aside from the memories of the old owner.
'I have been able to remember a lot of faces and names from old owner's memories but why can't I even remember how he used to behave or what was his personality?' Meng thought with furrowed brows while practicing his swordsmanship outside of his house.
[That's because I had to remove his personality to not influence the host. Obviously, memories also hold his personality and emotions so I had to remove everything that could influence the host, that's one of the reasons why it took so much that it crippled this body's meridians. I stored some of his memories inside my consciousness since it can't influence me]
'There must be a way to repair my damaged meridians, right?'
[Yes however the host doesn't have to focus on repairing his meridians. The host should focus more on his current skills and rely more on me.]
"Hmph!" Meng just kept swinging his sword without replying to Vista.
[Name: Su Meng]
[Cultivation: None (Damaged Meridians)
[Skills: |Elementary Harvesting (Lv. 6)+|, |Elementary boxing (Lv. 5)+|, |Elementary Swordsmanship (Lv. 4)+|,
|Elementary Nimbleness (Lv. 6)+|, |Elementary Detection (Lv. 6)+|, |Elementary Tracking (Lv. 6)+|,
|Elementary Concealment (Lv. 6)+|, |Elementary Alchemy (Lv. 3)+ ]
[Skill points: 576]
[ |Gather enough herbs and materials from dead monsters to fulfill the Xia clan's order in time.| (71/50) (52/30)
Obviously, Meng kept the rarer herbs to himself while he prepared a great variety of common herbs to give to the Xia clan. He also prepared more than necessary in case he had to appease someone, however, from the memories, that clan master Xia Hongyi should be gentle and calm, unlike other people who just seek conflict.
'My current battle prowess should be around the middle of the Elementary Profound Realm however I should be able to kill even someone in the higher stages of Elementary Profound Realm. Not bad, considering that I have no cultivation base. I should also make myself presentable for tomorrow, I have been using these ragged clothes for too long. Let's try to make something out of those materials from the beasts I killed.' Meng thought before he stopped training and went back inside the house to find some basic items for sewing, the moment he got them, he received a message.
[|Elementary Crafting Lv. 0| +]
.
.
Thankfully, he didn't have to do it manually and all he had to spend was 10 skill points which returned back to him for advancing one level.
[|Elementary Crafting Lv. 1| +]
Right now, Meng was wearing a new long dark brown coat with a few amber-colored attachments with silver shoulder pads made out of silver fur, black leather gloves with the silver lining on the edges, black pants, and a formal dark gray shirt underneath the coat.
'I guess this outfit doesn't correspond too much with their culture but I tried to imagine it with the breath of their current fashion, unfortunately, they like too much of loose clothes but I hate it so they are quite tight-fitting. Hopefully, they won't be offended just by my clothes, haha. Still, I finally look like a proper businessman. Tomorrow is the fateful day to meet my "employer".' Meng thought with a faint smile before he went to take a nap.
.
.
The next morning when Meng stepped inside the city, he received a lot of stares from people. Many of them started even whispering while he was looking all around, trying to remember the way towards the Xia Clan's manor.
"*Hey, look at his clothes, where do you think he is from?"*
"*Why do you even care? He is a waste, there is absolutely no profound energy inside his body.*"
"*But he is quite handsome with his serious expression. Maybe he is a relative of someone strong since those clothes are really fine-tailored.*"
"*Huh?! He is just a waste, nothing special even if his clothes seem expensive.*" The whispers were going around everywhere Meng passed by and after a while, he felt some of those curious stares transform into envious or scornful ones.
'Wow, just by walking on the street, I have already involved so many negative emotions. Sorry that your fashion is trash in my eyes and not just because of how it looks but mostly because tight-fitting clothes are more suitable for combat.' Meng thought before he started ignoring everyone's stares.
He finally found the entrance to Xia Clan's manor that was guarded by 2 young men.
"Stop, what are you doing here again?" One of them narrowed his eyes and said towards Meng.
'Hm? Oh! Right, the old owner wanted to report to Xia Hongyi that his parents went missing but since he rarely came here, they didn't let him in but from his memories, it looked more like they were bullying him instead of not letting him in due to his suspicious identity. Even during the deliveries each month, he was staying usually home in the forest, waiting for his parents to do their business. He barely had any interaction with the clan master but they saw each other a few times and even talked a few minutes, there was also his daughter that the old owner had a crush on due to her beauty, what an absurd situation.' Meng thought while looking at two young men with an apathetic expression.
"Hey, didn't you hear him, we will kick you out once again if you won't leave immediately and this time, it won't be just a light beating." The other man said when Meng didn't reply.
"Gentlemen, why so aggressive and violent? I am merely here to do the delivery of the materials from the Su family directly to the Clan Master" Meng said with a businessman-like smile while showing 2 bags in his hands.
"Then let us check the content if there is everything as it should be." The first man said and tried to take one bag from Meng's hand but Meng wouldn't let go.
"You-!"
"I am here right on time however if I waste even more time here, are you going to be the ones held responsible for making your Clan Master wait?" Meng interrupted with a bright smile and closed eyes.
"...Go inside, but we will be keeping an eye on you!" Both men felt a sliver of killing intent which made them take a step back. They were slightly confused since they didn't know if the killing intent came from the same smiling young boy or from someone else.
.
.
"Lord Xia, it has been a while, please accept by respect" Meng lightly bowed to the man in front of him named Xia Hongyi.
"Su Meng? Is that really you? Haha, it has indeed been a while since the last time I saw you. You have changed quite a lot however...what has happened with your cultivation? Also, where are your parents, they usually came for a visit every other week but this time they skipped it and they even sent you instead of coming personally. What has happened?"
'Lord Xia? He has really changed...the look in his eyes and that serious expression, something big must have really happened to him. Although it looks like he can no longer cultivate, his eyes have much bigger confidence in them then the last time I saw him when he was still at the fourth stage of the Elementary Profound Realm
"About that, sir. It is quite a long story and I wouldn't want to bother and waste sir's time." Meng said respectfully before he noticed someone observing their conversation.
'This is the main hall, not just anyone would be let in, so...that must be his daughter. She is definitely beautiful, however...well, whatever' Meng thought while casting a glance at Xia Qingyue from the corner of his eye before returning his sight and attention to Xia Hongyi.
'...Is that really that same old Su Meng who used to keep bashfully staring at me whenever he visited together with his parents? Xia Qingyue was slightly surprised by Meng's polar opposite reaction when he saw her. She was also intrigued by Meng's clothes that she has never seen anywhere before.
'He was turned into a cripple yet somehow, his eyes are at least a thousand times stronger than before...How is that possible? How can anyone gain so much confidence after being turned into a cripple?' The more she thought about it, the more she felt a need to examine his condition.
"Don't worry about wasting my time. Your parents had worked for me for a long time, please tell me what's going on." Xia Hongyi said with a gentle smile.
'This Xia Hongyi is really different from others' Meng thought before he nodded with closed eyes.