Chapter 11: Knowing the other

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The sun had set, the sky was dark and the moon was rising. At the Feng Family Restaurant, numerous customers were eating and drinking and the door opened as Feng Qin walked in.

"Oh young master! Welcome back!" One of the waiters welcomed him back with a smile.

"Did you have fun with your date~" Another waiter teasingly said.

Feng Qin slightly smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we had a great time."

Some of the waiters and customers listened in, squealed in delight and started talking and whispering to each other while glancing at Feng Qin who rolled his eyes but smiled good naturedly at their reaction.

Sheng Li smirked at her son walking towards her, didn't say anything, and took a seat before her by the counter.

"Had fun with your little," she giggled and wriggled her eyebrows. "outing?"

"Yes mom...I did. Also, why are you talking like that?"

"What? Can't a mother be happy that her handsome little boy is having fun with a girl and that said girl had fun as well? Especially one who supposedly has a fiancé." she raised her eyebrows teasingly. "You've got some game son. Honey! Did you hear what our son said?"

"I did! And I'm so proud of him! That's my boy!" Feng Shui shouted out excitedly from the kitchen.

Feng Qin groaned. He really should've known to keep his mouth shut when it came to girls in front of his parents but he was still feeling excited and giddy with the experience he had with Zhu Zhuqing.

Thinking about her, Feng Qin felt grateful. Because of her, he finally knew what he wanted to do with his life.

....

A couple hours ago.

"Hey, Zhu Zhuqing."

"Hm?" Zhu Zhuqing tilted her head, her fingers holding a fried fish in her mouth.

'Cute. Why does she remind me of a cat?' Feng Qin thought, slightly blushed. He turned to the side to cough for a moment before turning to face her and asked, "Why are you here in this kingdom? Although you never really said it, your lack of familiarity with this city made me realize that you're a foreigner."

"Hmm. I want to find someone." Zhu Zhuqing simply responded after she ate her fried fish.

"...Your fiancee, I presume?" Feng Qin asked.

"Un." She nodded and Zhu Zhuqing opened her mouth to say something, though she hesitated for a moment, but eventually she said, "I'm not someone from this empire."

Feng Qin's eyes widened and yelled. "You're from the Star Luo Empire?!"

Zhu Zhuqing nodded, frowning.

Feng Qin realized that he overreacted and said. "Sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I'm just so, surprised that you traveled all the way here. The distance between the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, specifically to this kingdom, isn't a short or easy journey. More so with some bandits and spirit beasts wandering around the border between both empires."

Zhu Zhuqing blinked her eyes, visibly confused. "Really? But I've never encountered any bandits and the strongest spirit beast I've encountered in my journey is a 300 year old Brown Mamba."

"Huh? That's it?" Feng Qin turned to stare at her, bewildered.

"Un. I actually even met a couple friendly traders on the road and they even helped me make my way here." Zhu Zhuqing replied with a small smile, no doubt fondly remembering the people who helped her.

Feng Qin scratched his hair, feeling lost. He had heard a lot of stories from passing soldiers and wandering spirit masters that had ventured around the empire borders. Were they all false? Fabricated to entertain people while earning them both fame and money? Although genius, it was kinda hurtful. He quite enjoyed those stories.

While in the shadows of the two, a certain pair of hidden bodyguards sweatdropped.

"Huh. Well, why is your fiancée in this empire instead in your hometown?"

"..." Zhu Zhuqing's face darkened, biting her lower lip, she shook her head. "It's a bit complicated but it's basically a family matter that concerns his life."

Feng Qin raised his eyes in surprise, he'd heard about such affairs from the stories of wandering storytellers and merchants. It was a common problem that mostly large families or organizations have– a struggle for power. It was mostly the nobles or powerful spirit master clans.

In the case of this fiancée of hers, the guy is probably one of the heirs of their family and their elders probably haven't decided on who should be the true successor until one of their heirs finish some kind of tradition or test in this type of situation.

And judging how Zhu Zhuqing had said that it concerns her fiancée's life, it might be a battle to the death.

'Woah. I only thought they were just stories but, damn. I'm glad I wasn't born in some clan or something.' Feng Qin shook his head.

"So, you're going to him because you were worried about his situation? Damn. That guy must be a pretty good guy if you're going this far for him."

"No. I didn't come all this way to check on him." Zhu Zhuqing flatly replied, nibbling on another fried fish.

"But then–" He stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"I actually don't know the guy that much as well."

"What?" Feng Qin was flabbergasted. "Isn't he your fiancée? So how...?"

Zhu Zhuqing let out a sigh, taking a huge bit of her fish, she then said. "Is it really that surprising? 9 out of 10 of arranged marriage situations, when it's revealed to them, tends for both parties to be unaware of the other until their wedding day: their face, body figure, hobbies, likes, dislikes, their personalities, their relationships with others, etc."

"Although I've met him a couple times but that was when we were kids, I can barely even remember his baby face now. But even when we interacted for those short times we meet up, we didn't establish a sort of bond with each other(except for our spirits). So, he's between a stranger and an acquaintance to be honest."

"So why are you heading towards him?" Feng Qin asked.

Zhu Zhuqing paused in place, she furrowed her brows, deep in thought, and she clenched her fingers.

"To prove myself."

Feng Qin turned towards her with a surprised expression.

"That's all?"

Zhu Zhuqing nodded.

"I don't want to be shackled by my family or anyone else, I want to become strong. In this world, the weak struggle and follow the strong; who strive and do whatever they want and achieve it. What's worse is that women are treated with low expectations and discrimination." Suddenly, Zhu Zhuqing's body started to glimmer with a dark light.

"So I'm going to prove myself, to the world, that I can be a strong person, no, a strong female spirit master! I'm going to where my fiancee is, not because I'm worried about his ass, but because I've heard the place he's in had made him become stronger. So I'll go there, get educated, and then achieve my wish to stand at the top as a female Titled Douluo, the very first in my family."

"Even if my spirit would shackle me in the future..." She said that with a low tone of voice, her resolve momentarily broken.

Because she knew, even if she could become a powerful spirit master in the future, her spirit would make her become "his". Unless she...

Feng Qin was completely dumbfounded. Because he knew what that black light around Zhu Zhuqing's body, hell, he could also do the exact same thing but with an orange color! But, it didn't look as dense as hers...

'She's a spirit master!'

That explains so much and had a couple more questions added as well, moreover...

'To stand at the top...' Those words visibly shook Feng Qin to his core. He kneew, understood, why he had been attracted to her now. Not only because of her looks and personality,

It's also because they share the same ambition.

But unlike him, she was still confident and determined with her goal. But why? Her talents and potential maybe because he had felt it, that she was strong–way stronger than him.

But when did the talent of others get him down? Even though Zhu Zhuqing looked to be talented and strong, but she's nowhere near what Meng Liu currently is, and that was when he was here!

Doubt and frustration had slowly corroded him, he didn't know what to do in his life.

But Zhu Zhuqing, she was different than him. She had the talent to quickly and steadily increase her cultivation, and the attitude to find ways to keep getting stronger–

Feng Qin's eyes widened, as if he was struck by lightning and had a sudden enlightenment.

'That's it...I have to–'

"Feng Qin."

Feng Qin snapped out of his dazed state when he heard Zhu Zhuqing call out his name.

"Y-Yeah?"

Zhu Zhuqing looked down, downcast.

"I'm sorry, for not telling you about it... Even though it's customary to introduce myself in response."

"No, no it's fine." Feng Qin waved his hand around. "You had just come to know me for a bit after all, and I didn't really go more in-depth about my information as a spirit master."

"Yeah, but I still kept silent about myself and even suspected you..." Zhu Zhuqing, looking guilty, tried to argue.

"You suspected me?" Feng Qin was confused for a moment but he immediately connected the dots. "Ahh, you thought I was hired by your family or something, am I right?"

"Yes..." Zhu Zhuqing nodded, her face blank but her emotions were clearly seen in her eyes for Feng Qin.

Feng Qin scratched the back of his head, not knowing how to react. Was he upset? Yes. Does he sympathize with her? Very much so, he would've been as wary and cautious of someone he had just met, especially in some foreign land. He had introduced his spirit master identity towards her because a) they were in a public place that people would immediately try to do something if a fight were to break out and, b) he had actually thought she was an ordinary person. After all, all the female spirit he had ever interacted with had some kind of... eccentricity, so to speak.

Zhu Zhuqing looked and acted, as a cold and quiet beauty; a sophisticated and intellectual lady of a sort or a lady of a higher upbringing, that no ordinary man could ever hope to charm her. But that was it. Spirit masters might be above ordinary humans in terms of power and sometimes even looks, but they still looked and acted human. It wasn't unheard of, for a girl to look that beautiful or out-of-reach–despite being an ordinary human.

Also, she has the same goal as him.

Feng Qin let out a sigh.

"I'm a bit upset, not gonna lie," she dropped her shoulders, dejected, "but," her face quickly changed into expectant when she heard that word and her eyes light up when she heard, "it's not like I don't understand the reasoning. So how about we introduce ourselves, as spirit masters?"

"Hm." Zhu Zhuqing quickly nodded with a sort of cattish expression.

'Cute.' Feng Qin smiled.

"I'm Feng Qin, 12 years old, tool spirit Orange Gem(*temp name), spirit power 13. I'm a Power Attack System Battle Spirit Master."

"I'm Zhu Zhuqing, 12 years old, beast spirit Hell Civet, spirit power 27. I'm a Agility Attack System Battle Spirit Master."

Their lips curled, Feng Qin was a bright grin while Zhu Zhuqing's was a cool small smile.

Feng Qin wasn't going to lie. Looking at this ample beautiful girl, with a goal as ambitious as his, he felt like he was going to fall madly for her.

Fuck her fiancée. He was going to one day steal her heart.

They walked around the city for another hour before separating, both having complicated expressions when they turned their back to the other; as they knew that this was the last time they were going to meet and their reunion would be in a very long time.

If they only knew that they were going to see each other again just several months later.

....

"Hey mom. I've got something to tell you."

"Hm? What is it?"

"I want to go on an adventure." Feng Qin, chuckling at the dumbfounded face of his mother, and smirking as he thought, 'I'm gonna live my life without any regrets. I will stand at the peak of the world! I just have to find out how.'