Research goes on

Inspired by day's success (and unable to relax after that kiss), I dived back into my research. It took us almost half of the night to determine attunements of me and my maid. Flame wolf for me and lightning turtle for her. It finally gave me a peaceful state of mind, so I left little Yue to cultivate till the morning and went to bed.

It would be enough to say that I had some interesting dreams featuring big sis. The morning came barely four hours later and brought a good, yet dangerous discovery: an ugly scar on Yue's face has visibly faded. I told her to hide her face with a scarf for now and get herself a half-mask later. It could get dangerous if brother Fei were to find out.

Breakfast gave me enough time to come up with a new risky plan. I ordered her to study my alchemy notes. Depending on aptitude, she could become an alchemist and my spy within the association. I told her that I will order dinner from the nearby restaurant and instead she would be given a practical test of identifying alchemist properties of certain ingredients. It should be easy with my notes and extremely hard for a common alchemist due to a difference in perspective.

Today's lesson was Martial arts once again. This time, the teacher Chen has shown us basic form and made us repeat them for the rest of the time. While we were busy repeating the same form, he was going around fixing mistakes in a stance or execution, while explaining the warrior's way of life. There was a lot of subtle things to master.

I split my self-study time between books on Inscription art and on geography (both modern and ancient). Inscriptions were important as the key to law energies. Ancient geography books were in those old languages, but they still had maps. My biggest find and surprise was a map with Ice Phoenix crest marking northeast of our continent. It was a majestic light-blue bird, with a blue-gold crown, standing on white mountain tops and surrounded by 10 stars. I had trouble designing image for Zi Yun cultivation (even knowing her soul sign from the story), up till that point. Now I could either copy the emblem or just show her this page.

Further research has shown the same crest marking smaller lands (and having fewer stars). The map where it had the smallest territory (and crest without stars) had an arrow suggesting arrival from the northern direction. Overall it was a huge discovery suggesting Ye Zi Yun being the reincarnation of some ancient empress or maybe goddess. Either way, the capital of that country was a worthy place for research (preferably with the girl's assistance). Regrettably, there were no flame foxes, dogs, wolves or lightning turtles emblems.

On my way out, I've met Shen Xiu. She asked if I wanna come with her to the guild. I rejected saying that they would rip me off (as neither old nor new Shen Yue was good at haggling). She pretended to be disappointed at losing the chance to impress me with her business skill. I replied that she should keep half the profit from this deal and told her which books had a map of our entire continent. She hugged me in return and departed on a carriage.

"Teacher Shen seems quite affectionate," - said someone behind me.

"Yes, she is affectionate, honest, kind. Almost ideal woman." - I replied to Ye Zi Yun, who was there.

"Smart and beautiful too," - she noted with a light blush, - "what more do you need?"

"She is my aunt." - I explained.

"Ohh, yes there's that." - she answered with a smile, glancing to the side.

"You know what? I've seen this terrific artwork of Imperial Ice Phoenix in some ancient tome and thought about you." - I subtly changed the topic.

"Really?" - somehow she saw right through me. - "Fine, but if it isn't terrific enough, ..."

"I'm betting my scholarly pride on it!" - I took my most proud pose.

"Scholarly pride?" - she asked aloud, following me back to the library. - "Come to think of it, I heard you've been going through books like crazy these past few days."

"Yeah, mindnumbing experience." - I answered honestly. - "And yet, once in a while you find a treasure there."

"I'll be the judge of that." - she noted with humor.

"I'm sure you will, your majesty." - I replied with a slight bow.

"Talk is cheap," - she answered with passion, - "show me treasure."

"It's here in the green section, fourth bookcase, third shelf, this." - I opened the book, flipped to the right page, demonstrating ancient crest to her.

"You ... you have a taste, Shen Yue." - she finally replied after a minute of stunned silence. - "It's a treasure indeed."

"See?" - I looked around and continued in a hushed voice. - "I bet you can cultivate on it instead of some common mantra."

"I ... I feel the same as if it calls for me." - she gave me an incredulous look.

"There are seats back there." - I led her to one of the reading tables.

". . ." - she was shaking!

"Sit here, one more look," - I shut the book, taking a couple of steps back. - "Go!"

It took her only 10 minutes to breakthrough to a bronze rank. Her body was shining through her light clothes - I got a glimpse of her small mounds and darker areolas.

"Did you see?" - her eyes narrowed.

"I ..." - I was slapped.

"Thought so," - she said blushing and looking at the table between us.

"I don't know what to say," - I actually knew, but her age messed that route a lot.

"You was rather eloquent just a minute ago!" - she actually pointed at me.

"Fine, you know how it goes," - I began, - "You get gold in a month, next day we get married."

"Too fast." - she protested, waving her hands.

"And then my family proceeds to murder yours," - I continued, - "so there won't be 'happy ever after'."

"That's ... not what I expected." - she admitted with a pause.

"So, I have three conditions: keep secret, get legend, make your choice." - I wasn't done yet, - "And advice: keep an eye on Nie Li."

"Now, just wait a moment," - She was angry. - "what was that about your family murdering my?

"Dad is a dick like that," - I reminded her, - "just look at the Winged Dragon family.

"Well, there were rumors," - that is how it always goes, - "but nothing concrete".

"As far as I know, there was an elder who fell for a girl, it was their turn to hold the tournament and that was enough." - That was as much as old Shen Yue cared to learn about the situation.

"Your conditions are reasonable, still got to ask," - There was excited curiosity in her voice. - "Do you love someone else?"

"..." - I looked in her bright eyes, - "Yes, I do!"

"Thanks for telling me." - once again she looked aside, - "And what about that boy?"

"What do you think about him?" - she was an observant and smart girl, she can do the math herself.

"He ... is eloquent. There was no substance to his arguments, yet his form was perfect." - She raised a finger. - "Confident in his cultivation, despite red soul and meager 5 points of force." - The second finger went up. - "He knows about some strange places." - The third joined two others. - "And he has good martial arts, despite a poor physical score (since he got you two days ago)." - And the number increased once more.

"Looks suspicious to me." - I confirmed her thoughts.

"So that is how we got there," - she pointed at me, sounding triumphant, - "You got paranoid, made a discovery and dragged me along!"

"He's either agent of some outsider group or ..." - I took a pause - "Worst case scenario, he was your lover who brought you demise."

"That's just sick. If you don't love me, at least let me dream." - she slapped my shoulder, it stung.

"Just care for my friend." - that was the limit of my interference for now.

On my way home, I got required alchemy supplies and ordered dinner for two. And when I called for Xiao Yue, she gave me her usual dose of positive. Even my dark scheming heart relaxes when she smiles. And as for test ... she passed with flying colors. After that, we had a good dinner, I left her vial of the blood of lighting turtle and crashed in my bed. Today was too exhausting ...