Chapter 57- No War?

After having done his cheesy arc with his Master, Long Ren asked about the rumors of war, "So, Master, the war rumor, is it true?"

xing lao showed a surprised expression, "Hoh? You knew? Then it must've spread far and wide if even you heard it." He said. Long Ren rarely left the house after all, so him knowing means either the rumor is well-known or he just got lucky.

"For your question, it's rather complicated. Do you want a full or short explanation?"

Long Ren thought for a while and decided to choose the short one. He wants a yes or no answer, no need to go into the ins and outs of who started what, that's useless for him.

xing lao nodded, "The war might happen should another spark occur, but for now, it won't. We're at peace, at least for 10 years minimum, 50 if they're lucky," He answered, as a prideful grin appeared on his face.

xing lao felt confident about this war, even if it happened, their nation will win. They are the overlords of this nation after all, so they knew better than anyone about their nation's power, hidden and revealed.

Long Ren heaved a sigh of relief, a minimum of ten years, that's a long time for him to grow at least to a considerable degree. He thought a war would occur in less than five years but the time concept in this world is stretched out quite a bit.

Apex cultivators generally lived up to five hundred years after all, and those who dictate the start of war would not mind preparing for a couple of dozen years.

They talked for a bit more and Long Ren bid his farewell, explaining his next plans with Yun Ning, only to receive a "Hoh Hoh Hoh…" from xing lao as he stroked his beard and shaped his eyes like a bean.

Long Ren quickly left, uncomfortable with his Master's savvy smile. (A/N: IDK what word to put for his expression…let me know if you have better.)

He made his way back to Diona's mansion and suddenly remembered his promise to Yun Ning. He quickly took the embroidery Yun Ning made out and wore it.

As he approached the peak, he saw the same enchanting flowers growing in her garden, he whiffed a smell and immediately felt relaxed.

Now that his mind is free, he realized there were much more to this garden than it seems. The flowers grew symmetrically, too symmetrically even. They all stood at the exact same height, around 50 cm tall.

He looked around the beautiful garden, circling the mansion in the process, and figured out some patterns. They, together, formed a word or words he could not comprehend.

'Runes made out of flowers, circling her mansion…' Long Ren thought. The more he spends time with her, the more mysterious she becomes as if she was holding a plethora of the world's secrets.

Long Ren wouldn't say he liked her, but he liked being with her, as she gives him many good and unexpected things, not to mention that every time he interacts with her, something new always pops up.

She's like a gacha system, at least a more fun one, as she spews out interesting things, how ironic.

Anyway, Long Ren decided it was not his matter what those flowers are or what they do, they merely intrigued him a bit. He directly went inside, straight into the main living room, and sat on the same sofa as before.

One way or another, they will be notified of his presence, and knocking would only be redundant.

Sure enough, soon after, Yun Ning came down wearing her usual cultivator attire, just the normal Star Clan cultivator robes adorned by her original embroideries. He could see drops of sweat dripping down her neck, glistening her white skin.

She trotted over and immediately, a smile bloomed on her face. She just looked up and down at Long Ren and found a certain something.

"You wore it," She said, her gaze locked on his left waist. There, embroidery of a small tiger etched itself on his cultivator robe-shirt hybrid.

"I did promise you it, it's already long overdue as well," Long Ren said, happy he didn't forget about it, at least he remembered right before the promised time.

Yun Ning nodded slightly and asked, "Wanna go now? We'll have one hour to spare if we do,"

"Why don't you rest first? You're a bit sweaty," He said, handing her a small white towel.

"Thanks," She said, taking the towel and wiping her neck, revealing her nape to Long Ren, though he only glanced at it and looked away.

She sat next to him like before and wiped her body off of the sweat. Long Ren didn't really know where to look though as he felt a bit awkward.

"Um, so, morning training?" He asked, trying to get his mind off of unholy thoughts. Even though he hadn't considered them to be anything, he was still but a growing young boy. His thoughts ran there even if he didn't really want to.

"Mn, like usual,"

"How long do you usually train for?" Long Ren asked, he knew she stopped early as soon as he arrived.

"Depends on Master, though usually, I do two sessions, morning and afternoon for 3 to 6 hours each." She answered. She wiped her body once more and was finally done, relieving Long Ren of the awkward atmosphere.

"That's quite a lot." Long Ren said. He usually only trains for at most three hours every day, the rest he either cultivates or sleeps. A very leisure schedule really.

Yun Ning squinted her eyes, poking Long Ren's arms as his muscles twitched, "What do you mean a lot, it's only above average. You're the one who's cheating with all these muscles when you barely even trained!"

She continued poking his whole body as she complained even more, "How does your body even work! So many good things, Hmph!", Long Ren's mouth twitched as he never expected her to bottle up jealousy, of all things.

But then again, he firsthand knew why she would be jealous, as he would be too had she been the one who owned it. Without this body's talent, and constitution, he won't be as strong as he is right now, and by a large margin.

Long Ren grimaced at the possible timeline where he went into this world with his talentless and weak body. That would be a literal hell, as he would only be a mortal and livestock to cultivators.

Luckily, he went into this body. Bless whoever made it this way.

Yun Ning let him go after a while of puffing and pouting, jealousy still shown on her face, though considerably less. Long Ren only had a wry smile as he didn't know what to do. Anything he does will only make her even puffier.

Although her puffy face is cute, her constant poking is kind of annoying. It tickled him a bit too much for his liking.

…