Severing Sibling Ties

With a loud snap, Di Lan gave her younger sister a solid smack.

Di Lang covered her left cheek, stumbling two steps backwards, her face full of shock.

"Ungrateful little girl, what kind of tone are you using to talk to your own older brother?! That Chu Zi Mo is just a servant girl! Just because of a lowly girl like her you would forget that I am your older brother?" Di Lan reprimanded in a low voice.

Di Lang was late to react, her stinging left face surging through his brains in waves. She stared wide-eyed, her breathing became rough as she said in disbelief, "Big brother, you hit me? From the time I was still young until I grew up, you have never hit me before. Yes, I was found out to be a Gold grade talent, you were just mortal grade. But you also cannot blame me for it, this is all the arrangement of heaven…"

Slap!

Di Lang had not finished speaking, yet Di Lan used the back of his hand and smacked him again.

Di Lang covered both her cheeks with her two hands. She was stunned.

"Naïve fool, do you still remember from young till now? How did I take care of you? When our parents died, our life was hard. During New Year, aunt and uncle only gave us both one new robe, did I wear it? Who did I give it to wear? When you were small you loved to eat chicken porridge, I would tell the kitchen to make another bowl for you everyday. When you were bullied by others, who brought you back? Not to mention a ton of other things, I don't feel like it is worth talking about. Well, right now because of a maid, you would talk to me like this, coming to question me?"

Di Lang's face was red. Her lips trembled as tears were welling up on her eyes, ashamed and annoyed, as well as surprised and angry. Yet she was unable to say a single word of rebuttal.

Because everything Di Lan said was the truth!

"Whatever." Di Lan sneered, "Since you even gave up your own biological parents and admitted someone else, what am I worth to you, as merely your big brother?"

"Big brother, how can you say that? You know that I have always longed for the warmth of a family since I was young, I…" Di Lang immediately explained.

Di Lan waved his hand, stopping his sister from continuing. "From today onwards, I don't have a useless sister, and I am no longer your older brother. You better understand that."

"Big brother!" Di Lang was surprised, opening her mouth to say more. A stinging pain pierced in her heart.

At this moment, Di Lan spoke, "Don't you like Chu Zi Mo? I can trade her to you for seven spirit stones, from today onwards she can be your personal maid."

Seeing Di Lang not replying, Di Lan frowned and said, "If you don't want to exchange, then that's fine. Get out of my sight already."

Di Lang was anxious on the spot. "I'll exchange! Why would I not exchange? But the spirit stones on me are not enough for seven anymore."

As she said this, she took out her money pouch, her face red all over.

Di Lan took the pouch and found five pieces only in it. He immediately knew that Di Lang have used two of the spirit stones to speed up the process of refining his chosen Spirit.

Even though it was just five pieces, Di Lan knew: These were all the spiritual stones that Di Lang had in his possession right now. Di Lang had no savings on her own, and these five primeval stones were what Aunt and Uncle had given to him not long ago.

"I'll keep these, you still owe me another five spirit stones. You can go now." Di Lan's expression was cold as he tucked the bag away.

"Big brother…" Di Lang wanted to say more.

Di Lan raised his eyebrows slightly, speaking in a slow and leisure manner, "Before I change my mind, you better disappear from my eyes."

Di Lang felt her heart tighten. She gritted her teeth, and finally turned and left. When she stepped through the doorway of the inn, she subconsciously covered her chest with her hand, feeling a wave of uneasiness. There was a feeling that was telling her that she had just lost something very important.

But very quickly, she felt relief as she thought of Chu Zi Mo's freedom. She did not look back, and walked out of Di Lan's sight.

Di Lan stood nonchalantly; he stood for a long time, then he finally slowly sat down as he shook his head in disappointment.

The bright sunlight passed through the window, shining onto his indifferent smiling face, making those who saw this feel somewhat cold inside. The business in the pub was slightly poor, and the streets grew busier with people. The noise and excitement from the bustling crowd travelled over, making the place feel quiet as the dishes grew cold. A worker came up attentively, asking if Di Lan would like to reheat his breakfast.

Di Lan did not hear it. His gaze kept shifting like a cloud, as if he was reminiscing some old memories. The worker waited for a while. But as he saw Di Lan in a trance, never saying a single word, he could only rub his nose and walk away bitterly.

After a long time, Di Lan's eyes became focused again. The past memories in his heart were like smoke; they had already dispersed away.

He returned to reality once more. The sunlight that flowed in shone over half the table. The warm air that wafted out of the dishes had already disappeared, and the bustling noise of the crowd on the streets travelled into his ears.

He reached into his robes and patted the five spirit stones at his bosom, his mouth curling into a bitter and mocking smile. But the smile was quickly cast away.

"Waiter, please reheat these dishes for me." Di Lan took a look at his dishes and faintly opened his mouth, shouting away. At this moment, his eyes looked so chilly.

+++++++++

"What! Your older brother really said that?" In the hall, Uncle frowned, his voice cold. Aunt sat aside, looking speechlessly at the fresh red handprint on Di Lang's cheeks.

"Yes, when I met big brother, he was at the inn eating breakfast. The entire thing went like this," Di Lang replied politely.

Uncle's frown deepened..

After a few breaths, he sighed and said in a solemn tone, "Di Lang my child, you must remember this. The maidservant Chu Zi Mo is not Di Lan's personal property; we assigned her to him. How can he use her as a trading item? You should have told us earlier on. We would just assign her to you."

"What?" Di Lang was stunned as she listened to this.

Uncle waved his hand. "You can take your leave. You gave all your spirit stones to Di Lan, so I'll just give you another. Remember, use them properly on refining your Spirit and seize number one. We will be very proud of you when you do."

"Father, your child is ashamed…" Di Lang was suddenly moved to tears. Uncle sighed and replied, "Just go, hurry back to your room and refine your Spirit. You don't have much time left."

When Di Lang took her leave, Uncle's face revealed a ferocious and angry expression.

Bang!

He hit the table with his palm using great force, hissing, "Hmph, that damn bastard. He actually used our workers to make an exchange, he's really cunning!"

Aunt advised, "Husband, calm your anger. It's just seven primeval stones."

"What do you understand, woman! This Di Lan is only a mortal grade talent, if he wants to refine the Moonfang Spirit, he would need more spirit stones. With his weak experience of a first timer, seven spirit stones won't be enough to refine it. But now that he has twelve pieces, it's almost sufficient already." Uncle was so furious as he gritted his teeth.

He added, "A Spirit Master's cultivation will be very swift as long as there are enough resources and no obstacles. In two or three years, the clan will be able to produce a Rank two Spirit Master. The lower Di Lan's cultivation rank, the smaller his hopes of trying to seize the family inheritance one year later. Right now he is still young, just starting to cultivate. We shall hinder him and let his starting process fall behind those at his age. The academy resources are always awarded to excellent students. With his latent talent, once he falls back he won't be able to get any resources. Without the help of resources his cultivation will fall even further. With this vicious cycle, I would like to see if he has the ability to inherit the family inheritance a year later!"

Aunt did not understand. "Even if we do not stop him, he would at most be at Rank one late stage a year later. Husband, your cultivation is at Rank two, why are you still afraid of him?"

Uncle was so angry he stomped and said, "Woman, you really are a nutcase! With just my identity as the senior, should I really beat down the younger generation? If he wants to get back the inheritance, it is reasonable and cannot be stopped directly; I can only fight back using the clan rules. It is stated in the clan rules: To be head of the house at fifteen years old, the person must have at least Rank one peak stage cultivation. Otherwise it means that Di Lan will have no right to waste the clan resources. After I have said this, do you understand now?"

Aunt was enlightened.

Uncle narrowed his eyes, a glint in his gaze. He shook his head a little, sighing as he said, "Di Lan is just too smart and too wise even in our age. He could even see through our schemes right away. What kind of intellect is this? Calculating at such a young age, how terrifying! Initially, I was going to continue plotting against him, yet he moved out straight away. I wanted to further rely on Chu Zi Mo to monitor and trouble him, but in the end, he went away and even earned five spirit stones."

"Sigh, if she could be as stupid as Di Lang, that would've been great. Oh right, from today onwards you must treat Di Lang better. She is a Gold grade talent after all. Not to mention, I can see that she has feelings of dissatisfaction and unhappiness towards Di Lan. These emotions are a good thing; they must be guided properly. I have a sort of feeling that she will become the best tool to deal with Di Lan in the future!"

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

In the room at the inn, there were no lights. The moonlight poured in, casting a color of frost. On the bed, Di Lan sat cross-legged, his eyes closed. He moved his orange spiritual essence, concentrating his mind on refining the Butterfree. On its entire wings, it had already been dyed of orange color. Surprisingly, the more the orange spiritual essence refined the Butterfree, the weaker the will of the Spirit gets.

Di Lan's refining process was going smoothly as time passed by. But still, it was very difficult.

"I spent three days and three nights, only resting three hours each day, and I spent eighteen pieces of primeval stone but only managed to halfly refine the Butterfree. Calculating according to the time, I guess, I will succeed in refining the Spirit in three days more."

Di Lan could now see the situation clearly. However; despite his poor grade talent, add on the Butterfree that he was trying to refine having an incredibly tenacious will, the resulting situation was not that bad. His heart was beating wildly with traces of anticipation and encouragement in him. For some reason, he might be able to grasp the first place in refining a Spirit.

Suddenly, the Liquor worm curled up into a ball.

"Oh no, the Butterfree is counterattacking!" Di Lan instantly opened his eyes, a hint of astonishment in his gaze. Before him, the Butterfree had curled into a round little dumpling, fiercely giving out a blinding silver light.

It was risking everything in this one last stand!

At once, Di Lan felt a strong will coming out from the Butterfree's body, flowing directly through the spiritual essence and descending into the spiritual sea in his core.

The situation where a Spirit counterattacked was incredibly rare. Only Spirits with extremely strong will would give their all, it was either success or death. In the face of such a scenario, Di Lan somehow panicked right now. "Staking everything in one last attempt, this may be also a good thing. As long as I can handle this counterattack, the Butterfree's will shall be fully conquered. However, I need to put full focus into fighting back against this will, I cannot receive even the slightest outside interference. Or else that would be bad, shit… I hope no one will come and disturb me during this period."

His thoughts finalized, he was ready to gather the spiritual essence in his core, ready to accept the Butterfree's will. He would be entangled with it and fight it in 300 rounds.

But at this moment, a miraculous event happened!

In the deepest part of his core, a mysterious orange ball of light illuminating the entire spirit core.

Boom!

A mighty strong essence erupted from this orange ball.

This essence was like a floodwater rushing down from the mountains. Yet, it was also like a dreadful beast whose dignity was offended and shined its majestic light around to destroy who dares to desecrate its territory!

"What is this?!" Di Lan was completely shocked, not having any idea how it turned out like this.