"What's your name again? Xie Li right?"
Xie Ra wanted to hit his head on a nearby wall and die. This person had already asked this question so many times. Why did he have to have this kind of annoying roommate?
"It's Xie Ra. Not, Xie Li."
"Oh, my bad. I have a very bad memory. Haha."
The other man laughed awkwardly. He must be in his 20's. This guy would be Xie Ra's roommate until they complete their training session. A few moments before the outer disciple brother from the exam-ground grouped Xie Ra with this guy as roommates.
He was the same height as Xie Ra and had black long wavy hair which reached his waist. It was the most healthy-looking hair Xie Ra ever witnessed.
However, his clothes were so ridiculous. Seriously, who wears a dark blue inner robe with a baby-pink outer robe? It would surely be this guy.
He had so many freckles on his jade white face. His long nose reminded Xie Ra of a mouse. Of course, he wasn't going to tell him that. He hated to make fun of the others' looks.
"I SWEAR TO GOD WEI JINGSHENG. CUT YOUR GODDAMN AWFUL MUSTACHE. IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A RAT WITH A BEARD."
A shrill voice echoed through the hallway before Xie Ra and his roommate reach their room. Xie Ra heard his companion murmuring, "Oh No... Here we go again."
Xie Ra heard someone was running towards them. He turned to see who was approaching them. By the voice, Xie Ra guessed it might be a female.
To his surprise, it was another boy who was taller and thinner than both of them. He wore baggy clothes which made him look like a stick. He gave a curt nod to Xie Ra and turned to his poor roommate.
"Wei Jingsheng, why didn't you cut your mustache? It's so awful. I'm surprised that they chose you with this look."
Wei Jingsheng gave an I-don't-care look to the newcomer.
"I will cut it tomorrow. By the way, how did you enter the boy's quarters Lan Jiayi? It's forbidden for girls to enter here."
Thud
Both Wei Jingsheng and Lan Jiayi turned in the direction of Xie Ra. They saw Xie Ra awkwardly picking up his stuff from the ground. He was shocked when he heard the third one was a girl. He didn't feel his grip loosening as a result of this distraction. That's how his things ended up on the ground like that.
Xie Ra turned to Lan Jiayi and asked, "So, you are a girl?"
"Yes, got any problem with that?" That shot back felt like a slap to poor Xie Ra. He answered quickly.
"No, No, you just look like a guy. No offense. I mean... I mean that your disguise is perfect." Xie Ra hoped the girl would accept his reason. He didn't want to make a woman mad. It never goes well.
She smiled. Xie Ra exhaled the breath he was unconsciously holding.
"Oh, sorry for my rudeness. Just, I met a few guys who had problems with my outfits. So, I had to teach them a lesson.
"What did you do?"Xie Ra asked curiously.
"Nothing much. I just beat them to a pulp." She said carelessly.
Not even in his first life, he met a mortal girl this brutal. Was she telling the truth? He should ask Wei Jingshang later.
Then she turned towards Wei Jingsheng and took a small parcel out of her outer robe. "Here. My mother told me to give you this. I just forgot before." She pushed the parcel into the shorter boy's hand. Then she turned around. "I will go then. see you both tomorrow." She started to run.
Wei Jingsheng shouted after her. "Hey, how did you enter here in the first place?"
It was a very valid question. There were so many guards around the girls' quarters.
"Jumped over the wall." She said casually as running away. Two guys looked in her direction with blank looks on their faces.
******************
Two boys finally reached their room. There wasn't much talk between them as they walked towards their room. Xie Ra followed Wei Jingsheng as he didn't know the way to the room.
Wei Jingsheng unlocked the door and entered. He gave an extra key to Xie Ra as soon as he entered the room. "I have a bad memory. I might forget." He said. Xie Ra nodded and thanked him.
The room was small. There was one bunk bed, a table, and a chair inside the room. A small, plane oil lamp was hanging from the roof at the corner of this room. Xie Ra knew this one could separate from the hanging chain so the user could carry it anywhere.
Wei Jingsheng ran towards the bunk bed and claimed the top bed.
"This is mine. Sorry, buddy." However, his expression showed no regret.
Xie Ra didn't care much about stuff like that. He used to sleep everywhere.
Forget about the places he slept as a cultivator. He used to live on the streets as a child in the first place.
He was a street kid before age three. He didn't know what happened before then.
His adoptive guardian Da Sheng or in other words his gege didn't know about Xie Ra's past either. Gege tried to search for Xie Ra's parents but had no result.
Xie Ra wanted to find the truth behind his existence even in his previous life.
Hopefully, he might succeed at this time.
Both kids were exhausted after a long day. A senior outer-disciple brother informed them that they had to wake up for the first bell and go to the main hall before the second bell.
So they slept early that day. Like this, Xie Ra forgot to ask more about Lan Jiayi from Wei Jingsheng.
*****************
Ding, Ding, Ding.
The sound of a bell resonated throughout the vicinity, waking up the sleeping outer disciples from their sweet slumber. Xie Ra woke up first and noticed that the other boy was sleeping peacefully ignoring the bell. So he woke him up.
After this everything happened in a rush. Somehow these two managed to have their breakfast before going to the main hall. A few more boys were there apart from these two. Within the next 20 minutes, the hall filled with many boys who were all newbies.
Then the second bell rang. Simultaneously the doors of the main hall were closed.
"Don't take in any more people. Let them have their punishment for being late."
A deep voice filled with authority echoed through the hall. Xie Ra saw the owner of that voice climbing into the small podium in front of them. He was the elder who evaluated them yesterday.
"Greetings, new blood. I am Elder Zhang Huan, the main advisor of outer disciples. Until you become an inner disciple, you will be under my wings. I won't go easy on any of you so, better train hard. Cultivation is not for weak-willed people. There are 60 trainees here. you will be divided into six groups. Then each group will have an excellent trainer. I will let your senior disciple Su ming read your list now."
Long story short. They got divided into new groups. Fortunately, (Or unfortunately.) Xie Ra and Wei Jingsheng were divided into the same group. Group number 6.
Finally, senior Su Ming announced that the group trainers were waiting in their respective training grounds.
However, as soon as Xie Ra heard their group's training field he felt devastated.
Group 6 was assigned for the spiritual gardening duties. Poor Xie Ra knew he would have a bad time as he sucked at this even in his previous life. He couldn't help but exclaim,
"Oh God no."
Do you think poor Xie might survive gardening duties? And what the hell is spiritual gardening? Let's find answers in the next chapter.
Till then, Ciao. :D