Chapter 69: Because We’re Family

Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Because We’re Family

"At this rate, in three years at most, all of your Inner Strength will be converted into Spiritual Qi. That much Spiritual Qi will be enough to raise your cultivation to the seventh level of Qi Refining." The next morning, Shen Weifeng came to check on Li Ye’s progress, his eyes full of admiration.

"What?" Fourth Martial Brother Ge Rui’s eyes went wide. "The seventh level of Qi Refining? How old are you?"

"I’m twenty-three, Fourth Martial Brother," Li Ye replied.

"Twenty-three? Even if you started training in your mother’s womb, you could never have accumulated this much Inner Strength!" Ge Rui flashed to Li Ye’s side, grabbed his wrist, and began probing his meridians. "Such profound Inner Strength," he asked in disbelief. "What kind of heavenly treasures have you been consuming?"

"Fourth Martial Brother, my world doesn’t have heavenly treasures. That sort of thing only exists in storybooks..." Li Ye said truthfully, allowing Ge Rui to examine him.

"Ahem!" Eldest Martial Brother coughed, but it wasn’t enough to stop Li Ye from revealing everything.

"Eldest Martial Brother, it’s okay if Fourth Martial Brother knows, right?" Li Ye said with calculated innocence, avoiding Shen Weifeng’s gaze. "We’re all going to be living together. I thought about it all night, and I decided it wouldn’t be right to hide things from him..."

"What am I not supposed to know?" The reminder was all it took. Ge Rui frowned, looking at the two of them with suspicion. "I knew something felt off yesterday. What are you two hiding from me?"

"..."

Eldest Martial Brother opened his mouth, momentarily unsure if he should say anything.

Yang Tianrui hesitated as well.

After all, their Master had just told them yesterday not to reveal anything about Li Hao. If their Master found out it had been exposed today, how would they ever face him?

"Fourth Martial Brother, I’m not from this world. I come from another," Li Ye said, not giving the others a chance to think and revealing everything himself. "Master told me not to reveal my identity for my own safety, but I don’t think of you as just some other person..."

’Ge Rui had disliked me from the start. If he’d found out about my identity from someone else, he might have eventually understood, but he would have undoubtedly held a grudge. But hearing it from me directly? That changed everything.’

’I’m disregarding my own safety and defying Master’s orders just to tell you the truth about who I am.’

’Who could possibly resist that kind of trust?’

Ge Rui stood stunned for a long moment before frowning at his Eldest and Sixth Martial Brothers. He stammered, "Is... is what he’s saying true?"

"It’s true." Eldest Martial Brother shot Li Ye a helpless glance and nodded. "The Sect Leader and the others have already verified it."

"Fourth Martial Brother, Master told us not to tell anyone," Yang Tianrui said. "He said that if Li Hao’s identity were to be leaked, it would put him in danger and could bring disaster upon our Master’s Sect..."

"Eldest Brother, Sixth Brother, I trust that Fourth Brother won’t reveal my identity," Li Ye said with a smile, giving Ge Rui a look of absolute trust. "I’m going to be living on Changding Peak for a long time. If I kept hiding this from him, it would only breed suspicion, and that’s no good. A family should be completely open with one another."

"You..." Ge Rui fell silent for a moment, the way he looked at Li Ye gradually changing. Finally, he took a deep breath, his expression turning resolute. "Little Brother, rest assured. I will never, ever reveal your identity."

’See? Even his form of address has changed.’

’Just last night, he was insisting that Yang Tianrui was his only Little Brother!’

Li Ye gave a faint smile. "I believe you, Fourth Brother."

’Without the Demon Qi as a catalyst—and even though this world has plenty of masters, meaning I don’t have to worry about the threat from that other strand of Demon Qi—I have no intention of just muddling my way through the next year.’

’It took so much to get here. If I’m just going to hide in a corner and cultivate like an average Joe, what’s the difference between this and being back on Earth?’

’Over the course of the night, I sorted out my ideas for generating more Demon Qi from the watch. Trying to increase it based on time was clearly not a viable option; the Demon Qi’s cooldown was too slow, making daily fights impractical.’

’That meant I had to focus on the watch’s other Attributes.’

’Compared to its functions like timekeeping and decoration, the luxury item angle was clearly a more viable path.’

’This world has no luxury goods, so I’ll just have to create them.’

’The value of a luxury good has never had much to do with the item itself.’

’It’s never about practicality. People who buy luxury goods are more interested in their intangible value—the feeling of superiority they confer...’

’They represent status. A social class.’

’Creating a luxury brand from scratch in a strange world within a year—I obviously can’t do that by myself.’

’Besides, my status is a special case. Right now, I might not even be allowed to leave Changding Peak.’

’I have to find some help.’

’Xu Jingxing is the Peak Master; he’d never go along with my crazy schemes. That makes Shen Weifeng and the others stationed on Changding Peak my primary targets.’

’There’s strength in numbers. I certainly wasn’t going to let Ge Rui remain on the outside. I had to pull him into my crew.’

...

With Li Ye having broken the ice, Yang Tianrui—who had been eager to share all along—no longer held back. He excitedly began telling Ge Rui the story of how he had met Li Hao.

Li Ye chimed in with details about his world to corroborate the tale.

Ge Rui listened, completely captivated. He looked Li Ye up and down and frowned. "Little Brother, you were reckless. It’s one thing to tell me, but you must not tell anyone else. After all, you can’t know what’s in a person’s heart. The Cyan Sun Sect may seem peaceful, but for all we know, spies from the Demon Sect have already infiltrated our ranks!"

"I know," Li Ye said with a smile. "I’m not that foolish, Fourth Brother. I know who I can and can’t talk to. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have picked Sixth Brother out of the vast sea of people, would I?"

"Fourth, come over here. There’s something I need to discuss with you." Ge Rui looked like he wanted to say more, but Shen Weifeng called him away.

From a distance, their conversation drifted over.

"Fourth, since you know Li Hao’s identity, there are a few things I should fill you in on," said Shen Weifeng.

"Go on, Eldest Brother," Ge Rui replied.

"Li Ye came here from another world," Shen Weifeng explained. "He might hold the secret to achieving Ascension, so his safety is paramount. Sometimes, I’ll be occupied with matters on Changding Peak, so I need you to keep a close eye on him from the shadows.

"Li Hao is so young, yet he’s accumulated so much Inner Strength. He must be just like our Sixth Brother—strictly protected by his Master’s Sect, spending most of his time training. As a result, he’s a bit naive about the ways of the world and too trusting of others. When you have time, you can also teach him some common sense and let him know how treacherous people can be, so he doesn’t suffer a huge fall later on."

"Mm, I see that now." Ge Rui looked at the two young men laughing and talking together and nodded in agreement. "Yesterday, I thought he was some kind of con artist. I never expected him to be a simple kid, just like our Sixth Brother. It’s a good thing Sixth brought him back. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable..."

"Good, as long as you understand. Just don’t say any of this to his face," Shen Weifeng nodded. "He’ll be staying on Changding Peak for the next few years, and a simpler mindset will be more beneficial for his cultivation."

...

’What a harmonious and loving family this is!’

’Hearing their conversation, I secretly shook my head. Good thing I don’t have any malicious intentions. If I were a genuinely bad person with even the slightest evil thought, I could bring the entire Cyan Sun Sect to ruin with just these naive fools!’

’Oh well. Since you’re all being so friendly, once I, Lord Li, get this Demon Qi business sorted out, I’ll be sure to carry you all to the top. Count yourselves lucky you met me...’

"Little Brother, yesterday all you did was ask me about the cultivation world," said Yang Tianrui. "Since we have some time today, why don’t you tell me some stories about your world?"

"Sure, let’s talk as we walk," Li Ye said with a glance and a smile. "It’s perfect, you can give me a tour of Changding Peak at the same time."

"No problem," Yang Tianrui agreed readily.

"What do you want to hear about?" Li Ye asked.

"Anything," said Yang Tianrui.

"Alright, then I’ll tell you about my Master’s Sect, the Celestial Dao Alliance, and the Red Flame Sect," Li Ye said with a smile. "My master, Yu Hai, is the Alliance Leader of the Celestial Dao Alliance and one of the Four Grandmasters. The Great Elder of the Red Flame Sect, Huaiyi, is also one of the Four Grandmasters..."