by Catofdreams
"Okay. Let's not waste any more time. Go and bring the artifacts here.", he commanded the others. Moments after, they all came back holding eight small pieces of jades in their hands. They gave Xue Yan and Wen Cheng a piece each.
"I'll open up the portal now. Everyone, step back.", Wen Cheng confidently told them. He had used the artifact plenty of times, so he had plenty of experience on how to use it.
He injected his qi into the jade, which made it start glowing. Moments after, the jade flew from his hands and landed on the floor, which opened a purple rift large enough for a human to jump into.
"After I jump in, throw in your jade before you follow me.", Wen Cheng told the others, who all nodded in response. As soon as he confirmed that everyone knew what to do, he jumped down the rift.
The others immediately followed, throwing their jade one after the other and jumped down after him, including Xue Yan.
As they entered the purple rift, their vision turned to black, and moments later, they were suddenly standing before a large group of cultivators that looked ready for battle. They all angrily stared at the eight people who just appeared out of thin air.
Xue Yan looked around to see where they were. They seemed to be on top of a mountain that was abundant in trees. A large gate stood before them, and above the gate, a large sign stood.
"Heavenly Duan Sect.", Xue Yan read the sign out loud. She was amazed at how precise the artifacts they used were. She expected them to be teleported a bit further away from their target, but they landed right in front of their gates.
She looked at Wen Cheng and gave him a thumbs up as if to tell him that he did a good job. Wen Cheng smiled at her and gave her the okay sign.
Other than the two, who looked completely calm, the six other people that arrived alongside them started to tremble with fear. Although they were above the level of the average cultivator, the sheer number of cultivators in front of them made them cower.
Wen Cheng stepped forward and bravely faced the cultivators from the Heavenly Duan Sect.
"We are from the Purple Lotus Sect! My name is Wen Cheng! We have come to repay you for the trouble you caused in our territory!", he exclaimed. The members of the Heavenly Duan Sect didn't look pleased in the slightest. They wanted to attack him right away, but they knew who Wen Cheng was, so they didn't dare to attack carelessly. After all, they all valued their lives.
They all stood in silence. None of them dared to make a move. Moments later, the large gate opened, revealing an incredibly imposing presence.
"Wen Cheng! You actually came over to hand me your life? Are you tired of living?", an elderly man laughed as he saw the eight people pale in comparison to the number of the Heavenly Duan Sect's members.
"Greetings, patriarch!", the members of the Heavenly Duan Sect all greeted him in unison.
"You still seem to be particularly strict about formalities, Hao Liuxian. It doesn't suit a barbarian like you.", Wen Cheng mocked the Heavenly Duan Sect's patriarch. He wanted to taunt him into making the first move, but he didn't seem to take the bait.
"Ha! Still trying to use such sly tricks. How far have the Purple Lotus Clan fallen? Sending an attack with only eight people… Is your clan really dying out?", Hao Liuxian mocked Wen Cheng back, who only laughed in response. The two knew that whoever made the first move would be at a disadvantage. If Wen Cheng attacked first, then he would be quickly surrounded by the members of the Heavenly Duan Sect.
Hao Liuxian also thought that Wen Cheng had something up his sleeve. He knew that Wen Cheng wasn't a man to move without a plan, so he didn't dare to fall for his provocations.
Everyone stood there in silence. Eight people from the Purple Lotus Clan faced thousands of people from the Heavenly Duan Sect, yet none of them dared to make a move.
Everyone thought that the battle was going to be one worthy enough to be recorded in history. Both sects were incredibly powerful and influential, so they all knew that the battle would be a cruel and hard one, even if one side seemed to be at a disadvantage. All of them prepared themselves for a long and arduous battle, except for one.
As the silence continued on for a few minutes, Xue Yan finally ran out of patience.
"Can we just get this on? This Venerable One wants to quickly go back to my husband!", she angrily shouted. Wen Cheng smiled as everything was going well, just as he had planned.
Hao Liuxian looked at Xue Yan with a confused look on his face. Although he had met Wen Cheng plenty of times, he has never seen the woman ever before.
"Who is she? Is she one of your members?", Hao Liuxian asked Wen Cheng.
"She's not, but your men dared to cause trouble for her husband.", Wen Cheng showed Hao Liuxian a smile, which seemed to irk him off.
"Who is her husband? Is he a member of the Purple Lotus Clan? Can your members not even defend themselves? They even have to ask their wives for help!", Hao Liuxian laughed at them. The disciples from his sect found his words funny and laughed with him.
Wen Cheng celebrated silently. He knew that as soon as he heard that, the battle was already over.
As Hao Liuxian continued to laugh, he suddenly felt danger coming.
*BOOM*
A large ray of light, large enough to cover the entire mountain, suddenly crashed down, crushing all of the Heavenly Duan Sect's infrastructure. As the light dissipated, a large crater could be spotted on the place where the Heavenly Duan Sect was once located.
Hao Liuxian looked back at his sect with shock. He was just laughing moments ago, but now, he really felt the urge to cry. He looked back at the members of the Purple Lotus Clan and saw that the woman whose wife they caused trouble for was now oozing qi. As he saw the sheer power the woman had, he kneeled down right away and kowtowed towards her. The wisdom and experience he had gained throughout his life told him that he had messed with the wrong person.
"Please, forgive this lowly one! I did not know that we were messing with the wrong person!", Hao Liuxian continued kowtowing as he asked for Xue Yan's forgiveness. The battle that everyone expected to be long and hard was over in a few seconds.
"You expect this Venerable One to forgive you after you badmouth my husband?!", she angrily looked down on Hao Liuxian, who continued slamming his head on the ground, trying to find any shred of kindness within Xue Yan's heart.
"Please! I'll do anything! Spare my sect!", Hao Liuxian continued pleading. Wen Cheng looked at him in pity as he realized that he was also doing the same a few days ago.
"Anything?", Xue Yan's anger slowly started to dampen as she looked at the Heavenly Duan Sect's patriarch in such a poor state.
"Yes! Anything! As long as it's within my power, I will do it!", Hao Liuxian saw an opportunity to save his sect.
"Then, I will let you off, but under one condition.", Xue Yan told him.
"Thank you, oh Venerable One! What is it that you want me to do?", Hao Liuxian felt relieved as he heard Xue Yan's words.
"This Venerable One wants you to follow each and every command I say from now on.", she started telling Hao Liuxian her conditions.
"Yes, of course! No problem!", Hao Liuxian immediately agreed to her request. Following her is a small price to pay for his sect's life.
"Ah, and another thing.", Xue Yan realized that she found the Heavenly Duan Sect's name annoying. Every time she hears that name, she feels anger starting to stem from heart, knowing that they had harmed her husband. Luckily enough, she had a solution ready.
"I want you to change your sect's name.", Xue Yan continued. Hao Liuxian looked at her with a confused expression on his face as he heard Xue Yan's odd condition, but he didn't dare to refuse.
"Of course! Of course… but what would the sect's new name be?", Hao Liuxian asked Xue Yan, who smiled in response as she told him their new honorable and gracious name.
"The Lang Jie Fanclub."
CHAPTER 17 – “THE HOUSEWIFE DOESN’T SEEM TO HAVE GOOD COORDINATION WITH HER HUSBAND”
"It's been a fun week, Bro
ther Cheng!"
Lang Jie and Xue Yan thanked Wen Cheng for his hospitality during their stay as they were about to leave for their flight. Yang Wei followed suit, but he wasn't as enthusiastic as the married couple.
Yang Wei had fun on the first few days, but as soon as Xue Yan arrived, he was left alone to his own devices. Lang Jie and Wen Cheng both seem to have been busy the next few days, which made him feel incredibly bored and left out, so he spent the entire time trying to pick up women in the city.
Every morning, he would get up early and dress up according to a fashion magazine that was in the hotel's lounge. He would then go down into the city and act as cool as he could, hoping that anyone would approach him or that a weird coincidence could happen to him just like in those novels or manhuas where the protagonist suddenly bumps into a beautiful woman, which would then make her in love with the protagonist, which, sadly, didn't happen.
He continued to try for the next few days, and he even tried to approach a woman first, but after the woman flat out rejected him by saying she had a boyfriend, he immediately lost all confidence and never tried it again.
After failing on the last day of trying to find a woman that would be attracted to him, he finally gave up and made a decision for himself.
'As soon as we arrive, I'll apply to be a monk…'
He felt his chest tighten as he recalled his sad time in the country. It became even tighter as he saw Lang Jie being flirty with his beautiful wife.
"It's nothing, Brother Jie… I do hope you'll come visit again soon!", Wen Cheng showed off his usual gentle smile towards Lang Jie.
As they were checking to see if they had left something behind, Lang Jie immediately realized that he had forgotten to ask Wen Cheng about something important.
"Ah, Brother Cheng!", Lang Jie immediately called out towards Wen Cheng, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"What is it, Brother Jie?", Wen Cheng asked.
"About our promotion… what are we supervising?", Lang Jie asked. Yang Wei also realized that he had forgotten about their original purpose of flying to the country they were in. They were supposed to work, but they weren't given anything to do, so the business trip was basically just a paid vacation for them.
"Oh, right… I forgot. Wait a second…", Wen Cheng raised his hand. Moments later, the six heads of the Purple Lotus Clan gathered together. Wen Cheng gestured for the six of them to come closer. They huddled in a corner and whispered about Lang Jie and Yang Wei's promotion.
As soon as they made a decision, they immediately parted to form a straight line, with Wen Cheng in the middle.
"We have decided.", Wen Cheng cleared his throat and looked at the two men, who seemed to ready to accept their new positions.
"The two of you will not be supervisors, sorry for that… but we decided to give you two a new position.", Wen Cheng started off by clearing the idea of the two of them being supervisors.
Wen Cheng wanted to give them that position, but none of the heads knew what that position was supposed to do. They knew what a supervisor generally does, but they had absolutely no idea what the company Lang Jie and Yang Wei were working for does. The heads of the Purple Lotus Clan knew a bit about business, but they mostly let the people under them work on the specifics, so they had absolutely no idea about the whole thing.
Lang Jie and Yang Wei looked at each other with a confused expression, but they didn't say anything since they saw that Wen Cheng wasn't finished speaking.
"The two of you will instead be given the position of branch managers. You two will oversee the branch together and make sure that everything is working properly. Well, in a way, you're still supervisors.", Wen Cheng told them their new positions.
Lang Jie and Yang Wei looked at him in awe as they heard about their new positions. Skipping two steps and go straight into being a supervisor was already way too much of a blessing but skipping most of the ladder and becoming branch managers was nothing short of a miracle. The two of them couldn't believe it, but they didn't dare to ask about it again since they didn't want him to change his mind.
"Thank you very much, Brother Cheng!", the two of them gratefully bowed towards Wen Cheng, who gestured for them to get up and showed them his signature gentle smile.
"It's nothing. Now, you must go. You still have a long drive to the airport.", Wen Cheng continued. He closely examined Yang Wei's expression, trying to see if he had an unusual reaction. Lang Jie and Xue Yan did the same, but their suspicions were for naught as Yang Wei seemed to be completely nonchalant about it.
"Thank you, Brother Cheng!", Yang Wei bowed and immediately moved towards the car. A member of the Purple Lotus Clan helped him with his baggage. As soon as everything was okay, the clan member gave Wen Cheng a thumbs up and went into the driver's seat.
Wen Cheng, Lang Jie, and Xue Yan all sighed out of relief. The three of them looked at each other and knew that their secret was safe.
The night before, they held a meeting without Yang Wei in order to discuss a particular matter.
"Now, Brother Jie… this is an incredibly important matter, so please listen carefully.", Wen Cheng told him with a stern face, which made Lang Jie feel incredibly tense.
Xue Yan didn't mind much, but she didn't like how Wen Cheng was being so strict in dealing with Lang Jie, so she shot Wen Cheng a glare, which made him let up the tension a bit.
"So, you know about the world of cultivation now. There are certain rules that we have to follow, but, for your wife's sake, we're willing to bend some rules for you.", Wen Cheng told Lang Jie, who simply nodded in response.
"First of all, the world of cultivation must be kept a secret. Normally, if a mortal were to find out about it, they would either have to become a cultivator themselves or die by the hands of other cultivators. There is a big reason that we have to keep it a secret, but we cannot tell you about it. If you grab hold of the cultivation world's secret, then your life will be in great danger.", Wen Cheng carefully explained it to Lang Jie, who continued nodding.
Xue Yan didn't mind if Lang Jie were to find out about the cultivation world's secret, since if anyone wanted to go after him, they'd have to go through her, and in the entire world, no one was her match. Maybe if the ones in the Immortal Realm would work together, they might be able to land a scratch on her, but she was still confident that she could easily overpower them unless one of them breaks through to the Immortal Emperor Realm, which is where Xue Yan is at.
Before listening to Wen Cheng's explanation, Xue Yan actually thought of telling Lang Jie about everything, but after she listened to him, she realized that it's better to be safe than sorry. If Lang Jie happens to be somewhere far enough that she couldn't make it to him right away, then his life would surely be in danger, just like the Heavenly Duan Sect's kidnapping incident.
"So you must keep everything a secret. Even if you're alone, you never know if there is a pair of ears listening, so you must do your best to hide it.", Wen Cheng continued to explain the importance of the matter. Lang Jie seemed to understand the weight of the situation, which made Wen Cheng feel relieved.
"Now, on a similar note, there is something else that we have overlooked…", Wen Cheng moved on to the next problem as the meeting progressed. Lang Jie, and even Xue Yan, looked at Wen Cheng with a confused expression. Xue Yan thought that that was everything that he wanted to say, so she felt confused as she heard that there was another matter.
"There might be someone else who has found out about your secret, but we're not sure if he really did or not…", Wen Cheng told them.
Xue Yan sighed. She thought that the matter was trivial.
"This Venerable On- oops… I can just go up to whoever the person is and wipe their memory clean.", Xue Yan offered a solution to the problem. She wanted to refer to herself in the arrogant way that she usually does, but she didn't dare to do it in front of her husband. She wanted him to think that she was humble despite being powerful, which she was not, and Lang Jie was wel
l aware of that.
"That could work, but I'm afraid your husband might not like the idea…", Wen Cheng looked at Lang Jie, who still had a confused expression on his face. He still had no idea who Wen Cheng was talking about.
After a minute of silence, Wen Cheng sighed. The married couple seemed to have completely forgotten that Lang Jie had come to the country with one other companion.
"I'm talking about Yang Wei…", Wen Cheng finally told them. Both Lang Jie and Xue Yan let out a shocked expression. Yang Wei had completely slipped from their minds. They were too busy with each other that they completely forgot about the third person on the trip. Lang Jie felt incredibly guilty as he realized that he had basically just left his friend to flirt with his wife.
"Darling, you can't wipe his memory! He's a good man!", Lang Jie looked at his wife and rejected her solution. Yang Wei was an incredibly good person, so Lang Jie didn't want him to be disturbed because of him.