Chapter 597: The Rejected Driver (2/2)

The Seamstress smiled at her friend. “Just like your soldiers – you only know the blunt method. Try a little finesse, won’t you?”

The Driver sat straight. “Adepts at our level have hearts like mirrors. What’s the point of ‘finesse’? Would you rather relationships were like the normal folk, all those games and nonsense? I’m not interested in any of that. If we’re good, we’re good. IF we’re not, we’re not. Simple and direct is my style. If I’m rejected, I won’t give it another thought.”

Here, he swung his eyes over to Lan Jue. “She told me she’s only interested in staying in the jewelry shop. She said she wasn’t interested in taking a partner, ever. She only wanted to be your assistant and serve at your side.”

Lan Jue slapped his forehead, screwing tight his eyes. So be it, another one.

“What’s your plan for these women? Keep them as slaves? Continue to order them about?” The Driver asked, ill-tempered.

“They are not slaves,” Lan Jue protested. “They’re employees, and in fact they have more stock in the store than I do. Can you call that slavery? As for what I’m going to do, I have no idea. They’re married to this idea of paying me back and that’s why they stick around. Plus, everyone one of them has complicated backstories. Skyfire Avenue is the best fit for what they need, I can’t just turn them away. If I did, I’d have to go with them.”

“There’s nothing pleasant about drinking with you!” The Driver murmured into his glass. “I could do great things and still never find a girl.”

Lan Jue frowned at him. “It doesn’t help that you don’t take good care of your appearance. Charitable deeds also bring good karma.”

The Driver changed the subject. “Ah, right. There’s something I need to talk with you about. Should we continue to try and join the yin and yang forms of lightning, like we did? If it succeeds we’ll both benefit a lot. It’ll make cultivating faster too, I’m sure.”

“You’ve got that ominous feeling too, eh?” Lan Jue asked.

“You’re damn right,” he said. “You don’t have a sour outlook after almost dying to that thing? We clearly don’t have what it takes to face the aliens as we are now. IF we don’t work hard to get better, what hope do we have?”

Lan Jue hesitated. “Right now Qianlin and I are cultivating together. This is why I haven’t sought you out to cultivate. I don’t know if we can join the two kinds of lightning while I’m joined with her. It would be a dangerous thing to attempt.”

The Driver shrugged. “Why don’t we go to the Wine Master’s Reaper Arena? We can give it a try. If it helps, great. Otherwise we’ve lost nothing.”

Lan Jue pondered for a moment. “Alright, but the Reaper Arena isn’t guaranteed to be safe. His pocket dimensions can’t handle protogenia, and if we succeed you can bet there will be a lot of that flying around. Wherever we go has to be capable of handling protogenic current. I’ll ask my mother, she should be able to find a place with no risk at all.”

The Driver slapped the table. “Excellent. Drink!”

The two of them ate fruit and ham, talking as they worked their way through the whisky bottle. It was gone in no time. The Driver was eager to open another but Lan Jue stopped him by shaking his head. “No more for me, one should know when to stop. Tomorrow morning I’ll come and get you, we’ll give it a shot.”

“Alright,” he replied.

He bid farewell to the Seamstress, then Lan Jue and Zhou Qianlin stepped out of the tailor shop.

He had neglected the special relationship between his and the Drivers’ Disciplines. His speed and quality of cultivation had been tremendous after joining with Qianlin. Then, with the addition of the Banishing Blades he had more than he could handle, much less explore other avenues.

The Driver’s insistence reminded him of something his father said once. That yin and yang lightning joined could create an incredibly potent – and dangerous – thunderbolt. Jue Di’s hope had been that Lan Jue would find a wife with a yin-skewed Thunderbolt Discipline. That would have been best.

Now that was not an option, he already found Zhou Qianlin. What he was interested in discovering most of all, was whether or not he and Qianlin could successfully cultivate with another while already joined.

It wasn’t like he could just dump her either, and practice with the Driver alone. Lan Jue wanted to cross the threshold of Paragon with her together. Working separately would only increase the gap between them.

He would ask dad!

Lan Jue returned to the shop and turned on the holographic projection system in his quarters. He attempted to connect with Lan Qing. After a few moment, the projector’s lights flickered and Lan Qing appeared in full military regalia.

“It’s so late, what is it?” Lan Qing asked in his simple fashion.

“Brother,” Lan Jue began. “I’m looking for dad. Is he around?”

1. The Driver describes himself as 阳刚, or ‘manly.’ It shared the same 阳 character as 阴阳. Lan Jue asked ‘where’s the yang?’