31 Descent Into Madness (1/2)
As the days went by, one after another, Xue Wei was busy cultivating his abilities and his Qi. He would spend a week in the medicine bath, and then a week out at the back of the mansion at the training fields.
Sometimes, Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou would come visit. They would not stay for long as they could feel the conviction in Xue Wei's entire being, but they still stayed for a bit to talk with him.
”Brother Xue, the whole town knows about you and that wayfarer girl – do you miss her a lot?” Luo Zhirou asked one day, to which Xue Wei gave her a sad smile as he nodded his head. He saw no reason to deny it.
”I want to be strong enough to be worthy of her,” he said honestly. ”I need to become a peerless genius and an expert above the Heavenly Warrior rank if I want to make it work between us. I do not have much time!”
Luo Zhirou sighed. ”Life is cruel,” she said. ”Not allowing two lovers to be together just because their families are against it. I am sure that one day you will become an expert that reaches the apex. You have your unique physique to help you, after all!”
Luo Zhirou could feel that Xue Wei was truly depressed because of his sudden split with Wang Xiaoyun, and she often used the excuse of bringing him cookies to come and visit him to see how he was doing. However, slowly as the days went by, she noticed that all his negative emotions started changing into determination. He was utterly determined to become someone worthy of Wang Xiaoyun. He would become someone that all that knew him would be proud of knowing.
When Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu were not visiting, Xue Wei was training and taking medicine baths.
While he was bathing, Manager Su would also sit in a trance in a bathtub by Xue Wei's side and absorb his medicinal ingredients.
At the start, he had been against the idea of also cultivating as he felt the need to look after Xue Wei at every waking hour, but after hearing Xue Wei talk about the allure of reaching the Heavenly Warrior rank and what benefits it would bring Xue Wei and Xiao Lei, Manager Su finally succumbed to the temptation.
However, he would only agree as long as he was within eyesight of Xue Wei. After making such a big spectacle out of himself, Xue Wei was aware that many families were aiming for his head. As a result, it was safer to have Manager Su by his side.
Xue Wei had personally made the herbal concoction for Manager Su, yet the manager refused to let Xue Wei pay for the materials needed.
Manager Su's concoction needed a beast core equivalent to the Heavenly Warrior rank. However, there had been none available in the entire Tiankong City. As a result, they went into the vault where Xiao Lei had left the most treasured items he had gotten while fighting Fierce Beasts and Primordial Beasts.
Xiao Lei had fought many such beasts. The Primordial Beasts did also have beast cores, and Xue Wei, who was now the owner of the Xiao Lei Mansion, picked a Primordial Beast core to use in the herbal concoction for Manager Su.
He never told Manager Su this fact, as he knew that he would refuse to use it. At this, Xue Wei could not help but sigh. It was clear that they had been left by Xiao Lei for his sake, but it would take a long time before he would be able to use such potent items – and there was a full seven of them, which was why he decided to use one of them on Manager Su.
He used the same herbs, but all of them were much older than the ones Xue Wei used for his bath. He also added a Rising Mountain Dewflower that was around five hundred years old.
This concoction was so filled with energy that when Manager Su lowered his body into it, he hissed and his eyes bulged. ”You brat, this hurts!” he exclaimed. Xue Wei just chuckled in response. Just being close to the fumes that came from the other bath was enough to make Xue Wei have a hard time breathing. With every breath, more and more energy entered his body.
Each breath felt like swallowing small needles that then wandered through the various energy passageways in his body. And even more so whenever he entered his own bath.
The water was powerful. Manager Su said nothing about his advances, but Xue Wei could guess that he experienced rather significant progress as he continued to enter the baths at the same time as Xue Wei. If it were pointless, then he would have given up after the first bath.
It took the two somewhat equal time to absorb the energy in the bath. When they had finished, the two went out to the back of the mansion where Xue Wei started practicing again.
This routine continued for three weeks before Manager Su excused himself. He had to go and deal with the managing of the mansion. So far, nothing had happened to Xue Wei, and when Manager Su left, he ensured that there was, at the minimum, three guards present to watch over him.
Although they were in the Xiao Lei mansion, Manager Su was incredibly alert. He knew the extent of He Tong's power, and now enough time had passed for him to have descended into complete insanity.
His most promising child had been crippled. His guards had been crippled. He had been mocked in town, and people had stopped using his shops in a display of support to Xue Wei for his protection of the commoner girls.
He Tong had lost all face that he could lose, and secretly he held a high enmity towards the Li family as well as Xue Wei. Although Xue Wei was the direct reason for all of this, had Li Jian not ordered his son to bully commoners and then chase Xue Wei, would he not be perfectly fine this day, today?
”I need my revenge,” He Tong screamed for the umpteenth time within the mansion, and all servants hid away out of fear. He Tong's wives dared not speak; his remaining children were silent.
The only other sound at the He mansion was the constant sobbing of the Young Master of the He family. After realizing that the tendons in his legs had been cut and that his legs would never be as they were before, he was filled with depression. However, above all, he hated Li Jian and Xue Wei.
”Father, you have to avenge me!” he howled, his howl causing everyone to shiver. The father and son pair had descended into complete despair and insanity by now, and they would no longer be able to back down.
He Tong had been waiting for the moment Manager Su left Xue Wei's side. He had waited painstakingly for more than a week, observing every single move that was made by the two. Although Manager Su had been on high alert, he was unable to sense a man who was out of the mansion itself.
As Manager Su left, Xue Wei did not feel too uncomfortable. He had a tingling sensation telling him that he was being watched, but he did not find it strange considering the guards that were staring at him.