79 CH 79: Recruitment to the Martial Soul Hall

"I mean, will your grandfather agree to this?" He asked unsurely. Crossing her arms, Qian Renxue leaned to the side :"Uncle She, my grandpa would urge me to do this if he knew. You already know how important this is. Martial Soul Compatibility? With our Martial Soul? I wouldn't hear the end of it if I didn't bring Li'er to our side."

"Li'er?" Ah Li grew amused, causing her to smirk :"We're already lovers. Wouldn't it be weird if I wasn't intimate in addressing you?" Chuckling, he shrugged in response :"Alright then, fair enough. Does Xue'er sound good?"

"Perfect." She winked, pulling another chuckle from him as he shook his head in amusement. Wasn't so amusing for the elders though. Just awkward. "That's not what I meant, young miss." Snake Lance Douluo interrupted :"I know that Grand Worship would definitely want you to bring Ah Li to our side.

I was talking about forming a romantic relationship with him right away. I mean, you don't know anything about each other at all. We don't know anything about him at all! Other than his name and some of his abilities, we don't have any knowledge about him. Like his background, what sect he belongs to, things like this are very important."

"Hmm, true." She hummed, looking at her boyfriend :"Li'er, can you tell us about yourself other than your abilities? What's your background, who are your parents, what city do you live in, how have we not heard a thing about a genius like, things like this.

In fact, it's weird how we haven't heard a thing from someone like you, now that I think about it. I've never heard of someone who has managed to breakthrough Lv 40 at such a young age beside me. Do you perhaps have gotten out of a hidden sect or something?"

"What sect? What background?" He chuckled in amusement, confusing them :"Nothing, I'm an orphan. I don't belong to any sect nor am I related to any either." Causing their eyes to widen in shock. Qian Renxue gaped at him :"An orphan?! And you seriously don't belong to any sect?! Are you serious?!"

"Yes, I'm not one to lie."

"Seriously?!"

"Again, yes. I'm by myself."

"How is that possible?! You're saying you've achieved everything by yourself?! No sects or supporters?!"

"Nothing at all."

"Not even a teacher?!"

"Never managed to find anybody worthy."

"You seriously reached Lv 40 by just yourself?!"

"I'm a hard worker."

The three looked at him with shock. But after a moment, when the shock was replaced with astonishment, Qian Renxue began to laugh happily :"Good, good! That's even better! Since you're by yourself, then there will be no annoying problems!"

He raised an eyebrow :"Are you saying it's a good thing that I'm an orphan?" She coughed into her fist :"No, that's not what I meant."

"Sure felt like it."

"N-no, I'm sorry for phrasing it wrong. When it comes to relationships between sects and clans, things can get pretty annoying and political. I'm just happy that won't be happening to us!"

He narrowed his eyes at his awkward girlfriend, before laughing and patting her back :"It's alright. I'm just teasing you, dear." Speechless, she shot him a small glare for making fun of her, but didn't move away from his touch. She seemed to like his gentle hands lightly rubbing her back actually.

"Anyway, this really is lucky." She pinched her chin with a smirk, causing Ah Li to narrow his eyes while holding back a smile :"Are you saying you're lucky that I'm an orphan- bwahahaha!" But was interrupted and forced into a fit of laughter by the delicate finger that roughly poked his side as Qian Renxue glared :"Stop teasing me."

"Okay, okay. Hehehehe, sorry." He rubbed his side, giggling lightly. She made a mental note of his ticklishness while smirking internally, before looking at the poor, awkward elders :"And there you have it. He's an orphan, doesn't have any clans, doesn't belong to any sects, nor does he have a teacher. He's like a stray genius ready to be picked up."

"I don't know if I like that description or not." Ah Li pursed his lips. Chuckling in amusement, Qian Renxue pinched his cheek with a wink :"Don't worry, even if you were a stray genius, you're —my— stray genius now."

He rolled his eyes in amusement at her dorkiness. Snake Lance Douluo rubbed his neck :"I guess him being completely by himself does get rid of a lot of problems then." Porcupine Fish Douluo nodded beside him :"Him being able to reach Lv 40 while being alone is pretty astonishing though."

"The elders are right." Qian Renxue nodded :"Seriously, how did you reach Lv 40 without anybody's support? You don't seem to have just locked yourself up in a place and cultivated 24/7. Not like that would let you achieve this anyway."

"Heh, trade secrets." He smirked smugly, causing her to narrow her eyes at him. He shrugged :"Don't look at me like that. Seriously, I've just put fighting Soul Beasts to be good at fighting as my priority ever since I was a kid, and I just happened to come across a treasure or two while doing so."

"Must have been some pretty amazing treasures then." She mumbled, before smiling :"But it's a good thing for all of us now. After you, since you're my lover, you're technically part of our clan now, right? Congrats, you're finally part of a force and can get some support after all the loneliness."

"Yaaay." He said sarcastically, smiling as she glared with a smirk :"I'm just joking. But I don't even know what force this is though, you know?" Qian Renxue hummed to herself :"Yeah, forgot all about that..."

She looked at him apologetically :"Can you wait here just a minute so I can discuss something with the elders?" Smiling, he shrugged :"Of course. Don't worry, even if we're lovers now, I won't pry if it's an important secret."

"Thanks." She smiled gratefully, before walking away with the elders. As he sat down, Qian Renxue looked conflicted :"I can't let him know about my identity. I'm not going to half-ass this relationship, but I can't just reveal the most important secret."

Porcupine Fish Douluo nodded :"And that's how it should be. Then what's the problem, young miss?" She sighed in confusion :"I can't bring him along, and it's way too hard to get out of the imperial castle already. Regularly spending time with him would be nearly impossible!"

"Oh... yeah, that would be a problem..." The fat man nodded. She rubbed her temples with a groan :"What kind of a relationship would that be? Oh, hey, I'm sorry but I can't spend time with you or see you for days and weeks at a time for reasons that I can't tell you.

You might as well just break up the relationship early then. He doesn't belong to anywhere either for being separate from each to be normal like in those clans. He's a commoner, and it's normal for normal people to spend every day with each other!"

Porcupine Fish Douluo rubbed his thick neck :"Yeah, but won't he understand? Sure, he may be a commoner, but you're a nobility, your highness. Of the highest order, at that. He must be considerate of your circumstances, no?"

She frowned :"Can't the same thing be said about me? Sure, a relationship is about considering each other's circumstances, but my circumstances are needing to nearly completely cut off contacts for days and weeks on end. Each of us carry half of the relationship, I need to be considerate of him too."

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Snake Lance Douluo hummed thoughtfully :"Then why not have him join a force so his circumstances would be the same?" Qian Renxue frowned at him :"I can't hand him over to another clan. Not like we're friendly with any to begin with. I can't send him to the Douluo Palace either, since only Titled Douluos can live there."

"Then why not send him to the Martial Soul Hall itself?" He spoke awkwardly, earning a frown just as he expected :"Uncle She..." Coughing, he attempted to explain :"Please listen to me first, your highness.

We can't let any other forces get Ah Li first. Since I'm sure they'll either do everything in their might to get him to join them, or get rid of him so he wouldn't be a member of any other force. And believe me, he won't stay unknown for long.

It's already shocking enough that nobody has heard of him. So we need to ensure that he'll stay with us. Sending him back to our headquarters is the best option. Not only will that ensure his safety, he'll know that you're actually looking out for him and can't be with him consistently because of circumstances.

Also, I'm pretty sure you're worried about her holiness the Pope figuring out about your Martial Soul Compatibility, right? Your highness, if you've ever heard of the phrase "hide it in plain sight", you'll know that sending him to her is the best option."

"Hmm..." She hummed thoughtfully, conflicted about what to do. But he said something that pulled her attention :"Also, think about what your mo- ahem ahem, the pope will think." She raised an eyebrow, beckoning him to continue :"I'm sorry if this is kind of an insensitive topic, but this might actually help your... uhh... family situation.

Think about it. What would her holiness think if you sent her one of the best geniuses I've personally seen instead of keeping him around yourself? I'm definitely sure she'll be thrilled and try to get him to be her disciple. If that happens, she'll definitely feel better about you and there might be a chance to make things right! It will even have a subconscious effect of making her think that you trust her."

'Send her a student?! Him of all people! He basically has the same talent as me! And I'm supposed to give him to her?!' Qian Renxue was about to refuse, but a sense of want, a desperate need for love from her mother, kept her silent :'But... what if uncle She is right? What if it will actually work and she'll stop treating me like this...?'

After thinking about it hard and carefully, she finally sighed in defeat. Sure, she hated her for all the years of neglect, but her desperate heart that yearned for her affection won over the hatred. She nodded sadly :"Alright, we'll do that. I just hope it will work out..."

Smiling, Snake Lance Douluo patted her shoulder supportively :"Don't worry, your highness. I'm sure that it will. And besides, if you think about it, Ah Li himself can warm up her holiness's heart to you if you tell him your situation in the future!"

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow, and Porcupine Fish Douluo nodded rapidly :"Old She's right! You're seen how dearly and deeply the pope cares for her disciple! Now what would happen if her disciple helped you fix your situation?! It might actually work!"

Hope grew in her heart, but she kept her calm. She had been disappointed far too many times to keep up her hopes and get excited over simple thoughts when it came to fixing her relationship with her mother at this point. But still, she didn't give up on the hope. Maybe, maybe it will work this time. (A/N: Said every gambler ever.)

She nodded with a small smile :"Alright, then let's do that. But first, we have to add if Li'er will agree to going to the Martial Soul Hall. There must have been a reason that he hasn't joined until now, so we should try and convince him first.

If he agrees, then we'll contact the Martial Soul Hall to send somebody to get him. To make him seem more important, we have to treat him importantly too. I'll also send a personal letter to the pope to tell her I met a genius while not disguised and recruited him and maybe she'd want him as a disciple."