Chapter 2: She will be my wife; she just doesn't know it yet.

Shen Xiu continued the lesson, even though she was irritated. She introduced the top three ranked students in the class in terms of spiritual energy: Ye Ziyun in first place and Shen Yue and Xiao Ning'er tied for second. She was practically fawning over them, and the other students were impressed by the color of their spiritual fields, though it wasn't that significant.

I took this time to keep looking at Xiao Ning'er; everything about her seemed perfect, almost as if she were crafted like a porcelain doll. Her fiery red hair was so striking that it was surprising no one else was looking at her besides me.

"Do you like Ning'er, brother Xiangju?" Nie Li asked me with a mischievous smile on his face.

"She will be my wife; she just doesn't know it yet!" I said with conviction. This surprised him, but at the same time, it seemed like he expected my response.

"Alright, alright, you can count on me, but I'll also need your help with that beauty over there!" He said, pointing to Ye Ziyun. Lu Piao and Du Ze sighed heavily.

"One chose an engaged girl, and the other chose an unattainable princess. What have we gotten ourselves into, Du Ze?" Lu Piao said, pretending to be despondent.

Du Ze shook his head; he was just as disheartened as Lu Piao, but I think it was genuine in his case.

"Could you two be more realistic? We're just common students while they are the most graceful flowers of Holy Orchid. You focus on chasing girls while you don't know anything about hard work and effort." Du Ze gave us a moral lesson. Nie Li and I just looked at each other in shock, not expecting these words.

After several words of encouragement from Nie Li and me to everyone, they finally accepted us as their leaders, promising to support us wherever we went.

"But then, what's the first step to reaching Bronze Rank?" Lu Piao asked me.

"We need a lot of money," I replied.

"A LOT of money!" Nie Li added.

"Ah, no problem then! I've managed to save two thousand coins from my allowance!" Lu Piao said proudly.

Nie Li and I looked at each other.

"You'll need a bit more than that, Lu Piao…" I said.

"How much exactly? If it's something like four thousand coins in total, I think I can help complete it," Du Ze said, and the other two agreed.

"We'll need millions of coins, maybe tens of millions," Nie Li responded.

After this statement, everyone in our group almost fainted. Undoubtedly, it would be a long journey that was just beginning.

As soon as the lesson ended, we went straight to the street where various armors and weapons were being sold. Merchants shouted various grand titles into the wind, snowy wind daggers, rank this and that, a lot of things.

Lu Piao and Du Ze around Nie Li and me were impressed, even more so when we saw Shen Yue, some of his followers, and Ye Ziyun walking down the streets. The young man from the Sacred Family started buying ridiculously expensive items without even looking at the price, placing them in his interspatial ring.

"That's an interspatial ring; one of those with just a small space would cost a fortune in coins," Du Ze said, astonished.

"THAT TYRANT! Spending tens of thousands of coins without even caring!" Lu Piao shouted, completely affected.

"Man, he's handsome and rich; it would be better for you to give up before you get hurt…" Du Ze said to Nie Li.

"Hehe, Ye Ziyun isn't the type to be impressed by that kind of thing," the former protagonist said cheerfully.

"Nie Li is right! And if she cared, as soon as we become the strongest in Glory City, we'll have money to spare!" I said, hugging Nie Li. The guy just laughed at that and agreed.

So we started our plan. I remembered the type of spiritual realm that Nie Li, Du Ze, Xiao Ning'er, and Lu Piao have, but since I didn't remember the type of spiritual realm Zhu Xiangju has, I still had to use a pure spiritual stone for Nie Li to test. 

I gave orders for Lu Piao to buy the beasts and arrows, besides perfectly stating the value of each item. Nie Li was increasingly impressed with each action of mine, letting me do things myself without interfering much, something that impressed me. I must be careful not to arouse suspicion.

While Lu Piao was fetching the requested items, we went to buy black water grass, and I asked Nie Li to help me find emerald grass and low-class fusion agents. Having read 30 times TODG was proving very useful. Nie Li and Du Ze were impressed that I knew all that about alchemy, but I explained that I had accidentally discovered this recipe while testing some mixtures at home. Fortunately, they believed me.

Then we went to the training field to hunt some horned sheep. Nie Li cursed Lu Piao when the guy arrived fully equipped. I always laughed at this scene, and I must say that in person it is even funnier.

As soon as we entered, we started making our way into the dense forest. Lu Piao and Du Ze were set up as bait for us to shoot. Both Nie Li and I hit the sheep perfectly, the boys were very impressed, and Nie Li's appreciation for me grew more and more. The 3000 hours of CS were paying off now.

Nie Li gave instructions on how to clean them. In the original story, they would only make a few thousand coins a day, but with the two of us being the shooters and not wasting much time, we would quickly have double that amount.

After an entire night awake hunting the sheep, we accumulated 3000 coins.

The next morning, while everyone went to class, I went to the library. I was looking for something very important, the book that mentioned the Daoyin Technique and the Arctic Disease. Since I was the one to save Ning'er, the chance of her liking me was much greater, so I couldn't wait for the seven days Nie Li would spend hunting to finally help her, I had to do it before him.

With the hours I would have spent learning nothing from Shen Xiu, I learned that technique perfectly, besides being able to feel my spiritual energy much better. I was getting accustomed to the powers of that world.

After school, we went back to the training place to hunt again, and in the end, everyone slept a little. With our pace, we didn't need to stay up all night, although it was ideal. While they took a nap, I looked around the forest until… I finally found her.

With her fiery red hair and crimson eyes reflecting the moonlight, her beauty could be considered nothing less than divine.

"I knew I would find you here…" I whispered to myself, happy to see her there before the scheduled day.

But…

She stood up startled, pulling out a dagger from her interspatial ring.

"WHO'S THERE??" Xiao Ning'er looked scared at me, pointing the dagger in my direction.

"Whoa, whoa, I come in peace! I'm just taking a walk around here," I said, raising my arms in a sign of surrender. She kept her gaze firm on me.

"You're that boy who challenged teacher Shen Xiu…"

"Zhu Xiangju at your service! But the pretty lady can just call me Xiangju," I said, winking at her… She didn't like that at all.

"You say you were just walking, but I know you were hunting the horned sheep!"

Well, we didn't try to do it secretly anyway.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll get back to cultivating!" She turned her back to me.

"Uh-huh, feel free," I said, continuing to stand there staring at her.

"Are you seriously going to keep staring at me? Can't you see I want a bit of silence here?" I imagine she really is like this before getting close to people.

"That injury on your foot… When night falls, it feels like several fire ants are biting your legs, and when midnight comes, the pain becomes almost unbearable. I'm surprised you can still have the strength to cultivate."

"How do you…?"

"It seems I guessed right then, hehe. This is Arctic Disease, the more you cultivate, the worse it gets, and if you really manage to break the bronze barrier and reach the 1-star stage, your future would be confined to a bed. Your cultivation level would drop, and all the pain you went through would worsen to an extraordinary level, and in the worst cases, you could even explode."

"W-what? So all my effort… To not marry that scum, I worked so hard… And all of it goes down the drain because of this disease??? Xiangju… Y-you know what disease this is, you must know how to treat it, right?? Please, I beg you, please, can you help me?" Xiao Ning'er spoke with all her heart, tears streaming down her face.

"Look…" I spoke calmly, pausing.

She waited anxiously for my answer, biting her lip in premeditated frustration, thinking I was going to refuse probably.

"Of course, I can help you!" I said with a smile on my face, and at that moment, Xiao Ning'er's face lit up.

"As I told you, this is called Arctic Disease. It's caused by cultivating under the moonlight, but with a periodic massage using the 'Daoyin Technique' and taking a medicine made by mixing golden-striped herbs and celestial imperial herbs for a month, you'll finally be cured. Just be careful not to cultivate under the moonlight again."

"Alright…"

"And not least, let me see your cultivation technique."

"Huh..? Ok…" I bet that must be really strange from her point of view.

While I examined her technique, I started my chat with her.

"One of the best cultivating talents in Glory City cultivating here in the forest. I imagine you must be really desperate to get stronger…" I said, lowering my head and looking at her.

"Y-yes, I need to become stronger, at any cost, no matter what. I don't want to marry Shen Yue; I want to make my own decisions, but in a world where only the strong have the final say, that doesn't seem possible." Her voice grew weaker with every word.

Taking a look at the scroll, I really don't understand anything; it's just a chant, but I know it's a very bad technique. At least I remember the changes that need to be made. I'm starting to think that Xiangju had a very good memory because I can perfectly tell the changes that should be made for Xiao Ning'er.

"This is one of the highest-level techniques in my family, and yet he is able to make alterations to it as if it were nothing... We are the same age, but still our difference is striking... The teacher ridicules him and our classmates treat him as a joke, but there is no doubt that he will become a legendary rank one day!"

-Did you hear?-

-Huh? Oh... Sorry, can you repeat that?- Hahaha okay, I really expected that. After repeating everything, she nods her head, saying she understands.

-Do you know how to do the 'daoyin massage'?-

-I do! But... it requires direct contact with the wound, is that okay with you?-

-You are just helping me with the treatment; I really don't want to become crippled...-

-Okay then... I will be performing the massage every three days, and you must take the medicine with the herbs I mentioned earlier, so let's get started! She sits on the ground and points her foot in my direction. Every time I look at her, it feels almost like a crime; no wonder Nie Li started liking her even though he was so in love with Ye Ziyun.

-Please bear with it, this is going to hurt a lot.- She nods affirmatively, but as soon as I start, she lets out a little scream; I bet she wasn't expecting it to be at that level. I am confident in my abilities. I may not have any special skills like most MCs out there, nor the infinite knowledge of Nie Li, but I am familiar with all the more than 400 chapters of the Novel and Manhwa, so I can definitely do this!

"Heavens... The pain that was spreading more and more was not only contained but became just an annoyance... Thank you, Xiangju."

-There, with this you should be fine! It might still hurt a bit for the next few days, but don't forget to rest well and soon you'll be healed!-

-Thank you...- She said, but her face carried an embarrassed look. I knew what was coming, but I was a bit nervous too, so much so that I started to blush.

-W-what is it? Is it hurting somewhere else?- Damn, man, don't stutter!

-I'm injured somewhere else, Xiangju, can you massage it for me?- She says with her face entirely red, my face as red as hers.

-Go ahead and show me where it is.- I say with insecurity.

She pauses for a moment before taking action.

-Xiangju... Do you like someone?- The question catches my attention; I can finally smile calmly. I then look deep into her eyes and say:

-Actually, yes. She is the most beautiful girl in the city, and her talent is so great that even she doesn't know it yet.-

-Oh... and does she like you?-

-I can't say... Does she like me?- She finally seems to understand, turning as red as a beet.

-S-stop joking around! I'm asking you a serious question!- She responds, slightly irritated but laughing at the same time.

-And who said I'm joking?- I maintain my gaze fixed on her. She falls silent, pondering. "Everyone has yet to discover Xiangju's talent... There will be a day when he will shine like the sun... I wonder if I can really be part of a future like that. Anyway, let's focus on the most important thing now!"

She begins to unbutton her clothes.

-Wow, I didn't think we had reached this level yet.- Well, not the best choice of words; the knock she gave me was quite strong.

-Okay, okay, let's do this...- Right on her ribs, such a deep wound is visible that it's even hard to look at; it's as if she had been beaten so badly that some dislocation occurred.

At that moment, it was the first time Xiao Ning'er felt she owed someone something, living in a family with cold-hearted people desperate enough to sell her future to the Sacred Family. Zhu Xiangju caused a comforting sensation in the girl.

And after a few long minutes...

-Done!- I feel quite exhausted, so I have to sit on the ground.

-Thank you very much, Xiangju...- Xiao Ning'er said with a smile on her face, her blushing cheeks catching my attention.

-Do the things I told you earlier, don't forget to come here every three days for me to massage you, and don't even think about cultivating at night before reaching bronze level, too much moonlight essence can end up killing you!-

-Okay, I think it's my time to go now, make a safe path,- I say, already turning to leave.

-W-wait!- Oh man, I'm loving this hahaha.

-Yes?-

-Thank you so much, Xiangju... If it weren't for you, I can't even imagine how I would be... You helped me more than anyone today! If you ever need me to do something for you in the future, anything, you can ask me!- I make a lascivious smile on my face, she finally realizes what she said, but even so, she doesn't go back on her word.

-I'll remember that, Ning'er.- I wink at her and run off.

"What an interesting guy..."