Free Web NovelChapter 19: Would Rather Be
Qianye shook his head, laughing faintly, and then he continued, "After being crippled and losing my status as a core disciple, there is no way that the sect will happily leave you with me."
He glanced away, down through the window and barely caught a stroke of orange fly past.
"The sect already did me the favour of leaving you to watch over me while I recovered." He glanced back at her, and he saw the storm brewing beneath her gaze once more, "However, after what I just did, soon enough the news will spread that I am well again—especially because of Elder Han Tieliang’s pill."
One of his hands raised to gesture a finger at her, "Then you will be taken back by them," And then it pointed back to himself, "and I will be given a choice between the two of: Becoming a servant of the sect, or leave."
They heard the faint rustle of the leaves in the wind beyond the window. The air was falling rather cold at these times, and his blood, at the edges of the pool was staining deeply into the wood.
"...If I could, I would have done everything that lead up to this differently and never been crippled," Qianye’s hand fell back down to his knee and he concluded, while shaking his head, sighing faintly. Then he averted his gaze from hers, and his eyelids lowered, surrendering a wistful look. "I don’t want to lose you. How could I, when you’re so outstanding?" He sighed and shook his head a little, "But unlike the nonsense that Meng Jue came to do... with something like this?" Qianye, still did not look over to her as he paused briefly, "I don’t have a way to cheat my way out of being a cripple."
Ouyang Qianye was been wholly honest.
He might have gotten a system, and granted, he had not checked any of its intricacies yet, however, the fact remained that right now he did not know what to do from here if the system did not have answers for him that he could act on immediately.
Knowledge of the plot did not help at all with something like this.
After all, its not as if there was any treasure of the protagonists right on his bed that instantly healed his crippled body. freeweɓnøvel.com
How was he meant to buy, steal or harvest those mystical treasures the protagonist should have gotten when he was a cripple?
Information meant nothing if he did not have the means to act on it, and in a cultivation world, the greatest, most central means to anyone’s capability, was their cultivation.
At best he might be able to go be some soothsayer on the streets, or work some other mundane job after this, working his way up looking for fortuity from the common people. That would be him hoping that if anything, the solution to his problem existed in the system, but even then it could be priced exorbitantly high from what he knew about system novels.
Even that was assuming that there was even a shop function. What if there was some different strange way that he hadn’t thought of that Fortuity was meant to be spent rather than a shop?
Qianye almost sighed once more, thinking to himself, ’Seriously, why could I have not gotten one of those simple transmigrations where I wake up thinking about the ceiling not being my own... or the hospital one, and I’m happily the talented prince of a divine kingdom?’
All in all, everything came down to the fact that sure, he won the battle against Meng Jue. He might have given himself the license to live longer through that, however, he was still far from winning the war against the consequences of Ouyang Qianye’s actions.
"..."
Qianye glanced back over to her, freeing a slight smile.
"So, thank you, for all these years."
He watched silently as her gaze wavered from him. Her head hung itself lower, and then she asked:
"If... if we could find a way to restore your meridians and source, allowing you to cultivate once more... would we be allowed to remain together?"
"...I don’t want to guarantee it," he said as her head lifted to look at him once more, "but it would give me much better grounds to argue for it from. At the same time, realistically," He shook his head faintly, "with the state I’m in I would need a high grade pill or healing treasure, which neither of us have the spirit coins or the ability to get. Not within the next few months or years at least."
’The fortuity that I earned is likely far from enough for now... but if i could save up for a few months or years then maybe...’ He thought, convincing himself to hope that there was a shop function and he didn’t have to go through some convoluted system updating trials to get it.
Her eyelids lowered once more and her hands eased on her robes. Qianye caught the faint helpless sigh that she released, and his own jaw tensed briefly. His hand clenched on the edge of the pillow brick, and he had to relieve himself with a long breath.
They both could not quite look at each other for several moments.
An iron scented breeze eased between them. Her eyes rose, and he glanced back to her.
"I understand..." was all that she said.
Ouyang Qianye did not respond. What more was there for him to say? He wouldn’t give her false hope. All that he could do was sit silent and stomach the grumbling discontent as she stood herself up.
"My lord, I will go clean the blood, and dispose of the corpse." Standing tall, looming over him with her blood dripping hair and stained dress, she graced him with a slight bow as she continued, "Your dinner will be prepared within the coming hour. If you would like to bathe in the lake I will deliver it there?"
She raised herself back upright, a faint, wistful smile to her countenance, though graceful at the same time.
"I will meditate for a short while as you clean," Ouyang Qianye smiled faintly. That was the best way to honour her right now, and thus he continued, "Once you are done, I will head to the lake as you prepare my dinner." Qianye shifted his body, crossing his legs as he continued, "For whatever time we have left, I would rather be in your presence."
"...Thank you, master." She nodded a little, considering her words and then said firmly, "I would like that."
