Chapter 4: The Ancient Orchid City Ruins and Surprising Breakthroughs
The following week was abuzz with gossip over the fact that THE Director Yang Xin was engaged to Chen Ren.
Many males were cursing his very name, not only was he engaged to the two most desired girls, he now snatched the most desired woman in the entirety of Glory City.
Incidentally, the two pieces of red jade, that always hang on Chen Ren's belt, were joined by a third one.
The news however caused different reactions on the Noble families of the city.
The Snow Wind and Winged Dragon Families were very satisfied with the new betrothal. With this move the alliance between them and both the Divine Family and the Alchemy Association became even more secure, empowering all of them.
Other families did not like it all that much. Still, most Noble and Aristocratic families did not have much of a say in the matter, the Snow Wind and Divine Families, two of the three Major Families of Glory City, as well as the Alchemy Association where at the very top of the city's political power hierarchy, they did not dare do anything that would alienate them.
That also included the Inscription Hall, seeing that it was, more or less, managed by the Snow Wind Family.
Though they were jealous of the fact that the Winged Dragon Family, a Noble family, had gained such powerful allies. Why couldn't they have a good daughter that attracted such good fortune?
The one family that had a serious issue with this marriage alliance, however, was the Sacred Family. Unfortunately for them their Patriarch had been cultivating in seclusion for over a year now. As such he did not know about the engagement between Chen Ren and Ye Ziyun, nor could he be informed of the new one between the same male and Yang Xin.
Shen Ming, the Main Affairs Elder of the Sacred Family, who was left in charge of the family during the Patriarch's absence, was in quite the predicament. He had of course informed the Dark Guild about every single event, but they had not informed him of any of their plans, and he himself was hesitant to act, seeing that the parties involved were the Sacred Family's equals, or, and he dare not say it out loud, their betters.
The one thing that everyone wanted to really know is… Why him? Why Chen Ren?
Sure, he was the second young master of the Divine Family, but he had a Yellow Soul Realm. His talent was mediocre at best.
So why him, and not say… the first young master of the family, Chen Linjian? He was a genius that had already reached 3 Star Gold Rank at the young age of 15!
Unfortunately for the curious masses, all the forces involved were tight-lipped about it.
Nothing interesting really happened in a week other than gossip. Well truthfully something interesting, for Chen Ren at least, did happen during the last class before the scheduled departure for the Ancient Orchid City Ruins. It was the class that Shen Xiu introduced them to Inscription Patterns.
The same class that was inspected by the Vice-Principal, Ye Sheng, the teacher, Lu Ye and the Snow Wind Family's Head Intelligence Agent, Ye Shuo.
Due to the fact that Chen Ren had showed his father, years ago, the truth behind the Sacred Family's Scarlet Sunburst Inscription, who then went and made it public, thus damaging the Sacred Family's reputation, Shen Xiu did not present it in class.
As a result, Nie Li, who was trying to keep as low a profile as possible after the 'Incident' and his new reputation as a peeper, did not have the chance to show off, nor gain the position of library clerk.
Another thing that Ren did that week was spend time with his fiancés, either individually or as a quartet. And let him tell you, relaxing on a nice evening with his head on Yang Xin's voluptuous clothes-free chest while absentmindedly kissing and fondling them, and having your hair caressed by such a beautiful woman at the same time, was heavenly.
Also, Yang Xin was now covering her chest, when in public, with a blouse (A/N: like since season 3 of the 3D animation). After all, now that she was betrothed only her beloved, and her sister-wives, had the right to look at her bare chest.
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Now back in the present, the Divine Family's main members were getting ready for the expedition to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.
Other than the Patriarch, Matriarch and their two sons, they would be accompanied by five Black-Gold Rank Experts, some Gold Ranks and Chen Ren's fiancés. Though at the beginning they planned to bring only Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er, after Yang Xin officially became engaged to Chen Ren, they decided to add her to the exploration group.
The last person that was to go with them was Huyan Lanruo, Ren had invited her to the expedition in a collaborated scheme he made with his mother in order to hook her up with his brother. Hell, they had even dragged his fiancés in the plan.
So here they were, the whole expedition team ready to depart of the Ancient Orchid City Ruins on the early morning of the 10th day after classes in the Holy Orchid Institute started. Five whole days ahead of the novel's timeline.
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It was the end of the second day of their journey to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins, and everyone was setting up their tents for the night.
Huyan Lanruo was in the middle of a conversation with Yang Xin and Chen Huan, the duo keeping the pink haired girl distracted while Ren, Ning'er and Ziyun were having a rather fierce, yet hushed, conversation with Chen Linjian.
"This is a perfect opportunity big brother, just give her the scroll with the cultivation technique I gave you earlier today. It is a perfect match for her, she will be impressed with your initiative." Ren told Linjian as he tried to make him make a move on Lanruo, it was easier said than done.
Have his brother face against Demon Beasts and he would be the most aggressive combatant, breaming with confidence and charisma.
But have him try to get the affections of the girl he likes and he becomes pure Zen. It was infuriating. Ziyun and Ning'er were nodding their heads towards their future brother-in-law, in agreement with their fiancé, while standing right next to him.
When Chen Ren and his mother approached Ren's fiancés for help in setting up Linjian and Lanruo, all three had jumped on the chance to play matchmakers.
"But aren't I deceiving her by saying that I found this cultivation technique?" The older boy asked as he looked at the scroll on his right hand with doubt, before he looked back at his brother.
"You were the one who found it. How did you even know what type of Attribute and Form she had anyway?" Chen Ren rubbed his head in exasperation at his brother's hesitance.
"I may have found that technique, but I wouldn't have even been looking for one if I hadn't heard about her from you. As for her soul's characteristics, mother used the Soul Analysis Technique on her yesterday evening." After hearing his brother's replies Linjian opened his mouth to say something, only to be cut off by Ning'er.
"Mother-in-law and big sister Xin have finished talking with her." At her words they turned and saw that she was correct. Acting fast the trio turned Linjian towards Huyan Lanruo and gently pushed him forward.
The older boy sent them a look of hesitation but when he saw them shooing him forward with hand motions, he took a deep breath and started walking towards the pinkette.
As they were watching how he awkwardly gave her the scroll, after they exchanged a few words, Ziyun spoke.
"Do you think he will make it?" The answer came from Chen Huan, as she and Yang Xin approached them.
"From the conversations I have had with the girl in the past two days, I would say that she is very interested in my little Linjian." She then made a motion like she was whipping a tear from her left eye.
"I am so happy, now both of my precious sons will have good partners-in-life." They laughed softly at her words, but she wasn't done.
"I was actually quite worried about him, little Ren had gotten his first fiancé at the age of 9, but until a few days ago I didn't even know if there were any girls that had caught my little Linjian's eye. It is quite heartwarming to see him shyly trying to get her to get interested in him." The Matriarch of the Divine family finished saying. They stood there for a bit more observing them, before they left to do other things.
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The following day, while they were walking on the road, Huyan Lanruo approached Chen Ren and his group.
"Hello little brother Chen Ren." She said with a smile, as she started walking right next to him. Ren gave her a small smile and nodded his head in greeting.
"Hello big sister Huyan Lanruo. What can I do for you?" He asked her, wondering why she had approached him. She smiled and put her hands behind her back as she looked towards him.
"Chen Linjian told me that you found that amazing cultivation technique, and I was wondering if that were true?" At hearing her words Chen Ren nodded his head.
"Yes, that is correct, big brother had talked about you a lot over the years. He had even asked me to find you a suitable cultivation technique in order to help you with your spiritual growth." He told her while looking at Linjian with a smile. He then turned back to the pink haired girl. "As such you should really be thanking him, not me. Without his recommendation I would have never looked for a powerful technique that suited you." As he finished speaking Lanruo took a thinking pose, with her right index finger touching her chin.
She then nodded to herself, nodded to Chen Rena and his fiancés, turned around, went to Linjian and put his right arm between her chest, making the pour heir of the Devine family blush a deep red, to the amusement of those around them.
They stopped around noon to eat and take a couple of hours to cultivate.
Chen Ren could feel his Soul Force increasing steadily, he had reached 5 Star Bronze Rank one day before they had departed from Glory City. Now came the hardest part, breaking through.
The thing was that for someone to breakthrough from a 5 Star of one Rank to the 1 Star of the next one they had to accumulate the same amount of Soul Force they had gathered up until that point in order to go from 0 Star to 5 Star of that previous Rank.
That meant that Chen Ren needed to gather another 500 Soul Force in order to reach the desired amount of 1000, and thus achieve 1 Star Silver Rank.
Ziyun and Ning'er were also progressing splendidly. Ning'er was nearing 5 Star Bronze, and Chen Ren was sure she would achieve it in a day or two. Ziyun was also doing very well, she was a bit behind in terms of speed when compared with Ning'er. Though with her Soul Form being what it was that was expected, he did have to reassure her a few times of that fact though.
As for Yang Xin…
BOOOOM!
Everyone looked towards the origin of the Soul Force explosion and saw Yang Xin having an aura of black and gold. Yang Xin looked at herself in wonderment, for years she had been experiencing a bottleneck at 5 Star Gold Rank. And now, just a bit over a week after Chen Ren gave her a new and powerful cultivation technique, as one of the many betrothal gifts he gave her, she finally managed to advance to 1 Star Black-Gold Rank.
After she got over her shock, she jumped up from her meditation position and engulfed Chen Ren in a massive hug.
"Ren! I did it! I broke through!" she yelled in happiness, before she pulled him into a heated kiss.
The people around them, who had up until that point shouting congratulations to the Director of the Alchemy Association, froze in shock for a moment due to her bold move, before most men started whistling at the second young master's 3rd fiancé's show of gratitude.
The whistles reminded Yang Xin where she was exactly and quickly removed herself from her fiancé's lap, all the while blushing profusely.
Before she could get more embarrassed by the teasing of the people around her, the sound of a pair of hand clapping twice was heard, everyone looked towards the noise and saw Chen Huan standing there with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Only it wasn't a pleasant smile, more like the 'I will beat you up if you do not listen to me' smile.
"That is enough teasing of one of my daughters, she just wanted to show her gratitude to her future husband, like any good wife should. So, no one will tease her anymore regarding this incident. Is. That. Clear?" The last sentence was backed up by her 4 Star Black-Gold Aura, so every member of their escort nodded fearfully before dispersing. Ever since the Matriarch had broken through, a day after Chen Ren brought Yang Xin to their home as his 3rd fiancé, she had become far more domineering towards anyone who tried to tease her family, while not being part of it. After all, family members should be the ones to have that privilege.
With a nod towards Yang Xin, she left in order to leave the four betrotheds alone. Seeing that they were alone the four huddled together in order to bask in this great day for their little family. Though Ziyun and Ning'er made sure to allow Yang Xin to have a bigger part of Chen Ren in their embrace, after all, this was her achievement.
Yang Xin wasn't the only one to break through that day, when they stopped again for the night, Huyan Lanruo broke through to 4 Star Silver Rank. And although she didn't outright kiss Chen Linjian, like Yang Xin had done with Chen Ren, she did hug the heir of the Divine Family quite enthusiastically.
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Two days later they finally reached the Ancient Orchid City Ruins. In those two days both Ziyun and Ning'er had managed to reach 5 Star Bronze Rank, giving them two other reasons to celebrate.
Chen Ren removed a map from his ring and set it down on the ground, everyone looked at it and waited for him to speak. They knew that Chen Ren had uncovered some new information from journals he had translated. As such he should know where they should head next.
"Alright, according to the journal, the city's true treasury should be under the Military training grounds." He said as he pointed at a specific area of the map. "Since the era when this city was flourishing had a number of Legendary Rank Demon Spiritualists, we will have to dig quite deep in order to reach the entrance." As he said those words, he looked at the people around him and saw them nodding their heads.
Chen Zhenlong then straightened himself and looked around, before he narrowed his eyes a bit.
"Me, Linjian and half our Experts will go hunt the Demon Beasts that reside nearby. The rest of you follow Chen Ren to the training grounds and wait for us there." At his command they all gave positive responses and moved to follow the Patriarch's orders.
Thankfully, for the team that was heading towards the training grounds, they did not come across any Demon Beasts roaming around inside the city ruins. They did hear the sounds of battle coming from the forest and knew that the team that was led by Chen Zhenlong had found a number of Demon Beasts.
They reached the training grounds after about 20 minutes of careful walking. They started creating a basic camp with perimeter defenses as they waited for the others to return.
An hour later the team led by the Patriarch returned, their clothes and weapons had stains from Demon Beast blood, but other than a bit winded, they all looked fine. As they sat down in the camp to get a breather, before they started digging, Chen Ren saw that his father seemed to be lost in thought.
As he approached him to ask him what was on his mind, Chen Zhenlong suddenly sat down and started cultivating. His actions surprised everyone around him, they wondered what had gotten into their Patriarch. Chen Huan was a bit worried about her husband, hopping that everything was alright.
They did not have to wait long for an answer to appear however, just as the second minute since Chen Zhenlong started cultivating passed…
BOOOOOOOOMM!
A platinum aura enveloped the Patriarch of the Divine Family after that ginormous explosion of Soul Force.
Everyone stared at him with shock, unable to speak, even Chen Zhenlong himself was looking at the aura that surrounded his hands in open shock.
"I… I broke through… to the Legend Rank!!" He said in with his voice coated by the enormous shock that he was feeling, and even showing it on his facial expression.
The sounds of celebration that followed that statement would have frightened all the Demon Beasts in the area, if any remained that is.
Chen Huan was crying in joy as she hugged her husband, their sons put each other's neck under an arm and started jumping up and down while shouting in joy along with the men they had with them. And even the girls were talking with excitement.
Their Patriarch was the first Legend Rank Spiritualist since Lord Ye Mo. So it wasn't that surprising that this news brought out such delight. Glory City had a new Legend Rank Expert to protect it against Demon Beasts.
After about a minute of celebration Chen Linjian spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear.
"All right, everyone, form up. We have to give father enough time to properly stabilize his breakthrough." At his words there was a chorus of 'Yeses' before everyone started moving to do a task with renewed vigor.
Chen Zhenlong, seeing his older son take command, sat back down and started to meditate in order to harmonize his advancement in Rank. His wife stayed by his side, giving him her silent support.
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Later, during dinner, everyone was gathered around a fire with a pot of food on it. Since they had cleared the Demon Beasts from the area, they could breathe a bit easier, though that did not mean that they wouldn't have night guards out.
As they were eating Chen Ren raised his head and spoke.
"I have a request to make to all of you." His words gained everyone's attention and they stopped eating to hear him out.
"Father's accomplishment in reaching Legend Rank, don't reveal it to Glory City yet." His words shocked them; the appearance of a new Legendary Ranked Spiritualist would cause celebration everywhere in Glory City.
"Why do you want to keep it a secret?" Asked the Patriarch before anyone could voice their own opinions. Chen Ren turned and faced his father with a serious expression on his face.
"You are not very familiar with this new power you have obtained; I would prefer for you completely master it before the Dark Guild discover the fact and decide to act in order to eliminate you." His words were heavy and they could see the wisdom behind them. After thinking it over for a bit Chen Zhenlong nodded his head in agreement.
"Your thoughts are wise, my son. Very well, with the exception of the City Lord and Lord Ye Mo, no one is to know about this until I decide to reveal it." He commanded and the rest of the people there nodded. The Patriarch looked into the fire for a bit before he spoke again.
"However…" He began as he turned to look at Chen Ren. "If Glory City is ever in danger, I will not hesitate to reveal my true power." Hearing the conviction in his father's voice Chen Ren nodded in agreement.
The rest of the night passed without any other disturbances.
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The next morning everyone had gathered in front of the camp, yesterday they had marked the locations of where it would be best for them to big. They all had their tools out and were ready to begin.
Chen Zhenlong simply raised his hand forward and said in a commanding voice.
"Let's begin!" and with a cry of approval the men they brought with them started digging.
End Chapter
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