Chapter 9: Plans For The Future
The afternoon sun shone across the horizon as a purple-orange hue filled the surroundings of the Tang Clan.
'Phew...'
Leaning against a wooden tub, Tang Soso finally let out a sigh of relief and contentment. She was currently submerged in steaming warm water while facing the scenery of her residence filled with ponds and willow trees at the back of her residence. It felt as if she had gone to heaven, the warm sensation of the water made all of her fatigue go away like a cloud of smoke, and her mind could finally rest. A lot has been going on for the past few days and now it's time to relax a bit.
Just after chasing her servant just an hour ago, both of them had gone back to the residence to finally end the day. While she has gone to enjoy herself with a nice warm bath, Old Jiang was forced to clean up all the mess she made today. Although it took some convincing and 'a little bit' of force, he eventually relented and went to do it.
The poor soul had to scrub every trace of the black liquid on her room and clothes.
Now, she could smile peacefully as she got the outcome she wanted.
'Now that I gained some internal energy and my strength increased by a little, I should be able to fend for myself in case someone tried to attack me. But still, this is not enough. My goal in this life is to become a hero of the Justice Faction, a leader who commands thousands of people to do my job for me and defeat Gong Ma.'
'That's why I should compete for the position of the clan's successor!' Tang Soso reminded herself in her mind.
If Old Jiang had heard this sentence coming out of Tang Soso, he would have smacked her head and scolded her for more than an hour. After all, that is the most sane and reasonable response to something as stupid as that. This is extremely dangerous!
In Jiang Sam's knowledge, Tang Soso was still just an innocent little girl who was unfortunate enough to be talentless and be born into this thorny seat of Tang Clan's young heir. She has been met with countless assassinations, poisoning, and all sorts of dangers sent by her brothers and sisters because of this due to her sole existence being a threat to them. Even with the sudden increase in strength earlier, it was still nothing compared to other heirs.
But, that is simply according to Old Jiang. In reality, Tang Soso is not an innocent child, she is the former Divine Thief, a notorious figure who once terrorized all of Murim! She has countless skills and experience at her disposal that could fill an entire library. That's why she's very confident that she could pull this off.
'I do not have much time... According to what Old Jiang said, the ceremony where the Tang Clan's true successor will be appointed should be around three weeks later. At that point in time, all heirs will compete openly in a duel of brawns and brains, and I am one hundred percent sure most of them wouldn't compete fairly. Also, all of them are geniuses who have been trained since a very young age and have reached a high level of martial prowess.'
'What a peril... I can not slack off for even a moment, I must train as hard as I can for the next three weeks and somehow catch up to them!'
'First and foremost, I must improve my body's constitution. Since entering this body, I have been relying too much on my senses since I have always relied on them in my previous life. However, this is not good. Right now, all of my senses are either reduced or completely impaired, thus getting hit in a fight would certainly be inevitable. That's why I need my body to be able to endure many attacks as well as contain an enormous amount of stamina.'
'Also, I need to accumulate as much internal energy as possible so that I won't run out of Qi in the middle of a fight since that would be extremely fatal. The Heavenly Martial God Divine Art is great, but it is currently incomplete. The Tang Clan is one of the five noble clans of the justice faction and their name was spread all around the world, they should have some good cultivation techniques as well as martial arts, thus their martial arts might be able to surpass The Heavenly Martial God Divine Art in its current state. I should check on the clan's library to see if something interesting is stored inside. But just for this week, I should stick with the Heavenly Martial God Divine Art.'
'And finally, to top it all off, I shall use Old Jiang to gather information in the central square to see if any interesting rumors were going around. That way I could get a better view of my own situation...'
Tang Soso slowly nodded as she finished pondering her current situation. A plan quickly formed in her mind as to what needs to be done...
'The training shall start tomorrow and if the plan succeeds, I shall become the true heir, the next leader of the Tang Clan, and gain an immense amount of benefits to help me reach my goals. My life will no longer be in danger and I could finally start plotting my revenge against that bastard, Gong Ma!
'But... that is if things could go according to plan. If I failed... Ehehe, things will be very grim...'
With that last sentence, she quickly got up from the bath. The afternoon wind gently caressed, sending her a few shivers and the dim sunlight highlights her pristine figure.
Water droplets dripped down her smooth pale skin, going in between a few crevices before landing on the warm bath below. Her wet long black hair stuck to her back, reflecting the light of the sun on the horizon, and her beautifully sculpted face stared at the surroundings with her greenish-gray eyes. All traces of black filth from before have now been washed away, revealing a beautiful body that could charm even the most cold-hearted warlord.
Tang Soso then stepped out of the tub and grabbed a shabby towel hanging near the wall before drying off her body. She put on a new set of robes that covered her body from the neck to toe, before giving it a little twirl to make sure that it was not too loose.
After the chase from before, she has somewhat gotten used to her body being significantly smaller and can now perform all sorts of movements that she couldn't do before.
Come to think of it, her senses have now also gotten sharper and she can now sense all sorts of objects around her as long as they are within close proximity. Maybe if she got stronger, her senses would finally recover and become stronger than the one she had in her previous life...
Oh well!
For now, she should probably rely on Qi Sense to navigate her surroundings. She should continue with the plan and improve her body.
'Hmm... come to think of it, this body's appearance is going to be really troublesome. I bet if I show my face in the city, every man within fifty meters will immediately set their eyes on me with bad intentions. To be honest, I myself am no different. I was really tempted to do the deed just a moment ago since I was alone this time. But hey, I managed to hold myself back. Thank the heavens I'm into milfs. Nevertheless, these kinds of attentions will attract numerous perverts around like a magnet and I don't have the energy to beat people up every five minutes.'
'It's a good thing I managed to prepare this!'
Her slender hand burrowed into her sleeve, before pulling out a piece of soft black cloth. She quickly tied it into a blindfold before wearing it on her face, covering her blind eyes and a quarter of her face. After putting it on, her face looks somewhat obscure, at least according to her.
'Now with this, hopefully my face won't attract too much attention. Unless I encountered someone familiar with me, going to the city now won't be too much of a problem...' Tang Soso nodded to herself.
...
Tap, tap, tap...
The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the background before stopping right behind the door. After noticing the subtle sounds of these footsteps, Tang Soso slowly turned around and glanced towards the door...
'Ah, It's Old Jiang. Did he finally finish cleaning everything?'
"Young Miss, I have finished cleaning your room. Would you like to have dinner right now?" Old Jiang's voice reverberated through the door before reaching into Tang Soso's ears.
'Uh, no matter how much I stayed here, I still can't get used to having a servant under me... Whatever, I'm starving right now...'
Tang Soso gently gave a single tap through the door, signifying that she said yes. And so, Old Jiang nodded and opened the door, before escorting her back to her room.
Immediately after entering her room, she could no longer smell the terrible smell from before as if they had never existed earlier. It seems like Old Jiang did an incredible job cleaning the room, no wonder it took a whole hour. Now, the only thing she could smell was the delicious scent of stew near her bed.
'Oh...! A veggie stew! I haven't eaten these in a long time...' Tang Soso thought in her mind.
She immediately rushed to the side of her bed before sitting and devouring the stew in less than a minute. The heavenly taste entered her tongue before sending a euphoric sensation to her brain. It had been a while since she had gotten a proper meal, she truly missed it. Even in her previous life, she was constantly chased around by people, thus not having much time to eat or sleep.
"Oh? It seems that you really like that stew, Young Miss. I knew you would be hungry, but I didn't think you would love it so much as to devour it in just thirty seconds." Old Jiang caught onto this as he observed her.
[ I was starving, and I like this veggie stew. ]
"Is that so? Should I make more of these in the future?"
[ Yes, please. ]
Standing near the door, watching Tang Soso eating the veggie stew, Old Jiang smiled as he was satisfied that his hard work was really appreciated. But nevertheless, as soon as she finished, his smile vanished as his expression turned serious. It's time to inquire what had happened before.
"Then, Young Miss... Will you tell me what had happened that made you able to obtain this much strength in just a short amount of time?" he asked warily.
His face was currently filled with suspicion as he quietly observed Tang Soso from afar, and this suspicion was not without a proper reason.
In the past, there have been numerous amount of cases where a person was able to attain so much strength in just a few days, and their lives changed from being an ordinary person into a powerful martial artist. The problem lies in where they had gotten this strength. There are three reasons why they are able to attain so much compared to others.
The first reason, of course, is that the person is a rare talent that only appears once every century.
In this world, every person is born with many different talents. Some people with bad luck would be born with a terrible talent that no one wanted, and they would be looked down upon for the rest of their lives no matter how much they work. Then, there are also some people who are blessed by the heavens with a talent that could make them achieve whatever they wanted without much effort, in other words, a genius.
But, some people are deemed as monsters that hide under human skin.
These kinds of people appeared once every century or even millennia. Without even trying something, they are already able to surpass most geniuses with their untrained strength or intellect. Compared to them, geniuses who are hailed by most people would look like mud compared to gold. These kinds of people are the type to surpass experts in a single day, a good example of this would be Gong Ma, who completely annihilated Jo Do-Yoon who inherited an unparalleled inheritance from a long-forgotten martial artist.
Then there's also another reason, an encounter with an unparalleled expert or inheritance. This one does not even need to be explained. The perfect example of this would be Jo Do-Yoon who had his life turned around after finding the Heavenly Martial God's inheritance.
Then finally, the one probability that Old Jiang has been fearing all this time is demonic arts.
When someone has an encounter with a demonic martial arts manual, they all have something in their mind. 'What if I learned it?' The truth is that demonic arts are inherently stronger compared to the martial arts of the Justice Faction due to the nature of their energy. Their energy is violent and rampant, unwilling to be controlled by their own master. So when someone tried to block the attacks of demonic martial artists, it would seem as if an explosion had occurred and they would immediately be pushed back due to its sheer power.
With demonic arts, someone who was absolutely terrible in martial arts could easily surpass most people in the span of a single day.
This would have been great to learn if not for the fact that these arts slowly corroded one's mind, slowly turning them into nothing more than a beast to their own instinct. Thus every person who cultivated or used demonic arts was not a stranger to killing and massacres. This is the main reason why demonic arts are extremely prohibited and anyone who is discovered to learn them will be killed on sight.
'Now then, which one are you, Young Miss? I know that you are not a genius of the sort since I have observed you for years. I also know that you haven't left your residence since you have lost your confidence, this inheriting a powerful martial art would be impossible. The only possibility would be demonic arts.' Old Jiang thought worryingly in his mind.
'But even then... I am willing to trust that you are not the type of child to do so. Please do not let this old man down...'
Tang Soso was silent as he heard Old Jiang's questions. To be honest, she hadn't thought of an answer herself due to thinking that this old man was just ignorant of her. But now that she sensed this old man's wariness towards her... she realized that was not the case. She must think of a good answer to convince him. Otherwise, she would lose her one and only ally, making her survival chance slimmer than it already is...
'Ugh...! He just had to ask for it. What should I even say? I, the great Divine Thief died and suddenly reincarnated into this body? That would be a great way to speedrun getting killed in this place.' she pondered in her mind.
[ Can we talk about this later? As you can see, I am trying to slee- ]
"No." Jiang Sam immediately cut before she finished writing that sentence.
"Young Miss, please see the current situation. This is not a game, this is a matter that could be extremely severe. Then, let me rephrase my question... Young Miss, did you learn demonic arts?" he continued grimly towards Tang Soso.
Hearing the last sentence come out of his mouth, Tang Soso's expression switched to confusion, before turning dark. She was extremely surprised, she did not expect this sort of question from her Old Jiang who seemed to have a cheerful tone to her since day one.
'Hmph, is he accusing me of cultivating demonic arts!? Well, I know that the recent change in my strength seemed way too significant for someone who's not a genius, but why demonic arts all of a sudden? Wait... now that I think about it, his accusations kind of make sense... but still though!' Tang Soso raged in her mind.
Seeing her lack of response to his question, Old Jiang raised his guard against her even further. Now he's even eyeing every movement she makes no matter how small and inconvenient it is.
After realizing that things would get worse, her brain worked like an engine trying to find a way out of this.
'Maybe I should just lie to him saying that I gained enlightenment all of a sudden? Wait, no. That's just too blatant of a lie. Maybe a bit more subtle, saying that I received the teaching of a random beggar long ago who turned out to be an unknown grandmaster and I only remembered it yesterday before utilizing it? Maybe, but there's a slight chance that he will find out.'
'Wait, that's right! Before I entered this body, Tang Soso was in a coma! Maybe if I tell him a half-lie...'
[ Old Jiang, listen to me... ]
[ As you know, I have always been in a long slumber ever since I got poisoned. The truth was, I gained something that I have... No, no one in the world has experienced before. In my slumber, I saw the memory of a martial master fighting numerous enemies with his blade. I saw numerous techniques that I have never seen before and they are powerful beyond belief. Have you heard of the Divine Thief? ]
Reading this, Old Jiang was even more confused. But more than that, at least his suspicion has somewhat been cleared.
"The Divine Thief? That's a name that I haven't heard of in a very long time..."
[ In a very long time? ]
"Yes, the last time I heard that name was in my childhood when I was still just a farmer boy. That was at least fifty years ago," he exclaimed briefly.
...
'What...?' Tang Soso was taken aback.
'F-Fifty years ago? B-But wasn't I just reborn about yesterday...? What in the...'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
ThreeBigHotMen
ThreeBigHotMen This chapter was written with hours of hardwork, hours of planning, tons of stress, and many weeks of procrastination
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