Chapter 8: Trying to speak nicely
"Who are you people?" It was the voice of a woman.
Fu Jie was startled to realize that they weren't the only ones here. When he looked at the owner of the voice, he saw a short girl dressed in plain white clothes holding a jug filled with water in her hand that fell on the floor as she looked at the two in horror.
Bai Ling stepped up and smiled brightly, "Don't mind us. We're just passing through."
"Aaaaaaaaaaa!~" The woman screamed in a high pitch as she ran away.
Bai Ling turned his head to Fu Jie as he looked the man up and down, "You don't look that ugly. I wonder why she ran away."
"..."
Fu Jie could feel a headache coming as he finally gave up on his thoughts of murdering this man and sat down on the rough stone floor of the courtyard.
"Are you meditating already? Such a hard-working man! " Bai Ling nodded in satisfaction and the only thing he received, in turn, was a glare from Fu Jie, who seemed to be slowly getting used to this man's behavior.
"Sit your dumb arse down!"
Bai Ling blinked as he sat down in front of Fu Jie without saying anything in refusal.
"Let's start talking nicely, okay?" Fu Jie felt like it was a bit funny that he was the one saying such a thing. Never in his life had he ever said this line to anyone cause never in his life had he needed to.
He felt like this Bai Ling was certainly a bit impressive considering the fact that he was able to make Fu Jie turn into someone who wants to 'talk nicely'.
Bai Ling sat down with his legs crossed as he nodded in agreement, "What are we talking about?"
"Let's start with the current situation," Fu Jie started, "I'll tell you what I know and you tell me what I don't know, okay?"
Bai Ling bobbed his head up and down as he agreed.
"So I'm a man named Liu Fu Jie who is a part of this sky sect? And my father is a man who helped a demonic cultivator run away?"
"You are right!"
"And I'm supposed to be in jail?"
"But you ran away."
"So what am I supposed to do now?"
"..." Bai Ling tilted his head in confusion as he asked, "What do you mean? You're supposed to improve your soul force and beat the crimson dragon."
"Both my identity and the current situation are completely unrelated to beating the crimson dragon, isn't it?"
"Well, you can consider it as an obstruction on your path to win the crimson gear...?"
"Shut up! Listen to me first," Fu Jie snapped, "All I can do right now is run and not get caught by the guards. If I want to improve my soul force, do you think I can do that while on the run?"
"No way! That would be impossible unless you were born as the favored son of heaven."
"Am I?"
Bai Ling shook his head, "Stop dreaming! There's no way you are the favored son of heaven."
"Then who's the favored son of heaven?"
"There can only be one man who can claim that title. It's Elder Dayu."
"..." Fu Jie felt like he had somehow seen this coming. Xiao Jingyi was clearly not a simple character. If there was a star of the heavens in this world, it had to be him.
"If you want to improve your cultivation fast, you'll need resources and without a sect, you can only become a rogue cultivator."
"So what do I do? I can't go back to the sky sect, can I?"
Bai Ling once again shook his head as he explained, "Unless you want to go back to jail, it's better for you to stay away from that place."
Fu Jie sighed as he looked down. A minute later, his eyes widened as he suddenly felt his head light up with an idea.
"Can I clear my name?"
"Hmm?"
"I mean, I was just the son. I didn't do anything wrong so can't I clear my name out from this mess?"
"You can try but I don't think it would be easy."
"How can I do it?" Fu Jie asked eagerly.
"You can try finding your father and the demonic cultivator. You might even get the title of a hero if you do that."
"How hard is that?" Fu Jie felt as if he could see the light at the end of the tunnel as he heard the man.
"Considering your current state and soul force," Bai Ling looked him up and down as he spoke as if he was analyzing the man seriously, "You have a -100 percent chance of catching him...?"
"..." The light at the end of the tunnel? Turns out it was nothing more than a firefly that died.
Bai Ling patted the man's back as he spoke, "You better give up on that quest. You'll never be able to catch them."
Fu Jie felt discouraged but when he looked up at Bai Ling's warm smile, another idea lit up in his mind and this time it seemed to be a better idea.
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"How hard will it be for you to catch them?"
Bai Ling blinked twice and broke out laughing as he asked, "How did you come up with that?" He sat up straight as he pondered over it, "Let me think. It's certainly possible."
"Possible?" Fu Jie felt like the firefly had come back to life and was leading him to the end of the tunnel.
"But..." Bai Ling looked at Fu Jie and asked, "Why would I do that?"
The firefly was crushed by this man who was anything but helpful.
"You are the reason why I'm stuck here! You should help me!"
Bai Ling straightened out his back as he spoke in all seriousness, "Let's get one thing cleared. I never dragged you here and I'm not in charge of looking after you or guiding. This is still a game and you are supposed to clear it on your own. I can help you as long as the help is minor, but don't expect something big from me."
Fu Jie didn't know how he was supposed to respond to something like this. He never agreed to be thrown into a game like this so he could only push all the blame on this Gamemaster who was already raising his hands saying nothing was to be blamed on him. He looked at the man and did something that he would always do if he was in a position where he felt wronged and angry: He cursed at the man.
"You dogsh*t! I hope you go fall off a cliff and get buried in cowdung! You $@@#!%$#%@#!@#$"
Bai Ling blinked and was about to say something, but stopped when he heard a sudden sound. He immediately held his hand up blocking Fu Jie from saying anything as he concentrated on the sound that he had heard.
"bhew ket ho ightt bow" Whatever Fu Jie said was nothing more than incomprehensible muffled murmurings.
"T-They were here!" It was a voice of a woman.
Fu Jie instantly stopped speaking as he looked at Bai Ling with wide eyes as if asking what they were going to do next.
Bai Ling didn't seem to panic as much as Fu Jie. He looked at the man in front and then at the direction where the voice was coming from.
"We don't have time!" He breathed out as he stood up
"Are you going to abandon me again?"
"What are you? A puppy? Protect yourself!" Bai Ling looked around.
"Take me with you! I'm not done with you."
Bai Ling smiled as he stepped closer and Fu Jie instantly took a step back as he saw the mischievous look in the man's eyes.
"Little brother, don't take it personally." Bai Ling spoke and before Fu Jie could respond, he was pushed into the lotus pond that was located in the middle of the courtyard.
The water seeped through his ear but he could still hear Bai Ling.
"Try not to come up unless the coast is clear."
Fu Jie cursed at the man in his heart. He felt the water sting his eyes and his body sinking deeper and deeper. He tried to flap his hands around but it was useless. The water started to suffocate him as he tried his hardest to not open his mouth.
Bai Ling didn't seem to know something.
Fu Jie didn't know how to swim!!!
Even if he wanted to come up, he couldn't!
Bai Ling seemed to have run away once again after pushing Fu Jie into the small pond that would possibly drown him to death.
"Here! Here!" The people had arrived along with the girl.
The girl looked at the empty courtyard and couldn't help but feel shocked as she tried to justify herself, "They were definitely here!"
There was a heavy voice of a guard who looked at the girl with an indecipherable expression, "Are you sure it's him?"
"I saw him in master's study. It was his picture, there's no way I was mistaken." The girl cried out.
"I'm not saying you lied. I just want to make sure that you saw him."
"It was that Liu's bastard, I'm sure of it!"
The guard nodded as he whispered something to his subordinate who immediately bowed his head and ran away to carry the orders given to him.
"I have reported this matter." The guard spoke to the girl, "You better keep an eye out. If you see him again, try your best to catch him."
The girl nodded her head enthusiastically as she heard the man, "I won't let him get away!"
The guard walked around the courtyard as if trying to find any clues but he couldn't find anything.
Fu Jie prayed for him to leave and it seemed that God had heard his prayers as the guard got ready to go away but after walking a few steps, he turned back and looked at the lotus pond as he asked, "Does anyone touch that?"
The girl looked over and shook her head as she responded, "Never."
"Then why..." The guard stopped speaking as he walked closer to the pond. The ground around the pond was grey in color but there were spots on it that were darker in color, it was a bit damp as if water had been poured over it. It hadn't rained and the splattered water stains on the floor were fresh. The only way they would appear here was if someone tampered with the pond.
Fu Jie was sure that he was either gonna die from drowning in this pond or going to die from going back to that wretched prison. It was one of the two and the end result in both the cases were somewhat the same: He would still end up crossing the yellow river at this rate.
The man stood over the edge of the pond and peeked inside in suspicion.
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
cherlyswan
cherlyswan Cherry: A moment of silence for our dear MC, rich sister, who has lived an odd life filled with a lot of colorful vocabulary.
Fu Jie: I'm not dead yet, you piece of freaking cherry!!
Cherry: Not dead... YET!!
Cherry: I'm just practicing, honey. For the dark future ahead of you.
Fu Jie: Go practice for your own funeral! This Laozi is going to choke you to death.
Cherry: Is that a new kink?
Fu Jie: What?
Cherry:...
Cherry: Nothing. *awkward chuckling* Let's just focus on begging for power stones.
Fu Jie:...
Fu Jie: I still wanna know what you said. *ignored*
Cherry: Give me all your power stones! The more, the better cause I have to handle the MC's curses 24/7! He's haunting me from his grave!
Fu Jie: I'm not dead yet!!!
Cherry: Power stone, please.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone