Hei had initially been shocked by the changes to his room, but after a while, he realised he was overreacting.
This was the foundation he was creating for the Shao Clan, which we would be leaving to them anyway, so them changing it wasn't anything to complain about.
Besides, he had already created a mental model of the room, so he could recreate it whenever he wanted.
After thinking these things, he was now able to calmly observe as his sisters and the others did their redecoration.
And now that he was watching them with his own eyes, he could see that they were putting quite a lot of effort into it.
He watched as Bai pulled out a headboard from her spatial ring and placed it behind the bed.
The headboard had ‘Shao’ embroidered on it and seemed to have been custom-made.
Of course, it was also pink.
The same went for the bedside lamps they had added to either side of the bed, which had pink lampshades. They were held up by small white tables.
To finish up, they added a chandelier and hung it at the centre of the ceiling.
After they had finished their work, they turned back to Hei.
Bai and Mei walked to Hei before asking for his opinion.
“How do you like it, Brother?”
They both waited for Hei’s response.
Hei looked around the finished room. He had to admit that it looked quite nice. But the problem was, it was a little girl’s room.
Before answering the question, he looked to the others and asked them his own question.
“What do the three of you think?”
The three looked to each other before Qiuyue answered.
“It’s 3.94 times better than the original.”
They all seemed to have the same answer as none disagreed
This time, even Bai didn’t have anything to say.
Hei was interested in their response. He really wondered how they quantised the appearance of a room.
Since they were no longer needed here, Hei decided to have them leave. Jingfei led Qiuyue and Fang Ren around the residence, showing them everything she knew about.
After the others had left, Hei walked over to the new glass table. He picked up the brown bear and sat in the chair it had been occupying, before placing it on his lap and inviting his sisters to sit.
Bai and Mei followed suit, and after all three had sat down, Hei spoke.
“So, where exactly did you get this sense of style from?”
Bai and Mei looked to each other before turning to Hei.
Mei answered.
“This is part of the information we gathered. After getting the basic information about residences and how the sect works in general, we purchased some information jades on style.”
He was even further confused. Not only had Bai and Mai wasted their merit points on stuffed animals and other ornaments, but they had also purchased fashion magazines.
How did this make sense?
When he had said to gather information, he meant cultivation techniques and battle techniques. And if they had the time, studying professions wasn’t a bad option.
When had interior designer become a popular profession among cultivators?
But to be fair, he hadn’t actually looked it up. It was entirely possible for interior designer to be a profession that many cultivators had.
What further made it odd, was the fact that Jingfei lived in a cultivator cave before he came here. And he had seen her cave. It wasn’t anything impressive, to say the least.
Hei decided to call them out on it.
“But what about cultivation techniques and battle techniques?”
Bai responded.
“Of course, we also purchased cultivation techniques and battle techniques, but the thing is, before initiation, the things we can purchase are extremely limited. On top of that, one also has to progress within the sect in order to gain access to certain resources.”
Hearing this, Hei now understood. From Qiuyue’s explanation, Bai and Mei had a large number of merit points. If they were unable to use them to purchase cultivation techniques before initiation, then it really didn’t matter what they used them on.
They had clearly already managed to find a way to amass a large number of merit points. And even if they didn’t have any, Hei had not expected them to have started purchasing cultivation techniques at this stage anyway.
But when he found out that they had purchased all of these trinkets, he assumed that they were using their merit points wastefully.
He had neglected the fact that it was Jingfei who had been the medium for all the purchases thus far. He had no idea what kind of access privileges disciples had before initiation.
Since Bai and Mei hadn’t necessarily wasted their merit points, Hei decided to move on.
“Then can I see the information?”
He was interested to find out what was in the information jades that made all five young ladies give the same answer.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Bai and Mei happily handed Hei the information jades, which he used his spiritual perception to check.
After having seen what was in the information jades, Hei took another look at the room.
He was now able to analyse it in the same way that the others had, and sure enough, he also found this new design to be 3.94 times better than his original design.
“Wow… It really is 3.94 times better, according to these jades.”
As he imagined how his room previously looked, he could see how every change Bai and Mei made was to increase the score given by these information jades.
They had used a fairly complex method to give value to style, but the issue was, all of it leaned more towards what Hei would imagine a young lady’s taste would be.
Sure, the jades included styles that were more to Hei’s taste, but they were all marked lowly on the scale.
Hei imagined that these would be the preferences of the minority of young ladies within the sect, causing their scores to be low.
This made sense. The information came from a women-only sect; thus, most of the information would be tailored to women and young ladies.
Of course, there would be those whose tastes strayed from the norm, but for the most part, it wasn’t surprising.
The only thing Hei wondered was why Bai and Mei chose pink and white as the main colours.
As he looked around, analysing the room through the method provided by the jades, he realised that changing anything to the way was before, would only decrease the score, and it would do nothing to restore the previous atmosphere.
That meant, if he wanted his atmosphere back, he would have to completely revert the room to its original form.
He considered doing this, but as he looked at all of the small details that Bai and Mei added, he decided it was also worth preserving.
Even the amalgamation of stuffed animals that they called a blanket had a certain appeal to it.
All in all, the room was actually pretty nice. But it was just the wrong room for him.
“I do quite like it. But there was a special quality to the way it was before, so I will be recreating it and living there most of the time. This’ll be a special room only used when you come to visit.”
Bai and Mei both nodded their heads. They had no problem with this.
When they had originally insisted on sharing a room with Hei, they assumed he would be letting them live here for the entire time. But since it was only once a week, it didn’t matter where he was the rest of the time.
At this moment, Hei realised something.
“Why didn’t you guys just modify a different room? Why did it have to be this one?”
Bai and Mei both looked to each other. After a moment, they turned to him with raised brows and responded.
“You said your room was nothing compared to the other ones, so we thought improving this one would be best.”
“That’s right, why would we choose a different room?”
“…”
Hei was left speechless. It was true, he had told them his room was nothing compared to the ones he had created for them. So, ‘improving’ this one was the logical choice.
Hei decided to move on. He had other things to tell his sisters now.
“Anyway, let me update you on the Jingfei situation.”
Bai and Mei gave Hei their attention. They were interested in Jingfei for their own reasons.
Hei continued.
“It turns out Jingfei has a marriage proposal that she wants to get out of. And her original plan was to have me become her fiancé.-”
Before Hei could continue, Mei cut him off.
“Oh?”
Mei was already clad in her Berserk Aura, and the natural Qi told Hei that she had activated her spiritual perception.
Mei was currently trying to locate Jingfei.
Hei noticed this, so he interrupted her by patting her head.
“Calm down, Mei. What’s gotten into you?”
Before she could respond, Bai spoke.
“I think it’s because of her nature as a spirit beast. Now, how did you respond to Senior Sister Jingfei, Brother?”
Bai spoke as if she was being reasonable right now, but the natural Qi told Hei that she had also activated her spiritual perception.
Hei couldn’t help chuckling as he realised what was going on.
“So, are you also a spirit beast, Little Bai?”
Hearing his words, Bai blushed and looked down at the table. She didn’t think she was being so transparent.
This caused Hei to laugh even more.
“Well, of course, I didn’t agree to it. But your reactions were a bit too strong, don’t you think? Jingfei probably felt cold chills just now.”
Now both of them were looking down at the table.
Having teased them enough, Hei rubbed their heads and continued.
“It turns out that the rabbit hole goes much deeper than that. Jingfei’s mother is the sect leader. Over the years, a bunch of disciples have been going missing. And now the sect leader is also missing and is currently being replaced by the vice sect leader.
Bai and Mei looked to each other and seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
“Second-in-command?”
They both said this at the same time, and Hei nodded his head.
Over the years, Hei had taught his siblings the common phrases that he used in his plans. Second-in-command meant that the second-in-command was trying to take over.
“That is what I’m assuming given the current information, but there is a slight chance I’m wrong. We’ll see about that.”
Hei always included the possibility of unique plots appearing, so he never claimed to be 100 per cent sure. But he was always fairly confident.
He continued.
“Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be handling this one by myself.”
Hei didn’t want to get his sisters involved in this. He was fairly confident that the themes were going to get quite adult in this particular side quest.
If his speculations were correct, then this thing tied back all the way to the origin of the Radiant Jade Sect. But this was a bit of a wild guess, so he decided not to share it.
It was entirely based on the fact that there was the obscure rule of the peak leader of the Man Peak being able to invite a male disciple.
If he was correct, then the remnants of the original incident were still here, and this was all just a continuation of past events.
Bai and Mei seemed reluctant to be excluded from the fun, but they realised that if Hei was not inviting them, then it was no place for them.
He was surprised that they didn’t put up any resistance, but he could still see that they wanted to be a part of it.
It’s just so happened that he had something they could do.
“That being said, there’s still something I may need your help with.”
Hei could see their eyes sparkling as he said this.
He continued.
“It’s nothing exciting, really. It’s just if you decide to leave the sect, I want you to stay together. And if you encounter someone who attempts to assault or kidnap you, capture them for me.”
The two seemed to be confused by their brother’s instructions.
Hei could see this, so he clarified.
“It just so happens that I have a pretty good means of interrogation. If you bring one rat to me, it will lead us to the rest.”
Hearing these words, the two understood what he was saying.
Since the kidnappings were connected to the missing elders and sect leader, their brother was aiming to find the kidnappers.
Once he found one, he could find the entire group, and once that was done, he would be able to take a bird's-eye view of the entire situation.
“If it does happen, and that’s an if, I don’t want you to try to intentionally lure them out, then I want you to condition the person to fear me before you bring them to me. That will make the interrogation much more effective.”
Hei was planning to try his new interrogation techniques to see how effective they were.
After making sure that the two girls know his intentions clearly, Hei continued.
“On top of that, I want you to spread news of me being a hero among the juniors of the sect.”
After hearing these words, Bai and Mei had confused expressions. Why did their brother want to be labelled a hero? Didn’t he always say to be low-key?
Seeing their confusion, Hei elaborated.
“Through this whole Jingfei situation, I have seen a chance to potentially take the Radiant Jade Sect in as a subordinate as well. And being known as a hero among the new disciples would be quite helpful for that.”
Bai and Mei were surprised that their brother was trying to subordinate another group so soon. It was only a short while ago that they had essentially captured the Fang Clan.
Bai responded.
“Are you going to do the same thing you did with the Fang Clan’s matriarch? Will you be rescuing Jingfei’s mother?
Hei nodded his head. He was pleased that Bai was able to catch on so quickly.
He was indeed going to make use of the fact that rescuing Jingfei’s mother was part of his plans.
This, combined with what he was doing with the man peak, would at the very least, create the image of a hero in the minds of all disciples of the sect.
There was only one more question.
“What will you do with the Radiant Jade Sect, Brother?”
Mei added on.
“I also want to know.”
Hei scratched his head.
“Actually, I didn’t really intend to do anything with them. They’re just a collectable on the way. Maybe we’ll have use for them at some point.”
“…”
“…”