Lin Yang was in fact happy that he was accompanying Ma Qian instead of Xiang Jiao. They were both happy as they could talk more often to each other. In the meantime, Ye Tian took out some of the ingredients he still had leftover to focuc on finding a breakthrough in concocting the forgetful potion. This would come in handy, such as after beating some of his friends or anyone else for that matter. He also took out the outfit he received from the vendor lady he made a deal with. Apparently this outfit was worn by a famous thief a long time ago, so Ye Tian assumed that there might be something special about this outfit. Xiang Jiao was on his bedside. He could barely move, and he was still thinking about the celebration. If those tribesmen did put him in this state, then he would get absolute revenge on them….or at least to the future generations. Revenge is sweet and satisfying, he thought.
This day was quite strange, since this time it was Xiang Jiao who took the initiative to ask some personal questions to Ye Tian. Though his way of asking seemed more like interrogation.
“Ye Tian, where did you come from?”
“A small village.”
“Hmmm…..interesting. Your cultivation and your martial dao….who taught you?”
“My father and mother.”
“Are they someone famous in the martial world.”
“No.”
“You’re lucky you have a family. I’ve never met my family.”
Xiang Jiao was frowning. Ye Tian’s answer was short and sweet. He was still busy experimenting while answering Xiang Jiao’s questions. But Ye Tian stopped for a moment recalling the time he has spent with his parents but are no longer living in this world.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” Xiang Jiao continued asking.
“Not really.”
“Why do you keep murmuring “10 years” when you’re sleeping?
Ye Tian was startled for a few seconds. First, the question is related to his life. The second, he didn’t even know he was doing that in his sleep. He’s guessing the rest also knew about it.
“I want to get rich in 10 years,” Ye Tian simply answered. This was of course a big lie and besides, it was no one else’s concern.
“Is that true? Haha…cough….cough….For some reason, my instinct tells me you’re lying. Someday, I will find out.”
“Believe what you want,” Ye Tian shortly replied without arguing back while still continuing to experiment with his potion.
“You know, I thought you would be more talkative than me……what a shame,” Xiang Jiao sighed without disturbing Ye Tian again. Now he was focused on one of his scrolls, the karma sutra! Instead of practicing his new skill, he thought it would be a waste of time. He already understood the principles of it, in fact, he did successfully execute the skill on Ma Qian on the previous night. All he needed was more targets to practice to get the hang of it, but he wasn’t stupid enough to do it on Ye Tian. His injuries would get far worse than what he already had. Bully the weak, leave the strong alone! That was Xiang Jiao’s way of doing things.
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When Ye Tian heard that, he rolled his eyes, and thought to himself, “WTF? You barely speak punk! Everyone knows that.” With a new grudge, Ye Tian continued to experiment on his potions.
Lin Yang and Ma Qian were quite compatible as they talked often without a worry. Ma Qian explained how he met Ye Tian for the first time, then how they ended up at another continent after battling to the death with a couple of the family clans. He continued to explain how they also met Xiang Jiao during their travels, and why he is following them. To this day, no one really knows why even though Xiang Jiao’s master told him their destinies were connected somehow. But neither minded his company, after all, he’s a strong fighter even though he can be crazy at times. However, there was one thing they totally agreed upon, that was Ye Tian’s battle prowess.
Ma Qian praised how Ye Tian was able to equally battle infinite dao fighters up to the extend where he could even injure them seriously. Ma Qian really admired Ye Tian in some ways and looked up to him as the leader of the pack even though he was younger than him. Lin Yang also begin to admire Ye Tian after he heard Ma Qian’s stories. Based on the how many days they’ve known each other, he considered Ye Tian to be a righteous and honest individual, which was quite rare among the younger generations. He also wondered why Ye Tian was not as famous as other geniuses in this world, after all, he believed Ye Tian to be the most supreme out of all the geniuses.
Lin Yang and Ma Qian were like two girls gossiping about Xiang Jiao and Ye Tian’s backgrounds. They kept on talking and talking effortlessly. No one could really stop them even if some wanted to. By this time, they’ve already reached the highest hill. Ma Qian started drawing the city’s map but he also kept talking with Lin Yang without affecting his work.
By mid afternoon, Ye Tian was ecstatic, because he finally made a breakthrough on the forgetful potion. With the remaining ingredients he had left, he was only able to produce three forgetful potions. It was a matter of time to test it out on someone easy to deal with. An image of Ma Qian was his first thought, but Ye Tian only wryly smiled. He didn’t know why Ma Qian was always the victim of many mishaps. In fact, he thought Ma Qian was no pushover either if he battled other geniuses in the same realm. Ma Qian was also the oldest of this group, but somehow, he became the least respected among the group. Of course, Ye Tian wasn’t going to use this on Ma Qian unless if he was desperate.
By evening, Ma Qian already finished the map, then immediately went to the brothel to gather more information with Lin Yang. Ma Qian actually made a deal with some of the ladies of the house to become his informants. This was all due to his sweet charms he’s build overtime and the familiarity on how the brothel actually works in secret. If it was another person, they would have a difficult time to make this special deal. After having a couple of encounters, the ladies of the house treated Ma Qian like their own, in other words, a part-time whore. Ma Qian knew the secrets and concerns of the brothel. He also wanted to build a network of information with the brothels from all over the world. He had a good reason in doing this. One was because he grew up in this type of environment. The second, he wanted to protect the ladies from harm, and if they were to escape somewhere else, the network would help the victim to a safe place. The third, the network would provide him a massive amount of information that other intelligence organizations could not compare with. This is vital to him and his group.
Ma Qian also found out about some noble family that were offering a generous salary to become their bodyguards. He wondered if being a bodyguard could help him expand his connections among the noble and political families of this world, so someday he might give it a try. Ambitions and dreams were running high at this point, which made Ma Qian more excited than ever….until Lin Yang disturbed him back into reality. Ma Qian got depressed again after realizing that currently they’re also in a dire situation having forced to live in a cave outside the city.
Being poor was much worse than becoming sad. Nothing ever works when you’re on the wrong end of the stick….