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001 - The Engagement of the Family's Shame
🕑 Added 2024-07-03 17:37:44 +0000 UTCQin Yun leaned on a sturdy broom, resting his chin over his hands. While he was tasked with sweeping the grounds by the family’s elders, he found something else that held his interest.
A small bird in the distance flapped its multicoloured wings in an effort to attract a female of its species. While such a thing was all too common, Qin Yun couldn’t help but muse that some things were irrelevant of species. The urge to find companionship was universal.
Qin Yun, too, would one day leave to find a partner with whom he could share his life. Still, he was in no hurry. He was still young, no more than twenty. He still had his whole life ahead of him. Why subject himself to the whims of another while he could still be free for a bit longer?
Still, not many shared his dream of freedom. Most wanted him to find a wife and move in with her, or at the very least, they wanted him gone.
Qin Yun’s family prided themselves as an Immortal Family. Well, immortal was a bit of a stretch. At most, they could be considered a Cultivation Family. It had been eons since the family last birthed an immortal. So long in fact, that no records remained to prove it.
Still, it wouldn’t stop the family’s elders from bragging about it. To this day, this was their greatest source of pride, just as Qin Yun was their greatest shame.
Qin Yun didn’t care, though. So what if they labelled him a failure behind his back—sometimes even to his face. Why should his worth be decided by anyone other than himself?
Still, he understood where they came from. For someone over the age of twenty to be unable to break through the peak of the Body Strengthening Stage could indeed be deemed a failure. Well, it wasn’t that he couldn't, but that was beside the point.
It was only a matter of face, really. In their eyes, the sooner they could get rid of this shame, the better. To them, birthing an immortal was their life’s calling. Anyone not contributing to that goal was deemed incompetent. Qin Yun honestly had no interest in their petty wants.
However, a good thing about them was that they weren't depraved enough to simply dispose of him. If you listened closely, it wasn't rare for a clan to kill off some of their less talented members. They wouldn't do it personally, mind you. They only had to find a reason to make them leave on a mission, hoping they never returned, which they often didn't.
Qin Yun didn't worry about that. If they wanted to get rid of him, it would be after they had put their hands on his mother's inheritance. As far as he knew, his mother was still alive, but something prevented her from coming back to him.
Qin Yun was too lazy to care. He had already seen such tropes too often during his multiple different lifetimes. He was sure she held some unspeakable secrets that she would divulge somewhere down the line. He only had to wait until the opportune moment.
Qin Yun failed to mention this wasn't his first life. Indeed, he had lived so many before. So many, he lost count. It wasn’t even his first time being born in this world. If he remembered correctly, this should be his fourth or fifth; he wasn’t sure. Well, this didn’t really matter, anyway.
He died in the end, just as he always did. Maybe, if he was lucky enough, he might find the vestiges of his former lives, but he doubted it. He wasn’t even sure if those lives were in the past, relative to now, or in the future. What was chronology supposed to be in five-dimensional thinking, anyway?
If you wish to know how he even knew where he was, that was all due to a small, hexagonal black box hovering just out of his reach. For as long as he remembered, it had followed him around. Except for a series of numbers written on what he believed to be a screen, there was nothing special about it.
As far as he knew, those numbers should be akin to coordinates. Still, they were almost meaningless to him. Who would bother to remember five-dimensional coordinates? Well, he did. He didn’t know why, but he thought it would become handy at some point. Well, it didn’t.
Still, that box wasn’t totally useless. It possessed its own dimension, which he utilized aplenty in other worlds. However, that box was a useless item here.
This cultivation world already possessed space rings for storage, which were also relatively cheap. So the box was useless, except that it followed him wherever he went and was invisible to anyone but him.
That meant Qin Yun could store whatever he wanted in it and use it in his next life, which he did initially, but things soon got boring. How would it feel to start a new life with everything you could hope for? Qin Yun was sick of it, so he sealed it for the time being. While he wouldn't be stubborn about its use, he would try to enjoy his life here before resorting to it.
This brought us back to his family. While his mother was gone, who knows where, Qin Yun lived with the family on his father's side. It was a peaceful life until they realized how inept he was at cultivation. At that point, even his father lost all interest in him. That suited him just fine, as he had no interest in the man himself.
Still, that also came with its own set of problems. The people here were quite... special, let’s say. They took an uncanny pleasure in the suffering of others. Qin Yun didn’t know what it was, but each time he was reborn here, people seemed much too arrogant for their own sake.
Couldn’t they just live in harmony with each other? What was the point of all this fighting and killing, anyway? Wasn’t the point of cultivation to seek the Dao and achieve immortality? How could they do that if they were already dead?
Qin Yun couldn't understand their thought process. More than that, he didn't wish to. He was more than content living a simple life away from the limelight. He had had more than enough lifetimes of bloodshed.
“There you go again," a young woman slightly older than him said gently. "Why do you seem like an old man each time I see you like this?”
Qin Yun’s gaze left the bird as it flew away with its newfound mate; he then turned to the young woman beside him. She was Qin Meihui, his cousin. She was probably the only one in the family who accepted him despite his ineptitude.
She wore a thin white dress that slightly exposed her shoulders, while her long black hair was tied in a bun using an ornate hairpin, showing her cute ears. Qin Yun couldn’t help but think this cousin of his was a pearl among swine, especially considering his immediate family.
As her name suggested, she was beautiful but also wise. While not the most talented in the family, she was among the best and brightest. She knew how to conceal herself to avoid the more confrontational branch family members.
Indeed, the Qin Family wasn't a monolith but an assortment of countless branch families originating from the same ancestor. While Qin Meihui could be considered part of the Main Family, Qin Yun was from a branch one. Still, they were closely related as their fathers were brothers, and their grandfather was the Patriarch.
Yet, their status couldn’t be more worlds apart. Under normal circumstances, it would be unthinkable for them to even converse, as cultivation talent was seemingly all that mattered in their eyes. Qin Yun wouldn't care, though. He quite liked the freedom offered by being ostracized.
“What can I do for you, sister?” he asked with a slight smile.
Qin Meihui shook her head. She couldn't understand how this cousin of hers could remain so carefree under such circumstances. He was shunned within his own family. His mother was missing, while his father wanted nothing to do with him. Even his blood-related siblings despised him. Yet here he was, smiling peacefully. She really could never tell what went on in his mind.
“Aren’t you afraid of the elders’ anger once they see that you haven’t swept the grounds?” she asked, concerned.
“Is this task supposed to mean something?” Qin Yun asked as he shrugged. "If they wanted this place cleaned, with their cultivation base, they only had to wave their sleeves, and the dust would be gone. Why bother asking me to do it? Unless they simply wanted a reason to berate me even more. Why waste energy in that case when the result would stay the same? I'm too lazy to care."
Qin Meihui was lost for words. Although his reasoning was on point, she felt he was too brazen. They were the elders; they had lived for many years, and their cultivation bases were unfathomable. Did he think he could resist them if they were angered by his words? He had no one to rely on and no power of his own. Where did this confidence come from?
As if knowing her thoughts, Qin Yun replied, "They won't do anything too harsh until they get what they want from me." His smile was calm and peaceful, like a massive tree that could withstand any storm.
Still, Qin Yun wouldn't try to antagonize them too much. He had no idea as to the limit of their patience. While they still had their pride as elders, which would prevent them from using force, the same couldn't be said for the younger generation. Most of them would be more than happy to fall out with him if it meant being appreciated by their ancestors.
Qin Yun wondered if sucking up to those fossils was worth it. He was never interested in politics, but it seemed that it always played a crucial part despite whatever world he found himself in. At first, he hoped that a world like this one—where might was king—would be somehow different, but to his disappointment, it wasn't.
If anything, it was somehow even worse. It wasn't rare for plots and conspiracies to occur even within the same clan. Everyone vied for power in one way or another. Qin Yun shook his head. Why couldn't they simply enjoy themselves instead of seeking what little power they could? Would that make their lives worth it?
“The elders summon you to the Main Hall,” Qin Meihui said with a slightly grim expression. “What did you do this time?”
“Who knows,” Qin Yun replied as he shrugged. “I don’t even need to do anything, and they’ll find something to pin on me. Honestly, it just saves me the trouble, and the unknown makes life more exciting.”
Qin Meihui could only show a wry smile. She didn’t know if this cousin of hers was brave or simply apathetic. She leaned more heavily on the second option as he would use any opportunity to slack off when no one was watching. She just hoped the elders wouldn’t be too heavy-handed; she quite liked this bum of a cousin.
After saying farewell to Meihui, Qin Yun made the trip to the Clan's Main Hall. However, he was in no hurry and occasionally stopped along the way to admire the sights. Sometimes, he would stop before a tree, watching the wind blow within its leaves. Others, he would stop to smell the scent of flowers as bees buzzed around their pistils, pollinating them.
Nature was just full of wonders that people seldom appreciated. They were in too much of a hurry to appreciate these simple sights in all their glories. Even cultivators who could live for millennia never took the time to do so. What was the point of rushing through life when one had all the time in the world? Qin Yun felt living in the present was more rewarding than worrying about the future. Unfortunately, not many shared his vision.
Two old men and one woman were seated in the Main Hall on thrones of gold and crystal. The men's hairs were white, and their long beards reached their chests. Despite their aged features, their eyes still shone with youthful vigour. Yet, their expressions were grim as they waited impatiently for this impertinent junior of theirs.
Unlike the aged elders, the woman looked no older than thirty despite being from the same generation as the men beside her. Her long black hair fell like a waterfall over her slim shoulders, while a delicate jade hairpin was nestled at the back of her head, giving her an elegant air. Her blue dress was slit at the hip, showing her long, slender legs.
All in all, if Qin Yun had a type, she would be it. In fact, it would be difficult to find a man who didn’t find her attractive. It wasn’t simply her beauty, but her strength and character were also impressive. Few were a match for her, either in terms of looks or ability.
The atmosphere within the hall was tense as the three elders waited in silence. It had been almost an hour since they had sent Qin Meihui to fetch that insolent young man, yet there were still no signs of him.
In her impatience, the lady snorted slightly before a slight pressure permeated the hall. This was proof of her divine sense propagating outwards. For an expert of her calibre, enveloping the whole of the clan’s grounds into her divine sense was child’s play. It took no more than a moment for her to find Qin Yun’s whereabouts.
Once she did so, however, her eyes narrowed slightly, and her glare grew colder. Qin Yun was sprawled on the stairs leading to the main hall, basking in the sun. His eyes were closed, and his chest rose and fell lightly with each breath. As you might expect, he was sound asleep.
The woman pushed one of her graceful hands forward as an ethereal blue lotus appeared above her head. The lotus was hazy as if a fog hovered over it, yet its might was unmistakable. Even the remaining two elders were slightly surprised to see the slowly rotating lotus. Even with their uncountable years of experience, they couldn't mask the awe they felt in their hearts.
“Junior sister Lihua’s cultivation is unparalleled in her generation,” one elder said as he clasped his hands in salute. “Senior brother stands in admiration of junior sister’s beauty and might.”
Indeed, although those three were considered of the same generation, Qin Lihua was far and away the strongest of the three. Still, as she held almost no interest in anything other than the Dao, not many knew her identity, much less how strong she truly was. Many speculated that she might be a match for the Patriarch despite being a generation lower.
The blue lotus spun as shards of frost appeared on its surface. Qin Lihua stayed silent, paying no heed to the man's words. Her only thoughts were on how to punish this insolent junior who had made her waste her precious time. A single, slender, outstretched finger pointed down as her pressure increased slightly.
Outside the hall, Qin Yun slept peacefully under the warmth of the sunlight as a small cloud materialized above his head, creating a slight shade. Despite being a cloud, if one looked closer, one would realize that it wasn't formed of water droplets but minuscule ice crystals hovering in the air.
While its exterior wasn't much different from that of other clouds, its interior was so cold that one might become a block of ice in a matter of seconds. Still, this was an infinitesimal fraction of the female elder's powers.
The ice cloud fell without warning, burying Qin Yun in its frost and waking him from his dreams. Unexpectedly, Qin Yun didn't rise in fright as the ice burned his skin but instead slowly opened his eyes and calmly yawned before getting up slowly as if he couldn't feel the threat looming over him.
It wasn't that he couldn't, but such a childish prank didn't mean much to him. It was just cold; resisting it only took a little willpower. Still, it might have been better to give more of a reaction, as Elder Lihua was less than pleased with Qin Yun's nonchalant attitude.
Elder Lihua's brows were slightly furrowed as Qin Yun entered the clan's main hall. A water trail followed his step as his damp robes dripped onto the marble floors. His hair was slightly wet, yet he simply shook his head, as a dog would, before tying it haphazardly in a ponytail using a shabby hemp string.
He seemed so out of place compared to the hall's splendour that the remaining elders couldn't help but frown. Despite his messy attire, Qin Yun showed no hint of shame; his back was straight, and his gaze was clear as he walked toward the thrones.
He stopped a few paces away, showing a slight gentle smile, before bowing deeply to his elders. Qin Yun wasn't concerned about seniority, but he would show them a modicum of respect as they were from the same family.
“Junior Qin Yun greets the three elders!”
Qin Yun's firm voice reverberated in the massive hall, bouncing off the countless pillars that held it up before he raised his head without waiting for the elders' reply. While he would show the minimum respect necessary, Qin Yun didn't feel inclined to offer much more, as they, too, didn't respect him in the slightest.
Qin Yun could feel a slight hint of anger in their gaze as he stared back at them. While he was too lazy to care about what scheme they had planned for him, it didn't mean he would just roll over and accept it. This was his own slight form of resistance, just enough to show he wasn't the pushover they thought him to be. Still, he couldn't show too much as they might get suspicious, and he would have to kiss goodbye to his lazy life.
A white-haired elder scoffed slightly as the silhouette of a green lotus hovered above his head, putting pressure on Qin Yun’s body as if trying to make him lower himself. Still, Qin Yun stood upright as if this was but a gentle breeze, and he was a sturdy tree weathering the storm.
Seeing this, the elder furrowed his brows even more as he increased the pressure slightly. The other elder showed an interested look while the woman remained impassive as if she didn’t care either way.
Despite the mounting pressure, Qin Yun maintained his slight smile, but thoughts swirled in his mind. He wondered when would be a good time to buckle under the pressure. He would need to make it look authentic. Thankfully, some of his prior lives had taught him how to act. Still, Qin Yun couldn’t be bothered and chose the simplest option.
“Qin Yun dares to ask why the elders have summoned his humble self,” Qin Yun said calmly.
The archaic way he spoke was meant only to make fun of them. Despite this being a world of cultivation, who in their right mind would still talk in this old-fashioned way? Still, the elders seemed to like this way of speaking, as some of their expressions softened while the pressure receded. Only the woman remained indifferent.
“Must you be so stubborn in your ways?" Qin Lihua asked while wearing a mask of indifference as if his answer wouldn't matter in the slightest.
Qin Yun knew what it referred to. Although he could feel her good intentions, Qin Yun had already chosen his path and remained silent. While he knew his family would never understand, this didn't matter. Hearing no answer from him, Qin Lihua grew slightly angered.
“So be it,” she snorted. “Have it your way.”
Ignoring their last interaction, they returned to the matter at hand.
“Nephew Qin Yun, we asked you here to inform you of your upcoming marriage,” the last elder said.
Qin Yun's eyebrow rose slightly. While arranged marriages were the norm, they were rarely done so young as most cultivators could live easily for hundreds of years. They would usually wait for them to mature to ensure both parties possessed the necessary qualities they could bestow their offspring with.
Qin Yun's case was even weirder. He was well-known in the city for being a failure. Who in their right mind agreed to be the bride? Was she a sacrifice, or was there something wrong with her too? Qin Yun was puzzled but also intrigued. This seemed like an excellent way to rid himself of his boredom.
“Might I ask who the bride is?” he asked calmly.
“She is an inner disciple of the Immortal Phoenix Sect,” the female elder replied to his inquiry in a cold voice, almost frozen. Qin Yun didn’t take it to heart as this was this female cultivator’s standard tone. “She is the sole disciple of my good friend. Her name is Yun Jingfei. Know that this marriage is already set in stone. We are only informing you. You have no right to refuse.”
Qin Yun showed a slight smile at those words. Surely, there was a conspiracy afoot. He wondered what the family had to gain with this marriage; better yet, what did the Yun Family hope to achieve? Still, he grew curious about this Yun Jingfei; he couldn't wait to meet his bride-to-be.
"Qin Yun understands the elders' good intentions. Qin Yun wouldn't dare to refuse such a favour. Qin Yun thanks the elders with all his heart."
Although Qin Yun's words and expression seemed perfect, Qin Lihua couldn't help but find his voice grating as if he were mocking them. Still, she was an elder; she couldn't vent her frustration on a junior based on her whim. She had a reputation to preserve.
“You can go,” she said to Qin Yun as she waved her sleeve. “The marriage is scheduled in a month. The bride is bound to arrive only slightly before you are to be wed.”
Qin Yun bowed again, then turned and left. Before he could leave the hall, however, the female elder’s voice prompted him to stop.
"Until then, you best be on your best behaviour. You cannot bear the consequences if you were to shame the clan before the bride's family."
"Qin Yun will bear the elder's warning in his heart," he said as he left but scoffed in his heart.
He was already the family's shame; could he shame them even more? Well, he could; it wasn't that hard, but there was nothing to gain from it. Besides, it would demand too much of an effort from him. He wasn't that bored. Okay, maybe just a little bit. But now, he had something to look forward to.
He wondered how beautiful his bride would be or if there would be something more... He couldn't wait.
