Chapter 0138

When Yu Li Mig started another bout of crying, Tempest threw her hands up in exasperation. “You handle this Fenix.”

“There, there, Yu Li Ming. Crying isn’t going to get you anything beside puffy eyes. Wipe those tears. It isn’t the end of the world.” Fenix brought out a handkerchief for Yu Li Ming to do just that. “Now, why don’t you list your problems one by one and we’ll figure a solution? No matter what you were before, you are with us now.”

Now to completely ruin the mothering image Fenix built up for herself, she barked at Tempest, “Get those three men here. Graden has a good head on his shoulders, and Bei Ting Mao can give another perspective on the whole entire situation.”

Women are totally two faced creatures. Tempest ignored the fact that she is a woman herself. As least Tempest isn’t the only one is going to suffer their mood swings. Misery shared is misery halved.

Tempest gleefully cast As Swift as the Wind and nabbed those three bastards by the collar and unceremoniously deposited them next to Fenix and Yu Li Ming. If she was a little rough with them… well that’s what they deserve for foisting off the issue onto her.

“Yu Li Ming here is going to explain her situation to us. I don’t want male chauvinistic judgemental bullsh*t from you guys, just solutions. Got that?”

“““Yes.”””” The three bastards had the same look on their face, one of the confusions and helplessness.

Tempest was immensely satisfied by the situation. She was still going to get them for tossing the two problem children in her lap. They will get the idea it is her job to control the women in the group if she doesn’t nip the idea in the bud right away. She won’t be as harsh now they’ve experienced some of the troubles Tempest just went through.

Yu Li Ming took a moment to compose herself before explaining the situation.

The Lei, Yu, and He clan are the biggest clans in the Flowing Plains Empire, a medium size kingdom in the western region of the Heavenly Mountains.

There is nothing special about the Flowing Plains Empire. It doesn’t sit on a strong ley line, nor does the kingdom produce any spirit stones, a general currency as well as a good source of qi for cultivators. The kingdom also doesn’t produce rare or special ores. As for rare herbs, well, those tend to grow in a forest filled with high-level magical beasts. The Flowing Plains Empire is a plain. It doesn’t have any dangerous forest littered with magical beasts within its borders.

What they do have is a vast fertile plain that produces the majority of the grains in the region. Any nations seeking to expand its borders must first capture the Flowing Plains Empire. An army can not move on an empty stomach.

Luckily the Flowing Plains Empire have strong ties and deep roots with the Distant Mountain Sect, a medium size sect famed for their body cultivation method and strong defense. The Distant Mountain Sect acts like a deterrence to other countries.

Medium size sects are better off than small size sects but they also have their own issues to consider. The main problem plaguing medium size sects is the need to hold their superiority over the small size sect while holding their against the large sects lest they get taken advantage of. Simply put, mid-size sects are between a rock and a hard place.

In order to stay strong, the Distant Mountain Sect needs strong Elders and strong disciple to replace the dying Elders. It is a boon to most sects if they have one immortal in the sect, as the immortal could protect the sect until another immortal rise to take their place. Sadly, that is not the situation with the Distant Mountain Sect. They have one Dao Path elder in seclusion, but that is it.

The Distant Mountain Sect found a way to survive in the tumultuous cultivation world. First, they deviated from the sword cultivation most of the other sects are prominent for and focus completely on the body. They do encourage their disciples to learn how to use a weapon but the emphasis is on the body.

Over their long years of existence, they were able to fine tune their cultivation method. They can cultivate body cultivators using their method but over the years they realized the strongest body cultivators at one time or another dabbled as a mage before choosing to cultivate the body full time.

The Distant Mountain Sect started testing all the young children for affinities and sending those promising ones to the Magus Alliance for training. Later they would test the children for spirit veins. If they didn’t have any, then the children would cultivate as a mage. If they did, then the children are brought back to the sect for training.

The Yu, He and Lei clan didn’t want to send their children to cultivate as a mage considering the loose morals most mages possess. Nonetheless, they followed the dictates of the Distant Mountain Sect and sent their children over to the Magus Alliance for training.

Lei Mo was the child of the Lei clan chosen and as his fiancee, Yu Li Ming was sent along with him. That is how she ended up in the Eternal Spirit Sect.

“So it was a political engagement. Just break the engagement with the fool. It's not like you love him.” The insensitive Tempest said unconcernedly.

“Breaking an engagement is not that easy. There are political ramifications to consider. The alliance between the Yu clan and the Lei clan might be affected. At the same time, breaking this engagement isn’t that hard.” Bei Ting Mao said.

Since Bei Ting Mao is from the Heavenly Mountains and he has experience dealing with the clans and their expectations, schemes and what not, he is the best person to turn to in this situation.

Everyone eyed him eagerly. They were all wondering about the solutions he is going to propose.

“First, have you seen the marriage contract between you and Lei Mo?”

“No.”

“Who told you Lei Mo was your fiancée?”

“My fourth uncle was chaperoning us during the Mid Autumn Festival. He saw Lei Mo in the crowd and told me Lei Mo was my fiancee.”

“Did anyone introduce you two and explicitly said Lei Mo was your fiancee?” Bei Ting Mao continued with his line of question with a frown.”

Bei Ting Mao hmmm a bit before looking at Yu Li Ming with a worried expression. He opened his mouth, trying to say his conclusion, but hesitated. He gave Fenix a look that said, “You break it to her.”

Fenix isn’t stupid. Her glare said, “You’re not pushing this onto me.”

Bei Ting Mao turned towards Tempest and gave her the same look he gave Fenix. Tempest ignored him. She wasn’t stupid enough to step on that land mine. Bei Ting Mao discreetly held out a money pouch with 200 silvers in it.

Tempest smiled like a manic and pointed to her right. “Hey look, that guy is holding a pouch filled with gold. I’m going after him to sell some charms.”

With a herd mentality, everyone turned to look at the guy Tempest was pointing too, Yu Li Ming included.

“And that is how you were either tricked or mislead to thinking Lei Mo is your fiancee.” Tempest said with triumphed and signalled Bei Ting Mao to hand the money over to her later.

“What are you talking about?” Yu Li Ming was confused. “What do you selling charms have to do with me being misled?”

“Look, no one said you were engaged to Lei Mo. There is no proof of an engagement. No one mentions your engagement to Lei Mo either. This means you weren’t engaged to Lei Mo in the first place.”

“But…”

Tempest patted Yu Li Ming shoulders pityingly. “I’m not saying you are not engaged to someone in the Lei clan, but it doesn’t have to be Lei Mo specifically. I pointed to a group a people earlier and said they had money. More than one person had money in the direction I pointed to. Did you know the specific person I was talking about?”

“No.” Yu Li Ming answered timidly.

“Since you don’t then, it is safe to say when your fourth uncle pointed to a person in the crowd, it might not be Lei Mo.”

“Then why did they send me here? Why am I here if not to accompany him?” Yu Li Ming began to feel a sense of foreboding in her heart.

“Tell me, is your mother alive?” Tempest asked in a calm voice.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just answer, will ya?”

“No, she’s not alive. She died when I was young.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“No.”

“How powerful is your mother’s clan?”

“They haven’t been visiting the mansion recently, so I don’t know.”

“What have you been doing for the last, I don’t know, 10 years?” Tempest asked incredulously.

“I stayed in my courtyard learning calligraphy and embroidery, like a proper lady.”

Tempest pat Yu Li Ming’s head like the gullible idiot she was. “They are using you as a pawn.”

“What are you saying?” Yu Li Ming began to understand where the series of question was leading to and she didn’t like it one bit. Hysterics entered her voice as she tried to deny the conclusion drawn by everyone.

Tempest didn’t feel the need to sugar coat anything. “I’m saying you were used as a pawn. They knew you had the potential to be a mage but when your mother was around and her clan was still strong, the Yu clan didn’t get any ideas about you. Once your mother died and her clan declined, they decided to use you to fulfill the quota set by the Distant Mountain Sect. They isolated you because they knew you were coming here and they didn’t want the world to know they had a ‘loose woman’ in their clan.”

“Your lying.” The hysterics Yu Li Ming felt before grabbed a hold of her body and wouldn’t let go. She gave Bei Ting Mao a forlorn gaze, begging him to deny Tempest’s word. His hesitation was all the answer she needed.

“NOOOOO! You’re lying. You’re LYing. You’re LYING!” Yu Li Ming didn’t want to acknowledge anything they were saying even though she suspected it a long time ago.

“Yeah, I could be lying.” Tempest admitted readily.

“What?” Yu Li Ming asked, flabbergasted by the abrupt change.

“What I said previously are conjectures based on my experiences. I am not infallible. I don’t know if I am wrong or if I am right. The only person who would know would be your family. So, if you want to get to the bottom of this, finish the five-year requirement imposed by both guilds and head back home and ask them yourself. You’d get your answers then. As for your reputation and what people think and all that nonsense, deny, deny, deny. If your family sent you here, they wouldn't admit it. If they didn’t send you here, then make up a story. You stay in your house all day anyways. I’m sure not many people would remember you.”

Yu Li Ming whimpered then sagged against Fenix in relief. “Can I really do that?” she asked in a timid voice.

“Yep.” Tempest answered with confidence and the other voiced their agreement.

Yu Li Ming bounced up to give Tempest a hug.

“Get off me you idiot. I’ve already wasted enough time with your sob story. I don’t want to spend another minute in the guild. I need to make money!” Tempest yelled at the grateful Yu Li Ming.

“Ahhh, so that’s her true motive.” The other members of the group thought in their hearts. A leopard never changes its spots. A money grubber is still a money grubber in the end.