[Young Master Xian]—❈—66:: unnamed

This is our last etiquette class with Geng Zemin, and I hope that the end of it marks the last time I’ll ever lay eyes on the man.

I mean, I understand that he’s simply doing his job in the best way he knows how, but with the stress and hypercriticism that has been the very essence of our relationship, he’ll have to forgive me if I don’t say hey to him if I happen to walk past him on the street.

At least the feeling seems to be mutual, cause while Geng Zemin sees fit to offer both of my companions in suffering one of his microscopic nods in acknowledgement of their improvement, it looks like the only reason he doesn’t openly sneer at me is that he considers himself too proper to do so.

I, on the other hand, am nowhere near too proper to roll my eyes at him.

Geng Zemin’s expression tightens by at least eighteen percent, an incredible feat considering he constantly looks to be in dire need of a bathroom, and with one final bow (more a dip of his head really), he exits, assistants rushing after him.

I let out a long heavy breath as they leave.

“Ah. Freedom.”

Back at the manor, Wu Yazhu meets us at the door.

Bowing and offering the appropriate greeting, she says, “Manager Meng, your attires for tomorrow’s event has arrived.”

Ah. That’s fast. Those tailors do quick work. Though I suppose that’s only to be expected from cultivators.

Some days ago, after Mother had first told me about the banquet in my honour, some tailors had come in and taken measurements for Meng Yi, Xiuying and I.

In events like that, it’s in bad taste to bring your own retainers, as you are supposed to be entirely under The Empress’ care, so ordinarily, I wouldn’t be able to bring Meng Yi and Xiuying.

Well, maybe Meng Yi, since she’s officially my right-hand woman.

Since they’re also being honoured for helping me stop the Wild Qi storm though, they’re coming, and as such need appropriate attires for such an event.

Wu Yazhu leads us to three sizable boxes surrounded by accountants of The Greater Wealth Company.

Two of the boxes are sage rank, one noble, and all three are exquisite in style and taste.

The two sage rank boxes have names attached to them, stating which belongs to either of the two women they’re for.

The noble rank one has no name.

Guess they didn’t feel it necessary.

Meng Yi and Xiuying are staring at the boxes, both seeming a little overwhelmed.

I can understand why. If the clothes need sage rank boxes to be transported, then they themselves must be sage rank.

I don’t think both women put together have made enough money in their entire lives to afford even one of the hinges on those boxes.

“We should take these upstairs,” I say. “We can use my room to check them out.”

The accountants oblige silently, taking the boxes and following behind as we lead them to my room.

After they set them down, Meng Yi signs for the delivery of the items, and they exit in that way that I’m starting to think is universal with them all: i.e. silently and almost too quickly.

We all stare at the three boxes where the accountants had placed them on my bed at my direction. “So who wants to go first?” I ask.

The women stare at each other, both of them seeming to dare the other to go first.

I roll my eyes. “Cowards,” I say, though without real heat.

Stepping forward, I volunteer as tribute, reaching for my box.

“Noble rank box for clothes,” I say, unable to keep from appreciating just how wasteful this silly show of wealth is.

“Noble rank box for noble rank clothes,” Xiuying says, she and Meng Yi stepping forward to stand beside me for a better view.

“That actually makes it worse,” I begin to say as I unlock the latch, but the words hang unfinished in my throat as divine rank Qi comes pouring out of the box as soon as I crack the lid open.

“Fuck me,” Xiuying mutters.

I swallow, and open the lid completely to find a box full of divine rank clothing and some smaller noble rank boxes.

“Can you even wear these?” Xiuying asks.

“The Matriarch must have gotten permission for it from The Empress,” Meng Yi says, picking up one of the small noble rank boxes and opening it to reveal a golden, divine rank hairpin and a note.

“I would love to have seen that conversation,” Xiuying says, reaching for the folded note within the open hairpin box. “Even the paper is noble rank,” she says, looking it over before unfolding it and reading. “It says the hairpin is made from the shell of a—” she pauses, eyes widening “—a Domain Realm Golden Mountain-Splitter Beetle.”

“Domain Realm?” I ask, unable to believe what I heard.

“That’s what it says,” Xiuying says, offering me the note.

I take it. That is what it says, Golden Mountain-Splitter Beetle.

What does that name even mean? This thing doesn’t actually split mountains, right?

Who am I kidding? It’s divine rank and Domain Realm, of course it splits mountains.

Meng Yi picks up another of the boxes, this one bigger than the hairpin box.

She opens it to reveal a pair of shoes and a folded note. Xiuying takes that one too.

“This one says the soles of the shoes are made from the leather of a Domain Realm Heavenly Lava Salamander, and the rest of it is made from the silk of a Domain Realm Infinity-Web Spider,” Xiuying informs us. “It also says the silk part is dyed with the essence of Phoenix Blood Roses, a divine rank plant.”

I look at the shoes, the cloth top part a deep, alluring red, and the soles a rich, beautiful brown.

The power of the beasts whose parts have been used to make this still stand out strongly, even as processed as I’m sure the whole thing has been.

Golden Mountain-Splitter Beetle, Heavenly Lava Salamander, Infinity-Web Spider, I don’t know any of these creatures, but they all sound incredibly dangerous, even if they weren’t at the highest realm of cultivation.

“How many people do you think died acquiring the materials for these things?” I ask, not really wanting an answer.

Meng Yi and Xiuying share a look. “Many, probably,” Meng Yi says. “Which is why we should wear these garments with pride. So at least their deaths would be honoured in some small way.”

That’s one way of looking at it, I guess. Not at all a bad one, mind. Perhaps even, the best one. But even so, it just doesn’t sit right with me.

It’s like cultivating with Magistrate Qin’s corpse all over again.

“You also need to consider that qi beasts need to be killed, especially when they get this powerful,” Xiuying says.

“Why?” I ask.

“Even when they’ve been tamed, there’s something about breaking through into Domain Realm that makes them go a little… crazy with power,” she explains. “Even species that aren’t normally territorial start to claim land, mark territory… and they don’t stop until they meet something powerful enough to stop or kill them.”

“So basically, they act like humans,” I say.

Xiuying thinks about that for a moment. “Yeah, I guess they do,” she says.

We spend the next hour or so checking out all the clothes and accoutrements we’ve received. I even roll for all of mine, though with how high in cultivation rank everything is, I get no rewards.

A small blessing, in hindsight. I have no idea what on earth I would have done with divine rank shoes or a hairpin.

It probably would have sat in my reward space till the end of time.

The Cosmic Die is truly best with cultivation supplements and such; pills, herbs, simple one-use items that leave little trace besides an effect on one’s cultivation.

I ate what is likely the most powerful cultivation plant in this reality, and though practically everyone knows it was divine rank, all I have to do is just keep denying it and even The Empress herself got in trouble for acting on this suspicion without proof.

That definitely wouldn’t be the case if it was something like a weapon or a cultivation method though.

When all the boxes are empty, and my huge, king-size bed is covered in layers of silk robes and other materials, we begin debating if it would be okay to try out the clothes now before the event tomorrow evening.

Funnily enough, we all both want to and don’t, and the debate is largely us all arguing for and against simultaneously.

For Meng Yi, it’s a worry that something might go wrong, and the clothes might get stained and or damaged while we’re trying them out. Xiuying and I, of course, think this is silly.

For one, we’re adults; second, there’s no tea or such in my bedroom to cause such a risk; and third, we both firmly believe that if clothes this expensive (sage rank for them and divine for me) get so easily stained or damaged, the tailors should be shot.

On the other hand, Meng Yi’s reason for wanting to try out the clothes is for us to practice moving around in them seeing as the volume of material in each is… significant.

This is also Xiuying’s reason for wanting to try on the clothes, but she also doesn’t want to spend who knows how long struggling into them just walk around a room and look in a mirror.

I agree. On the other hand though, I like clothes, and for all their ridiculous amounts of cloth and layers, these look really good and feel crazy soft to the touch.

We’re still going round and round on it when Wu Yazhu brings a message. It’s from Mother. She wants me to come to her manor for dinner.

Apparently, my father and the rest of my siblings have arrived.

Which is a complete surprise to me because I had no idea they were coming to begin with.

—❈——❈——❈——❈—

—❈——❈——❈——❈—

What happened in this chapter was supposed to be like a ~400 word setup to the dinner, but then it ballooned to almost 2k and I just decided to post it and make the dinner its own thing.

That should be out in a couple days.

Take care.