Chapter 33: The Skipping School Genius

Her voice held a certain chill: "Even with a lifetime of experience, Master Fang, the wondrous nature of your little establishment is something I, Mingxue, have never before encountered."

"As a martial artist who has spent sixteen years without a single extraordinary encounter, it should be entirely impossible for you, from any conceivable angle, to fashion such bizarre creations, let alone master the lightning arts—the most arduous of a cultivator's disciplines."

"Yet yesterday, within your shop, we not only witnessed the marvel of these contraptions, but we also beheld the elusive mastery of your lightning arts on three separate occasions."

"It takes no great leap of logic to deduce that these wondrous artifacts you call 'computers' are the handiwork of a grand figure, or perhaps an entire cabal of cultivators standing behind you. You, Master Fang, are merely the agent they have thrust into the spotlight. Am I correct?"

Fang Qi blinked, momentarily taken aback. "A remarkably astute analysis."

'If only your imagination were a bit grander,' he added silently.

"The gulf between a cultivator and an ordinary mortal is vaster than heaven and earth," she continued after a brief pause. "And those possessed of the sheer audacity to display such creations before the world cannot possibly be of ordinary standing, even among their fellow cultivators."

"Yet they still chose you to stand at the fore, to manage this shop of cultivated artifacts on their behalf. Is it because their true identities cannot endure the light of day? Or is it because they simply disrelish the thought of too many souls knowing they exist?" Nalan Mingxue queried. "Whichever the case, these lofty beings have entrusted you with their creations, which means they must desire something of great import. And where there is desire, there exists a foundation for negotiation."

"In the span of a single night, you have investigated and analyzed everything so thoroughly." Fang Qi let out a faint laugh. "Miss Nalan, should I offer you my admiration?"

"You flatter me, Master Fang." Nalan Mingxue took a delicate sip of her pear blossom wine. The warmed liquor soothed her throat, bringing a faint, blushing hue to her snow-pale cheeks. It was like the springtime thaw of winter snow, or a solitary winter plum bursting into sudden bloom amid the frost, revealing an unspoken, exquisite grace. Her tone remained flat, laced with a subtle thread of indolence. "In truth, I only came to your establishment after my investigation was complete."

Which meant that the moment she heard the name "Origin," she had already set her inquiries in motion. That was the sole reason she had waited until the second day to grace his shop with her presence.

"Then, Master Fang—or rather, the cultivators backing you—would you be interested in entering the service of the Nalan Family?" Seeing the displeasure clouding Fang Qi’s features, she quickly added, "Pray, do not be too hasty to refuse. Surely you must know that the affair with Xiao Yulv is far from over. If the cultivators behind you cannot show their faces to aid you, I mean no disrespect, but with your abilities alone, handling this matter will prove an arduous task."

"But with the might of the Nalan Family, I can assure you that the forces behind him will not dare trouble you!"

Her designs were now entirely laid bare. In truth, she had never once relinquished her ambition to claim Fang Qi’s little shop for her own. Never.

Fang Qi’s expression grew visibly darker. "My time is worth hundreds of thousands by the minute. Did you weave this elaborate scheme to lure me from my shop just to tell me this?"

"I admit your analysis is decent," Fang Qi sneered. "But if I may be blunt, as for entering your service, your Nalan Family lacks the qualifications."

"Do you even comprehend what the name Nalan signifies in Jiuhua City, or across the entire Jiangnan region?" Lanyan flared in anger. "Even the imperial family must show the utmost reverence when visiting the Nalan estate in the south. My lady takes an interest in your shop and offers you an opportunity, granting you immense face, yet you think far too highly of yourself!"

"A clever bit of opportunism, I'll give you that," Fang Qi chuckled. "But if you think a mere Xiao Yulv is enough to threaten me, you are being far too fanciful."

"Utterly insolent!" Lanyan’s right hand dropped to the hilt at her waist. With a flash of cold light, a piercingly sharp longsword was instantly pressed against Fang Qi’s chest.

Fang Qi lifted the wine cup from the table. The delicate, ethereal fragrance of pear blossoms wafted up, intoxicating the senses; before a single drop passed his lips, a wondrous sensation of drifting among the clouds washed over him.

He nodded in approval and drained the cup in one swallow. The fine vintage was still warm, and as it went down, a current of warmth diffused into his limbs and bones. Within his dantian, where he had barely cultivated at all, a faint, cozy breath of energy began to stir.

Martial Qi?!

"An exceptional wine indeed." This was far more than a mere catalyst for cultivation; a single cup was easily worth dozens of days of bitter, solitary training.

"The wealthy truly live in a different world," Fang Qi muttered under his breath.

Without a care for anyone else, he began to feast upon the dishes, reaching for the flask to pour himself another cup, never pausing for an instant.

Lanyan, her sword still leveled at him, watched with growing astonishment. Setting the feast aside, that flask contained spiritual wine, specifically chosen by Nalan Mingxue to test Fang Qi’s mettle!

It was brewed from spiritual blossoms harvested from a thousand-year-old pear tree. Its nature was warm, meant to dispel cold, perfectly complementing Nalan Mingxue’s own cultivation art. Though it was no poison, she herself dared only consume a single small cup each day, and even then, she required the special Ethereal Pills prepared by her family to dissolve its potent medicinal strength.

Yet Lanyan was witnessing Fang Qi down half the flask already.

"This... this cannot be real, can it?!"

And then, she watched as he continued to drink.

By this point, it was not just Lanyan; even Nalan Mingxue felt a sudden tremor of dread in her heart. 'Is this boy some kind of monster?!'

She had clearly investigated him; he was but an ordinary martial artist who had never experienced any miraculous encounters. How could he possibly be this formidable?

How could she know that Fang Qi’s body, tempered by the T-Virus, had long ceased to be ordinary? Even without channeling martial qi to resist it, the medicinal potency of the spiritual wine could not intoxicate him in the slightest.

Only when the entire table of food and wine was cleared did he pat his stomach and turn his gaze toward Lanyan, whose sword still pointed at him.

Lanyan’s delicate frame shuddered. In that fleeting instant, she felt as though the youth standing before her was no ordinary martial artist, but a primordial beast of the wilderness.

As Fang Qi rose to his feet and walked toward Nalan Mingxue, Lanyan found that she did not dare to raise her hand against him.

An unbidden tightness seized Nalan Mingxue’s heart. A sensation gripped her soul—a conviction that the person before her was entirely invincible.

But how could that be possible?!

He was only sixteen years of age. Moreover, no great height of cultivation could be discerned from his bearing.

Fang Qi drew closer and closer. Never in her life had she allowed anyone to stand so near, near enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body.

Yet this sensation was akin to a wild beast pressing close, sniffing the scent of its prey; it was enough to make anyone’s skin crawl with horror.

For the first time in her existence, an unprecedented wave of anxiety bloomed within her.

The young martial artist, whom she believed she had seen through entirely—whose childhood embarrassments she had laid bare through her inquiries—had in this single moment vanished into a thick, pitch-black shroud of mist. All that remained was a void of absolute unpredictability.

And it was this very unpredictability that she feared above all else.

Fortunately, the sensation came as swiftly as it vanished. Before long, Fang Qi turned and walked away, leaving behind a faint, echoing voice: "Miss Nalan, in light of how splendid this meal tasted, I shall overlook this little test. Should there be a next time, the price may be more than you can bear to pay."

Rising from his seat, Fang Qi pulled out one of the property deeds and left the corresponding amount of spirit crystals upon the table.

"Take the rest of these back. I have no desire to evict all my neighbors just because I opened an internet cafe." He gestured with the deed in his hand. "And when you have the time, remember to send over the keys."

'It must be some powerful protective artifact bestowed upon him by the cultivator behind him! It must be!' Nalan Mingxue’s gaze narrowed slightly. Possessing a rationality far beyond ordinary folk, she refused to believe that Fang Qi truly commanded such terrifying power on his own, and thus she swiftly regained her composure.

To allow a sixteen-year-old boy to become so formidable in such a short span of time was a sheer impossibility.

'It seems I still underestimated how deeply that figure values him.'

"Wait," Nalan Mingxue called out just as Fang Qi reached the threshold.

Fang Qi paused at the doorway and looked back at her. Seeing the fleeting shock in her eyes that she instantly strove to conceal, he let out a cold laugh. "What? Is Miss Nalan intending to keep me here?"

The expression on Nalan Mingxue’s face gradually smoothed back into tranquility.

"If I were to accompany Master Fang back now, surely there would be a vacant seat for me?" Nalan Mingxue lowered her head and drained the last of the pear blossom wine in her cup, murmuring softly, "Even if our negotiations fell through, Mingxue may still frequent Master Fang’s shop, correct?"

"Of course."

"Though I believe calling me Boss Fang is far more fitting," Fang Qi remarked. "Master sounds far too pretentious. It rubs me the wrong way."

"Very well, Boss!"

"I heard from a friend that the Huang House of the Lingyun Academy has morning lectures today?" His friend was naturally Wang Tai. Fang Qi asked curiously, "Are you not going?"

"Today..." The corners of Nalan Mingxue’s lips curved into a subtle smile. "I think I shall skip."

"..."

"!!??"

Of everyone who played the games, you seemed the most composed, yet you are actually wilder than Song Qingfeng?!