Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Half a month flashed by in the blink of an eye.

The crowd below the combat stage stood in complete silence. On the platform, Xu Yuan’s fight with an eighth rank martial apprentice had already reached its fiercest point. Every dull thud of fists and feet landed with brutal force.

As the two of them kept weaving, shifting, and trading blows, Xu Yuan suddenly flicked his hand through the air, his palm slicing out like a blade.

A sharp whoosh split the air, and a blood-red ripple shot out instantly, sharp as a knife.

The burly man’s pupils shrank. He dropped low and narrowly dodged it, then, in the same breath, drove a fully charged punch straight at Xu Yuan’s face.

The wind from that fist nearly scraped across Xu Yuan’s cheek. But the moment it passed, the man’s side ribs were laid bare in front of him.

Xu Yuan’s open hand clenched into a fist. As he activated his technique, crimson flames burst over his knuckles, and he fired an uppercut straight into the man’s exposed flank.

The man seemed to have guessed Xu Yuan’s intention ahead of time. In the instant before the blow landed, his callused palm snapped down to shield his ribs.

BANG! A muffled impact rang out.

The force rising from below blasted the burly man clean off his feet.

Xu Yuan followed up immediately with another punch, but the man had already crossed his thick, corded arms in front of himself.

Another heavy, flesh-shaking blow sounded out.

Even with his guard up, the man had no footing in midair. The force of that strike sent him flying straight off the martial stage.

After landing, he staggered back two steps before steadying himself. Rubbing his numbed arms, the burly man let out a regretful sigh, bowed, and cupped his fists. “Third Young Master, I lost.”

Standing atop the martial stage, Xu Yuan let out a long breath. In the past half month, this was the first time he had won. He had only managed it by relying on the overwhelming force granted by the Blood Origin Heartfall Art to hammer his opponent right off the stage, but a win was still a win.

Xu Yuan turned and glanced at Zhou Chen, who was standing by the edge of the stage.

Seeing that look, Zhou Chen nodded at him, gave a respectful bow, and said with a cheerful grin, “Third Young Master, he didn’t hold back.”

With a professional’s seal of approval at last, Xu Yuan jumped down from the stage, pointed at the burly man, and ordered, “Give him a Bone Tempering Pill. That’s enough for today. Let’s go.”

“Alright.” Zhou Chen laughed, flicked a Bone Tempering Pill over with a casual toss, and then followed Xu Yuan out of the Martial Instruction Hall.

On the way back to his room, Xu Yuan gingerly stretched his aching body. Those punches from earlier had all landed squarely on him. Even with the Blood Origin Heartfall Art protecting his body, the battering had still left him feeling miserable. By the time he took his clothes off tonight, he would probably be covered in bruises all over again.

Xu Yuan reached up and touched his cheek. A sharp sting shot from his cheekbone, and he said with a helpless sigh, “These guards are really getting bolder and bolder.”

Walking behind him, Zhou Chen replied with a grin, “Third Young Master, you’re getting better by the day. If they still dare hold back, they won’t be getting their daily Bone Tempering Pill.”

Xu Yuan laughed at that, but the smile quickly faded. He had no right to get cocky. His practical fighting ability really had improved at a ridiculous pace lately, but in truth, most of it came from the raw stat advantage granted by the Blood Origin Heartfall Art.

His speed and strength were far above those of the other martial apprentices, yet even with that gap, all he had managed just now was a hard-fought draw that barely turned into a win. What was there to be proud of?

More importantly, the Blood Origin Heartfall Art was a qi path cultivation method. It was meant for killing from a distance. And yet he was still stuck at the most basic level, trading punches and kicks in close quarters, unable to bring out the true power of the technique at all.

Thinking of that, Xu Yuan let out a soft sigh. In the end, it all came down to one thing. He still wasn’t proficient enough with the Blood Origin Heartfall Art.

Combat in this world was complicated. This wasn’t some game where he yelled out a skill name and the move fired automatically. To use a skill, he had to circulate his cultivation method through specific meridians in a precise pattern.

What he had been using in battle so far were only the most basic applications. The stronger, more destructive moves simply could not be brought out in real combat. Every time he tried to circulate his art and build up a proper skill, he would get interrupted halfway through by the enemy’s attacks or by his own dodging and repositioning.

According to the Blood Origin Heartfall Art itself, once all its skills were mastered, the user should be invincible among those of the same rank. Only after experiencing real battle did he start to see just how many shortcomings he still had.

This world was not just about cultivation. He still had far, far too much left to learn. These guards were already among the best of the best at the same level, one in a hundred at least. But even so, against the story’s protagonist Qin Mo, they still would not be able to survive a single exchange.

Xu Yuan walked on in silence for quite a while, only to spot a delicate-looking maid running over from a distant courtyard, panting hard by the time she reached them.

“Th-third Young Master...”

Xu Yuan raised a brow when he saw her face. He remembered her. She was the maid Steward Li had assigned to take care of Su Jinxuan’s daily needs.

“What is it?”

The maid was so out of breath she could barely get the words out.

“Miss Su said... said she wants to see you, Third Young Master.”

During the days Xu Yuan had been burying himself in combat training, Su Jinxuan had stayed shut inside her side room the entire time, never once stepping outside, going through the Konghua Merchant Guild’s account books day and night without rest.

For her, denying Qin Weijiu was no different from denying everything she herself had believed for more than ten years. So she had desperately tried to find some flaw in these ledgers.

When Xu Yuan learned of it, he had people print out the Konghua Merchant Guild’s fake public account books as well and send them all to Su Jinxuan’s room so she could compare them side by side.

And once Su Jinxuan started checking, she kept at it for more than half a month.

When Xu Yuan arrived outside the side room, he pushed the door open and entered alone. Just as expected, the entire room was piled high with ledgers... on the bed, on the floor, on the table, and on the windowsill. Some were open, some closed, and some had even been torn to pieces.

His gaze swept across the chaotic room before finally settling on the woman seated on the cushion. Su Jinxuan was kneeling on a rush mat beside the tea tray. Her face looked a little drawn, but the panic and uncertainty she had worn before were gone from her eyes.

Xu Yuan stepped straight over the scattered account books, sat down across from her, poured himself a cup of tea, and asked, “Finished reading?”

“No.” Su Jinxuan’s voice was very soft and a little hoarse. She had probably cried more than once these past days. “How did you get these ledgers?”

Her quiet voice rang out in the silent room.

Xu Yuan answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world, “The Blackscale Guards got them, obviously. Not going to keep reading?”

Su Jinxuan set the ledger in her hand down on the wooden table. Her beautiful eyes lowered as she said softly, “There’s no need to keep reading.”

She had randomly sampled so many volumes already that she had confirmed these books were genuine.

Xu Yuan turned and sat back down in front of her, smiling faintly. “So, you’ve figured it out now?”

Su Jinxuan said nothing.

Xu Yuan spoke in an even, gentle tone, “I know this is hard for you to accept all at once. But since you called me here, I assume you’ve already made up your mind.”

Su Jinxuan kept her eyes lowered. Her long lashes trembled slightly, but her voice remained calm. “Mhm. What do you want me to do?”

Xu Yuan smiled a little at that and replied softly, “Three things. First, tell me everything you know about Qin Weijiu. Second, follow my orders and feed Qin Weijiu false information. Third... help me cultivate.”