Chapter 47: CH-47: bad husband! Naughty husband!!

The woman wore a simple villager outfit, appearing to be 16–18 years old. She wasn’t a pretty lass, but a soothing aura surrounded her, bestowing her with a unique charm.

"Mulan, li-listen to what I have to s-say..."

Gu Changsheng stuttered hesitantly.

"Then explain, explain to me what was so important that didn’t allow you to come have dinner with me?!"

The woman, Dong Mulan, fumed in anger. She knew too well that this b*stard of a man had just forgotten and nothing else, but she still wanted to see what excuses he was going to make.

"This... I-i... yes, I remember, I... F-forgot..."

He said cheekily, which was answered by another smack of the spatula, and he yet again dodged it by moving his head slightly sideways.

"You...!!!"

Dong Mulan was almost exploding in anger. To think she had put on that much effort for a dinner with THIS b*stard of a man.

Unforgivable!

Truly unforgivable!!

Seeing that the volcano was on the verge of exploding, he stopped playing the fool and hugged Dong Mulan tightly.

Startled, she couldn’t retreat in time. Now in his embrace, she struggled fiercely but couldn’t break free.

"Let g-mphh!!!"

She scolded, but her lips were sealed midway, causing her hands to smack his shoulder to no avail.

After a few minutes, their lips parted, causing a thin line of saliva that represented the ordeal.

"Huff~ Don’t think, Huff~ just bec-mmpphhh!!!"

Yet again, this beast of a man just didn’t know how to care for a delicate young lady like her, sealing her lips again before she could even finish speaking.

Slowly, the arms originally struggling against his shoulder ceased and coiled around his neck, and her neck that was trying to retreat advanced instead.

After another few minutes, their union ceased.

"Calmed down?"

Gu Changsheng let her take a breath, then asked calmly.

Dong Mulan: "Hmphh..."

"Sorry, Mulan, I didn’t mean to annoy you, it’s just that... I wanted to give you a return gift, and in preparation for that, I didn’t even feel the passage of time."

Gu Changsheng, seeing the little lass still holding her temper, lied COUGH told the ’half-truth’ earnestly.

He was preparing a gift for Mulan, but the system came, and in the excitement, he forgot about it.

Dong Mulan’s glaring eyes softened as her right hand came forward. A soft whisper came out of her mouth.

"Gift..."

Gu Changsheng (ಥ﹏ಥ): "..."

Little fairy, have mercy!!

He became a little nervous, knowing full well that he couldn’t give another excuse.

If only he could open her brain and see just how it works this way.

Just as he was complaining, a system panel popped up, acquiring all his attention.

___

『Name』: Dong Mulan

『Cultivation』: 1st Stage of Body Refinement Realm

『Talent』: None

『Fate』: Blue

『Fortunous Encounters』:

1. When walking down the road from the mountainside on a rather rainy day, she finds a bag filled with gold coins.

2. One of the cultivators who takes shelter here temporarily gives her a Qi Cultivation technique, seeing her silly appearance.

3. One Morning...

...

6. Deep in the mountains, she finds a miraculous spiritual plant but gives it to the cultivator as a return gift.

___

Watching the panel surprised him, especially the parts about cultivators taking shelter here and her finding a rare spiritual plant.

That’s a spiritual plant!! And she just gave it away.

Even though it hadn’t happened yet and was most likely a thing of the future, this made him agree with the cultivator’s point that Mulan was a bit silly.

It was at this moment that he realized an extra map function had at some point appeared. When he opened it, he found all of her fortunate encounters being marked here in different colors.

Most were white and yellow, but only the opportunity involving the spiritual plant was a glaring red.

Seeing this, an idea took shape in his head.

Looking at that rosy face filled with expectation, he finally found a perfect ’gift’ for her.

"Let’s go get your gift, I have hidden it in a secret spot."

Saying that, Gu Changsheng grabbed her hand and led her into the mountains behind the village.

Dong Mulan was at first surprised, but didn’t think much of it, simply following him.

Instead, she started guessing what gift he was going to give her this time, a cotton doll like last time or something else, anticipation building up in her heart.

...

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived near a tall tree. Confirming the location, they went around it and found the old, worn bag beneath one of the roots.

Taking it out, he dusted the dirt off and handed it to her.

"This is the gift?? I don’t want it, I have a better purse right here."

She exclaimed, not showing a bit of liking for the worn-out bag, pointing to the pink cloth bag hanging by her waist, which Gu Changsheng had gifted her himself.

Helpless, he opened the cloth bag, showing her the gold coins inside.

"This old bag isn’t the gift, the contents inside are."

Seeing the old bag was filled with gold coins, Dong Mulan was stunned, then abruptly snatched the cloth bag, counting a total of 20 gold coins inside. She started jumping around, happily saying,

"With this much money, we can finally marry, yay!!"

Hearing her cause of happiness, his eyes softened, a warm feeling filling his heart.

He also wanted to marry her but rejected the idea, thinking it was too early. He wanted her to develop well, so he waited.

Now, it feels like the day they become one will be soon.

"Let’s go. There’s something I need up the mountains."

Ruffling her hair gently, he told her to follow him, which she happily did.

The little lass’s mood flipped 180 degrees, now hopping around in joy, resembling a silly rabbit.

If only she knew, what he gave as a gift was hers all along.

This beast of a man who took advantage of her, truly unforgivable.

A thoughtful expression adorned his face, questions like why it was here now, was it safe, why did it choose him, and many more, but he did not voice them out.

As he knew, knowledge is burdensome, especially about a heaven-defying phenomenon like the system.

It’s better to just go with the flow, be a salted fish all the way.

As he clicked the automatic cultivation function, another panel popped up in front of him.

___

『Cultivation techniques』

『Battle arts』

『Heavenly laws』

『...』

『Time frame: to be decided』

___

He stood stunned on the spot, looking bewilderedly at the panel. Cultivation techniques and battle arts, he could understand, but cultivating heavenly laws!! That’s pure insanity.

To heck with cultivation techniques, he’s going to cultivate heavenly laws and become an immortal right from the start.

As he clicked on that, only disappointment answered his call.

『Ding! Host, please speak human language!!』

"Hehe..."

An embarrassed laugh escaped his mouth as he accepted his mistake. He was just a mortal at this moment; how could he even sense the heavenly laws?

He then clicked on the cultivation techniques, and it displayed the only one he had.

『Cultivate the Rudimentary Body Refinement Technique?』

"Yup, for... umm... the whole night."

『Ding! Initiating automatic cultivation!』

As the system sounded, Gu Changsheng felt himself losing control over his body, as if something else was controlling his body as he sat cross-legged.

Just as he was about to question this, the system, as if aware of what he was going to ask, answered his query beforehand.

『Host need not worry.』

『Ultimately, this process represents a temporary acquisition of regulatory control over the biological mechanisms governing your physical state as it constitutes an essential prerequisite for the operational integrity and functionality of the system!』

Even though most of it went over his head, he barely understood that this relinquishment of his body’s functionality was needed for the system to perform.

Lamenting his lack of wisdom, Gu Changsheng clicked his tongue in wonder.

At this moment, ’Gu Changsheng’ had already positioned himself in a meditative state, cultivating a breathing technique derived from the Rudimentary cultivation technique.

Gu Changsheng was already familiar with this, but was pleased to find out that the circulation of spiritual energy was more effective than usual.

And it’s still increasing!

Becoming 2× faster...

5× faster...

10× faster...

30× faster...

All the way to 100× faster than his own, where it finally stabilized and didn’t increase further.

The infusion of spiritual energy caused the surrounding air to revolve around Gu Changsheng, making a small vortex of wind with him as the center.

After only 5 minutes, he felt a breakthrough coming along.

4th stage of Body Refinement Realm...

After another 20 minutes, 5th stage of Body Refinement Realm...

He happily enjoyed the feeling of breakthrough, though an uneasy feeling crept up his heart, which he dismissed as trivial.

Just like this, the whole night swept away.

...

The next morning.

For the whole night, he was immersed in the ethereal feel of breakthrough, only to wake up the next morning as the first rays of light illuminated his face.

As he clumsily opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the floor.

Sitting up straight, he first felt his newfound strength.

9th stage of Body Refinement Realm.

He had broken through 6 stages, reaching the peak of the Body Refinement Realm.

The Body Refinement Realm is divided into 9 stages – from 1st stage to 9th stage.

After that comes the Qi Refinement Realm, further divided into 13 stages – from 1st stage to 13th stage.

Only after that comes the Foundation Establishment Realm, which he isn’t really clear about.

At the current rate of his progression, he felt the Foundation Establishment Realm was just around the corner.

The Heavenly Will is merciful after all!

Not wanting to waste another moment, he sat in a meditative state and called out to the system.

Freshening up? Eating breakfast?

Put it in the dump!

First, he is going to climb straight to the Qi Refinement Realm. Only then could he think of doing anything else.

But the system poured ice-cold water that not only calmed him down but even caused a shiver through his spine as it intoned:

『Ding! The system cannot perform automatic cultivation at the moment because of the damage caused by yesterday’s cultivation process.』

『The host’s meridians (channeling pathways for spiritual energy) are flawed, which causes the host’s cultivation speed to be extremely slow.』

『The system forcefully expanded the meridians, which resulted in an incredible increase in cultivation, but it also caused the meridians to be damaged.』

『Due to the damage to the meridians, the host cannot utilize his full strength.』

『The host’s meridians will heal themselves slowly, or the host may secure any healing medicinal spiritual plants to accelerate their recovery.』

『So the host should wait a while before thinking of cultivation again.』

Gu Changsheng: Hehhh?!?!

He had finally bought a Ferrari, but found out it ain’t got no engine.

The Heavenly Will is merciless after all!!

He felt a little depressed after hearing this, but recovered quickly.

As the system said, the injury done to the meridians would heal itself. As for not being able to utilize his full strength, it wasn’t like he was looking for a fight anyways, right?

Just as he was silently comforting himself in his heart, someone knocked at his door while a gentle voice sounded in the room.

"Gu Changsheng~ will you come out or should I come in?"

The tone carried a mix of teasing and a bit of anger in it, he thought.

Standing up, he slowly opened the door. With an awkward, cheesy smile on his face, he said apologetically.

"Sorry, I–"

But before he could even finish, a wooden spatula was aimed at his head. He dodged instinctively, taking a step back, causing the spatula to miss by an inch.

[A/N: Aim for the balls, woman! For the BALLS!!!]

Speechless, Gu Changsheng looked straight at the attacker, who was angrily stomping her feet because she missed the chicken undeserving of soup.