Chapter 276 - 113: Coming From Afar to Take the Fall, You’re Just Like a Kitten I Keep

Her thoughts began to wander, drifting back to the past.

When she was young, her father had abandoned her and her mother, disappearing without a trace.

Her mother disliked her, so she learned to be sensible. She took the initiative to care for her mother, hoping to earn her acceptance and approval.

But no matter what she did, her mother’s eyes were always filled with loathing. Hating how her eyes and brows resembled her father’s, her mother had ruined her face with a pot of boiling water.

Afterward, her mother sold her to a slave trader. She was then locked in a pitch-black cage, just like the other slaves.

Everyone who saw her ghastly face was filled with revulsion and disgust, avoiding her like the plague.

She spent her days either huddled in a sunless dungeon, filled with fetid water and caked blood.

Or she was in the gladiatorial arena, fighting enemies to the death, trading her pain and spattering blood for the spectators’ amusement.

This life continued for many years. She gradually learned the ways of the arena and began to win one bloody battle after another.

The stronger she became, the stronger the enemies she faced. She often scraped by with a hard-won victory, but was always left covered in wounds.

And her ugliness made everyone fear her, just as it made them all loathe and despise her.

Then, someone—she never knew who—started calling her Chou’Er...

She had even forgotten her own original name.

In all those years, this was the first time she had ever heard someone call her beautiful, saying her features were delicate and well-proportioned.

He was different from the richly-dressed spectators of the past, whose faces held arrogant expressions that failed to mask the contempt in their eyes.

Today, this Young Master Jiang—who, in her eyes, was fairer and more beautiful than many women, so clean he seemed untouched by a speck of dust—didn’t despise her in the slightest.

Not only did he not mind that she was dirty, but he had also personally fed her a healing Elixir Pill. And he had such a pleasant, clean scent about him.

’Is he my master now?’

"Chou’Er, are you eavesdropping on us? Your ears are perked right up..." a maidservant’s teasing voice rang out.

Chou’Er instinctively ducked her head back into the bathwater, her eyelashes fluttering.

"Alright, you’re all clean now. Let’s see if these clothes fit you..."

The maidservants quickly helped her out of the bath and dried her off. They dressed her in a black tunic and skirt, cinched at the waist with a simple sash. The bodice was trimmed with a petal-like design along its top edge, exquisite and beautiful, accentuating the slender and delicate lines of her figure.

Her black hair fell smoothly to her waist, shimmering like polished obsidian.

Chou’Er stared at her reflection in the water, barely recognizing herself. ’Can I really wear such clean, beautiful clothes?’

But soon, her eyes filled with sorrow and self-loathing. Against the beautiful clothes, the scars on her body looked even more prominent and ugly.

When the maidservants led Chou’Er back to the private room, Jiang Lan was just thinking that she must be done.

"Not bad. The clothes fit you well, and they suit you. It will look much better once those scars are gone."

He gave her a quick look-over. Seeing this "brand-new" Chou’Er, he nodded with slight satisfaction.

Chou’Er kept her head bowed, wringing her hands, still appearing anxious and tense.

The cloth bindings around her chest had been removed. Now, even with her head bowed, her own figure blocked the view of her toes. Slender branches, indeed, had borne plentiful fruit.

When she heard Jiang Lan say the scars could be removed, a flicker of light appeared in her eyes, but she still didn’t dare to raise her head to look at him.

Seeing her state, Jiang Lan gestured to her. "I didn’t save you just so you could be this anxious and tense around me. Relax. I’ll be counting on you to do things for me in the future."

"Come here."

He understood Chou’Er’s current state of mind and wasn’t in a rush.

However, the sheer amount of destiny flowing into his Mud Ball Palace at that moment surprised him. ’Does she really possess such astonishing fortune?’

He hadn’t paid it much mind before, but upon probing her fate now, he discovered something unusual.

In addition to being Born for Slaughter, she had another destiny: Spirit Body and Pure Heart.

’The original story never mentioned destinies,’ he thought. ’This is an ability I only gained after my Destiny Dao Fruit matured to its second stage. The destinies of those with great fortune are never simple. They not only bring extraordinary opportunities but also grant various unique, innate talents. This Spirit Body and Pure Heart is one such talent. It’s similar to having the heart of an innocent, allowing Chou’Er to maintain her disposition. It makes any task she undertakes twice as effective with half the effort. It also allows her to unconsciously absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, making her a greatly weakened version of an Immortal Embryo. Meanwhile, being Born for Slaughter grants Chou’Er an incredibly terrifying talent for killing. She is a natural, able to instinctively know the best way to kill an opponent in the heat of battle. The combination of these two destinies is what allowed her to survive in a place like the gladiatorial arena for so long without any cultivation.’

"..."

Chou’Er dazedly took two steps forward.

Jiang Lan reached out and touched her arm, which was hanging limply at her side.

He said patiently, "I know you can talk."

"And I don’t like mutes."

"Open your mouth..."

Startled, Chou’Er subconsciously opened her mouth.

But Jiang Lan seemed to find her too slow. He poured out an Elixir Pill, forcibly stuffed it into her mouth, and then placed the Pill Bottle in her hand.

"Take one of these every day. The injury on your arm should heal in three days," he instructed casually, then stood up.