Chapter 427 Reverse Cycle
In the West, for someone to be treated like that, they had to either be Royalty or someone with enormous power. It was hard to find people who willingly bowed to someone out of respect unless that someone did something many people couldn’t achieve. Everyone in the West was highly confident in their capability; they always thought I could if he could.
They were optimistic, to say the least; unfortunately, the border between their optimism and arrogance was getting more obscure these days. On the other hand, the people of Huaxia didn’t hesitate to admire the strong. They were also easily astonished—to the point where a mere word was enough to make them call someone Master.
The people of Hua didn’t mind putting someone above them because they didn’t believe in the concept of Gods—a higher being that dictated the way they lived. Putting someone above them was equal to setting a goal for them, not a limiter for them which was where they would stop advancing.
In short, the people of Hua could accept their shortcomings easily, unlike most of the people of the West, who always thought they could do better.
“Woah…is your friend of Royal descent, Uncle Tian Long?” Shirley whispered.
“Shirley, my niece, your uncle is also treated like how his friend is treated—why have you never considered your uncle one?” Tian Long answered wryly.
“Oh…that is true. I mean, you don’t have something like this, do you?”
“That is…right.”
To be able to step their foot on the castle’s porch, they had to climb a couple of stairs first. Upon reaching the porch, the line of attractive women immediately greeted Xueyi with utter respect.
“Welcome home, Sect Mistress!”
Xueyi waved her hand lightly and they immediately stood straight. The lasses gaped in astonishment at the scene. They looked at each one of the women and find all of them worthy to be called the most beautiful woman on earth. Their appearance was but the icing on the cake, however, because their power shone brighter than their beauty.
“Dragoness!”
“Woah, you can’t call them that, Julia,” Xiu Li whispered in bewilderment. “Call them Fairy instead. A Dragon symbolizes masculinity and dominance, whereas, a Fairy symbolizes delicacy and grace. You can only call someone a Dragon if he is a man; if she is a woman, call them a Fairy. We don’t have female dragons and male fairies.”
“Oh…I didn’t know that. I hope I didn’t offend any of them.”
The two’s whispering was heard by everyone but none of them called them out. Those on Basil’s side merely smiled wryly—except for Basil—meanwhile, the line of attractive women smiled softly in amusement.
Xueyi and Mei Qi instinctively turned to Basil to see how he reacted to the charming smile of the women. They find him remaining stoic, however, looking like a God who wondered what to admire from the beautiful scenery the mortal presented before him.
Both women blinked their eyes at that and then wondered if Basil was even interested in women. He was a male, after all; they expected him to show, at least, some sexual attraction toward the attractive bunch of the opposite gender standing before him.
“Sect Mistress…this person is…?”
Basil was a very attractive male. Even her little sisters, who rarely showed an interest in men were curious about him. Men like him were used to using their appearance to their advantage. He didn’t even care about such a thing and it was as commendable as it was peculiar.
“This is my betrothed,” Xueyi introduced boldly, earning a quirked eyebrow from Basil.
The line of women covered their mouths and gasped before quickly bowing to him. “Greetings to future Sect Master!”
Basil cupped his curled left hand and returned the greetings. “I am Basil Pacifer. I will be in your Mistress’ care for a while.”
Misunderstanding Basil’s words, the women gasped again. One of them boldly asked, “Do you already have anyone in mind after spending your time with the Sect Mistress?”
“Hold your horses, ladies. It is not like what you think,” Basil said as he put up his hand to stop their wild imagination.
“Well, pardon them, Basil. All of them are very inexperienced in romance. Most of them have been alone for more than seventy years, so they can be quite…blunt,” Xueyi commented. This earned an amused look from Basil, making her feel attacked for some reason.
“My friend is also visiting—in case you haven’t noticed.” Xueyi gestured at Tian Long.
“Oh! Greetings, Venerable Daoist Tian Long.”
Tian Long waved his hand lightly; he did not even care that he was introduced after Basil. He wasn’t crazy about respect. He only cared about how far he could excel.
Besides, everyone who stayed in Withering Frost Castle was already familiar with him due to his frequent visit. Being treated like an esteemed guest, instead, would make him feel he wasn’t considered a part of them, which was what he considered himself.
“I need to talk about a few things with Basil. Please, do take care of our guests.”
“We shall do our best, Sect Mistress.”
Without saying anything, Xueyi took Basil’s hand and dragged him with her. Mei Qi, Diana and the lasses blinked their eyes at the scene; they wondered in horror if Xueyi genuinely meant what she said. From how cool she behaved, after all, they had taken her proposal as her way to tease the ever-steady Basil.
Basil himself followed Xueyi’s lead without resisting in the slightest. One might wonder why her do what she was doing and it was because he couldn’t sense any lust coming from her, which was a first after his decades of interaction with women.
Xueyi was no different from a child. She was clueless about love and attraction. What she had in her were interest and curiosity. Even when she declared she liked Basil, she wasn’t sure about what she felt. She was in the process of figuring out what the feeling people called love was and that attracted Basil’s interest, which was why he played along.
‘Mind that there is always a risk to an experiment,’ Asia warned.
‘First love is fickle. Once she tastes what love is, she will realize the truth behind what she feels about me,’ Basil rebutted.
‘So, you have considered the possibility of you becoming her first love…. Well, I have warned you.’
Asia wanted to talk about it more; however, she didn’t bother because she knew Basil wouldn’t understand. Basil had only experienced love once—with Iliana. His love knowledge wasn’t that deep, so he was not that different from Xueyi. Added to that was the fact that he was not one of the most sensitive people.
The ‘experiment’ would go the way he had never expected and he would never know what he had caused when the result came out.
“This is?” looking at the ice gate before him, Basil asked in mild curiosity.
“Our library. It holds countless knowledge about Daoism and Dao Arts that many don’t and will never know,” replied Xueyi proudly.
“Oh, yeah? I have read some books—maybe, you can test me.”
“Hoh?” Feeling that her credibility was being questioned, Xueyi took Basil’s remark as a challenge. “Tell me about the Ice Phoenix Everlasting Snow.”
In a heartbeat, Basil answered, “It is a Cultivation Technique that was created by Xu Yong Bing, a famous female Daoist who was known for her Grand Dao of Ice 1700 years ago. Ice Phoenix Everlasting Snow allows one to comprehend Dao of Ice faster in return for gradually turning one’s blood into ice, which is basically suicide. Despite so—”
“Enough!”
Basil could go on and on about it; however, Xueyi couldn’t hold it any longer. She couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Ice Phoenix Everlasting Snow was something that not even Tian Long knew about; she couldn’t think of a way how Basil could know about it in detail.
The answer was, of course, the Guide, which she knew nothing about.
Dismissing it as a mere coincidence, Xueyi asked another question. Basil, once again, managed to answer it. She asked another question and was met with the same result. She repeated it five more times before she accepted that Basil knew everything.
‘Look at her…she is questioning her existence and her decades of effort,’ Asia commented.
‘Well, it has been a long time since messing around with someone gives me amusement.’
‘You did that to your enemies,’ Asia retorted.
‘My enemies are not on my list of existence that I call someone. Pebbles have more worth than them—they don’t even worthy to be called something.’
‘Ruthless, eh?’
Thud!
Hum!
Basil’s conversation with Asia was cut when the door to the library was opened. Following Xueyi’s lead, he entered the library and then took a look around. The library had its gigantic racks planted in the wall, leaving a vast space in the centre of it. There was no ladder inside, so one had to fly to get the book on the topmost shelf.
“Is it your private library?”
“No. It is empty because it is only opened once in two weeks. The day was three days ago, so it won’t be opened for another eleven days,” Xueyi explained.
Looking down at the ice floor, Basil noticed an intricate golden pattern inside it. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Because this is the only place that allows me to check your Curse without worrying for my little sisters’ safety.”
As a female Daoist of the highest calibre, Xueyi could sense Yin Energy better than Tian Long could ever do. She noticed Basil’s Curse as soon as she saw her before the gate, which was one of the reasons why she was intrigued by Basil.
“For a male to hold that much amount of—kyaa! What are you doing!?” Xueyi immediately covered her eyes like a mortified maiden as soon as she noticed Basil was taking off his shirt.
That, of course, didn’t stop Basil from doing what he was doing. He didn’t think it was a big deal. Xueyi was a doctor; she should have seen a lot of male bodies, like most female doctors. Though, he was still quite surprised since he had never seen such a reaction before from the women who had seen him shirtless.
“What are you doing? Do your job as a doctor,” he said with a hint of disapproval.
That woke Xueyi from her fantasy. She immediately uncovered her eyes and then snorted graciously. Calmly walking toward Basil, she focused her gaze on his eyes. When she stopped before him, she immediately put her hand on the body part that she believed was affected by the Curse.
“Hm? Weird…I feel a lot of Yang Energy…”
When she looked down, much to her absolute horror, she found her hand resting on Basil’s nether region because of her nervousness. Her head overheated, causing her to get a nosebleed before fainting.
“Asia, this girl is just you with better upbringing.”
“What does that even mean!?”