Brand new day, folks! Me and Liangyu were on our way to the Lotus Pavilion. That's where we'd find our dear friend Jian. After yesterday's conversation, I was almost sure Liangyu would be arguing the whole way, but surprisingly, he was dead quiet.
We were walking along a fairly dense forest path, and I kept giving him suspicious glances. Utter silence. It wasn't even like he was giving me the silent treatment. Dude just wasn't talking.
"You gonna say something?" I asked.
"Say what? What's there to say?" he replied.
"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be. Okay."
A few minutes later, I could see two kids come running toward us from a distance. They finally reached us, panting, and said, "Excuse me, can you guys help us? Our friend's stuck in a tree."
Ahan. Sure. Plenty of people walk this path every minute, but these random kids just so happen to ask us for help. Yeah, right.
Liangyu didn't even hesitate. "Oh is it, little child?! What a terrible situation! We'll help you! Come on, Ziyang, let's go!" And then he just took off. His over-the-top concern and god-awful acting almost made me laugh, but I wanted to see where this went, so I followed.
And there he was, a tiny kid stuck in a bent tree root on the ground.
"Oh my god! Let me help you!" Liangyu said, using his Earth Cultivation to lift the root.
The kids went absolutely feral. One hugged him like crazy, another started screaming and dancing, and the stuck kid dropped to his knees, crying and bowing like Liangyu just saved his life. Dude was legit bawling! Gotta admit, that's some passionate acting for little brats.
Liangyu, of course, wasn't done. "This is nothing, kids! Watch this!" He shifted stances and turned the damn tree into a treehouse. And not some scrappy hut either, it looked professional, something that would've taken nearly three weeks to build, and he pulled it off in three seconds without breaking a sweat. Mad skills, I'll give him that.
The kids went wild.
"WOAH! THANK YOU, KIND SIR! WE SHALL REMEMBER YOU FOREVER!!"
Liangyu winked. "Anytime." Then he looked at me. "Kids, am I right? Haha. This was nothing. I could turn the whole place into a tree mansion in a minute."
I just stared at him, half-smiling.
"I could even transform said mansion into whatever flower family you'd like. Multiple, if I wanted. I can even-"
"I know, Liangyu. You can stop," I cut him off.
"Stop what?"
I looked at the kids. "Hey, how much did the guy give you?"
Here I was, heading out to recruit people, and Liangyu had already bought himself three.
One kid just said, "Huh?" while the other two froze.
I didn't even glare that hard before the shortest one started stammering, "Wha- what, we don't know what-"
But the sharpest one though, blurted out like a true businessman, "Three coins, one each. How much you offering?"
"You little snitchin' ass, come here!" Liangyu was about to turn the kid into a tree before I stopped him.
"Nine coins. Three each. Go buy yourselves something actually fun."
They snatched the money and vanished.
"Really?" I said to Liangyu. "Amateurs act better, dude."
He shot me a look. "Asshole."
"At your service."
"I'm perfect!"
"Who says you're not?"
"You do! Forget whatever smooth-as-butter shit he pulled in that tournament, you know damn well I'm just as capable."
"Mhm. So you can turn this forest into a mansion?"
"You're damn right I can."
"And play with tree roots like noodles?"
"Like they're my personal fucking snakes."
"Lift boulders?"
"With ease."
"And summon a storm of wind?"
"Of cou- I- I mean-"
"That's the point, Liangyu. Your Earth Cultivation is top-notch, but you're missing one key element. Wind. You know damn well that if you truly mastered earth, you'd be able to tap all five elements, it's the very reason why earth cultivators are usually so feared. You're decent at most, but wind? You just can't hold it."
"You think I don't know that?" he muttered. "You know I compensate by focusing my qi on-"
"Doesn't matter what trick you pull. At the end of the day, they're still tricks. They won't take you far. But if Jian joins us, not only would we have two of the best Earth Cultivators, he could be your perfect catalyst!"
Liangyu still wasn't convinced, but I could tell the truth stung enough to land.
"Be honest. You hate the guy. But wasn't that what pushed you to get better? I still remember how the both of you would try and one-up each other. He'd run twenty laps around Tianlan, you'd run twenty-one. He'd practice five stances, you'd practice six. Until you two were clearing a hundred laps a day and nearly seventy-five stances. Trust me, he's the perfect choice."
That speech hit his logical side. Liangyu finally tilted his head and muttered, "Fine. Let's go. But you're doing the talking."
"Cool."
We finally agreed and pushed forward.
After a long walk, we reached it. The Lotus Pavilion. Gorgeous place. But the best part wasn't even the scenery, it was the fragrance. Like Heaven, soaked in another layer of Heaven. Just… magnificent.
We flashed our official documents to the guards and stepped inside.
"Welcome!" Three ladies sang in chorus, offering us drinks.
One sip and I couldn't help myself, "Wow!"
"Wow indeed," Liangyu said too. Though his perverted ass was staring at the ladies when he said it.
"What's up, bitches!" came a voice from afar. Jian, of course.
"And there goes the three seconds of peace," Liangyu muttered.
Jian walked up and hugged me. "Dashing as always, king! How are your parents?"
"They're great," I said with a smile.
Then he turned to Liangyu, and the smile dropped. "Liangyu."
"Jian."
"How's your mom?"
"How's your sister?"
"Oh, she's fine."
"Good to know."
Jian turned back to me. "So, what brings you here, buddy?"
"We… have a proposal."