Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 279 - 18: No Good People in QingCyan Cloud yun City
"...So, Lord Deputy City Lord, as I said, my plan has already failed, I am very sorry."
In the training field, Shen Herong was trying hard to maintain the order within the field while using an Immortal Technique to communicate, urgently contacting Shen Yueying to convey the situation on the spot to her.
Shen Yueying, however, only responded with a prolonged silence.
So long that Shen Herong couldn't help but feel as if the Deputy City Lord had blocked him.
This made the scar-faced man quite uneasy.
As an instructor in the Shen Family Outer Courtyard and a member of Shen City's upper society, Shen Herong knew very well that Shen Yueying was not an easy person to deal with, known for her harshness and coldness in her younger days, and even more so after Li Fengyun swept through Shen City. Now, as the Deputy City Lord, she made many people shiver at her mention.
However, Shen Yueying was ultimately only harsh but not unreasonable, so theoretically, the current situation wasn't that early.
Because objectively speaking, today's affairs truly could not be blamed on Shen Herong. If the Deputy City Lord wanted him to entertain the Li Family well, what could he do?
The Shen Family Outer Courtyard's best offering was this Phantom Limb, once awarded the title of one of the Top Hundred Immortal Cultivation Inventions in Xiangzhou by an authoritative magazine in Heaven-Reaching City. Thanks to it, the Shen Family's pain endurance training was regarded as unparalleled, and even exchange students from the Three Academies under the Saint Sect praised this Phantom Limb when they came to the Shen Family Outer Courtyard.
So was there anything wrong with entertaining the Li Family with this Phantom Limb?
Who could have imagined that the Li Family's research in pain endurance was even more advanced than the Shen Family's? A 14-year-old girl possessing a pain endurance exceeding 40 was simply an irresistible force of nature!
However, as Shen Yueying's silence grew longer and longer, Shen Herong's mood also became increasingly downcast.
It seemed that the matter was not so easily settled after all. Shen Yueying might still be reasonable in other matters, but when it came to issues involving Li Fengyun, not even the gods could help.
Thinking of this, Shen Herong sighed quietly, feeling somewhat more at ease.
At worst, he could just quit. After playing the role of the scar-faced fiend in the Outer Courtyard for so many years, it was time to venture out and welcome a new chapter in life.
With his capability, even without relying on the Shen Family, he could travel anywhere in the vast world. Though his cultivation had not yet reached the peak of the Mountain-Overturning Realm, the rigorous training he received in Shen City and his resume as an Outer Courtyard instructor allowed him to enjoy privileges akin to those at the Mountain-Overturning Realm level. Three years ago, when exchange students from the Three Academies visited Shen City, the accompanying teacher warmly invited Shen Herong to join the Three Academies with better benefits compared to those in Shen City.
However, deep down, Shen Herong didn't really want to be an instructor anymore.
After being dismissed by Shen Yueying, the thing he wanted to do most was to go for beauty restoration.
He wanted to find a skilled cosmetic surgeon to first fix the scars that had marred his face for over a decade, smooth out those naturally intimidating wrinkles, and restore his dry, yellow hair to long, jet-black, and shiny strands, returning to his original handsome appearance.
Nowadays, among the Outer Courtyard disciples, few might know that Shen Herong in his youth was both beautiful and talented, a much-anticipated star of the future.
It was only after a major setback that in a moment of anger, Shen Herong destroyed his own looks, vowing to devote his entire life to Immortal Cultivation, never again concerning himself with matters of romance.
To be honest, it was a rash act carried out in a fit of anger. Once his fury subsided, Shen Herong began looking for a skilled cosmetic surgeon. Who would have predicted that his moment of rage would impress the high-ranking City Lord Shen Ruoshi? Before Shen Herong could even react, he was unceremoniously promoted, taught superior cultivation techniques, and entrusted with significant responsibilities once his cultivation proved worthy.
Throughout it all, Shen Ruoshi's favor towards Shen Herong made countless people jealous, and many even suspected this scarred young man was Shen Ruoshi's secret illegitimate child.
Yet, only Shen Herong knew, he had no way to explain his distress. Frankly speaking, he really didn't want to play the role of the scar-faced man. Such youthful rash remarks, how could they be taken seriously? In matters of cultivation, talent is paramount..Even with a disfigured face and Shen Ruoshi's support, he still couldn't break through into the Mountain-Overturning Realm, making him only marginally a top-notch figure across the Xiangzhou Continent.
Ultimately, human subjective initiative must adhere to objective laws!
As a consequence, for the past twenty years, he had to play the role of a scar-faced villain, intimidating the young students in the Outer Courtyard with his menacing demeanor.
Forget those legendary student-teacher romances, even the female colleagues teaching in the Outer Courtyard mostly kept their distance from him.
"Instructor Shen Herong? Indeed very competent and talented; the disciples he trains are remarkably outstanding. It's said the City Lord intends to have him oversee the entire Outer Courtyard, becoming everyone's superior. However, as a colleague or superior, that's fine, but romance? No, thank you. I'm not particularly looks-oriented, but looking like that is truly unacceptable... Not even with the lights off! I would imagine, and I also have to consider for the sake of future generations."
Heaven knows how much Shen Herong's heart howled like a wounded dog hearing those discussions.
Now, due to the unsuccessful completion of his mission and being kicked out of the Outer Courtyard by the Deputy City Lord, although it didn't sound good for his reputation, he saw it as a relief nonetheless. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
After leaving the Outer Courtyard, the thing Shen Herong wanted to do most was to fall in love, not with someone as burly and bold as a Shen Family shrew, but ideally someone gentle and tender like a delicate, bashful maiden, with a soft and sweet voice, often blushing...
When he returned home, she could timidly hold a box of home-cooked small dishes, shyly asking whether he wanted to eat first, take a bath first, or first...
"Shen Herong!"
The voice that suddenly exploded in Shen Herong's mind instantly shattered all his romantic thoughts.
It only took a second for Shen Herong to recognize that the slightly angry voice belonged to Deputy City Lord Shen Yueying.
"Deputy City Lord, sorry, I was just..."
"It's okay, I understand."
Shen Herong was stunned, understanding? When did this woman, cloaked in black like the night, become so understanding? Everyone in the Shen Family knew that Shen Yueying's biggest pet peeve was people zoning out while talking to her! It was like a dragon's reverse scale, not to be touched!
Shen Yueying explained, "I wasn't really listening to you either... Something like this happening, it's only natural to be furious. But rather than silently seething in anger, it's better to vent it out."
Shen Herong was struggling to keep up: "Uh, you're saying..."
Shen Yueying said, "I just went and blew up the fake mountain outside the study, which calmed me down a bit. If you're feeling agitated, you could try blasting some fake mountains, flowers, and plants. There's no need to always harm yourself physically."
"...Thank you, Deputy City Lord, for your concern."
Shen Yueying said, "It's not about concern or not. In this matter, you and I share the same interests. As someone in charge of the Shen Family Outer Courtyard, you can't let those insidious people with ulterior motives humiliate the Shen Family, right?"
Shen Herong was taken aback. Ulterior motives, insidious people? Where did that come from?
Shen Yueying said, "It's obvious. Those Li Family people came prepared, full of schemes, seeing through our every thought, setting up a situation to humiliate our Shen Family."
Shen Herong's heart tightened: "Deputy City Lord, are you sure they did this deliberately?"
"Otherwise? Do you really believe the younger generation of the Cyan Cloud Li Family has become so formidable? Capable of surpassing the Shen Family in what the Shen Family's children pride themselves on the most? Even the Saint Sect couldn't achieve something like that! So, including that bizarre pain tolerance, there must be some peculiar mechanism behind it."
"Mechanism?" Shen Herong was surprised, "Are you saying they've used some Magical Treasure to deceive the Phantom Limb?"
"The Phantom Limb, after all, was designed centuries ago. Essentially, it's just a training facility, not a combat treasure. If the Li Family specifically targets it, unraveling its mysteries isn't surprising."
"I see, I thought... how could there be such a bizarre pain tolerance unless a Primordial Immortal Master came down to teach?"
Shen Yueying said, "A Primordial Immortal Master? If such a figure truly existed from that era, why haven't they appeared in almost ten thousand years? So, it's better not to entertain such wild fantasies."
Pausing, Shen Yueying's voice turned colder: "And that Shen Qingming... her name has clearly expressed the purpose of the Li Family's visit. They've come to challenge us."
"Shen Qingming? This name... what about it?"
Shen Yueying asked, "She's Li Fengyun's daughter, so why is she using the Shen surname externally?"
"I can't figure that out."
"It's simple. She's the Li Family's living signboard. Her Shen surname is a constant reminder to everyone that twenty years ago, Li Fengyun abducted a girl from Shen City!"
Shen Herong was utterly shocked: "So that's it!"
"Of course it is," Shen Yueying sneered, "Before last May, that girl was called Li Qingming, but when she came to Shen City, she changed to the Shen family name. Unless she's deliberately humiliating the Shen Family, could she possibly have come with genuine intentions to wish the City Lord a happy birthday!? Shen Herong, use your brain and imagine this: a group of people from the Cyan Cloud Li Family smiling widely, bringing flowers and blessings to say to the City Lord, 'May your happiness be as vast as the East Sea and your longevity as enduring as the South Mountain'!"
Shen Herong tried to picture the scene in his mind and quickly broke out into a cold sweat.
"It always feels like there's a dagger hidden among the flowers."
Shen Yueying said, "Exactly, the Li Family never bears any goodwill. Shen Ziyu is a fool with only a slightly redeemable cultivation talent. His family letters are worthless, and the City Lord... he's getting old too. Oftentimes, we need to think and act for ourselves, understand?"
"Yes."
"Don't blame yourself for this incident. Even I didn't expect the Li Family to be so cunning. Let them win this round. But ultimately, in the world of cultivators, especially among cultivation clans, strength is what counts. Today, Feihong, Feihu, and others aren't here, but they'll be back in two days. Then, let's have the real elites of the Shen Family confront these Li Family people."
