Immortality Starts With Generosity

The Lan scions were none too pleased with Xie Jin’s pitching.

“Bastard!”

“You dare!”

The Lan girl at the helm stopped them from rushing over. She held a hand to her bleeding head and glared at Xie Jin. “Who are you?” Chen Haoran saw her flick her eyes towards him as she asked.

“Are you worried now? You should have thought about your actions before making me look bad in front of brother Chen!” Xie Jin said, puffing up his chest.

“Sister Jia don’t listen to this idiot,” said a boy behind her, also Seventh-Layer. “He’s Xie Jin.”

“So you’ve heard of me?” Xie Jin laughed. He turned to Chen Haoran. “I told you I was well known.”

“Have you already forgotten how I beat you last time?” growled the Lan boy. “You’ll pay for harming Sister Jia!”

“You’re the fool who’s lost every fight he’s been in,” Lan Jia said in realization.

Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. The way Xie Jin was gassing himself up earlier combined with his cultivation layer he thought he was some hot shot. “Are you telling me your full of shit?”

Xie Jin awkwardly laughed.

Lan Jia looked even angrier now. “I will deal with you later,” she said with a dangerous finality in her tone.contemporary romance

“Are you implying you will deal with me now?” Lan Fen said, walking forward.

Chen Haoran laughed at how quickly they went from roaring tigers to hissing cats in front of Lan Fen. He couldn’t fault them though, just knowing her for a few months left an impression on him let alone spending years around her.

“Lan Fen,” Lan Jia said, eyeing her warily. “So it’s really you.”

“You have not answered me, Lan Jia.” Lan Fen, ignoring how they tensed, casually walked up to Lan Jia and locked eyes with her.

Lan Jia held her gaze for a moment in a valiant attempt at confidence but inevitably turned her eyes away. “What are you doing here, Lan Fen?”

“To enjoy a meal before the Palace Exams of course.”

Lan Jia’s face twisted in hideous joy. Chen Haoran could already hear what she would say next. Lan Fen did as well. She flexed her qi once more and Lan Jia’s words died in her mouth.

“You-” sputtered wide-eyed Lan Jia. Whatever confidence she and her posse came in with thoroughly died under the weight of Lan Fen’s qi.

“Yes?” Lan Fen drawled.

“Yes, Lan Jia!” Xie Jin crowed. “Sister Fen here will be taking first place in the exams. Have you come to congratulate her as well?” He sounded well-meaning but the shit-eating grin on his face said otherwise.

Chen Haoran had to give it to him though, he was quick on the uptake. The situation in the tavern descended into silence. All eyes were on Lan Jia and the weight of them seemed to press down on her. She gritted her teeth and her face burned with incandescent rage. For a brief moment, he thought she would fight back. Lan Fen regarded her with a steely-eyed look.

Lan Jia’s mind, or spine, got the better of her and she looked down. “Congratulations,” she muttered. The word sounding like it was unwillingly pulled from her very being.

Lan Fen was scarier than he thought. Chen Haoran idly toweled off his wet hand and wondered what Lan Jia’s experience with her was.

Lan Fen for her part looked disappointed that Lan Jia decided to bend. “So this is how you learn to use your head.” She directed a sharp eye at the rest of the Lan family members. “And? Do you have anything to add?”

They were in various states of disbelief seeing Lan Jia’s actions but, after hearing Lan Fen, they too looked down and weakly offered well wishes.

Chen Haoran sighed. He had prepared a whole script of what to say and it was all useless now.

“Little Junjie, is that you?” Lan Fen unexpectedly said.

He looked over and indeed, Lan Junjie was peeking around the side of the doors. He froze when Lan Fen exposed him.

Lan Jia whirled around with wide eyes. “You fool!” She looked ready to go over and beat him but Lan Fen was already moving to the doors.

Lan Junjie, finally realizing the trouble he was in, tried to duck away but Lan Fen reached out her hand like a steel claw and gripped his collar. She pulled him fully into view, his face still bandaged from the beating Chen Haoran had given in the arena.

“It is you,” Lan Fen cooed. “How long has it been?” she asked, as if she were catching up with an old acquaintance.

“He-Hello Lan Fen,” Lan Junjie stuttered. Acting markedly more well-behaved than Chen Haoran had ever seen him.

“You have gotten more handsome in the time I have not seen you, Little Junjie.” Lan Fen’s voice was unnaturally, saccharine sweet. “How disgusting.” She slapped Lan Junjie full across the face with her free hand.

“Wha-?”

Before Lan Junjie could finish Lan Fen backhanded him, then repeated the motion. Lan Junjie reached out to grab her arm but she deftly avoided his grasp and slapped him. He clawed at the arm holding his collar to no avail and she slapped him. He uselessly kicked her and she slapped him. His hands glowed greed with the Scattering Petal Palm, she slapped the qi out of them before he could finish the technique and slapped him. Back and forth Lan Fen’s hand went and Lan Junjie’s head went back and forth with it.

“Lan Fen enough!” Lan Jia roared.

Lan Fen ignored her and continued slapping Lan Junjie.

Lan Jia seethed and green light rose in her hands. Her lackeys bristled. An alcohol bottle went soaring through the air and smashed on the back of her head.

“Forgetting someone?” Xie Jin said, casually bouncing another wine bottle in his hand.

Chen Haoran rose from his seat and flared his qi. “Lan family!” he roared. He slammed his fist through the table and split it in two. “Twice now you’ve interrupted my meals! Can a man not eat in peace?”

It was bullshit, of course, considering that they came here to start trouble but he only had a carriage ride to come up with lines.

He kicked one half of the table and sent it hurtling towards Lan Jia. She smashed it to splinters with her palm and sneered at Chen Haoran. Xie Jin, using the table to disguise his approach, swung his wine bottle and broke it over her head. Chen Haoran let out a low whistle, both at Xie Jin’s quick thinking and Lan Jia’s remarkably tough head.

Xie Jin looked over with a smile. “I’ll take care of this one Brother Che-” the Seventh-Layer Lan boy caught him in the side with a flying kick and sent Xie Jin crashing into another table, scattering its occupants.

Chen Haoran grasped the remaining half of the broken table and, wielding it like a club, leapt forward. The Lan Boy cursed and raised his arms to block. Lan Jia pulled him back and stepped forward and through Chen Haoran’s impromptu weapon with a Scattering Petal Palm, breaking the table to pieces and landing six heavy blows to his head. Chen Haoran rolled back with the force and blinked stars and sawdust out of his eyes. Lan Jia was better with the technique than Lan Junjie that was for sure.

Throughout the whole exchange, Lan Fen continued slapping Lan Junjie. His indignant protests devolved into squealing sobs as Lan Fen slapped his face bloody.

“Lan Fen, you’re opponent is me!” Lan Jia shouted. Blood ran down her head in rivulets, turning her furious face into something demonic. She motioned with her head toward Chen Haoran. “Deal with him.”

The other three Lans surrounded Chen Haoran while Lan Jia rushed at Lan Fen. Xie Jin swept her feet out from under her in a sliding tackle. She fell heavily to the floor and he grappled with her in a tangle of limbs.

Chen Haoran huffed a laugh. “Not sending your best huh?”

“We could say the same for you,” the Lan boy replied.

Chen Haoran frowned when a cry of shock came from Xie Jin. Lan Jia stood up and Xie Jin, still wrapped around her, was effortlessly lifted with her. She slammed the back of her fist into his head and dropped him.

Chen Haoran sighed. He charged at the Lan boy, the other two closed in on his sides. The Lan boy lashed out with a straight punch to his chest. Chen Haoran caught it full on and barreled into him, sending them both down to the floor. He pinned the Lan boy’s arms with his knees and punched his face with one qi-enhanced blow after the other. The two Lans he ignored punched and kicked at him but he ignored them and kept beating.

When they finally pried him off the Lan boy was properly dazed. Chen Haoran buried his elbow into the guts of one then brought it up to catch his chin in a brutal uppercut. The other brought up his knee into Chen Haoran’s own gut in revenge but didn’t even wind him. Chen Haoran grabbed the offending knee and flipped the Lan onto the ground, a qi-enhanced kick sent him skidding into a nearby table.

Chen Haoran dusted off his clothes. Despite taking so many hits he was perfectly fine, a combined blessing of his superior cultivation and the Stygian Lotus. It was good to be the stronger cultivator for once.

He turned to help Xie Jin only to find him standing over the fallen form of Lan Jia, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. In the time when Chen Haoran wasn’t paying attention, he had somehow gotten the better of her. It didn’t look like she made it easy though.

Xie Jin had a nasty yellow bruise forming on his cheek and his robes were scuffed and torn, he looked triumphant thought. “Don’t you ever forget who humbled you today,” he spat.

“Good work,” Chen Haoran said.

Xie Jin smiled. “It was nothing, Brother Chen.”

“As you say, Brother Jin.”

Xie Jin brightened with joy.

There was a thump at the doors. Lan Fen had let go of Lan Junjie and he fell to the floor, his face swollen and red. She crouched over him. “Tell Lan Yao that I will be waiting for her at the Palace Exams.”

She looked over her shoulder at Chen Haoran.

“Shall we go?”

done.co