Aimless Ascension

Wang Li was pleased to see her son having fun at the festival. He was riding a horse of his size, with Vale riding along with him in glee.

Rong'er would have been equally delighted to ride Vale, but this was gleeful to him as well.

Wang Li kept her distance closer to her kid, her whole concentration on him. There was another person with her today other than Vale. The porcelain doll, the inept girl Fang Chen, whom they found getting harassed by the daughter of the Sun Clan in the street.

After she took her to the inn, the doll girl simply decided to lodge to spend her time in. She didn't seem to be with anyone and wasn't that enthusiastic about the festival, either.

Fang Chen had been meditating on the open veranda when Wang Li decided to take her son to the festival. She thought she could take her with her as well, as the girl wasn't competent enough to take care of herself alone.

Well, Fang Chen was competent enough in spirit arts, already copper rank, at a young age. Moreover, she gave a different vibe through her spiritual aura, rich and concentrated, like that of Gale.

Wang Li guessed that it was the result of some rare spirit arts. She was curious, but not to the point that she would go out of her way to ask.

She simply offered to take her to the fair. Turned out her convincing words were enough, or the girl simply couldn't say no if someone pushed her a little too much.

Well, if it was the latter, Fang Chen was going to have a very difficult future. Considering her complexion, countless men would ask for the same things countless times.

Wang Li wasn't sure how many times the doll could decline with her complexity in communication. Well, she couldn't even glare at the men who were ogling at her. Then again, her white gemlike eyes would be too mesmerising even when she glares.

"So you haven't told me anything about yourself?" Wang Li tried to make a small conversation, as the doll was standing idly the whole time. "Where are you from?"

"Wahran providence," Fang Chen answered in her low voice.

"Did you come to our town for something specific?"

The doll nodded as if controlled by invisible strings. "Unresolved work," she said. After a little consideration, she added, "I have a lot of time to complete them."

"Hmm," Wang Li pondered. "What kind of work? You don't have to answer if you aren't comfortable with it."

"It depends," Fang Chen said. "The last contract I have is for looking up some specific information. The previous works before that were simply taking care of young practitioners."

"Taking care as in. . ." Wang Li whistled, indicating murder.

"No, simply looking after them, though I have to fight a few times."

"Is the pay good?" Wang Li asked, considering. Getting more words out of the doll's mouth than she imagined she would be able to, she continued on.

"My last two employers are good," Fang Chen said, considering, "they paid good spirit marks, though I spent all of it as well as indebted to my friend for my breakthrough."

"Tell me about it," Wang Li said, brushing the white scarf around her neck. "I'm in debt too and will be for years. Cultivating spirit arts is damn expensive."

Fang Chen nodded in agreement.

"Yet some people are loaded out of our imagination," Wang Li continued. "Oh, that reminded me, if you want to grab some spirit marks to help yourself, I may happen to have a job for you."

"In the inn?" Fang Chen asked, lifting her eyebrows.

"Something similar," Wang Li smiled, "but perks are something you can't imagine. It is basically the housekeeping job for a gold master practitioner, also some assist in training his disciple. Oh, you met his disciple already. Xiaolin, that golden-haired girl from before. She's still low rank, so you can easily help her practice."

Fang Chen's eyes blinked as she heard that, her mind calculating the perks of the offer.

"Ignoring the spirit marks—which I can assure you will be many folds better than your usual jobs—you can even ask for advice in spirit arts from an actual master. Of course, you have to be competent in housekeeping and spirit arts to get the job."

"I'm not good at cooking," Fang Chen said, flushing. "I can help train spirit arts, but don't know if any good at it, though."

"Hmm," Wang Li considered. "I guess you have to be interviewed by the master practitioner first. I don't think cooking is going to be an issue, as he had a knack for it. If you want, I can arrange that by tomorrow."

Fang Chen clearly looked torn between accepting and indecision. Wang Li guessed she had other important jobs left to take care of, but lucrative deals like advice from master practitioners were enough to shake most low-level practitioners.

"Well, you can take your time to decide," Wang Li said. "The way Master Gale is rejecting, I fear he won't get anyone competent enough in months."

Wang Li already delivered a dozen competent workers who were good at housekeeping and also at copper rank. Unfortunately, none of their spirit arts meet his criteria.

He was pretty confident that Xiaolin would be able to defeat them all together, so there was no point taking incompetent practitioners as they wouldn't be helping Xiaolin in any way.

They spent a few more minutes in the fair, as Rong'er was getting uncomfortable with all the noises pretty soon. Fang Chen wasn't extroverted either, so they decided to hit the road back to the inn.

There was no lack of men gawking at them. On the cover of the night, they were blatantly ogling at her marvellous body; it was outlined even more so in the dress.

"Would you look at that?" someone said in the back. "Those racks are of high standards."

"I like the innocent-looking girl more."

"Oh bother, you're absolutely right about that."

"Since when has our town had girls like that?"

Wang Li stopped on her walk and turned, glowering at the people on the road. "You worthless morons, since when did our town had, so many lechers like the lots of you?"