The Family Head of This Generation (Girls' Love) - Chapter 2

However, Zhao Ziyan quickly dismissed the joy of being able to cultivate from her mind and hastily bid farewell to her mother, Shang Luo, because she now wanted to familiarize herself with the power within her body as soon as possible. Although that trace of power was not yet strong, it was, after all, truly her own. A privileged family background could not bring her dignity; to avoid being looked down upon, she could only rely on herself.

Zhao Ziyan sat cross-legged in the cultivation room her mother had specially prepared for her. It took her about thirty minutes to completely familiarize herself with the pure inner force swirling in her dantian and meridians. When she was on Earth, the various legends of immortals had long fascinated Zhao Ziyan. To be able to fly freely in the sky as described in novels and storybooks was an incredibly captivating prospect, and now that the dream of flying could be realized, how could Zhao Ziyan remain calm?

After thirty minutes, Zhao Ziyan was relieved when she confirmed that she could control the inner force. She didn’t want to be like Duan Yu, whose internal power was sometimes effective and sometimes not, causing trouble at crucial moments.

She was not a protagonist with an immortality halo written by the great master Jin Yong. On this dangerous continent, there were ferocious man-eating demonic beasts, formidable Profound Practitioners who could flatten a mountain with a wave of their hand, and Martial Artists who cultivated themselves and could cleave a powerful demonic beast with a gesture. The Cang Kui Continent was not a peaceful living environment like Earth; if she wasn’t careful, she and her beautiful mother might soon be separated by death.

After controlling this inner force in her dantian, she began to circulate it. The already substantial inner force, under Zhao Ziyan’s careful control, began to flow like water…

Initially, this flow was gentle and slow, like a babbling brook. But as Zhao Ziyan continuously circulated it, the external spiritual energy, like a small stream meeting the ocean, happily rushed towards Zhao Ziyan’s body. The originally docile spiritual energy was gradually swallowed by the pure inner force within Zhao Ziyan. What was initially just one stream of inner force gradually grew stronger with the replenishment of spiritual energy. The inner force formed a cycle within Zhao Ziyan’s meridians, circulating back and forth in loops, gradually strengthening Zhao Ziyan’s body, which had not been trained before.

“Muddle-headed for three hundred years, yet it still perished. I am unwilling!”

…

“Senior, I am Zhao Ziyan, where are you, Senior?”

Lost in cultivation, Zhao Ziyan had sealed off all contact with the outside world, but then, she suddenly heard this phrase of unwilling, melancholic sigh echoing in her mind.

For the past month, a middle-aged man frequently appeared in Zhao Ziyan’s dreams, repeatedly chanting this phrase, and then imparting some extremely profound cultivation techniques. Every time Zhao Ziyan tried to find the speaker, she would wake up suddenly from the dream, which left Zhao Ziyan regretting for a long time. Anyone who could directly enter her dreams and impart powerful cultivation techniques must be a powerhouse. If she could take him as her master, she would have the capital to walk horizontally across the Cang Kui Continent.

“Little girl, open your eyes. This is the Immortal Artifact Space. I am only a wisp of obsession now and will soon dissipate. Little girl, are you willing to take me as your master?”

“Senior, you… Master, Ziyan is willing to take you as her master. Master is above, please accept your disciple’s three bows.”

Zhao Ziyan respectfully kowtowed three times to Wuchenzi, looking anxiously at the translucent figure before her. Although she had long known that the middle-aged man who repeatedly appeared in her dreams was very weak, she hadn’t expected Wuchenzi to be on the verge of disappearing. She had originally wanted to find a powerful master as a backing, as there was a significant difference between cultivating with a master’s guidance and without. With a master’s instruction, one would avoid many detours in cultivation. But now her master was about to dissipate.

“Good, good. I never thought I could still take a disciple in this life. Disciple, I am about to dissipate. I hope you can inherit the mantle of our sect. Our Starfall Sect will finally have a successor. Even if I die, I will be worthy of the ancestors of the Starfall Sect.”

“Master…”

“Disciple, listen to me. I don’t have much time left. When my last trace of soul dissipates, a memory crystal will appear. I don’t have much time to teach you, so I can only use this memory crystal to pass on the Starfall Sect’s legacy. I hope you, disciple, can treat the Starfall Sect’s legacy well and make the Starfall Sect flourish.”

“Master, don’t worry! I will make the Starfall Sect flourish. Master, may you rest in peace.”

Watching Wuchenzi’s spirit gradually turn translucent, Zhao Ziyan also felt a wave of sadness. Although it was the first time she had seen Wuchenzi, she couldn’t claim to have deep feelings for him. However, Wuchenzi had diligently taught her cultivation knowledge in her dreams over the past month. In Zhao Ziyan’s heart, she had long recognized Wuchenzi as her master. Seeing the gradually transparent body transform into a white memory crystal, Zhao Ziyan’s tears welled up. She had always been an emotional person, and it was only the hardships she faced since childhood that made her suppress her vulnerability and gradually learn to be strong.

Wiping away her tears, she took the memory crystal in her hand. Wuchenzi’s life’s worth of cultivation knowledge imprinted itself in her mind. This vast amount of memory was too enormous; wave after wave of knowledge made Zhao Ziyan’s head feel like it was about to split open.

It was unknown how long passed before Zhao Ziyan managed to absorb the rudimentary knowledge of the cultivation world. Some excessively profound cultivation theories, which Wuchenzi seemed to have anticipated Zhao Ziyan could not absorb, were sealed, to be unsealed only when Zhao Ziyan’s cultivation level increased.

“It’s time to leave the Immortal Artifact Space. I wonder how much time has passed outside. I hope my beautiful mother hasn’t been worrying about me, it would be a sin to make her worry.”

Zhao Ziyan didn’t bother to examine the environment in the space carefully, she just silently thought “Go back” and, upon reopening her eyes, she was back in her familiar cultivation room.

“It stinks! Xiaocui, prepare my clothes, I want to bathe!”

Zhao Ziyan pinched her nose and shouted loudly towards the door. She had noticed the personal guard her mother assigned to her waiting outside the door while she was cultivating.

Since the incident of jumping into the lake last time, her beautiful mother had found four dark guards to protect her day and night. And since it was her first time cultivating, she assumed those guards wouldn’t dare to leave the vicinity of the cultivation room during this time.

Quickly stripping off her clothes, Zhao Ziyan plunged directly into the hot spring in the adjoining room, carefully scrubbing the black grime sticking to her skin.

Zhao Ziyan secretly praised her beautiful mother. Indeed, the older the wiser. When it came to knowing how to enjoy life, her beautiful mother definitely ranked first.

After this cultivation session, Zhao Ziyan had expelled most of the impurities from her body. No wonder successful cultivators mostly looked down upon mortals, maintaining a constantly aloof, superior, and ethereal appearance, deeming mortals as useless and disdaining to associate with them. Zhao Ziyan had previously been dismissive of this, but now she thought about it: mortals consume grain, so the turbidity in their bodies is indeed excessive. For those cultivators with severe cleanliness issues, they truly wouldn’t want to have too much contact with mortals.

“Xiaocui, quickly massage my shoulders.”

Lying comfortably like a lord on the mat by the side of the bath, sitting cross-legged was truly exhausting. This cultivation session lasted for three full days, during which Zhao Ziyan hadn’t moved at all, leaving her muscles aching and numb all over.

Thus, Zhao Ziyan prepared to fully exercise her right as the family head, ordering the expressionless, wooden Xiaocui to run around in circles.

“Xiaocui, are you not listening to this Head’s words? Be careful, or I’ll use the family punishment.”

Seeing Xiaocui still standing motionless like a block of wood, Zhao Ziyan was enraged. She had been “training” this block of wood for a month, and it was still a block of wood, completely unable to read her expression. Zhao Ziyan absolutely would not admit that after integrating the memories of the original host, her personality had also become spoiled and mischievous. But Zhao Ziyan did not plan to change; she enjoyed the benefits that power brought her. “Poor in literature, rich in martial arts,” with money one could reach higher martial levels. What’s the point of learning martial arts without money? Furthermore, what if people noticed her drastic change in personality, different from the original host, and sent her away for dissection and research?

“Yes, Head.”

‘Xiaocui’… well, Lvfu kneelt beside Zhao Ziyan with an expressionless face, her fingers massaging Zhao Ziyan’s back with moderate pressure.

“Xiaocui, did you steal and eat dog food this morning? You have less strength than a dog.”

“Ouch! That hurts! Xiaocui, are you trying to murder me so you can elope with Xiaohong, is that it?”

“Xiaocui, when did you and Xiaohong hook up? Who’s the top and who’s the bottom?”

“Xiaocui, next time you go out, remember to bring your eyes. Lower down, didn’t you see my hint?”

…

Bring your sister’s eyes! Elope with your sister! Who likes Xiaohong! Who ate dog food! Lvfu was about to scratch the walls. She desperately wanted to scratch to death this creature, suspected to be the family head, right in front of her. How had this nasty personality not gotten her killed yet? She could almost still hear the Mistress Luo’s voice: “Lvfu, Ziyan has a gentle temperament…” Gentle my foot! So gentle that I want to scratch her, so gentle that I’m having the urge to commit regicide! Xiaocui, bah! Lvfu, you must stay calm! Regicide is unacceptable! Mistress Luo has been kind to you!

“Xiaocui, you need to pay more attention to cultivating your temperament. Look at you, I only said a few words and you’re already giving me a nasty look…”

Zhao Ziyan continued to speak with a forced smile. Teasing the expressionless, easily-angered girl, Xiaocui, was truly too amusing. Seeing that eternally unchanging icy face crack from anger brought a sense of accomplishment even greater than a loser defeating a handsome, rich man.

“Shut up.”

Lvfu snapped. If she stayed any longer, she would definitely act on her thought of regicide. A creature like the Family Head was truly too hateful.

“Hahaha, Xiaocui, I haven’t finished talking yet! Xiaocui, you stop right there!”

…

“Ziyan, what has made you laugh so happily?”

Shang Luo elegantly and calmly pushed open the bathroom door, only to see her most capable dark guard, Lvfu, fleeing from the bathroom with a dark face, while her most beloved daughter was laughing unrestrainedly inside the bathroom. Shang Luo had never seen Ziyan laugh so wantonly before, which made her puzzled. Had she not been a role model of a kind mother?

“Mother, why are you here?”

Seeing Shang Luo open the door, Zhao Ziyan subconsciously restrained the reckless smile on her face. After integrating the former host’s memory, Zhao Ziyan instinctively felt the same respect for her beautiful mother as the former host, not daring to do anything disrespectful in front of her noble, beautiful mother. Although she had seen her beautiful mother cry twice in just one month, the memory of the past sixteen years was not fake; her beautiful mother was indeed a cunning and powerful existence.

“Ziyan, are you afraid of Mother?” Shang Luo gently stroked Ziyan’s slightly damp long hair, smiling warmly.

“Ziyan is just afraid that Mother won’t like Ziyan’s unrestrainedness. Mother taught Ziyan since childhood not to show too much emotion, but Ziyan doesn’t like it.”

“Silly girl, how could Mother not like Ziyan? No matter what Ziyan is like, Ziyan will always be the child Mother loves the most.”