Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem

Chapter 27-Soulmates Are Hard To Find

Translated by Snowfall77

Raising her head, Xia Ge saw that on the mountain path not far off, a hemp-clad girl with a red headband was being ruthlessly kicked by a man in Jianfeng’s blue and white.  With a sharp mouth and cheeks like a monkey, the Jianfeng disciple was viciously sneering at the girl huddled on the ground: “Who let you block the way of your betters?!”

Hidden in the trees, Xia Ge kept observing, carefully pushing a few branches aside to find that there were several more Jianfeng disciples standing behind the man.  Among them was a young lady, also wearing blue and white, but with many beautiful butterflies embroidered in silver on her white sleeves.  Due to the distance, Xia Ge couldn’t see the young lady’s face, but her embroidered butterflies gleamed bloody in the setting sun, creating an unsightly, almost crude effect.

—-“I like butterflies so much.  Someday, if I can, I’m going to have them all over my clothes.”

For a split-second, Xia Ge’s mind drifted.

Then she was back, staring at the Jianfeng disciples through the trees.  Watching the nasty man with monkey cheeks harass the young Danfeng girl, there was no sign of sympathy on the Jianfeng disciples’ faces, only a subtle mixture of mockery and amusement.

“……yes, I’m sorry, I’m sorry……”

The bullied and humiliated Danfeng girl remained curled in a ball, crying: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry……please……”

In answer, the man ferociously kicked the huddled girl in the back, the kick strong enough to propel her away by more than three feet!

“If your ‘I’m sorry’ had any value, then by the same token, the Thousand Souls Sect could become upright and prestigious!”  The man spat, eyes glinting with unconcealed pleasure.  “Really, is that all Danfeng’s gutless bastards know how to say?  ‘I’m sorry’—-Hahahaha, if they have to face the Demon Sect, I fear they’ll be nothing more than sniveling cowards going ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’!!”

Many Jianfeng disciples were pampered and arrogant, despising Danfeng disciples, who generally came from poor backgrounds.

Which was why, after accidently dying her red ribbon green, Xia Ge kept it that way.

Might as well avoid trouble when possible.

However, at the moment, the stink of blood rising above muddied odors of vegetation and soil was threatening Xia Ge’s practiced detachment.

Nevertheless, they were many, and Jianfeng disciples at that, while Xia Ge was one.  Not a likely stratagem for success.

“Tsk.”

Concealing herself sideways behind a beech tree, Xia Ge folded a green leaf and positioned it between her fingers for throwing, eyes growing cold.

“Chang Lu, let’s leave already.”

The girl’s tone was blithely indifferent: “Just mind that she’s learned her lesson.”

That voice.

Xia Ge’s chest tightened and she closed her eyes.

“Hehehe, yes, yes, yes—hear that, little bitch?  Fuck off!”

The sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked man Chang Lu apparently hadn’t vented his spleen sufficiently.  He dashed over to the fallen girl and went to viciously kick her yet again.  Xia Ge’s eyes went ice-cold, the green leaf flying from her hand!

{one strike}!

The emerald leaf flew like hard metal, propelled with fierce qi, hitting Chang Lu in his raised right leg!

“Aaaa——”

A certain ‘heavyweight’ fell to the ground, squealing like a stuck pig: “My leg, my leg—who?!!”

Several of the Jianfeng disciples quickly drew their swords, scanning the surroundings in belated vigilance.  However, in the end they couldn’t help gathering around Chang Lu and gawking at the leaf embedded in his lower right leg with sharp intakes of breath. It’s origin was unknown, and it’d put Chang Lu’s leg in a miserable state.

The leaf had hit the right side of Chang Lu’s right calf, burying deeply enough to have penetrated flesh and bone, half of the blood-stained leaf now protruding out of the left side of his calf, looking rather grisly and grim.

“Aaaa……it hurts—–”

Face twisted up, Chang Lu kept bleating: “Who, who, show yourself—”

The initial version of {one strike} was 100% effective at hitting where a puppet master focused their thoughts.  With the upgraded version of {one strike}, the object thrown would have an intense astral qi, the ability to pierce through stone, and all in all, be completely unyielding.

Holding her breath, Xia Ge hoped the branches of the beech tree were suitably camouflaging her hemp clothes.  As long as she was careful, she shouldn’t be—-

“What are you doing, hiding back there?”

The young lady raised her eyes to look directly at the beech tree that Xia Ge hid behind, a half-smile on her lips as she said in an offhand tone: “Come out.”

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—-Even if they met by chance—they still wouldn’t know each other.

Snapping back to her senses, Xia Ge slowly came out from behind the beech tree, holding one of her newly refined dan in one hand.

“It was you—-”

Chang Lu’s triangular eyes were widened and full of malice, staring at Xia Ge as she walked forward: “My leg—it was you!!!”

“Huh?  Me?”  Xia Ge swiftly assumed the attitude of an innocent passerby, astonished to be accused by a Jianfeng disciple and dismayed by all the drawn swords.  “Why would you have a problem with me?  What are my Jianfeng brothers and sisters doing here?”

Then, shifting her gaze to take in Chang Lu’s lower right leg, Xia Ge promptly acted terrified: “Oh my goodness, Elder Brother, what happened to your leg?!!  That wound is so severe!!  What kind of awful person has dared to injure a Jianfeng disciple of Lingxi?!!

It was at this same time that Xia Ge got a good look at the young lady.

There was silken black hair, prettily tied back with a blue ribbon that had a butterfly dangling at the ends of it, while crescent-shaped hair fringed over the forehead.  Her oval face was as white as jade, with large, round indifferent pitch-black eyes, and her thin lips held a shallow smile.  And perhaps it wasn’t accurate to call her a young lady, because she gave the impression of being about eleven or twelve.  Her whole body dressed in blue and white, her wide sleeves were embroidered with swirls of vivid, lifelike silver butterflies, that seemed about to fly off into the sunset at any second.

She stood very straight, and despite her young age, possessed an innate aura of aloof nobility, her eyes filled with cold hauteur.

As expected……

“Stinking asshole—it was you just now!!”  Chang Lu quickly yanked out his sword, pointing it at Xia Ge with a threatening expression: “Don’t try to play dumb with me!!”

“What?”  Xia Ge managed to appear painfully bewildered, “What was me just now?  I don’t understand.”

“Kill him!”  Chang Lu gnashed his teeth unbecomingly, “Whoever kills him, my Chang family will reward with a hundred mid-grade spirit stones!!”

A Jianfeng disciple standing beside Chang Lu was sufficiently tempted by the offer, aiming his sword at Xia Ge.

“Ai, ai—-”  Xia Ge waved a hand, her expression aggrieved, “How was it me?  I’m just coming from Suxi Pavilion, and I—I mean, really, how or why would I hurt you?”
Xia Ge feigned astonishment, gesturing to Chang Lu’s leg and then skeptically pointing to herself: “Can I fly a leaf through a stone……?  To this brother……do I look that impressive?”

Chang Lu reassessed the weak-looking bastard.  True enough, the boy didn’t seem like someone who could twirl a leaf through someone’s bone, but that only made it worse!  Profoundly depressed, Chang Lu asked himself how such a shitty bastard dared to embarrass the second son of the Chang family?!

Even if the boy wasn’t the responsible party, he still had to die!
Suffering acute pain, Chang Lu sneered: “It’s who I say it is, and I say it was you!  Be an obedient child and give me your death!”

Well, the bleeding asshole was indeed worthy of being a Jianfeng disciple.  Never mind that Xia Ge was actually the one who’d committed the deed, the bastard’s attitude was still fucking annoying.

The other Danfeng disciple was still curled up in a ball, appearing to be in a great deal of pain.  And now, all thanks to Chang Lu’s words, Xia Ge had several Jianfeng swords pointed at herself, the atmosphere tense and hostile.

Meanwhile, the young lady with silver butterflies on her cuffs simply looked on indifferently, a superficial smile on her lips, eyes cold and apathetic.

“Ai—don’t be like this, we all disciples of Lingxi Sect, we should be polite and amiable with each other.”  Xia Ge raised both her hands, expression exasperated.  “Young sir, let me tell you the truth, I’m actually an inner disciple selected by Danfeng’s senior disciple—-”

(I’m not afraid, I’ve got a bigshot backing me!)

“Bullshit!”  Chang Lu was in pain and wanted to see someone else hurt besides himself.  And watching others suffer generally cheered Chang Lu up to no end.  Therefore, this boy’s death should be ugly, and Chang Lu didn’t care whose disciple the boy was!!

“Danfeng’s senior disciple is who?  Never mind, I don’t care whose motherfucking seeding you are!!  What are you guys waiting for?  Do it quickly—-”

“Wait.”

The young lady with silver butterflies suddenly spoke out.

“……miss?”  Chung Lu, hugging his leg, sent an unresigned glance Chu Yi’s way, “He—–”

“Let him finish speaking.”

Chu Yi regarded Xia Ge with faintly enquiring eyes.

This boy……

Chang Lu groaned and said mockingly: “He’s full of shit!  His ribbon isn’t even the right color, and besides he’s nothing but skin and bones.  He’s no one’s inner disciple, he’s just trying to boast!”
“Ai, you’re quite wrong.”

Xia Ge stole a quick look at the Danfeng inner disciple still huddled up behind Chang Lu, her brows unwittingly furrowing.  Then, with a deep look on her face, she said: “Senior Sister said it herself, I have wonderful bones and I’m an excellent seedling for liandan.  Honestly, I didn’t really believe it at first either—–”

Not giving Chang Lu time to ridicule, Xia Ge forged ahead: “Until I refined dan for the first time, just today—believe it or not, the first time I’ve touched a furnace, and I refined peerless divine dan!”

Eyes on the prize, but completely without grounds, Xia Ge added: “Simply amazing!”

System: [……]  For your first time, didn’t you fucking blow up the furnace and couldn’t even find a trace of your dan?

However, a couple of the young Jianfeng men were satisfactorily taken aback by Xia Ge’s pretense.

Their belief wasn’t that surprising.  Rich youngsters usually went to Jianfeng Peak, where they studied only the sword.  Disciples from poor families gravitated to Danfeng Peak.  Therefore, Jianfeng disciples looked down on Danfeng disciples, and knew next to nothing about liandan.

As Xia Ge declared her handiwork ‘amazing,’ she held out one of her scorched dans in her palm.  Face etched with earnestness, Xia Ge continued: “Look, this is an ‘Invincible Rejuvenation Dan.’  I refined it just today!  Senior Sister personally instructed me herself at Suxi Pavilion.  Fortunately, I lived up to her expectations!”

System: [……]

“You’re full of crap!”  Chang Lu refused to give up his sneering, “Looks to me like you just picked up a couple pieces of sheep shit out of the dirt!”

Xia Ge was appalled by such gauche words: “How could this ‘Invincible Rejuvenation Dan’ be compared to sheep shit?! As an elder brother of Jianfeng, how could you be so vulgar?!

As she was chattering, Xia Ge opened the Points Mall.

“Little puppet, I seem to remember this Mall was selling something that was almost fucking useless called ‘Mary Sue Holy Water.’  And if you sprinkle it on something, it’ll shine like a holy ‘Mary Sue’ rainbow?”

System: [……It Is For Sale.]

System: [What Would You Like To Do?]

The corners of Xia Ge’s mouth faintly hooked up.

{just searching for……a soulmate to try my dan.}