Jiang Qiao realized he had made a miscalculation. He had assumed the Confinement Tower was a foolproof sanctuary, yet he never expected Mu Qinggan to show up here.
"Senior Sister, I truly didn't expect you to come. The Confinement Tower is quite tranquil, making it the perfect place for cultivation. It certainly wasn't to hide from you." Jiang Qiao forced a friendly, easygoing expression onto his face.
"You're quite surprised that I managed to come here, aren't you?"
Mu Qinggan twirled a large ring of Confinement Tower keys on her ring finger, the metal chiming incessantly. "Wasn't there a surprise promised to me? Your voluntary entry into the Confinement Tower is, indeed, quite a surprise."
Jiang Qiao thought for a moment. Since Mu Qinggan could walk into the Confinement Tower so openly and brazenly, she must have leveraged connections within the sect. This was not hard to infer, given how familiar she was with the elderly caretaker of the Scripture Pavilion.
As expected, escaping Mu Qinggan was not going to be easy. Fortunately, he had prepared something for the "surprise." He had borrowed a book on the Fireworks Incantation, which allowed one to release spiritual energy to create spectacular visual effects. He had only learned a smattering of it, but perhaps it could pass as a small surprise. If he didn't provide a surprise and instead defied her, the favorability rating might have risen even more, but he couldn't take that risk.
"Here, this is the surprise."
Jiang Qiao opened his palm, quietly channeling a thread of spiritual energy from his fingertips. The energy surged upward, coalescing into a galloping steed of fire, its mane trailing sparks like drifting stars before the energy gradually dissipated.
It was a clumsy display, and not a particularly novel trick either.
However, Mu Qinggan watched it from start to finish with rapt attention.
Within Mu Qinggan’s field of vision, the arcs of fireworks flared, causing her a moment of discomfort, but she truly felt a long-lost warmth. It had been a long time since she had seen fireworks; the last time was when she was seven years old...
[System Notification: "Junior Brother really is not the same as me; he is as warm as the sunshine." Mu Qinggan’s favorability +10.]
Upon hearing the system’s announcement, Jiang Qiao stood there, stunned. Why had it increased by 10 points? Usually, 5 would have been sufficient.
"I am truly satisfied with this gift, but..."
The relaxed expression Mu Qinggan wore while watching the fireworks vanished, replaced by bewilderment at Jiang Qiao’s contradictory behavior. "But Junior Brother is very strange today. You are usually so quiet and keep to yourself. To take the initiative to come to the Confinement Tower like this—it’s very uncharacteristic.""Junior Brother, could you be possessed? I can't read you at all, it's just too strange."
Hearing the word "possessed," Jiang Qiao was not surprised at all. Every time he was reborn and tried to avoid Mu Qinggan, Mu Qinggan would say something like that. Her only starting point was simply to let him live a few more days.
His understanding of Mu Qinggan could gradually be summarized from his first four deaths.
Yet Mu Qinggan was still stuck on her understanding and preconceived notions of the original owner from the game.
In other words, from Mu Qinggan's perspective, this was her very first encounter with the transmigrated Jiang Qiao.
Mu Qinggan gently cupped Jiang Qiao's chin, as if trying to read his inner thoughts completely from the inside out.
"Possessed? How could that be?"
Jiang Qiao answered Mu Qinggan's doubt, the corners of his mouth twitching unnaturally. He gently lowered Mu Qinggan's arm, sat down, and faced the table full of delicious food.
The meals Mu Qinggan prepared for herself—he had to eat them.
Not eating might be the reverse approach, which would increase her affection even more, so eating was the way to go along with Mu Qinggan's intentions.
"Senior Sister, these dishes of yours—they happen to be all my favorites."
Mu Qinggan's tone instantly turned excited. "Mhm, hurry up and try them."Jiang Qiao took a few bites. The food wasn't bad, but every single mouthful was eaten with cautious trepidation, as if he were walking on thin ice.
[System Prompt: #Junior brother's expression while eating is so alluring#, Mu Qinggan's favorability +5]
Jiang Qiao was left speechless upon hearing the system prompt. Mu Qinggan's favorability was now at 55, and time was running out, yet he currently had no way to avoid her.
Throughout the meal, Mu Qinggan rested her chin in her hands and stared fixedly at him, her gaze making his skin crawl. Trying to act natural and pretend he didn't care was simply impossible.
Fortunately, Mu Qinggan didn't stare for much longer.
A disciple suddenly hurried over and whispered something in Mu Qinggan's ear. She frowned. "Junior brother, eat slowly, okay? I won't be able to keep you company for now. I'm going to go handle some matters and will come see you later."
Seeing her leave, Jiang Qiao slumped over the table, letting out a breath of relief while feeling somewhat puzzled.
Generally speaking, Mu Qinggan wouldn't have anything that required her attention. In the previous four deaths, she had acted like sticky toffee, firmly bound to Jiang Qiao; it was only when Jiang Qiao managed to extricate himself that he could break free from that situation.Since she would still come to see him later today, her favorability rating would increase again.
The system clearly showed that Mu Qinggan's favorability was at 55, which was only 35 points away from 90. With a 15-point increase today, he had at most seven days left to live.
Therefore, looking at it now, the books borrowed from the Scripture Pavilion seemed particularly important at this moment.
Aside from the Stone Body Incantation, having appropriate offensive abilities was also very necessary. The Stone Body Incantation served as a baseline defensive measure, so other techniques should shoulder corresponding offensive duties; even if the offensive capability was weak, it could not be abandoned.
During the previous few deaths, he hadn't even had the chance to spar and trade blows with Mu Qinggan. Perhaps this time would be the turning point.
After these thoughts, Jiang Qiao forced himself to rally his spirits and continued flipping through the technique manuals. He planned to further consolidate the Stone Body Incantation before studying some offensive techniques.
Suddenly, through the gap in the cold iron bars of Jiang Qiao's confinement cell, the head of another person from the adjacent confinement cell popped in.
"Brother, are you trying to practice the Stone Body Incantation? Forget it, this technique is extremely difficult to master. Those who manage to enter the threshold are one in a million. You'd better switch to practicing something else," the person in the next cell sighed and said.
"Ah... actually, I just entered the first layer today."
Jiang Qiao replied.
The air seemed to freeze for a second.
The cellmate next door replied, as if to ease the awkwardness: "Already entered the first layer, eh? But making further progress after that is as difficult as moving an inch at a time. I count as half a senior to you, so I know this very well."
Jiang Qiao finally raised his head and sized up the man opposite him: regular facial features, tall and thin build.
In the first four game playthroughs, this character hadn't seemed to appear at all. What this person's identity was, he didn't know either.
After all, there was very little he could do right now in the Confinement Tower; making connections might help him discover a new way to break the deadlock.
Therefore, Jiang Qiao put down his book and walked a bit closer to the man. Through the bars, the two began to converse.
"Why do you consider yourself half a senior?"
"I've been locked up in the Confinement Tower for a month. In terms of seniority, shouldn't I be the superior one?"
"..."
"Sigh, don't look at me locked up here; I used to be a disciple of Plucking Stars Cliff and a Golden Core Stage cultivator. If it hadn't been for—cough," at this point, the man paused, and his subsequent voice dropped even lower, "committing an offense. But let me have you guess what offense I committed."
The man chattered endlessly as if a floodgate had been opened. Jiang Qiao listened closely and smiled politely, "I can't guess."
The man spoke to Jiang Qiao in a breathy whisper: "Someone on the Black Market offered a huge sum of money to buy the Sect Master's shoes and socks. I went to steal them, and ended up getting caught red-handed by the Sect Master herself, so I got locked up here."
Before hearing the story, Jiang Qiao truly hadn't expected things to be this absurd, but right now the focal point shouldn't be the Sect Master's shoes and socks, but rather the Black Market.
He had originally planned to go to the Black Market to buy some items for shapeshifting, and now was an exceptionally good opportunity.
"Brother, my name is Li Wentian. What's your name?"
"Jiang Qiao."
"Damn, the Luoyue Jiang Clan recently made a fortune. Could you be *that* Jiang Clan?"
Jiang Qiao nodded.
In this game, after the original host adopted the name Jiang Qiao, the surname of this family was also automatically set as Jiang.
The Luoyue Jiang Clan was originally just a fallen family that had long been kicked out of the circle of prominent clans, but fortunately, the original host's older brother made a huge fortune by speculating on spiritual essence, causing a massive sensation.
It was equivalent to becoming nouveau riche overnight.
"Oh right, brother, let me ask you a bold question: is your relationship with Mu Qinggan very good?" Li Wentian asked, deliberately lowering his voice.
"So-so, I suppose," Jiang Qiao answered with a straight face.
"Ah, if your relationship isn't good, would she set off fireworks for you, and would she send you this table full of fine dishes? Let me tell you, you must stay away from her."
This sentence truly hit home for Jiang Qiao. If he could stay away, Jiang Qiao would have stayed away long ago. He realized that Li Wentian must know something.
"Why do you say I should stay away from her? Is there something bad about her?" Jiang Qiao feigned complete ignorance and asked Li Wentian in return.
"I know a secret of hers. With this secret, it's enough to get her expelled from the sect."
"Oh? What secret is it?"
Li Wentian pulled his head back. "If you want to know, then come with me to..." He paused, and once again softly uttered two words in a breathy whisper, "the Black Market."