Chapter 9: The Scumbag Father Arrives
Jiang Manhan wore an expression of sheer unwillingness, eager to say more, but Jiang Tan could no longer be bothered with her, fixing his undivided attention entirely on Jiang Qing.
With a single glance, he discerned Jiang Qing's Qi Condensation 1st Layer cultivation. Though he had harbored some doubts before, they vanished completely now.
It seemed this girl had somehow stumbled upon a great fortune. Not only had she repaired her congenitally flawed spiritual root, but she had even successfully advanced into the Qi Condensation stage.
Now that her spiritual root was fully restored, there was naturally no reason to leave her to her own devices any longer. When all was said and done, she still carried his bloodline.
Jiang Tan's gaze swept over Jiang Qing's injured arm, and before long, a medicinal pill materialized in his palm.
"Qinger, come here, take this Rejuvenation Pill."
Jiang Qing glanced sideways at the pellet in Jiang Tan's hand, making no move to receive it.
"I can hardly afford to accept things from the head of the family. You had best keep it for yourself."
Jiang Qing cast a cold, disdainful look at Jiang Tan, her face dripping with contempt.
Ignoring her refusal, Jiang Tan flicked his finger, and the pill shot straight into Jiang Qing's mouth with pinpoint accuracy.
Jiang Qing's expression darkened instantly as she frantically thrust her fingers into her mouth to gag herself. Alas, the pill melted the moment it touched her tongue; even if she wanted to spit it out now, it was already too late.
"Even if you resent me, there is no need to take it out on your own body!" Jiang Tan naturally did not miss Jiang Qing's gagging motion.
Jiang Qing ignored him. She couldn't quite explain why she loathed Jiang Tan so intensely—perhaps it was disgust at his conduct and behavior, but more than that, she was fighting the injustice on behalf of the original owner.
Seeing that she remained silent, Jiang Tan let out a sigh and said, "Are you resenting your father, Qinger?"
"The family head jests. My father died long ago, so where would this resentment come from?" Jiang Qing replied with utter detachment.
At those words, Jiang Tan felt a mixture of shame and anger. Yet, remembering how deeply he had indeed failed her over the years, he found it difficult to utter any harsh rebukes.
"Staying in an inn like this is no long-term solution. Come back home with me. I have already placed your mother's spirit tablet into the ancestral hall. From now on, you are the legitimate young miss of the Jiang Family."
At this, the corners of Jiang Qing's lips curled into a mocking arc. She looked at the Jiang Tan opposite her with undisguised contempt and sneered, "My mother wanted nothing more than that title while she was alive. Now that she has been dead for over a decade, doesn't the family head think it's a bit too late to be saying this?"
The status of a Jiang Family young miss? As if she held the position in any high regard. They were merely an unranked minor family, falling short even of the lowest ninth grade; she truly looked down on them.
Hmph! Besides, had her spiritual root not recovered—and as a single spiritual root at that—she doubted Jiang Tan would have remembered he even had such a daughter, not even a hundred years from now.
Stung by her words with a mix of shame and anger, the lingering trace of guilt Jiang Tan had felt toward her was rapidly worn down to almost nothing by Jiang Qing's repeated refusal to grant him any face.
Yet, standing in his position as the head of the family, he was unwilling to let go of such a single-root genius.
Besides, Jiang Qing possessed striking looks; even if she didn't remain in the family clan in the future, marrying her off to any immortal cultivation family at random would bring no small benefits to their Jiang Family.
Naturally, it would be best if some big shot or a ranked cultivation family took a fancy to her. Jiang Tan's mental abacus clicked away at a furious pace.
"Why must you make things so difficult for yourself? You must know that life as a rogue cultivator in the cultivation world is far from easy. Leaving aside resources, even knowledge and spell techniques are not easily acquired. Furthermore, you are only at the Qi Condensation 1st Layer; without someone to protect you with strength like that, survival will be exceedingly difficult," Jiang Tan advised her once more.
"My mind is made up. The family head should take his leave," Jiang Qing said coldly.
"Very well, have it your way then. Whenever you wish to return, the door is always open. And remember—regardless of whether you acknowledge it or not, the blood flowing through your veins is forever that of the Jiang Family."
With that, Jiang Tan cast one last complex look at Jiang Qing before turning and departing with Jiang Manhan.
Before leaving, Jiang Manhan shot Jiang Qing a frigid glare, a mocking smirk playing at the corners of her lips...
Jiang Qing clenched her fists tightly, her phoenix eyes icy, her gaze radiating a bloodthirsty intent to kill...
In both her past and present lives, this was the first time anyone had ever wounded her to such a degree. Very well—the humiliation of today was a debt she would make Jiang Manhan repay sooner or later.
Moments later, recalling the recent turning point she had previously seen on Jiang Manhan's system panel, the corners of Jiang Qing's mouth unconsciously curved upward. "Splendid. Three months from now, I shall be the one to take your place and go to Zhongzhou."
Three months from now, Jiang Manhan would cross paths with an elderly man hailing from Zhongzhou, who would take her in as a disciple and bring her back to Zhongzhou.
Although the system's turning point did not explicitly detail the old man's identity, she vaguely remembered from the original plotline that Jiang Manhan had taken Lingxiaozi of the Shangqing Sect—one of the top ten sects of Zhongzhou—as her master.
The top ten sects were first-rank powers; compared to a minor family like the Jiangs that couldn't even reach the ninth grade, entering one was practically ascending to the heavens in a single bound.
In the original plot, the original owner had even wondered how Jiang Manhan had managed to travel to Zhongzhou and enter the Shangqing Sect; although Jiang Manhan's spiritual root was decent, her age was already quite advanced for a beginner.
So it turned out she had gone through the back door and been brought in directly by someone. When a peak master took in a disciple, nobody would raise objections, even if the person in question was an old crone on the verge of the grave. Moreover, Jiang Manhan was only fifteen years old.
Pulling back her thoughts and seeing that Jiang Tan and his daughter had long since departed, Jiang Qing securely bolted her door.
Glancing down at her arm, she saw that the injury had already healed over completely, leaving only a scab behind. In another day or two, not even a scar would remain—she had to hand it to the miraculous nature of the cultivation world.
Jiang Qing took a bath, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and finally crossed her legs to begin meditating in cultivation. Her Qi Condensation 1st Layer cultivation was simply too low; aside from a slightly stronger physical constitution, she was practically indistinguishable from a mortal.
Only once her cultivation broke through to the Qi Condensation 3rd Layer would she be able to master a few basic spell techniques for combat.
With means of combat at her disposal, she would no longer suffer beatings as passively as she had today.
Jiang Qing spent the entire day cultivating in her room before heading out to the marketplace, her sole objective being the black iron piece displayed in the recent turning point on Qin Lingtian's system panel.
According to the system prompts, it contained a copy of the Five Elements Escape Technique. Such a fine treasure naturally needed to be secured as early as possible for peace of mind.
Jiang Qing navigated a few turns through the spacious streets and soon entered the marketplace.
The market was divided into an outer perimeter and an inner perimeter. The outer section sold cheap, worthless goods, while the inner section offered items of relatively greater value, and those who patronized it were cultivators possessed of genuine strength.
Jiang Qing first made her way to the outer perimeter of the market. The moment she stepped inside, it felt as though she had entered an entirely different world.
The interior was teeming with life, the clamor of voices rising one after another as people shouted out wares and haggled over prices.
Jiang Qing searched the stalls one by one, looking left and right at the merchandise without ever buying a thing.
The vendors' faces turned as dark as charcoal.
Considering that she was just a young girl, however, the stall owners found it unbecoming to drive her away with harsh words.
Noticing the poor complexions of the vendors, Jiang Qing would occasionally purchase a few small items she actually had use for.
Since she was currently a novice in the world of cultivation, books and Jade Slips concerning basic cultivation common sense were well worth buying.
After roaming extensively through the marketplace without encountering a single stall selling a black iron piece, Jiang Qing's expression grew slightly sour.
Furthermore, a trace of puzzlement stirred within her.
Other transmigrators always managed to pick up valuable bargains whenever they visited a marketplace; why was it that she was actively searching for one and coming up empty?
Jiang Qing declared this entirely unacceptable.
Making another round through the twists and turns, she scoured every single stall in the outer perimeter, yet still discovered nothing.
Shaking her head, Jiang Qing decided to head over to the inner perimeter of the market to take a look.