𝒐𝑣𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t

“…”

Alan gulped down his saliva and slowly inched his way towards his bed without getting up from the floor.

“…a true man isn’t bothered by the clothes… It’s just a costume, actors wear them all the time… I am still myslef…”

He closed his eyes and chanted while reaching for the feminine marital artist uniform.

Exactly eight minutes later a young man looking just like a pretty girl with a long braid of reddish-brown hair resting upon her left shoulder left his room and walked the walk of shame from the living quarters all the way to the main building.

“Good, you didn’t try anything stupid with the clothes at least. You should have done something else with your hair, our guests are important ones, and your appearance will play a huge role in helping our sect.”

As Alan made his way and passed the open wide main door, his mother approached him and nodded with a benevolent smile.

“I was given a tight time schedule.”

Alan responded without looking back at his mother and gently moved his hand alongside his braid.

“Remember to act properly, Alice, none of that Alan idiocy.”

A handsome middle-aged man with a stylish beard and mustache combo who was undoubtedly Alan’s father approached them too and added in a tired voice.

“…of course, father…”

Alan responded in a dead voice and lowered his head even more.

“Don’t slouch. You are a proud daughter of the Great Ram sect. A powerful, outspoken woman. Act like it.”

“…”

Viola sighed, shaking her head at her child’s dry act, but it certainly didn’t make Alan suddenly burst into a smile and act as

if everything was okay.

“Just to make sure – your mother and I have heard that a part of your contract with that dark sect member was to fulfill his every need. Did he request for a dual cultivation?”

“He isn’t a member of a dark sect, father.”

The handsome man asked in a concerned voice to which Alan shook his head from side to side and spoke in a flat voice.

“That wasn’t my question. You are a grown woman already and can play around with whomever you like as long as they are not involved with dark sects. If you did bed him and the impure star energy is polluting your body while the subjugation force from the Star Pagoda will show up…”

“Steven, she didn’t do anything – a shame, because it may be something that would awaken her feminity.”

Alan’s father groaned and glared at his child, explaining things slowly for there to not be any misunderstanding between them, but then his wife answered him instead.

“…”

At first, Alan gritted his teeth and clenched his fist so hard that he almost broke off his fingernails, but then as he was about to start shouting and vailing in a tantrum, a mocking grin of a black-haired man showed up in his mind.

Puny. Side. Villain. Talk.

The words echoed in the young man’s mind and somehow colled his head instead of fueling his anger.

“Ah, but of course. An act of relentless copulation to make me a woman. Sure, it’s worth a try – why don’t all the male members of the sect line up to have their time with me? It can be labeled as special training, and since we already have people from the Star Pagoda coming over too, why not invite them as well? Maybe when it will all inevitably fail to achieve the goal of turning me, a man, into a woman, you will have no other choice but to face the truth?”

Alan straightened his back and spoke in a calm, composed voice, slowly putting his arm to the side as if giving the way for his parents to go along with the plan oozing with debauchery.

“…!”

“…!”

For a moment, both Viola and Steven became speechless at the completely new behavior their child showed them…

“Stop spouting nonsense. This is not what I had in mind when I said that you should act outspoken!”

After shaking off the initial surprise, Viola scoffed and shrugged Alan’s words off as if nothing happened – although the look on Steven’s face suggested that he might realize something.

“Exactly, Alice. Listen to your mother properly.”

Still, it didn’t take long for him too to return to his earlier act following his wife’s example.

“…but of course, father…”

Alan nodded his head obediently, but his heart was aflutter.

It was the first time that he was not openly scolded or outright punished for speaking out in his own defense.

“That said, father, mother. I know that both of you are convinced that Zoemi is a member of one of the dark sects but in an off chance that he is not… wouldn’t our Great Ram sect get in trouble with the Star Pagoda for calling them unnecessarily?”

Using the chance, the young man asked cautiously with only the good of his sect in mind.

“Of course, he is a part of the dark sect. How else could you explain someone of his age having completely mastered the law of Aries and reaching the sixth star of the law of Capricorn? He must have been a normal villager that the dark sect kidnapped and brainwashed. At least that’s how it looks considering his affinities.”

Viola said in a serious tone, for once it didn’t seem as if she was dismissing the opinion of her child, but rather wanted to be reassuring.

“But… what if he was telling the truth? Didn’t you tell me stories about one of the members of our sect who received the title of the beloved child of Aries? He also didn’t have many talents…”

“NATHAN IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CASE FROM SOME RANDOM WANDERER!”

“!!!”

Although until that point things seemed to be going well and they were all communicating properly, once Alan mentioned the beloved child of Aries, his mother blew up so suddenly that even Steven got shocked.

“Ugh… Sorry. Sorry. That one was on me…”

Seeing the reaction of both her child and husband, Viola managed to calm down and began massaging her forehead.

“Alice, this and that are two completely different cases. People like the beloved child of Aries that you mentioned are the prodigies few and far between. Some marital artists get lured into the dark sect because they want to be like them. The difference is, when a martial artist uses the energy of another human being to cultivate, they are gaining levels far too fast which makes their spiritual energy and therefore their star power unstable. Most dark sect members die just because their star power turned against them. It’s like the unlucky use of the law of Scorpius but enhanced many times over. You will see. If that black-haired man will face an actually powerful opponent, his own body will break apart from the backlash of the star power he isn’t ready for.”

Steven stepped in and took over the talk to give his wife a moment to compose herself.

“Father, I have seen him fight. His power is real.”

Alan breathed out and declared, looking straight into his father’s eyes.

“Only because you faced some monsters. You will see.”

Still, it didn’t seem to work, as his father merely smiled benevolently as if his heart was warmed by his child’s naivety, and shook his head while promising.

“I can see that you are worried bout our sect, but you are putting too much faith in a man that broke off the deal you two made so easily.”

“…”

Viola returned to the conversation with a sigh, and Alan barely stopped himself from blurting – BECAUSE YOU MADE HIM! – out loud.

“A delegation from the Star Pagoda is at the main gate!”

While the family of three was having the most peaceful conversation in a long time, a panting marital artist ran up to them and announced

“Don’t make them wait! Let them in!”

“…here…”

Steven lived up and waved his hands at the messenger while Viola moved to his side and beckoned her child to stand near her as they began walking to meet the guests.

“I only hope that the dark scent brat didn’t make too much of a mess.”

As they walked, Viola leaned toward her husband and breathed out in worry.

“It’s only been an hour or so, I bet he spent that time trying to futilely break through the door that can hold a seventh star level law of Taurus user instead of planning anything.”

Steven reassured her with a confident smile.

———

Meanwhile, in the small cave-like room underneath the main building of the Great Ram sect…

“Two hundred ninety-seven. Two hundred ninety-six…”

The black-haired man was continuing the countdown with his arms crossed and his back leaned against the brightly shining star chart.

———

The Star Pagoda was not messing around with the threat of the dark sects, the delegation sent by them counted fifty highly trained martial artists of which every single one was powerful enough to lead a moderately-sized sect.

The two most important people there amongst them were the steel-gray-haired man with a strict expression – the head of the magistrate of justice who arrived at the Great Ram sect to both deal see to dealing with the dark sect member and discuss the possibility of his son marrying the daughter of the diminishing sect that was one of the most prominent ones in the past.

The other one was a bored-looking boy in a slovenly uniform that for some reason seemed to be getting respect even from the much older man of a very high position.