Wu Huang was sitting opposite his master in the middle of the small pavilion.
—Your mother sent you this —she said as she handed him a storage ring.
Wu Huang took it and checked its contents. It was full of high-grade spirit stones, treasures of heaven and earth, and some high-level pills. With this massive amount, raising an expert to the Golden Core realm would be more than enough. However, he knew very well that this was next to nothing by the true standards of his Wu Family.
—This is the compensation for breaking the engagement —his master added as she took a sip of tea with complete indifference.
Hearing this, Wu Huang could not help but frown. He had investigated his fiancée's family and they were not a small clan by any means; in fact, they almost rivaled his own Wu Family. Handing over these things as the sole compensation would be a total lack of respect, and it could even spark a direct war between both powers.
—Isn't this a bit inappropriate, Master? —Wu Huang asked, maintaining his humility, but his master simply ignored him.
—Finish up with that matter and return immediately. The Qi refinement disciple competition will begin in a month. Keep your junior brother from advancing to the Foundation Building realm for now and focus on teaching him combat techniques —his master ordered as she gestured for him to leave.
Wu Huang made a respectful bow and left the palace. He returned to his residence and prepared to head out with his junior brothers and sisters.
Teaching the disciples, leading them once they left the sect, and protecting them were the usual duties of the senior disciples. Wu Huang had already fulfilled this duty on numerous occasions, so it wasn't particularly exciting for him. After all, under normal circumstances they only encountered minor incidents: hunting a few low-grade beasts or taking out a couple of small-time evil cultivators. They were routine missions that happened from time to time and didn't even deserve to be mentioned.
Wu Huang consulted the travel map. The first objective would be to enter a mountain range of magical beasts. There, his junior sisters could train, gather some spiritual fruits and herbs, and gain some real combat experience. Once they finished with that and spent half a month there, they would finally travel to Yunhai City, where his fiancée's clan was located.
Wu Huang left his quarters and walked toward the sect's main plaza. Upon arriving, he saw a group of female disciples surrounding a single male disciple; they were all chatting animatedly.
«As expected of the Son of Destiny, it seems he already has his junior sisters eating out of the palm of his hand», Wu Huang thought with a mix of resignation and amusement as he approached.
Noticing Wu Huang's presence, everyone immediately stopped their chatter and made a respectful bow.
—We greet the Senior Brother! —they said in unison.
Wu Huang returned the greeting with a warm smile.
—You all seem to be in high spirits to head out into the outside world.
—Of course, Senior Brother! —Su Feng replied with a bright smile, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly at the girls' attention—. The junior sisters were saying that it is an excellent opportunity to test our cultivation.
—That's right, Senior Brother Wu —one of the female disciples chimed in shyly—. We rarely get the chance for you to guide us personally outside the sect. We will do our best not to be a burden!
Wu Huang nodded with satisfaction, though on the inside he was praying that Su Feng's "luck" wouldn't make a thousand-year-old monster appear at their very first stop.
—I am glad to see that determination —Wu Huang said, maintaining his facade of a reliable senior brother—. If everyone is ready, let's get moving. Our first destination will be the beast mountain range.
Ignoring the excited words of his junior sisters, Wu Huang led the way while immersing himself in his own thoughts.
«As long as no incident occurs in the beast mountain range, I will only have to put all my focus on the divorce», he told himself. «I must pull up this villain flag by the roots that is about to be planted on me. Only then can I avoid future trouble».
Regarding his fiancée, he had investigated a bit and was almost certain that she was a full-fledged Daughter of Destiny. Her name was Gu Ruolan, the only daughter of the patriarch of the Gu family. According to a portrait he had managed to find, she was as beautiful as a little fairy and could well be considered a peerless beauty no matter where she visited. She was also a famous genius, with the reputation of being born only once every thousand years.
A pity that, for some reason and overnight, she completely lost her cultivation. Her spiritual root became useless and she was no different from ordinary people. For any cultivator, that was a fate worse than death; all that was left for her was to live the life of a mortal, losing all hope of ascending to immortality.
But for a Son of Destiny, that was nothing less than the beginning of their legend.
Following the route of these stories, after he annulled the engagement, she should feel extremely humiliated and shout the signature phrase in the main hall: "Thirty years to the east of the river, thirty years to the west of the river!". Then, she would seal a unilateral three-year pact with him.
The story after that was a bit hard to predict, since the paths of these protagonists vary wildly. But in the end, the result was always the same: she would manage to ascend by recovering her cultivation, become incredibly strong, and her fame would spread throughout the entire dynasty with incomparable power. On the contrary, he would be defeated without any difficulty when the day of the three-year pact arrived.
«Luckily I know this plot. I just have to make sure not to offend that Daughter of Destiny; as long as our relationship isn't bad and I give a proper explanation along with good compensation, I should be able to avoid her wrath», Wu Huang thought.