Master Qiu Cui

The sky was bright, and Umber had to cover his eyes with his hand due to the glare.

Looking around, Umber could see that they were in a lush mountain with other mountains around him. He admired the scene for a moment before he asked Willow a burning question in his mind. 'What happened to your intelligence, O'High IQ One?'

'Shut up! I'm flustered, okay!?'

Umber chuckled as he cockily walked towards a group of female inner disciples. How did he know they were inner disciples? Their clothes were of much better quality… and didn't look yellow like his did.

"Yo!" Umber casually lifted his hand in manner of hello. "Who's the strongest Master here?"

The girls looked at him in shock, but soon their attitudes cooled and disgust littered their brows. One girl- presumably the leader- walked a few steps out of their crowd. "Go back."

Umber raised a brow. Wow, how impolite. Not even a 'please'. "How about answering my question first? Please?" He smiled again.

'Can you stop flirting? It's getting annoying,' Willow said, her annoyance hard to ignore.

'Blergh! And disgusting!' Crystal chimed in.

'Fine! Just shut up!' Umber's smile gradually disappeared from his face as he looked at the group of female inner disciples in front of him. "Who's the strongest 'Master' here?" He switched his casual stance into a battle-ready one, and the girls nervously chatted with each other.

THe girl that spoke before gritted her teeth and looked up at him. "Hmph! As if you're scaring us!" A girl from behind her tugged at her sleeve. "But fine! Just because the others told me to, otherwise, hmph!" She turned her head away, acting as if she couldn't look at Umber any further. "It's Master Qiu Cui that's the strongest in our sect."

"Qiu Cui?"

'Yay!' Crystal cheered. 'We get a female Master!'

'Shut up, Crystal,' Umber growled and smiled at the inner disciple girl. "Thanks!" He turned around, heading for what seemed to be a mess hall.

"Where are you going!" the girl called out from behind him, worry in her voice.

Umber raised his left hand up, signifying that he's leaving. He was glad that they didn't fight him, otherwise he wouldn't have given them any merc-

'Oh, shut up. We both know that you wouldn't have done anything to them,' Willow scoffed.

'Hey, I would have at least dodged, okay?'

'Girls are just as good as boys! Don't be misogynistic, onii-chan!'

'I'm not! It just doesn't feel right to… you know. Be in physical contact with them.'

'You're such a wimp.' Umber could hear Willow shaking her head after she finished with her voice-thought.

'I'm not a wimp! I just respect the boundaries between males and females, okay?'

'Onii-chan is old-fashioned!'

'Just let me walk to the canteen in peace, okay?'

Sighing in relief as Willow and Crystal finally quietened, Umber looked at the slightly larger building in front of him.

It was an old building and seemed to have white wallpaper that was peeling in multiple places. What Umber did not understand about this world so far was why it seemed to be technologically advanced?

He glanced around, noticing how each blade of grass seemed to have been cut by a mower. He looked back down at his robes. Although it seemed to be of really sh*tty quality, the stitches could barely be seen.

He knew what this looked like. It looked like the sewing done on those projects that Willow finishes. 'Right, Willow?'

'...'

'Willow?'

'It's not as good as my sewing! Hmph!'

So it was done by a sewing machine. How interesting.

< Ding! The Archive System has finished initiating all sequences. Congrats, Host!>

"F*ck," Umber said, raking his hand through his hair, "I forgot about this annoying 'golden finger' that sh*tty Goddess gave us."

Umber looked at the screen that popped up in front of him. It was translucent so that he could still see what was in front of him, but what he did see made black lines appear on his face.

There were only three words.

< Read. Store. ?. >

He took soothing breaths as he entered the canteen. The door made creaking sounds as it swung shut behind him.

The room was quite large and had many people already sitting down and eating.

'I thought that disciples didn't need to eat?' Umber quietly asked.

'That's only for the more advanced disciples,' a young man's voice answered Umber, and Umber quickly broke out into a grin.

'So you woke up, Mo Tao?'

'*Yawn* Didn't want to.'

'What do you think of all this so far?'

'Sh*tty.'

Umber looked around and casually walked to a nearby group of four disciples. All of them looked more worn-down that the first outer disciples he had seen.

They had lost the rebellion in their eyes.

He placed a hand on the table and leaned in, showing off a genial smile. "Where is Master Qiu Cui?"

They blankly stared at him, and Umber had to forcefully prevent a vein from appearing on his forehead as he spoke to Mo Tao to distract himself.

'Fair enough. Anything else?'

'Too lazy. Night.'

'Hey!'

'...'

His plan to distract himself failing, Umber's anger finally flourished. "Where is she?"

They blankly looked at him and shook their heads almost in pity.

The f*ck?

He stared at them, more confused than angry at that moment.

"Are you looking for me?"

A cute voice called out from behind him, and Umber quickly whirled around, surprise in his features. Leaning on the doorway was a young girl.

She was tiny, and her height didn't even reach his waist. Her robes spilled over her hands and pooled on the floor.

This child... was Master Qiu Cui?

Suddenly, Umber felt intense killing intent fill his senses. Blaring alarms went through his head, and he quickly switched to a defensive stance. What the h*ll? Who is this?

"You!" the young girl stomped her way towards Umber, and Umber could feel the killing intent come closer and closer with the young girl's steps.

No way.

It couldn't be... this young girl?!?