Flowing Clouds

Sigh.

How did he end up staying with such a strange girl? And their first meeting was in the Dark Spirit Woods to boot!

Her surviving that journey is nothing short of a miracle now that he thought about it... If what she said was the truth.

And if it was the truth, her inner Qi was really vicious, the charred corpse was proof. When he was at Qi Gathering, he would have never been able to burn something so thoroughly, especially things like metal locks and chains.

But that wasn't even the most unbelievable thing she had revealed.

Chaos Physique.

He had never heard of this before, and quite frankly, it sounded a bit like nonsense, especially the part about him possessing one too. But after the girl listed the different characteristics of a Chaos Physique, he couldn't prevent a seed of doubt to take root inside his heart.

This caused him to hesitate in his choice to just continue cultivating, finally succumbing to the girl's persuasion.

If cultivating openly really put them in such great danger, then it was better to be safe than sorry, even if it all turned out to be the girl's delusions in the end.

Other than that, the girl seemed awfully naive, and his instincts told him that she should have had a very sheltered upbringing. But this also made him wonder, how and why did she run away?

Had it something to do with this mysterious Chaos Physique?

He shook his head slightly, it was pointless speculating like this over somebody else's past, he should concentrate on the present.

"Let's put the money-earning matter aside for now, how about we just introduce ourselves first?"

He stretched out his hand toward the girl, but she just stared blankly at it, a puzzled expression on her face. Her eyes blinked confusedly at him but she still answered honestly while bowing neatly.

"My name is Lei Mingxing."

Such a curt introduction, he withdrew his hand awkwardly.

"I don't have a name, you can call me Shazi though."

He answered lightheartedly, also keeping it short.

But instead of nodding her head as he had expected her to, the girl, no, Lei Mingxing frowned.

"Why would I call you 'fool'?"

He froze at the girl's words, the already awkward smile on his face becoming even worse.

He had forgotten about that, having been called that all his life he had become numb to the name's real meaning.

He looked at her in surprise and unconsciously answered.

"Because I have been called that my entire life..."

Hastily, he stopped himself from speaking any further, why did he tell her that? He should have just told her that she misheard him or something...

Lei Mingxing, oblivious to his conflicted mood, continued matter-of-factly.

"I don't think you are a 'fool'. You should forget about that name and choose a nicer one, like...Chang Liuyun-"

Lei Mingxing choked, falling silent abruptly. She realized that she had stepped out of line and forced out a short uncomfortable laughter to try and make it look like she made a joke.

She should really work on her communication skills..., years of confinement hadn't really helped in refining them. Especially since the only real social interactions she had had in her entire life were the ones with her friend. And he didn't really care about her peculiarities, no rather, he had encouraged her to speak her mind truthfully.

Unfortunately, this impulsive way of speaking wasn't really that helpful in her current situation, she just hoped that the teenager wouldn't be offended by her words.

But instead of shrugging off her silly remark as she had hoped, the teenager seriously replied.

"You're right, that's a nice name, let's go with that."

He looked her straight in the eye as he said:

"Nice to meet you, I'm Chang Liuyun."

Lei Mingxing instantly turned red in shame.

Despairing in her mind as she wondered why he had taken her suggestion so seriously, while also scolding herself for being too careless.

She even missed the small teasing smile on the teenager's face as he watched her blush up to the tips of her ears.

He knew that she had said these words impulsively, but at least that meant that they were earnest.

...And after thinking about it, he realized that he actually really like the idea of having a real name. It didn't even matter what name, everything was better than 'Shazi', so he decided to just take the one she made up.

...Furthermore, he didn't dislike the name Chang Liuyun, he thought it had a nice ring to it.

He waited a bit for Lei Mingxing to calm down again and continued.

"Now that this is settled, let's decide on what to do next."

Hearing his words, Lei Mingxing focused and nodded seriously.

A chuckle almost escaped Chang Liuyun, while looking at her deliberately calm demeanor, which was betrayed by her still red ears. The corners of his mouth twitched as he suppressed a smile and raised one of his hands while stretching out three fingers.

"We pretty much have three choices. First, we could take up some mercenary work, but considering that you are only at Qi Gathering stage, that probably isn't a feasible idea for you. Second, we could ask around town to do some odd jobs, but the money earned through that is very little. And lastly, we could use some special skill to perform and earn some change, but that might bring some negative attention to us while the return is small."

Chang Liuyun patiently waited for Lei Mingxing to give her input on his ideas, as she pondered for a while.

"Hmm, I'm thinking, maybe it would be best if we split up?"

Hearing her words, Chang Liuyun raised his eyebrow, did she want to part ways now, right after they had exchanged names? But Lei Mingxing soon continued after seeing his doubtful expression.

"I mean, you prefer mercenary work. I wouldn't be of much help to you if I came along, so I will look for some work inside the town and at the end of the day we meet again here. Not good?"

Oh, he understood her thinking now, her phrasing was weird, but the idea made sense. Also, since Lei Mingxing had proposed it herself, it meant she believed that she would be able to handle the bustle in town.

This lifted a huge weight off Chang Liuyun's shoulders that he hadn't even realized existed. He had unconsciously thought of Lei Mingxing as someone he had to protect, rather than cooperate with.

Even though it was she who ventured into the wolf's den to save him. At that time she clearly hadn't been oblivious to the danger that it posed, else she wouldn't have been so careful and secretive in her approach.

He nodded at her.

"Okay, let's go with that."

Small theater:

Chang Liuyun: Chaos Physique! It's probably nonsense, anyway!

Author: Cultivate then.

Chang Liuyun:...

Chang Liuyun: You have to be considerate of others' opinions.

Author:...hehe

Extra:

Cultivation Stages:

Qi Gathering -> Qi Foundation -> Qi Condensation (These are the stages every cultivator goes through, also known as Initial Stage) -> Core Formation -> Tempering Body/Unlocking Consciousness -> Strengthening Body/Controlling Consciousness (These two stages are called Differentiation Stage, the cultivators choose whether to become Martial Artists or Sorcerer) -> Nascent Soul -> Severing Mortality -> Ascension (The final stages, also known as Tribulation Stage)