Martial King's Retired Life

While Master Qi wasn’t particularly interested in dolling up, she knew how to since she had plenty of sisters. She didn’t go out of her way to doll up this morning. She just reached for the rouge before she knew it. She had every reason to justify wearing her original clothes, but Lady Bai insisted Master Qi wear the clothes she offered.

A fluffy white rabbit came bounced up to her door in the sunny and warm morning, putting a sweet smile on Master Qi’s face. Perhaps that had something to do with why she spent considerably longer than usual grooming herself. Only once she finished did she realise there was no one to impress. Now, that wasn’t to say that she had to. A bored maiden had a good reason to find someone to kill some time with, though, right? Unfortunately, there were no servants around to brainstorm ideas for her. Thus, she had no choice but to lure the rabbit over with a carrot.

“Hey, cutie, shall we go to the mountain stream? You like that, right? All right, let’s go.”

The rabbit just munched away at its carrot and let the maiden carry it to the mountain stream.

Although the view at the mountain stream was gorgeous and relaxing, it wasn’t close to the living quarters of Bai Zhiqing or Bai Clan’s disciples; in fact, seldom did anyone visit it. With nothing besides the scenery, the mountain stream only served the purpose of being a chatting location. Now, however, it had also became the training location of an annoying idiot.

“Hey, don’t you think you’re delusional? What makes you think three days of training will be enough to beat Vivianite?”

Hong Jiu’s attention was entirely focused on studying his new weapon. That wasn’t to say he didn’t see anything out of his peripherals just because he had his head down. As a matter of fact, he was stupefied to see his visitor.

Is this any time to be dolling up? Women. The longer their hair, the dumber they are, huh? Although she does look quite nice. I wonder if she’s married. Wait, wait, if she’s here wasting her breath, I’m going to be distracted from my training. Moreover, it’s best if I don’t look at Mount Tian’s maidens, or people will slander us Mount Daluo disciples for peeking on orthodox sects’ maidens. Mm, I need to leave some reputation for Leader to sabotage in the future, or he won’t have any way of exercising ev-, justice. Pretend you don’t see her. Pretend you don’t see her.

Hong Jiu, however, didn’t realise he was holding the scabbard, while the broadsword was actually slotted into a rock by the side and playing with the sunrays. In a way, he had reached the realm Bai Zhiqing described as “casting aside the existence of man and broadsword”. As Master Qi didn’t understand what Hong Jiu was examining, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed. She wasn’t expecting praise. After all, what did his opinion matter? Thing was, it was annoying to think that he didn’t even consider her worth a glance. A mere scabbard was more important than her? How dare he, right?

“Hey … how long have you been training here?”

Hong Jiu shifted his posture and, with his back facing Master Qi, touched the scabbard. “… A day.”

“How’s your progress?”

“Okay.”

“Can you really master Bai Clan’s sophisticated broadsword discipline within such a short time frame?”

“Yes.”

Master Qi aerated her cheeks. “Would it kill you to give longer replies?”

“Yes.”

Though she was mad, Master Qi was the type to take someone down with her if she was going down. Thus, she chopped Hong Jiu right on the skull.

“Did you just hit me, you tigress?!”

“I did! What about it?! That’s what you get for ignoring me!” Master Qi gave Hong Jiu a push kick without a moment wasted.

Hong Jiu had never put up with this sort of bullying before. Even if he would have to, it’d never be at the hands of a petite maiden.

“Oi!”

Master Qi leaned her face in. “What? Hit me! I dare you.”

Whether he put his hands on a lady or let her put hers on him, Hong Jiu wouldn’t win in the public eye. And so, he had stayed his hand before he even raised it.

God damn this lass is constantly giving me grief. Just you wait. I’ll have you tied up for a spanking one day. I’ll spank you until you run out of energy to cry.

Without realising she had been reduced to a crying, pleading maiden in Hong Jiu’s mind, Master Qi smugly walked a lap around Hong Jiu. “Hmph.”

“Hmph what?”

“Hmph, hmph!”

“What the devil is, ‘Hmph, hmph’? Speak if you have something to say.” Despite his angry tone, Hong Jiu was already cowering as he inhaled Master Qi’s scent.

Master Qi lifted her chin. “What do you think?”

“Of what?”

“…”

Even though Hong Jiu’s response made her cheek twitch, Master Qi raised her head a tad to flaunt her neck and the rest of her body line. She elegantly rotated on the spot and then proudly asked, “What do you think?”

“Of what? Oh? Oh, oh, oh, your clothes!” Hong Jiu clapped his hands.

Master Qi first lowered her head and cast her eyes down, only to look back up with pride. “Hehe, nice?”

“Absolutely!”

Master Qi had only just started to make a small smile when Hong Jiu added, “You’re playing a middle-aged lady today, yeah? Green is to counter red? To neutralise bad luck? Very smart move,” and held up two thumbs.

Hong Jiu genuinely respected the smart move. Therefore, he couldn’t comprehend why Master Qi was silent and emitting a dangerous aura. He scratched his cheek, assuming she was mad, but he didn’t have the foggiest idea if she was actually mad or what she was mad about. He didn’t even know why she came by. Nevertheless, his intuition told him it was dangerous to provoke her. As he searched for words to defuse the situation, he noticed the ball of fur by her feet.

“What’s that by your foot?”

“Oh, I forgot about you.”