Cruising Along in Desolate Era c6

The newly named Autumn Leaf looked at her new Master with a curious gaze. She found it hard to believe that he was a Zifu Disciple.

She thought that someone who reached such a high level of cultivation would act more mature, but he was more like a free spirit than anything…

“Well, it appears two of you will be enough for now.” He inspected the pair of beauties standing in front of him before looking at his black armoured guards.

“Next is clothes and weapons. I suppose some sort of blacksmith store?” 

“Reporting to Disciple Ren, in the Ji clan, most of the clothes are made by clan members themselves; you can buy furs, though.” 

Ren hummed upon hearing that, then looked at his two girls.

“I suppose I will see how good you two are at sewing.” 

The pair slowly nodded at him. He could see that they were confident in their clothing-sewing art.

“For weapons, Young Master can check the market stalls. Sometimes, there are great deals.” 

The black-haired teen rubbed his chin. 

“That’s a good suggestion, let’s go ladies.” He got in between girls as his hands wrapped around the girl's waists. Qingqing hissed at him angrily as he moved from his bicep to his neck, becoming a scarf.

The pair of girls slightly blushed at the contact. They didn’t expect this at all. 

As the group moved towards the markets, Ren continued to observe. He looked for things like restaurants or some other form of entertainment. But even if it was a city behind the walls, he could see signs of desperation.

Eventually, they arrived at the marketplace, and Ren, excited, looked at the food he could choose from.

“Girls, how good are your talents in cooking?” As he asked that, the pair looked at each other for a second. The more they heard about what they would do, the more they realised that they would be like some sort of wives to him.

“...Reporting to Young Master, I used to cook daily for my siblings.” Spring Grass replied.

“I did as well.” Autumn Leaf replied as well after looking at Spring Grass.

“Wonderful, I will taste your cooking.” He replied after pondering.

“How about this.” He raised a finger.

“Select your ingredients in this market and then use them in cooking. I want to see how good you two are.” 

His request made the pair look at each other. It was a competition! It’s on!

“Are there any limitations?” Autumn Leaf asked for details.

“Nope, you two can start now, though don’t leave my sight,” Ren instructed them.

“Understood, Master.” 

“Yes.” 

The pair started to look for ingredients. 

This was one of the first of thousands they would have in the future. Sadly, at the moment, their cooking knowledge was quite limited, as the only thing they knew was what their clan taught them.

As they looked at the food, Ren instructed two of his guards to watch them while he looked for a sword.

Since he was in the Ji clan, known for swords, these weapons were everywhere.

The issue for him is that he knows jack shit about quality. This was bad because when he picked one, he felt that the weapon was good, but then he picked another, and that one was good as well!

If he continues like this, then he will pick all of them!

‘Fuck it! I have that Xiantian Rhyno horn! I will turn that into a blade!’

After getting frustrated, he placed the sword down and looked at the pelts instead.

Now, this was far better to pick! All he needs to do is look for the one that looks the best.

“...I can assume that all of these are Houtian diremonster pelts?”

“Hahaha, precisely! Xiantian is something we can only dream of! Young Master!” The peddler rubbed his hands as he replied with a nervous tone.

‘Hmmm, fuck it.’

For now, it will be for the best, as he checked some grey and white ones.

The white ones will be nice for his girls until they can get some of the season-based stuff he is planning for them.

“In that case, I will buy that one and that.” He pointed at the furs on display and ignored the prices, as he had a literal chest of gold.

~~~

“Well, well. Interesting.” Ren inspected what the girls bought. He saw meat, veggies, some spices, and even fruits.

He can guess that some Autumn Leaf came from a tribe which was raising fruits at some point.

“While you two were buying food, I bought some pelts for you and some other accessories.” He motioned at a guard holding a bunch of leather bags.

“...Ummm.”

They looked slightly perplexed. They still haven’t earned their upkeep yet, but he is already pampering them. They are somewhat concerned if they can perform to his expectations…

“Don’t worry, let’s return to the Palace.”

He motioned for them to start walking.

Like before, he wrapped his hands around their waists, and they started to walk towards Ji Young’s Palace.

Showing such affection was quite strange in such a tribal society as it’s seen as a weakness. But Ren didn’t care. He was thrusted into such a barbaric world, might as well enjoy it to the fullest.

…

…

…

Ren looked at Ji Young, who had two other people with him. One of them was an old man, and the other looked like he was in his late twenties, but he had long, loose hair.

Reminding him of…

‘Oh ho… so that’s Mc’s daddy…’

“So you are Disciple Ren.” The old man took a couple of steps forward. 

“I am Ji Ninefire, the Ji Clan Patriarch. Ji Young said that you wish to join the Ji Clan. Is that true?” the patriarch asked him.

“Yes. I am looking for a place to stay.” Ren moved forward away from the pair of girls.

“May I ask why? You are a Zifu body refiner. Geniuses of such a level would find better prospects in Stillwater City. Ji clan would only drag you down.” The old man said with a curious gaze.

“Truth to be told, I only started cultivating less… hmm… I guess three months? More or less? So I have no idea about this Stillwater place. I like this place, so I want to join the community.”

The teen dropped a literal bombshell as everyone looked at him with a dumbfounded gaze.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Lies. it's impossible to cultivate that fast!” The ‘Mc’s’ dad exclaimed with shock.

“One half of the core principle of cultivation is understanding the land. I spent most of my life studying. All I needed to have a chance to start cultivating was Crimson's bright diagram of Nine Heavens.” Ren shrugged his reply at the dumbfounded Mc’s dad. Honestly, he still can’t recall his name. All he can remember is that he practised that line sword move.

“...Y-You studied Crimsonbright Diagram!?” Ji Ninefire gulped down upon hearing that.

‘If he wants to join, then why not?’ Eventually, the Patriarch couldn’t stop himself. If such a heaven-defying youngster wants to join, then there is no reason to deny!

“Very well! If you want, then I shall accept your request! That is, do you agree to accept me as your grandfather?” Ji Ninefire said with a boisterous voice.

“Very well, then…grandfather. I, Ren, accept you as my grandfather.” Ren slightly bowed while saying that.

It was more than enough for Ji Ninefire, who took a couple of steps forward and patted Ren’s shoulder.

“Then, from now on, you will be known as Ji Ren!”

When Ren heard that name, his eyes sparkled! Holy fuck! It sounded so good! Now, he needs to develop some red-based skills!

Like Ki balls and super meditation! Because that’s what Jiren had!

‘Oh! And that sick as fuck flaming aura! I guess I will be delving into Fire Laws for this!’

Ji Ninefire saw Ren smiling like that. He thought that he was happy to join the clan, and he was! After all, he was now Jiren! 

Honestly, the teen thought he would need to go to the capital, but the Patriarch arrived here in just a couple of hours.

“Now that this is out of the way, we must celebrate! Young! Tell your servants to prepare a feast for us!”

“R-Right! One moment, Patriarch.” The West Prefecture Lord rushed back to inform his lords.

As Ji Young rushed back, Ji Nineflame looked back at Ren.

“Now that is out of the way, let me tell you about the clan.”

“Of course.”

~~~~~~After Party~~~~~~

Sigh

Ren sighed as he went to a house given to him. For now, there were no manors available to him. But he decided to take Silverwing’s place in the lake, where Ji Ning got his place.

It has that Aquatic Estate he needs to get and kill that Winged Serpent in the process.

“...Master.”

“Sorry, girls. It appears things did not go how I had imagined,” Ren said to them as he opened the doors to the house he had just bought on the fancy side of the city.

“...It’s alright.”

“Yes, it's alright.” The pair nodded as they got into the house after him.

Apart from the house, he has a batch of black armoured soldiers who will protect his place. Of course, he will get even more once he gets his manor.

The house was not bad; it was built from stone and wood with furs for carpets, and there were candles and torches they needed to ignite.

“...Hmm, so where are we going to keep all the food? Meat can get bad quickly.” Ren commented as he went to the kitchen.

He counted four regular rooms, a bath-like room and something like a toilet-ish thing… thankfully he was Zifu Disciple in body refining. He longer needs to shit…

“...There are some cool places…” Autumn Leaf started to look through the shelves.

“Hmm…” Ren stroked his chin as he looked around.

“Ohh… let’s see.”

The teen opened the doors and found something like a storage area.

“I have an idea.” 

Ren called forth water into existence as he turned it into blocks of ice.

“...”

“...”

“Amazing…”

Spring Grass softly commented as she just saw him create ice!

“Let’s push this to the next level.”

The girls could see blue tattoos appear on his left hand as the ice turned colder, mist started to appear, and they started to feel… cold…

“...Umm…”

“Should he be alright? We don’t need them to freeze to block of ice.” Autumn Leaf commented as she started to rub her hands from the cold.

“Right.”

Ren stopped and proceeded to place blocks of ice in the storage areas' corners.

“You girls can place meat and other products which can easily spoil.” 

The pair nodded as they started bringing in all the stuff they bought in the market.

After that, they all went to the living room. 

The other stuff they had were all trinkets and some furs.

“What should we do with these?” Spring Grass asked him.

“One of the rooms you girls can convert to your crafting room.” He instructed them that the pair of girls carried the stuff into the room.

Once that was done, they looked at a loss. What should they do now?

“...And the other rooms?” Autumn Leaf asked him as there was one big room and two smaller.

“Well, one room is for us, while the other we can use for something else.” He said that out loud as he considered what to use it for.

When the pair heard him, they blushed hard. 

‘H-He is thinking to have us at once!’ Spring Grass has not heard this kind of thing even in her clan! Is this some sort of big clan thing!? When a man shares a bed with two women!?

Not that they can complained…

It's just that it's a new thing!

“I suppose I could transform one into a cultivation-based room. While it leaves this one for relaxing.” He said to the pair.

“O-Okay…” 

Autumn Leaf looked at Spring Grass, and the girls nodded as they pushed down their embarrassment.