"Hiss… my head hurts like hell. Which bastard set me up?"
Leng Yun rubbed his head and struggled to sit up from the bed, trying to recall what had just happened.
He remembered drinking with friends at a karaoke club, running into a princess who caught his eye, negotiating the price for her to go out with him, and then…
"Damn it, I transmigrated! And I transmigrated into a useless piece of trash, what rotten luck!"
Leng Yun recalled how, before losing consciousness, he had suddenly crossed over and absorbed the original owner's memories. The massive flood of information had overwhelmed him and knocked him out cold.
There was nothing he could do about it. The original owner's parents were both powerful figures. Their talent might not have been exceptional, but it still surpassed the vast majority of cultivators.
Yet after an entire lifetime, they only had one son, and he was trash. His cultivation talent was so poor that they even suspected whether Leng Yun was really their biological child.
Knowing from a young age that his talent was lacking, Leng Yun trained even harder so as not to disappoint his parents, believing firmly that diligence could make up for weakness.
But reality slapped him hard in the face. If diligence alone could compensate for everything, then what was the point of geniuses?
When Leng Yun was six years old and had his bones tested, it showed he possessed only a First-Grade Spiritual Root. Even so, he cultivated painstakingly for nearly ten years.
With adulthood approaching, he had only just barely reached the fourth layer of Qi Refinement.
And that was with the Leng family's abundant supply of spiritual pills and elixirs, only then did he manage to break through by sheer luck not long ago.
After sorting through the memories, Leng Yun couldn't help but sigh.
"Bro, you're truly useless. You already knew your talent was trash, why work yourself this hard?
Your family has power, money, and influence. Why not just lie flat and enjoy life? You had to grind away at cultivation. Well? Look at you now, worked yourself to death!"
His parents were major figures. Even though the Leng family was only a newly risen clan, in Bluestone City they were absolute overlords. Even the city lord had to give them some face.
If your talent were outstanding, fine. Even with average talent, with enough resources, reaching the Golden Core realm would at least be a goal worth striving for.
But with the original owner's talent, even cultivating for an entire lifetime, whether he could break through to Foundation Establishment was uncertain. So what the hell was the point of trying?
Leng Yun could only say this was someone who didn't know how to enjoy his blessings, serves him right for dying young.
Leng Yun stood up and familiarized himself with the spiritual energy circulating within his body when a maid's voice sounded from outside the door.
"Young Master, the Master and Madam ask that you go to the front hall."
Leng Yun stopped what he was doing and opened the door.
Standing outside was a maid, her hair tied into two round buns, wearing a pink-and-white chest-high ruqun. She looked quite adorable.
"Xiao Lan, did Father say what it's about?"
Normally, Leng Yun kept himself shut in his room cultivating and rarely went out. His parents trusted him greatly, so they seldom disturbed him during his training.
Xiao Lan thought for a moment, scratched her head, and said, "The Master didn't say. He just asked someone to invite Young Master over. But when that person came, they said someone from the Sun family had arrived, and it's the Young Madam!"
Leng Yun froze for a moment. The "Young Madam" Xiao Lan referred to was Leng Yun's fiancée, the Sun family's eldest daughter.
In Bluestone City, the Sun family could only be considered a second-tier clan. Their strongest member was merely at the early Golden Core stage.
Back when the Leng family had just settled in Bluestone City, the Sun family had come knocking with their five-year-old daughter, Sun Mingxiu, hoping to arrange a childhood betrothal with Leng Yun.
At the time, Leng Yun had just been tested and found to possess only a First-Grade Spiritual Root, which had caused his parents endless worry. Seeing that someone didn't mind their precious son being a "waste," and that the little girl was quite cute, the two elders immediately agreed.
And just like that, the marriage was settled.
Over the years, the Sun family had ridden on the Leng family's resources and skyrocketed in strength, rising from a third-tier minor clan to a second-tier family in less than ten years.
This made countless other families in the city green with envy. Had they known that sending over a single junior could bring such tremendous benefits to their clan, they would have sent ten or eight without hesitation back then.
As Leng Yun made his way to the front hall, he pondered Sun Mingxiu's purpose in coming this time.
In the past, whenever the Sun family visited, they never disturbed his cultivation. This time, his parents had specifically summoned him, most likely, it had something to do with the marriage.
The agreement back then was to marry once Leng Yun came of age. Now, with less than four months until his eighteenth birthday, the time was indeed drawing near.
Before long, Leng Yun arrived at the front hall. His father, Leng Tianchang, was glaring furiously at the Sun family members. If not for his mother, Mu Rongru, restraining him at the side, he probably would have already made a move.
Seeing this scene, Leng Yun immediately understood.
Starting off with a broken engagement, wasn't this the classic protagonist template?
Leng Yun first paid his respects to his parents, then looked toward the Sun family. Before anyone else could speak, he leisurely said, "Judging by this lineup, the Sun family doesn't seem to be here to discuss the marriage. Looks more like you're here to break off the engagement."
Everyone stared at Leng Yun in shock. This waste who usually stayed cooped up in his room cultivating, he was actually this sharp?
Leng Yun's fiancée, Sun Mingxiu, stepped forward and looked at him as she said, "Leng Yun, you and I never had any feelings to begin with. This so-called marriage was arranged by our parents and never truly counted. Breaking it off is only natural."
Leng Yun found it laughable. Even though cultivators existed in this world, at its core it was still a feudal society, one that emphasized parental orders and matchmakers' words.
And yet this woman dared to say that something decided by their parents "didn't count." It was downright ridiculous.
Truth be told, Leng Yun didn't care much about this fiancée whom he'd only seen a few times since childhood. As long as she was good-looking, he didn't mind marrying anyone.
Sun Mingxiu was indeed beautiful, but Leng Yun wasn't some country bumpkin who'd lose his head at the sight of a woman.
That said, he truly disliked this kind of plot where the fiancée came knocking to annul the engagement.
Whether the marriage happened or not no longer mattered, but he absolutely had to vent this anger.
"Heh. 'Something decided by our parents doesn't count,' huh? As the saying goes, marriages are ordered by parents and arranged by matchmakers. So in Miss Sun's eyes, all of that is just bullshit, then?"
Sun Mingxiu was left speechless by the retort. This was a tradition upheld for tens of thousands of years, how could she dare refute it?
She had only said that earlier to justify breaking off the engagement. But now that Leng Yun was seizing on those words and blowing them up, she didn't dare respond.
Even if that was exactly what she thought in her heart!
At this moment, an old man following behind Sun Mingxiu stepped forward, snorted coldly, and was about to speak, only for Leng Yun to cut him off.
"What the fuck are you snorting for? Snort your damn mother, you plague-ridden old bastard. I don't even need to guess. I know you're from the Azure Fold Sect, right?
Let me tell you, don't fucking act tough in front of me. Otherwise I'll have my dad make a move and slaughter every last one of you.
Worst case, my whole family grabs our buckets and runs, but none of you will make it out alive!"
The old man's face turned iron-green with rage upon hearing this.
But just as Leng Yun said, he didn't dare gamble. If he lost that bet, the Leng family might not die, but he definitely wouldn't be leaving this place alive today.
After unleashing that tirade in one breath, Leng Yun completely ignored the old man whose face was now ashen, and instead looked at Sun Mingxiu, waiting to hear what she would say next.
(End of Chapter)