Chapter 0125

Tempest puffed out her meager but will grow to be Daisy Duke size chest, waiting for accolade to be heap on her greatness. She did put some effort into attaining Cardis as a teacher, so she deserved to praise for putting up with a weird flirt.

Instead of praise, what Tempest got was disbelief and disdain from everyone except Fenix, who gave her a speculative look, and Starm, who Tempest can’t tell at all what he’s looking at much less his expression.

Tempest needs to teach the slutty fire mage how to rein in her lusty side because the look she was giving Tempest made her feel like she was a fat juicy steak tossed in front of a starving carnivore. The damn girl is a pre-teen in Tempest’s eyes. That not the right age to go on a prowl for a sexual partner.

“Cardis is notorious for not accepting students, much less a Successor.” Yu Li Ming debunked Tempest with a sneer.

“Silly girl, every day there are millions of people who tried to claim a relation to Cardis yet he never acknowledge any of those relations. This friend of yours is being by scammed by an impersonator.” Bei Ting Mao knows how dark the human heart can be. He experiences it first hand. Though Tempest is a complete stranger to him right now, he felt a connection with the silly little girl and hope she isn’t fooled by a stranger.

Maybe it was because he bore witness to the darker side of humanity that although Tempest is aggravating and a little silly, he’d wish she’d retain her childish personality.

Graden patted Tempest on the shoulder, “Don’t make spontaneous decisions on important matters. Come to us before you make life altering decisions like entrusting your entire future to a charlatan.”

“Why are you all quick to debunk her?” Three pairs of eyes turned toward Fenix in surprised. “You guys look down on Tempest because she acts like an idiot most of the time and goes against the common sense of the Cardinal Realm. Have you ever thought your so-called common sense might be wrong? Or that people can change given the right circumstances? Bei Ting Mao, you of all people should know how fickle the human heart is.” Fenix berated the rest of the group for making assumptions based upon rumors everyone assumed as truth. The needs to be more aware of the dangers of misinformation and learn how to discern truth from lies. “I'll have you know, one of my uncle is captain in the guild and he heard told me Cardis brought a veiled woman carrying a young girl back to the guild and presented her to the Councils of Elders. During that time, one the Elders ascended, another Elder found out her father was her peer and the Guild Master went into seclusion. Afterwards all the higher up in the guild send out a warning to never mess with the veiled woman. The timing is about right. Are you the little girl that came with the veiled woman?” The last question was directed at Tempest.

“That is me.” Tempest nodded enthusiastically.

With a fervent gaze, Fenix grabbed Tempest’s shoulder. “Quick, tell me everything you know about Cardis. What is his shoe size? What kind of woman does he like? Is he as charming as everyone says he is?”

Fenix fired questions after question, not leaving a bit of breathing room for Tempest to answer. The more questions she asked, the more fervent her eyes became.

“Fenix, give Tempest time to answer your questions.” Yay, saved by Graden.

“I don’t know much about Cardis.” Tempest explained the pre-arrange story she and Cardis came up with. “I have a Resonance bond with Kataigida. She is the True Daughter of Storm and Cardis Successor. Their relationship is good. I was the extra bonus Cardis didn’t want. If I didn’t have a Resonance bond with Kataigida, Cardis would have taken her to headquarters and left me behind. Our impression of each other is not the best. I called him a pervert and tried to pimp Kataigida out to him. I guess he took except to that, and he called me a leech. So yeah.”

“Stupid girl,” Fenix pinched Tempest cheek and got a smack in return. Tempest does not like anyone treating her like a child even if she acts like one. “Don’t you know Cardis is a notorious flirt, but that is all he is. He acts like that because he was hurt by the woman he loves but he loves her too much to betray his feelings. Flirting with other women is his method of acknowledging the pain. She hurt him. He’s going to hurt her back by acting like a lecherous bastard. Him not sleeping with any of them is him keeping his love for her in his heart.”

“You seem to know a lot about Cardis.”

“Of course. I grew up on stories about Cardis. There isn’t anything I don’t know about him.” Fenix proudly boasted.

“What is his shoe size?” Tempest grin evilly as she asked the question.

Fenix floundered. She couldn’t admit she knows his shoe size when she as Tempest what his shoe size previously. She just boasted she knew everything about the man. Now she was confronted about her lack of knowledge. Fenix didn’t know what to do.

“It is good you have connections to Cardis.” Saved by the goody two shoes Graden. Damn it.

“We share an acquaintance. Cardis does not like me. At all. I wouldn’t be here if he did.” Tempest emphasize.

“A connection is a connection.” Bei Ting Mao reiterated. At first he was apprehensive about his group. Given his history, a little apprehension is the best he can do. He doesn’t want to open himself to another betrayal, yet he changed his immortal potential from the body to the heart. He must learn to how to trust once again. Relationships are a two-way street. They aren’t willing to put in the effort unless he was willing open himself up to them.

He was trying. The first step is to trust in their judgement since they are the ones who grouped put him in this group.

At his side, Yu Li Ming had her hand over her mouth. She remembers the threat Tempest issues previously and was worried Tempest would make good on it. “Wait a minute. You tried to pimp out your friend? What kind of person does that? And what kind of person are you to ignore her questionable actions?”

“I heard mortals in the Heavenly Mountains can sell their children. Is that true?” Although Yu Li Ming did have a valid point, Fenix couldn’t tolerate her double standards.

“They could and do. The mortals sell their daughters into a brothel and expects their daughters to honor them even when they forced them into becoming a prostitute. They later disavow any knowledge of their improper daughter. Two faced hypocrites, all of them.” Bei Ting Mao said with a sneer. He grew up in that society. In fact, he benefited from that society except when he fell from grace, everyone turned on him. He hated the hypocritical behavior of the Heavenly Mountains.

Even though he didn’t like the loose morals of the Magus Alliances, it was closer to a mantra of the cultivation world - power is everything.

A woman can have three husbands if she is strong enough. A man can have six wives if he is strong enough. All that matter is strength.

“Wow. That’s like being stabbed in the back, and the backstabber expects you to thank him for killing you.” Tempest said with a deadpan expression.

“Isn’t your conduct any better? You were trying to pimp out your friend!”

“And look where that got us. A good teacher for her and strong backer for me.”

“You shameless hussy. You’d do anything for the right price, wouldn’t you?” Yu Li Ming was incensed by Tempest’s lack of moral decency and everyone acceptance of her behavior.

“Of course I’m shameless. Shameless equals awesomeness. Now you know about my awesomeness.” Tempest openly bragged about her fake exploit.

“Big sister is super awesome.” Small little hands hugged Tempest.

Tempest looked down the little boy hugging her and with “Aaaaahhhh,” tossed the boy to Bei Ting Mao.

“What is wrong with you?” Yu Li Ming growled. The little boy went so far as to protect Tempest from them yet everytime she sees him, she throws him off of her.

“His eyes are creepy.” Tempest answered behind Fenix. How she got there and started using Fenix as a shield, nobody notices. Tempest can move when she needs to.

“There’s nothing wrong with a pair of red eyes. My eyes are red too. You haven’t knocked me around.” Fenix pushed Tempest towards the little boy. They have to work as a group. The sooner Tempest got use to the little boy, the better it is.

“What are you talking about? He has blue eyes.” Yu Li Ming was quick to correct her mage counterpart. Even though she was training as a mage, her origin will always remain the Heavenly Mountains.

Bei Ting Mao looked at Fenix, then at Yu Li Ming, then at the little boy. “His eyes are brown to me.”

The two girls froze. Fenix might doubt Yu Li Ming and vice versa. The two girls got off on the wrong foot and lying about a little thing such as eye color to get the upper hand or just to be contrary against each other is believable.

Bei Ting Mao doesn’t have a vested interest in lying.

It means the little boy’s eye color change depending on the person.

Graden crouched down to eye level with the boy and sent small bursts of mana into the boy’s body. After a while, he got up and shook his head, indicating he senses a problem with the boy. Bei Ting Mao took a turn studying the boy. Mages are notorious for having horrible sensing skills. Body cultivators are much better. Even though his dan tian was destroyed, he can use Qi he is actively absorbed.

Bei Ting Mao found nothing out of the ordinary as well.

“Big brothers and big sisters, is there something wrong with me?” the little boy asked in an adorable voice. He looked around before his gaze settle on Tempest and a cute smile adorn his gaunt face.

“You eyes are look different depending on the person. We were trying to see if there was a curse or an illusion placed on you. Everything seems normal from our scanning.” Bei Ting Mao explained.

“Of course. It is because I, Starm Mi Viediel is the Son of Origin.” Starm Mi Viediel’s explanation shocked everyone present.