Chapter 30: What You Gain is What’s Real

Dongfang rolled her eyes at him. “You, honestly… you’re so easily led by women, you’re bound to suffer for it sooner or later. Haven’t you noticed the massive hole in the story your ‘Young Master’s consort’ told you?”

Jiang Xiaoyu froze. “Wh… where?”

“She claimed she picked up a mirror in a cave on Mount Kunlun, and then her life started to ‘level up’—from there she rose to fame and fortune, and finally became the greatest beauty in the Immortal Realm. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Could it be… that she teamed up with that Inquiry Spirit to trick me?”

Dongfang chuckled. “I don’t know whether that Inquiry Spirit is real or fake—Lengyue would know more about those occult arts than I do, so I won’t judge. I’ll just ask you one thing: if she didn’t have that mirror, would Dongfang Yueli be anything at all?”

“This… this… it seems that way.”

“Then, isn’t it possible that I, Lengyue, and Wanxing are the original inhabitants of that mirror, and she is merely a lucky person who stumbled upon a treasure?”

Jiang Xiaoyu was stunned.

The story Dongfang Yueli had told him had left him feeling exhilarated—a princess, a divine demonic constitution, an immortal Daoist, a cave on Mount Kunlun, a mysterious ancient mirror, a peerless genius… at the time, he felt his “consort” was the protagonist of a legend. But Dongfang’s question struck right at the weakest link in the narrative.

“I… I was just enjoying the ride at the time, I didn’t think that hard about it.” He scratched his head, his voice clearly lacking conviction. “Maybe her cultivation method has some secrets she couldn’t just tell anyone.”

Dongfang scoffed. “It wasn’t the story that was exhilarating, was it?”

Jiang Xiaoyu immediately sprang from the sofa, pointing at Dongfang: “You… you’re talking nonsense! I, Jiang Xiaoyu, am not that kind of person! I told you, the person I transmigrated into was an idiot—the character was already set, how much out of line could he be?”

Dongfang smiled, picking up her teacup to take a slow sip, her posture identical to the way Dongfang Yueli had interrogated him earlier. She wasn’t in a hurry, just watching him with a playful smile, waiting for him to figure it out for himself.

“Whether it’s true or not, I don’t care. I’ll give you one piece of advice: don’t blindly believe what that woman says. You need to have your own judgment. Even when it comes to me… the same applies.”

Jiang Xiaoyu laughed bitterly: “My god, how am I supposed to judge? Everyone has a different version of events. You say you’re from an ancient family, she says you’re her Dao Seeds, everyone has a logically consistent story. It’s making my head explode.”

Dongfang set her cup down and held up two fingers.

Jiang Xiaoyu waved a hand and turned his head away.

“Enough joking around.”

“I’m not joking. I’m talking about two words: What you gain.”

“Gain what?”

“Whatever brings you benefit is true. Everything else, no matter how flowery the words, is fake! Don’t worry about the scenarios or the people.”

Jiang Xiaoyu’s eyes lit up. This logic was good—simple and straightforward.

“Hold on, let me process this…”

Dongfang drank her tea leisurely, glancing up at him occasionally with a confident smile.

Since I helped him see the world clearly last night and boosted his mental energy today, as long as he’s a decent person, he should know that this young lady is the only ‘truth.’

After a while, seeing Jiang Xiaoyu’s brows unfurl, she set her teacup down on the coffee table, stood up, opened her arms, and spun around.

“Now that you’ve figured out who the only ‘truth’ is, let’s talk about my contract with you—haven’t you noticed that I’ve changed?”

Jiang Xiaoyu held up a hand to stop her, looking at her earnestly: “Based on your ‘gain’ hypothesis, I’ve made my judgment of the truth.”

Dongfang lowered her arms and said with a smile, “Knowing that is enough. But you still haven’t answered my question. Look and see if I’ve changed—”

Before she could finish, Jiang Xiaoyu started counting on his own: “Xiaoqi is good to me, true! The principal gave me a million, true! Teacher Zhao Lu taught me mental summoning, true! Auntie Liu at the cafeteria gave me a giant bowl of raw-marinated food, true! As for you, Lengyue, Wanxing, and Dongfang Yueli, I’m still confused and need to investigate further—call it half-true and half-false, but in my opinion, none of you are bad people…”

Dongfang froze, and then her face turned a bright, visible shade of red.

Golden light flashed from her body, and she lunged at Jiang Xiaoyu like a hungry tiger, raining blows down on him. Unfortunately, that incredibly powerful golden light did absolutely zero damage to him; the scene looked surprisingly heartwarming, as if a young couple were playfully brawling on the sofa.

“Spit out my Fire Dragon Flower tea! I’ve cherished that for over a decade and couldn’t bear to drink it myself, and you just drank it! Spit it out! Spit it out!”

Faced with Dongfang’s frantic beating and biting, Jiang Xiaoyu couldn’t fight back, so he begged for mercy: “Dongfang, Dongfang, I was wrong! I said it wrong! I saw the world through you, and I boosted my mental energy through you! You’re real! One hundred percent real! Realer than real!”

Only then did Dongfang retract her golden light. She reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear and smoothed her clothes, sitting back down on the sofa with perfect composure. The sequence of movements was fluid, as if the woman who had just been brawling moments ago hadn’t been her at all.

“Admitting your mistakes is the greatest virtue; I won’t hold it against you. Jiang Xiaoyu, haven’t you noticed that I’ve changed?”

Jiang Xiaoyu struggled to sit up from the cushions, squinting left and right, looking up and down, before saying cautiously: “I don’t see any changes.”