I am the Main Character? No thanks!

Walking through the familiar streets bustling with activity, I couldn’t help but be filled with nostalgia.

The bustling of the mortals, going about their normal lives. Children playing on the streets. Guards occasionally walk by, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. Vendors sold their wares as the customers bargained with them. Friendly banter between the people all around us and the occasional roughhousing of the teenagers.

It was a scene that looked extremely similar to what I remember. A scene full of life that I could never hope to see in the upper-class districts of this city.

Yan Ling looked around curiously at everything around us while holding onto my hand.

I depended on my memory to guide us through the maze of cramped streets until we finally arrived at the edge of the commoner district of the city right by the walls.

There, on a small hill that overlooked the district, we saw the derelict remains of what should have been a small house. For a split second, the burnt rubble was replaced by a simple yet homely place filled with the happiest memories of my life.

“Um, Master? Where are we?”

“This, Ling’er, was my home.”

The girl gave a shocked look before looking back and forth between the house and me.

“Come, there is someone that I want you to meet.”

“Okay!”

I guided Yan Ling through the broken path and burnt grass until we circled around the rubble and arrived at a clearing with a simple grave.

I tapped into my Primal Qi and waved my hand, instantly clearing the weeds from the grave and the grime from the stone tombstone.

Sitting on my knees, I brought out a few incense sticks and offerings before motioning Yan Ling to do the same.

We kowtowed three times to the grave before offering the incense and sat in silence for some time.

Finally, I gathered my wits and started speaking.

“Hello, Mother.”

I felt Yan Ling’s body jolt in shock at my words and stare at me with teary eyes.

An understandable reaction considering what I had her do just now.

In this world, kowtowing to someone who is dead is considered to be a sign of respect even if you don’t have any relationship with that person.

However, there is a specific meaning in having a child kowtow to their master’s parents.

It is considered as a simplified adoption ceremony where the master has decided to change their master-disciple relationship to that of a parent and child. Something rarely done since most masters only take in disciples for their personal gain or to enlighten themselves by teaching their disciples and even those masters who care about their disciples would still not consider taking them as their kin due to the issues of seniority in their line of disciples.

“M-Master?? Are you sure? I am just a nobody. I may have a good physique and cultivation talent, but I am still of common blood. My parents were commoners with no cultivation. My dirty blood can never compare to-“

I patted the head of the crying and babbling girl before speaking again.

“Hurry up and pay respects to your grandmother.”

She continued sniffling before slowly kowtowing to the grave.

“G-granddaughter Yan-no, Da Ling, pays respects to grandmother.”

She held herself for a few seconds before she broke down crying again, forcing me to take her into my arms and calm her down.

Eventually, her mental exhaustion caught up to her, and fell asleep in my arms.

Holding her in my arms, I started talking.

“A lot of things happened since you left me, Mother. You said that I would never be alone even if you were not there. Turns out, that was a false hope that you held onto. I went through a lot, I saw a lot. Did a lot of things I am not proud of. I would have probably tarnished your name by now if things had gone differently six years ago.”

“But, you don’t have to worry anymore. I have decided to let the past be in the past. I have buried all of those grudges and feelings. I think I want to look to the future now. I can no longer let those that I do not care about drag me down with their actions. I want to fulfill that promise I made to you from now on. To protect those I care about. To protect my daughter.”

I looked down at Yan, Da Ling, curled up into my chest with a smile.

“I think you would have loved her. She is very excitable. Loves to eat to the point where I have to question if she is even human. She is monstrously talented on the path of Cultivation and Alchemy but completely incompetent at Inscriptions and Formations.”

“She is naïve, but jaded. Trusting but suspicious. Courageous but cowardly. A paradox that I can never hope to decipher, only accept her for how she is. But, no matter her flaws or her personality, I love her all the same.”

I looked to the sky and let go of the iron grip I had on my emotions for so long.

Tears fell from my eyes as dark emotions rushed forward, finally finding a release after years of being suppressed.

“I miss you. I wish you were here to see everything I achieved. Did you know? I reached the Nascent Soul realm yesterday. A realm that bastard Wang Wei who you left everything for could never hope to achieve with his narrow-minded personality. Not like I can rub it in his face since that fool died with his precious ‘family’ and his beloved martial arts when the sect was wiped out by an unknown party. I don’t know if there were any survivors except for the few inner and outer disciples that were out on missions.”

“I also became a renowned Formation Master that goes by the name ‘The Enigma’. I know that it is a silly name but you can’t blame me for it. It was the Auction house that came up with that name to sell my very first products.”

“I still have Grandmother’s bead that you gave me. Did you ever realize the value of that thing when you were alive? If you did, why didn’t you use the bead to heal yourself? I can only hope that you didn’t know about its abilities because If you did and still didn’t use it, I can only assume that you planned to die and leave me behind. A thought that I can’t bear to imagine.”

As I continued talking and let out all the emotions that I had bottled up within me ever since her death, the day turned to night.

Slowly, I got up from the ground and looked at her grave.

“Today, I came here not just to speak with you, but to take you away from this accursed place. Did you know? I found a place that I can truly call home. I have friends, I have people who care for me irrespective of my cultivation or abilities. I have kind people who are willing to do anything for me. I want you to watch all of this. I want you to watch over your granddaughter as she grows up to be a formidable warrior who shakes the very continent with her fame. I want you to watch over us for the rest of our lives.”

With each word, my Primal Qi rose in its intensity and started covering the entire hill with its heavy presence.

The weeds that I had cleared just that day suddenly started to spring back into existence rapidly as the trees, flowers, and grass around us started to become even more vibrant than before.

The burnt grass faded away and was quickly replaced by fresh stalks that looked like someone had meticulously watered them on a daily basis while the charred tree trunks rapidly healed and fresh leaves started to spring out from their branches.

I noticed these anomalies but left those questions for another day.

Once I felt the entire hill through my Qi, I made a simple swiping motion. Instantly, the entire hill was severed from the ground and started to slowly float up into the air.

With another swipe, the entire hill disappeared into a space ring I prepared beforehand.

Now, all that is left is to transplant this hill back home.

Slowly, I floated back down and started walking away from the area.

From now on, this city has nothing to tether me to it and I can leave this place behind without any regrets.

Princess Yin Lingxi felt nervous for the very first time in her admittedly short life as she watched the relaxed expression of the man known to the capital as The Enigma and Wang Xiang to her.

Compared to his tightly controlled rage and hateful expression that she had seen the last time when he finally removed his mask, this sudden change was extremely unnerving to her.

Given the way her Aunt Xingchen was shifting behind her, it was clear that she was not the only one feeling this strangeness.

With the way things were going, Yin Lingxi decided to take the direct approach and quickly end things so that she could have some time to reflect on this unnerving feeling.

She took the initiative to bow her head and start speaking.

“Master Enigma, first of all, please accept my apology for what happened in the last meeting. I have truly failed to control my subordinate and offended you. As an apology, I have taken the liberty to double the amount of everything that you asked for in our deal without changing the artifacts from your end. I have also received permission from the Emperor to promote you to nobility with a large patch of Qi-rich land in the capital’s upper district being transferred to your name. If there is anything else, anything at all, that you would have me do to make up for that incident, I am willing to do it.”

She did not need to turn around to know that her Aunt was looking down at the floor with anger and guilt for what her actions had forced her niece to do.

A proud princess of the empire had been forced to bow her head to a man who was not even from the capital.

However, the response that they received from Da Wei was not something that they expected.

“Raise your head, Princess. It does not reflect well on the royal family if you do something like this. I do not need any other compensation for that incident. I will also not accept that title and land. The fact that you acknowledge that your subordinate made a mistake and are willing to rectify it is enough. Honestly speaking, I have already forgotten all about that incident by this point.”

This time, the Princess could not hide the shock in her gaze just as her Aunt failed to hide her own shock.

The princess was well aware of the double meaning within her words because she had purposefully spoken in that way to gauge the reaction of her opponent. To see if he would succumb to the temptation.

If he did, she would know how to control this man from this point onward, especially since there was not a lack of women who would happily accompany a man like him to make connections and move up in the world.

If he became interested in the title or the land, she could promise to make him her aide after ascending to the throne, making him second to her in authority across the empire, in exchange for his support.

In the same way, anything else he asked for, she could use that as a basis to assess his likes and dislikes to win him over to her faction.

But she never imagined that he would so clearly turn down all of her opening offers without any room for further offers.

With a wry smile, she realized that despite overestimating his personality and complexity by a lot, she had still underestimated him in the end.

For the first time in her life, she started to believe the words of her mother who used to say that not everyone was looking for personal gain by trying to establish a connection with her.

A fact that she never believed until today due to the many hideous monsters that exist within the Royal family, the palace, and the capital as a whole who wear masks for their own ends.

Now, for the first time, she met a person who did not care for her fame, her family’s strength, her beauty, her money, her connections, or her resources. For the first time, she met a person who was not moved by personal gain and did not hold grudges for even the smallest of things like most in his position would do.

‘How interesting! How exciting!!’

“I see. I applaud Master Enigma’s open-mindedness, but I have my own face to consider. I cannot allow my mistake to be forgiven so easily without any compensation.”

Da Wei simply smiled at her words.

“Like I said, Princess Yin. I don’t need anything else aside from what we agreed upon.”

“…..I see. Then, how about something more useful?”

At those words, Da Wei raised a brow in interest.

The princess gave a bright smile as she started speaking words that nearly gave a heart attack to Yao Xingchen.

“As you probably know, the Imperial family has a lot of treasures accumulated over the thousand years it has been on this continent. How about choosing one of those artifacts as compensation?”

“Again, I must decline. I am a Formation Master, Princess. If I wanted an artifact, I could make it myself. As for resources, I think the journey that one goes on to find those resources is the most important aspect of cultivation than the resource itself.”

“I see. I must say, Master Enigma has really put me on the spot. If nothing I have can satisfy the master, then, how about this??”

With a wave of her hand, she took out a jade slip and a burnt pendant from her space ring.

“The Jade slip is a communication artifact that connects directly to its counterpart that I have with me. If you ever decide to take my offer and need something, you can directly contact me and I will fulfill that request. As for the pendant, please accept it as a gift from me. I don’t know what its purpose is or if it is just a regular object. All I know is that it came from an ancient ruin upon which the Royal capital was built a thousand years ago.”

She watched with intrigue as a complicated look passed through Da Wei’s eyes before he gave a sigh and accepted the two objects.

“Since you are insisting so much, I will take them. Keep in mind, however, that this does not mean I am willing to sell my artifacts in this Auction hall anymore. I am a man of my word and since I said I won’t sell them here, I won’t sell them here.”

“….I see. While it is disheartening to hear that since I am technically the owner of this place, It is understandable and I do not fault you.”

The Princess pushed forward a storage ring placed on a cushion towards Da Wei.

“As I said previously, everything that you wanted is within this storage ring, including a copy of the official contract drafted with the governing office. Additionally, I have taken the liberty of changing the delivery date for the artifacts from Master Enigma to a date of your choosing.”

“….That is very generous of you, Princess. Tell me, why are you so willing to take so many losses just to win me over? I know that Formation Masters are highly sought after, but the way you are doing things seems like you have an ulterior motive in trying to win me over specifically.”

“Master Enigma is indeed insightful. I won’t deny it. I have an ulterior motive in choosing you specifically and wanting you in my faction. However, I can’t reveal the reason since our relationship is not that close yet. I hope Master Enigma understands.”

During this meeting and the meeting before, The princess had always believed Da Wei, or as she knew him, Wang Xiang, was just like any other man who sought things and connections for his own ends and treated him as she would any other potential recruit.

However, she has finally realized that if she wants to establish any kind of relationship with this man, she will have to be straightforward and completely open about her intentions with him.

And just as she predicted, the man relaxed considerably and looked at her with a tiny smile.

“I see. I can accept that reasoning. I hope you are not planning to use any underhanded methods to recruit me.”

“I cannot promise that, Master Enigma. Like I said, I have my reasons for wanting you and I will recruit you, there is no doubt about it. However, I can promise that any underhanded means I use will not be directed towards anyone that you care about and will only target you. Even then, I will make sure that my methods will not cause anything truly dangerous to happen to you.”

Suddenly, Da Wei grinned at her words.

“How scary. How is a measly Nascent Soul realm cultivator like me without any background supposed to resist the demonic charms and wiles of a willful princess like you?”

The princess and Yao Xingchen were shocked for a moment when he revealed his realm, but the princess regained her composure and grinned in return towards the man.

“I do not doubt that you can resist my devilish charms and evil plans. If not, how is this princess supposed to find this chase fun??”

The two stared at each other for a few minutes before laughing for a little bit.

Soon, Da Wei left the room and headed straight for the inn while the Princess leaned back into her seat with a grin.

On the other hand, all Yao Xingchen felt was utter confusion.

“….Princess? what just happened?”

The strangely melancholic and excited grin that the princess gave her unnerved the bodyguard.

“I think I just made a friend.”