Tian Yi

He, Tian Yi of the great Tian Family, sneered as he looked down at the outer sect trash. To be sure, this young master was normally a kind and generous soul, wise and more than willing to forgive slights against his name, but some things, some things were almost too much. Which is why he was having to draw himself up, even as his Tan Lan had moved away from the trash. "Oh, and yet, you do not even try and protest? This young master can supposed that from time to time trash knows its place, and yet, this one wonders why such a lowly one dared to speak to a jade beauty?"

The trash merely shrugged, unbothered by the weight of things, unknowing of the danger it was in. "This Matt would never presume to speak first. Rather, the young mistress asked for directions, and I was able to assist. Anything more?" Again, the trash shrugged, not a hint of shame or regret! Such boldness! Such impudence! "I'm literal outer sect trash and she appears to be a noble." The words spoken without regret caused him to pause as he tasted blood. "This one knows that there is such a gulf to not even bother trying."

He wanted to have his eyes twitched, fingers clenching (not noticing that his Tan Lan was annoyed with the words as well). "Are you saying that she is not worth pursuing?" Because if so, that was a grave insult against him, for how DARE any NOT lust after such a jade beauty! "Admit it trash, you are a toad lusting after swan meat!"

The barely more than a mortal did not seem bothered. "Young master? Considering that this is the result of me answering a question as I was sweeping? She is far too beautiful for the likes of this one. I am a swine who instead of going after pearls, would rather seek out another pig in the mud." There was a moment were he could all but feel his qi still, quaking and shivering as he looked at the brute. "Or, to answer the question that keeps coming up, I'd rather have a ugly woman than a jade beauty, for that is is the best one such as I can reasonably hope for."

He did not see how the jade beauty was looking at the trash with hateful eyes, nor did he really register the words. "You would rather have a ugly woman, instead of a jade beauty?" The man nodded. "Why?"

He could not keep the shock from his tone, how absurd it was as the man shrugged. "Would you be delivering the beating I am going to be getting if she was weak and ugly?" He could not stop himself from shaking his head at the sheer gall of it all, the trash nodding calmly. "Well, there you go. Less drama, fewer beatings and overall while I understand that yes, as a cultivator I am supposed to defy heaven," the man rolled his eyes, "I am not so strong that I cannot carefully pick my battles. Any fight for a jade beauty is one I shall lose, and so, I focus on what I can do."

The trash paused and then looked to him and his minions. "Ah, but if this junior can make a minor request of his understanding seniors? Could the upcoming beating not break any bones? I need to finish the sweeping assigned to me as punishment."

That was something that he could grant, as he gestured, still in a daze, his minions preforming the beating on his behalf before he wandered away, unsure entirely of what just happened.

Lan Tan

She seethed once more. She had been SURE that he had been a fellow inhabitant of Earth! To be sure, she had been reborn with no cheat, but than she was female, and so was a jade beauty. Little more than a prize to be won or a trophy for the eventual protagonists harem. Which is why she had been going through some of the outer sect, trying to see if there was anyone that fit the correct tropes to be a protagonist, and to try and get in the ground floor as soon as she could.

Which is why she was sure that he had been the one! An odd name! An odd cultivation style that was mocked! An unusual spirit symbol! And the man did not act like the usual idiots, but instead was a reserved and reclusive fellow, despite being polite enough when he had to be. And finally, from what she could gather, he had all the signs of focusing on his foundation, not trying to climb as quickly as possible. She did not have any attempt to see if he had a cheat ability, but now?

He was not a protagonist! What sort of Xainxia protagonist preferred ugly women to jade beauties! Her qi shivered as she wanted to spit blood, as she was going to have to manipulate that idiot Tain Yi into acting as bait to lure out her protagonist. She WOULD have both her revenge against not being desired, and her shield against all the shit that was likely coming their way!

Matt

On the one hand, I had been reborn into a Xainxia setting with not one, but effectively two cheats. The minor one was basically an adaptive regeneration physique, making me a little tougher and healing a little better whenever I recovered from something, but needed to be built up over time, combined with what was effectively a Nordic cultivation path, one where I would need to overcome fear and accept death. Potentially even die again to prove myself worthy of ascension into Valhalla. But that was not the second cheat.

No, the second cheat was not being an egotistical asshole.

Face? Why would I want to be all face, if it meant my skin was so thin a gentle breeze would peel it off? What did it matter what others thought of me? As I took up the axe, to chop the log into firewood, bruises and cracks in my bones already healing, what others thought mattered little in the end. For I would live, fight and die by my own merit, not what others said. Granted, there were some issues as I lived in a society. And so, I would fake it. Badly probably.

Eh, nothing to it, even as I decapitated the boar that snuck up on me as the axe moved to keep chopping wood, no motion wasted.

Hua

He looked at Old Ping, rocking in his chair as he observed the wood chopping lot. "So. Why is Matt still an outer disciple again? He just decapitated an Iron Tusk Boar without even paying attention to it. And yesterday he bisected a Three Trunk Weaver Spider. So... why?"

The older man merely gummed a long stalk of grass, eyes wrinkling as he pondered the response before nodding. "Can't politic worth shit and keep confusing the young masters." A rough chuckle. "Got twenty silver that he'll make one suffer a deviation from confusion one of these days." A chuckle that was more grunt and exhalation. "Which will get him killed, but..."

Both men shrugged. Such was the fate of a member of the outer sect who attracted the eye of the sects nobles.