Aimless Ascension

"If only I had motivated her to keep on seeking the martial path back then when she came to me, all those years ago," Grandma lamented.

Xiaolin bit her lips after hearing everything that happened in sequential order. Apparently, Gu Dong, Wang Li's spouse, had been constantly frustrated, not getting what he wanted in life. He came from a humble family and had almost nothing to show for his background.

However, he was particularly talented and headstrong about spirit arts from a young age. He came from a neighbouring village, hearing Grandma Wang give lessons to a young practitioner free of cost.

Gu Dong cashed in well there, standing out from all the pupils and even achieving iron rank in a few years, though most of it had to do with him getting on the good side of Wang Li when they were still both young. That eventually led to the proposal of marriage.

However, Grandma couldn't see him as a match for Wang Li and their family, so she adopted him into the family and helped with resources, thinking about her granddaughter.

However, Gu Dong wasn't content just getting to this point.

Supposedly, he wanted to leave this town, to look for better opportunities for his martial path. However, her elder sister was completely against that as she had given up spirit arts after their marriage. Not to mention, the history between herself and her parents, there was absolutely no way she would leave Grandma to join them again with her husband at Azure park.

But Gu Dong was frustrated at the Iron rank for about five years now. He wasn't growing any bit younger with each passing day, and with that, his potential was degrading the longer he stayed in Wayshire.

All this seemed like both parties had a valid argument of their own, but that was where Gu Dong's argument finished.

Gu Dong hadn't followed the role of the husband for the last two years. Ignoring all his bad habits such as coming home late, ingesting a lot of alcohol almost every day, and wasting family wealth on gambling and other provocative activities, he was an unfaithful husband.

Gu Dong hadn't been fair to Wang Li since Xiaolin started living in the house with them.

Of course, there were moments of union between them, mostly related to Rong'er, as both of them seemed to love him equally, but that was it.

Once cracks started to appear in a relationship, there was no way to mend them. Unless both parties tried their best. Wang Li did what she could with everything she had, but Gu Dong had his eyes fixed on another matter. His martial path, no matter what he was doing to his family.

He hadn't supported her when Wang Li went back to practising again, and it turned out what he did today was to show what he really thought of her.

Gu Dong objected to Wang Li's cultivation. He called her a waste after Grandma spent so much money to buy her the fate lock. He screamed at her, saying she didn't deserve any of that.

Even her parents who cut her off from resources had never said something like that out loud, even if they thought it inwardly.

Eventually, Grandma couldn't watch it go on for longer. She barged into their argument and slapped Gu Dong in the face. When he rebutted, she slapped him once more to silence him completely.

Things went off the rails, Gu Dong didn't listen to any of Grandma's disapproving words. He strode off the Inn, saying he was never coming back.

Well, he did come back though, after about an hour late, but that didn't change anything, Instead, he broke it apart completely.

Gu Dong came and threw a written declaration of annulment at Wang Li. He left without uttering a single word, as if he was right all along.

Just like that, it ended. Although the matter of splitting up officially needed a little more than just throwing paper at your spouse, Xiaolin couldn't see them getting back together after this.

"Let's go," Grandma said eventually. "I can't leave her on her own for much longer. She hadn't eaten anything today."

"Alright, let me make something quick for her," Xiaolin said and proceeded to the kitchen, unloading the stuff she had with herself. She made one of those sandwiches which she learned from her master and readied it quickly to move in the direction of the veranda.

Wang Li was still at it, trying to cycle, but all the frustration she went through wasn't making it any easier. She even sent away Rong'er, telling him to play on his own.

"Granddaughter," Grandma Yushen said softly, "you know your condition isn't in a fair state to continue cycling. You might create a deviation in your path."

"I'm fine, Grandma," Wang Li said, not lifting her head. "I just need a moment to collect myself."

Grandma Wang crept closer and sat beside her. "Wang Li," she said, squeezing her shoulder. "You can't go on like this. You have done nothing wrong. Why suffer because of it?"

"I should have listened to mother and father," Wang Li said at last, her voice cracking. "At last I won't be like this, failure at everything, at spirit arts, at marriage, at everything. I have nothing, Grandma."

"Who said that?" Grandma pulled her granddaughter to her chest. "Who said that? They don't know anything. You have a beautiful son, who loves her mother dearly. You have me and look, Linlin. She made food for you. . . Come on, eat something."

"Grandma," Wang Li burst into tears, snuggling in her grandmother's lap. "I am not useless. . . I don't want to be useless. . ."

"You're not," Grandma said, rubbing Wang Li's hair softly. "You're not. Don't grieve for whatever he said. Don't let his words dictate your fate."

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Thank you all of you for reading my story and especially those that spent coins to read it. A year ago, I couldn't even hope that others would use the money to read my story.

Also, I appreciate all those who brought privilege and tried to help the book get to the milestone, even though we failed. We'll make it next time.

Read the A/N below.