Chapter 90

Chapter 90: Give the Little Fatty a Thumbs-up

Qin Yuan cleared his throat and shifted the topic: “Junior Sister Rong, we’re heading to the mountain gate to welcome our Second Senior Brother. You haven’t met him yet, so why not come along?”

After a month, Qin Yuan no longer felt the awkwardness he once had when facing Rong Shu.

Having misunderstood Rong Shu before, Qin Yuan now treated her with a touch more goodwill.

Rong Shu blinked in mild surprise: “Second Senior Brother?”

Qin Yuan nodded: “Yes, Second Senior Brother Huo Yi Han. He’s an alchemist. He went home to visit family more than a year ago, had a breakthrough in alchemy on the way, then set out to take the fourth-grade alchemist assessment. He sent word not long ago that he passed, and he’s returning to the sect today.”

At once, Rong Shu hesitated.

She had not planned to watch the matches at the arena today.

A few days ago at the arena, she had run into the chubby boy she knew from the secret realm, Fu Yong Kang.

After recognizing Rong Shu, Fu Yong Kang chatted with her enthusiastically, and when they ran out of topics he casually tried to give her spirit stones.

Ahem. Mainly, Fu Yong Kang had a good temperament: talkative, warm, and easygoing. Word was that his family was an old cultivation clan and fabulously wealthy, holding several spirit veins with so many spirit stones on hand they couldn’t spend them all.

He had come to Heaven’s Evolution Sect first to burnish his credentials, so that when he traveled abroad he could carry both the identity of a Heaven’s Evolution Sect disciple and a scion of a cultivation clan.

Second, he represented his clan in coming to Heaven’s Evolution Sect to strengthen friendly ties between the two powers.

So although Fu Yong Kang’s cultivation could not match the Peak Master’s son, Cheng Bu Fan, in certain respects his importance within Heaven’s Evolution Sect surpassed Cheng Bu Fan’s.

Rong Shu had no reason not to latch onto the golden thigh that had walked up to her door and to get to know him.

In time, the two became familiar.

Today, Rong Shu had already agreed to go down the mountain with Fu Yong Kang for a stroll.

Faced with a wealthy host’s invitation and nothing terribly troublesome involved, Rong Shu accepted.

But now…

“I’ve never met Second Senior Brother. If I go with the senior brothers and sisters right now, won’t that be a bit inappropriate?”

Rong Shu tried one last time to wriggle free.

As for this Second Senior Brother, she had no particular expectations. [Her only hope was that he would just take her for a nobody. Not too warm, not intrusive, live and let live.]

Qin Yuan’s voice was gentle but his decision firm: “Everything has a first time. Once you’ve met, it will feel familiar. No need to be shy, Junior Sister Rong.”

Yu Ruan Ruan, thinking of something, suddenly grew warmly enthusiastic, a sweet smile lifting her face: “Junior sister, didn’t you find quite a few spirit herbs in the secret realm? You could hand them to Second Senior Brother and ask him to refine pills for you.”

At the side, Feng Lin had wanted to refuse bringing Rong Shu along, but once Yu Ruan Ruan spoke, he could only fall silent, tacitly agreeing to let Rong Shu join them.

“Senior Sister Yu, I already promised a friend. I can’t break my word, can I?”

Rong Shu deliberately stressed the words break my word, which made Qin Yuan, the one who had first suggested it, hesitate.

“Second Senior Brother is one of our own. I’m sure he’ll understand. Another day I’ll find a good time to apologize to him on your behalf.”

Just as Rong Shu was about to turn and leave, Fu Yong Kang’s voice suddenly carried over from not far away: “Rong Shu!”

Seeing her look over, Fu Yong Kang waved his pudgy hand and came running in excitement.

Before Rong Shu could speak, he rattled on in a torrent: “I waited for you a long time in front of the Practice Pavilion, but you never showed. Then I smacked my head, took a guess, and came straight to Limitless Peak to find you. Got anything left to do? Are you done? If you’re done, let’s head down the mountain…”

Fu Yong Kang’s mouth crackled like firecrackers; he said a whole string in one breath.

Rong Shu and Yu Ruan Ruan could not even wedge a word in.

“Come on, come on, Rong Shu, we need to hurry down the mountain. If we don’t go now, the sun will set,” said Fu Yong Kang, reaching to pull Rong Shu away.

Only then did Qin Yuan find an opening to speak: “Hold on a moment, junior brother.”

“Something up?”

Fu Yong Kang glanced at Yu Ruan Ruan and the others, then asked Rong Shu with blunt casualness: “Friends of yours?”

His tone suggested he was completely unfamiliar with Yu Ruan Ruan’s group.

Feng Lin and Qin Yuan did not mind, but that attitude truly infuriated Yu Ruan Ruan.

Because back in the secret realm, she had run into Fu Yong Kang together with Rong Shu.

Yet after they left the secret realm, this damned fatty only acknowledged Rong Shu and had not spared Yu Ruan Ruan a word.

“We know each other,” Rong Shu explained. “They’re disciples of Immortal Venerable Ze Yu, who is also my master.”

She offered nothing further.

Fu Yong Kang was not dense; he sensed something off.

If the relationship were really good, there would have been introductions before he even asked. She would not have given a dry line about them merely being someone’s disciples.

“Oh, oh. A pleasure.”

Before coming to Heaven’s Evolution Sect, his elders had told him to be especially polite to Immortal Venerable Ze Yu.

They had not, however, said he needed to be especially polite to Immortal Venerable Ze Yu’s disciples.

“I’m Fu Yong Kang, a friend of Rong Shu’s. We agreed a few days ago to go down the mountain together,” he said to Yu Ruan Ruan and the other two with a beaming smile.

“As Rong Shu’s senior brothers and senior sister, you don’t need to worry too much about her safety outside. I’ll keep her safe, rest assured.”

He thumped his chest with a face full of guarantee.

Qin Yuan’s expression darkened with exasperation: “Right now Junior Sister Rong is coming with us to the mountain gate to welcome someone. It’s not very convenient…”

Before Qin Yuan could finish, Fu Yong Kang turned and asked Rong Shu: “Who are you waiting for? Someone important?”

Rong Shu blinked: “My Second Senior Brother, whom I’ve never met. He’s a fourth-grade alchemist, so I suppose he qualifies as an important figure.”

“Oh, fourth-grade, not bad,” Fu Yong Kang said politely, but without any awe or surprise.

His clan had long worshiped two fifth-grade alchemists and ten fourth-grade alchemists. He had grown up around fourth-grade alchemists.

Then a thought struck him, and he asked Rong Shu with some hesitation: “Your senior brother… is he disabled?”

“You brat, what are you saying?” Feng Lin bristled at the snide tone and nearly drew his sword.

Qin Yuan stopped him just in time.

Feng Lin was a sword cultivator and often in seclusion; he might not be up to speed on sect happenings. Qin Yuan, however, kept abreast of news, and by now he had put together who Fu Yong Kang likely was.

Fu Yong Kang was undaunted and continued to puzzle it out: “So he’s not disabled, then? Why do so many people need to go greet him? Isn’t that a waste of everyone’s time?”

Rong Shu nearly nodded.