Book 2 - Chapter 15 (Patreon)

AN: Book 1 is almost finalized for Amazon! The secret realm arc had been heavily edited, with the action scenes getting a major upgrade. That is my weak point, but my editor has been a godsend. Spent most of the last 4 days working on that.

AN2: The last interlude will be ordered differently. It will come after this chapter on RR, not before. It fits the flow of the story better.

AN3: Another chapter will be posted today. Perhaps 2, but that's a big maybe.

Previous Chapter

A night of rest was exactly what he needed. Both he and Mei Lingxi.

Far too much had happened in one day to be able to fully process, even for a cultivator. The Grand Elder tried to help by distracting them and to be fair, the tea did help quite a lot by burning away the rage and helping him think without emotions tainting him.

Still, that didn’t beat the passage of time, even if that was only a night. It unfortunately came with the side effect of being far too sentimental.

“Young Master, isn’t this the boy you told me to avoid?”

William nodded at Mei Lingxi’s question. Ren Bo was indeed someone he purposely avoided, but it didn’t feel right to leave without saying a word.

“You’ll see why I said that, Sister Lingxi,” William replied before walking towards Ren Bo.

The boy hadn’t noticed him, and that was a good thing. He hadn’t been the only one who avoided a meeting.

“Ren Bo!” William shouted.

He could see the boy stiffen and slowly turn as if about to meet a dreaded villain. The strained smile shown to him told of how much excitement there was to meet again.

Which was less than nothing.

“Brother Wei,” Ren Bo greeted weakly, “So good to see you again.”

William raised an eyebrow when there was no drooling due to Mei Lingxi’s presence. A drastic change from the last time they saw each other.

“Same,” he replied before falling silent. The silence was awkward, making him wonder why he thought this was a good idea.

Ren Bo cleared his throat, “Well, I have a lecture to attend. It was good meeting you, Brother Wei.”

It didn’t escape William that Ren Bo didn’t dare to look at Mei Lingxi. It almost made him feel regretful for being so short with him. The kid had a major problem around pretty women like some sort of turbocharged horny rabbit, but it finally looked like he was finally working to fix it. Eventually, he would need to make eye contact with the women around him, but it was a start.

“Wait, Ren Bo, I apologize.”

“What?” Ren Bo froze, staring at him with confusion, “For what?”

“For avoiding you,” William winced, realizing he still had no idea what Ren Bo experienced in the Shard. “How have you been doing? You were in rough shape the last time I saw you.”

Ren Bo still looked confused, though now a slight suspicion was added. “The last thing you said to me was, ‘It’s better if you’re gagged.’ Forgive me if I don’t believe you, Brother Wei.”

There it was. The reminder of why he avoided the kid. They had just left the secret realm and were being taken to safety. Ren Bo thought it was the perfect time to grab the attention of a far-stronger Princess Jin while she was surrounded by her worshipful guards.

So yes, William had told him it was for the best that he couldn’t speak to irritate cultivators far stronger than him. And he still stood by that.

“Right,” William gave him a strained smile, “Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I won’t be in the Outer Court anymore. If you want to get in touch with me, tell Wang Mei at the administrative building.”

“Are you getting kicked out?”

That was asked with a little too much eagerness, in William’s opinion.

“No,” he replied flatly.

“Then why the dramatic goodbye?” Ren Bo rolled his eyes.

William tried to be discreet about why he was leaving the Outer Court. He really did, but there was only so much of the snide replies he could take. Ren Bo didn’t seem like someone who would envy others’ success, but he hadn’t wanted to take the chance since it was supposed to be a cordial goodbye. Now, he hoped that the kid would turn green in jealousy.

“I thought I should let you know if you ever needed help from an Inner Court disciple in the future. You could call on me. I guess I was mistaken.”

He regretted that the moment he stopped talking. He allowed Ren Bo to pull himself down to his level when he wanted to take the higher road. It didn’t help that he could hear Mei Lingxi failing to hold back her amusement behind him.

“The Inner Court?” Ren Bo asked with wide eyes.

The regret was lessened dramatically by the surprise in the kid’s eyes. Yes, sometimes the low road was worth it.

“That’s amazing, Brother Wei!”

“It is?” William didn’t expect that. Then again, he had no reason to think otherwise. Ren Bo might have been an unrelenting horndog, but he never showed issues like jealousy when it didn’t involve Princess Jin.

Still, it felt like his constantly lowering expectations of Ren Bo was justified.

“Yes! You have access to the Jade Cauldron Peak!”

“I do?” William felt like he was turned into a simpleton who could only reply with short questions. This was not going as he assumed at all.

“What’s wrong with you, Brother Wei?” Ren Bo frowned before shaking head immediately after, “Doesn’t matter. Since you offered to help, could you ask one of the alchemists if they can do anything with this beast?”

He flinched when the headless corpse of a Draebern crashed onto the ground right next to him. A moment later, the head bounced off the body and fell to the ground.

It was in a bad condition, and William had an idea why. The storage pouch Ren Bo had before the trip to the secret realm couldn’t store the bodies of spirit beasts inside, whether they were living or dead. It meant the sect gifted him a spatial stone, but one that was of low quality given the state of the corpse.

“It looks like it’s about to rot,” William pointed out the obvious.

“I know,” Ren Bo said with exasperation, “I tried to get the help of an elder I know in the Inner Court, but he’s furious with me. The body won’t last for much longer.”

[Quest: Visit the Jade Cauldron Peak]

[Information: Ren Bo possesses the corpse of a Draebern that is about to rot. He wants to get some use out of it before that happens. Find an alchemist that will help him.]

[Reward: Increased reputation with Ren Bo]

[Penalty: Decreased reputation with Ren Bo]

[Accept: Y/N]

This would be the type of quest that William would reject without thought. The rewards wouldn’t be worth the effort to walk a few feet, let alone convince some alchemist to help Ren Bo, but this did remind him of what he possessed himself.

The bodies of the Pyralisk and the Jingmu Shadow.

He needed to find out what could be done with them, and that could be done simultaneously with the quest.

“Fine,” William agreed grudgingly, “I can help you with that.”

[Quest Accepted | Visit the Jade Cauldron Peak]

“You’re the best, Brother Wei!” Ren Bo moved toward him as if to hug him but froze after taking a step. He was looking at Mei Lingxi.

At least the kid lasted this long without acting strange. It was time to wrap this up. The massive corpse of the beast was drawing a crowd of disciples, and he saw someone familiar.

[Name: Yang Fan | Level: 35]

Ren Bo’s even more annoying friend, the one who tried to drag him into a mission that wouldn’t have been safe. Of course, this also reminded him of Zheng Tao, who prevented Yang Fan from doing so.

It put him in a worse mood than before.

“I’ll contact you if I find someone. Goodbye, Ren Bo,” William said, backing away and waving before heading to the administration building. Luckily, Ren Bo didn’t follow after Mei Lingxi.

“Are you avoiding someone in the crowd, Young Master?”

“It’s nothing serious,” William waved her off, “You know you don’t have to keep calling me young master? Elder Yu isn’t here to supervise you.”

“True,” Mei Lingxi nodded, “But I want to.” He looked at her with a frown, only to see a teasing smile on her face. “I don’t get to have my usual fun, Young Master. I am only left with seeing you be uncomfortable when I call you young master, Young Master.”

William rolled his eyes and sped up.

“Wait for me, Young Master!”

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