Xun Er

"Fuck!!" Yun Shu had barely arrived at the Back Mountain when he heard a national curse.

"Young Master Three has quite the temper!" Yun Shu said with a slight smile as he looked at Xiao Yan, who was sitting hunched at the edge of the cliff.

"Who are you?" Hearing the voice behind him, Xiao Yan turned around warily to look at Yun Shu. The Xiao Family's Back Mountain was not actually within the Xiao Family's territory. It was simply close to the Xiao Family and happened to be a cliff, so few people usually came here.

"Don't be nervous. I'm a partner of your Xiao Family..." Yun Shu said with a smile as he looked at Xiao Yan.

"You're Master Yun Shu?!" Xiao Yan asked in surprise after hearing Yun Shu's words.

Although he had not gone to the Guest Hall at the time, news of a First-Rank Alchemist arriving at the Xiao Family had already spread like wildfire. The entire Wu Tan City knew about it, so how could Xiao Yan not know?

"What, I don't look like one?" Yun Shu smiled faintly.

"Uh! It's because you look about the same age as me..." Xiao Yan scratched his head and said somewhat sheepishly.

Someone his age was already a Dou Zhe and a First-Rank Alchemist, while he was still just a useless piece of trash stuck at the third stage of Dou Qi, unable to advance...

"I heard your body suffered some sort of accident, leaving you unable to cultivate?" Yun Shu looked at Xiao Yan. Though he knew it was because of Yao Lao, he could not say it outright.

Still, Yun Shu would be more than willing to receive Yao Lao's guidance. Since he could not sell Yao Lao off, he might as well get some benefits from Xiao Yan.

For now, however, he had no intention of forcefully summoning Yao Lao. Only if the plot remained unchanged would Yun Shu have a chance to steal Xiao Yan's opportunities.

If the plot changed before it even began, then his advantage of knowing the early story would be gone. How was he supposed to compete with Xiao Yan, who had a cheat in the form of a soul possessing the strength of a Dou Zong and an Eighth-Rank Alchemist?

"Can you help solve it?!" Xiao Yan's eyes immediately lit up as he looked at Yun Shu.

At that moment, the ring in his hand flashed with a strange, barely noticeable glimmer, but neither of them noticed.

"I'm only a First-Rank Alchemist..." Yun Shu said helplessly.

"Right..." Xiao Yan came to his senses as well. Even Gu Ni, the Second-Rank Alchemist from the Mittel Auction House, had been unable to solve his problem. What use could a First-Rank Alchemist be?

"Everything will get better..." Yun Shu patted Xiao Yan on the shoulder, then left the Back Mountain.

The current Xiao Yan had no spirit at all. There was no fun in spending time with him.

He might as well look around the Xiao Family for other girls...

"Master Yun Shu!" Yun Shu had only just left Xiao Yan's residence when he happened to run into a group of girls.

"You are...?" Yun Shu raised an eyebrow at the girl who had called out to him.

"Master Yun Shu, my name is Xiao Mei..."

"Goodbye!" The moment Yun Shu heard that the girl was called Xiao Mei, he turned and left without even looking back.

He did not like women like her.

Seeing Yun Shu simply leave like that, Xiao Mei and the girls behind her were slow to react, standing there stupidly in a daze.

"Tsk tsk, a mere Passerby A trying to climb the social ladder and become a phoenix..." Yun Shu thought disdainfully as he recalled Xiao Mei's expression.

"Huh? That girl looks pretty good!" After walking for only a short while, Yun Shu arrived at what seemed to be the Dou Technique Hall. His eyes lit up when he saw a girl wearing a pink dress.

"Don't tell me she's a back-view beauty..." Yun Shu walked over curiously.

"Isn't that Master Yun Shu?"

"Where is Master Yun Shu headed?"

"Over there... that's Cousin Xun Er!"

"Damn it!! Is Master Yun Shu going to make a move on my beloved Cousin Xun Er?!"

"Hey! Keep it down! Do you want to die?!"

"So it's Gu Xun Er..." Yun Shu stopped halfway through his approach. Better not provoke that simp.

Yun Shu also knew that he had arrived too late to earn this girl's favor, so he could only give up helplessly.

"Master!" Unexpectedly, just as he turned to leave, Xun Er called out to him herself.

"No!!!"

"Could it be that Cousin Xun Er had long since fallen for Master too?!"

"My beloved Cousin Xun Er..."

The crowd of Xun Er's simps felt as though they had shattered completely when they saw Xun Er actually take the initiative to call Yun Shu back.

"Hm?" Yun Shu turned around to look at Xun Er, unsure why she had stopped him.

"Did Xun Er do something to offend Master? Why did Master turn around and leave the moment he heard it was Xun Er?" Xun Er looked at Yun Shu curiously.

Every person her age in this family treated her with the utmost care, greeting her with smiling faces. Yet this Yun Shu, who had appeared out of nowhere, looked as if he had seen something terrifying the moment he saw her and immediately turned to leave.

"Uh..." Yun Shu was momentarily dumbfounded by Xun Er's question. Was he supposed to tell her that she was no longer pure and that he did not like her...?

That might get him killed on the spot by Ling Ying, who was hiding somewhere in the shadows.

"Let's talk while we walk!" Xun Er put down the scroll in her hand, walked to Yun Shu's side, and smiled at him.

"Fine." Since a beauty had invited him, it would be inappropriate for Yun Shu to run away again.

"Why did Master choose to cooperate with the Xiao Family?" Xun Er had also asked Ling Ying to investigate Yun Shu. This person seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He was not from Wu Tan City, and his first appearance in the Gama Empire had been in Green Mountain Town.

That strange identity had led Xun Er to make a few guesses about Yun Shu, though she could not yet be certain.

After all, she had come to the Xiao Family for a reason.

"Xun Er... you don't mind if I call you that, right?" Yun Shu asked the girl beside him.

The girl nodded slightly, showing no sign of resistance.

"The Gale Family and the Oba Family are too greedy," Yun Shu said calmly.

That was indeed the truth. In the original story, those two families had joined forces to suppress the Xiao Family. They were birds of a feather.

"I see. Then, returning to the earlier topic, why did Master leave immediately after hearing that it was Xun Er, as though you had encountered something unpleasant?" Xun Er asked Yun Shu curiously.

"Um... does Xun Er have someone you like now?" Yun Shu decided to phrase it differently and let her figure it out herself.

"Not yet." Xun Er shook her head calmly after hearing Yun Shu's question.

"Is that so? I just went to see the Xiao Family's Third Young Master..." Yun Shu said lightly. And she's still pretending in front of me.

"Cousin Xiao Yan?" Xun Er looked at Yun Shu curiously, as though asking why he had brought up Xiao Yan.

"???" Yun Shu looked at Xun Er in complete confusion. Isn't it meaningless to keep pretending?

"Does Master think I like Cousin Xiao Yan?" Xun Er was somewhat puzzled. Why would Yun Shu think that?

"Wait!! Let me make sure first!" Yun Shu was a little stunned. Could it be that this Xun Er had not been groped by that loser Xiao Yan?

"Forgive my rudeness, but... did anything happen between you and Xiao Yan when you were children?" Yun Shu asked carefully.