Bro Tao, You Have to Stay Strong

"Bro Tao, do the people from the City Lord's Mansion know you?" Zhou Qing asked.

"I am Soul Grandmaster. There aren't many Soul Grandmaster in Nuoding City. Besides Ma Xiunuo, myself, the City Lord, the Deputy City Lord, and the teachers and dean of the Nuoding Junior Academy, there are only one or two Soul Grandmaster hidden in the Nuoding Guild. I've visited here before, so they naturally recognize me." As he spoke, Su Yuntao's voice trailed off. "However, not many people know about my relationship with Sisi."

Zhou Qing could understand this.

When she first met Sisi in the Spirit Hall Branch, she denied that she was dating Su Yuntao.

Anyone with a little experience could see that Sisi was keeping Su Yuntao hanging on, treating him as a backup plan. Moreover, Zhou Qing suspected that if Su Yuntao were to become the one who took over the child later, he might not even realize that the child wasn't his, because City Lord Xiao's Martial Soul was the same as Xiao Chenyu's —a wolf!

Although he didn't know if Xiao Chenyu was also Solitary Wolf, Zhou Qing felt that Xiao Chenyu's Martial Soul Possession was similar to Su Yuntao's Martial Soul Possession state.

"Respected Battle Soul Master!"

The guard followed a middle-aged man who was stout, had a round face, wore a round hat, and was dressed in a dark purple robe.

The middle-aged man beamed and said to Su Yuntao, "It is an honor that you accepted my Young Master's task."

"It wasn't me, it was them," Su Yuntao said, pointing to Zhou Qing and the others. "I know them, so I came with them to take care of them and prevent any accidents. This is their first time accepting a mission from the Nuoding Guild."

"I see."

The middle-aged man didn't mind and still smiled broadly. In his view, Su Yuntao was just bringing his relative's child to the City Lord's Mansion to broaden his horizons. In the end, Su Yuntao would be the one to become the Young Master's sparring partner.

"I am the steward of this Xiao Manor. You can call me Steward Xiao."

After introducing themselves, Steward Xiao led Zhou Qing and the others through the gates of the City Lord's Mansion.

Inside the gate is an open area, roughly the size of a small football field, with a fountain in the center. Further ahead is a tall, square building, with a staircase winding down from the second-floor balcony on the right.

Steward Xiao led Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Su Yuntao up the stairs, took out a key, opened the door to the second floor, and a spacious living room came into view.

"Please wait."

Steward Xiao walked to the stairwell opposite the second-floor balcony, turned right, knocked on the door, and said, "Young Master, the Battle Soul Master of the Nuoding Guild has accepted your mission."

"I know, don't bother me, I still have to go to the academy this afternoon... Wait, Battle Soul Master?!" The voice inside the room was initially impatient, but then realized it was "Battle Soul Master" and immediately called out, "Please have that Battle Soul Master wait a moment, I'll be right out!"

"Bro Tao, you're quite famous, aren't you?" Xiao Wu teased.

"In the Soul Master World, the title of Battle Soul Master represents Soul Grandmaster, and there are only a handful of Soul Grandmaster in Notting's class, so he naturally has to respect them." Su Yuntao explained somewhat speechlessly, suspecting that Xiao Wu hadn't been paying attention in class at all.

When he was a work-study student, he didn't really like listening to those boring facts, but he still memorized them by rote.

"Also, please call me Battle Soul Master. I don't think we're very familiar with each other."

"······"

Xiao Wu pouted, "You talk as if you're familiar with Zhou Qing and Tang San, but you've only met them a few times."

"We hit it off with Bro Tao right away, didn't we, Tang San?" Zhou Qing nudged Tang San was examining the round, glowing Soul Guiding Lamp on the living room ceiling—now was not the time to investigate how that thing emitted light.

"Yes."

Tang San, regaining his senses, immediately nodded, "Bro Tao is a good person."

Zhou Qing: "..."

Su Yuntao also fell silent. Although Tang San's words were sincere, for some reason, he felt that there was another meaning behind the word "good person".

"Respected Battle Soul Master, greetings, I am—"

Exactly!

Xiao Chenyu broke the somewhat awkward atmosphere. Just as he was about to introduce himself, he saw Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and others. His voice stopped abruptly, and the smile on his lips froze and drooped at a visible speed.

Why does your smile look so awkward?

Zhou Qing hopped over in two steps, hooked her arm around his shoulder, and said to Steward Xiao, "Steward Xiao, we know Xiao Chenyu, and we're very close!"

"So you're students from the Nuoding Academy too." Steward Xiao suddenly realized, but Xiao Chenyu's eyes, which seemed to be both crying and laughing, a hint of doubt appeared.

"Um, Steward Xiao, you can go down first. I'll train with them..."

Even so, the pleading look in Xiao Chenyu's eyes conveyed the message that he did not want Steward Xiao to leave.

But Steward Xiao only felt that the Young Master had made some good friends among the commoner students at the academy, and that these three commoner students were related to Battle Soul Master Su Yuntao, so he took them along for training. He was just worried that Grandmaster Su Yuntao's training methods were a bit boring, so that the Young Master would not be able to stand it.

"Young Master, then this old servant will not disturb your reminiscing any longer. As for training, you can take Battle Soul Master Su Yuntao and the others to the training ground in the back. The City Lord will surely be proud of you." Steward Xiao encouraged Xiao Chenyu with these words before hurriedly leaving, afraid of disturbing Su Yuntao's training plan.

Only after Steward Xiao's figure disappeared around the corner of the stairwell did Xiao Chenyu's head mechanically turn back to face him, like a rusty gear, and he said somewhat awkwardly, "Hello? Welcome to my home!"

"Judging from your expression, you don't seem very welcoming." Xiao Wu snorted, sat down on the sofa, picked up an orange from the coffee table, peeled it, and began to eat it without any hesitation. "It's good to be rich, you can eat oranges every day."

Although it is currently the season for oranges to ripen, no village near Nuoding City grows oranges. Therefore, oranges from Nuoding City have to be transported from other cities, making them expensive.

Xiao Chenyu forced a smile, "If Sister Xiao Wu likes it, I'll give you a big bag. And Qing Ge and Third Brother, you can take whatever you want to eat."

"That's so embarrassing." Xiao Wu chuckled, stuffing all the remaining oranges from the fruit plate into her pocket. Her actions spoke louder than her words.

"We didn't come here for a few oranges, did we?" Tang San's eyelids twitched, and he said to Xiao Chenyu, "Where's the training ground? We'll train with you."

"This... isn't necessary?" Xiao Chenyu stammered, but when he saw Su Yuntao, he seemed to regain his composure. "Lord Soul Master, you accepted the sparring mission, didn't you?"

"No, I just came to confirm something." Su Yuntao looked Xiao Chenyu up and down, and the more he looked at him, the more he felt that this kid was just like that fat pig city lord, only a little thinner.

"Young Master, you're up. Why didn't you tell me?" Just then, a soft and gentle voice came from Xiao Chenyu's room.

Then, the man went straight to the living room, where Su Yuntao, Zhou Qing, and Tang San all stared wide-eyed.

Not Sisi