There Are Always Things Someone Has to Do!

Long before that night, Huo Yuanhong had already sent word through the Martial Arts Hall's channels to Fang Pingsheng, who had returned to the clan, asking him to help procure some Nourishing Supplements for rapid recovery—the higher-grade, the better!

The Fang Family's main estate was not far from Jin Gate. By reckoning the time, a reply should be arriving soon.

Sure enough, not long afterward, a steward under Fang Pingsheng knocked on his door and handed him a letter.

After opening and reading it, Huo Yuanhong was faintly delighted.

The medicine was secured!

Fang Pingsheng had already entrusted someone to deliver the recovery Nourishing Supplements, and they were even the Fang Family's secret formula!

They would probably arrive at the Martial Arts Hall tomorrow morning! They had also agreed to meet at the morning social dance and collect the medicine there!

No, it should be this morning. Without realizing it, he had practiced until dawn!

"A social dance?"

Huo Yuanhong frowned.

Though this social dance was hosted by the Fang Family, it was being held at the Divine Spear Martial Hall, borrowing a section of the grounds. Young talents and noble young ladies from every family in Jin Gate would attend, and naturally the Fang Family was no exception.

At first, Huo Yuanhong had agreed to go and put on an appearance. But after what happened to Old Six, how could he still have the mood to attend that sort of dance?

Yet now, judging by Fang Pingsheng's meaning, he wanted Huo Yuanhong to make the trip and had arranged their meeting place for collecting the medicine at the dance?

"Forget it. No point overthinking it. It's at the Martial Arts Hall anyway, so it won't take much time."

Huo Yuanhong shook his head.

Seeing that dawn was near, he decided it was time for a short rest to ensure he had enough energy during the day.

Huo Yuanhong shut the doors and windows. Following the experience Old Xu had taught him, he set a ring of mechanisms around the room behind the door and by the windows, then another ring around the bed.

He then stuffed several pillows beneath the blanket, making it look as though someone was sleeping in the bed.

Though Old Xu was nearby, he still did not feel at ease. Only after arranging a whole series of ready-made Martial Arts Hall mechanisms did he crawl beneath the bed of tempered steel, clutching his saber and spear as he fell into a deep sleep.

Rumble!

Torrential rain poured down in sheets. Heavy clouds rolled in, a vast black mass that made the entire world seem to tremble beneath the thunder.

Huo Yuanhong, who had slept for nearly two hours, jolted awake. He first pressed close to the ground and listened for movement, then used a long inspection mirror to look outside from beneath the bed.

Only after confirming that there was no problem did he silently crawl out from under the bed, bypass the mechanisms, open an umbrella, and step into the downpour.

By now, the Martial Arts Hall was already rather lively. Young talents in suits and noble young ladies in Western-style dance dresses and white gloves entered the hall in an endless stream beneath umbrellas held by old butlers, heading toward the dance venue.

Even after suffering a drastic upheaval—one Transformation Strength expert had defected, taking nearly thirty percent of the instructors, stewards, and disciples with him—the Divine Spear Martial Hall remained one of Jin Gate's top powers. With Old Xu, a Peak Expert, still holding the fort, hosting such a social dance was more than manageable!

Under the very nose of a Peak Expert—one who was nearing death and had fallen into his final madness—no one dared cause trouble, for fear of dragging down the Peak Expert behind their own family.

Under such circumstances, the Divine Spear Martial Hall had unexpectedly become the safest and most peaceful place in all of Jin Gate. Everyone wore smiles; no matter what conflicts or grudges they normally held, they now greeted one another with cordial faces.

Huo Yuanhong had just reached the entrance to the main hall with his umbrella when his senior sister, Fang Yu, came up to meet him and handed him the suit she held.

"Junior Brother, here!"

After changing into the suit, the tall and straight-backed Huo Yuanhong drew quite a bit of attention the moment he entered the hall.

He had taken only a few steps when noble young ladies in Western dance dresses and white gloves invited him to dance. Huo Yuanhong ignored them completely, merely searching through the crowd for the person Fang Pingsheng had sent with the medicine.

Before long, he spotted a young man with a black brooch pinned to the front of his suit.

"Hello, I'm Huo Yuanhong."

Huo Yuanhong stepped forward and said.

"I am Fang Shiyu. I have long heard of Brother Yuanhong's great name, and now that I see you in person, you truly are extraordinary!"

The young man smiled and shook Huo Yuanhong's hand.

Fang Shiyu?

Huo Yuanhong froze for a moment. He had heard this name before. Fang Shiyu was the Fang Family's first-in-line heir, the Young Master of the Fang Family, and the direct great-grandson of that Fang Family Peak Expert.

Why had this man come to deliver the medicine?

"Haha, a young talent like Brother Huo has every hope of reaching the Peak Expert realm in the future. My younger sister and I had long wanted to meet you."

As if seeing Huo Yuanhong's confusion, Fang Shiyu took the initiative to explain.

"Brother Yuanhong."

Beside Fang Shiyu stood a young woman in light, elegant makeup, trailing a long skirt behind her.

"This is my younger sister, Fang Shixin. She also studies at the Jin Gate Women's Normal School."

Fang Shiyu introduced her with a smile.

"Miss Fang."

Huo Yuanhong gave a slight nod.

Unlike Jiang Ting, the woman before him had been raised in a great family since childhood. The self-assured bearing and exceptional temperament cultivated by such a foremost household showed in every lowered gaze and faint smile—something no amount of studying could easily catch up to.

The dance music began, light and cheerful, drowning out the torrential rain outside.

Pairs of splendidly dressed young talents and noble young ladies danced gracefully hand in hand in the clean, brightly lit ballroom.

The music was gentle, the dancing pleasing to the eye, and laughter filled the air.

Compared to the miserable conditions in the guest rooms not far away, where more than a dozen people were crammed into one room and even the latrines were insufficient, it was as though they existed in two separate worlds.

One was filled with song and dance, the other with silent desolation.

Having collected the medicine, Huo Yuanhong had intended to leave at once. But seeing that he was about to go, Fang Shiyu took the initiative to speak of the Chauffeur's Association and those youths, hinting that he was willing to provide a certain quantity of ordinary secret medicine to support those youths' martial training.

"...Given the current situation, it would not be appropriate to provide medicine openly. But the Fang Family can use special channels to supply a batch every month..."

Just as Fang Shiyu was speaking, the conversation of several people nearby suddenly caught Huo Yuanhong's attention.

"When I came over this morning, a group of people had blocked the whole road. I only got through after my butler went over and berated them a few times. What rotten luck!"

"You took that road too? Same as me, then. What bad luck. I heard it was some gang called the Red Robe Society, going to settle things with someone..."

Red Robe Society!

Huo Yuanhong abruptly turned his head and looked over. Then he glanced at Fang Shiyu, whose smile had stiffened slightly, and seemed to understand something.

"The Red Robe Society's wagered duel is actually this morning?"

Huo Yuanhong suddenly asked.

Fang Shiyu fell silent for a moment before saying, "Brother Yuanhong, you have a bright future ahead of you. Why interfere in the affairs of those people at the bottom? Come... as long as you no longer involve yourself with them from this day onward, and publicly step forward to support the ban on martial arts for the Commoner Faction, the Fang Family has the ability to ensure you live free of worry for the rest of your life..."

"Junior Brother, stop worrying about those chauffeur children. Those who accomplish great things do not fuss over trifles; you have a bright future! Sacrificing a few youths who never had much of a future to begin with, sacrificing one chauffeur, in exchange for your future achievement of becoming a Peak Expert—that is rationality, that is the greater good!"

"This time, the Red Robe Society's wagered duel has an ambushed foreign Qi Harmony peak expert who does not have much time left and wants to go mad one last time. You can't beat them!"

His senior sister Fang Yu had come over as well.

Looking at his senior sister Fang Yu, at Fang Shiyu in his suit, at Fang Shixin with her exceptional bearing, at the flourishing scene of song, dance, laughter, and cheer in the ballroom...

Huo Yuanhong fell silent.

He knew that as long as he abandoned the owner of the Carriage Firm, who had shown kindness and raised him and his family when he was young, sat here and tended only to his own song and dance, and allowed the man to die...

As long as he abandoned those youths who had become orphans because of him, coldly watched as they lost the Martial Arts Hall's protection and fell one after another beneath the gangs' pursuit and blockade...

As long as he forgot Uncle Liu, who had been terrified of death to the extreme yet had still risked his life and fought desperately for him, and forgot the look in Uncle Liu's son's eyes when he looked at him...

As long as he betrayed his own roots, stepped forward, and actively voiced support for the Commoner Faction martial arts ban as his token of allegiance...

Glory and wealth, a bright future, a lifetime free of worry...

Everything...

Would be within reach!

He too could enjoy this life of drunken gold and paper, song and dance; become part of the greater good, become a member of the Never-Falling Aristocratic Family, become the Lord Huo he had once seen in his eyes!

All of it was so wonderful, so full of temptation...

All it took was a single thought, a few words...

All he had to do was stay out of it, be a little more cold-blooded...

It was too easy, far easier than the terms the Wu Family had offered. He only needed to become a tiny traitor to the Commoner Faction and choose the aristocratic families' side...

But...

"Senior Sister, I still cannot forget that I am one of the commoners—a commoner who once pursued martial arts bitterly for ten years, yet could not even obtain the stepping stone to enter its gate; a lowly youth who watched his father's hair turn white, yet could only use hollow lies to deceive himself and deceive his father..."

"A commoner who had only just been riding high on the spring breeze, only to watch helplessly in the next instant as those he cared for, as his dreams, were destroyed once more..."

"I am a commoner, just an ordinary man. I cannot see any greater good... I only know that some things, once missed, can never be made up for again... Even if one ascends to immortality, even if one becomes invincible beneath heaven, there is no going back..."

"In this world... there are always things someone has to do..."

"If no one will..."

"Then I will."

Huo Yuanhong took off his suit jacket and placed it in his senior sister's hands. To his somewhat dazed senior sister, he said,

"Thank you, Senior Sister."

Rumble, rumble!

The youth turned and charged into the torrential rain.

With great strides, he raced toward the road from which he had come!