Chu Yuan felt a little numb as he roughly pieced together what had happened.
It seemed Chu Ying had some kind of talent, and a powerful expert had taken an interest in her and wanted to take her as a disciple...
As for why he thought the old man was powerful... judging from the way he had appeared, he had to be countless times stronger than a Supernatural Realm Warrior like Qi Da.
He was like a ghost, appearing out of nowhere without leaving a trace.
Who would've thought that silly Chu Ying would get the protagonist treatment? She'd triggered the old-master plotline...
Chu Yuan also noticed that although the old man and Chu Ying were arguing, the students and teachers passing by seemed not to see a thing.
They naturally walked around the two of them... as if some kind of force field were in effect.
But from the looks of it, Chu Ying clearly didn't believe the old man.
For one thing, the old man had none of the bearing of an expert. He looked just like a loser muddling through life...
For another, it was common knowledge that most people weren't allowed to practice any cultivation methods before the college entrance exams!
Otherwise, they would lose their eligibility to enter a martial arts university... which was tantamount to ruining their own future!
Any student in Chu Ying's position would have made the same choice.
After thinking for a moment, Chu Yuan raised his wrist and called Chu Ying's terminal.
"Yingying."
"What is it, big brother?"
"Nothing. I'm here to pick you up after school. Where are you?"
"I'm at the school gate. Where are you, big brother?"
"How come I can't see you?"
"How could you not? I can see you!" Chu Ying hopped up and waved. "Big brother! I'm over here!"
Chu Yuan walked over, his pupils contracting slightly.
The old man had vanished. It was as if he had never been there at all.
His departure was just as strange as his arrival.
Only the faintest trace of alcohol lingered in the air...
Chu Ying noticed that the old man was gone too, but didn't think much of it.
She just figured that he had seen her brother coming and was too scared to keep bothering her.
After all... the old man had been ferocious enough to beat someone into the hospital, but her big brother could kill with a casual wave of his hand!
"Big brother, didn't you go to school today?"
Chu Yuan shook his head. "I came to check whether you were skipping class."
"..." Chu Ying looked a little aggrieved. "Couldn't you just say you missed me?"
Chu Yuan replied meaningfully, "I don't need to. Isn't someone else already missing you?"
Chu Ying's face paled. She stammered, "What do you mean? Who would miss me...?"
"Who's Du Kai?
"Was he the reason you were skipping class?"
Chu Ying's face paled even more. "Big brother, you already know?"
"Are you going to tell me yourself, or should we wait for Mom to ask you?"
Chu Yuan mumbled, "Aw, Mom's so busy. Don't make her worry over such a small thing..."
"The thing Mom's busiest with these days is checking how much interest has come in..."
"..." After a moment of silence, Chu Ying managed to blurt out, "Big brother, I'm not dating anyone!"
Then she told him the whole story, from beginning to end.
Du Kai was a boy in Chu Ying's class who had recently been pursuing her relentlessly!
Chu Ying had no intention of accepting him, but she had no experience dealing with this sort of thing, so all she could do was avoid him every day.
Maybe Chu Ying's behavior had made Du Kai feel he was losing face, or maybe it had only fired up his determination.
Instead of backing off, Du Kai had become even more relentless. He had even brought people to block Chu Ying after school and make her listen to his confession...
He still didn't dare do anything more outrageous, but even this much had already made Chu Yuan angry.
He planned to teach him another thorough lesson...
But compared with that, Chu Yuan was more concerned about the old man.
So he continued asking, "What about that boy, Du Kai? Is he at school now?"
"No. He's in the hospital..."
"Oh?"
Before Chu Yuan could ask, Chu Ying eagerly blurted out, "Big brother! I ran into a crazy old man!
"He saw Du Kai bothering me and beat him up!
"Then Du Kai ended up in the hospital... My teachers have been asking me these past couple of days what my relationship with that old man is..."
"These past couple of days?"
"Yeah. I saw the old man on my way to school the day before yesterday, when classes started.
"He'd passed out drunk on a bench by the road. I thought he was a beggar, so I gave him five yuan..."
"The day before yesterday..." Chu Yuan thought to himself. He had a hunch that the old man had been drawn here by the upheaval in Chenyang City.
But the other man didn't seem like an official, not from his behavior or the things he said.
"Then... he started bothering me again! He insists I train in martial arts with him!" Chu Ying said indignantly, deeply resenting anyone who tried to jeopardize her future.
Chu Yuan replied casually, "Ignore him. If he keeps bothering you, report him to the Public Security Bureau."
The old man might indeed be a powerful Warrior, but so what?
If Chu Ying didn't like him, it didn't matter how strong he was.
Chu Yuan was confident that if he was given enough time, he'd be the biggest support Chu Ying could ever have!
The old man had just shown up too late. Otherwise, Chu Yuan would have made him experience the Blood Sea Soul-Locking Array for himself!
Still, he couldn't just ignore the matter...
He sent Jiang Fei a message:
[Are there Warriors in Great Qin who aren't part of the official system?]
[??? Aren't they everywhere? Just find any martial arts school or security company. All their Warriors are outside the official system.]
[...I mean powerful people, not first- or second-realm types.]
[There are. For instance, the founder of the Precious Jade Pavilion isn't an official Warrior.
"But there aren't many Warriors like that. Most are old-timers who've been around since the early days of the martial arts revival... Why are you asking all of a sudden?]
[Just curious... If they're from the early days of martial arts, doesn't that mean they've lived for two or three hundred years?]
[That's right.]
[What kind of reputation do Warriors like that have?]
[The ones with bad reputations were cleared out long ago. The ones who remain have pretty good reputations. They just don't want to join the authorities for one reason or another.
"But sometimes they cooperate with the authorities!]
[If they're so powerful, how could they be cleared out so easily?] Chu Yuan didn't understand. The title "powerful" seemed pretty flimsy.
[They can't be stronger than the authorities. Otherwise, why would we be the ones in charge...]
[All right, never mind.]
[Wait a second. Do you know that your school has three spots for the Secret Realm trials tomorrow?]
[I heard. What about it?] Chu Yuan thought to himself, I know all about that. I'm the reason it's happening...
Jiang Fei sent another message. Even through the screen, Chu Yuan could sense his fury: [The first-place prize is ridiculously good!
"I suspect some big shot is using things from our Martial Suppression Bureau to do a favor for his junior!
"Those damn parasites!
"I swear, the people upstairs must've lost their minds to agree to something like this!]
[Calm down, calm down...]
[Forget it, I won't say more. Anyway, you have to take part!
"With your strength, you've got a good chance of snatching the first-place prize!]
[...]
Before you continue