Meeting Relatives

"Damn, Brother Xun, you are truly too handsome!"

On the seaside beach, the three of them sat enjoying the long-awaited sand and sunshine. By now, Dong Yi'an had long since transformed into a number-one fanboy, circling around Shen Nanxun and incessantly recounting just how soul-shaking their exploits in Tianhai City had been.

"That sword strike! Just that one strike, the Angel Holy Sword paired with the Sun True Fire, descending from the heavens to instantly finish off Shrek's agility-type soul master! I've watched the battle replay no less than fifty times; every time I reach that part, the screen is flooded with comments, all spamming 'A new god is born'."

The more Dong Yi'an spoke, the more excited he became. He simply stood up, dancing about as he mimicked Shen Nanxun's sword-swinging motion, but he bent his knees too far and nearly landed on his backside in the sand.

Shen Nanxun leaned lazily against a beach chair, the shadow of a parasol cast over him. He wore a loose white shirt with the collar hanging open, the hem fluttering gently whenever the sea breeze brushed past.

"You've watched it fifty times, have you learned anything from it?"

Dong Yi'an was just about to answer when he suddenly froze.

What could he possibly have learned?

He wasn't an agility-type soul master. Every time he watched the replay, his attention was entirely on Brother Xun's sword strike; as for how Zhou Min had been finished off, he couldn't remember a single detail. He scratched his head and laughed sheepishly: "The takeaway is that Brother Xun is really handsome."

"Flattery won't work. Go back and write a ten-thousand-word review to hand in. Don't just copy something from the internet—put your heart into it!"

"..."

On the other side of the parasol, Na'er lay on a spread-out beach blanket, her two lower legs kicking back and forth in the air as she chatted heatedly on the screen of her Soul Guidance Communicator. On the screen was Xu Xiaoyan's chat box, the latest entry being a photo of her in pink bunny pajamas holding a pillow.

Na'er's ahoge twitched, her eyes lit up, and she tapped the screen rapidly.

Listening to the sounds of the Ahoge King beside him—sometimes giggling foolishly, sometimes angrily tapping the screen—Shen Nanxun's mouth twitched slightly.

Dong Yi'an looked at Brother Xun on his left, then at the Boss on his right, pulled out a small notebook he carried with him, and solemnly wrote down a line: The relationship between Brother Xun and the Boss is stable, report complete.

"Brother Xun, you don't know this, but the Youth Genius Ranking has actually placed you in first place! To reach the top at your age is unprecedented and will likely never be repeated!"

"Oh." Shen Nanxun didn't take these superficial things to heart and asked casually: "By the way, are you also going to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy?"

"Yes." Dong Yi'an nodded slightly, though for some reason, his mood suddenly plummeted.

"What's wrong?"

Shen Nanxun took off his sunglasses and sat halfway up to look at Dong Yi'an, who had even lowered his head.

"It's just... my brother is also at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy." Dong Yi'an's voice grew lower and lower, and he squeezed the coconut juice in his hand so hard the straw deformed. "He's two years older than me. When we were young, he went to the Western Legion, and I went to North Sea. Later, he was admitted to the primary division of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy, and last year he promoted to the intermediate division."

He paused, set the coconut juice on the sand, and looked down at his own feet in flip-flops. Four years ago, he had been looking down just like this, after losing to Na'er in a combat drill, sitting alone on the edge of the playground steps.

Only, back then he could still stubbornly shout that he wouldn't lose, but now he couldn't even bring himself to say those words.

"Every time he comes back from the academy, Father makes him test my cultivation. It's called a test, but it's actually just a beating. He has ways to make me look like a fool in front of Father, every single time. Father says I've disappointed him, says my brother is his pride. Later, I didn't want to go back to the Western Legion, so I stayed in North Sea City during the holidays. This time, going to Sun Moon, my brother said..."

He took a deep breath, raised his eyes, and forced a smile onto his sun-darkened face that looked worse than crying. "He said he welcomes me to Sun Moon, and that he will 'take good care' of me on the training grounds."

The family style of Dong Yi'an's family had always been this way; Dong Zi'an advocated a wolf-like education and did not consider it bullying or favoritism. Whoever had more talent and strength would receive more of the family's resources, including his affection.

Having fought his way up from the bottom, he absolutely would not allow his children to enjoy an overly comfortable life; they had to undergo all sorts of tempering.

Compared to Dong Yi'an, who had not inherited Dong Zi'an's martial soul, he naturally valued his older brother more. Dong Yi'an had not grown up in the same environment as his brother; his brother had followed their father in the Western Legion, while he had followed his mother in North Sea City. Aside from that layer of blood relation, there was almost no brotherly affection between them; they weren't even considered ordinary friends.

After saying these things, Dong Yi'an felt as if he had unloaded a burden he had carried for a very long time. He picked up the crushed coconut juice and put the straw back in his mouth, only to find it had been pinched shut and he couldn't draw anything up, so he simply ripped off the lid and tilted his head back to gulp down a large mouthful.

The coconut juice ran down the corner of his mouth, and he wiped it away messily with the back of his hand, unable to tell if it was coconut juice or something else.

Shen Nanxun leaned back in his beach chair, his black eyes gazing at the line where the sea met the sky in the distance, his tone very calm: "So, what do you plan to do?"

Dong Yi'an was stunned. No one had ever asked him that question before. The only option his father gave him was to become stronger and catch up to his brother, otherwise, he wasn't worthy of being Dong Zi'an's son. The only options his teachers gave him were to become stronger and work harder.

"I don't know." He set the empty coconut juice cup on the sand. "But, I will beat him. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year, but one day. Not to gain his approval, but to gain my own. Before I achieve that, I won't let anyone look down on me again. Including my brother, including my father, including myself!"

"That's good, as long as you have confidence." Shen Nanxun said lazily: "Don't worry, no one can bully someone who writes reviews for me. You just focus on your cultivation; once you're at Sun Moon, no one will dare to bully you, not even if your dad comes."

"Exactly, exactly." As the big sister, Na'er was even more indignant. She gritted her silver teeth and said viciously: "If he dares to bully my little brother, see if I don't poke him!"

The Silver Dragon Spear appeared in her hand in response, the tip tracing a bright silver arc in the sunlight. Dong Yi'an looked at Brother Xun and then at the Boss, his eyes heating up, and he quickly lowered his head, pretending that the sea breeze had gotten into his eyes.

"I think you're going to bite him, not poke him."

"Ah, you stinky Shen Nanxun! I'm going to bite you to death today!"

"Ouch, ouch, ouch!"

"Hahaha!"

Just as they were messing around, the Soul Guidance Communicator on Shen Nanxun's wrist suddenly vibrated. He glanced down at the name pulsing on the screen, the lazy smile at the corner of his mouth fading slightly, and he sat up straight to press answer.

Ye Li's gentle voice came from the other end of the communicator.

"Xiao Xun, call Na'er and come home. We have relatives visiting."

Relatives?

Shen Nanxun was originally confused about who it could be, until he returned home and saw the blonde girl sitting on the sofa, at which point he was completely stunned.

"Ye Xinglan!?"