A Good Person

He and Han Yue were only ordinary friends. They had not even held hands. How was he not still an outsider?

After nearly a year together, Wu Bai had gained a basic understanding of his teacher's personality. He was serious when he wanted to be and anything but serious when he didn't. He lived for the fun of it...

Wu Bai wisely chose not to argue and worked faster. Han Yue was still waiting outside.

"Han Li, Dou Qi, sixth stage!"

"..."

Wu Bai, who had just arrived, felt his eyelid twitch. His gaze fell on the boy who had just stepped down.

Han Yue noticed where he was looking and glanced over curiously.

The boy was merely from a branch of the Han Family. At fourteen, he had only reached sixth-stage Dou Qi. His talent was decent, but there was nothing remarkable about him.

Wu Bai had already looked away. He knew full well this was the Dou Qi Continent, not the Cultivation World.

He watched the proceedings as he walked alongside Han Yue.

Han Yue stopped and brought a little girl forward. She looked about ten.

"This is my little sister, Han Xue. Xue, this is Wu Bai, the gentleman I told you about."

"Hello, Han Xue."

"Hello, Mr. Wu Bai."

Han Xue took Wu Bai's outstretched hand in her small one and gave it a gentle shake.

The little girl was adorable, nothing like her older sister with her cool, reserved air.

When she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents. It was hard not to like her.

Only...

Wu Bai lowered his head slightly. Why was the little girl still holding his hand?

"Xue, let go."

Han Yue had noticed too and quickly patted her sister's arm.

Han Xue pouted. As she let go, she muttered unhappily, "This is the first time anyone's shaken my hand. Everyone else just pats my head..."

Wu Bai smiled. The little girl was rather interesting.

Han Yue took her sister's hand and clasped it, saying softly, "There. Is that better?"

The little girl's face lit up at once, her eyes full of delight.

"So grown-up for someone so small."

In the distance, Han Chi sat on a raised platform, watching his two daughters out of the corner of his eye.

Seeing what had just happened, he nodded to himself. The problem really was those people from the Wu Family!

A mere Dou Wang, and he had the nerve to accuse the Han Family of spreading rumors?

If he had not wanted to spare that child any trouble, he would have shown the man exactly what it meant to say, "On the Dou Qi Continent, the strong rule."

A quarter of an hour later, Han Chi said a few brief words and declared the assessment over.

As they left the square, Wu Bai was about to turn and go when the little girl beside him caught hold of him.

"Brother Bai, come with us, okay?"

He turned to find her adorable face looking up at him.

Wu Bai blinked, then looked up at Han Yue.

Han Yue's breath caught for an almost imperceptible moment. When she spoke, her voice was sincere.

"I was thinking the same thing. You've hardly gone out in ages. Why not come for a walk and relax?"

"All right. Sorry to trouble you both."

Wu Bai nodded without hesitation. There was nothing wrong with taking a break.

Han Yue breathed a faint sigh of relief. He had not refused.

The next instant, a tug pulled at her arm as an excited Han Xue dashed off.

Han Yue turned instinctively and saw that Wu Bai had been caught off guard too.

The southern half of Tianbei City was Han Family territory, so the three young people did not need to worry too much while strolling through its streets.

At first, the little girl still pouted after being scolded. Before long, though, the growing pile of things in her hands had her beaming.

The bright daylight gradually faded. Bustling as the streets were at night, they could not match the daytime.

When the sisters returned home, they found their father waiting to eat with them, along with their uncles and cousins seated around him.

"Xue, what kind of person do you think Wu Bai is?" Han Chi asked his younger daughter with a smile before the food arrived.

"Brother Bai is a good person. A really good person!"

Han Xue answered without a moment's thought.

The adults nearby looked over curiously. One middle-aged woman teased her with a smile. "Little Xue, you can't say nice things about that boy just because he bought you presents."

"That's not why! Brother Bai really is a good person!"

Han Xue wrinkled her nose and turned her head away.

The adults laughed kindly.

Han Chi raised a hand to pat his younger daughter's head in comfort, but she dodged him.

"Father, I'm grown up now. Stop patting my head!"

"All right, all right..."

Han Chi smiled and shook his head. He doted on his younger daughter.

He recalled what the medicinal-herb storehouse manager had reported a few days earlier: fifty extra portions of Qi Gathering Powder had appeared in the storehouses.

"Xue is right. Wu Bai certainly isn't a bad person."

Once Wu Bai understood his limits, he stopped fixating on pill refining and wasting his effort. Instead, he devoted some of his energy to cultivating his Dou Qi.

Progress in pill refining was closely tied to Dou Qi cultivation. A breakthrough in Dou Qi could also drive a breakthrough in Soul Power. That was common knowledge.

Wu Bai could now refine Medicinal Pills of a grade corresponding to his Soul Power without wasting too much of that power in the process.

For any significant progress beyond that, he would need to advance his Dou Qi cultivation.

Of course, he did not abandon pill refining entirely. He fired up the furnace once a day to keep his hand in.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed.

One afternoon, at that drowsy time of day, Han Yue arrived with her sister.

Han Yue lifted her fingers from the teapot and poured three cups of cooled tea.

She slowly opened her palm. A fine Storage Ring rested there.

"Father asked me to give you this. There's also a card inside with five million gold coins on it."

"That... doesn't seem right, does it?"

Wu Bai hesitated.

"Father said it's payment for those fifty portions of Qi Gathering Powder. The Middle-Grade Storage Ring is included."

"I see. Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Wu Bai's fingers brushed Han Yue's palm as he took the pale green Storage Ring from her hand and slipped it onto his left index finger.

Han Yue quickly withdrew her hand, her cheeks growing warm. She changed the subject.

"We're leaving in three days. Do you want to buy any supplies you'll need?"

"In three days?"

Wu Bai looked up with a smile, sincerity in his eyes. "I don't have much experience with this, though. I don't know what to prepare. Could I ask a powerful Dou Shi like you for some advice?"

"Then let's go together!"

Han Yue seemed to have planned for this. She had not bought her own supplies in advance; she had come to invite Wu Bai instead.

On the way, Han Xue, the youngest, walked between them, the three of them side by side.

Han Yue suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, "Would you mind telling me your Dou Qi level?"

"Seven-Star Dou Zhe. I only broke through yesterday."

Wu Bai was not particularly pleased. It had taken him nearly two months to advance a single star at the Dou Zhe level...