A Chance Encounter with Senior Brother

"Hehe! Brother Yi! Shopkeeper Tong just asked me to pass a message along. He wanted me to put in a good word for him so you wouldn't feel upset. What do you say?" Fatty Lin hurried after Yi Xuan and spoke.

Walking down the street, Yi Xuan glanced sideways at Fatty Lin and smiled. "All right, we've come this far. Who are we still putting on an act for?"

Hearing Yi Xuan's words, Fatty Lin burst out laughing. "I didn't expect you to be so good at it, Brother Yi. You put on such a convincing act on your first try! Especially that expression when you left just now. I thought you were really angry!"

As it turned out, the two had discussed it before coming, so that Yi Xuan could obtain the spiritual fire at the lowest possible price.

Fatty Lin had come up with an idea: the two of them would work together and put on an act for Shopkeeper Tong beforehand.

Yi Xuan played the bad cop, while Fatty Lin played the good cop.

On the one hand, they made Shopkeeper Tong understand that Yi Xuan was determined to get the spiritual fire and would be very unhappy if he failed. On the other, Fatty Lin talked up Yi Xuan's status and dropped hints to Shopkeeper Tong, so that at the auction he would be wary of the identity Yi Xuan had created and wouldn't have anyone bid up the price.

Of course, all the twists and turns involved were beyond Yi Xuan, an old shut-in who had lived two lives. It was all thanks to Fatty Lin's advance guidance.

"All right, the show's over. Now we'll have to wait and see how it turns out. Where are we going? This is my first time in the capital, Fatty Lin. Aren't you going to show me around?"

Fatty Lin nodded at Yi Xuan's question. "With me here, are you afraid I won't make good arrangements for you? I thought of something ages ago. Are you interested in porcelain?"

"Porcelain?" Yi Xuan immediately thought of porcelain, one of the most brilliant cultural treasures of that ancient civilization with five thousand years of history in his previous life.

His thoughts returned to that land, and Yi Xuan stood there and murmured to himself, "Ru ware?"

"Oh! You know about Ru ware too? Then you're in for a treat today. Plenty of shops in the capital sell Ru ware!"

"Uh." Yi Xuan hadn't expected Fatty Lin to hear the words he had casually uttered while reminiscing about his previous life.

Nor had he expected this world to have something called Ru ware too. He was a little eager to find out whether it was the same as the Ru ware from his previous life.

As they walked, Fatty Lin explained to Yi Xuan, "Do you know why Ru ware is called Ru ware?"

Yi Xuan nodded. "Because it's produced in a place called Ru!"

Fatty Lin looked at Yi Xuan in surprise. He hadn't expected a cultivator like Yi Xuan to know about things from their secular world.

"Not bad. Then do you know Ru's full name?"

This time, Yi Xuan shook his head. His previous answer had been based on the Ru ware from his previous life. After all, that Ru ware had been named for the location of its kilns in Ruzhou, Henan, during the Song dynasty, so he had guessed along those lines.

But this was a different world, after all. Yi Xuan reckoned it was unlikely to be such a coincidence that this world's Ru ware also came from Ruzhou, especially since this world had no place called Henan.

Hearing that Yi Xuan didn't know Ru's full name, Fatty Lin happily showed off. "Ru is Ru City. The porcelain fired in its kilns has a distinctive color and is exceptionally beautiful, so it became one of our dynasty's official wares!"

Fatty Lin's explanation piqued Yi Xuan's interest. In his previous life, he had only been able to see Ru ware on television or in museums. Now he might actually get to handle it himself. Although it was different from the Ru ware in his original world, Yi Xuan was still delighted.

Just as Fatty Lin brought Yi Xuan to the entrance of a street full of old-world charm, the two were about to go in when Yi Xuan noticed a figure across the road who looked very familiar.

Unable to help himself, he walked over. As he drew closer, he finally realized why the man looked familiar.

The man was talking to a woman, teasing her until she kept covering her mouth and giggling.

As Yi Xuan drew nearer, he could hear the man's voice.

"I'm the Azure Cloud Sect master's personal disciple. As soon as my master advances to the Nascent Soul stage, I'll become the Azure Cloud Sect's master. When that happens, you might even become the sect master's wife!"

The woman facing him was overjoyed, and her eyes sparkled with little stars as she looked at him.

Yi Xuan spoke helplessly from behind the man. "I don't think you'll get to be sect master. The position's already been promised to the law enforcement elder's branch."

"Who? Who's talking nonsense?"

The man turned around. It was none other than Yi Xuan's senior brother, Shi Zhenghao.

Seeing that the person behind him was his junior brother, Shi Zhenghao gave Yi Xuan an awkward smile.

Yi Xuan, meanwhile, spoke to the young woman. "Miss, let me introduce him. He isn't just the next master of the Azure Cloud Sect. He's also the Azure Cloud Sect's most wanted fugitive disciple. They say he was expelled from the sect for sleeping with an elder's wife."

Hearing Yi Xuan's words, the young woman shot Shi Zhenghao a vicious look, turned, and walked away. Shi Zhenghao started forward to stop her, only for her to slap him across the face.

By the time Shi Zhenghao turned to look at Yi Xuan, a red handprint had appeared on his face.

Shi Zhenghao asked resentfully, "Did you have to expose your senior brother's past like that? What if the sect disciples chasing me find out? I don't want to be caught and dragged back to the sect to have my cultivation crippled!"

"Heh, still putting on an act for me? Master told me everything. The personal disciple's defection and the sect's pursuit all these years were just a show."

When Shi Zhenghao heard that Yi Xuan already knew the whole story, he could only give an awkward smile. To ease the awkward atmosphere, he spoke up. "Junior Brother, what brings you to the capital? Did you get kicked out by the sect too?"

"Get lost!" Yi Xuan replied with a laugh. He then told Shi Zhenghao that their master had gone into seclusion, as well as what he had said to Yi Xuan before doing so.

After hearing Yi Xuan out, Shi Zhenghao nodded. "Ah. After all these years, Master has finally let go!"

"Senior Brother, what about you? Are you willing to let it go?" Yi Xuan asked curiously.

"Me? What do I have to be unwilling about? Look at how your senior brother has lived these past ten-odd years. You have no idea how comfortable and carefree it's been. Besides, do you think I was simply framed back then?"

"Was there something else behind it?" Yi Xuan asked curiously.

"Do you think your senior brother's an idiot, walking into an obvious trap? I never wanted to be some damn sect master in the first place, but Master kept pushing me. Right then, the law enforcement elder went to all that trouble to set a trap, and it was a honey trap at that. So I turned his scheme against him. On the one hand, I pretended to fall for it, so Master couldn't force me to become sect master. On the other, I could leave the sect and be free from then on, and the sect wouldn't really arrest me. Why wouldn't I do it?"

Hearing his senior brother's words, Yi Xuan went numb. So you were all turning their schemes against them, and I was the only one kept in the dark!