Luoyu was locked inside the alchemy room to refine Soul-Pacifying Pills. She wanted to know what had happened after she lost consciousness, but no one told her a thing.
Fan Guangchuan had just stepped out of Fan Ni's room with a grave expression. Fan Ni's injuries were completely healed without leaving a single scar, but the Demonic Qi that had seeped into her flesh could not be purged. Purple-blue blotches covered her entire body, looking terrifying and gruesome.
"Sect Master, Fourth Disciple has family matters to attend to and has specifically come to offer his resignation."
"Liao Xing? Let him go as he pleases, there is no need for him to see me!"
The boy attendant relayed Fan Guangchuan's words to Liao Xing. Outside the palace gates, Liao Xing kowtowed respectfully three times, then turned and left.
"What a pitiful man."
The boy attendant sighed. Among the Sect Master's personal disciples, Liao Xing could be considered thoroughly wretched; the number of times in a year he got to see the Sect Master could be counted on one's fingers, let alone receiving guidance and instruction. Of course, there was someone even more miserable—he had heard that Senior Sister Luoyu had even been locked up.
After exiting the city gates, Liao Xing went to a secluded spot to change out of the Alchemy Sect's signature robes, restrained his aura, and hurried all the way out of the city.
"Senior Brother Fu?"
Liao Xing confirmed his location once more. This was the right place indeed, yet Fu Yuanbo was nowhere near; there was only a young man in black robes with ordinary facial features.
"Outside, just call me Young Master."
It was still Fu Yuanbo's voice. This must be another persona he used while traveling through the pugilistic world.
Liangchen took out a flying boat, and a dozen figures immediately stepped onto the deck, standing at attention and awaiting orders. There were seven Nascent Soul Great Circle cultivators, along with five others whose auras were profound—their cultivation level must have been at least Deity Transformation or above.
Was this the foundation of a great aristocratic family?
Liao Xing swallowed hard. Even though these people had restrained their auras, he could still feel a chilling cold all over his body—that was the aura of slaughter and warfare naturally carried by those who harvested lives year after year.
"Young Master!" The guards saluted in unison.
"Cloud Stone City, the Liao Family."
"Understood."
The flying boat operated at full power, the formations carved into the hull running slowly and gleaming with flowing light. The scenery beneath their feet retreated at a dizzying speed, so fast that one could only hear the sharp howling of the wind being torn apart.
In less than half a day, Cloud Stone City, sitting thousands of miles away, appeared before their eyes.
The guards watching the city gates were lazily leaning back in their chairs, urging those entering the city to move faster while counting the spirit stones paid as taxes. Suddenly, they felt a chill rush straight to their skulls, and lifting their eyes, they saw a dozen straight, uniform figures standing not far away, quietly waiting in line to enter the city.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! All of you, move to the back! If you provoke someone you shouldn't, be careful of losing your heads."
The people at the front of the queue instantly scattered like birds and beasts. Fu Yuanbo felt rather helpless; looking at how those people cowered by the sides, he figured that even if he wanted to wait in line, no one would dare to stand ahead of them anymore.
A guard stepped forward with a ingratiating smile and said, "Immortal Lords, the entry fee is one low-grade spirit stone per person."
Fu Yuanbo handed him a medium-grade spirit stone, glanced at the people who had stepped aside, and said:
"Keep the change. Consider it compensation to thank everyone for making way."
"Splendid, splendid, splendid! Please go right ahead."
The guard watched Fu Yuanbo and his party leave, letting out a sigh of relief. He shouted to the people waiting behind to enter the city:
"Come on, come on! Hurry up and line up! Thanks to that Immortal Lord's generosity, the first eighty-six people get in for free!"
Hearing the guard's shout from afar, Fu Yuanbo had originally thought the man would waive the fee for the twenty-or-so people who had made way, but he hadn't expected the guard to leave a single spirit stone for himself. This Cloud Stone City was truly extraordinary; he hadn't expected the Medical Sect, located in such a remote area, to manage the cities within its jurisdiction with such clockwork order. They genuinely possessed a sliver of the compassion of healers saving the world.
Luoyu's father had once been the Medical Sect's premier master healer. Thinking of this, Fu Yuanbo's heart gave another dull ache, accompanied by a tiny trace of sweetness—perhaps many years ago, a young Luoyu had also been here, accompanied by her parents, smiling brightly and charmingly.
The ancient pear tree of unknown age still stood before the Liao Family mansion, though only a single bough in the middle remained alive, as if it had exhausted all its vitality just to bloom a single pear blossom. That flower was unusually huge, white as snow, emitting a faint, drifting fragrance.
On the horizontally sprawling branches of the pear tree were two shallow marks—the impressions left by the ropes when Liao Xing's mother hung a swing for him in his childhood.
Liao Xing let out a soft sigh and stepped forward to knock on the mansion gate.
"Coming, coming!"
A familiar voice came from afar, and then someone was heard trotting over to lift the wooden latch. Accompanied by the creaking sound of the wooden door rubbing against itself due to dampness, Liao Xing clearly saw the face of the person opening the door. It was indeed his closest childhood playmate; Liao Xing remembered his talent was passable, though he had no idea why he had been reduced to a gatekeeping servant.
"Liao Xing? You're Liao Xing?"
"It's me."
Liao Wei almost cried with excitement. He abandoned the dozen people still standing outside the door and bolted toward the inner courtyard at a run.
"Master! Master! Young Master Liao Xing is back!"
"Master, Young Master is back!"
Feeling rather awkward, Liao Xing pushed open the main gates, invited everyone inside, and led them toward the back hall.
Liao Qingshan and Lady Liao, who had rushed out from the eastern courtyard to welcome the arrivals at the front gate, ended up missing them entirely. Lady Liao complained with dissatisfaction:
"Liao Xing is truly filial! Instead of waiting outside the door, he went right on in himself. He really doesn't put the master in his eyes at all."
"Say less!"
"Where did this concubine say wrong? He couldn't make anything of himself in the Alchemy Sect, so what kind of airs is he putting on coming back home? If it weren't for my dowry propping things up, how could your Liao Family have held onto this ancestral estate?"
Liao Qingshan frowned slightly, but reality gave him no room to refuse to bow his head.
"Xing'er, you're back..."
Entering the back hall, the chilling murderous intent immediately rendered Liao Qingshan speechless. Lady Liao also shivered, tightening her grip on Liao Qingshan's arm.
Liao Xing said, "Greetings, Father. This is Young Master Fu."
"Young Master Fu? Could it be..."
Fu Yuanbo smiled politely and took over his words:
"From Capital City, the Fu Family."
"Young Master Fu, please have a seat. Someone, bring tea."
Liao Qingshan felt as though the chairs today had grown wooden splinters; no matter how he sat, it pricked his backside with pain.
"Did Young Master make a personal visit because there is something you wish to instruct us on?"
Lady Liao chimed in, "That's right, that's right! Young Master, just give the order for whatever you need, and both the Liao Family and the Li Family will do our utmost to handle it. Young Master, don't just drink tea, have some pastries."
With cold eyes, Fu Yuanbo watched Lady Liao bustling back and forth, busy pouring him tea and serving pastries, and said indifferently:
"Noisy. The Fu Family has a rule: during discussions of business, women must not be present."
Liao Qingshan barked, "Get out of here!"
"Understood, this concubine takes her leave."
Fu Yuanbo raised his hand slightly, and the guards stationed inside the inner hall withdrew outside, chasing away all the maidservants and servants who had been approaching under various pretexts to fish for information.
"Patriarch Liao, you have operated in Cloud Stone City for many years, and principles of commerce are universally connected. If I were to have you take over several magical treasure shops, would you be competent?"
Liao Qingshan's heart was beating so fast with excitement it felt fit to burst out of his chest. He tremblingly picked up his teacup to take a sip and calm himself. Originally, he had thought Young Master Fu had taken a fancy to some other alchemy recipe of his family, but he never expected this! He was being asked to take over the Fu Family's business! When his family's ancestor's business had been at its peak, it couldn't even compare to half of the Fu Family. He really wanted to go check and see if his ancestral graves were catching fire today.
"I will certainly not let Young Master Fu down!"
"In addition, I will have the alchemy cultivators kept by my family guide Patriarch Liao. Should there be progress, Patriarch Liao may establish your own branch family—of course, the Fu Family will always offer protection."
Liao Qingshan was completely dazed by this point. Young Master Fu had not only considered an immediate way out for the Liao Family, he had even paved the road for days to come.
Ancestors, don't blame your descendant for being unfilial; if I don't go burn paper at your graves to make smoke rise, I'm afraid this might all be a dream.
"Of course, to work for my Fu Family, your clansmen must move to Capital City. Do you have any objections?"
"None at all, absolutely none."
Moving to live right on top of their ancestors' graves would be fine, let alone Capital City!
Fu Yuanbo looked at Liao Xing and raised his chin slightly. Liao Xing nodded to him with gratitude and said:
"There is one more condition: Father must divorce Lady Liao."
"This... surely you know that if not for her all these years..."
"Therefore, your son will no longer pursue her fault in causing Mother's death. This is already my greatest concession."
Liao Qingshan looked at Fu Yuanbo. The latter said nothing, obviously in agreement with the condition Liao Xing had proposed.
"Alright, I agree."
"Liao Xing, I will return to the Fu Family first to arrange subsequent matters. I'll leave half of the guards behind for you to command; once you're done here, return to the Alchemy Sect immediately. I await your news."
Fu Yuanbo did not linger for even a moment longer; he still had more important things to do.