"Zhu shimei, you won't mind if I sit here right?"
(TL note: I am going to use shimei, shige, shidi and shijie to represent the greetings disciples use within the clan. Shimei - Female Junior Disciple, Shige - Male Senior Disciple, Shidi - Male Junior Disciple, Shijie - Female Senior Disciple)
On the third floor of the food hall, a tall, fair and handsome looking young man sat in front of Zhu Hongxiu with his set lunch.
Zhu Hongxiu had a slight twitch in her brows, and said with light smile, "Qing shige, Hongxiu naturally wouldn't mind."
This young man was named Qing Shaoyu, he was one of the 10 prodigies of the outer sect. Ranked 42 in the Tower of Tribulations.
Not knowing when this started, this Qing Shaoyu had recently began to create intentional or unintentional chances of encounters with her.
Truthfully, for the early phases of a martial artist, Zhu Hongxiu hadn't considered having a relationship. At least not until the Earth Realm.
Thus, she had already hinted to Qing Shaoyu that she didn't have any thoughts about having a relationship.
But who knew, this guy always put on a smiley face and never once spoke about wooing her. This left her at wit's end.
"Zhu shimei sure is assiduous. We haven't seen each other for awhile and now you are already at the peak of the seventh level of the Qi Realm. Seems like you won't need much longer to breakthrough to the eighth level."
Qing Shaoyu raised his head to look at Zhu Hongxiu, to see her almond shaped face, rosy lips, high nose, slender and straight brows; giving off a charming and righteous atmosphere.
Qing Shaoyu thought in his heart, 'The one who strikes first gains the upper hand. The one who comes late, will suffer the consequences.' The woman that I, Qing Shaoyu wants, has never been able to slip away from me. Junior Zhu, you will be my woman.'
Zhu Hongxiu answered without any emotions, "Qing shige must be joking."
The edge of Qing Shaoyu's mouth slightly twitched, as a flash of frustration could be seen in his eyes.
This was the nth time after saying so much, and his counterpart just dismissing him with just a few words.
He was one of the 10 Prodigies, when had he ever needed to accept treatments like this.
At this moment, two female outer sect disciples walked past and as they saw Qing Shaoyu, their eyes brightened and repeatedly calling shige, shige with a flirtatious tone.
Even though Qing Shaoyu didn't have any regards for these two female disciples, but the feeling of having admirers was the best. He reacted cooly while taking a peek at Zhu Hongxiu.
From his point of view, had Zhu Hongxiu seen how popular he was, her heart may be moved.
After all, which woman wouldn't desire for their man to be a hero or an absolute prodigy.
He who has 4 star bone frame, this level of potential was something only around 10 other outer sect disciples could match up with.
This bone frame of his was enough to make a majority of the female outer sect disciples go crazy for him.
But Qing Shaoyu was disappointed.
Zhu Hongxiu remained indifferent, as if she didn't see anything at all.
***
When Li Fuchen arrived at the third floor of the food hall, the sky had already darkened.
Scooping the rice, Li Fuchen swept the floor to find available seats.
Pfff!
When he looked towards the east, he saw Zhu Hongxiu facing Qing Shaoyu.
Li Fuchen snorted but didn't feel surprised at all.
Outer sect disciples were typically around the age of 14 or 15. This was when relationships were the most appealing to youths.
Shifting his view aside, Li Fuchen found a seat.
"Li Fuchen."
Suddenly, a clear and refreshing voice could be heard.
Who other than Zhu Hongxiu.
Zhu Hongxiu had an apologetic look as well as a look of expectation.
Towards Qing Shaoyu's annoyance, she was really frustrated, yet she was not able to offend the other party.
The only person who could help her was none other than Li Fuchen.
Li Fuchen who was ranked 60 in the Tower of Tribulations, wasn't any inferior to Qing Shaoyu in terms of ability.
Of course, if Li Fuchen wasn't willing to offend Qing Shaoyu, she wouldn't blame him either.
Afterall, Qing Shaoyu was still one of the outer sect's 10 Prodigies. They who had such huge potential, that average outer sect disciples dare not to provoke.
Li Fuchen walked over: "Zhu Hongxiu, it has been awhile."
"Li Fuchen, let me introduce. This is one of the 10 Prodigies of our outer sect, Qing Shaoyu."
Ending the introduction, Zhu Hongxiu shifted to her right to vacate a space for Li Fuchen.
Li Fuchen had quick thinking and understood that these two weren't in that kind of relationship.
The reason why Zhu Hongxiu called him over was most likely to use him as a 'shield'.
Had it been anybody else, Li Fuchen wouldn't have done it willingly.
He found Zhu Hongxiu to be a pleasant person, being a 'shield' once for her was fine.
Putting down his dish tray, Li Fuchen sat down.
Qing Shaoyu had this unsightly look, as his lips were trembling.
Right in front of him, Zhu Hongxiu allowed Li Fuchen to sit beside her while he was sitting on the other side, it was self-evident what it meant.
"Zhu shimei, this friend of yours doesn't seem to be capable at all. A mere normal bone frame like him would sooner or later get left behind. He is only glorious before the sun sets."
Li Fuchen ignored Qing Shaoyu and laughed while speaking with Zhu Hongxiu, "Based on your qi presence, it seems you are close in breaking through to the eighth level of the Qi Realm, congrats!"
Zhu Hongxiu was flabbergasted, she didn't think Li Fuchen would do it with such extremity, totally exceeding her expectations.
But Li Fuchen's aggressiveness for not giving any regards to Qing Shaoyu, had her admiring him.
Zhu Hongxiu giggled, "How could I compete with you? It hasn't been a year and you have already left us far behind. You even surpassed Guan Xue. I believe everyone back in Yunwu City are dumbstruck now."
Li Fuchen didn't said anything and just shook his head.
Qing Shaoyu tried his best to contain his anger, but he couldn't do it anymore.
This was too annoying!
Bouncing up with a thud, Qing Shaoyu demanded to Li Fuchen, "You, come take a walk with me."
Li Fuchen replied indifferently, "All matters can wait until I am free. Can't you see I am having my meal?"
Qing Shaoyu raised his voice, "I repeat myself, take a walk with me!"
He didn't care about his demeanor anymore. In this world, demeanor was important but one's fist carried more weight
As long as you had the hardest fist, all things revolved around you.
Qing Shaoyu couldn't differentiate between good and bad. Li Fuchen was ready to teach him a lesson to never bring shame to himself.
"Are you a housefly? Such impatience."
Li Fuchen placed down his chopstick and had a slight chill in his eyes.
"Keke, seems that I, Qing Shaoyu has been too benevolent. It isn't your choice whether or not you come with me."
Suddenly, Qing Shaoyu stretched out his right hand to grab Li Fuchen's shoulder.
Pa!
With his quick reflexes, Li Fuchen slapped away Qing Shaoyu's right hand.
With a fierce look on his face, Qing Shaoyu clenched his left hand and sent a fist crashing towards Li Fuchen's face.
Just that this fist, was caught by Li Fuchen effortlessly.
Li Fuchen intended to give his opponent a lesson. With pressure from all five fingers, a violent and rampaging qi along with physical strength, was poured into the his fingers.
Qing Shaoyu initially remained indifferent, but soon enough, his face flushed red.
Li Fuchen's hand was like a iron clamp, and it wasn't merely filled with strength, it also contained an intense and fiery blaze.
Clang!
As their qi forces clashed, the dining table suddenly jumped, spilling the soup all over the table.
Creak! Crunch!
Qing Shaoyu thought he hear his bones wailing. His opponent's strength was much too ridiculous to handle. Even Li Fuchen's qi wasn't any inferior to his own, and the qi was complemented with the blazing heat, caused him to be in agony.
With his qi exploding, Qing Shaoyu managed to shake off Li Fuchen's hand. Clenching his teeth he sneered, "Li Fuchen… Fine, I will not argue with you today. Rest assured, there will be a day you will regret this."
Finishing his sentence, he swung his sleeves and left.