Chapter 209: Leaving Master Stranded

The West Island Master let out a snort and a chuckle, preparing to speak, but the South Island Lord beat him to it.

When speaking to Li Hansong, the South Island Lord did not use “brain waves.” After all, Li Hansong was his Master; no matter how socially anxious he was or how much he disliked speaking, he still maintained the basic principles of respecting one’s teacher.

“Let Yun Huizhou come with us. There are times when I truly cannot understand some of Lian Li’s thoughts. Moreover, Lian Li is too weak, and there are issues with both his cultivation technique and his constitution. If something were to happen, it would be better to have an extra person to carry him back.”

Lian Li: “…”

Master, although your suggestion hits the nail on the head for what I want, aren’t you being a bit too blunt!

What did he mean, “too weak”!

While his physical foundation was indeed not as robust as Yun Huizhou’s, he was currently no worse than an ordinary person.

Furthermore, he had already reached the second-rate level, a level where one could walk the martial world independently.

How was he “too weak”!

Fine, compared to the heavyweights present, he was indeed weak as hell.

Lian Li pursed his lips and remained silent, though in his heart, he still hoped the Grandmaster would agree to his Master’s proposal and ignore Uncle West.

He had come to realize that when there were no villains around, Uncle West was the villain.

Yun Huizhou struck while the iron was hot, saying, “That’s right, Grandmaster. I was the one who brought Lian Li back, and I personally oversaw his martial arts training before. I’ll feel more at ease if I’m there to keep an eye on him.”

Li Hansong was no fool. Of everyone present, who aside from Lian Li hadn’t he watched grow up?

He naturally detected Xi Yu’s sarcasm and Yun Huizhou’s “helpful but unnecessary” enthusiasm.

The curve of his lips deepened as he said, “How about… I take him out for tempering?”

Yun Huizhou: “…”

Lian Li: “…Huh?”

West Island Master: “Hahahahaha!”

Eastern Island Master: “Pfft—”

North Island Master: “What happened?”

Not a single reliable person was present, with the exception of the South Island Lord.

Under these circumstances, he was the only one speaking seriously: “That works too. It would be even better if you took him, Master.”

Lian Li: “…”

Master, are you really not going to fight for me?

Yun Huizhou raised a hand to wipe his face, then looked at Li Hansong, prepared to continue proposing his inclusion in the team taking Lian Li out for tempering.

In the end, Lian Li couldn’t help but speak first: “How about… the four of us go together?”

The four people he referred to were himself, Yun Huizhou, the South Island Lord, and Li Hansong.

…

A party of four was naturally impossible. In the end, it was a party of three: the South Island Lord, Yun Huizhou, and Lian Li.

Li Hansong left Yun Huizhou with one final sentence—”Remember to come over”—before entering the small cabin in the woods.

By the time Lian Li followed Yun Huizhou and the South Island Lord back to the South Island, he was still in a daze.

“Why did Grandmaster suddenly decide not to go?”

Yun Huizhou gave him a puzzled look and asked, “Did you really want Grandmaster to accompany you out?”

“How am I supposed to answer that question?” Lian Li replied.

Yun Huizhou smiled and said, “Fine, I understand. You wanted to go with me.”

Lian Li looked straight ahead, not responding to those words, neither admitting nor denying them.

But Yun Huizhou knew this was silent admission.

“If we were just going to catch horses, it would be fine with just the two of us. But since we’re adding tempering to the mix, it won’t do if it’s just you and me,” Yun Huizhou said.

“Why?” Lian Li turned his head to look at him, his face full of confusion.

Running around everywhere with Yun Huizhou before could be considered a form of tempering. If it was fine then, why wouldn’t it work for the upcoming journey?

Did they think having a Transcendent expert along would guarantee better safety?

Yun Huizhou was only a hair’s breadth away from the Super-First-Class level. In a world where Transcendents rarely appeared, a Super-First-Class expert was a top-tier master of the martial world.

They couldn’t be so unlucky as to run into a Transcendent expert looking for trouble the moment they stepped out…

Well, before going to the Southern Border, he was certain they wouldn’t be that unlucky. But after going to the Southern Border, he wasn’t so sure.

God only knew what kind of trouble Yun Huizhou’s “Male Lead’s Rival” halo would stir up for him.

Just like before—they had clearly gone to Linjiu City for the matter of the Beauty Rankings, yet they ended up getting entangled in the plot of the original male and female leads.

He didn’t exist in the original novel, so the Beauty Rankings plot shouldn’t have happened either.

They were clearly following a plotline that shouldn’t have appeared in the original work, yet they were still sucked in.

God knew what would happen this time.

“Do you remember me telling you before about how they took me to accept bounties and kill villains?” Yun Huizhou asked.

“I remember. What about it?” Lian Li answered. “I know that’s likely what we’ll be doing this time out.”

Yun Huizhou leaned in, pulling Lian Li by the shoulder as they walked forward. “If it’s just the two of us, and we encounter someone particularly troublesome, I might lose my resolve and secretly help you.”

Lian Li couldn’t quite suppress the corners of his mouth. He twisted slightly, trying to shrug off Yun Huizhou’s hand, and said stubbornly, “Who asked for your secret help?”

His small movements couldn’t hide from Yun Huizhou, especially when he saw that in an effort to suppress his smile, Lian Li’s entire mouth was slightly puckered, yet he still couldn’t control the cheek muscles pulling the corners of his lips upward.

“Smile if you want to. I won’t laugh at you,” Yun Huizhou said.

“Who wants to smile? I’m not smiling; you’re the one smiling,” Lian Li continued to be stubborn.

“Fine, you don’t want to smile. I’m the one smiling.” Yun Huizhou suddenly scooped him up and flew toward their residence.

The South Island Lord, who had returned with them, stood rooted to the spot. He looked up at his two departing disciples, completely bewildered for a long time.

How did they just leave without saying a single word?

The moment Yun Huizhou and Lian Li landed and were about to walk into the house, Yun Huizhou’s footsteps suddenly halted.

He turned his head sharply, giving Lian Li a fright.

“What are you doing?” Lian Li asked.

Yun Huizhou: “I think we left Master stranded back there.”

Lian Li: “…Now that you mention it, I remember. Master did come back with us, didn’t he?”

Yun Huizhou: “That’s right. We came back together. Before I carried you back, we hadn’t separated at all.”

Lian Li felt a sudden wave of dizziness.

What kind of “social death” scene was this? It was bad enough that he and Yun Huizhou were flirting right in front of their Master, but they had completely forgotten his existence, hugging and clinging to each other as they flew back using lightwork.

They hadn’t even said goodbye.

It didn’t matter if the Master would bring it up later; as long as he remembered it himself, every time he thought of it, he would feel a fresh wave of shame.

He desperately wished someone would hit him and give him amnesia right this second.

To his surprise, Yun Huizhou wouldn’t let him off and continued the topic: “It’s fine, though. It was Master who saw us. He doesn’t even like to talk, so he certainly won’t mention these things. You don’t have to worry about him being angry or losing face by telling others. Rest easy.”

Lian Li: “Is there a possibility that even if he doesn’t tell anyone, I’ll still be so ashamed that I won’t dare to face him?”

He covered his head and crouched down by the door. “Oh my god, what on earth did we do? Argh, this is too embarrassing! Someone come and give me amnesia! Every time I think about this now, I can’t control this sense of shame!”