Chapter 245 - Ru Ji's Gift
{"I needed you to come with me to the Ancestral Training Grounds, but there's been a bit of a change in plans."}
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Xiao Hei hated going to the Ancestral Training Grounds the last time she went. Xiao Fang could tell that she didn't like it from her reaction, but there was no one he trusted more than her.
To get back at him, Xiao Hei suddenly had an idea.
"You made me wait for you. How are you going to repay me?" Xiao Hei acted mad.
Xiao Fang scratched the back of his head as he thought.
"Is there something you want?"
A smirk escaped her lips as she raised her arms up in the air. Xiao Fang could tell that she wanted to be carried, but he preferred not to do so, especially not here.
"That... can't we do it some other time?" He tried to change her mind.
Xiao Hei pouted.
Truth was, she was glad that he didn't carry her in the morning, because now she could do it while Li Xiang was watching.
Xiao Fang sighed. He made a mental note not to promise Xiao Hei anything ever again.
Xiao Fang finally got down on one knee then let her climb onto his back. Once her arms were wrapped around his neck, he placed his hands under her thighs, then stood back up.
"Yahha~"
Li Xiang watched as he carried her up in evny. It reminded her of the time Xiao Fang carried her during the Inner Court Exam.
Bai Fan couldn't stop smiling as she saw him reluctantly carry Xiao Hei up. She found it a bit amusing.
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The 4 of them made their way to the Club Center. Along the way, Xiao Fang learned that Xiao Hei and Li Xiang were both in the martial arts club together, but neither of them had to do the tryouts to get in. Since the Martial Arts club was dominated by the Li family clansmen, Li Xiang was immediately accepted, and she was able to get Xiao Hei a fast pass into the club as well.
Besides the Martial Arts club, Xiao Hei and Li Xiang were both waiting to hear back from the Foods & Crafts club. It was by far the most popular Club in the sect, but only a few ever got in. For that reason, Li Xiang wasn't very confident about getting in, but Xiao Hei on the other hand seemed very optimistic about her chances. When asked why she was so confident, she would simply smile as if she had a secret she didn't want to tell.
When they finally arrived at the building, Xiao Fang stopped to tell Xiao Hei that he would pick her up from the martial arts club in 2 hours. Xiao Hei nodded as she made a mental note of it, then left with Li Xiang to go see if they got accepted into the Food & Crafts club first.
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Standing outside of the Inscription club, Xiao Fang and Bai Fan both took out their club member identity tokens before walking in.
Xiao Fang was still blindfolded, but he could still detect what the girls in the inscription club were doing. Contrary to what he expected, there were several girls seated at a table, practicing inscriptions with a brush instead of their own Qi. Although, it seemed strange, it made sense. This way they wouldn't have to use up all their Qi to practice. This especially helped the girls who didn't have a very high spirit cultivation realm.
"Big Brother Long Wang, you came," said a familiar voice.
A beautiful young girl with aqua blue eyes, shy pink lips, and fairly large breasts, approached Xiao Fang. This 159cm tall, 18 year old girl was none other than Xue Li.
"Seems I'm a bit late. I would've arrived sooner, but I got held up in class," Xiao Fang said.
"It's alright, this is a club after all. You can come and go as you please. Come follow me, I'll show you around."
Xue Li proceeded by giving Xiao Fang a tour of the place, and Bai Fan tagged along. Some of the other members started to take notice of the special treatment they were receiving, but they assumed Xue Li was only doing it for Bai Fan. However, a few of them began to notice that Xue Li was only talking to Xiao Fang.
The Inscription club was divided into several rooms. Each only allowing those with a certain level of skill to enter. Since Xiao Fang and Bai Fan were beginners they were only limited to what was available on the first floor. Although that would mean that they wouldn't be able to take part in the peer-mentorship sessions, or use any of the private practice rooms, it wasn't as bad as it seemed. There were still several study tools and reading materials to choose from. If they couldn't even learn anything from this floor. Then nothing on the next floor would make any sense to them anyways.
Xue Li chose a few things for him to start with before finding him a place to work.
"You can start with these. Once you're able to learn them you'll be given access to the 2nd floor," Xue Li explained.
"Where will you be?" Bai Fan asked.
"I'll be on the top floor, but I'll be coming down to check on you regularly in case you have any questions."
"Thank you, Xue Li. I appreciate all the help you've given me," Xiao Fang thanked her.
Hearing him say that made her feel so good inside, almost as if she had been doing all of this just to hear him say those few words. She eventually left, then Xiao Fang and Bai Fan finally got to work.
Since Xiao Fang had already learned the basics from Xue Li he spent a few minutes teaching it to her. Once she understood the fundamentals, Bai Fan looked through the inscription book till she found an inscription she thought would be easy, then they started learning it together.
Xiao Fang and Bai Fan had such great chemistry together, anyone watching them from a far would think that they were a couple. That included Xue Li, so she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous before she left.
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Meanwhile on the top floor, Ru Ji was in the middle of casting a formation when she saw Xue Li arrive.
"Xue Li, it's unlike you to come to the club late. Did you sleep in?" Ru Ji asked.
"No, I was just waiting to give Long Wang a tour of the place," she replied.
Ru Ji made a mistake in her formation when she heard Xiao Fang's name, it reminded her of the incident that took place the other day.
'Too think that Xue Li would even wait for him to give him a tour. Just what kind of backer does he have? Is he so special that even Xue Li needs to be polite to him,' Ru Ji thought.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she made a terrible mistake by offending him yesterday.
"Is he still downstairs?" Ru Ji asked.
"Un, he should be on the first floor with Bai Fan," Xue Li replied.
Xue Li didn't want to think about it anymore because it was making her feel jealous.
Hearing her say that he was practicing with Bai Fan made Ru Ji's heart sink. She thought only a fool would think that his background was ordinary to have such a good relationship with both Xue Li and Bai Fan, both of whom were daughters of different Supreme Elders.
Ru Ji grabbed her towel then went into the change room. After making herself look nice, she finally went downstairs to look for Xiao Fang. After she found him, she couldn't help but think that she was a fool for dressing up so nicely for a blind man.
She tried to think about what to say, then finally approached Xiao Fang. However, the moment his head turned to her, she suddenly froze.
"Ru Ji, is it?" Xiao Fang said in a casual tone.
Ru Ji couldn't help but feel a bit shaken by the fact that he even bothered to remember her name.
Bai Fan turned around then slightly frowned when she saw Ru Ji. Just the other day, she witnessed Ru Ji disrespecting Xiao Fang, so she didn't like her very much.
Seeing that Bai Fan was upset with her appearance here, Ru Ji quickly bowed.
"Please accept my apology," she said before taking out an inscription book.
The other girls on the first floor were baffled by what they were seeing. Ru Ji, a highly admired member of the club, was bowing to and gifting a valuable inscription book to Xiao Fang.
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"Who is he? Why have I never heard of him?"
"He kind of looks like my type."
"Wait, isn't that Ru Ji's advanced inscription book? Why is she giving him such a valuable item?"
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Xiao Fang, again, didn't care about apologetic words. The truth was, he had almost forgotten about his encounter with Ru Ji the other day until she brought it up.
Xiao Fang didn't really understand why she would give him something so valuable, but he took it off her hands anyway.
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Once Ru Ji left, Xiao Fang couldn't help but notice that more eyes were on him than before.
'So much for keeping a low profile. At this rate, there won't be a single person who doesn't know who I am by the end of the month.'
It didn't matter what he did, it seemed that attention would follow him wherever he went.