Chapter 142: Paying a Visit to the House of Liu
“Hey, brother Bai, why are you going to the Liu for?” Tianming asked in confusion. But then a thought struck him, “Oh, I know! You’ve said before that you had a friend with the Lius. Yea, no problem then….I’ll bring you there tomorrow afternoon.”
Tianming had a simple mind and did not bother to ask anymore about it. Only Jing Mingfeng who was by his side had given Bai Yunfei a deep stare. He didn’t say much to him and instead began to talk about the ‘Duke of Drink’ with Tianming and what he had done in the past….there seen to have been a special interest from his end. Bai Yunfei had felt that Jing Mingfeng was treating Tianming like….family almost. Whatever reason there was for it, Bai Yunfei wasn’t willing to ask or be suspicious about. Everyone had their reasons, and he had no business with them about it.
He hadn’t talked about what had happened to him before his return and had thought that when he went to the house of Liu tomorrow, a single explanation would be all that was needed to clear up the misunderstanding.
Later that night in his own room.
“Upgrade successful.”
“Equipment level: Middle rare.”
“Upgrade level: +10.”
“Attack power: 337.”
“Additional attack power: 155.”
“+10 Additional effect: When attacking, there is an 8% chance for the attack to grow by 100 attack power.”
“Upgrade requirement: 70 Soulpoints.”
In Bai Yunfei’s hand was the blade he had taken from Zhao Chuan. Taking a look at it for several moments, he then stored it away back into his space ring. He had no desire or plan to use this item and had only wanted to see if there would be any additional effects once it hit +10. But with such a common effect, he had been nonplussed and prepared another batch of equipment to upgrade….Even the Heart Protecting Mirror that had two holes in it had an even more ordinary additional effect at +10. It was useless now, but maybe he’d take it out again in the future.
It was only when Bai Yunfei had fully upgraded all of the equipment in his space ring and ran out of soulforce that Bai Yunfei fell back onto his bed and fell asleep.
The next day at noon in a mansion to the west of Gaoyi City.
A middle-aged man was currently furiously rebuking a young man whose head was hung down in submission. This youngster had looked as if he had been asleep if anything, and on the left part of his head was a giant bump–it was Liu Shun. The drunkard that had been slapped asleep for an entire night by Bai Yunfei.
While listening to his father with drooping eyes, Liu Shun’s left hand itched to grab at the space ring in his right hand. Even now, he was sorely tempted to start indulging himself in the fine wine he had stored in it.
“Utterly disgraceful! Are you even listening to me!” The head of the house of Liu, Liu Kun, slammed an angry fist onto the tea table next to him. The cup that had been on it had been overturned as a result, causing the tea and the tea leaves inside to spill over.
“Yes! Yes! Your child has been listening!” Liu Shun spoke up with great hurry.
“Then tell me. What was I just saying?”
“You-you were saying that….”
“Pah! You unfilial child, when will you ever let me live a life free of worry!” Liu Kun glared at his failure of a drunken son and spoke, “Your oldest brother has made some success for himself at the Wood School, and your second brother has done well with the family business even despite his lack of talent in cultivation! But you! What do you do? You spend the entire day drinking wine! Do you think drinking such gluttonous amounts of wine like that will make you similar to the capital’s ‘Wine Lord’, Chen Qiantan? Let me tell you, you and him are nothing alike! He enjoys drinking, but he never becomes too drunk! And you? You spend the entire day as if being drunk is the only thing you know how to do! You bear dishonor to the family!”
When his father spoke, even Liu Shun had felt rather ashamed at his actions. Ever since he accompanied his father to the capital and saw the sixteen year old ‘Chen Qiantan’ ten years ago, Liu Shun had completely worshipped the man and his awe-inspiring name of ‘Wine Lord’. From that moment on, he had tried to imitate him and earned the title of ‘Duke of Drink’. But instead of being a noble person like Chen Qiantan, he was a drunkard of terrible renown.
“If you spent your days as a complete drunk without causing trouble, I would turn a blind eye. But yesterday, you’ve managed to earn the ire of a Soul Sprite! If not for his kindness, you’d be a cripple if not dead!”
Liu Shun had looked away guiltily. “I don’t even know what I was doing when I was drunk, how should I know how strong the people I’m fighting are? But how unlucky I was to be knocked unconscious for an entire night?”
It was only then that Liu Shun realized the giant bump on his head. Hurriedly moving to use some soulforce to massage it, the bump quickly receded back into normal levels.
At that moment, the sounds of frantic footsteps could be heard. The owner had been Su Dong, the bodyguard of Liu Shun. From his appearance, he looked rather frantic.
“My lord, the second son of the house of Ye, Ye Tianming, has brought a friend to visit us!
“Eh? The second son….what does he want? Is he going to ask us for help with the conflict between the Ye and the Zhao? But that’s not something a kid who only knows how to play would be a messenger for. But who’s the other person he’s bringing?” Liu Kun asked. Noticing the oddity of Su Dong, Liu Kun asked, “What, did you have something to say?”
“My lord, the one that the son of the Ye has brought is the expert from yesterday….”
“Waht?” Liu Kun had been aghast. “Are you sure it’s him?”
“There’s no mistaking it. I saw him myself; he even waved hello to me….I didn’t wish to delay this report and had the caretaker bring him inside while I ran here.”
Liu Kun’s eyebrows knitted together in worry, “I hadn’t thought that he’d come to met us. Is he going to denounce us? No, that can’t be it, otherwise he wouldn’t have let Shun’er off that easily. Is this coincidence then? If Ye Tianming is bringing him, then what’s going on? Is he the hired help perhaps?”
He had been silent for a while before Liu Kun spoke up once more, “Prepare the finest tea and snacks. We shall greet the guests as best as we can!”
Turning his head to Liu Shun who was still kneeling on the ground, he barked out. “Stand up! Hurry up and clean yourself up! Then you’ll come back here and apologize! If he isn’t willing to forgive you, then I’ll break one of your legs!”
“I….”
“Shut your mouth and get going!”
A while later, Bai Yunfei and Tianming had been followed the caretaker into the large receiving halls. As soon as they crossed over the doors, the head of the Lius had came to greet them with an amicable smile.
“Haha, young lord Ye, your uncle Liu wasn’t expecting a visit from you! How is brother Ting doing? Not about to breakthrough to the Soul Ancestor realm I hope?” Liu Kun pulled at Tianming’s hand in a friendly greeting.
Tianming had been at a loss on why this sudden treatment. He very rarely saw the head of the Lius, and never was the man so polite as he was now.
But having received such a friendly greeting from the man who was on equal levels with his own father, Tianming had been rather humbled by it. “Hello uncle Liu, my father is doing fine, but having a breakthrough to the next realm is still a distance away. He talks about the eldest son of the Lius quite often, saying that his potential is unlimited if he was able to make it into the Wood School.”
“Haha, Ping’er has good luck on his side, that’s all. It only just so happens that my family has some connections with the Wood School too. It was best to make use of those connections really. Your father was the exceptional one; he made his entire fortune on his business alone….” Liu Kun had waved off Ye Tianming’s words with modesty as well before turning his eye to Bai Yunfei. Smiling still, he asked, “And you are…?”
Bai Yunfei cupped his fists together in greeting, “I am Bai Yunfei, my salutations, lord Liu.”