Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 80 No Longer a Reckless Boy

"Master Xing, your tea."

The waiter in the teahouse brought the tea that the tea master had just made in the private room to Xing Yue's table.

Xing Yue was slightly absent-minded. He neither spoke nor glanced at the bowl of fragrant tea on the table, which was eager to be tasted.

"I'll be waiting outside. Please tell me what you need."

The waiter was also very tactful. Seeing that Xing Yue was in a bad mood and was not here to taste or appreciate tea, he did not shamelessly wait for money. He winked at the Tea Doctor and they retreated together.

After leaving the main hall of the Xing Mansion, Xing Yue rode his horse all the way and stopped at the Senyun Teahouse.

Senyun Teahouse is the largest teahouse in Yingzhou City except for the teahouse opened by the Xing family, but even so, it cannot be compared with any teahouse of the Xing family in terms of scale.

Xing Yue was somewhat annoyed by his father's indifferent attitude towards whether to take the Heavenly Grade Pill. He didn't understand why his father didn't care about his opinion. Did he really not care? Or was there something else?
Xing Yue was ultimately skeptical of the claim that this Heavenly Grade Pill hadn't been tampered with. He had many questions and a variety of answers, but he didn't know which one would truly align with the motives of the person who stole it. Without a single, definitive answer, Xing Yue felt uneasy. If he didn't investigate, perhaps the thief's intentions would never be revealed.

Even if all that was left aside, Xing Yue still had a new question: would there be any adverse reactions if he consumed this incompletely refined Heavenly Grade Pill? Would it make it harder to achieve a breakthrough? Would it negatively impact or restrict his future cultivation? These were his most pressing concerns.

Thinking of this, he couldn't control himself anymore. Questions popped up in Xing Yue's mind one after another, making him feel uneasy. He tried his best to suppress this feeling.

After a while, Xing Yue was interrupted from his thoughts and came back to his senses.

"Brother Yue, I thought Huanhuan was seeing things, but it turns out it's really you!"

The curtain in front of the box door opened slightly, and a pretty and slightly immature girl leaned over and showed her head.

The bright and pleasant voice coming from behind immediately interrupted Xing Yue's thoughts. He turned around and followed the familiar voice.

"Sister."

Xing Yue stood up and bowed to the girl in front of him with a very respectful tone.

"Why call me Senior Sister? Are we so unfamiliar with each other?"

The girl walked lightly to Xing Yue's side, pushed Xing Yue back to sit on the chair, and sat beside Xing Yue. She took a tea bowl, picked up the teapot, and poured the tea into it.

The girl who called herself Huanhuan was Yan Xiuxin, the daughter of Master Yan of Xiuxin Martial Arts School. She was about fourteen or fifteen years old. Although she was not older than Xing Yue, she had been a student for a long time.

Not only Xing Yue called her Senior Sister, except for the earliest batch of disciples, most of the disciples in the academy did the same and called her Senior Sister.

When Xing Yue heard Yan Xiuxin's words, he just smiled and didn't answer.

"Just call me Huanhuan from now on. Don't call me Senior Sister. It seems strange."

"Senior sister entered the sect much earlier than me, so she should be called that."

Yan Xiuxin pretended to be angry and said, "Brother Yue, no, Junior Brother Yue, you have so many teahouses, why did you come to this one?" She deliberately emphasized the word "junior brother".

"Senior sister also said that this is not my teahouse." Xing Yue's face showed no emotion.

"Ah?" Yan Xiuxin didn't understand what Xing Yue said. She wanted to ask more, but her attention was attracted by the discussions in the lobby on the first floor of the teahouse.

"You mentioned the Xing family. They made such a big fuss a few days ago, why did they suddenly stop looking for us?" The middle-aged man touched the shoulder of another younger man with his shoulder.

"What are you looking for? Heaven Grade Pills?"

"Mingzhi Advisor! What else can the Xing family find besides the lost Heavenly Grade Pill?"

The younger people didn't understand the situation and asked in confusion, "Did they find it?"

Someone at the next table came over, his tone and demeanor somewhat mysterious, but he couldn't hold back his voice as he shouted, "What did you find? You don't know, the Xing family never lost the Heavenly Grade Pill at all."

When Xing Yue heard the man's high voice, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Thinking that this man could solve his doubts, he straightened up and stared at him intently.

The middle-aged man suddenly became more interested and offered a seat to the person who came over. His tone was full of joy as he said, "Come on, tell me in detail."

"I have a relative who works at the Xing Mansion. I heard him say that after their family refined their Heaven Grade Pill, the whole family was so excited that they forgot where they put it and it turned out to be a joke."

...Listening to the chattering sounds coming from the first-floor hall while people were waiting for the storyteller to be free, Xing Yue thought he would hear something he didn't know, but he didn't expect that it was all fake news fabricated by half-knowledge. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't listen to them. I don't know what's going on with your Tianjie Dan either, but they're always gossiping. Don't listen to them. If you want to go to a teahouse, go to a big teahouse like yours. There's nothing good about places like this."

Xing Yue smiled slightly, stood up and bowed, saying: "Senior Sister, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first." After that, he left the teahouse without hesitation.

……

Xing Mansion, backyard, Siyuan Residence.

After Xing Yue returned home, he locked himself in the room and thought hard.

Should I take the Heavenly Grade Pill? Or should I go ask Jiang Xuan, maybe he still has some?
The turning point of the family is right in front of us, should we fight or not?

"Dengdengdeng..."

A knock on the door broke the outward tranquility...

"Master, Madam invites you over."

Xing Yue recognized the familiar voice. The person knocking on the door was Yingxue, his mother's personal maid.

"I understand. I'll go right away." Xing Yue replied in a low voice.

Xing Yue heard the footsteps outside the house gradually fading away, then he slowly climbed out of bed, tidied his clothes, and prepared to meet his mother.

……

"Mr. Hu."

As soon as he went out, Xing Yue saw Butler Hu waiting in the distance. He hurriedly ran a few steps and went to Butler Hu.

"Why are you here?"

Butler Hu rarely came to his yard to find him on his own initiative. Xing Yue was very surprised and confused about this.

"I came to see you, and I happened to hear Yingxue calling you, so let's go for a walk together."

Xing Yue guessed Butler Hu's intention and said, "Mr. Hu, are you trying to persuade me? If you're trying to comfort me, I'm fine, don't worry."

Butler Hu smiled and said, "I do want to talk to you, but it's not a consolation."

Xing Yue stopped, somewhat curious about what Butler Hu would say.

"You've grown up. You're really beyond my expectations today. You're different from before. You're no longer the reckless brat!"

Xing Yue was a little surprised and asked, "Is it beyond your expectation? Do you also think what I said is right?"

"There's no right or wrong. It's not a bad thing to be cautious. No one can make decisions for you. This is just the beginning, and it will be even more so in the future. You have to make your own decisions, so you have to think it through."

Xing Yue shook his head, his spirits somewhat down: "This matter is not up to me."

"No, your father was just angry at the moment. How could he not consider you? Your father is ambitious, and everything has to give way to his ambition, but you are not. He can't always put you first, but he still considers you."

"Let's go, your mother is waiting for you." Butler Hu continued to walk forward.

……

Xing Yue ran into his father walking towards his mother's room, so he stopped and waited.

A few steps away from him, Xing Yue said calmly, "Father."

"It's up to you whether you eat it or not. Anyway, the pills and the opportunity to improve are right in front of you. If you are afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, you will never achieve anything great."

Xing Rufeng ignored Xing Yue who stopped to wait for him. He just said this as he passed by him and continued walking towards the room.

(End of this chapter)