Chapter 709 - Astennu and Song Yu
"We meet again, Junior Brother!" Song Yu finally revealed her appearance and smiled.
"Yeah. It"s been a few years." Alex nodded. "I was worried about you, considering you were plotted by the third elder of your own clan."
"Haha… It was true. But I could meet him because of that incident." Song Yu glanced at Astennu mysteriously.
Alex didn"t know why, but the look in her eyes was that of a maiden in love. Thinking for a moment, he decided to ask, "May I know the relations.h.i.+p between Senior Sister and him?"
"I am—!" Astennu was eager to answer this question, but Song Yu beat him to it. "I am his woman… No, you can say it"s girlfriend, considering his elders have yet to accept me."
"I will surely force them to accept, even if I need to use force," Astennu added with a pout.
Alex opened his eyes in surprise and blinked a few times. "Seriously? Well, seeing Senior Sister happily say it, I don"t have any qualms."
"Hehe…" Song Yu giggled embarra.s.sedly.
"Though I am curious as to what happened to you after that incident."
"Who wants to explain it? You or me?" Song Yu glanced at Astennu.
"He is your Junior Brother, right? You can tell him the full story if you trust him." Astennu shrugged.
"Alright." Song Yu nodded with a smile before starting her story-telling. "A few years ago, I was plotted by the third elder and almost died. Luckily, the fourth elder used all of his strength and let me get away. The journey was unpleasant because I needed to fly for a long time while fending the monsters.
"Long story short, I somehow managed to fly as long as possible before I pa.s.sed out in the middle of the ocean. It seemed I wasn"t that far from the Southwest of the continent and swept away to the sh.o.r.e.
"At that time, Astennu was strolling around the beach and found the unconscious me. He did it for fun, though. And—"
"Wait!" Astennu stopped her immediately and corrected her. "Why did you say it was for fun? It wasn"t."
"You said so yourself. Besides, I could see that you really did it for fun."
"Fine. You can say it was for fun, but you should add that it was for fun, and that was the best decision he had made in his entire life." Astennu pouted.
"He said so himself." Song Yu chuckled and continued. "Anyway, Astennu brought me back to his home and nursed me without the knowledge of the elders. Not long after, I woke up and finally met my savior.
"He always stayed alone in his entire life in that house, so I was the second resident. Well, he never treated me like a slave or did something bad to me. Instead, he nursed me back to full health. We somehow became friends despite the awkwardness from the start."
Astennu closed his eyes and smiled, recalling the scene in his mind. "Yeah. Though I found out that she was actually coming from the Blackwade Clan, and it made me very awkward, considering there were many oppositions from having connections outside the sect."
"Let"s continue with the story." Song Yu stopped him. "In the end, I tried to repay him by helping him with anything like ch.o.r.es or whatever and without knowing it, I fell in love with him. He treated me with gentleness and full of sincerity, despite being a young master in a huge influence…"
"I didn"t know at first whether it was love or something and decided to play along with it. Until one time, the elders found out about her, and I realized I had fallen in love with her for a long time." Astennu gently smiled as he looked at Song Yu"s face.
"I still remembered that day where they dragged me and almost executed me… You came and helped me to the point of risking your life as well… Nonetheless, they ended up releasing both of us and decided to approve in one condition that I needed to reach Martial Saint as soon as possible. I believe I am able to do that." Song Yu nodded.
Alex closed his eyes and sighed. "I see… I am also happy for Senior Sister."
"Hehe…" Song Yu scratched her head, embarra.s.sed. "By the way, how is Master, Putri, and the others?"
Alex thought for a moment. "Elder Charya already knew about your condition… Maybe I will send her a letter about your well-being, including your relations.h.i.+p, of course. She will be thrilled to know about this."
"Indeed. I want to inform her myself, but I am occupied with the condition, so I can only refrain myself from going there. And please don"t tell Master about my relations.h.i.+p with him first. I want to tell her myself and visit her with him." Song Yu smiled at Astennu, who smiled back.
"Alright. I will just tell her that you are alive and living a good life for the time being." Alex nodded.
"Thank you."
"As for Putri, she is still with the Blackwade Clan. Her strength has only reached 5-Star Martial Emperor due to the lack of resources. Seeing that I have a big war with the Fire G.o.d Clan, I purposely don"t give her any resources, so she can stay there for a bit longer… After having betrayed and such, I really wish she could also be like you right now. Anyway, Song Jia took care of her while learning how to lead a clan herself." Alex sighed.
"Indeed. She is a good girl that deserves better. You don"t need to worry about her for the time being. After I consolidate my power in this influence, I might bring her here and hope she has a good life on this continent… While Song Jia… I am really proud of her as her sister."
"I understand. I leave it in your hand." Alex nodded.
"As for Evelyn… I don"t think I need to tell you, right?"
"Yeah. Since she has become the Drunken Pavilion Successor, I can track her movement better than anyone I know." Song Yu nodded. "How about Rose?"
"Rose is…" Alex was slightly afraid to tell her about Rose. If he needed to rank the ones who were the closest to him, it would be Rose, Evelyn, Putri, and Charya. Considering she was his disciple and Astennu was still listening, he decided not to talk about Rose. "Rose is fine. I am taking care of her."
Song Yu noticed his dilemma and nodded in understanding. "I understand. As long as she is happy, I am also happy."
Alex nodded before he recalled another thing. "That"s right. Elder Charya has another disciple."
"Really?" Song Yu was surprised and happy at the same time. She must be lonely after her two disciples left her side and went to the Northern Continent, so Song Yu was thrilled after knowing there would be someone who was accompanying her right now.
"I have given her some enlightenment, so she shouldn"t die in the process unless she is a fool… But I have tested her once, and she seems the one who will live long." Alex nodded.
"Haha… Though you shouldn"t say it that way." Song Yu chuckled.
"Anyway, I am coming here just to check Senior Sister"s condition. Now that I have completed my objective, I think it"s time for me to go." Alex nodded and stood up.
"I think you forget a few things." Astennu suddenly stopped him.
"Hmm?" Alex narrowed his eyes.
"First of all, we haven"t talked about the business yet. Considering you are going to fight the Fire G.o.d Clan, don"t you fear that we are going to join this war?" Astennu smirked.
"You can try… I don"t like it when I need to destroy my Senior Sister"s happiness, but if push comes to shove, I will still do it." Alex sighed while glancing at Song Yu.
"It seems that I have underestimated you this whole time." Astennu was surprised with his confidence, but it seemed Song Yu"s Junior Brother was extraordinary like in her mouth. "As for us interfering in a battle like this… I don"t think that is possible unless you are threatening our existence. If you can promise that your fang won"t reach Phantasm Sect, I a.s.sure you that I will do everything in my end to stop my influence from partic.i.p.ating."
"That"s good then." Alex nodded. "My target is Fire G.o.d Clan. If there is another influence that joins forces with them, I can only burn them down."
Astennu understood Alex"s meaning. As long as Phantasm Sect didn"t come in their way, they wouldn"t be hostile either. "I understand. I will relay your message to the elders. There are two elders that are following us, so they should also be able to back my claim up and shut the sect up.
"Besides, I don"t have time to fight you because I have more important things to do." Astennu looked at Song Yu with a smile. "I want to resolve this situation as soon as possible and marry Song Yu."
"Hehe…" Song Yu smiled and scratched her cheek, embarra.s.sed.
Alex smiled upon seeing how they acted. "I wish you luck."
Astennu and Song Yu nodded. "Thank you."
Alex then stood up and left the room. "I will leave then."
Song Yu decided to see him off in front of the hotel. After saying their goodbye one more time, Alex finally went back, not toward his inn, but Evelyn.
*Knock Knock!*
Evelyn heard the knocking sound but got surprised that it was coming from the balcony. However, she immediately opened the door without hesitation after feeling the Spiritual Energy.
"Big brother Alex, welcome."
Alex nodded with a smile. "Are you staying here alone?"
"Yeah. The others have their own rooms. We are going back in two days. Do you want to talk about the matter of Adrus? Master has planned this for a long time, so I don"t think there will be any trouble coming to you."
"No. It"s fine. Rather than talking about Adrus, how about talking about you? How are you in the Drunken Pavilion?"
"I am good. I…" Evelyn started talking about all her experiences inside the Drunken Pavilion and how she managed to reach this stage. However, she was stunned as soon as she heard about Rose"s cultivation and realized that her effort was still not enough.
At the end of her story, she suddenly asked. "That"s right. Big brother, do you know about the Ancient Ruin?"
"Ancient Ruin?" Alex furrowed his eyebrows.
"Yeah. It will open pretty soon."
"No. I mean, I know there is an Ancient Ruin, but I am still searching for information about that Ancient Ruin." Alex shook his head.
"So, that"s what you mean." Evelyn realized. "This Ancient Ruin is a top-secret, so it"s normal for you not to know about this. Considering you are going with that Song Jiaoren, I think he will tell you about it. Well, since I have mentioned it, I shall explain it to you."
Alex nodded. It was true that his Spirits already knew about the existence of the Ancient Ruin. However, no matter how hard they searched for the other influences, they couldn"t find any information related to it. Hence, they never mentioned it again because they didn"t want Alex to take a risk. In fact, they were also unsure whether the other influences would send their disciples to this ruin.
Evelyn thought for a moment. "In every single influence, they have held this secret tightly to the point there won"t be more than five people knowing this secret inside the influences. Do you know why all influences" heads would have 10-Star Martial Saint or even reach G.o.d Stage?"
"Isn"t it because they choose the strongest?" Alex asked.
"No. The only reason is this Ancient Ruin. Even my Master doesn"t know the extent of this Ancient Ruin despite having entered it once. He said that the only reason he could reach 10-Star Martial Saint was because of this Ancient Ruin. He got an inheritance and started building up his strength according to the inheritance."
"Ho?" Alex was astonished as this topic certainly piqued his interest.
"The only reason many people are clueless about this is that there is an entry limit. Only ten people can enter this time while three influences get two spots after making a back deal." Evelyn paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "And inside of this Ancient Ruin, we can find…"