Bing Rong slightly turned her head to see him; Shen Yuan stopped his laugh and nodded his head seriously at her to continue.
Bing Rong looked back at Mei Hua and continued, “And I won’t be leaving the Sect again for the foreseeable future since my younger brother is here now.”
Mei Hua looked at her in amusement as her poor lie couldn’t escape her keen eyes, but she didn’t mind that and instead spoke, “Good, you and Huo Rong can now handle the work that Senior Shen Yuxin left together, but even if she were here, she would have put the work on you both, haha.”
She giggled at the end of her words as she remembered how Shen Yuxin left all the work to her disciples and roamed the outside world.
Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow as he heard Mei Hua referring to his mother as her Senior; his mind wandered for a brief second as his thoughts shifted to the implications.
But he soon shook his head as he knew it was pointless to think about it for now. He glanced around to see Ling Mei, Wan Ling, and the rest of the disciples gathered together. Xiang Mei, Yun Lan, and a few other elders were here as well.
Xiang Mei stood in front of them as she waved her hand towards Shen Yuan, “You are finally here; I thought you would take forever to get here.”
Shen Yuan smiled lightly in response as he said, “I would have come straight here but I ended up meeting with Big Sister in the market. So we were catching up.”
“Hmm, I didn’t know that you were the younger brother of Bing Rong and Huo Rong, that’s a surprise. No wonder you are so talented,” Xiang Mei nodded her head as she thoughtfully said.
Shen Yuan laughed as he took the compliment, “Thanks for the compliment, but why was I summoned here?”
He got to the main matter as he still wanted to spend more time with Bing Rong.
“Cough, it was due to your exceptional performance in the Mystique Realm. I didn’t know that you would dominate it so quickly. It was truly a surprise for me,” Mei Hua took over the conversation as she moved her feet in the lake water while sitting on the stone.
“It was easy because they were all far too weak.” Shen Yuan might have been complacent before going to the Mystique Realm, but after encountering that Abyssal Entity, he got to know that the world is much larger than he knew.
Bing Rong moved aside to let him chat with Mei Hua freely as she moved towards the other elders to catch up with them.
Shen Yuan moved a little forward as he saw small fish swimming around Mei Hua’s legs.
“So, what do you think of the Mystique Realm?” Mei Hua lightly asked as all the others distanced themselves from the two.
“Hmm, it was worthwhile to go inside the Mystique Realm for me; I got quite some good stuff from there,” he said as he brought out a jar of honey from his spatial ring.
“Here, you can try this honey I got from the Mystique Realm. It wouldn’t have any effect on you, but at least it tastes good,” he said as he threw the jar towards her.
Mei Hua raised her hand slightly, and a gust of wind rose up which held the jar up. She lightly smiled at him as she dipped her finger in the honey and brought it closer to her mouth.
Shen Yuan stared at her, wondering whether she would like it or not.
Mei Hua licked the honey on her finger slowly as she felt Shen Yuan’s gaze on her; her lips curled up in a mischievous smile as she brought her tongue out and started to lick her finger all over to clear up the honey.
Shen Yuan’s eyes twitched as he saw her licking her own finger seductively. He turned his gaze away as it proved too much for him to bear.
Mei Hua giggled softly as she put the jar in her spatial ring and said, “The honey is really delicious, I won’t stand on ceremony and will take it.”
Shen Yuan heaved a sigh as he turned his head back at her. “So, was there any other reason that you invited me here or just to ask about the Mystique Realm?”
Mei Hua’s expression turned serious as she nodded her head, “There is indeed another much more important matter to be discussed here. You know about the Ironwood Mountain Sect, right?”
Shen Yuan thought back to how Elder Xiang Mei destroyed nearly the entire group of them outside the Mystique Realm. “Yes, I remember what happened outside the Mystique Realm. Do you want to tell me how the sect is going to handle that clan?”
Mei Hua nodded her head, “We will issue a formal challenge one month later where our Inner Sect disciples will participate in a battle against each other.”
Shen Yuan nodded his head thoughtfully as he agreed with this approach, “Sounds good to me, both our Sect and Clan can have the younger generation resolve these grievances. And I don’t think we will lose to them either way; our Inner Sect disciples have a lot more techniques than the outer sect disciples, as well as real-life experience.”
Mei Hua smiled appreciatively as she didn’t expect Shen Yuan to see through these aspects, “Yes, you are indeed correct, but that’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Hmm? Then what are you wo—” He paused as he thought of something. “Ah, I see, you are worried about the power backing them sending their own disciples to confront us, and since we are on the same level, our disciples will be at a disadvantage due to the nature of our cultivation techniques.”
Mei Hua’s eyes widened slightly in surprise this time, “I didn’t think that you would be this smart, not even the Core Disciples can get to the core of the issue as fast as you.”
Shen Yuan shook his head, “So anyways, what do you have in mind to counter that?”
Mei Hua silently looked at him, smiling slightly, “Well, guess it as well since you are so smart.”
Shen Yuan’s lips twitched as he spoke, “Wait, is this the reason you invited me here? To get me involved in this mess?”
“What mess are you talking about? It was created due to you in the first place, and we are not forcing you; you can refuse if you want. The Ironwood Mountain clan is not enough to force our disciples to do something against their wishes,” Mei Hua slowly explained while gazing at the lake.
Shen Yuan thought for a second, ‘Will I have enough time to spend with Big Sisters if I get involved in the tournament?’
Just as he was contemplating it, a notification came up on the System Screen. He raised an eyebrow as he saw it was from the Harem Connect and Bing Rong was trying to connect with him.
[Yuan’er, you should take part in the tournament, it is a prime opportunity for you to make a solid foundation inside the Inner Sect quickly, and we can accompany you for the tournament as well if we get free from the work.]
Bing Rong’s words sounded in his mind as Shen Yuan nodded thoughtfully.
“I will take part in this tournament, let’s see what they have to offer in their clan,” he said while looking at Mei Hua.
And she only smiled in response as she had expected this response, after all, he was doing his best in the outer sect to gather a good reputation, and this was a prime time for that.
“Good, then you can talk with the rest of the disciples, I have one more thing to announce, but that can wait until you catch up with them and I discuss that with the rest of the elders,” Mei Hua said as she took her legs out of the lake and stood up.
Shen Yuan nodded and started to walk towards the group of disciples. Bing Rong took her leave from the group of elders as she moved towards Shen Yuan to meet up with the rest of the disciples who went with him inside the Mystique Realm.
“Greetings, Senior Brother.” Chen Yue and the others greeted him after seeing him come close.
Shen Yuan nodded with a smile as he accepted their greetings, “You guys got anything from the sect yet?”
Wan Ling came forward as she shook her head, “Nothing yet, we all were waiting for you to arrive. The elders said they have something to announce but we need to wait until you arrive here.”
Shen Yuan nodded his head as he looked at the side where Bing Rong was coming from. The disciples hurriedly greeted her as they heard just a while ago that she is an Inner Sect Elder.
“Greetings, Elder Bing Rong!”