Once he made his tactical retreat from Kate's house, Shui took slow steps back to his place.
'Wow, that was weird.'
He had only been in that situation for a short time, but he was surprised by how bothered he felt. Shui didn't have any plan on advancing his relationship with Lisa, he was only going to let her forget about him over time. But seeing her in that situation gave him more damage than he had taken since leaving his clan.
'I'm not in a relationship with anyone right now but for some reason I just feel bad.'
The cruel truth was that he didn't feel much sympathy for Lisa, but he was worried about what could happen to the relationship she had with Kate.
'She finally has some friends. I don't want to mess that up.'
If he had known that Lisa was close to Kate, he would definitely have taken some different actions, but now he could only hope that they could pull through this as he had no way of interfering.
"Man, I really need to be more careful when I choose girls to make out with. Although it's funny that I never realised that."
As I frustrated myself over what I just went through, I could see my new house. However, it wasn't in the same state that I left it. There was someone standing at the door. It wasn't one of the few in the sect who could make him wary, but he couldn't relax his guard since he didn't know what this person wanted. As Shui got closer, he could clearly see that the visitor was a thin male who had only recently entered the Earth Realm. A youth like this was rare even in Storm Court, so Shui was even more suspicious of his intentions.
"What do you want?"
!
The man at Shui's door flinched when he suddenly heard Shui's voice. He couldn't understand how he sneaked up on him when he was looking out for any approaching presences, but he didn't stay stunned for too long. After staring incredulously at Shui's charming face for a few seconds, the man cleared his throat and wore an arrogant expression.
"Hmph, you've got guts for keeping me waiting."
Looking at the man acting like this, Shui didn't even bother attempting to respond and walked past him to his door.
'Huh?'
The man was bewildered by how this pretty boy could ignore him so easily, but now that he was in the Earth Realm he decided that he would no longer lurk in the shadows of the other core disciples.
Instead of letting his anger and indignation control him, the man smirked and revealed his hidden card.
"Are you sure you want to ignore me? If you do then, I'll have to find someone to listen to what I saw when I came back to the city a few days ago."
Shui had his hand on the doorknob, but the man's words made him pause. He already had a good idea of what he would say next, so he glared at the man while checking for any peeping eyes. Once he was sure that no one in the area, Shui opened the door.
"Get in."
Shui then entered and left the door open. The man was a bit dissatisfied at this treatment but he still followed Shui into the house. Luckily, furniture was already inside the house so Shui could take a seat and wait for the man to take one as well.
"Any refreshments?"
"..."
The man thought that Shui would finally act more courteously but he didn't even attempt to respond to his request.
'This damn brat!'
The man hid his growing rage with a smiling face but that smile was starting to crack.
'No, not yet. The eyes of this kid aren't the eyes of someone who'll submit from violence.'
The man fixed the cracks on his mask and then hinted at what Shui was worried about.
"You're rather bold. As expected of someone who killed core elder Ratri's disciple."
'As I thought.'
It would be a lie if Shui said this didn't produce any ripples in his heart, but the slight change in his expression was done on purpose.
'Yes, I got him.'
The man was internally excited as he saw Shui's eyelid twitch.
"You probably didn't expect someone to see you two, right? Well, you're not completely wrong, if I wasn't returning from a mission I wouldn't have noticed it. I only made a camp with the city in sight and managed to notice the auras of you and Nathan. I wasn't able to see the fight but, two come, one leaves, anyone could tell what happened."
'Tch, to think this would happen. I was careless. I should have double-checked for anyone nearby.'
Shui could easily kill the smug man before him, but that might cause more unnecessary trouble so instead, Shui sighed. Rather than carrying out a façade he looked straight at the thin man.
"Since you're telling me this you must want something from me. What is it?"
"Hehe, I'm glad you catch on quick. Now that I've broken through I plan on becoming a direct disciple. I want you to help me."
"Huh? How am I supposed to do that?"
Shui was ready to do a favour for him as long as it wasn't too much, but he couldn't understand how he was supposed to help him become a direct disciple. From what he knew about direct disciples, Shui was sure that becoming one wasn't like the core disciple selection. There was no competition or test to take, one could only hope that their talents would be appreciated by an elder.
"It's simple. I wouldn't have been sure if I didn't see you that night, with your cultivation and all, but according to the rumours if you kept fighting in the core disciple selection you would definitely be in first place. And since you got a black pass the elders are definitely fighting over who gets to be your master. With that being the case they'll definitely pay close attention to you and your surroundings."
"Hmm, so you want to stick close to me so that the elders take notice of you as well."
"Exactly."
It was a plan that seemed a little too optimistic but Shui wasn't worried about whether or not it would work. That didn't matter to him.
"Sure, that sounds fine."
"I'm glad you agree. There happens to be a major event coming up that we should partner up for."
"The opening of the Spirit Nest?"
"You know of it?"
"Yes, I heard about it from someone yesterday."
The man wondered how Shui got his information so quickly, but he didn't pry as he was just glad they could skip the explanation. The Spirit Nest was quite literally a space where spirits and faeries lived. Similar to the ancestral lands, it was a sealed space and due to the laws inside the space, spirits and faeries would naturally be born and mature inside it. This sounded like something that would only benefit spiritualists or those aiming to become one, but there were other things and creatures inside the Spirit Nest that made it a can't-miss event in the Storm Court.
'I was going to partner up with Kate but I'm not sure how I should bring it up now.'