With the real Peacock making an appearance, Lu Bei, the counterfeit peacock, smoothly receded into the background.
Having found an excuse, he didn't even bother with perfunctory actions and didn't watch the snake spirits dancing in the great hall anymore; instead, he spent all day in the backyard either playing with Fox San or being toyed with by the Grand Tutor.
Playing with Fox San was purely fooling around; as the brothers were strangers in the Ten Thousand Monster Kingdom and Gaiyuan City lacked any local features worth mentioning, not even a singing house could be found, so they just stared at each other in the backyard.
When they tired of staring, they took out their frustrations on Fox Er. Given their filial concerns, individually either of them was no match for Kong Ci; together, however, they managed to get by.
