Southeast Asians

Mo Fan stared at the group of formally dressed individuals. The magical aura radiating from them was unmistakable.

They stared back with equal wariness. One of the younger men, notable for his sharp, prominent nose bridge, stepped forward. "Mage, stay out of this. This woman has shown great disrespect to our— to our Young Master. We have no desire to make things difficult for her. We simply require her to offer him an apology."

"Spent too much time reading wuxia novels? 'Young Master'?" Ai Tutu shot back immediately. "He's just a spoiled little rich boy with nothing better to do!"

"Who are these people?" Mo Fan studied them more closely. Though their faces were broadly Asian, something in the set of their eyes and the contours of their features struck him as subtly off — more Southeast Asian than Chinese.

"No idea," Ai Tutu said with an air of perfect innocence.

Mo Fan was speechless. She'd picked a fight without even knowing who they were.

"We have been more than courteous," the sharp-nosed man said. "If there is no further room for conversation, then don't blame us for what follows—"

As he spoke, a surge of intense magical energy radiated from him — a wave of reddish heat spreading rapidly through the cold, dry air.

The others followed suit. Every one of them was a Mage of considerable strength, and none of them seemed particularly concerned about the pedestrians watching from the surrounding street...

"Hey there, little brother from the Tribunal — fancy running into you again! What's all this magical fluctuation about?" Just as the standoff was about to turn violent, a middle-aged man with an affable face called out to Mo Fan with a grin.

Mo Fan turned to see the appraiser from the Magic Association who had once assessed him — Guo Liyu.

"Well, if it isn't the great Appraiser Guo. I'm touched you still remember me," Mo Fan said with a smile.

*Last time he'd gone in for an assessment, Guo Liyu had barely spared him a glance. What was with all this warmth now?*

"The Tribunal?!" The sharp-nosed young man's brow furrowed at once. He and the others exchanged a swift look.

Clearly rattled by the name, the group turned and left without another word — every grievance abandoned, no questions asked.

Mo Fan stared after the strange Southeast Asians, thoroughly baffled. *Were they here illegally? How else to explain why they bolted the instant the Tribunal was mentioned?*

"So what was all that about?" Guo Liyu asked.

"Oh, since you've run into an old friend, you two have a chat — I'm heading off!" Ai Tutu's eyes glinted with a sly light, and she was already making her escape before she'd even finished the sentence.

Mo Fan was only more confused, but he couldn't be bothered to chase after her. He had more than enough on his own plate without getting tangled up in whatever trouble that buxom little troublemaker had stirred up.

"I'm not actually with the Tribunal," Mo Fan explained, a little awkwardly. "The person who introduced me there was just my teacher."

"Oh, oh, I see, I see..." Guo Liyu waved a hand, then perked up. "Speaking of which — I actually ran into your teacher, Tang Yue, not too long ago. Her cultivation has reached a point where even this old man can only sigh in envy."

"She's been in Shanghai?" Mo Fan asked.

"That's right. She asked me to track down a particular type of jade for her. Odd request, though — why would she need jade that attracts the Serpent Clan? Carrying something like that around is genuinely dangerous."

Mo Fan remembered Tang Yue mentioning she'd be coming to Shanghai. *So why hadn't she reached out?*

He'd tried calling her several times recently, but it always went straight to voicemail — which usually meant she was in the middle of a mission.

*Serpent jade?*

*What kind of mission was she on that required something so unusual?*

"Come find me for your next Awakening, and I'll make sure you get the finest materials available... Ah, your next Awakening — that would make you a proper High-Level Mage," Guo Liyu added with a touch of admiration.

"Sounds good. I'll take you up on that," Mo Fan said with a nod.

Out of seclusion for barely a moment, and already wrapped up in strange business — first a group of Southeast Asians who fled at the mere mention of the Tribunal, then news of Tang Yue on some peculiar mission.

*Whatever. None of it was his problem to solve.*

Back at the apartment, Mo Fan was surprised to find Mu Nujiao sitting alone on the sofa — she almost never chose the living room for her Meditation.

The woman had clearly done yoga at some point. Her posture was strikingly graceful, the curves flowing from her full chest to her slender waist to the swell of her hips forming a line that made rational thought genuinely difficult...

And those legs — long and straight, fair-skinned and flawless, smooth as polished porcelain.

*Good lord, he could stare at those legs for a year.*

Mu Nujiao had no doubt sensed someone enter, but she must have assumed it was Ai Tutu — or perhaps she had reached a critical juncture in her training — because she remained perfectly still, fully immersed in her cultivation.

Mo Fan soon noticed a bracelet on her wrist, pulsing with a faint, unusual glow. It brightened and dimmed in steady rhythm, as though breathing in perfect sync with her.

"A Star Nebula Artifact?" Mo Fan stared, caught off guard.

Even the higher-quality Stardust Artifacts were extraordinarily expensive — as far as he could recall, back in all of Bo City, only Mu Ningxue had possessed a Spirit Grade Stardust Artifact.

And what Mu Nujiao wore was a Star Nebula Artifact — a tool designed to nourish the Star Nebula stage itself. He couldn't judge its exact grade, but the radiance and Sacred Aura it gave off were no less impressive than his own little Loach Pendant.

Just how vast were the resources of Mu Nujiao's clan, to bestow such a treasure on a girl not yet twenty?

In truth, Mo Fan had sensed since returning from winter break that her cultivation had improved dramatically. He hadn't been certain at the time, but there was no longer any doubt.

"Every true expert has their own fortunes," he murmured.

He himself had been tempered by the Three-Step Tower, his strength surging forward in leaps. But someone like Mu Nujiao, born into a major Noble Clan, would have her own windfalls to match. Leaving ordinary people in the dust was one thing — it certainly didn't mean he could completely steamroll someone who came from a powerful clan *and* busted her ass in training on top of it.

Mu Nujiao was clearly pushing hard in preparation for the Main Campus assessment, determined to put on an impressive showing before she arrived.

Mo Fan understood it all too well. With the enemies he'd accumulated, the assessment would be a brutal trial — and that was before factoring in the Black Church agents who could make their move on him at any moment.

He didn't let himself be idle. He headed out to the balcony to train.

He had barely settled into focus when Mu Nujiao's long lashes gave the faintest flutter on the sofa behind him — and those jewel-bright eyes slowly opened.

She glanced at Mo Fan on the balcony and bit lightly at the corner of her lip. *How is this guy advancing so fast?*

If she was honest, there was a stubborn part of her that chafed at it. She had the full weight of her clan's resources behind her — anything that could push her cultivation forward, they would move heaven and earth to obtain.

And yet this Mo Fan, who had nothing, somehow kept pace with her regardless.

*His Lightning Element Star Nebula must have reached the second level by now.*

*And his Summoning Element has probably hit the intermediate tier as well.*

*I need to push harder. Without my clan behind me, I doubt I'd be his match at all.*

Mu Nujiao closed her eyes and sank back into Meditation.