Burning Stampede Sect

Unlike in Silver City, the Burning Stampede Sect had no rivals among the other sects in the city. However, what surprised her the most after arriving here was that Fatty's clan was actually rather influential in the sect. So much so that she couldn't understand why he would want to leave.

'Maybe there are things that I don't know about.'

She considered asking Kane, but she refrained from doing so.

"Really, then were you taking a stroll?"

"Something like that. What about you?"

"Oh, I just came back from visiting my brother."

Serina tried to smile as she talked about her brother, but thinking about the incident turned it into a wry smile.

"Did he get beat up again?"

Serina didn't say anything, the sad look in her eyes told Kane the answer.

"Uh, is he okay?"

"...Yeah, when I left he already started fixing up the place."

Seeing the look on her face made Kane want to help her somehow, but even for him this was a difficult situation to solve. If he used the influence of his clan to protect her brother, then he might face even more trouble from their enemies. And based on his personality Kane didn't think he would agree to being protected like a princess either. All he could do was put enough pressure to make sure her brother didn't get any major injuries.

"I kind of feel like I should apologize."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I can't do anything to help."

"No no, it's fine. My brother is just stubborn and all. You've already helped us so much."

"Mhmm..."

The mood became a little awkward with both of them wearing wry smiles, so without talking they went back home. Near the grounds of the Burning Stampede, was a simple yet expansive estate belonging to Kane and Fatty's clan. They weren't greeted by servants the moment they entered, but as they approached the main mansion the two were greeted by many domestic helpers.

Kane would only wave briefly, but since Serina was still not used to this environment, she would always be polite when greeting them. Her sweet nature combined with her cute appearance made her a quick hit among the servants and they would spoil her with gifts or desserts whenever they could. However, the servants weren't the only ones she was close with.

"Serina! I missed you."

"Big sis Sheila, I was only gone for a couple minutes."

"Yes, and those were the longest minutes of my life."

The moment she entered the main house, Serina was embraced by a young lady in her early twenties with a bountiful chest that was pressed against Serina's face.

"Ugh, sis don't you see you're bothering her?"

"Huh? Didn't you have business to attend to? Why did you come back so quickly you pervert?"

"I don't want to hear that from you sis. It wasn't urgent so I just decided that it could wait a little bit."

"Haha! Sure, but I'm not letting you hug Serina."

"Ugh, shut up!"

Every time she was around, these two siblings always seemed to be fighting, but Serina saw it as them being close. Of the five older siblings that Fatty had, she had met four of them and all of them were very nice people. As her head went to thinking about him, Serina dragged her face out of Sheila's chest and asked where Fatty was.

"Oh, he's training as usual. Since he's come back he's been working hard on his cultivation, he even refused when I asked him to come with me to meet some of my junior sisters."

"What?! To think that Zain would really reject a chance like that, could he have finally realised that he's not popular?"

"Nah, he's not smart enough to know when to give up."

"True."

"Uh, I think it's because he's trying to a keep a promise he made to our friend."

"A promise?"

Both Kane and Sheila looked curious as they focused their gazes on Serina.

"I didn't hear much about it, but apparently he wants to get strong enough to help him when we meet again."

This wasn't the first time either Serina or Fatty Zain talked about their friend, but in the minds of the others in the family he was still a mysterious figure.

"Hmm, so he made such a good male friend. That's surprising."

"Indeed, even though it didn't work out in the end, it seems his time in Silver City wasn't wasted."

"Mhmm, I also need to work hard not to lose to him."

When Serina proclaimed her determination to work hard, Sheila turned to Kane with an awkward look on her face.

"Have you explained it to her yet?"

"Uh, no..."

"She needs to know. Especially if she manages to get into the sect."

Kane nodded in response to his older sister and turned to Serina with a serious expression.

"Serina, it's about time you learnt about the standing of our Riot clan in the Burning Stampede Sect."

Kane then went on to explain that though the Riot clan held strong influence and had few enemies in the sect, the few enemies they had were comparable to them in status. The one that stood out the most among these enemies was the Stein clan. While their means of confronting the Riot clan were normally indirect, they wouldn't hesitate to knock them down a peg the moment they found a weak point. For example, the youngest child of the Riot clan.

"So he was bullied by people from the Stein clan?"

"Yes. From birth Zain was always a plump kid. We knew that it was because he had a special physique, but it was easy for outsiders to use it as something to shame him about. Of course, we wanted to help but if one of us got involved in a problem between small children then it would make things even worse."

Though they were joking about Fatty not too long, the guilty expressions on the faces of the siblings showed that they truly cared about him.

Sheila continued, "We felt sorry for not being able to help him, so when he said he wanted to go to Silver City, we didn't stop him. I'm glad that it ended up benefitting him."

As she listened to Fatty's past, Serina felt sympathy, but she knew that he wouldn't want her to show such consideration so she decided not to treat him any differently the next time she saw him.

"Oh, we've diverged from the main topic. Anyways what I'm trying to say is that if you get accepted into the sect you should be careful of the Stein clan and their associates. We'll try to protect you as much as possible but we can't guarantee that you won't face any troubles."

"It's okay, I'm a cultivator too, I know I can't expect you to always protect me."

"Oh, you're so cute!"

While Sheila tightly embraced Serina once more, Kane sighed as he watched them.

The next day, Serina woke up early and waited for Fatty by the entrance. The rest of the family wanted to see them off, but they all had important business to attend to so they settled for a party after their test. She didn't deny that she felt pressured by their expectations, but she was also determined to meet them.