“My name is Yu Mo,” the ratty boy said. “And the big guy over is called Ru Gou.”

The big man looked a little interested when his name was said. He looked up tentatively, saw Lin Yang, looked away like a frightened rabbit, then shrugged, and nodded in greeting. He returned to looking dazed and uninterested promptly.

“And she is—”

“Yu Tangming,” the girl interrupted.

“—lady iron heart.Doesn't trust anyone, especially those with too much yang, except us two I suppose,” Yu Mo finished.

“You call me what?!” Tangming asked.

“Oops, did she hear that? Ahh no, I was talking of another female friend of ours. They may sound the same, but the Yu character in her name has its origins in the ancient Ling province, so—”

“Shut up!”

Lin Yang chuckled a little, watching the ratty youth's antics. In truth, this guy was not all that young. He was just one of those small people.

Ripple points obtained (satisfaction): 0.1 (Yu Mo)

Ripple points: 3.8302

Lin Yang frowned at that. Then he noticed the boy looking at him with a tiny smile. Maybe it was because of that chuckle back there. He did notice Yu Mo was trying a bit too hard with the jokes.

“Fine,” the girl said with a huff. “It's fine, Mo, you've had your fun. You brought an unwelcome guest here. The young master had a laugh at us small outer sect disciples. Now, can we get to business.”

“Fine,” Yu Mo visibly deflated. “As you can see, this is a bit of a busy nest, young master. A spider nest, that is.”

Lin Yang smiled awkwardly. “I see,” he said before looking around awkwardly. “So what are you guys doing here anyway?”

“You think we'd tell you?!” Yu Tangming exploded.

“Plotting our rise to the inner sect!” Yu Mo answered at the same time.

Lin Yang was slightly surprised by the answer. Well, what else would they be planning though? How to take out another gang? Theirs comprised only three people.

Lin Yang didn't know how to keep the conversation going, even though he was curious about these three. Why were there only three of them? Why were they plotting this kind of thing in secret? Wouldn't the sect help and encourage those who wanted to enter the inner sect, provided they had the ability?

“So…uh, what hall are you all looking at?” he asked conversationally.

Yu Mo and Yu Tangming didn't reply immediately. Looking at them and their suddenly awkward expressions, he had a vague guess.

“Luoyin?” 

They nodded.

“Even now,” he couldn't help but ask.

The two shared a glance, then looked back at him. They nodded resolutely.

Lin Yang smiled. “Good luck, I guess. I don't know the process of becoming an inner disciple, but if you guys make it through, I do still have some sway in Luoyin hall. I was my master's first disciple, getting you accepted in would be easy.”

Yu Tangming suddenly looked a little abashed about her earlier attitude, and Yu Mo stood with hands crossed and smile smug. Thinking on it, they had similar surnames. He wondered if they were related. At a glance, they didn't look it. Tangming was tall for a girl where Mo was on the short side. 

And Tangming was a well-proportioned woman where Mo was a very small man. And then there was the faces. It wasn't good to judge, but Lin Yang was fairly certain this was just a case of same surname but very different origins.

“What about you?” Tangming asked. “Do you plan to return to Luoyin hall?”

She seemed rather attentive when she asked this, her eyes fixed on Lin Yang's face and waiting avidly for his response.

Lin Yang could only sigh. He had no intention of returning there, or of becoming the head disciple or whatever. Or even remaining in the sect.

“I lost my cultivation,” he explained. “I don't think—”

“But they didn't kick you out,” this time Yu Mo interrupted. “They want you to heal, and probably think you're talented enough to get back to your former position.”

Lin Yang grimaced. “I don't know. I don't really want to return to the Luoyin hall that much, even if I return to the inner sect.”

“You don't want to?” Yu Tangming asked. “What, you are going to change masters or something? What hall will you go to then?”

“I will not belong to any hall,” he said. ‘Probably not to any sect, to be honest,’ he thought. “I can still be my master's disciple even without belonging to her hall, provided I don't register with another hall.”

“But…” Yu Tangming hesitated. She was probably thinking of all the reasons it made sense to belong to a hall, but Lin Yang didn't have any of those compunctions.

He didn't really need cultivation resources. His ripple points were his cultivation resources, and his system. And the whole family aspect of a hall was kind of a joke to him now, as he'd already been repeatedly ridiculed by his own fellow disciples of the Luoyin hall.

“That's enough, Tangming,” Yu Mo said, his voice serious once again. “So, young master, do you have any plans to regain your cultivation?”

Lin Yang stretched his body. “Yes I do. I need to go to the technique pavilion, in fact.”

The Hehuan sect was on a large hill. It was divided in circles like a city, with the outer sect forming the outer and largest circle. The skill pavilion was at the Western boundary between the outer and inner sect, all the easier for even outer disciples to access it.

“But young master…” Yu Tangming said. “You don't have any contribution points..."

Lin Yang shrugged. “It's fine. I don't need anything fancy. The things on the first floor should help me plenty.”

The pavilion was divided into floors. There was a map of the sect on the first floor; some general cultivation knowledge; and some worthless techniques that did nothing except affect energy circulation. But even such a technique could help him improve his cultivation, or at least step onto the path of cultivation. Then he wouldn't feel so weak as he did currently.

“Hey, do you guys think you can direct me to the technique pavilion by the way?” Lin Yang asked suddenly.

Three speechless expressions, including the giant who'd mostly ignored him up to now, was all that met this question. Like the three, even the reticent giant Ru Gou, couldn't believe he couldn't find the technique pavilion.

He threw his hands up in exasperation. “I've never been to the outer sect, and in truth, I don't know much about the sect's layout. I've never needed to pay much attention before. Besides, Mo practically ran me around in the most confusing hoop. I can't tell what is what and where.”

Again the room was quiet for a bit. “Are you sure you are working on a way to gain back your cultivation?” Yu Tangming asked. “You were injured only one week ago. These kinds of injuries usually take anywhere between months and years to heal. And there was the poison...”

“And that pill the matriarch gave you was taken,” Yu Mo added.

“Yeah, but all those are none-issues,” Lin Yang said.

Yu Tangming studied his face for a few heartbeats, the concentration on her visage making Lin Yang self-conscious.

“Fine then,” she said with a sigh. “I'll take you there personally.”

And then she walked past him and proceeded to start crawling through the hole first. Lin Yang looked after her with his mouth half open, not quite understanding her. Wasn't this the same woman who hated the mere sight of him moments before?

“You're probably surprised by her behavior, right?” Yu Mo asked. “She is a big fan of yours, you know. She has been even more salty since your duel last week. You don't have only haters in the outer sect.”

And then Yu Mo was gone too. And the big guy also walked past Lin Yang, leaving him with another nod of acknowledgement before returning to his own world. 

Lin Yang stood there a moment, unable to gather his thoughts.

It made sense when he thought about it. Lin Yang was like an idol, a figure they could admire from afar. 

And of course, Lin Yang was on the handsome side, so it kind of made sense that at least a few of the girls would view him favourably. So then why did a lot of people hate him? It seemed like a lot more people hated him than liked him, and yet in his inherited memories Lin Yang couldn't find any terrible act that would breed the kind of resentment he was getting.

“Hey, young master!” Yu Tangming suddenly yelled. “Are we going to go, or are you going to stand there admiring your beautiful face all day?”

Lin Yang blanched. “How did you know I was—”

Yu Mo bent over laughing. “I called it! Told you that's what he was doing.”

They walked quietly for a bit, Yu Mo always walking ahead and scouting the route. Lin Yang did have a few gangs looking for him after all. 

The paths were crowded, but Yu Mo supposedly knew how to avoid the three gangs after Lin Yang. Besides, Lin Yang was walking right behind Ru Gou and keeping his head down mostly. He'd already taken off the silver crown he normally wore and replaced it with a simple headband. It should be hard for someone to recognize him. Yu Tangming was walking on his left, further shielding him from sight.

“I have seen outer disciples working close to the elder's pavilion before,” Lin Yang commented. “Do you know anything about those kinds of tasks?”

Because the elder's pavilion was right next to the ancestral hall. That seemed like the best bet he had of getting close there. The ancestral hall was guarded and looked after by inner disciples, so as an outer disciple he had zero chance of getting there.

“Why do you want to do such a demeaning thing?” Yu Tangming asked.

Lin Yang shrugged. “I do have relationships with some of the elders, you know.”

“That's fine then. These kinds of tasks are not so popular. Going on monster hunting quests or herb gathering or things like that are better. Those unpopular ones are mostly left for the weaker disciples. If you want, I can have you put on the roster to go into the inner sect in two days.”

Lin Yang frowned. “You have that much influence?”

Yu Tangming wouldn't meet his eyes after that. “I can do at least that much,” she said in a low voice, almost barely audible. 

Lin Yang didn't understand what she was thinking, or why she was taking this matter so seriously, but he shook his head and decided to move on. 

“I've been told, since I got my injury, that I've made a lot of enemies in and out of the sect. I've not generally visited the outer sect that much, nor left the sect since I joined it. Do you have any idea why the people in the outer sect hate me so?”

Yu Tangming shrugged. “Because of your experiments, of course.”

“Experiments? What kinds of experiments?”

“You’ve tortured many of the outer disciples who work at Luoyin hall. They would always come back with bruises and scars hidden under their clothes, and they said it was you. Didn't you notice that at some point outer disciples stopped going to the Luoyin hall, and only trial disciples with zero cultivation work there now?”

Lin Yang, the original, was a very focused person. To his detriment it seemed.

“Hmm?” Lin Yang said with a frown.

Tangming looked around furtively. “There are even stories about you wanting to turn Luoyin hall into your personal harem. They said you fought with at least three of the promising disciples of Luoyin hall and crippled two of them, because they refused to be your eunuchs,” she whispered to him.

“What?!” Lin Yang asked. He did remember conflicts in the hall. Xue Yin had on many occasions sited she was being bullied, and as her senior brother he'd stepped in. Well, the current Lin Yang thought maybe the original was a bit excessive in his punishments.

“You even gave your house to Xue Yin,” Tangming continued. “And then went after senior sister… that was why many people are happy you lost that duel.”

“People believe all this?” Lin Yang asked. “Wait, do you believe all this?”

Tangming shrugged. “There was evidence, and you never came out to deny the allegations. Even when articles were written in your name proclaiming yourself the number one genius in the world. I think you said something about all women in the Hehuan sect belonging to you.”

So she believed all that, and yet she was still some kind of fan? Was that normal?

“This is absurd! How could anyone believe this?!”

Tangming hesitated. “Well… you were at the ninth layer of initiate realm, and yet you didn't have a core technique. Rumours said you wanted the joyful union technique and no other.”

“Isn't the joyful union technique one only women can cultivate?” Lin Yang asked.

“But it makes sense. It's the Hehuan sect’s strongest art. And it isn't the first time a male genius created a masculine art from a female one, is it?” Tangming asked.

“So they said I cut people? To what? Create a new technique?”

“It isn't unbelievable,” Tangming said. “Hehuan sect is pretty tame, you know, for a demonic sect.”

Lin Yang felt his facial muscles pinch in some unknown emotion. What was the original doing when all these rumors went out? Why had these rumors gone out in the first place?

Well, he was busy cultivating. Lin Yang was obsessed with cultivation to an almost unhealthy degree. That's perhaps what it took to be a genius. And then he was forced to try and learn other things, like poetry and history and calculus and chess and other culturally pertinent things. 

He was being prepared for something away from the sect. Little did they know someone somewhere was also plotting against him.

Well, likely everyone else knew. Everyone being the elders, and only Lin Yang was in the dark.

Lin Yang sighed. “These rumours are ridiculous!”

“Hey guys…” Yu Mo in the front said.

Yu Tangming replied to him with some scathing remark, while Lin Yang disappeared in his head again.

The Hehuan sect, even as it was demonic, used a lot of skills themed with happiness. The aforementioned joyful union technique being their strongest techniques. Elder Bai Qingling also practiced the blissful immortal fist.

He always liked to joke that his joyful union was with his casks.

“Hey, are you two even listening to me?!” Yu Mo yelled.

“What?!” Yu Tangming said. “What is it, you little…”

“I wanted to say that guy Yang Yi has found us. But oh no, you'd rather yell at me. Well go on then. Walk right into the ambush.”

“Huh?” said both Yu Tangming and Lin Yang at the same time. 

In front, with his hands crossed over his chest, stood Yang Yi indeed. He had a pleased smirk on his hopelessly unremarkable face. And he was dressed in a silken robe that was very familiar to Lin Yang. 

“Thank you, senior brother Lin. I was getting tired of my old clothes. But clothes are not enough. I would feel way better if you let me punch your face in. Just a little.” He snapped his fingers.

 A/N: Thank you for ten readers! A reminder to expect chapters every week day from now on. At least until the year ends. Go follow me on Royal road. You know how the early days are important over there.