Chapter 838
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Chapter 838 Ouyang Xiuyuan!
Ouyang Xiuyuan’s eyes widened, filled with surprise and excitement.
He looked at Fang Yu before him, his mind flashing back to various scenes from many years ago.
Back then, he and Huai Xu were just two reckless young men who knew nothing but had plenty of raw determination.
If they hadn’t met Fang Yu, he and Huai Xu would have inevitably lived ordinary, uneventful lives like most people in the world.
“Recently, Huai Xu informed me that you had returned to North Capital and even met my son Chengdao… I immediately rushed back. I just arrived this morning, and I didn’t expect…” Ouyang Xiuyuan was so excited that his words became somewhat incoherent as he stared at Fang Yu.
Fang Yu walked around the tea table, sat down across from Ouyang Xiuyuan, and said with a smile, “I happened to come here today, sat downstairs for a while, sensed your aura, and came up.”
Ouyang Xiuyuan immediately stood up and poured a cup of tea for Fang Yu.
“Brother Fang, this cup of tea is my tribute to you.” Ouyang Xiuyuan bent forward, presenting the teacup with both hands.
“Come on, no need for such formalities.” Fang Yu said as he took the cup.
Ouyang Xiuyuan sat back down, watching Fang Yu take a sip of tea, his emotions settling considerably.
“Brother Fang, you’re still the same as before, haven’t changed a bit,” Ouyang Xiuyuan said with a smile.
“In my eyes, you haven’t changed much either,” Fang Yu replied.
Ouyang Xiuyuan shook his head and said, “I’ve grown old, Brother Fang, I’ve really grown old.”
“Everyone ages. But your spirit is much better than Huai Xu’s,” Fang Yu smiled.
“Huai Xu… he has too many concerns,” Ouyang Xiuyuan said with a focused gaze. “Compared to him, my life is much easier.”
“What have you been doing all these years?” Fang Yu asked.
Hearing this question, Ouyang Xiuyuan laughed awkwardly and said, “If I tell you, Brother Fang might laugh at me.”
“How could I laugh at you?” Fang Yu raised an eyebrow and said, “Go ahead, tell me.”
“Well…” Ouyang Xiuyuan nodded and said, “For quite a long time after you left, I devoted myself completely to cultivation. Until fifty years ago, I reached the Huashen stage. After that, I began to feel my talent limitations… I continued to cultivate diligently, but with low efficiency… Gradually, I accepted this reality. I started to shift my focus to other areas.”
“What areas?” Fang Yu asked.
Ouyang Xiuyuan showed hesitation, seemingly reluctant to speak, but under Fang Yu’s gaze, he finally sighed and said, “Later, I shifted my focus to something you dislike the most, Brother Fang.”
“I began to dedicate myself to increasing the influence of my name.”
“In the past few decades, the Ouyang family has rapidly risen to become the strongest family in Central Capital, without exception.”
Ouyang Xiuyuan started speaking hesitantly but gradually became more fluent, with a hint of pride in his eyes.
Making his family the number one family in Central Capital in just a few decades was no small achievement.
“Not bad,” Fang Yu took a sip of tea and said, “Personally, I don’t like to get involved in various power struggles, but I don’t think everyone should be like me. And I certainly don’t think what you’ve done is wrong.”
Hearing Fang Yu’s words, Ouyang Xiuyuan sighed again and said, “I just feel ashamed. Back then, Huai Xu and I were both your students. But Huai Xu went further and further on the path of cultivation and became the actual leader of the North Capital Martial Arts Association. I took a detour—not only did my cultivation stagnate, but in terms of martial arts status and achievements, I fell far behind Huai Xu…”
Fang Yu squinted at Ouyang Xiuyuan and said, “Your cultivation level isn’t that far behind Huai Xu’s, I can sense it from your aura.”
Ouyang Xiuyuan shook his head and said, “Level is one thing, but real strength is another matter.”
At this point, Ouyang Xiuyuan gave a bitter smile and said, “Brother Fang, in the past when I sparred with Huai Xu, I could always gain the upper hand. But now if you asked me to spar with him again, I’m afraid I wouldn’t last even one round.”
Seeing Ouyang Xiuyuan like this, Fang Yu recalled the situation from years ago.
The first time he met Huai Xu and Ouyang Xiuyuan, they were already good friends.
They had offended the son of a major family in town over some matters.
The first time Fang Yu saw them, they were being pinned to the ground and beaten by more than twenty men brought by that young master.
At that time, such incidents happened frequently, and ordinary passersby wouldn’t care or dare to help.
When Fang Yu passed by, he also just intended to glance over, watching the commotion.
Then, he saw Huai Xu and Ouyang Xiuyuan, beaten bloody and nearly unconscious.
That young master raised his foot and stepped on Ouyang Xiuyuan’s face, demanding they apologize and beg for mercy.
But Ouyang Xiuyuan and Huai Xu didn’t make a sound.
The young master became furious and gathered his twenty-plus followers to surround Ouyang Xiuyuan and Huai Xu, urinating on them and spitting at them.
Unwilling to be humiliated, Ouyang Xiuyuan and Huai Xu gritted their teeth and desperately lunged at the young master, tearing at him like hungry wolves.
The result, naturally, was that they were surrounded and beaten again by the followers who reacted quickly.
Just as the two were about to be beaten to death, Fang Yu stepped forward, drove those people away, and saved the two young men.
That was the beginning of their acquaintance.
During that period, Fang Yu was staying in that small town, so Ouyang Xiuyuan and Huai Xu came to find him every day.
They had witnessed Fang Yu’s skills and wanted to become his disciples to practice martial arts.
At first, Fang Yu was unwilling to teach them, but later he was indeed bothered enough, and moreover, he did see potential in these two, believing they had the qualities to succeed.
So, Fang Yu led these two onto the path of cultivation.
In this process, Fang Yu discovered that Huai Xu’s cultivation talent was quite poor, completely unremarkable among a large group of ordinary people.
However, Ouyang Xiuyuan’s talent was extraordinary, not inferior even when compared to so-called geniuses.
Therefore, after a short period of cultivation, Ouyang Xiuyuan pulled ahead of Huai Xu.
At the greatest disparity, Huai Xu was still at the eleventh layer of Qi Refining stage, while Ouyang Xiuyuan had already entered the Foundation Establishment stage.
A gap of two major realms.
Fang Yu taught them different cultivation methods based on their characteristics.
Later, because Huai Xu was diligent enough, he began to gradually catch up to Ouyang Xiuyuan.
Despite initially lagging by two major realms, Huai Xu entered the Yuan Ying stage at almost the same time as Ouyang Xiuyuan.
After that, Fang Yu left.
Fang Yu didn’t know about Huai Xu and Ouyang Xiuyuan’s subsequent development.
But a while ago, Fang Yu had seen Huai Xu’s name on the Sacred Ranking, placed fifth.
However, he didn’t see Ouyang Xiuyuan’s name.
Combined with what Ouyang Xiuyuan just said, one could roughly see the subsequent development of these two.
Although Huai Xu’s cultivation talent was extremely ordinary, he climbed step by step through hard work, eventually becoming a significant figure in North Capital’s martial arts world.
Ouyang Xiuyuan, on the other hand, chose to support the family business, making the Ouyang family the number one family in Central Capital.
The life trajectories of the two men, starting from the same point, gradually ran toward two different paths.
However, Fang Yu didn’t think one path was right and the other wrong, nor was there any distinction of superiority or inferiority.
They were purely just two different choices.
“Since your family is established in Central Capital, why has your son come to North Capital?” Fang Yu asked.
Ouyang Xiuyuan stood up to pour tea for Fang Yu and said, “Because… I want to gradually move the family to North Capital.”
“Oh,” Fang Yu nodded and said, “So this club is a foothold.”
“Yes,” Ouyang Xiuyuan said, “The difficulty of establishing oneself in North Capital is extremely high. Because North Capital’s martial arts world, compared to other regions, is like an isolated island, completely independent.”
“My family sits firmly at the top in Central Capital, but in North Capital, even the lowest-ranked martial arts families wouldn’t take us seriously.”
“Therefore, starting ten years ago, I planned to enter North Capital’s martial arts world and gradually move the family’s core here…”
“How’s it going?” Fang Yu asked.
“As you can see now, Brother Fang. Overall, not bad,” Ouyang Xiuyuan smiled.
