264 Can Hide No Longer

"Do you know how many royal family members there are?" Alex asked

"Hmm… The emperor has 3 siblings as far as I know, and 3 children. As for the sibling's children, I am not sure. Although, the youngest one isn't even married despite being very old by now. I heard he is… " Ma Rong stopped.

"He is what?" Alex asked.

"Shh. We can't talk about these things in the open, Disciple Yu," the second elder said. "You never know whose eyes and ears are focused on us. It's better to take caution and not say anything."

Alex was a little surprised. But from the reaction, he could guess that whatever his master was going to say about the little brother of the emperor, it definitely wasn't going to be anything good.

'So the emperor's brother is a bum or something?' Alex wondered.

Soon, they reached the arena in the coliseum and Fu Zhen was there to explain to them about the different competitions that would take place today too.

The Alchemy competition for today was the fastest pill making. There was only a single one, so Ma Rong made Fan Ruogang, Zhou Mei, and Wan Li take part in the competition.

With the top 3 of the sect taking part in the competition, they could be pretty sure that they were going to win at least some points.

Alex and the rest of the group went to their seating area while Ma Rong took the three to get registered.

"Ah, Yu Ming. There you are." Alex heard someone call his name. From the sound, he knew who the person calling him was, but he wasn't sure if he should turn around to say something or not.

'I'll get beat if I don't say anything,' he thought and turned around. "Hello, sister," he said.  The one whole called out to him was none other than Luo Mei.

"I saw your competition yesterday. Congratulations on the first place," Luo Mei said.

"Thank you, sister," Alex said.

There were people behind both Luo Mei and Alex, and they were all surprised. The people couldn't understand why they were acting so close.

Du Yuhan was right there too and he was paying attention to the two of them talking.

"Senior Luo, do you know this guy? He was part of our sect but then he defected to Hong Wu sect," the girl named Su spoke from behind. "He was the guy that beat Huo Tu in a fight."

Sounds of gasps and surprise appeared from the Tiger sect side of the group. They all knew about Huo Tu losing to an inner sect disciple, but they never expected him to be part of the Hong Wu sect.

People started murmuring to themselves, wondering if Alex left the sect because he was scared of Huo Tu's retaliation.

Luo Mei frowned a little and said, "He did no such thing. Don't try to bring down my junior brother's name," Luo Mei said.

The girl named Su was a little surprised at Luo Mei's reaction. "Your… junior brother?" she asked.

Just then, the rest of the Tiger group returned from the registration place. Wen Cheng was followed by a few disciples, one of which was Meng Yun.

"Hmm… Yu Ming, what are you doing here? What is this crowd?" Wen Cheng asked.

Alex fell into a dilemma. 'Should I say it or not?' he thought. Wen Cheng seemed to understand his thoughts quite well, so he said, "it's okay. I was going to tell them soon either way."

"Ah, that is good then, Master," Alex said.

"Huh? Master?"

"Did he just say, master?"

"He called the Tiger Sect's sect leader his master."

"Is he defecting to Tiger Sect now?"

People on neither side of the group could understand what was going on. Wen Cheng decided to take the opportunity to explain.

"This is my direct disciple, Yu Ming. He is also the direct disciple of the Hong Wu Sect's sect leader Ma Rong," Wen Cheng announced.

The amount of noise because of the confusion only increased.

Ma Rong returned with the registered disciples and saw the crowd. "What's happening here?" she asked.

"Haha, Sect Leader, it seems Sect Leader Wen doesn't plan on hiding your disciple's relationship any longer. He's openly explained everything," the Second Elder said. He had known about Alex's situation since the start and had been silently looking at the situation unfold.

She quickly understood the situation and decided to explain the situation. She quickly told the group how Alex was trained in part by both of them and was actually a disciple of both of the two sects.

"He will return back to the Tiger sect for 2 weeks after the competition ends," Ma Rong said.

"Junior brother, are you not taking part in any competitions today?" Luo Mei asked. She had seen him not with the group that was registered so she was sure of it.

"No," Alex said.

"Then, why don't you come to sit with us for today? You should see how the sect does at least once in the competition," Luo Mei said.

"I—" Alex didn't know what to say. He was part of Hong Wu Sect right now, so leaving the group was not something he was thinking of.

"You can go with them for today. Just remember to return before we leave," Ma Rong said. Alex didn't have anything to do for the day, so he was free to do what he wanted.

"Alright, you guys have seen the drama for long enough. Go back to your own seats," Ma Rong scolded the group of people as she took them to the seating area.

Alex watched them leave and turned around to go back to the seating area of the Tiger sect. He sat down next to Luo Mei who herself was seated next to Meng Yun. Wen Cheng and the rest of the elders were sitting on the seats behind and above them.

The rest of the disciples were sitting on the seats that were on the same level or one step lower than the rest of them.