"Let's take a look first." Evan Yang didn’t agree right away. He turned to the fat man and smiled, "So, how exactly are we betting?"
The fat man grinned, his chubby cheeks jiggling. "Heh, it’s simple. We bet on who can push the other farther."
"Come on, that’s just a scam!" Ethan Lin immediately complained.
"What? Scared already?" The fat man eyed the pile of Spirit Crystal Ore and chuckled.
Ethan Lin’s face turned green. If he had to compete, he’d definitely lose.
Evan Yang paused, then laughed. "Alright, I’ll compete against you."
"You sure?" The fat man looked Evan up and down, surprised that someone of average build would accept the challenge.
"Yeah. If I win, these six kids go with me, right?" Evan glanced at the six pitiful children, feeling a pang of compassion.
"Of course! If you win, the kids are yours—do whatever you want. But if you lose, heh, your hundred thousand Spirit Crystal Ores are mine." The fat man grinned smugly after Evan confirmed.
"Deal." Evan Yang agreed without hesitation.
Ethan Lin grew curious. "Brother Mu, are you sure you can do this?"
"No problem," Evan replied simply. With everyone watching, the two stepped onto a wide platform, about twenty meters across.
The six kids stared at Evan Yang with hopeful eyes, praying he’d win and rescue them from this miserable life.
"You go first." The fat man squatted slightly, sneering as he took his position.
Everyone watched the two, whose body types were clearly mismatched, curious about what would happen next.
Evan Yang walked over, smiling. "Alright, I won’t hold back!"
As Evan was about to make his move, the fat man activated a technique—his feet suddenly sank into the ground a bit.
"Gravity Art!" Someone in the crowd immediately recognized what the fat man was doing.
Evan Yang was surprised at first, then laughed. "So you’ve got tricks like that, huh? No wonder you like betting on who pushes farther."
"Heh, too late to regret now!" The fat man laughed loudly, making it obvious he was trying to scam people.
Ethan Lin looked frustrated, glancing at the six kids, feeling a kind of unspeakable sadness. Evan Yang ignored everyone’s stares, stepped onto the platform, and grinned, "Watch closely!"
Evan pressed both palms against the fat man, his hands moving with the guy’s wobbling body. It looked intense, but after Evan gave a shout and pushed, the fat man just laughed, "Is that all you’ve got?"
The onlookers burst out laughing.
Only Evan Yang smirked, "Don’t blame me if you end up hurting yourself."
"You think you can knock me down, kid?" The fat man snickered.
"Ready?" Evan said. Before the fat man could react, he suddenly felt himself starting to slide backwards. "Crap," he muttered as a strange force pushed him. He tried to amp up his Gravity Art, but it was no use—the force was way too strong, and he couldn’t stop it.
Under everyone’s stunned gaze, the fat man slowly slid back, pushed by Evan Yang. He couldn’t stop himself and ended up at the edge of the platform, tumbling right off.
"Ouch!" The fat man crashed to the ground, yelping in pain.
Now everyone started laughing at the fat guy, while Ethan Lin and the kids were all super excited.
The fat man scrambled up, refusing to give in. "Kid, you’re strong, but now it’s my turn!"
"Go ahead." Evan Yang stood there, smiling at him.
The fat man’s face turned cold, cursing to himself, "As long as I push him off, it’s a tie!"
He stomped over to Evan and snorted, "Let’s see what I can do!"
With a loud ‘bang,’ he slammed both fists into Evan’s ‘skinny’ body. Some timid folks shut their eyes, while the braver ones wanted to see Evan get sent flying.
The six kids stared in shock, and Ethan Lin was just as stunned.
"Want to try again?" Evan Yang stood perfectly still, smiling.
"No way!" The fat man tried again and again, but couldn’t move Evan an inch.
"You lost. The six kids are mine now." Evan grinned after the guy failed to budge him.
"Tch." The fat man realized he’d lost, snorted, and after one last look at the kids, turned away in defeat.
"How did he do that?" The crowd stared at Evan Yang in awe.
Only Evan Yang knew what really happened. When he pushed the fat man, he focused all his energy into his hands, then unleashed a triple force. That was the Threefold Heart Technique he’d mastered after reaching Core Formation. The power of three layers of qi was insane—if the fat man hadn’t used Gravity Art and wasn’t built like a tank, he’d have been sent flying hundreds of meters or even knocked right through the platform.
Evan himself was protected by his spirit armor. When the fat man hit him, he struck the hard armor—and Old Clam was stuck to it, too. The fat man couldn’t shake them at all. Evan even felt the armor could spread out the impact.
That discovery made Evan ask Old Clam, "Did you notice anything just now?"
"Yeah, I sent a bit of spiritual power into your armor, but I didn’t expect it to have a diffusion effect," Old Clam replied, blinking in surprise.
Evan was thrilled. He’d always thought the treasure armor was just for defense, but now he wanted to study it more. Just as he was about to, someone called out, "Brother Mu, what’s up?"
Evan snapped back to reality and saw the six pitiful kids gathered around him, with Ethan Lin looking at him curiously.
"Uh, it’s nothing. Let’s get out of here first." Evan smiled at the six kids.
The six kids practically treated Evan as their savior, offering to help him with anything and begging him to teach them magic along the way.
Later, at an inn, the six kids were starving—they hadn’t eaten in ages. Evan brought them in and ordered a feast for them.
He learned that all six were orphans, somehow ending up in the fat man’s hands and living like animals, always hungry. The fat man was a cultivator and didn’t care about regular people—he only kept them around for gambling. He never expected to meet Evan.
Two of the six were girls. Their clothes were totally ragged, so Evan said, "Let’s go buy some new clothes for you, alright?"
"Big brother, you’re the best!" one of the girls said, excited.
The other five kids all smiled, too.
Seeing their smiles, Evan couldn’t help but smile back. "Eat up, everyone."
None of the six had names. Ethan Lin suggested, "Let’s go by age—Eldest, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth."
"Come on, that’s not how you name people," Evan said, speechless.
"Big brother, you can call us that," the oldest boy said cheerfully, not caring at all.
"No, that’s not good. You’ll have to live in this world someday, and names like that would scare people off," Evan insisted.
"How about Mu One, Mu Two, Mu Three, Mu Four, Mu Five, Mu Six? You’re the one who saved them, after all," Ethan Lin grinned, inspired.
"Big brother, that’s great! We’ll take your surname," the eldest replied, and the others quickly agreed.
Evan Yang shivered at Ethan Lin’s suggestion, but after thinking it over, he decided to give them proper names: Mu Shu, Mu Xuan, Mu Quan, Mu Heng, Mu Qin, and Mu Xuan.
The two girls were Mu Qin and Mu Xuan.
The kids were thrilled to finally have names.
The youngest, Mu Xuan, flashed her dimples and said, "We finally have a family."
"Yeah," Mu Shu, the eldest, smiled too.
Seeing their smiles, Evan Yang felt relieved, but thinking about the future made his head ache. He turned to Ethan Lin, "Think you could help them find a good home?"
Ethan Lin was stunned for a second, then chuckled, "Just spend some Spirit Crystal Ores and it’ll be fine."
Hearing that, Mu Shu and the others put down their chopsticks, unhappy. "Big brother, you don’t like us?"
"No, you got it wrong. I just have things to do, so I can’t always be with you. But I’ll come visit when I can," Evan sighed.
"Big brother, we want to stay with you. No matter what, we won’t cause trouble," Mu Shu’s eyes turned red as he fought back tears. The other five, being younger, couldn’t help but cry.
Evan Yang was completely stumped.
Old Clam suddenly spoke up, "Take them in, kid. Seeing these little ones reminds me of my own children."
Evan didn’t agree right away, but sent a message to Old Clam, "You know I have my own path to walk. Bringing these six along..."
"I have a technique that’s perfect for them, but they’ll need to stay somewhere safe for a few years," Old Clam replied.
Evan thought about Old Clam’s words and really wanted to take the six in, but finding a quiet place for them to train was tricky. While he hesitated, the kids cried even harder.
Seeing this, Ethan Lin couldn’t hold back. "Brother Mu, you saved them, so just take them with you."
"It’s not that I don’t want to, but I have dangerous things to do. I’m worried they’ll get hurt," Evan shook his head.
Hearing Evan’s worries, Ethan Lin felt bad for the six kids. They were so young, and now they’d have to face bloodshed.
"Big brother, we’re not afraid of anything," Mu Shu said bravely. The others didn’t really understand, but seeing Mu Shu speak up, they all chimed in. Mu Xuan tugged at Evan’s pant leg, "Big brother, we’re not scared."