The place that Lin Fan was heading to was his store in the Mu Stellar Kingdom's capital.
It had been a long time since he had been there, but he knew that it was still running properly since he was earning points from this place.
But when he arrived, he couldn't help being surprised by what he saw.
That was because the ones that were currently running it were a handsome young man and five beautiful young girls.
The store itself wasn't as busy right now since the morning training slots had been sold.
Unlike the store in the Lin Astral Empire, people didn't trust the supplements that the store sold, so they didn't sell as well. The only busy time for this store was in the morning when people fought over the training spots.
So the six of them were just currently sitting there behind the counter.
When Lin Fan came in, the young man's eyes immediately lit up and he came over.
But he didn't come over because of Lin Fan. Rather, this young man had come over because of Xin'er.
Before he could reach Xin'er, Lin Fan was already standing between the two of them.
This young man was annoyed when he saw this and he released his pressure to suppress Lin Fan as he said, "Who do you think you…"
But before he could finish, his words were suddenly caught in his mouth.
That was because he had finally seen who Lin Fan was.
He had been so focused on Xin'er that he had only seen her when they came in. He hadn't noticed Lin Fan at all until just now, but there was a look of horror that appeared on his face when he noticed him.
That was because he recognized him with a single look.
Even if five years had passed, it was impossible for him not to recognize him.
"Bo…boss, you're back." Xiao Tu said in a stuttering voice.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtLin Fan looked at him with a faint smile on his lips before raising his hand.
Xiao Tu immediately turned to run, but there was no chance for him at all as the fist had already come down on his head and flattened him into the ground.
If it was anyone else, they might have been knocked out or seriously injured by this, but all that Xiao Tu got out of this was a bump on the head.
Lin Fan looked down at Xiao Tu and he couldn't help revealing a look of praise.
After all, he had felt Xiao Tu's cultivation just now when he had released his pressure.
In the five years that they hadn't met, it seemed that Xiao Tu had been working hard.
He had already reached the True Soul Realm and was close to breaking through to the World Realm.
Though when it came to cultivation, he was still behind Xin'er who was already in the World Realm.
She really was the daughter of the Mu Stellar King who had been the strongest genius in the Mu Stellar Kingdom before her. With the resources of the Mu Stellar Kingdom, she was able to break his record for the youngest World Realm Expert in the Mu Stellar Kingdom.
But of course, that was also because of Lin Fan's help. Both in her case and Xiao Tu's case.
Before he had left, he had bought and refined some pills that he had left behind in the store for them to cultivate with.
The ones that he refined were made with the vast alchemy knowledge that he had, so they were of course the best of the best.
As for the ones that he bought, they were from the system, so there was no doubting their efficacy.
After Xiao Tu had been pounded into the ground, the five girls behind the counter also came over. However, they all ignored Xiao Tu and ran over to Yuki who had just entered the store.
When Yuki saw them running over, she immediately picked them up in her arms and held them tightly.
These five girls were Xiao Tu's little sisters who had been living and working in the store with him.
They didn't work in the store before, but after Xiao Tu took over when Lin Fan left, they helped him run the store.
Seeing the way that they went right past Xiao Tu without even looking at him once, Lin Fan couldn't help thinking, "Are these girls going through their rebellious phase?"
Then when he saw the bitter smile on Xiao Tu's face as he looked at them, he figured that this was indeed the case.
They had been cute young girls that had followed their big brother around all the time, but now…they were beautiful young women who were taking steps for independence. They still loved him, but they didn't follow him around as closely as before.
When they passed by Lin Fan though, they did look at him with glares like they did before.
It wasn't just because he was bullying their big brother, but also because of how Yuki had influenced them.
It wasn't a secret that Yuki didn't like Lin Fan for many reasons, so she had no reason not to teach this to these five little girls.
Though it wasn't actual hate that they had felt towards each other.
No matter what, they had spent quite a bit of time together, so it was more of a playful teasing than anything.
Once Xiao Tu got off the ground, he looked at Lin Fan with a complicated look before asking, "Boss, when did you come back?"
Lin Fan looked at him with a calm look and said, "I just got back."
Xiao Tu revealed a surprised look before saying, "Oh."
Then the two of them fell into silence.
It was an awkward silence, but neither of them seemed to mind this awkward silence.
In fact, it was as if they were just silently enjoying one's presence.
It would be a lie to say that there weren't any good feelings between them after all.
Lin Fan had taken care of Xiao Tu for a while, both letting him run the store and leaving all of those pills for him to cultivate with. This was not something that Xiao Tu took lightly since before this, he had only had himself to rely on.
This had left a deep impression of Lin Fan on Xiao Tu and in a sense, he almost saw him as a parent.
Even if he had been away for five years.
Not to mention, Lin Fan was Xin'er's adopted father, so it wasn't as if he could avoid Lin Fan if he ever wanted to chase after Xin'er.
For Lin Fan, even if he saw Xiao Tu as a child he took care of, that didn't mean that he would ever let him near Xin'er.
That was doubly so for the Mu Stellar King who had come with Lin Fan down to the store.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHe had pumped his fists when Lin Fan had knocked Xiao Tu to the ground and he wanted to get in between them as well, but he knew that Xin'er would call him a bully if he did.
It was only Lin Fan who could get away with beating Xiao Tu like this since they had been close before.
After a long reunion, they moved into the back of the store and sat down like they had done before.
Lin Fan took this time to check up on Xiao Tu and the five girls to see how they had changed over all this time.
Xiao Tu had reached the True Soul Realm, but he was only barely in the True Soul Realm.
As for the five girls, they were all in the Child Soul Realm still.
It seemed that they didn't really have a talent for cultivation since the pills that Lin Fan had left for them should have been more than enough for them to reach the World Realm already.
Still, he didn't mind since they were just kids and there was no need for them to grow that quickly.
He preferred if they grew up healthy instead of powerful.
Now that they had settled, Xiao Tu went back to his ways and started approaching Xin'er again.
The difference now was that there were two guardians instead of just one.
When Lin Fan had been gone, it was up to the Mu Stellar King alone to keep Xiao Tu away from Xin'er. But now that Lin Fan was back, he just had no way of approaching with these two guardians keeping him back.
With the Mu Stellar King, Xin'er would step in if he went too far.
But with Lin Fan, it didn't matter what Lin Fan did, Xin'er would always be on her side.
This also caused collateral damage to the Mu Stellar King.
Even though he was her biological father, there was a special bond between her and Lin Fan.
It seemed that in her heart, Lin Fan still had the higher spot, so she would pardon him no matter what he did to Xiao Tu.
It could also be said that Xiao Tu did have a small part in her heart since she would speak up for him when the Mu Stellar King bullied him.
After they finished catching up like this, Lin Fan suddenly stood up and said, "I'll be leaving again for a little bit."
All of them were caught off guard, but Xin'er was the one that reacted first by saying with a worried look, "Where are you going? Can I come with you?"
Lin Fan shook his head and said, "I have to take care of some business, but I'll be back soon. It's too dangerous for you to come along, so I can't take you."
Then after seeing her disappointed expression, he added, "When I come back, I'll take you somewhere else with me for some fun, alright?"
Xin'er was still disappointed, but she gave a nod in response.