Ignoring Peony and Xi Lan’s effort to shield their mistress, Yun Moyuan charged up a devastating blow to strike the prone Yun Ruoyan. What he didn’t expect was for a strong gust of qi to block him—somehow, Yun Ruoyan had gotten back up and was shielding her two servants, blocking his strike with her own force!

How was that possible? Yun Moyuan was a fourth-rank blademaster! The recoil from his failed attack left Yun Moyuan staggering.

Yun Ruoyan’s expression was serene, her body seemingly filled with strength. She pushed a little harder, striking Yun Moyuan and flinging him more than a meter away!

Cough! Yun Moyuan stumbled and knelt down, coughing. “Yun Ruoyan! This is impossible!!”

How had she deflected his blow and then struck back at him so comfortably?! Just then, he’d felt the domineering strength emanating from Yun Ruoyan’s palm, and it wasn’t anything that anyone her age could maintain!

“Yun Ruoyan, how could you use such underhanded means against your own cousin?” Yun Ruoyu’s face was filled with shock. As a bystander, her natural conclusion was that Yun Ruoyan had used some underhanded means of victory, because there was simply no way she was strong enough to beat him.

With this flimsy justification, Yun Ruoyu lifted her sword and made to strike at Yun Ruoyan, but before she could even get in range, Yun Ruoyan shifted her body and flashed towards her back. With a light spin of her wrist, she easily grabbed the hilt of Yun Ruoyu’s sword and wrenched it away from her!

Yun Ruoyu naturally wanted to snatch her own weapon back, and she even tried to hit Yun Ruoyan’s injured shoulder with her palm. But Yun Ruoyan dodged once again and hit her hard in the back in response!

How could this be? Was she unable to defeat even someone like Yun Ruoyan?!

“Sister, you’ve caused enough of a ruckus today, haven’t you?” Yun Ruoyan threw the sword against the ground. Yun Ruoyao and Yi Qianying were both staring from the side, open-mouthed—both Yun Ruoyan’s fleet footwork and qi condensation were skills that they couldn’t emulate!

Yun Moyuan wanted to continue insulting her, but Yun Ruoyao cupped his mouth in the nick of time. “Sister, why are you so mad? It was just a friendly bout between us, nothing more. Don’t take this to heart.”

“A friendly bout?” Yun Ruoyan laughed. “My two servants and I almost suffered grievous injuries!”

Yun Ruoyao bit her lips. When had Yun Ruoyan started to be so difficult to deal with? Even her cultivation seemed to be above theirs now!

“It’s getting late, and we’ve already concluded the fight. How about…we leave now?” Yi Qianying walked up cautiously, tugging at Yun Ruoyan’s sleeve. “My goal was initially to apologize to you once more, Sister, but I didn’t anticipate we would make you even angrier. This is all my fault, and I’m sorry.”

Yun Ruoyan had had enough of seeing Yi Qianying’s artifice, and she pulled away from her calmly. “In that case, I won’t send you out.”

Yi Qianying frowned. Surprisingly, Yun Ruoyan hadn’t accepted her display of goodwill. In the past, she would stick to Yi Qianying like a leech, but now she seemed to be putting on airs.

After finally “sending” her siblings away, Yun Ruoyan finally calmed down and sat down to collect herself.

Xi Lan couldn’t hide her excitement. “Miss, you were amazing just now! Even Yun Moyuan couldn’t defeat you!”

Peony added, “That’s right, Miss! But your wound… is it alright? Do you feel unwell anywhere?”

Yun Ruoyan kept her eyes shut as she felt the qi flowing through her body. She could clearly identify that the gust of strength was solely a temporary boon. It came from her wrist, from the bracelet that her mother had left her.

Yun Ruoyan tried to control the strength flowing through her body in order to recuperate, but unexpectedly, just as she had gotten a grasp on it, the strength that had permeated her body vanished without a trace.

“Miss?” Seeing Yun Ruoyan frown, Peony asked inquiringly.

Xi Lan evidently didn’t notice the subtle shift in Yun Ruoyan’s expression. “If you keep this up, Miss, you’re sure to be able to pass the recruitment exam for Kongming Academy in the next few days!”

“Kongming Academy’s recruitment exam?”

Kongming Academy was one of the strongest powers on the Chenyuan continent, even more so than the four kingdoms. On a regular basis, they would recruit promising talents from each kingdom. The scions of the noble families were all eligible to take the test, but only the elite would be able to get into the academy.

If her strength really could be maintained at the level she’d displayed while fighting against Yun Moyuan and Yun Ruoyu, then it shouldn’t be difficult for her to pass the test as well.

The problem was that her strength had now vanished, as if it had never appeared to begin with.

Yun Ruoyan spread her palms and stared at them. She had to understand where her power had come from in order to get into Kongming Academy, so those who looked down upon her wouldn’t be able to do so any further!

“Peony, Xi Lan, you two can retire now. I’m a little tired.”

Once Yun Ruoyan was the only one remaining in the room, she began studying her bracelet in earnest. The engraving on the bracelet was particularly exquisite in the candlelight, and only upon close scrutiny did Yun Ruoyan realize that the bracelet consisted of multiple layers. The topmost and bottommost layers were filled with loops and whorls, whereas the middle layer, the heart of the bracelet, was much more intricately engraved.

As she slowly turned the bracelet in her hand, Yun Ruoyan suddenly felt her eyes go dark. When she next opened them, she found herself in an unidentified location.

Was this—Could it be… that this was a pocket dimension?

“Oh, mistress?” A young voice chirped out close by.

But even though she looked all around her, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t find the source of the voice.

Another chirp sounded; this time, Yun Ruoyan focused her gaze on the spot from which the voice had come. Gradually, an orange haze coalesced before her eyes. The dark fog seemed to have gained a measure of sentience, and when Yun Ruoyan focused on the area in front of her once more, a horned qilin-like creature [1] was in front of her.

The qilin’s height reached only her kneecaps, and its two eyes were as clear and bright as opals. It trotted a little towards her and nuzzled her legs in a natural manner. “Mistress~~ I’ve waited for you for so long~~”

“Mistress?” The little fellow was very cute, and Yun Ruoyan had immediately fallen in love with its cuteness. She bent down and rubbed its head. “What’s your name? How long has it been since you’ve been in here?”

“Oh, I don’t have a name yet.” The little fellow cocked its head, its opal-like eyes staring carefully at Yun Ruoyan. “I’ve been here for a few centuries already.”

A few centuries… Yun Ruoyan’s first reaction was that this had to be a spirit creature of exceptional pedigree!

1. A mythical equine-like chimera in Chinese mythology.