“You know,” Li Chyou looked at the boy dumbly as she sat on a chair inside her room, “I thought you were joking but the days really flew by.”

“Haha!” he chuckled and asked in a teasing tone, “Nervous, Young Miss?”

“Not at all!” she said decisively. “After the comforting, you’ve done, I’m not going to be worried even if I do lose!”

“Uh, you should be worried about that,” he said with nervousness.

“Haha!” it was now her turn to laugh at him. “Don’t worry; I’ve done all I can and trained all I can. All I can do now is-”

“-hope for the best!” the boy finished her sentence with a nod.

“Right!” Li Chyou got up from her chair and started walking.

“Everything ready, Young Miss?”

“Well, I asked some of the servants to get me my set of armor and my halberd, so I’m just waiting for that!”

“They should be coming right about now,” as soon as the boy said that, there was a series of knocks on the door.

“Come in!” she let them in.

“Young Miss, your armor and weapons!” three servants came in; the leading one spoke and held her set of armor. It was black in color and made of a metal unknown to him. It had a painting of a yellow goldfinch[1] which was sitting on a sword drawn on the left breast of the chest plate. It was the symbol of the Li Clan. The armors covered all her vitals yet, strangely enough, there wasn’t a helmet or headpiece.

“Young Miss, aren’t you going to wear a helmet?” he asked.

“Helmet?” she told the servants to put it on the table and looked at him strangely. “Women’s armors don’t have helmets and even some men don’t wear them[2].”

“What!?” the boy was beyond shocked. He didn’t see her wear a helmet during training and he thought that was fine because she wasn’t sparring or in a fight. But he never thought that she just didn’t have one! Why not? What the hell do women have against protection?

“Psst!” a hissing sound came. The boy looked around and saw that one of the male servants was calling him. He walked over to him and asked, “Yes?”

“Dude,” the servant whispered in his ears, “if she wears a helmet, how can we see her face and appreciate her beauty?”

The boy felt speechless. He moved his ear away and looked at the servant who had an ‘as-it-should-be’ expression. He looked at the others with him and all of them had the same expression.

I can’t even… The boy felt a headache coming and shook his head. He turned around and looked at Li Chyou whose armor and halberd seemed to have vanished in thin air.

“Um…Young Miss?” he asked, “Where did your things go?”

“Oh? It’s in my space ring!” she raised her right hand which had a green ring with a small white gem on top.

“Space ring?” he looked puzzled.

“Right, you’re a complete rookie!” she hit her head with a reproaching expression, “It’s a ring which can store objects in its own separate space!”

“Really?” his eyes lit up and he instantly moved closer to have a better look. “How does it work?”

“I don’t know the semantics!” Li Chyou spoke with an annoyed expression. In any other clans, if a personal servant dared to do something like this, they would be reprimanded at least and punished at worst under suspicion of coveting their master’s possession. It was because Li Chyou knew that the boy didn’t want her ring that she didn’t question him.

She knew that he would say something along the lines of, “Why would I want your ring? I’ll get one of my own if I need it!”

The boy kept on admiring the ring oblivious of her thoughts. “Does this ring create a separate space of its own and then store it in there?”

“Huh?” her train of thought was broken and she looked a bit confused. “How did you know?”

“I mean…you called it a ‘Space Ring’, so I’d like to believe it has something to do with space.”

“Yeah, that’s right!” she scratched her head, feeling a bit impressed. “The gems have the space attribute and they indeed work the way you say.”

“So, are they called something like ‘Space Stone’?” he asked further.

“No way!” she looked at him like he was a retard, “What a dumb name! They are called Void Diamonds.”

“…No, wai-” before he could retort, Li Fen arrived at the door. She was dressed elegantly as though she was going to a ball and not going to watch her daughter fight for the future of their clan. The boy had already told of Li Chyou’s heartbreak and all the events surrounding it to her.

Her reaction at that time was shockingly mild. She thanked him and asked him to leave for then.

“Ready to go?” she asked with her melodious voice, standing in the doorway. The servants who had brought Li Chyou her things bowed to Li Fen and left.

“Just one thing!” Li Chyou smiled and speed-walked to her dressing table. She opened the topmost drawers and took out a box. It was a simple box made out of acacia. Opening the box, she took out a set of hoop earrings. They were a pair of gold hoop earrings and no bigger than two and a half fingers in diameter.

She wore the earrings and turned around before smiling at her mother. It was her favorite and lucky pair of earrings. This was Li Fen’s gift to her when she reached the Qi Refinement realm. She would always wear it on any important occasion.

Li Fen smiled warmly in response. All of their emotions were being displayed through their eyes. And anyone could tell that…

…even the boy who was just awkwardly standing at the side watching this exchange happen. Guys, I don’t know if you know this but today’s the Inter-Clan Tournament. Can you please do this after we win?

“Ahem!” the boy coughed lightly, “Mistress, Young Miss, it’s best if we head out now!” The boy unhesitatingly destroyed the emotional moment they had going on.

“Right, yes!”

“Very well!”

The two of them gave awkward responses and made their way out of Li Chyou’s room. Through the halls, Li Fen looked at Li Chyou and said, “You and your butler will be in one carriage while your father, Daoyun, and I will be in another carriage.”

“That’s fine!” Li Chyou shrugged.

“Did you bring your bow?” Li Fen then asked him.

“I did,” the boy nodded and adjusted the bow swung over his right shoulder while the quiver full of arrows was swung over the others. He never really questioned why he was asked to bring it. He really should ask-

“Mistress, you still haven’t told me why I’m bringing this.”

“Well, you don’t think we’ll have a pleasant ride, do you?” Li Fen replied with a question of her own.

“I do…?” he answered in an unsure tone. Rather, was there a reason for it to be anything other than a safe trip? They were going to a tournament hosted by the Three Lotus Sects[3], causing trouble now would be a one-way ticket to reincarnation.

“I know what you’re thinking but let me tell you, the others have a lot more balls than you think,” Li Fen replied smirked, “And the three sects will care a lot less than you think they will.”

“Why?” the boy looked a bit puzzled. “This event is directly related to their face[4]. If something goes wrong, they will most certainly be labeled incompetent for not properly handling a small tournament for juniors in a small town.”

“You think Huangye town is small?” Li Chyou raised an eyebrow.

“Yep!” he nodded, “That’s why Huangye town is called a town and Royal City is a city.”

“Coming back on topic,” Li Fen chimed in, “Our competitors this time are the two other big clans, the smaller clans, and the merchant families. The ordinary families and people from common backgrounds will not have the guts to plot anything against the former three groups. Rather, they will just try to survive this tournament the best they can.”

The gentle morning rays of the sun hit their bodies as they exited the Patriarch’s House. The three of them then walked towards the entrance gate where the carriages should be waiting for them.

“So, boy,” Li Fen continued, “although we will have guards protecting us, you will also help if things go wrong.”

“Mistress, I don’t know if you know this,” the boy looked at her with an incredulous expression, “but I’m not even in the Qi Refinement realm. Asking my help is basically useless here since I’m basically useless.”

“You can make things easier, you know?” Li Fen laughed and comforted him, “You’re an archer, and your job is to lay down cover fire.”

“What kind of cover fire do you expect me to lay down from 90 meters!?” the boy grew a bit agitated, “That’s basically spitting distance for cultivators!”

Bang!

“Ah! What was that for?” he rubbed his head and looked at Li Fen with a pitiful expression.

Li Fen slowly raised her fist which had just come crashing on his head, “Why do you ask so many questions? Just do what I tell you!”

“Fine!” he grumbled unwillingly. It’s not that he was disobeying order; it was just that he felt this to be really inefficient. It was no mystery who was going to protect who later on.

After a bit more walking, they finally came to the gate where two carriages were lined up. They looked spacious and elegant.

“Hmm?” the boy looked around. “Where are Master and Second Young Miss?”

“They’re probably in the carriage,” Li Chyou pointed towards the first carriage.

“Is that the case…?” the boy let his voice trail off, ending the conversation.

“Let’s go, shall we?” Li Fen proposed.

Li Chyou took a deep breath and exhaled. “Let’s go!” she said courageously.

The Inter-Clan tournament is beginning!