“Young Miss, this really is an important battle for you, huh?” the boy wondered aloud.

“It is,” she nodded with a firm look in her eyes.

“I’m still amazed that the Master also turned this competition into one for the heir of the clan as well!”

“I’m sure Dad has a reason for doing whatever he’s doing.”

“You’re sure that it’s not because he finds arranging a tournament to be a chore?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

“That’s…probably not the case, right?” she did not sound too confident there.

“Haah~” he ran his hand down his face as he sighed.

As the carriages traveled through the roads, there were sounds of excitement and discussion from the townspeople who also headed towards the park situated at the center of the town. That’s where the tournament was being held.

The boy peeked through the window. It seemed that the townspeople were in high spirits. Behind them trailed more carriages of the Li Clan.

This tournament was also a competition between the disciples of the Li Clan. Whoever lasted till the finals was the next heir of the clan. That means any of the younger generations of the Li Clan was eligible to be the heir.

When the Patriarch announced this, countless Elders’ eyes lit up with excitement and agitation. If their disciple or child won, wouldn’t they enjoy unlimited glory?

This kind of thinking absolutely baffled the boy. Just what kind of glory are they hoping for? Won’t you only get glory the Li Clan is allowed to have?

Any clan that doesn't know their place will immediately get stomped down by the bigger clans. This happens to even big clans from the cities not to mention clans from a small town like Huangye town.

Although what the Patriarch said meant that any of the juniors could become the heir, it was only meant for the direct disciples that were nurtured by the Elders themselves. For it was only them who had the strength to compete with the number one contender for the spot.

That being Li Chyou herself.

As the Patriarch’s eldest daughter, she had been blessed with more resources than the average disciple of the Li Clan. Though the ordinary disciples regarded that fact as something they couldn’t do anything about, the direct disciples of the Elders were very jealous. Thoughts such as, ‘if only she wasn’t the Patriarch’s daughter, she’d be nothing’ were very common among them.

They are half-right about that. Li Chyou had a good talent for cultivating, nothing heaven-defying; nothing like Wang Meimei who was a genius in cultivating but was just lazy. Even if Li Chyou had fewer resources, she’d still make a name for herself because she had something Wang Meimei did not. And that was perseverance.

He was her butler so he knew firsthand how hard she worked. It’s not an exaggeration to say she is more hard-working than the Patriarch was at her age.

So, when thinking of the feelings of the direct disciples, the boy would also remember a saying he had somewhere.

It went something like, ‘Heaven doesn’t make men lesser or greater than each other.’ To him, that saying was absolutely right because it was their parents who made them lesser or greater than others.

“What’s so funny?” Li Chyou broke his train thought.

The boy shook his head, “Nothing at all, Young Miss. Just thinking of how I have to hide my face in the spectator stands.”

“What spectator stands?” she looked at dumbly, “You’re going to be next to the arena!”

“Wha-!” he exclaimed. “Why?”

“You’re my butler! Don’t I need you to attend to me after a match?”

“How?”

“Just do what you do at home!” she replied nonchalantly.

“So, helping you dress?” he asked plainly.

“Wha-!” The image of him helping her dress in front of the spectators there instantly crossed her mind and she jumped embarrassedly. “You!” but when she saw him grinning at her, she understood what was happening.

“You’ve learned to joke with this lady, have you?” she accused him angrily.

“Hehe, I don’t know what you’re talking about, Young Miss!” he chirped. “You told me to do what we do at home and isn’t that what I do at home?”

“I meant when we train!” she hissed at him.

“Oh, I see!” he said as he scratched his head apologetically but anyone could see he was still smirking.

“Hmph! I’ll tell Mom to increase your archery training!” she threatened.

“Sure!” the boy didn’t disagree. Rather, he had no reason to. The amount of training that was crushing him before became almost nothing after he learned to utilize Qi. Even if the training was increased three folds, he would do it without complaining.

Li Chyou raised an eyebrow when she saw him agree without even hesitating. Just as she was going to push further, there was a series of knocks on the front of the carriage.

“Young Miss, we’re here!” the driver announced. He and Li Chyou looked at each other. The joyful mood from before had transformed into a solemn one. She took a deep breath while the boy left the carriage and held open the door.

She stepped off the carriage as he said, “Young Miss, look.”

She looked around. They were right outside the sparring grounds but the stands that were built later made it seem like a stadium The clamor from the spectators in the stands reached their ears. It was deafening! It seemed as though most of the townspeople were here.

“Young Miss, shall we go?” Li Chyou was broken out of her reverie by his voice as he stood in front of her with a smile.

“Let’s!” she started walking into the stadium followed by the boy.

“I am pretty sure that the others are already inside,” the boy remarked.

“Huh?” she was startled, “How?”

“I mean you stood in front of the carriage for more than five minutes.”

“That long?”

“Not really. Since there are still 30 minutes till the tournament begins,” the boy shook his head.

“Right.”

Inside, the stadium had no roof. To them, it looked like the brilliant blue sky encapsulated the stadium like a dome. On the stands, the thousands of people were clustered together.

“Did you know that this was built by great-grandfather?” Li Chyou looked at him.

“Really?”

“Yeah, he built this place with the help of the other two big clans. This design is his original idea!” she looked quite smug at that fact.

“Huh? You mean you can’t find a stadium anywhere else?”

“Stadium?” she looked perplexed, “What’s that? This is sparring ground!”

“I-I see…” his voice trailed off. He wanted to ask why she didn’t know what a stadium was.

“And right!” she continued, “You won’t find a sparring ground like this anywhere else.”

“What’s so special about this one?”

“Here, there are seats for the audience and the seats at the back are higher than those at the front, so that, everyone can see clearly.”

“And other places don’t have this system?” he asked a bit flabbergasted.

“No, usually the spectators stand beneath the arena and look up at the fights. And only the important people are seated at high places.”

The more she spoke, the more bewildered he became. Is the concept of a stadium really hard for people to grasp? No, wait a minute…

“Young Miss, you’ve never left Huangye town, right?” he asked cautiously.

“…no.”

“Phew!” he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hey, what’s that for?” she asked angrily. Of course, she saw it since he made no effort to hide it.

“Look, Young Miss-” he pointed behind her, “-Mistress is calling you.”

Li Chyou snapped her head around and saw Li Fen gesturing at her to come towards her. She was seated elegantly in the Li Clan’s section of the stand. It was a congregation of yellow there. Just like how the Wang Clan’s side was a congregation of magenta and Murong Clan’s was a congregation of green.

“Let’s go then,” Li Chyou walked towards their side and the boy followed behind her.

After a bit of walking, they stood in front of Li Fen who was sitting next to Li Yan and Li Daoyun. Butler Yu was also there sitting in front and thus below Li Yan with an empty seat next to him. The lower and front seats were taken by the low-ranking personnel of the clan while the higher seats were taken were by the higher ranking ones.

“Go down and win!” Li Fen did not say much.

“My daughter can surely do it,” Li Yan smiled and said in a doting manner.

“Let’s have dumplings when Big Sis wins!” Li Daoyun believed in her sister.

Though there wasn’t much said, it was enough for Li Chyou to feel their love.

“Thank you!” she said quietly and went next to the arena where the competitors were supposed to be.

The boy turned around and was about to follow when he heard Li Fen’s voice, “Where are you going?”

“Young Miss told me to be next to her,” he bowed and spoke.

“Sit down,” she ordered and pointed at the empty seat next to Butler Yu. “You aren’t allowed there.”

“Very well,” he nodded and took his seat.

When Li Chyou stood next to the other competitors, she looked around and saw that her butler wasn’t near her. She looked back to where he was and saw him shrug helplessly from the stands. It seemed her concern for her butler had become greater as Murong Fang was smirking when she met his glance but looked shocked as she passed over him to look at her butler.

He clenched his fists. Years of hard work, wasted! He looked up at the stands and glared at the boy angrily. All because of him!

Meanwhile, in the stands, the boy met Murong Fang’s gaze when he felt his burning gaze. He felt puzzled. Why is he looking at me as though I killed his parents? What’s his problem? Oh well! I should do the one thing you should always do when someone glares at you…

…piss them off.

He smiled slightly and looked at Murong Fang with a hint of arrogance. In response, Murong Fang’s eyes widened at this blatant provocation.

He turned towards Li Chyou and spoke, “Li Chyou, you better teach your impudent butler a lesson.”

“Oh,” she raised an eyebrow at him, “and how I teach my butler is my job, not yours!”

“Bitch!” he muttered under his breath when he heard her retort.

“Bastards like you should be treated impudently,” she whispered. But no way was it quiet enough for Murong Fang to not hear it. That was the case for the other competitors as well who had heard their conversation.

The others glanced at each other but said nothing whilst Murong Fang was left shaking in anger.

Although the boy couldn’t hear it, he could infer what was happening from everyone’s reactions. But the one whose reaction or lack thereof surprised him the most was that of Wang Meimei’s.

She didn’t look surprised nor was she angry on Murong Fang’s behalf. She kept on stealing glances at Li Chyou and looking regretful.

“Interesting!” the boy’s eyes gleamed as he stroked his beard.

“What’s interesting?” Butler Yu looked at him and asked.

“I was thinking who was holding down the fort back at the Estate?” he didn’t think about it at all and decided not to tell Butler Yu.

“That’s up to Third and Fourth Elder but that’s not what you were thinking about, were you?” as expected Butler Yu didn’t fall for it.

“Not at all,” the boy shook his head and admitted honestly. “But shouldn’t the Young Miss’s affairs be managed by me, her butler?”

Butler Yu looked at him with widened eyes when he heard the boy’s response before bursting out laughing.

“Is something the matter?” the boy asked with a strange gaze.

“No, no,” Butler Yu waved his hands dismissively as he laughed, “it’s just that this is the first time you’ve actually acknowledged your position.”

“Really?” he pondered about his words. I have done it before, right?

“You did,” as though he had read the boy’s mind, Butler Yu responded. “But it didn’t really feel like you meant it.”

“So, do you feel like I trust the Young Miss?”

“No, but you are beginning to.”

“I see…” he tapped the shoulder of the servant in the seat in front of him and asked him for water. The servant handed him a leather pitcher of water. As he drank from the pitcher, he tapped Butler Yu on the shoulder and pointed towards the Murong Clan’s side, “By the way, the number of Elders does not match their number of participants.”

“Wha-” Butler Yu was caught off-guard by this completely sudden change of topic but when he looked at where the boy was pointing, he realized that his words were correct.

“Fuck!” having realized something, he cursed out loud.

“Keuk!” the boy next to him choked on his water. He coughed and looked at Butler Yu with wide eyes.

Before he could say anything, the audience started clamoring. He looked around as he gasped for air and saw that a young man with purple hair and a small stubble on his chin. He had already seen people with red hair, so this was nothing new to him. He had an ordinary face but an aura that made others subconsciously bow their heads.

“That’s the Big Senior Brother[1] of the inner sect!” a male servant in front of him excitedly spoke.

“Is he from the Smoke Lotus Sect or the Seven Aquamarine Lotus Sect?” the maid next to him asked.

“He’s from the Seven Aquamarine Lotus Sect!” the male servant replied.

“Hmph! You don’t even know Wu Yu!” another male servant looked at the maid disdainfully.

He couldn’t hear their conversation anymore as Wu Yu started speaking, “We welcome you to our Lotus Sects’ tournament here in Huangye town.” He did not need to scream, it looked as though he was just speaking a bit louder than before.

“The Elders from the three Sects’ are here to select talents from the many of you!” Wu Yu looked at the nine people sitting highest of anyone here.

“They look imposing, don’t they?” the boy asked Butler Yu but when he looked beside him, there was no one there!

He did not think about it anymore and returned his gaze back to the arena. Butler Yu was probably rushing back to the estate.

“Now, one of our big sisters from the Jade Lotus Sects will decide which group the contestants will fall in!” as soon as Wu Yu said it, a woman made her way towards the box which was next to him.

She had short black hair, fair white skin, and an hourglass figure. She looked as though as she was in her 20s and had an air of seduction that enthralled almost every male there. Yet her air of seduction was very different from that of Li Fen’s.

The latter had an elegant bearing at first and her maturity and noble bearing had a different kind of beauty. Although she made flirty remarks, you wouldn’t think she was really going to go through with them.

On the other hand, the woman in the arena felt as though her huge amount of pheromones were leaking constantly. It’s as though she was willing to go through any joke if it meant her having a good time.

The boy looked around and saw the males intensely gazing at the disciple from the Jade Lotus Sect. When he followed their gaze, he suddenly understood why.

Indeed, her set of mammary glands was enormous. It looked as though there were footballs stuffed in there. He agreed with Wu Yu here; she was indeed a big sister.

But he wondered if this was all there was to her. Sure she had large assets and a pretty face, but was that it? He searched deep and long for a reason for him not reacting like the men beside him. Was it because he detested the promiscuous feeling he got from her? Not at all! It’s a miracle that this world enforces being pure before marriage. As far as he remembered, people had no qualms even if someone lost their virginity to someone else before marriage. Then-

“Hey!” he heard Li Fen’s voice and broke his train of thought.

“Yes, Mistress!” he turned around and bowed.

He heard nothing for the longest time and when he raised his head, he saw her looking at him with a scrutinizing gaze. After a while, she smiled and said, “It’s nothing.”

The boy looked puzzled and turned around when he saw Li Yan. The Patriarch was sweating buckets as he looked at every which way but at the arena.

He prayed for him inwardly and turned his gaze to the arena. By this time, the female disciple had stopped drawing lots and a scroll had been handed to Wu Yu.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the groups have been selected. I, now, call the contestants to the arena.”

Wu Yu paused and looked at the audience with a smile on his face before he enthusiastically announced, “The Inter-Clan Tournament has begun!”