“Wu Meiying!” Elder Wu Jinsu called out.

At the sound of the name being called, everyone’s eyes were drawn to the spot where the person in question and Wu Jian were standing. Despite being young, she attracted a lot of attention due to her grace, and also because many considered her odd. Everyone focused intently on her as she graced Wu Jian with a bright smile.

“Looks like it’s my turn,” she said.

Wu Jian nodded. “Go show them what you can do.”

“Of course. You be sure to watch me too.”

She walked toward the stairs. Her footsteps were unhurried and confident. Wu Jian watched her with a bright smile. He didn’t know how strong she had become, but the last time she was tested, her score had been 3,300. While she hadn’t trained quite like he had, Wu Meiying had been training more than normal, so he was certain her strength had increased a lot.

“So Wu Meiying has come up again.”

“She’s very strong, but don’t you think she’s kind of an oddball?”

“I don’t know. I think she’s kinda cute.”

“She’s an odd beauty, that’s for sure.”

Wu Jian furrowed his brow as he listened to the people talking about his friend, but he couldn’t get upset at them. Everyone in the Wu Clan thought Wu Meiying was an odd person. It was because of the strange predictions she made that always came true, and the fact that she had no trouble telling someone when they were going to face trouble.

Many people believed she was cursed. They talked about her when they thought she couldn’t hear. Wu Jian had asked her why she put up with all those people talking about her once, but she just smiled and said it didn’t matter.

“The only person whose opinion matters to me is yours. Why should I care about the opinion of people whose opinions don't even matter?”

Those had been her words several years ago, and while they did warm his heart, he still believed these people shouldn’t speak ill of her like this.

His attention was turned away from the people talking when Wu Meiying stood before the testing stone. He could only see her back. Her long hair, blacker than a raven’s feathers, billowed in the light breeze. As he watched her, the image of a woman with the same colored hair but tied into an intricate bun overlapped her form. He blinked several times. Then he rubbed his eyes. When he removed his hands from his eyelids, the image was gone.

I must be seeing things.

Wu Jian deftly slapped his cheeks to regain focus.

Wu Meiying slid her feet across the ground, adopted an unusual stance that he knew none of them had been taught, and rather than punch the testing stone, she delivered a swift palm strike. The sound of her palm hitting the testing stone echoed around them. Bright red lights gathered inside the stone and formed a number.

“3,900!” Elder Wu Jinsu announced.

“Holy shit!”

“Did he just say 3,900?!”

“So another person younger than me got a higher score than I did, huh. How depressing.”

“I wonder if she’s become so strong because she hangs out with Wu Jian?”

“I don’t know about that, but I do know those two are attached at the hip. You almost never see one without the other.”

“Think they might be training in secret?”

“Probably. I mean, when you think about it, their increased strength is abnormal, especially Wu Jian’s. He was a complete wimp the last time we took this test. They have to be doing some kind of special training.”

Wu Meiying walked back down the stairs and up to Wu Jian, where she grinned and gave him the victory sign.

“What do you think, Jian?”

“I think you’re incredible,” he said honestly.

Wu Meiying giggled as she moved to stand next to him. He studied her profile, which she noticed. She turned to look at him.

“What is it?”

“You were holding back, weren’t you?” he asked, leaning down so he could whisper in her ear.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. I would never hold back when it really matters,” Wu Meiying whispered back.

Something tells me this test doesn’t really matter to you…

“Hmmm. Well, in either event, it seems everyone is talking about us.”

“Let them talk.”

“They say we’re attached at the hip.”

“Oh? Like this, you mean?”

Wu Meiying moved so close their hips and thighs were touching. Because it was hard to maintain their balance when they were so close like this, the two wrapped their arms around each other’s waists. A grin appeared on Wu Meiying’s face as she looked at him with a question in her eyes.

“Yeah. I’d say this is about accurate,” Wu Jian said seriously.

“Maybe we should walk around like this from now on. What do you think?”

“It might be hard to train like this.”

“I’m sure we’ll manage.”

While the two were messing around, Elder Wu Jinsu continued to call out Wu clansmen and clanswomen to go up and test their strength. No one’s results were outstanding like Wu Jian’s and Wu Meiying’s, but there were a few exceptional people who had high scores. Wu Ming scored 3,367 and Wu Lang scored 4,104. Of course, Wu Lang was already fifteen years old. He would be sixteen in a few months, and if his score didn’t reach at least five thousand by his sixteenth birthday, the chances of him being able to break through to the Hunger Realm were slim.

“Wu Lang isn’t going to make it,” Wu Meiying suddenly said.

Wu Jian glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Wu Meiying’s eyes were glazed over.

“You mean he won’t break through?”

She nodded. “He lacks conviction and motivation.”

“Hmmm.”

Wu Jian turned back to look at Wu Lang, who really did seem unmotivated. Well, not everyone wanted to become a cultivator. Chances were good that Wu Lang would go on to become a farmer on their plantation, which was how the Wu Clan earned a good portion of their income.

More people went up to test their strength, until, finally…

“Wu Yong!”

It was Wu Yong’s turn. The ten-year-old son of Wu Taohua walked up the stairs, paused at the top, and turned to sneer at Wu Jian. Sparks were practically shooting off the boy’s eyes. Wu Jian was almost tempted to look away, but he felt more confident now that his strength test had been revealed. It gave him the courage to look Wu Yong in the eye. That just caused his older half-brother’s sneer to become even uglier as he turned around and walked up to the testing stone.

“He really hates you,” Wu Meiying muttered. “I wonder why?”

“I don’t know. He wasn’t always like this.”

“No, he was not. I wonder what changed him.”

Back when they were just four years-old, Wu Yong was almost a part of their possy. He wasn’t as close to either Wu Jian or Wu Meiying as they were to each other, but they would often play together. They had been true brothers back then. Wu Jian couldn’t remember when the change had occurred, but at some point, Wu Yong began treating him with disdain instead of kindness. He never figured out why.

“3,816!”

While they were talking, Wu Yong tested his strength, revealing a number that was below Wu Jian’s. The young boy remained standing before the testing stone for several long seconds. His body was stiff at first, but then he began trembling. When he turned around, everyone could see the ugly way his face distorted, though he only had eyes for Wu Jian.

His blazing eyes filled with hate.

Wu Jian trembled a little at seeing so much hatred directed at him. Before he could let fear take over, however, someone grabbed his hand. It was Wu Meiying, of course. She held his hand tightly as though to reassure him that everything would be okay. He took a slow breath and firmly held her hand.

His trembling stopped.

Gritting his teeth, Wu Yong stalked off the stage and stomped over to Wu Fei and Wu Ming. While Wu Ming tried to console the angry Wu Yong, Wu Fei stared at Wu Jian with an odd expression. Wu Jian glanced back at him with a frown. The look didn’t last. After staring for another second, Wu Fei leaned down and whispered something into Wu Yong’s ear.

I wonder what they are talking about.

Despite his curiosity, Wu Jian ended up focusing on Elder Wu Jinsu, who had stepped forward and was surveying them all with a kind smile. He seemed much more down to earth than either Elder Wu Wei or Wu Nin. Now that Wu Jian was paying more attention to him, he realized this particular elder took his responsibilities quite seriously and only thought of doing what he believed was best for the clan.

I believe I have misunderstood him. He is a good elder.

“Congratulations to all of you. You’ve done well to improve your strength. Now that the testing is over, we will hold the Wu Clan Tournament, where all of you will get to show off how much stronger you have become in front of your peers, your parents, the leaders of your clan, and your ancestors above.”

As Elder Wu Jinsu made the announcement, the younger members of the clan became excited. Several people began joking about how they were going to show everyone how powerful they were. A few even adopted a fighting stance and began throwing punches as if to prove they were too powerful for anyone else to lay a finger on them. Wu Jian, Wu Meiying, and Wu Hong were the only people who didn’t overreact like that.

“Of course, before we get to the tournament, there is something else we must bear witness to first,” Elder Wu Jinsu interrupted everyone’s posturing. As the noise died down, he looked at Wu Jian, then at Wu Yong. “Several months ago, Wu Jian challenged Wu Yong to a duel. Now that the strength test is over, it is time for them both to settle their differences in honorable combat.”

Everyone already knew all about the duel, so this didn’t surprise them. They moved up to the seats, whispering along the way, so they could join their parents in watching the duel. Wu Meiying remained by his side for a moment. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

“For luck,” she said as she walked to the tertiary seats and sat in the very front row.

Wu Fei had also remained behind for a bit to speak with Wu Yong. Wu Jian once again couldn’t tell what Wu Fei was saying, but Wu Yong nodded along like he was listening intently, so it must have been about the duel. He was probably telling Wu Yong not to underestimate him. That was what Wu Jian assumed, at least.

Elder Wu Jinsu walked down to the testing ground floor and stood between Wu Yong and Wu Jian. He looked at them both with a serious frown on his face.

“You two have been at odds with each other for several years now. This duel will resolve all of those issues. You will fight until one of you surrenders, is knocked unconscious, or I say the duel is over. No killing is allowed. Fists might not have eyes, but I won’t stand for two promising young clansmen killing each other. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Elder,” Wu Jian said.

“I understand,” Wu Yong said.

While Wu Yong’s words lacked sincerity, Elder Wu Jinsu ignored it and nodded.

“Good. Now, bow to me.”

They bowed to him.

“Bow to your family.”

They turned and bowed to Father and the other members of the Wu Clan in the stands.

“Now bow to each other.”

Wu Jian turned to face Wu Yong and bowed. Wu Yong hesitated. He didn’t look like he wanted to bow, face twisted in reluctance, but then he placed his right fist into the palm of his left hand and bowed.

Elder Wu Jinsu nodded and raised a hand.

“Ready… and… fight!”

He slashed his hand down and then leapt back, signaling a start to the competition.

Wu Yong started off the fight aggressively, rushing up to Wu Jian and throwing a fast straight. Had this been before, Wu Jian doubted he would have even seen the punch, but now he did. He tilted his body to the side, slapped the hand away, and tried to counter with a blow to Wu Yong’s solar plexus, though it was blocked with a forearm. Even so, Wu Jian had the pleasure of seeing Wu Yong flinch at the strength contained in his attack.

Backing off, Wu Yong snarled, “How did you get so strong?! You were nothing but a pathetic wimp five months ago!”

“I don’t know what to tell you. I trained hard,” Wu Jian said with a shrug.

“Don’t mess with me! If training hard was all it took to grow this strong, then I would be a thousand times stronger than you! Ten thousand times stronger!” Wu Yong screamed.

Wu Jian didn’t know what to tell his half-brother. What he just said was the truth. Wu Jian had trained hard every single day for the past five months, waking up early in the morning with Wu Meiying, exercising together, then ending their session by learning how to take blows and lessen the impact from being thrown.

Of course, he also had help from Father’s alchemy pills and the Silver Lotus, but he had used both of those up rather quickly. Everything after that had been gained through his own efforts, through blood, sweat, and torn muscles.

“Whatever! It doesn’t matter how you gained that strength! I’m sure you cheated somehow! And I’ll prove it to everyone right now by beating you! You’re gonna wish you never gained a backbone!”

Wu Yong rushed in once more to attack Wu Jian. This time, he threw a high kick that was so fast his leg blurred, but Wu Jian saw it, and he ducked underneath the attack. He pressed his hands flat against the ground and retaliated with a leg sweep. With just one leg on the ground, Wu Yong was unable to maintain his balance and was swept off his feet. Before he could hit the ground, however, Wu Jian shifted his body, hands pressed firmly to the ground as he lifted both legs, and slammed his feet into Wu Yong’s chest.

“AAAGGGHHH!!”

Wu Yong flew backward, blood spewing from his mouth as he struck the ground hard and rolled. Wu Jian climbed to his feet as Wu Yong stopped rolling and struggled to get back up. He wiped the blood from his mouth and cast a glare at Wu Jian. The expression on his face displayed so much hatred it felt like Wu Yong was drowning in his own negativity. Wu Jian was once again struck by that look.

Why do you hate me so much, brother?