Author note: Comp giving me trouble again. I think I figured it out after a bsod and have replaced the graphics card. Definitely 2 chapters this week.

~~~

Sun Jiao's silver blade arced over his head as he rushed towards the gate captain. The gate captain had no intention of avoiding the attack and instead casually threw out a green ki covered fist.

The fist may have been a casual strike, but the poison attribute caused even this simple punch to be deadly. As the fist extended a blurry and indistinct image of a spider appeared surrounding the fist along with the sound of a rattling hiss that caused those close by to shudder.

Not only did the captain of the gate have a poison attribute, but he had learned a martial skill that synergized well with the poison attribute. He had received the skill from the Imperial General as a reward for reaching captain and a reward from such a powerful figure would not be a simple one. Hollow Moonlight Spider skill was a middle class skill that could grow with the cultivator.

At the Second layer Hollow Moonlight Spider skill could only strengthen the attack. At the Third Layer the skill could manifest into a spider during the attack. At the Fourth Layer a cultivator could use the skill to establish a domain and the spider would manifest and fight along side the user inside this domain.

Of course just learning the skill didn't mean it would grow on its own, but would require the user to have various insights into the skill along with the cultivation to utilize those insights.

The mercenary in the crowd who had lost face due to speaking out previously tried again to shamelessly show off.

"That's a skill manifestation! Only Third Layer cultivators are able to manifest skills!"

Those who knew about skill manifestation were quite few in the crowd, but they upon recognizing it were left with their mouths hanging open. They were shocked because a skill usually only manifests upon reaching Third-ki. Just reaching Third-body would only give the cultivator a body that was at the Third Layer, but they would still have a similar ki strength.

It was possible for the gate captain to do this however because his attribute was perfect for the skill allowing him to use the skill with twice the power and half the effort.

Sun Jiao was unphased upon hearing this. Instead his blade slowly descended as if to meet the image of the spider head on which caused the gate captain to laugh inside. He was already envisioning the image of the spider blowing away the sword and sinking it's fangs into Sun Jiao.

Just before the two attacks met Sun Jiao activated his father's Burning Sun step. After learning Sun and Cloud steps Sun Jiao had instinctively been able to use both of the derivative skills. Previously he had only used the combination steps, but in front of the crowd he wouldn't reveal his trump cards so easily.

The sudden increase in speed caught the gate captain off guard, but with a reaction and ferocity suiting a cultivator a half-step into the Third Layer he quickly swung his other hand out to counter attack that would cost both their lives. He knew how arrogant his opponent was and also knew that Sun Jiao wouldn't trade lives with a lowly gate captain. With this attack Sun Jiao would only have the option to retreat or trade lives.

If Sun Jiao had been aiming for the captain's life then that would be the case, but Xiaobo was an expert that knew Sun Jiao's limits and had given him another target.

The silver blade completed its motion and the two quickly separated. Sun Jiao returned to his starting position and the gate captain remained steady.

The bystanders gasped as they saw two bloody holes on the side of Sun Jiao's stomach which had green ki slowly leaking out.

The vice-captain immediately frowned and murmured to himself; "What a pity Sun Jiao has lost. The captain's poison could kill even a Third Layer cultivator."

The crowd also had noticed the holes and thought Sun Jiao had definitely lost. The captain however didn't appear happy with the outcome.

A red circle appeared around his left arm which had been used in the first attack. With a sloppy slurp sound the extended arm slowly slid just below the shoulder.

Sun Jiao had kept his calm appearance, but he had been unable to completely avoid the second attack. This was only a minor annoyance to him however as Xiaobo had been ready to assist the moment the attack landed.

Once the poison ki entered Sun Jiao's body Xiaobo had immediately surrounded it with Will and suppressed it. The Hollow Moonlight Spider was primarily a ki attack and didn't contain much Will power; instead relying on the poison to attack the target's body. Xiaobo was able to completely wipe out the small amount of Will inside the poison ki and then control it.

If others knew how easy it had been for Sun Jiao to suppress the poison they would have coughed up blood.

Seeing Sun Jiao like this caused Fang Yuehai to feel a small pain inside her chest. They had only walked a short time together, but he had saved her life which caused her to find his princely arrogance to be charming rather than repulsive.

She clenched her fist and began to circulate her ki causing a small glowing crown to appear on the back of her hand.

Sun Jiao noticed Fang Yuehai beginning to rush to his side and held up his hand for her to stop.

Breathing in deeply he then exhaled the poison ki which, when mixed with his breath, had the appearance of a green fog.

A look of disdain appeared on Sun Jiao's face.

"I've got to hand it to you. Your mastery of that skill is quite good. In front of me though your attack is only so-so."

Fang Yuehai let out a little snort of laughter, but the captain didn't find the words funny at all. His eyes narrowed and his remaining fist was clenched so tightly blood was appearing on his palm.

Sun Jiao continued talking as if he hadn't noticed.

"Since I won this exchange it seems though I am worth of the name Sun. Let this be a lesson to you; if you try and compete with me..."

Sun Jiao's eyes narrowed and he gave a devilish grin.

"...you'll always come up short."

Sun Jiao was intending to let things drop here as he wasn't confident in a life and death fight even with his opponent having a single arm. Sun Jiao had won simply due to the captain's strong belief in his poison attribute and severe underestimation of Sun Jiao's speed.

Unfortunately the gate captain had already reached his limit with the first comment and the second mention of his missing arm caused him to lose all sense and go into a rage. With a yell he began his third attack only to be interrupted by cold piercing feeling in his chest. He looked down and found a sword sticking out of his chest.

Gripping the blade with his only hand he turned his head and saw his vice-captain standing behind him with a pleasant smile on his face. The vice-captain was a good looking young man of 24 and was actually close in power with the captain. He had become a guard only a year ago and was promoted quickly through the ranks, not just because of his cultivation, but also due to his clever nature.

Coughing up blood the captain struggled to talk; "Ye Bai?..You dare to stab..*cough*..me? Fang Shaofan will *cough* have your head for this."

Ye Bai ripped his sword out of the captain's back with a lighthearted laugh.

"For what? Executing a traitor? You heard him say it didn't you? I am worth of the name Sun? In case you forgot; we serve the Sun clan and you just attacked the second prince. Don't blame me for doing my job."

Ye Bai finished cleaning his blade with a cloth and put the sword away while Sun Jiao watched with a look of indifference.

The gate captain fell to the ground and more blood spilled out of his mouth. With his life force fading he was burning his ki to stay alive.

"You thin..*cough* that vile creature will protect you from Fang...Sh."

The gate captain was unable to finish his sentence as blood filled his throat, but Ye Bai got the gist of it.

"Maybe not, but don't tell me you didn't notice his woman?"

What young man could resist the sight of a beautiful woman? He had been focused on the fight, but had kept an eye on Fang Yuehai and noticed the mark on her hand and the worry on her face. Seeing the two together he immediately came to the slightly incorrect conclusion that the two were together.

With eyes turning towards her Fang Yuehai's face lightly blushed and her hand dismissively waved in front of her in a calm manner.

"I'm sure the ladies in the crowd will be happy to hear we're not together. Haha! We had run into each other by chance is all."

Ye Bai didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. He had planning on using her connection to Sun Jiao as a method of placating Fang Shaofan. He had recognized the mark of the crown on her fist which was a skill that only elite members of the Fang family had and thus correctly connected her with Fang Shaofan. In fact the two were closely related as Fang Shaofan was her Father's uncle.

He definitely wasn't happy to hear the two weren't together. To Ye Bai however, every setback was an opportunity. Putting on his most charming smile he didn't let a hint of his displeasure show.

"I don't know about the ladies, but I am certainly glad to hear it. I am the vice-captain of this gate and my name is Ye Bai, you can call me brother Bai if you like. How may I address the lovely lady?"

If the two weren't together then he could get close to her himself!

The gate captain still had yet to die and seeing his former vice-captain flirt over his dying body caused him to fill with rage, but he was only able to cough up more blood.

Ye Bai quickly withdrew his sword, brought the tip across the captain's throat, and sheathed it all in one smooth motion without a single change on his face.

Sun Jiao had been watching with a bored look, but things had come to a close and he didn't have time for this side show.

"M-"

"Her name is Fang Yuehai. I'll have to thank brother Bai for disposing of the traitor's corpse and congratulate him on his promotion to captain."

Ye Bai's eyebrow twitched at the mention of his promotion. In fact the reason he decided to act was just for that reason.

Hearing Sun Jiao mention it caused Ye Bai to raise his opinion of him, but then his mind processed the first part of the sentence and he raised it even further. The prince had not only warned him that he saw through Ye Bai's actions, but was also rewarding him. By giving him the duty of disposing of the corpse the prince was telling him that everything on the captain's body was free for the taking. Ye Bai was impressed even he didn't have the confidence to handle this matter as quickly and efficiently as Sun Jiao.

Both the carrot and the stick in a single sentence!

Ye Bai clasped his hands in front of him and gave a bow.

"My pleasure young master. Please forgive my request, but may I ask about the matter of Fang Shaofan?"

Fang Yuehai, a little upset at being interrupted, quickly spoke up.

"Hmph. It's only a gate captain. I owe him," pointing her thumb at Sun Jiao ", a small favor. I'll clear this matter up with Uncle Shaofan."

Hearing her refer to saving her life as a 'small favor' Sun Jiao didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Shameless! How was helping Ye Bai with his problem returning the favor to him?

He managed to stifle his reaction with a small snort. Considering the matter settled he walked through the gate without waiting for a reply.

The two continued to discuss the fight as Fang Yuehai quickly excused herself and caught up.

Author note: No sidestory, but BK will make an appearance again I promise. Some of you might be wondering how much of the fight was Sun Jiao and Xiaobo. I'd say most of the fight was Xiaobo's planning, but all the talking was Sun Jiao's acting. He's lost Xu Rong, stopped really worrying so much about his role and has fallen into the character. Hopefully I can convey that well. Ultimately I want the reader to be guessing how much is Sun Jiao acting and how much is his actual personality. Eventually I also want the line to blur more and more until they're indistinguishable. Then I'll...well...no spoilers. :D