The soothing tones of a zither resonated through the large room, bouncing between the walls of marble before being absorbed by the fluffy carpet that laid upon the oaken floor.

Played with great care and experience, the melody emerging from those tones reached out to a sleeping girl, weaving themselves in between the silken blankets and sheets of her bed and carrying her from the realm of dreams to the real world.

As the girl wiped the sleep from her eyes and sat up, a maid stepped to the side of her bed.

“Good morning, Young Lady Qiao. I hope you rested well.”

Qiao answered with a slight nod and a smile before slipping out of her bed. Moving to a mirror, the maid who had followed behind was joined by a second one and the two began to help her into her robes and do her hair for the day. When she was satisfied with her looks, Qiao dismissed them with a wave of her hand and walked out of the room.

Waiting for her outside was Lifen, her head maid. At her arrival, the old woman performed a quick curtsy before addressing her.

“Good morning, Young Lady Qiao.”

“Good morning, Lifen.”

“Let me accompany you to the dining room.”

The two walked in silence for a while before Qiao decided to speak up.

“Please remind me of my schedule for today.”

“Of course, Young Lady Qiao. After breakfast, you will start the day with a lecture in swordsmanship. After that, you are scheduled for battle strategy. At noon, your honorable grandfather has asked to speak with you, so your lecture in etiquette has been canceled. This is followed by swordsmanship again until late afternoon. Because of the upcoming competition, your poetry lessons in the evening will be swapped for physical training.”

“Grandfather, huh? Do you know what he wants to talk about?”

“I’m sorry, he did not mention that as far as I am informed.”

Qiao’s grandfather was the mighty Ning Bai, patriarch of the Bai family. She didn’t know him particularly well, he had seldomly chosen to meet her. She might have been more talented than most of his grandchildren, but it wasn’t as if she was unique to someone who had lived as long as him.

She would naturally work to change that in the future, but for now he was just the patriarch of her family to her. Not that her position as a direct child of the main family line didn’t have its benefits…

As they arrived in the dining room, Lifen made her arrival known to the present.

“Young Lady Qiao has arrived!”

The large room was still rather empty, safe for two of her cousins, both younger than her, and a couple of servants. It was a little to early to see more activity, since most of those who would eat here preferred to sleep a little longer. Everyone from the main branch of the family who lived in their main estate and wasn’t an accomplished cultivator ate here. It wasn’t particularly likely that Qiao would remain here for long.

She was the most talented child of the Bai family her age, perhaps even the most talented of the sect. While that didn’t mean much in the larger picture, it did pretty much ensure that she would rise to become a powerful cultivator in time.

Sitting down at one of the long tables, Qiao turned her mind to the question of what kind of breakfast she fancied today.

…

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Your talent with the blade never ceases to impress me, Young Lady Qiao.”

“Enough of the flattery. I know that I’m good, tell me how to get better!”

“As you say, Young Lady. If there was anything that you should work at, it would be your footwork. I don’t mean to question the grace with which you move, but I think you could improve the stability of your steps.”

Qiao rolled her eyes. Swordsmanship was the only of her classes that she was truly passionate about. She didn’t particularly dislike the other things, she could see the use of strategic prowess and political adeptness, she just didn’t care for them that much. Sadly, the current lecture was given to her by her least favorite swordsmanship teacher. The man didn’t lack skill in his subject, it was just his attitude that she disliked.

She generally didn’t mind subservience; it was just that he seemed more afraid of hurting her ego than of her blade. It made learning far less efficient than it could be as she had to practically drag any words that weren’t blind praise out off him.

“Alright, what do we do now?”

“Naturally, that is up to you, Young Lady.

“By the… alright, we’ll go for another spar.”

“As you wish, Young Lady”

Swinging her sword at the man, Qiao tried to shake of her frustration and instead focus on the advice he gave her. Focusing on her footwork, she tried to figure out, just how exactly she was lacking stability.

…

Ning Bai was deep in meditation when his door was knocked on. After taking his time to finish his current thoughts and stash them away for later, he opened his eyes and answered.

“You may come in!”

The door was opened and, trailing behind one of his servants, his granddaughter Qiao entered the room. After stepping before him, both she and the servant went into a deep bow.

“We greet the honorable patriarch of the Bai family.”

“Servant, you may leave. Qiao, please sit with me.”

He waited until the servant had left before continuing.

“I presume you prefer we skip the formalities?”

“If you wish so.”

“Alright. The reason I called for you today is to tell you something. You see, lately, some of the other pillar families have been looking down on our family.”

That was a particularly mild way to put the humiliation they had brought upon him and the subsequent disaster that had occurred in the council meeting. They hadn’t even had the decency to admit to their failure afterwards. The girl didn’t need to know that though.

“It isn’t a particularly serious situation, but I have decided that it does warrant a response. This is where you come into play. In the upcoming competition, I need you to utterly defeat all of the competitors sent by them.

I am confident that you can beat them, after all you are the genius of your generation. I wouldn’t have called you here if I just needed you to win. I want their defeat to be as humiliating as possible.

Show everyone just how much superior the Bai family’s genius is to their own youth. If possible, make the fights against other disciples look closer than they actually are to make their disciples look even worse by comparison. That should remind them not to mess with our family.

Do you understand?”

“I understand, patriarch.”

“Are you confident you can fulfill my assignment?”

“I believe so, and I shall work to the utmost of my ability not to disappoint you.”

“Very well. That is all then.”

“Thank you for your trust, honorable patriarch.”

With another deep bow, the Qiao left. Alone again, Ning Bai decided to quickly return to his meditation before he could fall into thoughts about how incompetent the other family leaders were once again. The message he would send them would hopefully be enough to bring them to their senses.

…

Since Qiao still had some time left before her second class in swordsmanship for the day began, she was relaxing in the garden. Despite its beauty, members of her family rarely came here, which was why it was an excellent spot to relax for a while.

She didn’t quite know how to feel about the assignment she had received from her grandfather. On the one hand, it was good that she was being noticed for her skills and she certainly had no qualms with showing it off before a crowd a little. She very much liked being admired, who wouldn’t, honestly. Those who said otherwise were just coping with the fact that nothing about them was worth admiring.

On the other hand, Qiao knew that politics were a dangerous game to play and she certainly wasn’t keen on receiving some kind of backlash from the other families. Sure, the Bai family was powerful, but she had no illusions that they could take on all the other families at once. She just hoped that the situation was not more serious than her grandfather had told her.

It also left a bad aftertaste in her mouth that she was being used as nothing but a political tool to improve the stand of her family. There wasn’t really anything wrong about it from her grandfather’s perspective, she might even have acted similarly, were she in his position. It just didn’t sit quite right with her.

Ultimately though, it wasn’t as if she had a choice in the matter. The patriarch of the Bai family had given her a command and as a member of the Bai family, she would naturally follow it, no matter what it entailed.

Having come to this little satisfying conclusion, Qiao stood up. It was time to head to her swordsmanship class. Perhaps a little sparring would wash her worries away.