Author note: It's the weekend baby. Enjoy!
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The captain of the gate had seen Sun Jiao’s behavior and could tell what others were thinking. The captain was at the peak of the Second Layer and looked down on Sun Jiao; as the man had said the second prince was lazy trash.
He also happened to be close friends with Fang Shaofan the Imperial General of the Sun clan who tentatively sided with the third prince. If he could bully this second prince not only would he curry favor with Fang Shaofan, but maybe even impress the third prince.
As for the second prince’s sister? She wasn’t by his side and with Fang Shaofan supporting him she couldn’t seek revenge as long as he didn’t go too far.
Unable to hold himself back he mustered up his courage and let out a snort of disgust.
Sun Jiao turned towards the gate captain with a derisive look.
“Halt! You dare cause trouble in front of the city gate? If the man had said false words I would give you face, but what cause could you have to punish a man for speaking the truth? I’ve seen your strength before and without your sister you’re nothing but trash. Even a lowly gate captain like myself can reach the peak of the Second Layer.”
With that the captain flexed his muscles and a look of expectation shown on his face. He couldn’t wait to see the look of fear on the second princes face. His chest swelled with pride at the face he’d gain by intimidating a prince.
If the second prince wasn’t at the First Layer the captain might have been reluctant, but the second prince had been stuck on the First Layer for several years.
The crowd gasped and backed up while the guards also backed up, but a look of pride crossed their faces when they looked at their captain.
Sun Jiao’s look changed from one of contempt to one of amusement.
“What gives you, how did you say it? Ahh yes, a lowly gate captain. What gives a lowly pathetic worm of a man like you the right to question me?”
Rather than backing down the second prince had chosen to confront him. The captain had only wanted to slightly bully the second prince with a few words and assumed that this second princess’s sycophantic brother would back down without her support.
Once you climb on the back of a tiger though it was hard to get down.
“Hmph. Everyone here knows that if we fought I would win. The only reason I don’t beat you up and throw you in a cell is because you somehow share blood with the great Sun clan. I must of course give face to the Sun clan, but a weakling like you doesn’t deserve the name. Now go inside and run back to hide underneath your sister’s skirts.”
The captain continued his bold attitude, but a slight bead of sweat revealed the pressure he was under. Insulting the second prince was risky as he was still a member of the Sun clan, but as long as he gave the Sun clan face however he believed Fang Shaofan would be able to shield him.
If they were to fight a Second-Peak could end a fight with a First-Peak without spilling blood. Under the extremely unlikely chance the second prince broke through recently his foundation would be unstable as he was not the type to stabilize his foundation through training or fighting.
The crowd began to whisper, but this time took care to not speak too loudly for fear of Sun Jiao hearing them and ending up like the beaten man.
A plain looking mortal women whispered to her slightly more attractive friend; “That captain is so bold! I wish I could find a man like that!”
“The second prince picked the wrong day to show his face around here. I can’t wait to see him run away with his tail between his legs!” said a merchant to his slightly more attractive donkey.
Even a child that had gone to pick herbs spoke to himself “I hope they fight! I really want to see that prince lose all his face!”
Sun Jiao ignored all this and rather than flee brought out his blade.
“If you have the confidence then why bother with words?”
In less than a breath Sun Jiao grabbed ki from his dantain and rotated it through the first reinforcement path. At the end of the breath the second reinforcement path was complete and Sun Jiao felt his body strengthen greatly.
Seeing Sun Jiao’s confident look the gate captain’s sweat began to increase.
“I have confidence, but I must give Sun clan face. Move along. Move along.”
“You give the Sun clan face, but not me? Doesn’t that mean you believe I’m not a member of the Sun clan? If I leave wouldn’t others say that I am not a member?”
“You may lack the qualifications, but your name is still Sun.”
Xiaobo hadn’t expected that.
Sun Jiao raised his chin and pointed his blade towards the captain.
“If I were to lose to you then I’d write my name backwards in shame.”
Xiaobo definitely hadn’t expected that.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The crowd hadn’t expected that either.
“WHAT! If he writes his name backwards...wouldn’t that mean he’s no longer a Sun?”
“This guy is too arrogant! Does he think that with the strength of a First Layer he could win? Impossible!”
“Hee haw”
“Shut up you damn donkey this is getting good!”
The captain hadn’t expected that either, but was instantly delighted.
“You said it! Everyone hear heard it so you can’t take those words back. If you lose you’re no longer the second prince of the Sun clan!”
Fang Yuehai was off to the side and had been watching with enough interest to have not given the crowd any attention.
“What! You’re the second prince! You never said that!”
She hadn’t expected that!
While watching Sun Jiao slap the man, Fang Yuehai hadn’t felt disgust and instead felt that it was only natural to defend his face even if she hadn’t heard the words the man spoke.
When the captain had said it was the truth she began to slightly disfavor Sun Jiao, but that was cut away when instead of backing down he pulled out his blade and issued a challenge.
Then, upon hearing that he was the second prince, she was thrown into confusion like a ship in a storm. She had naturally heard rumors of the second prince, but hadn’t cared enough to remember his name. She was unable to believe it. This man who had saved her was the same one that tortured and beat mortals on a whim? That once tore out the tongues of an entire family because their baby cried while he was walking by?
Fang Yuehai shuddered at that thought. She heard that he had tied the tongues together and used them to hang the baby while the rest of the family bled out at it’s feet...alive just long enough to watch their child’s last breath.
The two images of Sun Jiao didn’t overlap in her mind. It was like oil and water. She was going to ask about it, but thought to herself it was better to hold her tongue. Fang Yuahai cracked a smile at that, but it faded quickly upon further thought.
Sun Jiao ignored them and instead focused on the captain.
“I said it and I won’t regret it.”
A gleam appeared in the gate captain’s eyes. At first was starting to regret picking a fight, but now that he was able to fight without worrying about the Sun clan his confidence soared like a proud albatross soaring over the endless ocean.
Stretching his thick arms over his head with his fists clenched he slowly brought them down in a circle and slammed his fists together. At the same time he breathed out a noxious green ki mist that covered his fists.
A mercenary in the crowd noticed this and yelled out in shock; “THAT’S POISON ATTRIBUTE! HE ACTUALLY HAS A KI ATTRIBUTE!”
A clueless mortal man spoke up; “Attribute? What’s an attribute?”
The man who had yelled began to explain, but not before enjoying the satisfaction of having the crowd’s attention.
“Ha! You don’t even know that? Do you live in the mountains off berries? Maybe you live in a cave huh? Well let me, your father, tell you. An attribute is uh...well it’s like umm.”
The man knew about attributes, but didn’t had only heard rumors and was having trouble explaining.
“An attribute is a method of applying aspects of the world to your ki. This allows you to use your ki to have an effect on the world that is related to the aspect you applied. For instance applying a fire attribute would allow your ki to create fire. Poison attribute would naturally cause a poison effect. Well that is the simplest and most basic type of attributes that any idiot could use.”
Sun Jiao, who had already asked Xiaobo, informed the crowd with a cold and indifferent attitude as though he was a teacher talking to his students about a painfully boring subject for the thousandth time.
Xiaobo had explained about attributes quickly and only mentioned that they could be far more complicated such as a formation or even something abstract such as an emotion, an evening sunset, or the letter S.
“That’s right! My poison attribute will make your death incredibly painful.”
Sun Jiao snorted and chose not to reply. Instead he lunged forward and swung his blade.
A smile appeared on the captain’s face. He’d always wanted to say this to a prince, but would never dare.
“YOU DARE?!”
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I had to stop writing at least twice because I cracked myself up. Hope you found the silly little jokes funny as well.