Yung nodded, then shook his head.
Yung didn't want to hide things from Su Nanya. But he wasn’t ready, not now. So he decided to tell her about his memories after their relationship matured a bit more. The vixen pouted, but didn’t push the matter.
"Chao brat." Youjin Gengxin's loud voice rose above the others, "I know there have been some misunderstandings between us. But we, the Youjin, are your family at the end of the day. Your uncles and aunts, and even cousins have already laid the best foundation for you to spread your wings. And my master, Selenosilver Valley's Lunar rite elder, wants to take you in as a direct disciple. What say you?"
"Just now," declared the representative of Victorious Tide Island immediately after Youjin Gengxin finished roaring, "a sound transmission has reached us from the esteemed Grand Elder of our sect. Should you choose to join us, you shall instantly become his cherished legacy disciple." She emphasized the significance of the offer by emphasizing the ‘Grand Elder’ part, giving the burly Youjin clan uncle a sideways glance.
Youjin Gengxin scowled, his hand grasping a token where a full-on negotiation was no doubt in the swing.
"You mean Elder Hengde?" Han Xinglou from the Malignant Moon Sword Sect scoffed, but something in his face spoke of humiliation. Yung was amazed that the guy even had the face to speak up after saying all that stuff about Youjin Chao's 'talent' just a few minutes ago. The scholarly man continued, "He has five 'final' legacy disciples! The Malignant Moon Sword Sect can offer anything you all can, and far more. Truly, what heaven-defying talents!" After trying to spin his earlier admonishments as praise, he listed off an impressive series of terms.
Meanwhile, Han Xinglou was still droning on even as that Duan Louheng dude’s face became blacker than a Chinese clay pot. Mid-speech, the scholarly looking man suddenly took out a sound transmission token and raised it with trembling hands.
"I hope the fellow Daoists can give this old man some face." From the depths of the jade, a nasally voice emerged, its timbre both high-pitched and resolute, imbued with unwavering authority. With a mere flicker, a delicate ripple of Spirit qi dispersed, suffusing the atmosphere of the venue, rendering it weighty and keen, as if every breath of the speaker carried a sense of purpose and gravity. It was sharp, yet softer than moonlight, like a soothing killer waiting to strike from behind the clouds.
Then Miss Maid huffed, and the pressure was no more.
The jade token paused, but continued with its speech soon after. "Child, you are Youjin Chao? This old man is the current leader of the Malignant Moon Sword Sect."
Gasps rang out, gazes shifted, Silky chirped, and Yung fed him grapes. Duan Louheng truly looked ugly right now as he shifted his gaze from the token to Youjin Chao, but he kept his mouth shut after a sordid glare from Han Xinglou.
"Become my direct disciple, young one, and behold the path to true glory unfold before you. No man in this land shall offend you; no woman can reject you. No secrets will be left as such, for under my tutelage, what can the mortal bounds be other than mere ropes of jute? To you, who will become the next sect master, you shall sever the ties of destiny with our moonlit sword." The Malignant Moon Sect leader said. "And soon, the Warring Twilight Region will be too small for you. My fellow Daoists of the various sects, do give this old man face."
"Only the Twilight Blood Palace has the resources to nurture his physique to its truest potential properly." The Twilight Blood Palace elder gave the Malignant Moon Sect leader no face. He sat on Su Nanya's other side, on a small footrest beside the palanquin. "Why are the fellow Daoists here avoiding the elephant in the room? It is an 'unknown yang-type assimilation bloodline,' meaning even the Respected Martial Aunt's Harmonious Heaven-grade aptitude testing orb cannot figure out what it is. Other than the fact that it needs to assimilate yang-type blood to awaken fully."
Yung would bet Youjin Chao wanted this person's offer the most. Or rather, Su Nanya's. He felt strange. Not threatened, and not jealous. After all, he was the one snuggling the vixen. But he didn’t like it either.
That cheered Yung up, despite the judgemental glare from Floofy and Silky.
The elder on the footrest said, "Youjin Chao, our Twilight Blood Palace can give you the most extensive selection of Yang-blood to choose from in the entire Warring Twilight Region. It is in our name, 'Twilight Blood Palace.' After you reach the Dao Vessel Realm, then awakening your Spirit qi would be no problem either." The Twilight Blood Palace elder said with a serene face, "And besides... We have foxballs. Few other sects in the Azure Deep Island's domain can claim they have better access to artificial spirit roots than we."
Youjin Gengxin's face turned from scowling to ugly. The Victorious Tide Island elder took a deep breath and sighed tiredly. The voice from the token in Han Xinglou's hand radiated fury.
"The Malignant Moon Sword Sect will spare no resources to get you the best artificial spirit root possible."
"Better than occultic foxballs?" The Twilight Blood Palace Elder gestured respectfully at Su Nanya as if that proved his point. It did. "We can offer the best blood for Origin qi cultivation and the best artificial spirit root in the entire mortal plane for Spirit qi. Need I say more?"
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Youjin Chao's eyes were glued to the vixen, glistening like the gaze of a little boy in the face of a cool sword. Yung read his empathic link. It read nothing. The tall boy was entrapped, not even thinking about anyone else other than the golden vixen in Yung's arm. The vixen, as was her grace, promised another kiss, but this time Yung started second-guessing his altruism. His plan would need some tweaking.
The elders bickered for what felt like hours. Each sect raised their offers, and the people in the audience were looking left and right with confusion. Ziyou Maque was flabbergasted, Ziyou Ling pretended that she did not care at all, and Youjin Chun was shocked out of her mind. Her dainty mouth refused to shut, but her eyes showed evident pride and vindication.
"Twilight Blood Palace." Finally, Youjin Chao spoke, "If you will have this insolent one."
The Twilight Blood Palace elder smiled victoriously, "A wise choice. Ascend."
Youjin Chao cast his glance at Nanya.
The boy kept standing on the stage, staring straight at Su Nanya as if no one else existed, lost in his own delusions. His eyes were that of a bloodhound, crimson red with none but the reflection of a golden celestial maiden.
"Chao'er, you have to go," the announcer said, "others are waiting."
Youjin Chao nodded with a luminous smile, which was, of course, cast onto the mirror in the sky. Yung had to admit, it was beautiful, pretty in a way that would have gone viral on Instagram within seconds of posting. It was manly, yet so precious, as though forcing others to wish him success upon whatever task he ventured. Confident, triumphant, vindicated. There were dreams there, on a face that could be immortalized. And Yung swore he heard the squeals of many teenage girls going up throughout the city.
“Kii?”
I am not jealous, Silky. Just envious.
As Su Nanya typed her sweet admonishments with a coquettish grin, squeezing Yung's arm between her 'weapons' so hard it was about to achieve nirvana, Youjin Chao walked up the amphitheatre with assured steps. He took a seat beside the Twilight Blood Palace elder, and then grinned at Yung. His eyes saw where Yung's arm was, and his grin fell like it had been glued there with tomato sauce.
"Hello there." Yung greeted, slowly getting over his shyness with PDA.
"It's all thanks to Brother Yung," Youjin Chao said, albeit with an unkind glare as though his dearest fantasy had been shattered. "If you had not come to support me, then Su Nanya would not have granted me a second chance."
So he did hear that part. I thought he was brain-fogged by the way he was acting.
"Think nothing of it," Yung said.
Youjin Chao grinned again, then turned and bowed as Su Nanya, "This one apologi—"
"Shut yourself, plebeian."
Youjin Chao stopped, taken aback at the explicit hostility. Then he nodded and quietly took a seat. Yung read his empathic link only to find a mix of sky-high gratitude and sea-deep hatred.
Oh boy, looks like he’s as confused as I am.
Many people would sleep with complicated dreams tonight, if they slept at all.
Next was Ziyou Ling—the first madlander to appear on the podium. The darker crowd cheered, it was loud, and it was heart-warming. But few other people cared. Without a doubt, Youjin Chao was still the star of the show. Even as Ziyou Ling nervously touched the testing sphere, the many gazes did not leave the tall boy.
"Bone age 18. Swift-eyed Earthen Feline physique, Unfolding Heaven grade. Mixed Imperfect Heaven affinity with earth major," the announcer said.
Ziyou Ling made a motion of cheering, and there was a slight smile on Youjin Chao's face as their eyes crossed. But the madlander girl’s gaze turned dead, and tears were about to fall out despite the resounding hurrah she received from the spectating madlanders.
Yung nudged Su Nanya, and Ziyou Ling got an invite from the Twilight Blood Palace a second later, which she accepted. But for some reason, Yung felt a sense of resignation there, and many layers of hesitation.
The line moved up fast. By the time mostly madlanders remained, the sky had grown dark.
Good thing that Su Nanya allowed using both the testing spheres to speed the process up, or it might have taken the whole night. It was tedious, and the vixen said she wanted to 'cultivate' with Yung as soon as possible. Apparently, she had an ‘event’ prepared.
Among the candidates, they tended to rush up to the stage and use Su Nanya's golden testing sphere as if that would raise their chances of revealing some uber-talented physique and affinity.
It did not.
Barely a dozen more people had enough talent to get an invite to Phase Two from the big sects. However, many more were scouted by the minor ones.
After three more hours, the test ended with much fanfare. Four more madlanders made the cut, and they all followed Ziyou Ling into the Twilight Blood Palace. Three of them were suitable for Origin qi cultivation, with the fourth girl having a dual Spirit qi affinity for wood and water.
Yung would have thought that the other sects would be discontent with the Twilight Blood Palace monopolizing the Madlander talent pool. But no. Madlanders, after all, were barbarians.
Alongside Youjin Chao, Ziyou Ling, Xiu Jiujiu, and the four other Madlanders, seven in total had received, and accepted, invites from the Twilight Blood Palace. The Selenosilver Valley took the lion's share of candidates from the Youjin clan and three more from the non-Youjin candidates. And the two remaining sects took five each.
"Twilight Blood Palace," Youjin Chun said at the very end. Youjin Gengxin sighed, as did Youjin Liu. In contrast, Youjin Chao did not even glance back at the heiress.
Han Xinglou left after casting a venomous glare at the taller boy, and Duan Louheng's impassive façade was back.
The Twilight Blood Palace elder talked with the Victorious Tide Island elder who had approached them.
"Our liege from the Azure Deep Island wishes Fairy Su a pleasant stay," the plump woman said. She had toned muscles under her strange clothes. They were reminiscent of Cantonese clothing with a touch of Viking bloodthirst. "Does the Honourable Revived Grace wish for the Westmoon Kingdom?" Her voice was quiet, and her face had a polite smile as though she was talking about trading vegetables.
"We care not for this village," Su Nanya turned to Yung. "How about our dearest servant? Ought not you wish to be a monarch?"
"Nope. I wanna leave with you," Yung said.
"Oh, do you really?" Su Nanya smirked.
Yung's heart skipped a beat. Does she know? Heh, I really can't keep anything a secret from her.
Su Nanya waved the Victorious Tide Island elder away. "We shan't speak. Begone."
The plump woman bowed, then excused herself.
"We shall leave now," Su Nanya announced. "Maid, banish us with the wind." She turned into a small golden fox as a tornado of azure gales covered Yung and her.
"Whoa!" Yung lost his balance and instinctively grabbed the fox’s tail.
"Let go, you foul creature! Vermin of wrongful lust! Unrepentant molester!"
Yung hugged her even tighter, and soon they were left in the middle of a large bazaar in the southeast market square. Yung let Su Nanya go, and the fox jumped down.
"Why are we here?" He asked.
Su Nanya licked her tail with a wronged look; the place Yung had grabbed had sunken fur.
"Mannerless bandit of no decorum," With one last glare and derogation, she said, "This is our 'date', is it not?"
"D-date?"
"You mock us." The fox snarled, offended. "Did you not ask us to accompany you on an outing? You had spoken praise of this night bazaar. We wish to make good on those words."
"You remembered... Oooh, so this was the ‘event.’" Yung felt something melting in his heart.
"Of course." Su Nanya preened. "We are your Essence qi cultivation partner, after all."
"You're my girlfriend, and I love you to bits!" Yung scooped the fox into a hug and twirled around.
"Eeeek!" Su Nanya blushed.
"Eeeek." Yung repeated, and the two walked towards the orange-stained bazaar with happy airs in their heart.