“We’ve gotten stronger, Xiuying…” Liwei’s words caught her off guard. Five years later, those same jittery adolescents developed into powerful warriors that detest the imperial family.

Here they were, audaciously standing before the elders of the Wudang sect with vocal dissatisfaction.

Liwei ascended, sparking conflict within his former caretaker’s scattered brain. The final tear that fell from his cheek was a tear of blood. On his face wasn’t the expression of despondency…

In fact, it was the exhilaration of pride.

“I am Liwei.” He presented himself formally, though it was already too late and impractical to do so. “This is Xiuying.” He introduced the deadly young woman standing beside him.

“And you, the elders I challenge, have bred a sect too weak for its own good! With this shishen of mine, I’ll nourish this monastery with caliber and prosperity that even the imperial family will fear! Bring forth your wager, or capitulate—”

“Alright then,” The oldest elder interrupted. Even the observing cultivators were silenced. He removed his vestment to reveal an unpredictably muscular physique. “I accept your challenge.”

Liqiang anxiously bit his lip. What the hell is he proposing?

Daiwen stepped out of the crossfire. “You’re not the only person I care about that walked down this path…” He mumbled.

“Who’re you?” Liwei blankly questioned the adverse elder.

“I’m this sect’s strongest elder, Nianzu. Your speech was getting boring, so I decided to cut to the chase. Knock me off my feet within sixty seconds and we’ll heed.”

“We’ll do it in half that.” Xiuying was the first to lower into a fighting stance. The cultivators watching the confrontation were offended by this disrespect on their elder’s behalf. Even Daiwen, who was indeed stronger than Nianzu, gritted his teeth.

“I doubt it! Not even this sect’s patriarch could defeat me.” Nianzu was painted in a brash smile.

“Overconfidence will get you in trouble.” Liwei was equally as cocky as the others.

Nianzu was finally pissed off. “I’ll make you eat your words!” He lifted a hand gesture, causing a milky-white qi to discharge from his body. This spirit was the Heavenly Dog Tiangou, devourer of celestial bodies and harbinger of the eclipse. The elder planted his hands on the ground like a canine— a rather odd stance for close quarters combat.

What the hell kind of stance is this? Liwei, much like the crowd of disciples, was completely puzzled. Liqiang seemed to be the only person who actually understood the elder’s style of fighting.

“Those nails of his are as sharp as iron swords. There’s no way he could lose a fight like this.” The patriarch smirked. Daiwen was filled with unease.

“Let’s see if his bark matches his bite.” Xiuying didn’t hesitate to start the match.

Nianzu stood his ground, watching his opponents’ movements closely. Xiuying was fast enough to leave a trail of afterimages behind when she sprinted, but the elder wasn’t worried whatsoever.

“You’re adorable to think defeating me is that easy!” Nianzu sneered, blocking a ferocious kick and sinking his sharp claws into the tigress’ skin. Xiuying was thrown over the elder’s shoulder, barely managing to land softly.

Liwei was the next to attack Nianzu. They traded lethal blows for several seconds. Pernicious fangs and tearing claws left both combatants bruised and bloody. They were almost evenly matched.

“Stop the fight before someone gets hurt!” Daiwen demanded. He could barely watch, blindfolding himself with cupped hands.

“I’m afraid I can’t. Liwei challenged the leader of the pack, so he’ll have to face the consequences.” Liqiang was delighted.

“This is actually fun! I could toy around with you all day!” Liwei beamed as he fought. His fighting style was meant to inflict internal damage by targeting vital points in the body. Nianzu’s performance noticeably dwindled from just that brief scuffle.

Is this bastard really mocking me in the middle of the fight? Nianzu grimaced. He took a second to recuperate. There was no possible way he could defeat both of them simultaneously. At this point, he was biting more than he could chew.

“Do you think the vagabonds can defeat Nianzu?” The disciple adjacent to Daiwen asked.

“I have no idea. He wasn’t nearly this strong when I last saw him. I would’ve never thought two teenagers training in isolation could be this effective…”

“Maybe you were right the whole time. The heavenly shishen are nothing to laugh at. Even your Qilin spirit scares me sometimes.” Liqiang commented.

Xiuying was studying the elder’s movements. As soon as there was an opening, she pounced at Nianzu and overwhelmed him with acrobatic kicks and swipes of her very own claws.

The vagabonds definitely had the clear advantage. The impact of their strikes alone caused devastating shockwaves.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Crack!

The disciples clearly heard the sound of bones breaking. Nianzu was actually sweating profusely. How is this possible?

“He’s struggling against those brats?!” One of the sect elders stammered in surprise. The others were equally dumbfounded.

“Don’t worry. Nianzu can still turn the tables.” Liqiang insisted.

Xiuying crouched down and kicked Nianzu’s shin, but his stance allowed him to quickly catch his footing and retaliate with a vicious, blood-drawing scratch at the chest.

The elder was pitifully desperate, darting at the vagabonds with bloodshot eyes. “I’ll end this right here!” Killing intent raged through his conscience.

Liwei grabbed the fist that was launched at him with a boastful grin. His shishen’s heavenly qi was even more intense than before. A barrage of fluid, deadly serpentine attacks left Nianzu barely able to stand.

“How foolish of you to leave yourself wide open. You’re practically begging for death.” Liwei commented.

The crowd was astonished, but the sect elders were understandably incensed. Nevertheless, their mouths were left wide open.

“Aaaargh!” Xiuying exclaimed. A brutal roundhouse kick to the stomach caused Nianzu to cough blood. The elder seemingly flew across the courtyard, landing on his back, and gasped for air. He was too hurt to even stand.

Liqiang scowled. It hasn’t even been thirty seconds yet!

The sect elders were awfully silent as the audience of disciples babbled about what just happened. The vagabonds bathed in the triumph that literally nobody else expected.

“Get up you son a bitch! Get up!” The weaker elders rudely shouted at Nianzu.

“Your incompetence upsets me,” Liwei turned to them with a disapproving glance. “You constantly demand respect but never do anything to deserve it.”

“You have guts insulting us!” An elder hissed.

“Shut it before we cripple you next.” Xiuying retorted. Her cheek was still bleeding from Nianzu’s sharpened nails, but she wasn’t bothered at all. She could’ve defeated him easily if she was going all out.

“Daiwen, do something about those rascals!” Liqiang stuttered.

“There’s nothing I can do,” Daiwen responded. “They won the challenge, and there’s not one disciple in this entire sect beside me that could defeat either of them, let alone both. I wouldn’t be surprised if he took your title as patriarch next.”

His movements were jerky, walking to the serpentine-eyed boy he once took care of. Noisy footsteps alarmed the disciples surrounding him that watched in suspense.

Daiwen’s mouth reached the boy’s ear, and he let out a faint whisper that only Liwei could hear. “I wonder if your mother would be proud.”

Ready to depart from the monastery, Daiwen sauntered across the cobblestone pathway and stopped at the open gates to take a deep breath in.

“Where are you going?!” Liqiang cried. Liwei wondered the same thing, but he didn’t want to admit to himself that he missed the golden-haired man’s smile. He felt like the nostalgia would kill him. Those memories are best left forgotten, right?

“Who knows?” Those were the last words Daiwen said before he left. Even the disciples were shaken, especially the sect elders.

Liwei was pale in the face— even paler than normal. He was uncomfortable with the inquisitive cultivators enclosing him with their jaws open. “Go back to your normal routines at once.” He commanded. The disciples did so without hesitation.

“Liwei—” Xiuying was concerned.

“We’ll pursue him at the strike of dawn. This happened because of the choices I made in the efforts to influence the Wudang sect and chase my own personal goals,” Liwei said. “To take down both the imperial family and the man who abused you, we’ll need all five of the heavenly shishen. He’s too important to our endgame plan.”

“I think you should bide your time.” Xiuying insisted.

“Well we can’t just sit in this monastery all day.” Liwei was being quite inconsiderate since Xiuying hadn’t witnessed the beauty of a cultivation sect before, but she understood completely.

The look on Liwei’s face was crestfallen.

“What about the Qingcheng sect?” Xiuying suggested. “There’s a lucid connection between my shishen and that cultivation sect. If we persuade them into an alliance and further expand our manpower, taking out the Yinlin clan will be plain sailing.”

“That’s right. Some of the most powerful cultivators are raised in the four sacred mountains. The Longhu and Qiyun sects shouldn’t be too hard to convince, either.”

“We’ll have to train a serious amount to reach my father’s strength.”

“You keep calling him your father like he treated you right…” Liwei groaned. The one man that took care of him for the majority of his life was also the man he could least look in the eye.

“Hahaha, I bet you care about me, don’t you?” Xiuying taunted. Her romantic attraction to Liwei was clear-cut, but he was totally oblivious.

“There’s nothing wrong about that.” Liwei patted her on the head as a sign of affection, just like Daiwen once did to him. “You should take the night to heal from those scars. I’m sure the disciples have plenty of bandages.”

“You don’t need to worry about me, I can handle myself. Besides, you’re bleeding as well.”

“At least humor me and rest.” Liwei said with a bright smile. He really did care about her health, and she could tell. The cuts weren’t even that severe.

Something about the way Liwei smiled made Xiuying blush.

“Fine. As long as you rest with me.” Xiuying joked. However, Liwei didn’t interpret this as playful. He thought she was genuine. Not that it bothered her at all. She undoubtedly enjoyed Liwei’s company.

“Of course, but there’s somewhere I want to go first.”

The patriarch’s office was barely different than when Liwei was a little boy. The wooden walls decorated with scriptures enclosed the exposed floorboards and coffee table where Liqiang often sat and drank his tea. Overall, the entire room looked almost untouched.

To most people, it would feel irreverent to snoop through someone’s office while they were busy in the bathroom. Not to Liwei.

Am I dreaming? He was shocked to find his favorite puppets, the serpent and the tortoise, in the exact same place he left them. He grabbed them and held them close to his chest, feeling like he was reliving his childhood. The homesickness that he didn’t know was inside of him disappeared.

He didn’t even notice the pink-haired girl standing inside the doorway. “You still play with toys?” Xiuying mocked lightheartedly.

“Umm, no!” He turned around. It was already too late to hide them. His eyes landed on the flowers on Liqiang’s desk. Desperate to change the conversation, he blurted out the first thing he could think of. “Those lilies are beauteous, aren’t they? Daiwen told me I should give one to a girl when I marry her.”

“I’d love to have one of those.”

“Are you implying that you love me?” Liwei teased. Xiuying went redder than a tomato. “Relax, I’m just messing with you.”

How could he be so blind? Xiuying wanted to scream her feelings at the top of her lungs, but most of all, she wished he would just take a hint already. “I think I’m getting tired, so I should get some sleep. Are you coming with me?” She could barely get her words out coherently.

“Maybe in a few minutes.” Liwei looked back at the puppets he hadn’t seen in years.

“Liwei, you’ve been immature since the day we first met.” Xiuying laughed at herself. A sentence plagued her mind, but she couldn’t find the courage to spit it out…

Yet I keep finding myself fawning over you.