Nayu had no experience in comforting a child, which was going to be a problem after she had found the Young Master. That could be a problem, since he had a tendency to be figuratively invisible at times. However strange the middle child seemed to be, it was still a child throwing a tantrum of sorts. He was going to retreat into ‚his space‘, his room, in this case. So it was a surprise to not find him there, even checking under the bed or other obvious hidden spots hadn’t brought any fruit to her search. There was a second place she could look, the gardens, where he had spent a majority of his time. Though she would not find him there, meeting him in the hallway, halfway.

He had taken his blindfold off, clutching it with his left hand, though he still kept his now reddened eyes closed. He had water on his face and hair. Nayu recognised this look, it was originated from a trait they shared with the older brother, and one that was seemingly drilled into them by their father, in order to not linger on their emotions, they did a ritual of washing their hands and face, sometimes their entire body.

„Your brother told me to check on you.“ She started by mentioning a person Kaixue had liked, to gauge his mood, were he still mad, he would now assure her that he was not, in fact, stupid.

„That’s kind of him, and thank you too, miss Nayu.“

„Has your blindfold gotten untied?“

„When I washed my face, I forgot I had it on, and dove my face into the water with it still on.“ Kaixue replied, returning closer to his usual way of speaking. Though he claimed it, there were small residues of Crystal Force on the cloth he usually tied around his eyes.

The Shield swallowed a bit nervously: „Do you wish to talk?“

He raised his head: „May we?“

Cherei was absent-mindedly complimenting her third-cousin’s choice of gift, she just wished the day was over already, nothing today would help her recover from receiving an invaluable gift from Kaixue, who was then threatened by an uncle she loved, and left the party, she wanted to do the same, but her Mother would never forgive her. There was only going to be two hours of dancing, before a final, evening feast, that was all she had to endure, she steeled her nerves mentally, she wished she could physically, but she couldn’t down half a litre of sunsheep milk in record speed, not in front of her entire extended family and their guests.

The servant reached for another present, the lid of which, to everyone’s surprise, flew off. What came out was a detestable creature, a completely smooth, gray-green body with barely discernible scales, two bright, lizard eyes, no legs, and a split tongue that on ocassion slipped out of its maw. Cherei did not get to marvel the creature for long, it had lunged at her the moment it was visible in the light, she retreated, hoping to reach the hornbow her uncle had given her among the already received gifts, but in her head she knew she wouldn’t be able to reach it in time, she already saw the snake devouring her head whole, or biting her with painful venom. Her mother and uncle stood up, guards moved, some people screamed, and a greatsword drew the sun’s orbit from East to West, flame poured from the lanterns the man carried at his waist, and soared at the very tip of the blade as it cleaved straight through the body of the reptile.

Yiban and his sister-in-law, Atang were more powerful cultivators, but the one to react fastest is usually the one least comfortable, Gangzhi flew across the room using his father’s movement technique before the two could do anything. He then pierced his sword through the box, fire quickly ran from the guard to the tip of the blade, it took less than ten seconds for black smoke to rise out of the box, and with it rose the smell of burnt flesh, when the horrified servant let go of the box, and it crashed on the ground, it revealed eight more pierced and burnt snakes.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The servant then dropped to her knees, and wailed, begging to be spared despite failing the duty as a safety mechanism for the gifts, but no one paid her any mind, everyone looked at a different end of the room, a man in a completely dark habit with a hood covering the top of his face stood with his boots between the plates the nobles were using to eat. The man’s dark leather gloves made his clapping sound dull. He clapped for several seconds, with many people simply looking at the man in disbelief. It did not take a genius to figure out what had happened, before Gangzhi took a step, yiban waved his hand, an arrow of pink fire flew right through the dark clothed man’s chest, the man dissapeared, a small box with a gem embeded in it falling on the ground.

„A projection artifact?“ The head of the family was in disbelief.

Cherei took her bow in his hands, and was relieved her back pressed against her elder brother. Everyone looked around themselves, looking for the assassin, but a few began panicking, rushing towards the door.

„Do not let anyone out!“ Atang shouted to her guards, which was a select group consisting of every guard in the room.

On the opposite side of the room compared to the one people flocked to, a guard was slammed against the wall, and the door smashed open, a dark man had ran through. And after him, the oldest child.

„Wait, you idiot!“ Shouted Yiban.

„I suppose it was because of how suffocating the atmosphere was that Uncle’s disbelief shook me like this, I thought I was going to be fine with people doubting I could acquire my gift, even before I knew its value, but when he did it in front of everyone, it felt like a betrayal or insult.“ Kaixue said to the older girl sitting on the stairs with him.

„You should prepare yourself, Lord Yiban is going to question you about this later, that is the kind of man he is.“ Nayu replied.

„He is my uncle, do you seriously think I do not know what kind of man he is?“

The Shield stayed silent.

„I’m thinking if I’m not too greedy.“ they’ve been conversing casually for a longer while now.

„What do you mean by that?“

„I’ve got a wonderful family, was born a noble, and could probably become a scholar within a few years, but my mind is always trying to figure out how to get rid of my blindness, how to learn to cultivate, am I greedy?“

„If you are, it’s a good kind of ‚greed‘.“

Now it was Kaixue’s time to be confused.

„What do you mean by that?“ He parroted her question from a minute ago.

„You do not want to take things from others, you simply want things for yourself, Lord Gangzhi told me there’s a difference between it, and that simply having a heart that desires things is not a reason to feel shame.“

She spoke the truth, Kaixue would do almost anything to either be able to see, at least spiritually, or unlock some sort of way to cultivate his spirit. But it was born from a desire to have power, not envy of others‘ power, he would not, for example, take his brother’s, sister’s, mother’s, or anyone else’s cultivation, even if given the option.

„My brother got that philosophical?“ He laughed a little. The air outside was clean, much better than the crowded hall. It made him much more relaxed.

He continued: „If you should follow your heart’s desire, why are you in armour, and not in a dress, dancing with my brother, I’m sure they’ve all started by now.“

„So, where’d you get the swan core?“ Asked an unknown, coarse voice. Another person sat down next to them, putting Kaixue in the middle. Kaixue also felt something cold press against his chin, and a hand wrapped in rough fabric reach around his back and grab his more distant shoulder.

He felt Nayu try to stand up, he even heard her move with the force she stood up, but the coldness pressed deeper against Kaixue’s chin, and her movements had halted.

His fingers shook a little, his heart was beating in his head and chest, he felt bits of his face twitching against his will. It was not the first time for Kaixue to feel the fear of death, but it was the first time for him to feel the fear of being killed. He breathed, the blade a hair’s length from digging into his skin.

“I found in a lake, honoured sir.” Once again, a truth that was infinitely close to a lie, the core was floating in the air, but his feet were covered in the lake’s water when he reached it.

“Which lake?” The person drew his body closer.

“The ones in the central garden, honoured sir?”

“Good boy.” He was let go of, and covered his face as he fell on the stairs.

“Just like that?” He thought aloud.

“Well yeah, I’m gonna need both hands to deal with him.”

Nayu grabbed him with one hand, and jumped a good ten metres away, she hurriedly let go of him into the grass. The newcoming person had Fire Force dancing and Light Force radiating around him, as well as Sword Force cirling the greatsword he’s been holding. Gangzhi shouted in unison with his Shield: “Go, hide in your room!”