Yan Yun felt a torrent of emotions swirling in her chest. She had suspected her grandfather would not listen, there had been little reason to think she could change his mind after all these years. Yet despite herself, she’d been holding out a sliver of hope that perhaps, just maybe he would give her a chance.She closed her eyes, feeling an ache filling her heart. She focused on it, on her past years spent trying to prove herself. All this time, all this time she had been doing it for the wrong reason. But not anymore.“I will go first,” Yan Yun announced, stepping forth.Zhang stirred at her words. “No, it should be—”Yuan interrupted the boy, shaking his head. Zhang looked at her, and Yan Yun looked firmly within Zhang’s eyes. “Trust me, Zhang.”A moment later, Zhang gave her a nod, stepping back again. She stepped forward, standing in the arena, and Elder Sheng clapped. “We have the first participant! Who will elder Yan be sending to match Yan Yun?”Yan Yun looked at her grandfathe

Zhang watched Yan Yun’s awakening, giving her a smile. She had come a long way to reach where she had.“Will Yan Yun be withdrawing?” Elder Sheng asked. “It will be counted as a loss.”“I can keep going,” Yan Yun said, turning around.“No, you should rest,” Yuan said. “I know you want to, but you’re not in any condition to keep going. We’ll be fine.”“Indeed, sister Yan Yun. I will go next. Leave the task to me,” Zhang said.Brother Yuan patted him on the shoulder, smiling brightly. “Go show them what you’re made of, Zhang!”Zhang gripped his spear tightly, stepping forth. The time had come to prove himself. He had failed to protect Yuan from the assassin, and the failure had hung heavily on his shoulders. He could not allow that to happen again. He was not going to be a disappointment twice. Yan Yun had given her best, now it was his turn.“And that’s the next participant!” Elder Sheng announced.Zhang looked at Elder Yan, keeping his gaze firm. An anger he had buried from when he ha

I heard the announcement of the end of the match and let out a sigh. I had been expecting this. The battle with Zhou Fang was difficult enough that Zhang would’ve struggled to take out Li. I watched the elder from the alchemy hall pick up Zhang, and I took the boy from him, supporting him on my shoulder.“Apologies, brother Yuan,” Zhang said.“Nonsense, you did more than enough,” I replied, as I helped him sit down. After making sure Zhang was alright, I spared a moment to check my own spirit. The poison was, thankfully, still moving slowly. A portion of my spirit felt like it had been hollowed out, but there was enough around to serve my purpose. But my time was limited nonetheless. I needed to win quickly.“Now, it seems the final battle is all that’s left,” Elder Sheng said, looking at me.I stepped forward at his words, entering the arena. Li stood on the opposite side, injured, but still far from defeated as lightning crackled around the boy.“Are both participants ready?” Elder

Elder Yan saw Lord Zhou move but the man had not been fast enough. Lightning was speed, swiftness, even the Lord could not beat him in this regard.“What have you done?!” the man screamed, genuine fury burning in his eyes now.“What you should’ve done ages ago,” Elder Yan spat, grasping at the Lord’s arms. “Harboring a demon in your own castle, you have become a traitor Lord Zhou. I will not stand for it. You no longer are fit to hold the title of Lord of this peak,” Elder Yan said.Lord Zhou’s expression twisted and Elder Yan simply glowered back at the man. But neither moved against each other.What did move, was something else entirely.Elder Yan glanced sideways, noticing one of the demon boy’s friends holding him in their arms. Elder Yan scowled, Qi flaring rapidly as he prepared to finish the job.“I would not do that if I were you,” Elder Sheng said, putting an arm on his shoulder. Elder Yan scoffed, yet his body was frozen under the man, unwilling to move.“Ah, my dear junior

Sheng Yuan flew in the skies, watching the Divine Beast give chase. This trip had very quickly gone from a fun, leisurely one to a battle he was rather under prepared for. There was no way the Azure Dragon would not notice this, so their time was cut even further as the Emperor himself would realize what was going on. He would need to make sure he got his due back for this favor from his dearest new Junior Brother.“Man, grandfather sure loves picking children like us, doesn’t he?” Sheng Yuan exclaimed to the beast, who did not reply, simply letting a strike of Chi burst that cracked reality in front of him. The void seeped from between the cracks, and Sheng Yuan had to exert his will to keep the realms from cracking as he took the blow.“Calm down, you really don’t want to create a rift to the void here. There are worse things than either of us in there,” Sheng Yuan said, but his smile was starting to slip. Maintaining this form while fighting was proving to be more and more difficul