Chen Ai was fortunate she’d taken the Garnet Meridian Expansion Pill and the mouthful of Spirit Grass earlier. Thanks to the combination, her qi was refreshed and flowing better than ever. It made sense that her noble opponents would also be in tip-top condition, funded by their respective clans.

  However, Shen Botao gave the impression of a well-looked-after tool rather than something polished and precious like the other Shen candidates.

  His wide stance was strong, and he waited patiently while the other two had taken charge of the fight’s momentum. He held his hands in complicated gestures. Deciding that his demeanor was polite enough, she didn’t want to taunt him, so she took the bait and charged.

  Her steps were strong and her senses were alert as she closed the short distance. Only a shift in the grass warned her.

  A tendril of stone shot out of the ground, and Chen Ai dashed to the side as it twisted in the air. If she hadn’t moved, the stone root would have wrapped around her leg and immobilized her. Even as she landed, the grass rippled, and more tendrils burst up.

  An involuntary smile formed as she dodged the series of attacks.

  Shen Botao retained his stance, connecting him to the ground, but he was sparing in his qi use. Every time an attack missed, he quickly dismissed the stone root, causing it to collapse and crumble.

  As Chen Ai got closer, his stone roots became faster and thicker. She leaped away from two roots that attempted to trap her from both sides and landed on the far side of the circle.

  “Interesting technique,” she said. “Is it qi hungry?”

  “I have enough.”

  She grinned.

  “I like your attitude,” she said as she bent down and scooped up some dirt.

  Her fingers broke through the grass and grabbed some rocks. With a flick of her wrist, she shot a rock towards Shen Botao’s face. He shifted his head to the side, and the rock sailed away into the park, causing some of the watchers to scatter.

  “Nice,” Chen Ai complimented.

  But would he dodge the next strikes?

  She tossed the remaining rocks in a series at his torso and thighs. There was no way he could shift his body to avoid them. Shen Botao’s eyes widened, and Chen Ai detected the familiar churn of his qi.

  Stone roots burst up and struck the rocks from the air.

  So, his stance was both his strength and his weakness. If she could disrupt that, then she was confident she could win.

  As a wandering cultivator, Chen Ai had poor fortune when it came to cultivation resources and techniques. Only her Ox Bloodline’s ability to absorb spirit grass had allowed her to reach the 7th Stage of Qi Condensing by twenty-seven. Her strength was her main weapon when it came to the inevitable combat of the cultivation world, but it was not her only tool.

  Once more, she bent down and grabbed a handful of the ground.

  Shen Botao tensed, his hands ready in the complex gestures he used to maintain his qi control. Could he have any idea what she was about to do?

  She straightened and met her opponent’s eyes.

  “Are you ready?” she asked.

  He frowned.

  “I’m —”

  She threw out a handful of grass. Charged with her own grass qi, the blades flew like a cloud of daggers toward Shen Botao.

  The young man twitched his fingers and summoned a tight net of stone roots to deflect the flying blades. Grass struck hard rock and shattered, but the moment she was hidden from view, Chen Ai leaped with all the strength her bloodline lent her.

  As the woven shield crumbled, Shen Botao’s eyes widened; to his gaze, Chen Ai was gone.

  She dropped down from above and kicked him in the chest. Despite his stance, her heavy blow knocked him from his feet. He struck the ground, and she wrapped him up in a wrestling move that choked off his air. As he struggled to breathe, stone roots poured from the ground and bound the two of them.

  He crushed her as she crushed him, and if his cultivation were higher, the contest might have gone either way.

  But with her bloodline and higher-stage cultivation, she bucked and shattered the rock with ease.

  Shen Botao's face reddened as he passed on the brink of consciousness.

  “Pass,” Chen Ai said as she released him..

  He lay on the ground, bewildered, and gasping for air.

  “Why?”

  Because you don’t seem like an arrogant prick, your skills are quite good, and you didn’t surrender.

  “You did well,” she said as she extended her hand.

  Shen Botao took her hand, and she pulled him up easily.

  He bowed to her and walked away, and dusted himself off before carefully donning his outer robes. The other two candidates were unconscious, and the black eyed woman wore a furious expression, but whether her ire was directed at Chen Ai or her candidates, she couldn’t tell.

  “Ok, now that the Shen are done, onto the Ran!”

  The first Ran candidate stepped forward. Ran Yiliu was a willowy woman at the 8th stage of Qi Condensing. She wore the cream and violet robes well and stopped just outside the ring. Her write-up said that she used the Mountain Peak Gale Style, known for speed more than anything else, but that she had more scholarly accolades than martial prowess on her records. There were other things about her being beautiful and pursued by many suitors, but, as with the others, Chen Ai ignored such flowery components in the write-ups.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  The two women sized each other up.

  “You are not from Mountain Root City, are you?” Ran Yiliu asked.

  The question was not inherently rude, and so Chen Ai answered despite it being obvious.

  “No,” she said. “I am not.”

  “Then you might not know that the Ran are known for their alchemy rather than their warriors.”

  “I have heard that.”

  Ran Yiliu dipped her head in acknowledgment. There was definitely some polite respect there, but whether it was genuine or just an understanding of Chen Ai’s temperament after the last three bouts, it was impossible to say.

  The three Ran had been observing her talk and fight for some time, and she had not directly attacked their pride, so she must be cautious when confronting them.

  “Are you saying that the Ran have no warriors?” Chen Ai asked.

  Despite the question that could be taken as an insult, Ran Yiliu only smirked.

  “No.”

  “When you’re ready, then.”

  Ran Yiliu stepped into the ring but displayed no weapon. She stood easily on the ground that was torn up after Shen Botao’s technique. Chen Ai waited, outwardly relaxed as her qi flowed internally. She refused to make the first move.

  Let’s see just how fast this Mountain Peak Gale Style really was…

  As though sensing her resolve, Ran Yaliu stepped forward. Before her foot even touched the ground, a blast of wind erupted behind her. Dust flew high into the air. Chen Ai hadn’t expected such power! She sensed someone behind her and spun, her elbow flying toward Ran Yaliu’s head, when something cold and small lightly tapped her throat. Chen Ai froze, her elbow inches from Ran Yaliu’s temple. She glanced down.

  Ran Yaliu, despite her heavy breathing from using so much qi in her movement technique, held a dagger against Chen Ai’s throat with a steady hand.

  “Let me guess,” Chen Ai said. “That dagger is poisoned?”

  “It would be if this were real.”

  Chen Ai stepped back.

  “Alchemists,” she said with a shake of her head. “You pass.”

  Ran Yaliu bowed politely, though less deeply than Shen Botao.

  “Thank you for this instruction,” she said.

  “Do you think I would have died before I hit you?” Chen Ai asked.

  Ran Yaliu stiffened, and though Chen Ai couldn’t see her face, she felt as though she had scored a point by breaking her cool demeanor.

  “No,” Ran Yaliu said.

  “Then you would have died.”

  Ran Yaliu straightened, and there was a different look in her eye as she gazed at Chen Ai.

  “Thank you for this instruction,” she repeated, warmer than before.

  “Thank you, it appears I must work on my defenses.”

  Ran Yaliu walked away, and the next candidate stepped forward.

  He was a slight youth, easily the youngest of any of the candidates. Ran Cong was only nineteen, but he had reached the 7th Stage of Qi Condensing Realm. Almost a decade younger, but at the same level as Chen Ai. Truly, he was a prodigy, and his write-up boasted as much. However, he was an alchemist and a scholar, and though his work in such fields was exemplary, he had no martial accolades, and there was not even a martial style attached to him.

  His cream and violet robes were well-tailored and padded to add an illusion of bulk, but only made his face look more childlike.

  “Are you sure you’re old enough to do this?” Chen Ai asked.

  “Are you sure you’re not too old?” he retorted.

  Chen Ai felt her anger rise at such provocation, but she reminded herself that she had struck first. What would senior brother do?

  “I’m old enough to worry about you,” she said. “How will you fight me?”

  “In truth, I didn’t expect the selection to involve combat. My senior,” he said as he indicated the portly Ran representative. “Told me you wished for the strongest candidates, but I insisted on applying anyway. I have studied prior expeditions extensively, and you will find my knowledge invaluable in the Valley of Howling Blossoms.”

  After reading his write-up, she believed him.

  “You pass,” she said.

  His stoic expression brightened.

  “Thank you,” he said with a bow.

  “That’s what you thought I’d say, right?”

  He stiffened, and Chen Ai wondered if he made the same rigid expression as Ran Yiliu when he thought nobody was watching. As he straightened, there was a hint of heat in his cheeks, but he remained stoic.

  “Pardon?”

  “Nobody is exempt from danger in the wilderness. Step into the ring.”

  He glanced at the Ran representative, but the portly man simply nodded. Reluctantly, Ran Cong stepped into the ring. He held a pouch in his hand.

  So, he was a poison user. Like Ran Yiliu’s blade, it would not be real for these purposes, but Chen Ai’s instincts sharpened all the same. She only knew one cultivator who took poison lightly, and she was not her senior brother.

  Drawing on her strength, she kicked the ground, sending a blast of dirt and grass toward Ran Cong. Now that her meridians were expanded, she could inject qi faster than before, and the grass became blades as they shot forward.

  Ran Cong leaped aside. He was not a fighter, but he was still in the 7th Stage of Qi Condensing. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed his pouch toward her. She dashed forward, and another pouch came her way. Her fist clenched with power as she ducked to the right, aiming a strike toward his stomach.

  A pouch lightly struck her face. It was filled with nothing more than sneezing powder, but even as her eyes squeezed shut, she realized that she hadn’t seen it coming. Ran Cong had assessed her trajectory and launched the pouch exactly where she would have been. Thus, he delivered the poison where it would do the most damage.

  But he also made the same mistake as Ran Yiliu.

  And, this time, Chen Ai felt less forgiving.

  Her fist connected with his stomach.

  Despite his cultivation, he folded over as the air exploded from his body. At the same time, Chen Ai bent over in a fit of uncontrollable sneezing. They both struggled for a few minutes before Chen Ai cycled her qi and cleared her sinuses.

  “That stuff is unpleasant,” she said.

  “Could have been… worse…”

  She grinned and helped Ran Cong to his feet. There was no need to say anything; someone as smart as him would have figured out the lesson already.

  “Next contender,” she said.

  Ran Cong frowned.

  “Did I pass?”

  “I already said you did, didn’t I?”

  His frown only deepened, but still he bowed.

  “Thank you for this instruction.”

  Chen Ai returned the bow.

  “Thank you.”

  The next Ran contestant stood at the edge of the ring with a saber in her hands. Ran Ziqi resembled the willowy Ran Yiliu, but kept her hair in a short, martial haircut. She was the only true fighter the Ran had put forward, and also practiced the Mountain Peak Gale style.

  “Is there any point to me competing?” she asked. “You have already selected two Ran to join the expedition.”

  “But I have only selected one Shen,” Chen Ai replied. “There is an empty slot that you might fill.”

  “That’s not fair!” shouted the Shen woman with black eyes. “That spot belongs to the Shen!”

  Chen Ai ignored her.

  “Step into the ring,” she told Ran Ziqi.

  Before Ran Ziqi could move forward, the portly Ran representative held up his hand.

  “The Ran yield this fourth position to the Shen,” he said.

  Ran Ziqi stepped back, annoyance briefly flashing across her face. Chen Ai looked between the two of them.

  “Are you sure?”

  The portly Ran man smiled.

  “You will leave this city, but we must remain,” he said. “We will not throw away all our young talent, nor will we plant disharmony between our enemies. Well, not too much disharmony.”

  His words about not throwing away talent likely explained why nobody here was in the 9th Stage of Qi Condensing. While this expedition was a source of glory, everyone knew the chances of death were almost certain. It made sense that the Ran wished for an equal chance of loss from both clans.

  Truly, nobles were the absolute worst.

  Still, with the Ran insisting on only placing two candidates, that left the selection annoyingly incomplete. She was meant to leave here with four, not three.

  Chen Ai glanced past the candidates to where the cultivator formerly known as the Flawless Blade stood in the distance. He had watched the proceedings without comment, and even now he had nothing to offer. His gaze communicated a simple message: master left this up to you.

  “You suggest I fill the fourth spot with the Shen?” Chen Ai asked the Ran representative. “Even after they only secured one?”

  “Though it truly pains my heart, I do.”

  Chen Ai frowned.

  “I will not go on this expedition with someone I have already found lacking,” she said to herself, but loud enough for all to hear. “Perhaps one of the cultivators who has come for the auction will be a better fit?”

  “Such unbelievable arrogance,” said the black eyed Shen woman. “You will give that spot to the Shen!”

  “Oh, I will?” Chen Ai said as she made a show of looking around. “And who will make me?”

  The black eyed woman practically snarled as she stepped into the ring.

  It's another week, and so Patreon is now another chapter ahead. That's 28 advanced chapters in total! I release 6 chapters a week on Patreon (apparently I don't like sleep as much as I think I do!) See what happens next :) Support the story :0 Be awesome :D Tonight is the last chance to use the promo code IEATDEALS for 55% off for one month!