“You want to challenge me?” The youth’s sudden proclamation was unexpected to Yun Ruoyan—and indeed, unexpected to all the other guests as well.

All conversation paused as everyone’s attention turned to Yun Ruoyan and the youth.

“Yes, I do! The Slaughtering King is my dream master, but he refused to take me as a disciple because of you. I want to challenge you and demonstrate in front of him that I’m stronger than you are!”

“But I don’t want to challenge you,” Yun Ruoyan replied, smiling.

Although the youth looked to be slightly older than Yun Ruoyan, perhaps fourteen or fifteen, Yun Ruoyan’s mental fortitude far eclipsed his. She looked at him as though she were looking at a child.

“You, you’re looking down on me?!” The youth tightly clenched his fists.

“Wei Hai! Behave yourself!” the Farsighted King severely chastised the youth, but he continued to look at Yun Ruoyan stubbornly.

The Farsighted King shook his head in frustration. “This is one of my generals’ boys, since orphaned. That general died honorably while trying to rid the land of a gang of robbers, and I took him in instead. I haven’t been very strict on him, so his temper’s a little wild.”

“A martyr’s orphan? He certainly has the spirit of one!” the gathered officials began to whisper to each other.

To have one’s parents give their lives for their kingdom was the ultimate form of sacrifice, and such orphans were naturally afforded with unusual respect. Even the emperor Li Xiu couldn’t help comment, “Good child! If you have any wishes, I’ll help you fulfill them.”

“Your Majesty, my sole desire is to have the Slaughtering King take me on as a disciple,” the youth quickly stated.

“Brother—” Li Xiu looked toward Li Mo, who didn’t look up from his cup of wine.

“I’ll only take one disciple in this lifetime.”

Beside him, Yun Ruoyan smiled. She too was looking at her cup of wine, and their mirrored gestures were unexpectedly harmonious. Nevertheless, their relationship seemed to be slightly irregular: as if it seemed to possess some additional facets, but was lacking in others. As for what these additional facets were, however, no one could seem to say.

Li Mo never went back on his word, and Li Xiu had no choice but to tell the youth, “That’s a difficult wish even for me to fulfill. Is there anything else you want, like a high-grade spiritual pill or spiritual weapon?”

“My godfather has all sorts of spiritual pills and weapons,” the youth sniffed, then pointed at Yun Ruoyan once more. “In that case, I want to have a fight with her!”

Li Xiu sighed. Everyone present could see how fondly Li Mo looked on his new disciple. He couldn’t force Li Mo to do anything, and this naturally extended to his disciple as well. However, he had already let down the youth once, so if he couldn’t even fulfill this wish of his…

Li Xiu spoke directly to Yun Ruoyan, bypassing Li Mo. His voice was infused less with the authority of an emperor and more the bargaining of a merchant. “Miss Yun, I’d like you to have a match with this youth to fulfill his desire.”

Wei Hai was only a fifth-rank blademaster, and Yun Ruoyan would surely crush him if she fought at her full strength. As a result, everyone tried to persuade Yun Ruoyan to agree, even Yun Lan. Without any other choice, Yun Ruoyan could only get up from her seat.

“If you don’t want to take part, there’s no need to force yourself to do so. I’ll bring you away right now if you’d like,” Li Mo said.

“There’s no need—it’s not a big deal.”

As Yun Ruoyan stood up, so did the youth. “This chamber’s too small, so let’s go outside.”

The chamber could seat up to five hundred officials at once, and there were only at most a hundred inside. The interior of the chamber was still very spacious, so what could the youth be planning?

Before Yun Ruoyan could reply, the youth had already walked out of the chamber. Frowning, Yun Ruoyan followed. Li Mo also got up and walked outside, as did the Farsighted King and Li Xiu, followed by the remaining officials.

“Are you satisfied now?” Yun Ruoyan looked at the youth’s back.

The winter night was bleak and chilly, the sky without stars. Yun Ruoyan infused spiritual energy into her eyes and saw the youth slowly turn around.

“Yes, this will work. Prepare for my attack!” The youth leaped at Yun Ruoyan as he spoke, wind circling around his feet. The youth’s speed far surpassed what was standard for his cultivation and shocked Yun Ruoyan, but she was still able to react in time.

Yun Ruoyan jumped up into the air to evade the attack. With her present cultivation, she could jump up to thirty feet into the air. As soon as she landed, however, the youth attacked and she had to jump up once more.

Although the youth’s cultivation wasn’t particularly advanced, his unusual speed and stamina were rather troublesome for Yun Ruoyan to deal with. She didn’t want to hurt him, but how would she restrain him without doing so?

She couldn’t use her fireball technique; it was too dangerous. Neither of them had a weapon, so she could only use short-ranged spiritual attacks.

“This youth isn’t a general’s descendant for nothing—that Yun Ruoyan can’t even retaliate!”

“It might not be the youth who’s strong, but rather Miss Yun who’s weak.”

Many of the gathered officials began whispering among themselves. Because they were fearful of Li Mo, however, they tried to speak as softly as possible. Most of them weren’t particularly advanced cultivators, and they could barely see the battle in the dark.

Li Mo, Yun Lan, Li Xiu, and Li Sheng could tell that, although Yun Ruoyan had simply been dodging the youth’s blows, that she had the upper hand. Just then, Yun Ruoyan found an opportunity to attack: a gap in the youth’s defense as he tried to kick at her.

When he had done so previously, he would always retract his foot quickly after. This time, however, it stayed in mid-air for quite a while.

Yun Ruoyan caught the youth’s foot by the heel, then forcibly transmitted spiritual energy into it. If all went according to plan, the pain would permeate his body and cause him to lose his fighting ability.

However, her spiritual energy couldn’t seem to penetrate the youth’s heel. Instead, her fingers spasmed in pain, as though something had bit her. The pain came and left so quickly that Yun Ruoyan’s fingers turned numb in a matter of moments. The numbness continued to spread from her fingers and through her arms, shoulders, and neck.

“Mistress, you’ve been poisoned!” It was only then that Yun Ruoyan heard Qiuqiu’s anxious voice.

“It’s a bit late to be telling me that, Qiuqiu…”

Yun Ruoyan felt as though her tongue was also turning numb. She looked at the youth standing some distance away, exposing a wrist containing a spider the same color as his clothes.

“A black-mist spider,” Yun Ruoyan murmured. She’d seen Li Furong try to use a similar spider to kill Lin Qingxue, but she had killed it in one blow before it could strike.

That spider looked similar in size and shape to the one on the youth’s wrist, but its color was different. That one was black, but this one was a purplish-red.

“It’s not a black-mist spider,” Qiuqiu emphasized. “It’s a red-mist spider, at least ten times as venomous as the black-mist variety! Mistress, you have to take an antidote, quick!”

Yun Ruoyan’s whole body was turning numb, even her tongue. She gritted her teeth as she forced herself to take out an antidote from her silver bracelet before swallowing it with difficulty. Then, she pulled out a dagger strapped to her thigh, with which she sliced open her finger to let the venomous blood out.

The youth didn’t stop Yun Ruoyan, clearly not wanting her to die so quickly. With her cultivation being two ranks above his, this should have been an easy fight—but the youth’s plan had been lethal, precise, and dangerously effective.

“What… do… you want?”

“Why?” The youth’s honest-looking face turned malicious. “To exact revenge for my master!”

“Your master? Who’s your master?”

“My master’s a black-robed poisoner, and Li Furong’s my senior sister! Last night, I found out that they both perished at you and Li Mo’s hands, and I swore I would kill you both!”

“So you’re… you’re… in cahoots with… them.” Yun Ruoyan’s tongue wasn’t as numb as before, but trying to talk was still a taxing activity. Who could have transmitted the information to him? It had to be the spy that remained in Kongming Academy!

“Why did they stop?”

“Have they reached a conclusion?”

Yun Ruoyan and Wei Hai had strayed quite far from the chamber during their fight. Although the crowd could see them both, they couldn’t overhear their conversation.

“It looks like they’re having a conversation. Could they have befriended each other?” Li Xiu smiled.

“That would be for the best,” the Farsighted King replied. “Miss Yun’s good-looking and intelligent, and she seems like a wonderful lady.”

Li Sheng turned to Yun Lan. “Official Yun, is your daughter yet betrothed? If not, what do you think of betrothing her to my adopted son?”

Yun Lan stilled, and he couldn’t help turning to Li Mo. However, Li Mo’s gaze was fixed on Yun Ruoyan, far into the distance.

Li Mo was now Yun Ruoyan’s master. According to the customs of the Li kingdom, a master was equivalent in existence to a father, and Yun Lan had already given up on betrothing Yun Ruoyan to Li Mo. The master-disciple relationship between them had already bound the Yun family to the Slaughtering King as firmly as would a marriage.

He hadn’t lost out!

And now, he was even getting another offer of marriage from royalty? Naturally, Yun Lan was amenable to the offer. However, he didn’t dare to agree immediately, because he would also require approval from Yun Ruoyan’s new master, Li Mo.

Both the Farsighted King and Li Xiu could understand the source of Yun Lan’s concern, and they both turned to Li Mo.

“Brother, what do you think of this affair…?” Before he could continue, Li Mo’s eyes flashed with a sudden blue light, and he leaped toward Yun Ruoyan...