The somber disciple half-kneeling near the ring couldn’t hold it any longer. Blood gushed from his opening mouth before he frowned from pain and frustration. The force from that strange punch had knocked the breath out of him, and even now he was struggling to breathe.

“Thank you for letting me win, Senior!” The coppery-haired youth grinned appreciatively from onstage.

With one last bloody spit, the kneeling disciple fell back limply, sprawling on the ground with a grunt next to his dagger that had let go of at some point. Once his back hit the stone floor, he sucked in a sharp breath and weakly touched his slightly dented chest. Several of his ribs were surely broken.

Swears burst forth within his heart during his wheezing gasps.

He had done extensive research on the various talents within the Outer Sect in preparation for this Tournament. And of the ten disciples standing on the arenas, only the tall fellow on the arena he was just ejected from was completely absent from the research he amassed.

He assumed that the unknown youth only had a bit of luck to squeeze into the initial top 10, considering the lack of notoriety. Thinking he had a solid opportunity, he didn’t hesitate to jump into the arena. And yet, he’d been so terribly defeated before anyone else could even start fighting!

…

Michail stood upon his own stage in the distance, among the many others whose attention was attracted to the stage that held the first brief match.

With a slight frown, he watched as the defeated disciple was carried off on top of a stretcher.

Michail scanned the tall youth as well as the letter on his arena before turning away.

‘Cathal… should be his name.’

He made some silent judgments in his head as he committed the youth to memory. Then, he turned his gaze to the stocky young woman, who was stepping onto his stage, her intentions of challenging him clear.

She came to a halt about ten meters away from Michail. Thinking of the heavily injured disciple they had all just witnessed, she cupped her hand and pleaded half-seriously, “Please go easy on me, Senior Brother.” A 2½ meter long metallic staff fell into her grasp shortly afterwards.

Michail returned the gesture with a soft laugh, but didn’t say much else as a small buckler shield appeared on his left hand. His right hand now held onto a crossguard short sword, its sleek design and silver sheen matching the buckler shield perfectly.

The referee Elder looked down at them and said, “You may begin.”

Boom!

The young woman made the first move. Her stride showed no trace of a Martial Technique, just unadulterated speed and strength.

In the split-second it took for her to cross eight meters, her staff had blurred as it rotated rapidly in her palms.

“Hah!” With a crisp cry, Profound Qi surged through her back and arms as she planted her feet and executed a powerful thrust. Tens of tons of lethal force blasted through the air from the localized surface of the staff tip, aimed directly towards Michail’s chest.

Just as the staff tip was half a meter away from his chest, Michail calmly raised the small shield.

The impact was unnervingly soundless.

The shield did not budge from the weighty strike, but neither did the staff ricochet away. The weapons remained in their collided state, as though they were melded together at the moment of their meeting.

The young woman’s body trembled, and her wrists felt frail. All that terrifying force she accumulated had abandoned her suddenly, filling her with a disorienting sense of weakness as she thought, ‘What just—‘

Whoosh!

She quickly tried to jump back, but unfortunately, she was a step too slow. The side of her abdomen felt like it was smashed by a titanic hammer. She was sent flying like a ragdoll tens of meters away, slamming heavily onto the stone floor outside the bounds of the arena.

It took a few seconds before the young woman came back to her senses. She abruptly stood, swaying until she reoriented herself. Her relief was poignant after realizing that she had only been hit by the blunt body of Michail’s short sword. The attack had even avoided her vitals, and the force was distributed in a way that left no internal injuries.

“Thank you for your restraint, Senior Brother!”

Michail retracted his sword and nodded smilingly, his blue eyes serene.

Once again, the crowds went wild with another explosion of cheers.

“Senior Brother Michail is such a gentleman,” Liliane said from the stands with an endearing sigh. Then, she frowned and angrily gestured with her fan towards one of the arenas. “Unlike that rude bastard over there. Is there really a need to injure a fellow disciple so terribly that’s obviously not your match?”

“Cathal held himself back quite well,” Irene replied casually.

“You know of him?”

Irene shook her head. “Not truly. His name was recorded as the top performer in the previous Apprentice Alchemist Examination, which caught my attention. ”

Irene pilfered Liliane’s fan from her unwilling grasp and continued speaking whilst fanning herself, her face oscillating between interest and respect.

“Although I’ve never seen anything like it, he should be practicing some strange body-tempering Martial Technique.

“During their engagement, he struck his opponent's chest with three warning blows, which should have been enough for the opponent to sufficiently understand the disparity in their strengths. Instead of retreating though, the opponent opted to attack, which invited Cathal to unleash a fourth, debilitating strike, injuring the opponent’s internal organs.”

Liliane’s expression went doubtful when she questioned, “Four blows, but I only saw one?”

“That’s because your visual perception is inadequate, even for a Late Qi Refinement practitioner.”

Liliane stuck out her tongue resentfully and snatched her fan back.

…

The Qi Refinement Tournament was now in full swing!

The following fights were more or less the same, showcasing nothing too exciting. The frequency of cheers lessened as most matches were short and unsatisfactory, resulting in broken bones and expected outcomes.

However, as more and more disciples were eliminated, the duels started moving closer towards evenly matched, lengthening the bouts and drawing back engagement from the spectators.

It wasn’t longer than two hours before the 500 contestants were whittled down to less than 50. Several people had even qualified for the Quarter Finals, due to the lack of challengers.

…

Aiden stepped back from the crystal window, turning to see Auslen sitting comfortably on the couch with his eyes lowered to the book in his lap, sipping cold tea that was just brewed by Vincent, seemingly shimmering with faint blue starlight.

He asked helplessly, “Aren’t you going to watch the Tournament with me, Auslen?”

“It’s really boring,” Auslen said honestly while flipping a page.

The fights he paid attention to were simply too lackluster. Putting aside his ambivalence towards combat, the majority of competitors weren’t even fit for him to learn from. From their inopportune tactics and poor reaction speeds, it was evident these disciples spent far more time focusing on improving their cultivation than on training their combat ability.

Aiden understood and didn’t try to persuade Auslen. He also found himself somewhat disappointed in the disciples from one of the Major Sects. Although, he kept in mind that it wasn’t reasonable for him to compare himself with others in that sense. Not everyone had abundant cultivation resources freely prepared for them and a Dao Soul realm Master to train with regularly.

He walked back to the couch and sat opposite of Auslen, feeling a burgeoning thirst.

He wasn’t a tea drinker, but seeing his younger brother enjoying his cup of tea so thoroughly, he couldn’t help becoming a tad parched.

After Aiden requested a cup of tea from Vincent, he turned to Auslen and asked, “Is there anything you’re not used to in the Sect, or something your brother can help you with? You’re not being bullied here, are you?”

“Don’t worry about me, Aiden,” Auslen assuaged. “I was honest before when I said my life has been very good, and I’ve even made some friends.”

“That’s great…”

Seeing as Aiden wanted to converse, Auslen closed his book and played along like a dutiful younger brother, exchanging a few pleasantries here and there.

“What about you, brother Aiden. We always talk about me. Could you share with me how everything’s been going back home? How’s Mother and Father doing?”

Aiden’s facial features paused for an instant, returning to normal before Auslen could perceive it. “Of course! I’d be happy to.”

After a look of recollection appeared on his face for a moment, Aiden’s face broke into a warm smile as he began illustrating inconsequential details about life back in the Bright Forest Capital.

Auslen raised an eyebrow before setting down his cup of tea. He rested his cheek into his right palm, adopting a deeply listening posture. However, most of his focus wasn't on the immaterial information Aiden was spouting. Those words were meant purely for the guards and servants.

The majority of his attention lay on Aiden’s voice transmissions that were being sent simultaneously alongside his words.

“After you left, Mother’s condition deteriorated very quickly. Father was forced to severely limit her interactions with others, as her violent tendencies were suddenly worse than they had ever been….”

Auslen didn’t allow his disconcerted emotions to manifest in his outwardly intrigued expression. However, despite communicating with Amabella so very often, he was shocked to realize how many times he had failed to discern any negative transformations in her attitude or personality.

Auslen understood why, during their past conversations through the voice transmission crystal, Aiden refrained from speaking these things in the Palace. He must have been worried that their mother would hear.

Is my distance from Mother affecting her Dao Soul injury?

Auslen sighed internally, but he let his frustration go. Ultimately, he lacked the means to alleviate Amabella’s condition, so there was no point in wasting his energy by fretting unnecessarily.

Continuing his silent communication, Aiden audibly transitioned from topic to topic passionately.

“And my trip to the Empire was perhaps the most exciting experience I ever had. Oh, that reminds me!”

With a small wave, Aiden’s blonde manservant quickly made his way over.

The servant swiftly placed two porcelain plates onto the table positioned in front of the couch before extending a gorgeous, gold inlaid, walnut box to Aiden.

Lifting the lid, Aiden presented the contents to Auslen. A mysterious and tantalizing fragrance emanated from the box, and inside were rows of elegant, engraved chocolate squares, somehow sparkling with a faint sweet mist.

“Try it, Auslen. These chocolates are from Spirit’s Indulgence, the most prestigious confectioner in the Imperial Capital. It’s a form of Spirit Cuisine crafted from Spirit Plants, and just this small box cost over 500,000 gold coins for a special order. Only 10 of such boxes of chocolate are produced every year!”

Auslen's mind was slightly enraptured by the delectable morsels Aiden was serving for them on the small plates. Just the smell of the chocolates caused his mouth to water and Profound Qi to become active. He had always been somewhat of a foodie, and the sight of the new type of cuisine nearly made him lose track of Aiden’s continued transmissions.

“Father told me to warn you about the Prince Imperial, Janus Augustus.”

The Prince Imperial? Auslen thought as he gently bit into the moist chocolate. The chocolate melted the instant it touched his tongue and traveled effortlessly down his throat without him chewing even once.

Feeling his wriggling steam of Profound Qi radiating with overflowing vigor within his Dantian, Auslen restrained himself and placed down the other half of the chocolate with a smile, reluctantly choosing to focus first on Aiden’s cautious transmission about what was surely a troublesome character.

“He will be joining the Five Profound Elements Sect in just a few months, and he should be assigned to the Outer Sect Mountain you reside in. Father says that Janus may or may not seek you out at some point, but you should avoid coming into contact with him too often…”

Auslen was stunned. He couldn’t understand what a child of the Emperor and Empress, both cultivators known to have utilized Heaven Tier Cultivation Methods, would gain from joining the Sect. He knew that the Augustus Empire, including all three of the subordinate Kingdoms, held close ties to the Five Profound Elements Sect. However, is that close bond enough of an excuse to send your lone child off to an entirely different continent when he already has everything he could need to cultivate?

Auslen cleansed his palate with a refreshing sip of tea, not intending to think about the reasoning further. Whatever the case, it was none of his business.

“Janus’ talent is unreasonably tremendous—”

Pausing, Aiden glanced at Auslen for a short while and secretly sighed.

“Ahem… Well his Soul Force isn’t too excessive, in comparison to yours, dear brother. However, 53 Soul Force points at six years old is still outrageously high within normal contexts, so he will inevitably have countless eyes pointed his way.

“And that's not all. At his Coming of Age Banquet, the Empress revealed that Janus possesses an Innate Dao Quality, which is a talent so rarely seen that there hasn’t been a single documented occurrence within the last several millennia. He was practically born to cultivate.”

Suddenly, Aiden halted his words, as well as his voice transmissions, and turned his head towards the door. A moment later, all the Bright Forest Guards in the room did the same.

Bam!

The door to the VIP room burst open, and Nathaniel came running in, followed closely by the guard Auslen assigned to him.

“Auslen,” Nathaniel began excitedly, wasting not a second of time. “Let’s go on a field trip!”

Auslen was momentarily speechless. His calm equilibrium was somewhat thrown off as he shared a confused glance with Aiden.

Field trip?