Tang Zen awoke from her dream and stood up from the floor. As she did, she felt a cold sensation on her face.

Raising her left hand to touch it, she saw that her fingers returned wet.

She used her sleeve to dry her face before thinking about what she should do next. Her right hand was still in pain and she had already confirmed that training with just her left wasn’t very beneficial.

That left her with two options. To contemplate the third form of the Lotus Series, or to practice her breathing technique.

The former didn’t offer much prospect for success. She didn’t have the technique manual, and so, all of her progress in that regard had come from her trying to infer the meaning behind the Thousand Lotus stance.

Truth be told, it was already impressive that she had gotten to the stage of fragmenting her blade, but that was as far as she could go for the time being. Trying to figure out how to control said fragments in a safe manner through trial and error was extremely dangerous as, if poorly managed, the thousand petals could very well be her undoing.

That being the case, she only had one viable option: to practice the Dragon Breathing technique.

She picked her sword up from the ground and placed it on a holder then went to her kitchen to get a snack before finally heading out through her front door.

As she entered the outside world, she noticed that the sun was already setting. She had been asleep for a few hours at the very least.

“We meet again,” said a voice from beyond the fence.

It was Ming Hong, who was returning to his abode after a long day. He greeted her as he entered his gate.

She had initially planned on ignoring him, but then a few words flashed through her mind.

“Shao Tianlan, wanted poster, public challenge. Do you know what that’s about?” she asked.

“Oh, that? Mister first-place challenged a senior sister to a duel, and after he won, he issued a challenge to the whole sect. Something about him being bothered by people who were participating in a mission to harass him.”

“Really?”

Tang Zen did recall having a conversation with Shao Tianlan about people making noise in the middle of the night. She didn’t think his retaliation would go this far.

To challenge a senior and the whole sect on top of that…

Honestly, it was foolish.

But it was also interesting.

“He beat a senior sister?”

“Yeah. It was a close match, but he won in the end. And the funny part is, he beat her with her own moves. I don’t know why he has such a grudge against her, but whatever.”

“He beat her with her own moves? Which sword style?”

“I think it was... the Lotus Series? Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“The… The Lotus Series? Which senior sister was it?”

“Her name was… Sei Yu? Something like that.”

“What?!”

“Is she someone you know?”

“I don’t know how it is now, but Senior Sister Sei Yu was known as the disciple who had gotten the furthest in the Lotus Series within the whole sect. I even heard she was close to mastering the fifth stance. You’re saying that the same Shao Tianlan who lives next door to us managed to beat her?”

Seeing that she was in a state of incredulity, Ming Hong’s expression sank.

“Is it really that impressive?”

“Impressive? It’s unbelievable. The Lotus Series is a technique created by a past senior of the sect. In theory, there’s no way someone from the outside would be able to learn it well enough to be able to beat a disciple of the sect who got the direct inheritance.”

“Well. She didn’t look all that strong to me. I bet I could beat her too.”

At this point, Tang Zen had already blocked out the sound of Ming Hong’s voice. She turned her attention to the abode next to hers.

“This may be my chance,” she muttered to herself.

If learning by herself wasn’t going to cut it, then obviously, the best choice would be to learn from someone who was more advanced than her.

She had already thought about this, but she didn’t know anyone in the sect, and she had nothing to offer the seniors in exchange for their time, so it was previously infeasible.

But if it were a fellow new disciple, then wouldn’t it be much easier to ask for a favour? She thought it was worth a try.

But then she recalled something.

Back at the library, a few days ago, Shao Tianlan had generously given her one of his rewards, stating his unfamiliarity with sword techniques as his excuse.

He said that the complicated technique manuals would go over his head, but that obviously wasn’t the truth.

“Then why...?”

“Why what? Why didn’t I challenge her myself? I have nothing to prove.”

Tang Zen was snapped out of her thoughts and was slightly lost.

“What?”

“Oh… I thought you were… Never mind. What were you saying?”

Tang Zen hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should say anything.

After a brief pause, she decided that it was worth asking Ming Hong for his opinion on the matter.

“If someone lies to you to get you to accept a gift, what does that mean?”

Ming Hong raised his brows, not expecting such a query.

“That depends,” he said. “What kind of a lie is it?”

“That they don’t need it, so you can have it.”

“Easy. That’s love. No doubt about it.”

Tang Zen was taken aback.

“Love?”

“Think about it. If a starving parent gives their child the last of the food, and when the child looks worried about them, they lie and say they’ve already eaten; isn’t that an act of love?”

“I guess.”

“And let’s say you have someone who’s been injured while escaping from a spirit beast such that they are now unable to keep running, and when their companion tries to help them, they say to move on without them so that the companion doesn’t join them in death, throwing on the lie that they’ll join up with them later to reassure them; isn’t that an act of love?”

Tang Zen nodded her head, now starting to see the truth of Ming Hong’s interpretation.

“And what about a more casual example? Let’s say a guy works really hard for something that will greatly benefit him, but he gives it to a girl, telling her that he doesn’t need it. I don’t know about you, but I say that’s definitely love.”

“I see…”

It was as he said. That was the most likely explanation.

Love…

Had she known; she would have refused his offer. She simply didn’t have time for such things as romantic relationships.

What was she supposed to do now?

The polite thing to do would be to explain things clearly so as not to lead him on.

Furthermore, she would give him something of equal value in return when she could. He already said she would owe him a favour, so she would do her best to accommodate it as she had originally planned.

While she was thinking to herself, Ming Hong was starting to put the pieces together.

His heart tremored as he thought of what he had just done.

“Uh… Just out of curiosity, were you talking about yourself just now? Someone gave you a gift?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn!”

“Hm?”

“Uh, no, nothing. Who was the other person? A friend of yours?”

“It was Shao Tianlan. He let me use some of his reward to get the second layer of the Lotus Series.”

Ming Hong’s jaw trembled.

He had pushed his woman into the arms of the enemy once again!

“You know, it doesn’t necessarily mean love or anything. It could also be out of pity or something like that. Considering that he already mastered the Lotus Series to the fifth layer, maybe he found it funny that you were only just now picking it up.”

Tang Zen shook her head.

“I don’t think that’s how it is. He doesn’t seem like that kind of person. Besides, why would he waste his rewards on me for such a silly reason? He could have used it to learn another series which he could use to further impress the elders.”

“He doesn’t seem like that kind of person?”

Ming Hong was nearly sweating after hearing that.

He recalled how Shao Tianlan and Tang Zen had hit it off when discussing their similar backgrounds.

It seemed like everything was falling apart right in front of him.

But then he had a flash of inspiration.

He calmed his breath and leaned on his side of the fence, his back facing Tang Zen who was on the other side.

“You probably feel that way because he’s a baker’s son, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“You feel a sense of familiarity with him, am I right?”

“… Maybe a little. But what does that have to do with-”

“Think about it. How would a humble baker’s son have access to the sect’s Lotus Series? How would he be able to develop it until the fifth layer such that he can even contend with a member of the sect who has been studying it for years under the supervision of experienced masters? Could you do the same thing?”

“That…”

It was true.

How would someone of a similar background to her have access to the Lotus Series?

It was almost impossible to believe.

“He’s a rich kid for sure,” said Ming Hong. “Trust me, I’ve seen his type before. They do whatever they like without any care for who might get hurt. This Shao Tianlan was probably doing the same thing. Manipulating your feelings for his own twisted amusement.”

“…”

“It looks like he was successful…”

Ming Hong had no idea just how potent his words were. They took Tang Zen all the way back to the day that her happiness was torn to pieces.

It all happened in an instant, and under the cold gaze of the uncaring eyes of a person who held enough power to disregard any negative consequences.

She hated it. She absolutely hated that there were people like that in this world.

Was Shao Tianlan the same way?

If she thought about it carefully, she would notice some discrepancies between his words and Ming Hong’s description, but as she was, she was too upset to properly analyse the situation.

“What are you thinking?” asked Ming Hong.

“I don’t know.”

“You should keep your distance from him if you ask me. At least until you can figure out his true motives.”

“No. I need to confront him about this.”

Ming Hong’s eyebrows twitched.

“Hm? W-why would you do that?”

“I’ll be able to tell if he’s that kind of person if I’m looking for it. If he is, I’ll pay him back for the cultivation technique then keep my distance.”

At this point, Ming Hong’s palms became sweaty.

Why did everything he said seem to push those two closer together?

“What if he isn’t that kind of person?”

“If he isn’t?”

Tang Zen took a moment to compose her response.

“If it turns out that he helped me out of the kindness of his heart, then I’ll return the favour as best I can. People like that are hard to come by.”

“R-right… And if he, say, confesses his love for your or something like that; what then?”

“I…”

She shook her head.

“That would have to wait. I don’t want to get involved with anyone for the time being.”

“Ah. So that’s why you avoid me? Makes sense.”

“No. I avoid you because I find you to be generally unpleasant.”

“But… You don’t even know me…”

“Actually, I’ve sort of been watching you, because we’re neighbours and stuff, and to me, it looks like you barely ever train. Even Shao Tianlan, who doesn’t train his martial techniques at all, spends a lot of time meditating in his rock garden. And even though he throws house parties every day, the people he invites usually cultivate quietly. You, on the other hand, seem to spend most of your time pursuing women. Judging by that, you seem like the no-good playboy type.”

“So what I’m getting here… is that you’ve been stalking me. You can do more than just look, you know?”

“Goodnight, Ming Hong.”

“Wait, if you could just-”

“Goodnight.”