Light from several spirit crystal lamps illuminated the path as Húndàn Wang walked toward the building where Her Highness was staying. He had watched her battle and been awed by the prowess she had displayed, but more than that, he had seen the expression on her face after she lost. She must be feeling frustrated. That was why he had decided to pay her a visit. As someone who could understand her feelings, he thought maybe he could help her feel better.

Of course, he would be lying if he said he didn’t have ulterior motives.

I might have been dumbstruck by Mei Xilan’s beauty, but my feelings for Her Highness are still pure.

Yes, it wasn’t like a small slipup meant his feelings for Hou Jingshu had vanished. They were still there. He still loved her with all his heart. And a little infidelity was expected of a man. Heck, polygamy wasn’t all that unusual, so he could just marry Hou Jingshu and Mei Xilan. Húndàn Wang was sure he could make them both happy. He had the backing of the Saintly Sword Sect, and he would eventually have the Heavenly Sword Sect behind him.

The building where Hou Jingshu was staying came into view. While not large compared to some of the buildings, it was their most luxurious. It had the best view of the gardens, the best furniture money could buy, and was staffed by their most attentive maidservants.

He walked up to the door and gently wrapped on it, then stepped back and waited until the door opened.

“Oh. Master Wang, what are you doing here so late?” asked the maidservant, a pretty woman in her late teens.

“I’m just here to speak with Her Highness about an important matter. May I come in?” he asked.

The maidservant hesitated for a moment. A man speaking to a woman late at night usually meant one thing, and while he would have liked the situation this woman was imagining to occur, he really was just here to speak this time. He would find a more appropriate time to engage in frivolities.

“Of course, Master Wang.”

The maidservant let him in. He stepped inside and followed the woman down several halls, until they reached a specific door. It wasn’t marked.

“This is Her Highness room,” said the maidservant.

“Thank you,” he said, nodding at her.

The maidservant bowed, turned around, and walked away. Her ears were red. She no doubt believed he was coming here to seduce her. He thought about disabusing her of the notion, but he decided not to. It wouldn’t matter since he planned to make Her Highness his woman anyway.

He knocked on the door.

“Your Highness, it is Húndàn Wang. May I have a moment of your time?”

…Silence.

He frowned, then knocked again.

“Your Highness, are you sulking?

…More silence.

He sighed. “I know how hard it must be to lose like that. I lost to Mei Xilan too, so I understand perfectly how you must feel right now, but you should not lose heart. I was in awe of your strength. There’s not a doubt in my mind that you can eventually become even stronger than Mei Xilan. I’d be more than willing to help you. The Saintly Sword Sect has many resources that the Shang Kingdom lacks. Why don’t you stay here after the tournament and we can grow stronger together?”

That was a good thing to say, wasn’t it? He nodded to himself. His offer would appeal to any cultivator. Surely, a woman of Hou Jingshu’s stature would appreciate the lengths he was taking to help her. Not many would offer the resources of his sect to help someone else. He was not only telling her that he would spend resources on her, but he was also showing how reliable he was. She would appreciate that, right?

Yet as he stood there and waited, he was met with nothing but silence. He furrowed his brow. Was she sleeping? Had she not heard him? Maybe he should knock louder, but that might bother her if she was asleep. Húndàn Wang briefly considered entering the room but dismissed the idea with a head shake. Entering a woman’s room without permission was uncouth.

He sighed. Maybe she’s already asleep. Her battle was quite strenuous. She must be exhausted. I’ll talk to her later.

Having made his decision, Húndàn Wang walked away from the room. He turned into another hallway. He paused as a noise reached his ear, causing him to tilt his head. It sounded like…

His eyes widened and he hurried his pace. Eventually reaching the door where the noise was coming from, he pressed his hands against it and leaned forward to listen in.

“Haaah! Aaaah! Jian! Jian!”

“Mmm! Hmm! Haaah!”

“Oooooh!”

Blood drained from his face as he listened to what could only be two people caught in the throes of passion. He recognized the female voice. It sounded very different from what he was used to, but he would never forget her voice. It was Hou Jingshu.

She’s with a man! Is it that bastard, Jian Wu?! Why?! Why is she with someone like that?!

He felt sick to his stomach. Húndàn Wang placed his hand against his mouth as he fell to his knees, trying not to heave. He shut his eyes as if that would block out the reality of his situation, but all it did was enhance his hearing. The sound of their grunts and moans, the creaking and groaning of the bed, he could hear all of it.

Knowing that he couldn’t stay there a second longer, Húndàn Wang staggered to his feet and stumbled away, his head spinning.

He pushed open the entrance doors and staggered outside. The cold air hitting his skin did little to help settle the sickening pounding of his heart. His heart was in turmoil. He had never felt so lost before.

I’m not going to be able to sleep like this…

After taking several deep breaths, Húndàn Wang decided to wander the grounds. He hoped it would clear his head. However, no matter where he walked, his thoughts refused to stop. The noises he heard continued to plague him.

“Haaah!”

“Hiya!”

“Hah!”

Húndàn Wang eventually stumbled into a clearing where Yu Qiang was shadow sparring.

Shadow sparring was a training method used in many martial arts. It was most typically used as a warm-up to gradually increase the heart rate and prepare the muscles for training. Doing it required a person to visualize an opponent and attack as though they were truly fighting against someone. This was what made shadow sparring such a hard training method to master. Most people didn’t have the concentration or imagination to fully utilize it.

“You’re out late,” Yu Qiang said. He didn’t stop moving.

Húndàn Wang wondered if his smile looked as weak as it felt. “I just… thought I’d get some fresh air.”

“Don’t lie to me. How long do you think we’ve known each other? I can tell when you’re lying.”

“Haaaah. Guess there’s no fooling you,” he said with a sigh.

“Spar with me?”

“Sure.”

Húndàn Wang did not have a sword on him. He hadn’t expected to need one, but Yu Qiang summoned a simple training sword and tossed it to him. Catching the sword and setting himself in a basic sword stance, he eyed the other man as he did the same.

They sparred for an indeterminate amount of time, and Húndàn Wang felt much better after working up a good sweat. He realized during their spar that Yu Qiang had better technique than him. It was shocking to realize, but reaching the Human Limit Realm had made him slack off on his training.

Both of them eventually became sweaty and divested their shirts. Their upper torso exposed, the pair continued to fight until they were too exhausted to move. This led to them sitting on the ground and staring at the sky.

“… You went to see Her Highness, didn’t you?” asked Yu Qiang.

“I did,” Húndàn Wang confessed.

“Judging by the look on your face, it seems you’ve realized how hopeless your love for her is. You know it will never be realized.”

“That’s… well, not wrong.” Húndàn Wang took in a deep breath, then sighed. “She wasn’t in her room when I went to visit. She was… visiting Jian Wu.”

Saying it out loud left a bitter taste in his mouth, but denying what he heard would have left an even more bitter feeling in his heart. That still didn’t mean he liked this.

Yu Qiang was silent for a moment, his head tilted toward the sky. “Do you remember the first time we met Her Highness?”

“How could I forget? It was during her social debut. She was so tiny. I think she was smaller than most girls her age.”

Húndàn Wang still remembered the feelings that had welled up inside of him during Hou Jingshu’s social debut. She had been like a delicate flower, dressed in a simple but beautiful pink royal hanfu, her hair done up in an intricate bun. He had thought his heart would burst from his chest.

“The two of us were already rivals back then, but seeing her made our rivalry even more intense. We couldn’t even cultivate, yet we would fight every opportunity we had, trying to prove who between us was better suited to be with her.”

Children were forced to grow up fast. Their land might have been at peace right now, but it was still a dangerous place, especially for noble children or those who belonged to sects. In exchange for power and prestige, they had a duty to protect the normal citizens of this nation. When magical beasts attacked, it was they who went to defeat them. When bandits roamed the nation, they were called upon to defend the people.

Not every cultivator did this, but sects needed to maintain their reputation. Otherwise, they would lose the power they so fervently clung to.

“Our rivalry only got more intense after we broke through,” Húndàn Wang added. “I remember we fought almost every time we saw each other.”

“Yeah, we did. Even after Her Highness vanished, we continued to fight,” Yu Qiang said.

“Did you ever learn about where she went?” asked Húndàn Wang.

“She apparently went out to the countryside.” Yu Qiang crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. “I heard this from her, so I can assure you it’s true. His Majesty decided to marry her off to a friend’s son in the countryside due to the unrest caused by Hou Gun and Hou Chao.”

“So that’s what happened. I didn’t hear about any of that because I went into isolated training shortly after she disappeared. She came back when I exited, but I was so busy that I couldn’t go see her. Did she come back because of what happened to her father?”

“Yeah. She returned to the capital a few months after it happened.”

Húndàn Wang of course knew about how her father had been poisoned. He was friends with Hou Gun. It must have been hard for Her Highness to learn about what happened. She was such a kind girl. He could imagine her rushing back home to tend to him.

“I wonder what happened to the boy she was going to marry?” asked Húndàn Wang. He did not like the idea of Her Highness marrying someone other than him, but he was curious too.

“I hear… he was killed. The entire clan was destroyed in a single night,” answered Yu Qiang.

“Oh…”

“Her Highness… was never the same after she learned about what happened. She had locked herself up in the palace for several months. You never saw her back then, but she was like a completely different person when she returned to the academy. Her smile had all but disappeared and the only thing she seemed to care about was training.”

“She must have really loved that boy,” said Húndàn Wang.

“I believe so.”

While he was happy she hadn’t married this boy from the boonies, he did feel sorry for Her Highness. It must have been hard to lose someone you loved. He had never lost anyone, but he knew how much he would grieve if his mother or father were to die.

“I’m shocked she’s with Jian Wu then. Did something happen?”

“Aaah. You must not have heard the story about them. Her Highness went to the White Tiger Sect Ruins to search for ingredients to cure her father. I hear she bumped into Jian Wu there, and he saved her life without asking anything in return. They teamed up after that. Guess they just got closer and fell in love during their time together.”

“Tch. Had I known, I would have volunteered to travel with her,” Húndàn Wang clicked his tongue.

“Even I didn’t know about it. Her entire trip was done in secret,” Yu Qiang said.

A moment of silence passed between them. Húndàn Wang thought about Her Highness and how much time and effort he had spent on trying to impress her. How many years had passed since he first began pining after her. Now it had all gone to waste because of a random chance encounter with some rogue cultivator who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The world was quite cruel.

“What are you going to do now?” asked Húndàn Wang.

Yu Qiang looked down at his hands, then slowly clenched them. “I think I’m going to travel. Being around Jian Wu has made me realize that I’m still just a frog in a well. I need to broaden my horizons if I’m going to exceed my limits. What about you?”

“I’m going to join the Heavenly Sword Sect. I’ll focus on polishing my sword skills and train hard.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

The two rivals who had fought over a girl’s affection both planned to get stronger in their own ways. Húndàn Wang still felt the bitter taste of knowing the person he loved was in the bed of another, but he wouldn’t let this bring him down. He would train hard, become strong, and eventually find someone who was worthy of standing by his side.