At the middle of my courtyard, where my personal training field was.
Across from me stood Princess Xue, dressed in a light white outfit.
I stood there with a look of reluctance and surrender.
“Don’t look sad, Young Master.
We are fighting to express our love, not to bully or kill.
Am I right?” Princess Xue said with a smile while casually swinging her spear.
“Princess Xue, I’m not ready to be tied into any romance, and you know this engagement was made by the two family elders.
So why don’t we keep things formal and everyone goes home happy?” I said with an aloof look.
She remained quiet for a while.
“You suggested it.
But Young Master, I have a thing for opposing you.”
Without wasting any more time, she rushed at me.
“To keep things fair, I will suppress my realm to your level,” she said while swinging her spear toward my face with ridiculous speed.
Mei threw my wooden sword to me.
Fair my ass.
I countered her spear strike with mine, but she followed with a surprising horse kick that I knocked away with my hand.
My hand reddened a bit, then quickly smoothed out.
Then the real fight began.
Xue moved first.
Her suppressed realm matched mine, but her body remembered being at the Nascent Soul Realm.
Her footwork, her timing, the way she read my movements — all of it belonged to someone far beyond my level.
This is the first person in this world who treats me like an equal.
Not a fragile heir.
Not a dormant bloodline.
Just someone worth fighting.
I retreated.
She followed.
Her spear came from my left.
I twisted and blocked.
Her second strike came from below.
I jumped, barely clearing it.
Her third strike was a feint.
I fell for it.
The spear shaft caught my ribs.
I stumbled, but I didn’t fall.
Don’t think.
Move.
I rushed her.
She hadn’t expected that.
Her eyes widened a fraction as I closed the distance.
Wood clashed against wood.
I swung low.
She blocked.
I swung high.
She dodged.
I pivoted, changing the angle and forcing her to adjust.
For the first time since the fight started, Xue took a step back.
Did I just make her retreat?
She smiled.
“Better,” she said.
Then she stopped holding back her technique.
Her spear blurred.
I blocked one strike.
Two.
Three.
Then I lost count.
My arms shook.
My hands were bleeding.
I kept moving.
Every time she pushed me back, I found a way forward.
Every time she aimed for my ribs, I twisted just enough.
Every time she tried to end the fight, I refused to let her.
Minutes passed.
Then an hour.
Then another.
I stopped counting.
She swept my legs out from under me.
I hit the ground hard, but rolled and came up swinging.
She blocked it, then drove her palm into my chest.
I flew back and crashed against the stone edge of the training field.
I lay there, staring at the sky and breathing like I’d run a marathon.
Xue stood over me.
She wasn’t even winded.
“That was really fun,” she said with a smug smile.
“Yeah.”
I spread myself across the floor.
“Assuming I used a technique or my true realm, you wouldn’t have lasted thirty breaths,” she said while leaving with Lian.
I ignored her.
Mei approached me calmly.
“You really did well, Young Master.”
“Mei.
The next time you betray me, let me just reserve my comment,” I said coldly.
I ignored her after that and focused my attention on the full moon.
“Mom.
Where are you?
Are you dead or alive?” I muttered quietly.
Don’t keep reminiscing.
It will make you cry, the System said calmly.
Well, in my previous life, I had a mother.
She died when I was eight.
The same with Zaitian.
But he didn’t even see his mother clearly once.
I’m now Zaitian.
Li Wei is long gone, I said coldly.
I tried to recall the blurry image of a beautiful woman with a unique fragrance I could still faintly remember.
I smiled.
“Young Master.
You have a letter from Uncle Baiyu,” Mei said, then turned to me.
“Hmm.
I’ll read that letter.
But Mei, why did you choose to be my personal maid after everything I did to those few maids that served me the last time?” I asked calmly, a bit surprised.
Host.
Looks like your soul has perfectly combined with Zaitian.
That’s why you’re suddenly acting emotional.
Well, Princess Xue did the beating, which affected my pride.
“Nothing.
Just that I enjoy being with you,” she said calmly.
“Being with me.
And that’s why you handed me to Xue so easily?” I said flatly.
She remained quiet.
I stood up, then stretched out my hand while looking at the sky.
She looked confused.
“Young Master, what is it?”
“Letter,” I said flatly.
She brought it out from her spatial ring and placed it in my hand.
I took it and opened it.
Zaitian.
You must be surprised to hear from me.
Your father really has the guts to abandon me here in the Western Frontline, a place scarce with resources and insanely hot.
“Is that not where Xue is from?” I said with surprise.
Do you know how much pain I have endured here?
I really miss you guys and our time together as a family.
I recall blurrily what your mother said to me.
The night she discovered it.
Eighteen years I have carried it.
It still chills me.
I have hidden it from the clan and from your father.
I stopped reading.
My mom told him something.
What could it be?
Well, enough of that.
I heard you are undergoing training in the hands of Elder Mo Xuan.
Survive in his hands — your father is really out for you.
Take care, and don’t be hard on Mei.
And also the Princess — she’s really a beauty.
What a shameless old man, the System said with disgust.
I stood there looking at the letter blankly.
The words from Uncle Baiyu kept replaying in my mind.
The night she discovered it.
Eighteen years I have carried it.
It still chills me.
What had she discovered?
And why had she told Uncle Baiyu instead of Father?
PRINCESS XUE’S POV
From my window, I watched him.
He’d been standing there for a while now, staring at that letter like it had cursed him.
What is he reading?
And why does he look like that?
I didn’t realize I’d been watching him for that long until Lian coughed behind me.
“Your Highness.
You’re staring.”
“I’m observing,” I said.
“Of course, Your Highness.”
I turned away from the window.
But not before catching one last glimpse of him folding the letter and pressing it against his chest like it was the only thing he had left.