7 Chapter 7

Father came to send them off, he was lecturing her about being a well-bred lady and not hiding from everyone, JiLian understood why this was important to him and she couldn't help but wonder how much affection he had for his first daughter, it wasn't something she could tell at first but seeing him worry about her in his own way made her tear up a little, her dad was also like this. She walked up and hugged him, unaware of the strange looks from the people surrounding her, her father was stunned at first but felt it was inappropriate to hug her back, but he did so anyway accepting her affection, WuBai squeezed the handkerchief in her hand as her daughter was already in the carriage waiting for her sister to enter.

Wen Quian was impatient, she was looking forward to this year's international tournament, this was their first time participating since she had recently reached the age requirement required. The tournament heavily affected their country's reputation and was only held once a decade so normally people could enter the tournament twice if they were lucky, she didn't feel like JiLian should come this year but her father insisted on it.

"Older sister, if you get provoked don't make a fool of yourself..." She told her spitefully as she entered the carriage. JiLian smiled and nodded, if she had to live this life she could at least try and make it a life worth living, how long would she cry about going back home? The meditation technique she leaned wasn't like the techniques she had seen on the internet in her past life, this world may actually be a typical world with cultivation techniques. The feeling she had experienced was completely different, the feeling of a deep void within her asking to be filled to the brim, she didn't know exactly what it was and honestly, she wondered if it was all just her imagination

"Younger sister, why can't I participate in the martial arts contest too?" She could guess that she wasn't on regular speaking terms with her sister, her sister also considered her a once-in-a-few-centuries-idiot who had no talents but to be sickly. Seeing her sneer was enough to know she severely looked down on Liu Jilian to the point it was disrespectful.

"Didn't father tell you that your core is just too small?"

She played along thinking back to the deep ocean feeling when she meditated, was that the core? If that was small then what was a normal core like? "I know but is there really nothing I can do? My core is too small and my health is not any good either, I feel cursed..."

Wen Quian couldn't help but feel a bit bad for her sister, she may be stupid but her affinity for martial arts and vigorous exercise was just too low it was a bit pitiful. But when she remembered her father had always favoured her the more her sympathy was erased but was replaced with anger towards this older sister of hers. "Who knows what you did in your past life to deserve such a cursed body..."

Jilian felt disappointed, it seemed like this sister of her's hated her for deeper reasons other than the fact that she was an idiot, it could be her father's favoritism towards the useless daughter of the first wife, she looked outside the window and didn't bother to converse with the girl anymore.

Jilian spent the next few days like it was a holiday, eating exquisite foods, practicing her painting, and singing, those were the easiest two she could learn in the limited amount of time she had. She made sure to train her voice daily and to not dwell on her lacking skills, getting her asthma sorted should be the first priority, if she could meet a renowned doctor that would be amazing.

"Miss, there has been news, we should be reaching the competition site by tomorrow evening!" Jilian waved her away as she was engrossed in writing, or trying to write a draft for a song she was thinking about, wishing she could have a piano to help her out.

Once Mei li left, Jilian stopped writing in frustration, the more she tried to write the more she would get ink all over the beautiful clothing she was wearing, using a pen would have been so much better.

Sitting on the wooden chair that had been propped up in her tent she couldn't help but wonder if the little etiquette she had picked up from her sister and maids would be sufficient for the competition, she was aware she would be meeting other nobles from both the Zhou and Xiang Kingdom so she couldn't be too lax about it, at worst she would avoid people and pretend to be mute.

She prayed silently in her heart that nothing ridiculously cliche and dangerous would happen on the trip.

The next day passed by as they arrived at the little town that would be hosting all these aristocrats, the town was located near what she assumed was a gigantic canyon. She had a sneaky suspicion that the martial arts competition would be taking place there, she hoped her sister would be safe, despite being a brat she wasn't evil, she just wanted her father's affection that her useless older sister got, as a child it was only natural to be bitter about it.

The participants all arranged their own lodging, the Liu Family had a building they had purchased, families from lower ranks normally rented courtyards, the price for the buildings in the town was ridiculously expensive because of the tournament. She was moved into her room, she had a week left before the tournament would officially start, she felt ridiculously unsafe about the number of martial arts practitioners around her so she opted to stay at home and not accidentally offend anyone out there.