Chapter Nine: Family

The blacksmith stared and continued on staring. Tian Leiji glared at him, which apparently knocked him out of whatever train of thought he was on and smiled sheepishly. He kneeled down and gave Leiji another awkward grin and asked, "Child, uh, what did you just ask for?"

"I asked," Tian Leiji bit out, despite not liking having to repeat himself, "for you to get me four swords."

"That, uhh, little one, where are your parents? Do they know of this?" He asks again, Leiji huffed in frustration. "Mother is at home and knows of this." She doesn't mention his father, knowing very well that the townspeople were the one who celebrated the Tian's destruction the most. Leiji didn't truly care about whatever they felt about her.

They didn't try to hurt her or anyone else, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

She huffed and told him, "I have enough money for it, if that was what you are asking about. Or do you want me to do something? I'm fine with it as long as it is not morally ambiguous." It was annoying, how everyone coddled her because of the fact that she was a in a child's body. Had these people known her in the past life, they would not dare ask her to repeat a second time. Which was part hilarious and partly sad, she didn't exactly mean for them to fear her but did they ever truly fear her until…

Leiji huffed, she was going off track. The blacksmith, starting to get anxious of that stare directed at him, sighed and decided to just hand her what she wanted. That led to a conflicting feeling inside her, that adults would let children not even ten years old anywhere close to weapons.

Granted, in the other world, everyone started battle training early, but in this world...

Children didn't have a reason to be strong in this world. The last world was completely dependent on the system of strength and if anyone wanted anything resembling respect or control of their life then they would have to just get strong enough.

But, well, never mind. She had no place in this to be able to say anything.

The Huang family as effectively asked for war a while ago and Tian Leiji had thought it good to get weapons.

It was a bad idea, however, to have gone out alone and done everything alone. Like this, with a sword in hand, she is reminded of the family she loved and bonded with and celebrated with and then killed. It is like this, with countless regrets, that the Lightning Empress had found herself in this world at first and so is it not only expected that she feel as such while holding a sword in this life for the first time?

The broadsword, a weapon that Lightning had used not to protect but to kill and it makes her feel sick that she still holds one after doing that.

Ling Hongyun finds her like that, in the middle of almost mentally breaking down and says not a word as he picks the weapons up like they were nothing and jerks his head, his voice echoing in her head, 'Come on, your mother is getting restless.'

Tian…Lu Leiji nods and follows his Balance Partner. She…he shouldn't dwell on it anymore. The past is the past and could not be changed; he could only accept the facts and continue on.

Ling Hongyun, even as a child, seemed so reliable at that moment and Lu Leiji smiled. He points at the twin short swords and told him, "Those ones are yours."

Hongyun raises a brow, but said nothing; only nodding after a moment and Leiji's heart soars at the given trust. Leiji takes the broadsword and spear, leaving the twin short swords and standard sword in Hongyun's care. The plain sword looks ominous but then Ling puts a hand on the younger's shoulder and it felt like he could take on the world again.

He had missed this feeling, but now was not the time to dwell on things.

Now, he had a family to protect and not screw over again. Sure, things were going to be hard with the Huang family situation but it would surely get better. All things did.

Tian Leiji was feeling optimistic; therefore it is everyone's job to make her stop being that. The next morning saw a blue sky turning brighter, the sunrays bursting through the clouds and greeting the morning with a bright greeting. It was beautiful and there were guests at the door very politely knocking despite the fact that all of them except for one were heavily armored.

And so, just to be extra spiteful to the people that decide to come here at the crack ass of dawn and not anywhere near when the sun has already risen, Leiji watches the sunrise with a mug of tea while ignoring the shouting. Hongyun would beat them up soon though, considering their volume. No one dares to wake that child up except for a few.

When the sounds of punching and shouting stopped, she finally opened the door and greeted the visitors. "Morning, may I ask why you lot are here?"

A beaten up Huang Rushan slowly stands and says nothing about the very obviously rude Leiji and bluntly tells him, "A fight. Whoever wins will have to do one thing the other asks for. I heard you got weapons yesterday and wanted to see how good Young Master Lu is with it."

Wasn't this very obviously contradictory?

Tian Leiji sends a look at the space behind Huang Rushan and slowly nods. The strange action makes the young master look behind him too, but there was no one or anything particularly noteworthy behind him. Perhaps the exit as an escape route? Darkness appears in his eyes, he wouldn't allow this person to escape!

Leiji missed nary a twitch of an eye once he was focused and it was…exhilarating. This state had not been used for a long time now and the usual trace of distaste was quickly shoved back.

Being a control freak was her sister's thing.

She missed her last world. The one where everyone both feared and respected her. She missed The World and thought, if it had turned to pieces because of her departure then she could only atone her sins by accompanying it to death. The people she loved and were still alive were all still there…

There were undoubtedly certain things that certain people only knew. This wasn't any different.

If some random person in the capital city were to be asked about this, then they would have a lot to say, being in the center of the gossip and drama of nobility all the time.

It wasn't actually Huang Rushan's fault that he wanted to marry Tian Languang, or so a person questioned would say, his father was Old Master Huang's only son and turned out to be a man who only knew how to play with women, gamble and curry favor. He had also became important after unknowingly saving a princess and said princess was sent to become his wife and effectively stopped any possibility of him having any other children by nipping them all at the bud.

Huang Rushan was his only son and, according to the man himself, nothing too bad. Only, this "nothing too bad" is being used to describe a person who is able to match the crown prince, people can only imagine what he would think of a son even a little less competent.

Said person being questioned would then go on another tangent; that Huang Rushan had grown up watching his father fool around with women and it was a miracle that he himself did not become a womanizer. "Nothing too bad" was being used to describe someone that deserved better than that, if a son like that could be bought in the markets like cabbages then everyone would have bought one or ten a long time ago. It always frustrated everyone when that waste father said this.

It may or may not also be one of the reasons Huang Rushan was not welcomed in the young master's community, because the father would talk to the waste father of the Huang and feel that their own children weren't putting enough effort and proceed to give them more and more pressure.

In short, a neglected and isolated child finally makes a friend and does what he can to make sure that friend stays with him. Whether or not he thinks of her as a friend or more was only answerable by the person himself.

Tian Leiji sighs and releases her iron grip on the information, letting a faint impression of it linger.

The world she was in shook and roared; heard and felt only by her.

This World was nothing like her own and their power levels too, were vastly different. It seems that sentience had only been achieved recently, however, that did not make any sense of the elements that saturated the world. Admittedly, it was not as saturated as her previous world, but it was still quite a something.

The silhouette made of light gray and cracked at the edges flickered and Tian Leiji closed her eyes, resting them for a short while.

Ah…this body was not strong enough.

Nowhere near strong enough and it was absolutely grating. Huang Rushan snapped back from the daze he and the entirety of the world's original inhabitants fell into, looking slightly confused. That was odd, the rest weren't at that point yet. He must be one of the ones this World has picked to cultivate.

Lightning had no good intentions towards the world he was in. it was not the one that she loved and she was not the one the world has chosen to cultivate, as far as she can see.

"Are you ready?" The boy asked, eyes not properly seeing. Tian Leiji nodded, cautioning herself to be extra careful. Something like this was not to be taken lightly; it meant that he currently couldn't care less about some things. Moreover, a very probable thing that could happen is that the Huang would use this farce to force them. Light was one of Lightning's people and this world's people…

Not one was worthy to even look at her.

Defeat was unacceptable. Therefore, should Tian Leiji not take her sword and point it at the enemy? Huang Rushan lunged first, using a bizarre footwork to attack at what he saw as a weakness. Tian didn't need to even try; she simply stepped forward and was already slashing the sheathed sword against Huang's back.

The sudden smell of iron was familiar and oh-so sickening. The urge to leave and surrender the battle grew stronger.

Lightning would not be able to bear another innocent life's blood stain on her hands. Lu Leiji knew this and clicked his teeth in annoyance at the—gentle smile directed her way, Life looked at her like that and everything burned more—sudden realization. If Lightning wanted something then couldn't she be resolute about it? How annoying. Lu drew the sword from the sheath and stared at the—man that had in the end looked at him with dead eyes and mouth full of flattery, looking for compromise with the person regarded as Death itself—boy still regaining clarity.

(Back then, Tian Languang had pleaded on behalf of the kindness that she had given him to spare the clan she was married into. On behalf of the husband she so-loved and was betrayed by. Lu Leiji did not get her corpse in one piece and he had r a g e d.)

(Having his eye back in perfect condition is slightly disorienting but he could handle. It seems that the world did not hate him that much.)

Rushan was quick to jump back in and it seemed that the Huang specialized in speed because he was unrelentingly striking from every angle he could reach without being stabbed. Lu Leiji wondered, maliciously, if this would serve as good training for the child him—

Tian Leiji jumped back a second too late and the cut bleeding crimson all over her green sleeve was too much of evidence because Lightning was angry now…no, not Lightning.

Otherworld-ers were too much of a pain. She slipped into the same stance Huang Rushan had used and copied his exact movements to the T. An eye for an eye, a life for a life and the red cut on his wide sleeve was proof enough. A quick burst of spiritual energy to the right and he was jumping to the left. Information was threaded together in a split second and she—Zapfino—kicked the boy—nineteen and considered adult by this world, she reminded herself—to another side.

"Who?!" Another boy yelled, landing in front of Zapfino. She looked at him before closing her eyes; I'll be leaving the rest to you.

He relaxed minutely when the little boy opened his eyes to the one he was most familiar to.

"Please let us end this, Hongyun?" Tian Leiji asks, scrunching her eyes at the somewhat painful wound. A crack was heard behind them and Lu Yanhei was there, looking as murderous as she possibly could and staring intently at the only wound Tian Leiji had gotten.

Slowly, as one, Ling Hongyun and Tian Leiji turned their eyes to the now ruined doorframe. Then they looked at each other and tacitly agreed never to speak of what they had just seen.

Huang Rushan was still adamant about it and Tian Leiji got the feeling that he was planning something. His and everyone's eyes were still slightly blank and it was a miracle that Ling Hongyun and mother were perfectly fine at that moment. How that was, she almost didn't want to know, Lu Leiji would be…

They other and a blade pierces through flesh, Tian Leiji's mind abruptly blanks.