10 Chapter 10

Hei's cultivation greatly reduced the amount of null element Qi in the city. This in itself didn't cause alarm, as most cultivators are unable to sense null element Qi.

The problem was; the elemental Qi increased in density suddenly and in these cultivators' experiences, this only happened when some heavenly treasure was uncovered.

As a result, everyone was scrambling about, trying to find the source.

The two big players in the city, the Fang Clan and the Wu Clan both sent members to scour the area.

After being unable to find anything, both clans assumed that the other had obtained the treasure first, which increased tensions.

Hei, Tianlan, Bai, and Xiulan were completely unaware of what was going on.

They spent the next year cultivating their new method. Due to how exaggerated Hei's cultivation was, they all decided that he should just stick to the passive cultivation. If he were to intentionally cultivate, there would be no Qi left for Bai and Tianlan.

During the first few months, Bai and Tianlan were having a hard time cultivating. Though the Way of Essence allowed them to cultivate without spirit roots, it came at the cost of increased mental energy depletion. They could only cultivate a few hours a day.

"This really is draining."

Tianlan said as sweat was forming on his forehead.

"Mm. But this is also good. As we continue cultivating, not only will our cultivation bases improve, our mental energy will also grow. This is an added benefit."

Bai agreed with Tianlan, but she could also see the positives.

"That's great for you guys. I don't get any mental energy training."

Hei was kind of indignant. While his siblings were gaining the multiple benefits of intentional cultivation, he was stuck here doing nothing.

"..."

"..."

Bai and Tianlan were speechless. Didn't he realize that they would also love to grow stronger just by breathing? It was very hard work to cultivate this method.

"You can train your mental energy by using your Qi."

Bai came up with this suggestion. Just using their Qi would require mental energy. Hei was no exception.

"Right, but how should I use it? It's not like I need to fight someone."

"Why don't you try using it to fix your face?"

Tianlan cut in.

"You! But... No. No that's ridiculous."

Hei was angry at first, but then he considered the idea. He himself was now starting to believe that he was ugly.

"Hm. Actually, it's not."

"Little Bai... How could you?"

"Don't misunderstand, Brother. What I meant was that you could use your Qi to increase your defence. You mentioned how you would need to clench your muscles in order to defend yourself from attacks from your blind spots, but what if you used Qi to strengthen your defence?"

"Ah! That's a good idea."

Hei approved of this idea. He was thinking he would need to break through to the externalisation realm before he could properly defend himself, but if he just used his Qi to increase his defence, he wouldn't need to be too concerned about this for now.

***

For the next few months, the three conducted their own practice. The room became a lot quieter.

Tianlan and Bai were focused on their cultivation. They were trying to increase their strength and mental energy as much as possible in order to catch up to Hei who had a major head start on them.

Their bodies also started to undergo changes similar to Hei's, due to the work Bai put in to integrate them into the cultivation technique.

Hei would spend all of his mental energy increasing his defence, even though he wasn't resisting any impacts. As a result, his mental energy also grew.

***

After six months of cultivation, Tianlan and Bai were now able to cultivate for half a day without rest. This allowed them to increase the rate at which they improved and showed that their mental energy had developed.

"I think it's time we started sparring."

Tianlan made this suggestion.

"But Little Bai and I don't know any martial arts..."

Hei commented. Though the three had been studying cultivation techniques, they did not study combat techniques. The only one who knew any martial arts was Tianlan.

"This... Then I will teach you first."

Combat techniques were not as easily accessible as cultivation methods. Even Xiulan would first need to show results before she was allowed access.

For three months, the trio would spend their time training in martial arts and their individual training methods.

"Alright, we can start sparring now."

Tianlan was satisfied with the progress Hei and Bai had made over these three months. He felt they were now ready to spar.

"So how is this going to work? My cultivation is much higher than both of you."

Hei said. Even though Tianlan had been cultivating diligently over these past few months, he had too much of a head start.

"This... Bai and I will attack together. That should make things a little better."

"Hm... Okay, let's do it like that."

With that, the trio's sparring days began.

***

At first, the sparring looked like children fighting on a playground.

Hei wasn't able to properly defend himself against the two's simultaneous attacks and Tianlan's fighting ability was too far above Bai's. This led to a lot of stopping and starting, so as not to hurt each other.

As they continued, Hei became more comfortable facing the two. He grew better and better at blocking their attacks and started using his defence he had been training for all this time.

This meant that Tianlan didn't have to hold back and Bai was able to take advantage of moments when Hei was distracted to find opportunities to attack.

Over time, it became obvious which fighting styles suited each of the three.

Tianlan's eyes allowed him to see every opportunity to strike. No weakness could escape his gaze. This made all of his attacks major blows, so he adopted a speed and precision approach. Even his feints were targeted at weak spots which made them very difficult to detect.

Bai was able to calculate her opponent's moves. It was as if she knew what they were going to do before they had even decided for themselves. This led her to develop a style that focused on manipulation. She would push and pull to get her opponent where she wanted them.

Bai and Tianlan were more or less evenly matched. In terms of raw combat ability, Tianlan was slightly better due to his years of training and being a boy, but in terms of strategy, Bai was unmatched.

Tianlan would always aim for critical hits but Bai would predict this and act appropriately to prevent him from doing any major damage.

Ordinarily, the two would be quite pleased with their progress but unfortunately for them, they had a freak of a brother named Wu Hei.

Hei didn't have any particularly strong points offence wise, but he had freakish defensive abilities. He was always able to block or redirect any frontal attacks, and even when they succeeded in landing blows from his blind spots, they did no damage.

What's worse is, at some point, they were unable to make him even take a single step away from his original position. He was as stable as a mountain.

After a while of facing this monstrosity, Tianlan discovered the secret.

It turned out Hei was not only reinforcing his own defence using his Qi. He had so much Qi that he was able to reinforce the floor as well. He used this to anchor himself to the ground, transferring all force he faced into the ground.

This made it seem like nothing was happening whenever he faced an attack. There wouldn't even be the slightest trace of a battle when he was involved, as opposed to the cracks that formed on the floor every now and then when Tianlan and Bai would spar on their own.

Tianlan didn't know that Hei had developed this way of fighting because he didn't want Bai getting hurt by recoil.

Hei placed all his focus on nullifying force, which turned into what he likes to call the Way of Circular Disconnect, which was based on the Circular Disconnect Tooth Cleansing technique his mother had taught him.

He thought of how brushing his teeth did not require a lot of force and how the circular motion would gently clean his teeth, so he wanted to apply a similar idea to his fighting style.

He paid particular attention to redirection using circular motions and this fledgling form of his fighting style had him redirecting the energy into the ground.

At first, the ground would take damage and his footing would become unstable, so he decided to spread his branded Qi into the surroundings to reinforce them.

He then realised that he could anchor himself to the ground this way and as a result, he looked like an immovable object, unconcerned about the forces surrounding it.

Hei became so proficient in this that his siblings felt like they were attacking pillows. Even though their movements would come to an abrupt halt when they struck him, there wouldn't be the recoil they expected.

This led to an extremely strange feeling that they hadn't even launched an attack in the first place and instead had gone up to give their brother a playful punch.

After a while of facing this, Tianlan discovered its drawback which was mental energy usage.

In order to maintain this fighting style, Hei was expending his mental energy at a much faster rate than the others. After a while, he wouldn't be able to maintain it and would become a movable object again.

At first, Tianlan and Bai were excited to break through Hei's defence, but they swiftly learned their lesson.

They found to their misfortune, that when Hei enters a low mental energy state, he doesn't become completely defenceless, instead, he just stops reinforcing his surroundings.

While their attacks were now landing properly, they would suffer the full recoil, which was like slamming into a solid wall.

It was painful, so after a few attempts, they decided to stop the sparring whenever Hei showed signs of run low on mental energy.

Hei was surprised that they always had 'new comprehensions' whenever they were right in the thick of battle. They would then spar together for a while before returning.

Tianlan and Bai didn't want to tell him the truth because they were afraid that he wouldn't want to spar anymore. They found it quite useful to humble themselves before this oddball brother of theirs.

***

Unknown to the three, Xiulan's room had now become rich with elemental Qi. Their daily cultivation was constantly removing the null element Qi, which allowed elemental Qi to thrive.

The ones who did notice were Xiulan, who didn't care either way and the maid, who was shocked. Every time she came here, she felt the Qi was even denser.

What confused her was that nothing, in particular, was happening here. Every time she came, she would find all four inhabitants sitting on the bed looking out the window.

It was bizarre, to say the least.

***

"Alright. Let's go for level 5 today."

Tianlan said.

"Level 5? Are you sure?"

Hei was surprised.

"Mm."

"I also think we're ready."

Bai agreed with Tianlan.

The 'level 5' they were referring to was part of the system they used to scale their power. Each level represented 10%, so level 5 was 50%.

This meant that Tianlan and Bai would be facing Hei at 50% power. That may not seem like much, but Hei was really quite strong. His cultivation was literally off the charts. His body refining cultivation layer was undetermined, and his qi density was very high.

"Alright then."

The three got into their fighting poses which were quite strange. Bai and Tianlan had adopted Hei's pose, which was just standing there, arms by the side, relaxed as if nothing was happening.

Had they been sparring with anyone else they probably would have at least raised their arms ready to attack or defend, but it was too late now. It had become ingrained in them to just be relaxed until things start moving.

-Tap. Tap. Swish.

Tianlan started the offence. This was his opening move. He would take two relaxed steps to mess with the opponent's sense of timing, then before his foot landed for the third step he would disappear.

He wasn't really disappearing, but he used his eyes to mentally destabilise the opponent before moving at maximum speed. This worked to confuse the opponent, catching them off guard.

By the time they realised what had happened, he would already be behind them launching his attack.

And that was exactly what happened this time.

"Ho! You were hiding your progress before? It looks like your speed has improved."

Hei turned around and put his palm in the path of Tianlan's fist.

Just as the fist and palm were about to collide, Tianlan smirked.

-Twitch.

Hei realised that he had taken his attention off Bai. He quickly turned to face her attack but there was nothing there.

"Hehe. Got him!"

Tianlan laughed. That initial punch was a feint.

As Hei turned around, Tianlan changed his stance and launched a second attack at Hei's side. This time it was a kick.

"You think you're smart."

Hei wasn't completely clueless, he realised that it was a trick the moment he turned around and found that Bai wasn't attacking him.

Hei immediately went to intercept the kick, but all of a sudden, he felt an impact from the back.

"You shouldn't let a simple three-layered plan fool you, Brother."

It was Bai who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Hehe. When was I fooled?"

Hei said this as he raised his arm over his head to grab at Bai's fist.

After he felt the grip, he immediately rotated, carrying her with him, ready to throw her towards Tianlan.

As he turned, he was surprised by what he saw.

"Little Bai?"

It was Bai, who he was supposed to have gripped by the fist.

"That's right, Onii-chan."

Hei heard Tianlan's voice.

Tianlan was the one he was holding.

As Hei turned to look at Tianlan, all he could see was a fist, inches away from his face.

Even in slow motion, there was nothing he could do about it, so he braced himself for impact. At 50% strength, he would not be able to fully nullify the attack, so he had to redirect as much energy into the ground as possible.

"Not so fast, Brother."

-Boom.

Bai said this as she stomped on the ground. As she stomped, she released a pulse of Qi into the ground which disrupted Hei's footing, destabilising him.

-Bang.

Tianlan's fist landed and Hei was thrown backwards. He was now in the air, but his body was still vertical.

"The finish!"

After Tianlan's foot made contact with the ground, he immediately leapt forward at full speed in order to catch up to Hei, who had yet to return to the ground. This was one of the few times where he couldn't use the ground to absorb impacts.

Seeing Tianlan rapidly approaching, Hei wasn't flustered.

As Tianlan launched his punch, Hei casually grabbed his fist and used it to redirect him, passing by his side harmlessly.

As Hei accomplished this, he saw that Bai was right behind Tianlan launching her own fist.

"Your plans really are intricate, but unfortunately they didn't work this time."

Hei said this with a smile after catching Bai's fist.

He was now back on the ground, so his defence was back to full strength.

"Don't speak too soon, Brother."

Bai said this with a mischievous smile. She then went in and hugged Hei tightly.

"Eh? What are you... !?"

Hei was confused at first, but then he felt a chaotic mess of Qi emanating from Bai. Her intention was to destroy his defence by corrosion.

'Not good.'

Hei realised that Tianlan was still out there but before he could do anything, he felt a sharp pain on his back.

-Bang.

Hei was sent flying.

At some point, Bai had already moved away.

-Smack. Plop.

Hei was sent across the room all the way to one of the windows.

In order to prevent the window from breaking, Hei spread his Qi to disperse the force across the whole wall. He then slid down and plopped onto the ground.

"..."

"... Hey, Mumu. How's the view?"

Hei had landed on the window Xiulan usually looked out of.

"..."

"... Alright then."

Hei awkwardly walked away, stopping to look back once more to Xiulan who had also turned to look at him.

It was awkward for both of them.

"Your strategies are getting really elaborate. How much of that was planned?"

Hei was surprised. They had barely managed to beat him at level 4. How was it that he was handily defeated at level 5?

"Hehe. Every moment. From start to finish, all went according to Little Bai's plan."

Tianlan said while hugging Bai with one arm.

"Eh?"

Hei was shocked. How did they suddenly improve like this?

"That's right, Brother. Truth be told, I have been planning this one for a few months now. We even hid our progression from you to lower your guard. It was quite effective."

Bai said with a bright smile.

"Eh? So, all of the sparring matches for the past few months have been a setup for this?"

"Mm."

"When did I become your worst enemy?"

Hei puffed out his cheeks. Why were his siblings working so hard to beat him?

"Being suppressed by you isn't always fun, Hei."

"That's right. Don't forget that this was only level 5 but we still had to put this much effort into it."

Tianlan and Bai voiced their opinions. While they saw Hei as a goal to reach, it wasn't nice when someone would pick your goal up and place it a little further away every day.

"If you put it that way..."

-Hahaha.

***

Time passed, and Bai's fifth birthday came.

This time's banquet was a lot different to the previous ones.

The rule was 'no mercy', but after Hei, Tianlan and Bai had been cultivating, their speeds were much faster than Xiulan. If they were to really give it their all, she would likely walk away with nothing, so they agreed to match Xiulan's pace.

Xiulan noticed this but she didn't say anything. No one knew what she was thinking.

***

A few days later, it was time for Bai's talent measuring.

The three weren't expecting anything. Tianlan had already confirmed that Bai had no spirit roots, but it was a formality within the clan, so they went to the hall.

When they got there, they noticed that there were quite a few clan juniors there for today's assessment. This was in stark contrast to the empty place they had come to when Hei was measuring his talent.

"Who are they? Did our clan have juniors like that?"

"I don't know about the other two but the dark one is Wu Hei. He has a trashy Innate Shadow Physique."

"Then, doesn't that make the other two Wu Tianlan and Wu Bai?"

"That would make sense."

"Now that you mention it, the tall one does have blue eyes."

"Right, but what about the white-haired one? Did Wu Bai have white hair?"

"It's probably dyed. I wonder why she would do that."

The three could hear people discussing them all around.

"Eh? I thought you were well known as the trash of the Wu Clan, Tianlan. How come these people can't recognise you?"

"Well, I've kind of been in mother's room for the past two years so that's probably it."

"Right."

The three didn't particularly care what people had to say about them. They just waited for the measuring to begin.

After a few clan juniors went up for their measurement, none of them was revealed to have exceptional talent. Most of them had four elements mixed roots and some had tri-element roots.

"Next is Wu Bai."

The elder in charge of conducting the measurement called out Bai's name.

Bai went up to the measuring stone.

"Do you think she will be another trash?"

"Three trashes in a row?"

"I would be surprised but also not surprised at the same time."

"Mm. It's strange that the patriarch took their mother in as his wife."

These comments, especially the ones about Xiulan touched a nerve in both Tianlan and Hei.

Hei noticed Tianlan clenching his fists. He placed his hand on Tianlan's shoulder and said:

"Calm down Tianlan. This isn't the time nor the place."

Tianlan took a deep breath to calm himself.

"You're right."

Tianlan was able to control himself but he was still bothered.

"Don't worry. The Wu Clan will have their day of reckoning."

Hei was calm but he paid attention to all of these comments.

After a while, Bai was shown to have no spirit roots.

"She really was another trash."

Some of the elders still had hope for Bai but that was dashed.

"Their mother only knows how to produce trashes."

Hei noticed Tianlan getting worked up.

"OK, time to go."

Hei took Tianlan by the shoulder and walked away with Bai following behind.

"You really need to work on your self-control, Tianlan."

***

One day, a few weeks later, the thee were about to discuss the sparring match they just had, when they heard a knock at the door.

"Lady Xiulan. May I come in?"

It was the maid.

"If you like."

Xiulan responded without turning

"Then if you'll excuse me."

The maid walked in and closed the door behind her.

She noticed the three who were sitting on the ground looking at her.

"So... What did you come for?"

Hei saw that she wasn't carrying anything, so he was interested in what she was doing here.

"This. Today is the Wu Clan internal competition."

"Internal competition?"

The three were clueless about this.

Seeing that they didn't know, the maid knew she hadn't wasted her trip.

"Yes. The clan juniors will be participating in a battle competition to show off their ability."

"Oh? So, why are you telling us this?"

Hei asked with a confused face. What did a battle competition have to do with three 'trashes'?

"This. Do you not want to watch? I heard that the young genius Wu Ning will be displaying his talents."

The three looked at each other before Hei asked:

"Are they any good? We don't want to waste time watching children playing around."

The maid was stunned for a moment. Aren't you also children playing around? What's more, all you are doing is sitting around doing nothing.

"Y-Yes. I heard that the clan has several talented juniors this time."

The three did not look interested. Hei remembered how it felt when his half-siblings attacked him. He could confirm that the current Bai was far stronger than them, so he questioned the value of watching the performance of other clan juniors.

"It may be good to go, Brother. Even if they aren't strong, we should still be able to gain something by observing their techniques."

"I suppose so."

Hei had to agree with this point. All of the martial arts skills they had were learned from Tianlan, who didn't exactly have access to any profound techniques.

"So, what time is this thing happening?"

Tianlan asked the maid.

"It will start in an hour. I came to guide you there."

"Then lead the way."

The three got up. As they were about to leave, Hei turned to Xiulan and asked:

"Mumu, do you want to come as well? Something fun may happen."

"Eh? Something fun? What would that be?"

Xiulan turned towards Hei in interest.

"That will depend."

"Hm..."

Xiulan was in thought for a moment before she stood up and joined her children.

***

As the five got to the venue, a large crowd came into view. There were many people here to witness the internal competition.

There was a square platform surrounded by elevated spectator seats.

"Who's that boy?"

"Who? The one with blue eyes?"

"Mm. He's so handsome."

"I know. Maybe we should go over and talk to him."

"Not so fast, look at the people with him. That's the fourth wife and her son Wu Hei."

"Then..."

"That's right. The boy should be the trash Wu Tianlan."

"But he's so handsome. I don't care if he's a trash."

When the five came into sight, a lot of the young ladies in the audience noticed Tianlan's presence.

"This..."

Hei was shocked. What was the meaning of this? It was just Tianlan the creep you know?

"Onii-chan. The people have spoken."

Tianlan said with an evil grin.

"No... It can't be."

"Oh, but it is."

Tianlan was enjoying himself immensely right now.

"But... Why?"

"It's likely due to cultivating the Way of Essence. I read that cultivation can improve one's appearance."

Bai came up with an answer.

"But I have been cultivating it as well. Also, Tianlan looks the same as always what change has there been?"

Hei was indignant. If it was due to the cultivation technique, shouldn't he be getting similar attention?

"We have been with Big Brother for a long time. Any subtle changes escape our notice, but they add up."

"Right..."

Hei had no choice but to agree.

"Hehe. If I am handsome, what does that make you, Brother?"

"This..."

Hei had nothing to say. It was already clear.

"I am still growing! I'm only seven years old. It would be strange if the young ladies were interested in me."

Hei grasped onto this straw for it was all he had.

"Hm... Then we'll wait a few years and see again."

Tianlan was a little deflated. It was true, sometimes a person's appearance goes through a drastic change as they grow up.

"Mm. Then let us sit and observe the martial prowess of the juniors."

Having escaped the situation, Hei quickly moved on.

The five found seats and waited for the competition to begin.

As they waited, they heard the comments from the young ladies and occasionally some ridiculing comments about their family.

Oddly enough, the one who took most offence was not Tianlan but the maid. She seemed to take it personally when this family was insulted.

Hei noticed this and wondered about it, but he didn't ask. He didn't really need to know, and he didn't want to trigger a strange side quest like he had done with the eastern guardian.

After an hour the competition finally began. The first match was started, and the audience watched intently.

The three were also watching with wide eyes.

"This!"

Tianlan was shocked by what he saw.

"How is this possible?"

Even Bai could not explain what she was seeing.

"Th-This is the young generation of the Wu Clan?"

Hei did not expect the juniors to be at such a level.

The spectators around them looked at them in disdain. To be so impressed by this much? Wait until the real competition begins.

The three were unaware of the thoughts of those around them. They could only stare at the two youths on stage in amazement.

"Are they putting on some kind of performance?"

Tianlan could only think this based on what he was looking at.

"Truly... They are too slow."

Bai was having a hard time seeing this as a fight.

"No, you guys don't understand. This is the warm-up... right?"

Hei said this but was clearly doubting his own words.

"..."

The spectators were stunned. What do you three trashes know about fighting? Your arrogance doesn't score you any points in front of true cultivators.

"This... Little Bai... We may become weaker by observing this level of ability."

"I agree. I don't think this is a good experience at all."

Hei and Tianlan were regretting coming here.

"This... Maybe there will be better ones later. This is the first round after all..."

Even Bai was losing confidence in this whole thing.

"..."

The maid was lost for words. She had brought them here thinking she could let them have a little fun. Who would have known they would be offended by the performance?

After the first few matches, the three were getting less and less confident. Then it was announced that Wi Lin would be fighting.

"Oh? One of our half-siblings has come to play."

"Yeah. Hopefully, they have improved in the last two years."

"Most likely."

The three showed some interest in this fight. They wanted to see some of the Wu Clan's core techniques.

Unfortunately for them, the opponent was too weak, and the fight ended without too much to show.

-Sigh.

The three were thoroughly disappointed.

The competition continued and all the way until the top eight, none of their half-siblings had fought each other.

"Isn't that convenient?"

"Yes. It seems someone was pulling some strings."

"Looks like it."

The three were unreservedly stating their opinions, which annoyed the spectators around them.

"You trashes better stay quiet."

"That's right. No one asked for your opinion."

Some of those spectators spoke up.

"Oh? I thought strength was what allowed you to speak in the Wu Clan. If you want us to be quiet, then force us."

Hei said with a smile.

He knew that there was something called 'face' that was supposed to be protected, so he used Xiulan's status as a shield against nonsense. Even if the three of them were these supposed 'trashes' there was nothing these people could do.

"This..."

From then on no one commented.

"OK, It's now a fight between siblings."

"Mm. Hopefully, this one will be a little better."

"I wouldn't put too much hope on it. Judging from what we have seen so far, the juniors are pretty weak."

The three were a little hopeful about this fight. They watched it with close attention.

"This... Brother, were they like this when they attacked you?"

"Mm. How did you even get hurt by this?"

"... There are still three more matches."

Three matches later.

"..."

"..."

"... There-There's still the semi-finals."

After the semi-finals.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The final match was an 'intense' fight between the Wu Clan's most talented, Wu Ning and the second most talented, Wu Lixue.

It was a 'close match' that either could have won but Wu Ning was victorious in the end.

"This..."

"I..."

"This wasn't worth it at all..."

The three had spent quite a long time spectating these matches and what they gained from it was nothing.

"I declare that the winner of this Wu Clan internal competition is Wu Ning."

An elder declared Wu Ning the winner and the audience started cheering.

They stopped when they saw Wu Ning point into the crowd.

"What's he doing?"

"He's pointing at the trashes. What does he want to do?"

"Hehe. Those trashes are in for it now. Let's see them continue to spout their nonsense."

The audience grew rowdy. Especially those around the three, they had been wanting to see someone teach them a lesson.

"Eh? What's this?"

"He is pointing at us."

"Is this a challenge? But we're 'trashes'."

The three were also surprised. They did not expect this action from Wu Ning.

After the audience quietened down, Wu Ning spoke.

"I wasn't quite satisfied in this competition. I was unable to go all out, so I challenge my half siblings to face me."

-Hahaha.

The audience broke out into wild laughter. How could they not see that Wu Ning was humiliating the trashes?

"This is what you get for being so arrogant."

"Mm. You're too scared to speak now aren't you?"

"You should hurry up and beg for forgiveness."

A barrage of comments came flying to the three, but they ignored them.

"You should go and play Tianlan."

Hei said while pushing Tianlan towards the stage. He didn't want to get between a boy and his fanboy.

"Eh? Why me? Why don't you go?"

"If it was Brother, don't you think things would turn out worse?"

Bai stepped in. If Hei were to go down there; who knew what could happen?

"This..."

Tianlan agreed. He turned and jumped to the stage.

"It's Tianlan! Hi Tianlan, my name is-"

"No forget her, I'm-"

"The only one who is good enough for him is me."

"Don't try any of that here."

All of a sudden, the young ladies started fighting over Tianlan.

"..."

Hei wasn't feeling too good.

Tianlan turned to him and flashed a wicked smile. He then turned to face Wu Ning.

"I didn't expect it to be you, First Brother. I thought it would be Seventh Brother."

Wu Ning spoke to Tianlan who had arrived on the stage.

"Oh? Why?"

"Because he is the strongest of the three of you."

"Oh? How did you know that?"

Tianlan was curious. Usually, one would assume him, who was the eldest, to be the strongest of the three.

"I trained in a technique that allows me to sense danger and I can clearly sense it from you and Eighth Sister, but Seventh Brother... I don't sense anything at all."

"Then maybe he is just too weak."

Tianlan had to make this point. Being unable to sense danger from him should confirm that he isn't a threat. How did it instead become him being the strongest?

"I don't believe that for a second."

"Interesting. Well, you should be thankful that it's not him. He would probably destroy your confidence without even knowing."

Tianlan said this with a bitter smile.

"... What have you gone through?"

"Cough. Never mind that. Shall we start?"

"We fight!"