Before Mu Rong Shan's fist could hit my face, he froze. His gauntlet stopped just a millimeter away from my nose, the brown qi violently swirling around it.
However, he didn't stop out of mercy. Behind and above him, my war spirit had materialized once more, his spear directly resting on his neck, the blade a millimeter away from his skin and hovering over his carotid artery.
For a few moments, neither of us moved. We stared at each other, and then when a look of understanding passed between us, we withdrew. My war spirit vanished and Mu Rong Shan pulled his gauntlet back.
The stalemate was finally broken.
"It's a draw," Mu Rong Shan said. I nodded.
"That was a great fight."
"It was indeed." Mu Rong Shan cupped his fists and bowed his head, a gesture that I returned. "I look forward to sparring with you again."
"As do I. I would love to exchange pointers with you again. I have learned plenty from this duel."
"Same here."
The spectators watched in disbelief, trying to digest what had happened. It wasn't that they didn't understand. They just couldn't believe what had just happened.
Mu Rong Lao was the first to recover. He hastily cleared his throat and raised his hand. "Match over! It's a tie! The final match has ended in a draw!"
"WHAT?!" The spectators bellowed, unable to believe what they had just heard. Mu Rong Lao glared at them.
"Do you really need me to repeat what I just said?"
"No, but this is impossible!"
"How can cousin Shan tie with a trash?!"
"That trash cousin-in-law cheated! I know he definitely cheated! Otherwise there's no way he can draw with cousin Shan!"
"Enough!" Mu Rong Shan roared. "How dare you disgrace the tournament?! Stop bringing dishonor to the Mu Rong name! Are you claiming that grandfather is unable to tell if anyone here is cheating or not? Are you insulting grandfather's abilities?!"
He turned on his rowdy cousins.
"And how dare you stain the reputation of a man I acknowledged as a worthy rival? Stop deluding yourselves! He has proven himself over and over again right in front of your eyes! Are you all mentally ill or something?!"
"Cousin Shan…you're actually scolding us for an outsider?!" one of the female cousins shrieked in dismay.
"Cousin-in-law isn't an outsider. He's family now." Mu Rong Shan buried his face in his palm, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"That's right!" To my surprise, it was Mu Rong Lin. He had finally regained consciousness after treatment and returned to the spectator seats. "Stop insulting cousin-in-law! You're embarrassing yourselves! I, for one, am proud to be family with him!"
"Yeah, Xiao Shu has made a great choice in marrying him," Mu Rong Shan declared.
The cousins and relatives continued to grumble amongst themselves, some siding with rationality and others insisting on delusions.
Mu Rong Lao sighed and sank back in his seat, rolling his eyes. He had a more important matter to deal with. With the final match a draw, how was he going to appoint a winner? And to who should the rewards go to?
The answer was simple.
"Granddad, just give the rewards to cousin Shan," I told him. "They don't benefit me anyway. I have no use for them."
"But that wouldn't be fair!" Mu Rong Shan protested. "You fought all the way this far, you can't just leave with nothing!"
"Then I'll have you owe me," I said with a shrug. "If you think that's fair."
Mu Rong Shan hesitated for a moment, and then he burst out laughing. "Sure! I'll owe you, cousin. If you need a favor, come to me. I'll do my best to help you fulfil it."
"We'll see if we can get any relics or techniques useful for summoning," Mu Rong Lin promised. Even though he wasn't the one who owed me.
See? There was some good in this world, after all. It wasn't like how most cultivation stories depicted it to be, with their nonsensical "strong eat the weak" bullshit (only for the antagonists to contradict themselves when it turns out the protagonist was stronger than them), or where everyone the protagonist met was evil for the sake of being evil.
"Fine, we'll go with that then." Mu Rong Lao rose from his seat to issue the declaration. Scarcely had he done so when one of his aides hurried over to whisper something into his ear. His eyes widened before he exclaimed. "Are you sure? Didn't they want to keep a low profile and not let anyone know they are here? Why did they suddenly change their minds?"
"Huh? What is granddad talking about?"
"Who is he talking about?"
The Mu Rong family members were watching the exchange in puzzlement. Their question was answered shortly when a small entourage of professional looking people walked in, dressed in suits and business clothing.
My eyes widened when I recognized one of them as the butler of the Zhao family. Specifically the guy who came to me, asking me to return.
"Patriarch Mu Rong, the matriarch of the Zhao family has offered you these gifts." The butler bowed politely. "She thinks that they will make your family tournament more auspicious."
"Didn't you say you wanted to keep a low profile and watch the tournament quietly? What's with all this fuss?"
"Oh, upon watching the tournament, our matriarch believes that we should express our gratitude for such an entertaining display. So many promising talents…the Mu Rong family truly is blessed. This confirmed the matriarch's wishes to strengthen ties with the Zhao family. As such, I humbly beseech you to accept our gifts."
"Fine. Send my thanks to Matriarch Zhao as well. Tell her I appreciate it and that the Mu Rong family will return the favor."
While they discussed, the Mu Rong family was in an uproar.
"The Zhao family?! The Zhao family from Jiang Nan!?"
"What are they doing here?"
"Auspicious gifts? What sort of gifts are they giving?!"
The butler must have heard them, or perhaps it was just a coincidence while he was relaying the details of the gifts to Mu Rong Lao, but he began listing them off.
"Oh…the gifts include Golden Dragon and Phoenix Bracelets, a thousand-year-old ginseng, a Xuan-grade high-tier Spiritual Fusion Elixir…and finally 8.88 million yuan in cash."
"What?! That's a lot!"
"Holy f! That's a ton of money!?"
"Why are they giving us so much?!"
"What is the meaning of this?" Mu Rong Lao frowned in bewilderment. "Is the Zhao family offering a dowry price to marry one of our daughters? May I ask whose son of the Zhao family you are representing? Is he proposing to marry a girl in our family?"
"We are only responsible for delivering the gifts, nothing else," the butler replied with a smile. "As I said, the main goal is to strengthen ties between the Zhao family and the Mu Rong family. I hope to see these promising talents develop further in the future and become a force to reckon with in the world of cultivation."
With that, he spun around sharply, clicking his heels on the ground, and marched off with the rest of the Zhao family staff. While they made their exit, the members of the Mu Rong family excitedly chattered among each other.
"They are so generous with their gifts!"
"I wonder who the lucky girl is."
"Maybe I have a chance…"
"Hah!" Mu Rong Hua placed a hand on her chest proudly. "Who else can it be, but me? Of course they would choose the best and most beautiful."
"What!?" The other female cousins began arguing in earnest. "Who says you're the most beautiful?!"
"Yeah! I might be the one!"
"Heh." Mu Rong Feng was folding his arms. "You will all have a chance. Except for the person who was previously the number one beauty of Cheng Shi City."
He glanced at Mu Rong Shu in scorn before laughing.
"Marrying a piece of trash so early…now you can only watch in envy when your other cousins marry successful people of power and prestige."
"There's nothing for me to be envious about." Mu Rong Shu scoffed and then clung to my arm. "I'm happy to have married the man of my choice. I don't care about wealth, prestige or reputation. As long as my husband is a decent who treats me with respect and takes care of me, I'm happy. I feel blessed having married Huan Shi. I wouldn't trade him for any other husband, not even the son of the Zhao family."
Then she frowned and turned away, trying her best not to giggle. It appeared that she recalled that I was indeed the son of the Zhao family, but she decided not to bring that up. For one thing, she was aware that I had severed all ties from them, that they banished me and disowned me, so it was a touchy subject for me.
From that day when they exiled me from the family three years ago, I had vowed that I was no longer part of the Zhao family. I was not the son of the Zhao family…just the son-in-law of the Mu Rong family. And my wife respected that.
"Besides, my husband managed to make it all to the finals and drew with the eventual champion. Isn't he already a man I can be proud of?" Mu Rong Shu then looked at Mu Rong Hua and the other female cousins, smirking. "Can you make the same boast? Are you married to such a talented and skilled husband?"
"You…!" Mu Rong Hua clenched her fists angrily. "Don't get too cocky! Even though you've won the tournament for women, you're already married! You'll regret having married that trash while watching enviously as I marry into the Zhao family!"
"Why do you keep calling him trash?" Mu Rong Shan growled. "I told you to stop that, didn't I?"
"It's a son-in-law story thing," Mu Rong Lin explained with a shake of his head. "That's the only explanation. It blinds characters to the strength of the protagonist and make them deluded, just so he can slap their faces when he reveals his true strength later."
"But hasn't he already shown his true power?!"
"Uh…first impressions are powerful, I guess?" Mu Rong Lin shrugged. "Once you've already formed an impression of somebody, it becomes near impossible to change that impression. People only believe what they want to believe, after all."
"Yeah. After all we have climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers." I nodded in agreement. "Even with scientific data and actual evidence staring them right in the face, they would deny reality for their own rightwing agenda."
"Let's not talk about politics." Mu Rong Shu made a face and pulled me away. "Let's go celebrate our victory in the tournament instead!"