There was a golden dragon filled with divine light within an empty dark void. It turns its head right and left as if searching for something, stopping in its flight when seeing the back side of a young man with long jet black hair adorned with a small ponytail covering the back of his neck, and plain gray robes. He turns around to see the dragon's reflection in his deep obsidian eyes, the creature roaring in a soft manner and squinting at the young man.
"Was it you who called for me?"
The dragon nods to his question with a calm growl as the man continues to speak.
"I must protect the youngest daughter of Bai Wenlan? Official Bai Wenlan? Why must I do so?"
The golden creature moved its body around the man to form a crimson trail that shaped into an energy orb, letting his body absorb it. He glowed red for a moment before the aura faded away.
'This is. . .?'
His dark eyes began to glow red, an abrupt vision interrupting his sight of the dragon. The transcendental space showed him an image of a girl with black hair whose threads shine silver, and eyes with the patterns of the starlit galaxy staring back at him. Her dress was as graceful as a white swan adorned with the blooming flowers of the cherry blossoms.
Then her dress stains red from the bottom, changing her outfit to a full crimson dress with her irises in a golden color and her hair shining red as well. The vision stops and returns the young man's normal irises and focus to the golden dragon; he kowtows to the divine creature after that.
"I, Shu Yang, understands your divine decree. I will carry out my duties to protect the third young miss of the Bai Family."
Shu Yang kowtows to the divine dragon who roared loudly in response at him to cause strong winds to blow him backwards. The man yells and closes his eyes, opening them again to see the white clouds of the blue sky. He blinked once, looked left, looked right, sat up from the dirt ground, and stood up in utter confusion.
'What was that?'
"General Shu!"
A young man with plated armor ran up to Shu Yang, who was wearing the same plated armor with just a few differences to the soldier's own. The general recollected his thoughts and raised his eyebrow at the young soldier.
"Bo Lin? What is it?"
The young soldier named Bo Lin relaxes his breath before replying to his superior.
"My father, Bo Lie, wants you to come over and participate in the selection to become the Bai Family's third young miss's personal bodyguard. How could he ask you and not me?! Seriously why can't he believe in his own son for once-"
"I'll join."
"What?"
Shu Yang begins to walk away to the Bai Manor.
"I said I'll join."
His answer left Bo Lin's mouth hanging.
'He agreed for once?!'
"H-Hey Shu Yang! I've been asked a lot of times by many other officials and nobles for you to become their families' guards and you rejected them all! But how come when it's the Bai Family, you agreed so easily?! Do you even know them? Oi, I'm asking you!"
He trailed along behind the general.
.
.
.
The Bai Manor held a selection contest to find the right person to become Bai Yue Ji's personal guard. It was her idea to do this so she could figure out who could perform the tasks she instructs successfully. There were those who weren't interested at first because she was a concubine-born miss but when they heard that she was favored and had splendid wealth, they started to gather for their own personal ambitions.
Bai Wenlan stood up from his seat in front of their training ground to start the introductions to the contest.
"Thank you gentlemen for coming to the selection of becoming my younger daughter's personal guard. What I want for you to do when you get chosen is to devote yourself to be strong and loyal so you can defend yourselves and protect her well. As long you can fulfill those duties, you'll be honorable. My daughter will arrive and give you three tasks to complete, and if you successfully complete all three then you will be declared the winner. Let the contest start!"
After his speech ends, a feminine figure in white with pink blossoms could be seen arriving in the distance. She gracefully walks towards them refined, exquisite, and tranquil that some of the men were charmed by her lovely appearance. Bai Yue Ji arrived to look at her future to-be-chosen contestants.
Shu Yang's deep night sky eyes crosses paths with Bai Yue Ji's dark eyes that faintly shimmered with stars. Both of them stared at each other longer for a moment until the girl's eyes switched on to look at the other men, with the general trailing her figure silently in the crowd. He felt like the third young miss knew that he would be here, but that couldn't be since they never met before.
"There will be three tasks I ask you to successfully complete and once you do, I will ask you a question. If your answer is satisfactory, then you will be chosen as my personal bodyguard."
She sat down next to her father and grandfather as she waved a hand to let her maids start the first task, their hands pointing to a mountain in the distance.
"The first task is to shoot an arrow at the peak of Mount Hua. You may not use any equipment other than a bow and arrow to do this."
Shoot an arrow at the peak of Mount Hua?!
Some of the men found it ridiculous as the peak of Mount Hua was much too high to shoot an arrow at. They started to doubt having to join in the contest until they heard the sound of a bow string being strung.
TWANG!
An arrow was shot at the top of a painting behind them all, at the peak of an illustration of Mount Hua!
"T-That painting. . ."
"Who shot that?!"
Grandfather Bai and Bai Wenlan reacted at the same time in shock and anger. That painting of Mount Hua was a gift from the temple on the peak!
"Grandfather, father, it's alright. That's a fake painting I have painted for this event, so the real one is somewhere else in my room."
The father and son duo sighed in relief. They thought about the lucky fella who would have been fortunate to face their wrath. The lucky fella was none other than Shu Yang.
"This sir is wise. I never did say you had to shoot the arrow at the real Mount Hua did I? Even if you had decided to shoot there, I don't think the Hua Temple would have appreciated the gesture."
Some of the men didn't dare to face her when she said so.
"Since this is the case, I have made copies of Mount Hua for all of you to shoot arrows at. The first one to shoot closely at the peak will be able to go to the next round."
Five illustrated copies of Mount Hua were set up in the distance and the archery began after that. Shu Yang was given a wooden tablet with the character meaning number two since he shot the arrow at the peak first; the maids who gave him the tablet were shocked at his appearance while Bo Lie nodded with a smile. The young man almost thought he messed up when the patriarch and Lord Bai suddenly reacted negatively to his action if not for the third miss clarifying the situation, which made him grateful for the young lady.
The general then recalls the vision in his dream and the image of the third young miss smiling at him. The golden dragon wanted him to protect her. . .and in order to do so he must win all three tasks.
Some men were disqualified and the other half were qualified to the next round.
The second task soon arrives.