"But why doesn't Daddy like you?"
"That's not true, sweetie, your father and I get along just fine--"
"No you don't! Daddy always looks at you like he swallowed something gross! Why is he always so cold?!"
A young, teenage girl and an older woman were arguing in a decadently furnished room, lantern lights flickering softly in the night.
"What's so good about that other woman, anyway? She's way uglier than you! And Meiling isn't even as talented as I am, why does she get to be with him, all the time?!" the young girl shouted, stomping her feet in frustration. A few tears threatened to fall as she squeezed her eyes shut, sniffling in indignation.
The older woman could only stroke the girl's hair with a tender gaze, her smile carrying a hint of melancholy.
"Jingfei, don't say those things about your sister and Consort Jia..." she said, shaking her head gently, "I'll go and talk to your father about this, tomorrow, so please, be a good girl, for now?"
"No! I'm going to go give him a piece of my mind, right now!"
The young Jingfei ran off into the dark courtyard with the intention of going straight to her father, while her mother could only watch her retreating figure, a regretful look on her face...
--
"Tch."
Long Jingfei clicked her tongue as she snapped back to the present, having lost herself in reminisce while waiting for her sister's turn to choose a challenger. The combat showcase was well under way, now, with the mid-stage Qi Gathering contestants wrapping up their duels, after which they would move on to give the higher rank contestants their chance.
'What an annoying memory,' she thought, blowing a stray hair from out of her face. Was it because she had to deal with her father's apathetic expression earlier that morning? Just seeing it really pissed her off.
Indeed, ever since that day... The day *that* woman left them... Her father had fallen further and further into an apathetic spiral. Sometimes she wondered if he even still cared about the family, at all.
That was much of the reason why she went out partying, shirking her responsibilities, and generally making a nuisance of herself, these days; if the patriarch of the family couldn't be bothered to care, why should she?
As she was in the midst of her mental rant, she caught sight of Long Meiling glaring in her direction, and she smiled her mockingly sweet smile, waving a hand back at her.
'Don't worry, sister, dear,' she thought, eyes growing cold as she looked away, 'I'll show you once and for all that you can't change your situation, no matter how hard you try!'
--
On the other side of the arena, Long Meiling furrowed her brows, tearing her gaze away from Jingfei so that she could calm down and collect her thoughts.
'Okay... Whatever she did to that food, it shouldn't be dangerous. Even *she* wouldn't do something like poison me on the day of the exhibition,' she thought to herself.
'But even if it was just a harmless prank, it could mean the difference between life and death in a fight with a Nascent Soul expert... Why didn't I think of this, sooner?!'
Meiling cursed her lack of foresight. Of course if her sister were to do anything, it would be in preparation for the day of the exhibition. If she had realized this, she could have warned Ryker before he and Luo Shuchang moved to execute their plans, today.
Even if they couldn't change their plans, they would at least be expecting something to happen. But would something happen? Mini C had said it was safe, after all...
"...ling... Long Meiling!"
"Y-yes!"
The insistent shouting of the announcer brought her back to reality, realizing that they were calling her name.
"Who will be your opponent?" he asked, patiently looking her way.
Meiling looked down for a moment, before raising her head with a resolute gaze, clenching her fists at her sides.
"Long Jingfei."
A sudden hush fell upon the crowd, murmurs following her as she made her way to the stage.
"Miss Meiling seems rather distracted, today..."
"Do you think she's second guessing her decision to fight her sister?"
"I know I would be... What was she thinking..."
Meiling shook her head in exasperation, sighing heavily. She really did have to get it together.
This was only the most important fight in her life so far, after all!
As she ascended the steps, she saw her sister already there waiting for her, knowing she would challenge her, today.
"What's wrong, sister, dear?" Jingfei said with a mocking expression as Meiling walked to stand opposite her.
"Still worried about your little friend? I think you should be more worried about yourself, at the moment!"
Meiling scoffed, taking her sword out of her storage space as she took a fighting stance and slowly exhaled. She didn't say anything further, only staring daggers at Long Jingfei, and waiting for the referee to start the match.
"...Hmph."
Jingfei's mocking smile slowly fell, replaced with a look as cold as Meiling's before she took out her own weapons, a pair of elegantly curved daggers.
The two sisters stared each other down as they waited for the match to start, the tension between them palpable. The crowd was similarly silent, watching with bated breath; even the announcers for the other matches couldn't help but pause their own commentary and look over, wanting to see how things played out.
"Ready..."
The referee raised his cloth, looking between the two of them to make sure both parties were prepared, before quickly throwing it to the ground, signaling the start of the match.
"Begin!"
--
"Hey, wait up!"
Ryker grinned as he continued his pursuit of Elder Shi, the two of them running through the empty streets of Yuliang City. Most everybody was gathered at the amphitheater or the surrounding area, so much of the city was low on traffic, at this time.
"You damn brat! Just wait until the sect hears of this!" Elder Shi shouted over his shoulder, frustration mounting at his inability to shake off this Foundation Establishment whelp.
Whatever they'd done to him, it had drained him of a portion of his energy, feeling like some of his qi was being sucked into another part of his body where he was unable to use it.
Luckily, his movement technique was on the low side of qi consumption, but he didn't dare try flying, let alone risk a fight against Ryker with this handicap.
Not only was his movement technique on par with his own, he figured out how Ryker was able to be so confident in facing him: his spiritual energy controlling technique!
Elder Shi had heard of techniques to directly manipulate the spiritual energy surrounding oneself, but they were all basically rumors, mentioned briefly in esoteric manuals and mostly anecdotal in nature.
From what he knew, however, this technique was akin to doubling a cultivator's power, being able to use qi within, as well as spiritual energy without!
Add to that his movement and sword techniques that far surpassed his current cultivation, and he would be troublesome for Elder Shi to face, even if there wasn't that qi draining handicap holding him back.
'Damn it! Just a bit further...!'
Elder Shi's goal was to make it back to the secret base the Great Void Sect had set up in the city, housing a teleportation array for use in their plan to take over. Of course, it was not meant to be used, just yet, as that would alert the Zhou of its presence.
If he were to use it to escape...
'Forget it! Better to be in trouble than to be dead!' Elder Shi resolutely declared in his head.
Still, he had to make it there, first, and without being caught by this stinky brat!
However, a sudden pain in his meridians caused him to misstep, tumbling in a heap and crashing into a building, ahead.
'Curses! I should've practiced this movement technique, more...'
Elder Shi cursed his slacking off on practice to put more time into cultivating, quickly pulling himself out of the rubble to continue his escape. Before he could, though, a swift shadow caught him by the neck, lifting him off his feet and slamming him to the ground.
"Ha! Gotcha!" Ryker shouted, grinning wildly as he held him down.
"Damn... You..."
Elder Shi struggled to grab a jade token tied around his belt as Ryker choked him out, tearing it off its string and crushing it in his hand.
A sudden explosion of golden light centered on the elder blew Ryker away, and he tumbled on the ground a few times before landing crouched on his feet.
Elder Shi, on the other hand, grimaced as he rose to his feet, once more. He could feel the foreign spiritual energy invading his body, hampering his already handicapped qi flow.
'If I'd known I'd end up in a situation, like this, I'd have brought an escape talisman!'
Who would have thought he'd be schemed upon, today!
However, before Elder Shi could decide to fight or flee, Ryker doubled over, clutching his stomach with a pained expression on his face.
{Ryker?! What happened?} Bestie cried out from within the compad.
"I..." he started, though he seemed to struggle with even getting the words out.
"I *really* gotta go!"