She took the candy and for a couple seconds she just stared at it like she was contemplating something. The next moment she delicately unwrapped it and put it in her mouth while we kept walking.
"Jinzi from now on, you must focus on your cultivation. From the talent that we've seen it shouldn't take forever for you to reach the minimal requirements of an Inner Disciple, but don't rush your cultivation and wreck the stability of your foundation.
All your hard work will be tested once you reach the Foundation Establishment realm and from there may even determine your future. Make that foundation of yours as stable and strong as you can.
Each realm you advance into will require more effort to get past and new cultivation methods as well. I'll know if you've reached the peak and from there we can go and look for a method together or I could simply pick it out for you again."
"En. Big Brother, am I going to have to spar everyday?"
"No, you shouldn't. Take some time to go to a few lectures as they might teach you something and of course don't forget to actually cultivate. For cultivating as you are now simply read the manual I gave you.
Since you're still in the Body Tempering Realm your cultivation will be based on physical cultivation to get your body prepared for the future. I don't think you want to be a physical cultivator do you? If not then you'll have a less strenuous time cultivating in the future. But we'll get to that when you're there for now just focus on the present."
That guard from before must have been really quick as by the time we reached the gate of the Outer court they had already been expecting us. With only a simple flash they let us through and from them I started to lead her to the closest sparring arena.
These areas are quite packed most of the time as it was one of the few forms of entertainment around. Steadily progressing closer there weren't many people around the streets, it was probably due to the fact that it was still fairly early in the morning though.
At this time people would most probably be cultivating or getting ready to accomplish other tasks. It should be most populated during the afternoon or evening.
We entered into a walled off section with 3 massive circles slightly elevated off the ground, those being the arenas. If one had to estimate then they might be around 30 meters in diameter each.
Two of them were already occupied by duels and off to the side were half a dozen people watching them. Of course they wore the Outer Disciple robes and they gestured loudly toward the two fights. One clenched their fists in front of himself and another flailed their arms around wildly in the air.
As we came closer we could see the wooden weapons in their hands and heard their shouts clearer as well.
"Come on! I bet 100 Contribution points on you!"
"Yeah that's right! Beat that man up, don't even give him a chance!"
"No, no, no! Please! Don't give up, you've got this!"
Once we got close enough someone over there finally noticed us.
"Ah? There are others here? Hello! Are you guys here to watch the show?"
"I'm afraid not, actually she's here to actually spar with some people."
I slightly pushed Jinzi up front a bit just so they knew who was up to fight. The man's expression relaxed a little as he discovered he wouldn't be fighting the man who was wearing an Inner Disciple robe.
"Oh is that so? Well since that's the case then I could arrange a fight if you don't mind that is. The Elder assigned here arrives in another two hours if you want to wait for a more official match."
"That's fine, you can arrange one. Jinzi, I'll watch your first match before I leave."
"Excellent! Now let's see, oh? Junior Sister, you're in the Middle Stages of Body Tempering? Luckily for you that brother over there is also in the Body Tempering realm, but he's nearing the late stages, is that fine Junior Sister?"
The man pointed to one of the ongoing matches and toward a man who was wielding a saber specifically. He was fighting against another man who was using a sword, but the onslaught of saber strikes pushed the man further and back.
'Hmm, he seems like a reasonable opponent for Jinzi. He's beating that other disciple even though he's of a lower realm than him. With my training of her she has to have somewhat of a challenge.
And it seems he's perfect to test her. That man's aggressive plays and ferocious attacks should put stress into her. Will she respond as defensively as that man is or will she counter with her own attack?'
"Um, Junior Sister, are you alright with my arrangements?"
I glanced at Jinz from her lack of response, but at that moment the body of a man fell off the arena towards us. He slid a meter away from the base and the weapon in his hand slid even further towards us, stopping right before Jinzi's feet.
***
(Xue Jinzi POV)
I merely stared at the candy I was handed as I thought back to the little tantrum I had.
'Big Brother hasn't spoken so sternly to me before. Have I gone too far?'
We had a little chat about what I would be doing from now on and then I fell back into my thoughts about before.
'After the competition ended I must have gotten too comfortable with my new role! I'm so stupid! I reverted back to a time when I didn't have to care about anything. Before I even turned of age in the family. Where did all my maturity go?
The child-like behavior and demeanor was all supposed to be an act, instead I've seemed to embrace it as reality. If that's so then where did the knowledge of all those years being alone go?
This isn't how it's supposed to be. Was it simply the fact that the stress that I had been holding back during those 4 years finally broke and burst out entirely?
The first month I was here I had trained diligently, but as soon as I reached the minimum I had lost all that willpower to proceed.
I played the naive little girl too deeply, I won't let that happen again in the future. I can't change everything, after all it was still me, but I won't be too much like a child, after all that was the main reason he wanted to push me away in the first place.'
At that moment I heard the sound of something sliding towards me and finally getting out of my thoughts I stared at the wooden sword which landed right at the tips of my feet.
I tilted my head to the side as I bent over and picked up the sword. At that moment as if I had suddenly regained my hearing, voices poured in.
A hand rested on my shoulder and my body trembled for a moment. My first instinct was to smash the face with my elbow, but a soothing familiar voice entered my ears and calmed me down.
"Jinzi, are you alright?"
"Y-yes"
'What am I doing? Am I really still stuck in the past? I was about to do something unthinkable to Big Brother.'
I took a deep breath to calm myself down.
'Is this trauma? Is that why I filtered it all out by reverting to a more peaceful time in my life? I have to accept it and starting today I will overcome it.'
"Um, Junior Sister?"
"Ah? Yes?"
"Oh good, now, are you alright fighting this person?"
He pointed to a smiling man on the stage tapping a wooden saber over his shoulder. He was staring directly at me and when I made eye contact he smirked.
"Yes, this man will do fine."
"Perfect, now do you need another weapon or-"
"This one I have here is fine."
I walked up onto the other side of the stage and stood there.
'Eh? Big Brother is watching? I thought he would go back as soon as he brought me here. Now I can't lose! If I do then I'll just disappoint Big Brother!'
The other man stood opposite me and looked at me as if I wouldn't even be a challenge, well I'll show him!
Since I knew I was going to be fighting today I made sure to wear that beige moxiong that Sister Xiuying got for me. I tried to wear it as tight as possible without it starting to hurt me, but in the end there was still quite a noticeable mound on my chest.
Compared to before it had shrunken massively, but at this point I could still be noticed as quite womanly. But as long as I had some kind of bindings it would be a massive help to prevent them from getting in the way.
"Alright, before we begin the match let me tell this Junior Sister the rules.
The rules are simple: You must use the wooden weapons provided, don't kill the opponent nor maim them, and the winner is decided by concession or being forced out of the arena.
That's all.
Now let the match begin!"
On that mark we both began to move toward each other.
I tried using the wind based movement technique I knew, but only after a few moments did I realize that my control over it was horrendous like I had just started learning it yesterday.
I was still managing to use it, but my efficiency with it had gone down dramatically. Unless I defeated him in a single move or two then I won't be able to use it the entire fight.
'W-what happened!? No, no, no! Big Brother don't look at me!
It's okay, as long as I still manage to defeat this man in front of me then it should all be fine. All can be forgiven. I'll just have to use it with a bit more caution.'
We rushed toward each other and when we came close enough for contact he raised his arm up for a downward strike.
I utilized my movement technique to dodge away from his attack while trying to counter toward his abdomen. While thinking that I had successfully dodged that attack focused entirely on attacking. But when I let down my guard an object slammed into my side, forcing me away a few steps to the side.
The force behind that blow wasn't small and I could still feel the stinging from when he hit me.
"Is that really all you have? Come on, fight a little harder, why don't you? You were brought here by an Inner Disciple so I thought you would have a little more of a challenge."
His words poked at me and I felt like I would burst out in anger, but I had to control myself. Back during those 4 years alone I often provoked my enemies to get angry. Their logic and reasoning would go out the window most of the time giving me a number of opportunities to take action.
I merely stared at him and he stared at me. He didn't even look serious in this fight.
"Come on Junior, are you such a coward? What's the point of coming here if you aren't going to fight me?"
'Maybe, I'll play into his little provocation and at the last moment when he thinks he has me I'll reverse it!'
I took a single step forward and at my movements he smirked, which irked me. I raised my sword over my right shoulder like I was going for a wide overhead swing, but at the last moment I twisted my arms further back so that my sword was parallel to my shoulders and then I put all my strength into that horizontal swing.
I saw that shit eating grin as he sidestepped, but when he saw me changing the arc of my swing his face gained a serious appearance.
My sword slammed into his hastily prepared block with the saber and pushed him back a couple steps.