Zhenya and Yi Yun were walking towards the public training facilities of the Jia family after finishing their breakfast. The area was rich with greenery and filled with servants running about.
"Yun, do watch out for the other children, especially in public spaces like where we're going now." Zhenya cautioned her.
"Okay, young master, I'll be cautious," she replied with a smile.
While on their way to the facilities, the faint sound of clashing wooden swords and muffled cheers from other sparring children filled the air.
They bumped into Jia Xinyi and a couple of other children that were walking behind him.
Zhenya greeted them politely. "Good morning, Xinyi," and tried to just walk past him, but of course it wasn't that simple bumping into each other here. But Zhenya maintained a polite smile; his gaze briefly flickered to the other children standing behind Xinyi, their expressions ranging from curious to expectant.
Unknown to Zhenya, the supreme elder was having a staredown with the patriarch, as some elders were watching from afar.
Xinyi stepped into Zhenya's path with a sharp movement, his voice carrying a hint of impatience, his eyes narrowing as he leaned slightly forward. "I challenge you! Jia Zhenya. Tomorrow at noon we will fight; I will, of course, lower my cultivation realm to the same as yours. Do you dare to accept?" Xinyi exclaimed.
Zhenya met Xinyi's gaze head-on, his expression unreadable. "Tomorrow at noon, then." Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked past with Yi Yun.
Xinyi stood there dumbfounded. "He accepted, right?" he asked the young boy standing to his right.
The young boy looked just as confused. "Well, he did say tomorrow at noon, then. So I think that should mean he accepted, right?" he mumbled.
Xinyi and the others stood there baffled for a while before leaving to prepare for the match that would happen tomorrow.
Meanwhile Zhenya and Yi Yun had arrived at the training facility and entered a private room just for them that the patriarch had prepared for them.
"Young master, why did you accept that? Don't you think they have bad intentions for when you lose?" Yi Yun said, tilting her head.
"Of course they have bad intentions, but I can't just keep running away, right? I am also curious how strong I am currently." He stated, sitting down and grabbing one of the bone-strengthening pills.
"And soon we will be leaving the family to try and enter the Azure Cloud Sect, so does it even matter what plans they have?" Zhenya continued, as he shrugged her concerns off.
"I will try and break through to the next stage of the flesh tempering realm, so don't bother me unless it's really important." Zhenya said, taking the bone-strengthening pill and swallowing it promptly.
The pill entered his body and disintegrated into energy. Absorbing that energy, Zhenya guided it to his flesh, strengthening it faster than if he would do it with only physical training or infusing it with qi.
Just like that, the hours quietly passed as Zhenya was absorbing the pills effects slowly; Yi Yun also wasn't lazing around; she was training the Serene Tide sword art she had learned from Zhenya.
The wooden doll that stood in the middle of the room was getting abused constantly by Yi Yun as she kept improving her mastery over the sword art little by little.
When Zhenya opened his eyes after absorbing the whole pill, he saw Yi Yun lying on the ground completely exhausted. "Are you ok?" he asked her.
Yi Yun sat straight up with her back leaning against the wall. "Yes, I'm fine. I just got too into practicing the sword art you taught me."
Zhenya formed an exaggerated 'O' shape with his mouth, his eyes widening in realization. "I was the same back then," he mumbled.
Looking at Yi Yun, "Rest a while; I'm almost done. I'm close to the next stage of the flesh tempering realm, so I'll absorb the other one as well, and after that we'll go home."
Yi Yun shook her head. "No, I will also keep training. No way am I going to let myself become weak or become a weakness of yours." Steeling her resolve, she forced her body to sit straight up and also started cultivating because she was too tired to keep practicing the sword art.
As the second pill entered Zhenya's body, he did the exact same thing he did with the first one, letting the energy of the pill infuse itself in his flesh. He felt energized, as if his body was becoming an iron block.
An hour later he was done. "Yes! I did it! I entered the minor Flesh tempering realm," he shouted, balling his fist and pumping it in the air.
Yi Yun's eyes shot open. "Congrats, young master," she said, with a big smile. "I also managed to enter the body tempering realm with the help of the qi-gathering pill," she finished, grinning.
Then they both went home looking satisfied with the progress they made today. When they arrived at the residence, they saw a familiar face standing in front of the door waiting patiently.
"Patriarch, what are you doing here?" Zhenya looked at Jia Fu suspiciously. "Is this about Xinyi and the challenge tomorrow?" Zhenya inquired.
"Yes, Zhenya, be careful. Even though Xinyi will lower his cultivation realm, he is six years older than you, so he has had more time to practice and master his techniques." Jia Fu stated, crossing his arms and pacing back and forth.
"And this battle is a very important one; if you lose, you might regret it for a long time. So do your absolute best," he said before leaving like he had never been there.
"What? He didn't even let me ask him any questions." Zhenya entered the house with Yi Yun right behind him.
His mood had soured a lot after the encounter with the patriarch. "What's the point of saying all that and then just disappearing?" he grumbled.