Lady Vena continued, "Arthur is talented, but he is not that talented. He wouldn't have achieved what he did if I hadn't spent a lot of money on acquiring special medicine that made him transform. So I'm sure you can do the same too with all the money you have."
Lady Delia's eye twitched visibly as she said, "Is that so?"
"Of course," came the confident reply from Lady Vena.
Lady Delia didn't believe it one bit. Everything stank of falsehoods.
First of all, it is unbelievable that a child will reach the second transformation at seven years old. The average time is 12 years old.
Even the best that they can achieve in the inner court is 10 years old. And it will require a lot of resources to save that much time.
How is she to believe that a bastard without the support of the family can reach the second transformation five years early?
Secondly, even if the boy had truly reached the second transformation at the age of seven, it is unbelievable that he will be able to achieve the sixth transformation in one year.
Not even the excuse that he had achieved that progress because of resources is believable. It is because there are a lot of problems with it.
First of all, the resources needed to achieve that will be very expensive. Even she can't afford it. If she can't, then how did a concubine manage it?
Even if Lady Vena could somehow get the money, how will a seven-year-old boy survive taking such powerful resources?
The boy should be dead, not soar to the sixth transformation. The only thing that can change that outcome is the possession of prodigious talent.
But that begs another question. If the true sons and daughters created from the union of talented parents from two prestigious cultivation families can't achieve it, how can a bastard achieve it?
She thought to herself in disdain, "What kind of talent can the son of a harlot have?"
Everything that Lady Vena had said sounded like a silly joke. But Lady Delia couldn't understand her goal for making such a tasteless joke.
She always thought that Vena was a scheming slut, so there must be a plot afoot. But for the life of her, she can't think of one reason why Vena would lie openly in front of everyone.
All of these thoughts and more went through Lady Delia's mind in an instant. She decided to be careful and alert. She didn't want to get caught in a scheme, so she decided to probe for more information.
But before she could say anything, Lady Vena said more things.
Lady Vena sighed and said, "You would know about this if you had shown any interest in your stepson and kept an eye out for him."
Lady Delia smiled and said, "I'm terribly sorry that I don't have time to spare since I have been very busy within the inner court."
Lady Vena returned the fake smile. "It is fine. We did well without you. It is clear that we don't need your attention and concern. You can continue doing whatever it is that a housewife with a wet nurse and servants does."
Lady Delia couldn't take it anymore. "It is my loss for missing such momentous events. Please allow me to make up for some of my regrets by seeing a fight between a child and Arthur."
She narrowed her eyes when she said. She was watching like a hawk, hoping to see something from Lady Vena's reaction.
But Lady Vena only continued to smile. She knew that Delia wanted to test the authenticity of what she had claimed.
She wasn't calling Vena a liar straight to her face. That would be rude and baseless. It would be better to prove that she was a liar in front of everyone. So she asked for a fight.
Lady Vena acted as if she was fine with the suggestion. She asked, "Who do you suggest to fight my Arthur?"
She was actually fine with the suggestion for a fight. It is because she had been hoping for it. If Delia hadn't suggested it, she would have.
Lady Delia didn't know this. She smiled as she pointed to a young man beside her and said, "This is Greg. He is at the fifth transformation. Fighting a sixth transformation should be fair, right?"
It should be a fair fight as it will test the truth of Lady Vena's claims. What's more, if Greg defeats Arthur with his body at the fifth transformation, it will further humiliate Lady Vena.
Lady Vena said, "Fair? How old is this boy? He is at least sixteen years old. How fair is it for a sixteen-year-old boy to fight an eight-year-old boy? He is literally twice his age."
Lady Vena kicked up a fuss. She had a point. But it also made her look like she was trying to avoid the battle.
Lady Delia frowned and asked, "Then what do you suggest?"
Lady Vena was quick to reply. She said, "Bring an eight-year-old to fight him. That should be fair."
Everyone was speechless. They didn't know what to say because no eight-year-old can cultivate yet.
Lady Vena looked at their faces and said, "I know that it will be very difficult to bring out an eight-year-old sixth transformation warrior out of the outer court, but surely there has to be one in the inner court?"
No one spoke. Lady Delia was fuming. She didn't show her anger in her body language, but her eyes were cold and stern. It was as if she wanted to bore a hole through Vena with her eyes.
But Lady Vena continued innocently. She asked with surprise, "There is no eight-year-old sixth transformation child in the inner court where the geniuses reside? That's unbelievable."
Then she apologized quickly. "I'm sorry for making that suggestion. I just thought that if my boy can do it, it should be commonplace in the inner court. Now I know that the inner court isn't all that special."