On my way back to the training grounds, I contemplated on the things I had learnt. The new types of Spiritual Roots probably wouldn’t affect me considering their rarity.

  I wanted to slap myself for not asking about how they test character though. Even though I was confident I would pass that… If it was based on my old worlds understanding.

  Alas, worrying only created more problems, the only thing I should focus on for now is expanding knowledge and training, which has always been my plan.

  As it was getting dark and I had already trained today, I made my way back to the training grounds to ask Li Tian about his sister.

  The first and only time I saw her was my first day here, when she was with Li Tian, and she seemed to care about me, or the previous Song Duyi, so it felt odd I hadn’t seen her at all since then.

  When I arrived, Jiao and Li Tian were sparing. They clashed fiercely, although it was obvious that Li Tian was holding back.

  After a few minutes, Jiao couldn’t continue anymore. Observing them was very insightful, the way Li Tian dealt with attacks was almost perfect, minimising energy, whilst having full effect.

  I realised many of my flaws when comparing myself to him. My form needed some work.

  Li Tian grinned and asked me, “Wanna have a go?”.

  “No thanks.” I said dryly. I got closer and asked, “By the way, why haven’t I ever seen your sister here?”.

  “Hm, Xiu? She prefers to train elsewhere. Her personality is… different. She can be quite peculiar. Why though? Wanna go see her with me?”.

  Talking about being peculiar? This battle freak is talking?

  “Yeah, I just realised I hadn’t seen her since the incident is all. When will we go?” I asked. “In a couple minutes, we usually spar at night, it might be good for you to watch.”.

  Now that was surprising, if she spared with him often, she must be good.

  “Sounds good.” I said.

  Ten minutes later, we arrived at a secluded area at the back of the property. There stood a small courtyard that had a beautiful garden.

  We got close to it, before we entered Li Tian spoke, “Stay here, usually her greetings can be intense.”.

  I didn’t really understand but nodded and stayed back.

  Li Tian slowly walked into the courtyard, and to my surprise he had a serious look on his face. He drew his sword silently.

  Not the wooden sword. His real one.

  I wanted to shout and ask what’s going on, but all of a sudden, his arm turned into a blur, then the sound of metal on metal rang out into the night.

  I saw a dagger laying on the ground. What the f-.

  My thoughts were interrupted by a girl appearing in front of Li Tian, with a similar dagger in her hand, swiping towards Li Tian’s neck at blinding speeds.

  Li Tian never panicked. He was swift and powerful, deflecting the stike and counter attacking with a thrust aimed towards her kidneys.

  The girl stepped back, just centimetres out of his reach.

  “Tsk tsk sister, your attacks are becoming more obvious, need another beating?” Li Tian spoke in a chastising tone.

  That’s his sister?!

  I took a second to look at her face, it was the same beautiful one I saw that first day.

  I thought surely something was wrong here, why were they trying to kill each other?

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Li Xiu spoke softly, almost a whisper that I couldn’t hear. “Your words don’t affect me brother, tonight, I will win.”.

  Li Tian just shook his head. “I can’t lose in front of company.”. Li Xiu turned her head to the side questioningly, “Company?”.

  She scanned the surroundings until she noticed me. A look of surprise flashed on her face before she instantly put her daggers behind her back, while staring them at her brother.

  “Why didn’t you tell me Duyi was here?” She said icily. She quickly walked over to me.

  “Hi”, I greeted awkwardly, quite uncomfortable with what just happened, with no explanation of why.

  “Sorry about that, my stupid brother,” she shot him another glare, “didn’t tell me you would be coming.”. she said, as if that made everything make sense.

  Li Tian also walked over, giving a hearty laugh, “Sister, Duyi is shocked because he has never seen you like that!”. Li Xiu turned a deep shade of shade of red.

  “Ugh! We were not serious don’t worry,” she said to me, “we are just intense with our sparing, preferring more realistic scenarios.”

  “I see…” I trailed off. Intense was a bit of an understatement, it looked as if they were really trying to kill each other.

  Most shocking ,almost, was how skilled she was, to be able to go toe to toe with Li Tian was absolutely incredible.

  Li Xiu punched her brother in the arm, “You made him think I’m a brute like you!”, she complained.

  “Ouch!” Li Tian pretended that hurt him, “Brute like me? I’ll have you know I’m a gentle soul!”. Nobody believed him.

  I chuckled, which relived Li Xiu slightly. I turned to her and said, “Don’t worry, I don’t think that. I was just surprised is all. Do you mind if I watch you guys?”.

  She smiled at this and told me, “Of course you can, it will give me some motivation to beat this guy”, she pointed at Li Tian.

  Li Tian had a look of sorrow etched on his face, “You poor thing… You really think you can beat me, let’s get your mind checked out after this, okay?”.

  Li Xiu wasn’t impressed, although I had to hide a smile as to not get caught in the crossfire.

  “I’ll be over there,” I said and pointed back a to a spot near a tree, “good luck to you both.”

  “Thank you.” They both said as they each faced off against each other, with sharp weapons drawn.

  Li Xiu kept glancing at me, maybe worried my view of her was different to what she wanted.

  Li Tian spoke up, “You know, it’s not a bad thing, your twisted personality. You shouldn’t hide it so much.”.

  He got no response.

  “Then I’ll start.” Li Tian said with a grin.

  I had never seen him actually start an attack; my palms were sweating a little just watching them use real weapons.

  Li Tian slowly stepped forwards, once, twice, then, he simply disappeared from my view. He appeared right behind Li Xiu, striking at her neck with what looked like murderous intent.

  Just before the sword had the chance to take her head off, Li Xiu ducked deep while sweeping her leg out, hoping to take away her brother’s balance.

  She succeeded.

  Li Tian’s legs suddenly had no ground to stand on and he started to fall.

  As he was on the way down to the ground, with nowhere to dodge, Li Xiu gripped her dagger and stabbed down towards his heart.

  It looked grim for Li Tian, there was nowhere he could go.

  Sometimes I forget though. It’s Li Tian.

  He stabbed his sword deep into the ground, manoeuvring to put his feet on the handle, and jumped high into the sky, just like a cat.

  His figure briefly covered the moon and took away some of the light the night sky gave me.

  As he fell down, he aimed a devastating kick towards his sister, with his full weight behind it, and I’m sure with a healthy dose of Qi.

  I noticed Li Xiu’s facial expression; on her beautiful face a massive grin was plastered onto it. She looked to be really enjoying the fight.

  She raised her arms to her head, deciding to take the attack head on.

  Li Tians Leg connected with her arms and the ground parted beneath Li Xiu’s feet as she got sent back.

  She survived, but with a trickle of blood coming down from her nose.

  “Done already?” Li Tian asked dryly.

  Li Xiu closed her eyes, breathing deeply. She stuck out her tongue to lick the blood coming from her.

  When she opened her eyes again, there was something in her eyes that scared me. She looked crazy, the big grin spread across her face once again.

  “Of course not.” She stated coldly, the grin staying on her face.

  These two people were not normal.

  Li Tian had never shown such prowess before, I knew he was strong, but this? This was another level to before. And Li Xiu was keeping up with it.

  Li Tian took the sword from the ground, wiping dirt from its surface. “Let’s stop with the boring stuff then.” He stated.

  Boring??

  “Fine.” His sister replied.

  The rest of the fight was a blur. I couldn’t follow it at all, I saw brief moments when they were struggling with their blades against each other’s, but other than that it was way too fast.

  At brief moments I was sure Li Tian would lose out, I couldn’t see the moves, but every time he managed come out on top.

  Only minutes after, Li Tian held Li Xiu up by her neck, his blade to her throat.

  “Dead.” He stated. Just like how he did to me, just at a completely different level

  Ranked gameplay huh?

  They were so brutal with each other, it was hard to watch, but somehow, they never cut deep. Only surface level wounds that would heal easily, especially with the pills they had here.

  Their control was outstanding.

  He let her go, sheathing his sword in style. Li Xiu bent down and spat out some blood, “Quite harsh of you brother.” She said.

  Li Tian cocked his head back, looking surprised, “Harsh? Sister, I remember last week you-“ he was cut off by her glare as she looked back and fourth between her brother and me, as if to warn him from carrying on that sentence in front of me.

  “Ahem, yes, my apologies my darling sister. It won’t happen again.” He quickly corrected himself. “It’s okay.” she said back sweetly.

  What a weird family.