Book 2 Chapter 67 – Family Secrets

This exhibition match was far more frustrating for Li Xiangyin than she was expecting.

When she had heard that her opponent was going to be a relative nobody, she’d expected the fight to be over fairly quickly. Even if he was supposedly apprenticed to a Master Wanderer, and being trained by an old rising star of House Herrera it shouldn’t compare to the training and resources she’d received.

So why couldn’t she land a hit on him?

His grey-green eyes seemed to be unfocused and not looking at anything in particular, yet anytime she tried to launch a surprise attack he’d block it with seeming ease no matter the direction it came from. Even simultaneous attacks from her and Man Yue didn’t accomplish anything. The boy would simply use his shield to block one and a technique to deflect the other, always shifting his footing in ways that were most optimal to take the hit.

She figured out fairly quickly that he had been telling the truth when he said his spirit was already out, but whatever it was seemed to be fairly weak and hiding in his shield. Either that or it was a fairly young shield tool spirit, but even House Herrera wouldn’t risk a newborn tool spirit for a match such as this.

Whatever he was doing whenever his skin turned into a mesmerizing mirror confused her as well. She swore that whenever he did so she felt a flicker of something. Whatever it was felt powerful, far more powerful and complex than the spirit her opponent was fighting with. She didn’t notice it the first time due to the distraction of seeing her brother’s face reflected back at her, but every subsequent time it became more and more noticeable to her senses.

Meaning the boy almost definitely had another spirit bound to him.

Which made his forfeit all the more baffling to her. He had to be hiding his strength for reasons unknown to her, or been forced to concede in order to make her family not lose any face. It was the only explanation that made sense to her, despite his claims of running low on qi.

The effortless smile on his face and lack of exertion in his demeanor as he forfeited was just salt being rubbed into the wound of her failure.

Throughout the speech of that long winded old man she continued to stare at the olive skinned boy, as if by staring at him she could unearth whatever secrets he was hiding. Yet after they bowed to each other one last time, he seemed to act as if she didn’t even exist.

He stuck to his teacher, staring off into the empty air and greeting people that came up to him only as necessary. Though when he did interact with others it was almost like a switch was flipped and he’d give a perfect bow or salute depending on the person seeking his attention.

Yet not once did he come over to any of the Li clan delegation and try to smooth over any friction from the matches ending.

Was she so far beneath his notice?

Her mother was surprisingly calm about the whole situation. Though Li Xiangyin knew that when they were in a more private setting she was likely to be scolded and punished for her performance.

“There’s something off about that child.” Li Xiuzhen stated after staring at the boy for quite some time, surprising Li Xiangyin. She thought that her mother would be focusing on her failure rather than the apparent oddities of her opponent.

“Who’s his master among the Wanderers again?” She asked one of their aides, a young man who understandably refused to meet any of their eyes.

“I believe this one was told that it was Scholar Mu, your eminence.” He replied promptly without emotion.

She nodded and a small smile graced her painted lips. “That would explain why she’s not here despite it being against protocol. I’ve heard tales of how irreverent that one acts towards her betters.”

Li Xiangyin was surprised once more when her mother’s attention shifted back to her.

The smile on her face vanished as Li Xiuzhen addressed her. “Did you notice anything amiss during your fight? The Wanderers don’t normally recruit so young, meaning there’s likely something exceptional about the boy.”

She was about to reply in the affirmative, but a worry prevented her.

Would they steal away that boy like her mother had her father? If she could sense whatever that concept was from as far away as she had then it was almost definitely yin aspected. Meaning her family had a vested interest in making sure that his spirit wound up with them no matter the means.

And she didn’t want that no matter how much his slights had annoyed her.

However, Li Xiangyin’s mother noticed her hesitation. “Well? You must have noticed something if it’s taking you this long.”

She realized there was something else she could highlight instead if she didn’t want to reveal a theoretical yin spirit.

“I think he has exceptional sensory abilities of some kind. When we were fighting it didn’t feel like he was looking at me, yet you saw how smoothly he was able to block all of my attacks.”

Li Xiuzhen’s eyes bore into her daughters before nodding slightly to herself. “I suppose that might be something the Wanderers would value. Though you’d think they would’ve provided him a spirit more suited to such a gift. Curious.”

She said the last bit more to herself rather than directing it at her.

However something else seemed to occur to her as she continued to contemplate the enigmatic child.

“By the way, what did you and the boy discuss in the middle of your match? Such things in conjunction with his eventual forfeit will have people speculating that you threatened him to throw the fight in some way.”

Li Xiangyin froze, but quickly determined that there’d be no use lying about this particular point. Especially since it turned out not to go anywhere useful.

“When he turned metallic I saw a reflection of brother’s face briefly appear. I decided to question him about it.”

Her mother frowned slightly. “Did he use some sort of mental technique on you? Nasty piece of work if that’s the case, and we should have your mind examined for any other signs of tampering as soon as possible.”

She shook her head. “Apparently he met him several years ago when he saved his life. From the perspective of the image I think what I saw was one of his memories reflected on the surface of his skin. How or why his cladding technique has that property I have no idea.”

Her mother’s frown increased in intensity as the two of them watched the boy leave with his teacher.

“Why indeed…”

There was a part of her that was glad her mother was focused more on her opponent than she was on the outcome of the fight, but the intensity of her stare was beginning to worry her.

She was definitely glad that she had kept that boy’s secret safe from her mother, however.

Who knows what Li Xiuzhen would do once she found it out.