Sun Fuyu sucked in a sharp breath of cool air. Qi under his feet let him jump high into the air, narrowly dodging the attack. The edges of his robes singed as the fire dragon missed him.

His opponent twisted around. He slashed up, the dragon coiling out like a whip.

Sun Fuyu activated four talismans in quick succession: two to produce water for a shower, and another two to cool water to ice. His sword’s wind twisted itself with the ice-cold water like a rope and slapped his opponent’s sword. The ice-cold water immediately became steam—and it was all still under Sun Fuyu’s control.

Sun Fuyu breathed in deeply, pulling away the ambient qi from his opponent and into himself. A targeted calmness spread out. The flames weakened as the qi was channelled into his own wind. A tornado spun, pulling in water and fire.

Sun Fuyu smashed the tornado into the other side of the battle stage, roughly breaking his opponent’s connection with the fire. The other’s brief moment of shock was enough.

CLASH! 

The heavy winds coupled with clashing blade-against-blade threw his opponent off-balance.

Sun Fuyu drew his sword back, all his qi collecting in his muscles. With speed faster than sound, his blade swung forward once more. A sonic boom rocked the stage, with the wind-pressure directly throwing his opponent out of the ring.

Sun Fuyu sucked in a shaky breath, his sword arm suddenly heavy.

“...And the winner is Cultivator Sun Fuyu of the Golden Sun Sect!!!” the referee announced.

Claps and cheers filled the air. Sun Fuyu straightened his back and raised his head.

“Heavens! That Sun Fuyu really won! That banner was correct!”

“Is there some enchantment on those banners? Or is this Sun Fuyu a hidden tiger?”

“Hmpf, you! Make a banner for me too! No, in fact, make five! I must have more than this Sun Fuyu! Don’t forget to cheer for me!”

“....(cough) Yes, da-shixiong¹eldest senior brother!”

“Little Uncle won! Little Uncle is so amazing!!!”

“Xiao Yu is very awesome.”

Sun Fuyu sheathed his sword and looked towards Wen-ge and the others.

The children and Wen-ge were waving at him. Sun Fuyu waved back. After he thanked the referee and his opponent for the battle, Sun Fuyu quickly left the battle stage. At that point, Wen-ge and the others were no longer sitting among the audience: they were waiting for Sun Fuyu outside the tournament entrance.

According to the giant display board, Sun Fuyu’s next fight would be tomorrow: now, it was time to head back.

Energy flowed into Sun Fuyu upon seeing Wen-ge. “Wen-ge, Wen-ge, did you see—”

Wen Zhihao grabbed Sun Fuyu’s hands. “Xiao Yu was so amazing and handsome!” he praised.

Sun Fuyu lowered his gaze shyly. “Mm.”

“Slash slash!” Ruan Lanxi jumped up and down, her face bright with excitement. “Little Uncle did this, and the other did that—” She made slashing motions with her arms.

Wen Zhihao was sure she would crash with exhaustion an hour later. With that in mind, Wen Zhihao let go of one of Sun Fuyu’s hands and took out the flying cart. The children knew the drill: they climbed in orderly.

“Xiao Yu, you get into the cart too,” Wen Zhihao urged.

Sun Fuyu shook his head stubbornly.

Wen Zhihao poked Sun Fuyu’s arm. “Look how soft your muscles are. Xiao Yu has worked hard. After a big battle, you deserve a rest. Unless you want me to carry you directly, ba?”

Heat flared to Sun Fuyu’s face. He did! He wanted to be carried directly! But Sun Fuyu’s skin was too thin for such a manoeuvre, so he obediently climbed into the flying cart with the children.

…In the end, Wen Zhihao was right. In the soft, gently moving flying cart and bathed in Wen Zhihao’s aura, Sun Fuyu’s eyes lowered until they closed in a light sleep. Wen Zhihao reached out once or twice to gently brush back some wayward hair from Sun Fuyu’s face.

When they reached their temporary place, Sun Fuyu woke up again, eyes a little moist from sleep. The qi he had gathered during the short travel was enough to sustain him for the rest of the sedentary evening, but Sun Fuyu felt better when he was able to lie down in their bed at night. He had truly expended too much qi in his last move.

Wen Zhihao kissed Sun Fuyu on the forehead. “Mn, go to sleep and recover, okay?”

“En,” Sun Fuyu’s brows tightened weakly in determination as he battled the sudden sleepiness in his limbs. “Wen-ge—”

Wen Zhihao stroked Sun Fuyu’s hair. “Shhh, sleep. Xiao Yu was very powerful today. Rest, and be powerful tomorrow too.”

Their breaths naturally synchronised, and Sun Fuyu fell asleep as fast as Wen Zhihao.

The scenery the next day was very different from the first. Multiple eye-catching banners waved around the stadium seating area, some with vigorous words, others with beautiful ones. Names of famous and not-so-famous cultivators caught numerous eyes.

“Hehehe, our banner is better than the rest!”

“Hmm, if everyone else is doing it…”

“I heard that there is a new stall down at the marketplace selling banners!”

“AH!!! Cultivator Ouyang Yue is my goddess too!!! Martial sisters, save my seat, I must also make a banner!”

Crafting cultivator Li Fanghua stared at the happenings with a deadpan expression.

I hope this cultivator celebrity fan culture doesn’t get out of hand, she muttered in her heart. It was hard enough dealing with other dog blood plots. Ultimately, she decided to pretend not to see it, and instead focused on Stage 9 where her girlfriend, Hu Lingzhi, was fighting.

At the moment, her girlfriend’s opponent was stunned silly as Hu Lingzhi pulled out her tenth...fifteenth...twenty-fifth sword, each of them under control and chasing the opponent around. When one sword was parried away, another came in the opposite direction. Finally, her girlfriend stopped messing around and pulled out two swords almost as large as herself and utterly defeated her opponent.

(The swords weren’t overly big: rather, Hu Lingzhi was small and adorably cute-sized, not that Li Fanghua would ever say that out loud.)

Now that Hu Lingzhi had won, Li Fanghua took out her qi-phone and sent a text to Hu Lingzhi to meet outside the stadium. She walked around the banner-waving cultivators and headed out.

As Li Fanghua was waiting for Hu Lingzhi, she saw a flying cart in the distance. Her brain started to whirr: a hover car? Hm, and no obnoxious fumes either! If it were me, I would add a roof, safety lights…

But then Li Fanghua shoved the thoughts at the end of her very long list of things-that-would-be-cool-to-make when she spotted Hu Lingzhi walking out.

Hu Lingzhi grinned, her bright blue eyes shining. “Did you see the look on his face?” She laughed happily. “HuaHua, let’s go buy some more swords! I think I spotted someone from the Shifting Sands Sect, I don’t have a sword from them yet!”

Li Fanghua hummed, letting her girlfriend talk as they strolled together to the marketplace.

Ah, it seems that Wen Zhihao and Li Fanghua just missed each other! 🤭