Su Nanya stirred, resting her chin on her other palm, her bosom brushing against Yung’s forearms.

"You twist the facts!" The lanky man said, standing up and pointing a finger at Yung as though he could not believe it. "The Lunar Bird Clan are a respected cultivator family with thousands of years of history. How dare you make unfounded claims without evidence!"

"Evidence that man-eating is a Mo cultivation technique, or evidence that the Lunar Bird Duke eats babies? Cause if it's the latter, I can send out all the evidence the Su Fox Clan has gathered over the years to the respected sects seated here and beyond, let's say, to the Multitudinous Athenaeum Valley. Though I suspect some of the cultivators here already know it, yes. They just don't care."

As usual, most cultivators were old with worldly experiences. They could keep poker faces or feign righteous indignation. But their empathic link could not.

"O-Of course. We have not broken any laws.” The lanky man said. “Neither does the duke eat babies. We simply require the yin and yang essence from the newly gestated and—"

"Which kills them, yes." Yung cut the man off, "it isn't illegal by Lunar Bird Dukedom laws, but that's because it's an unwashed village of cannibals. How the 'civilized' people of the Dawn Dragon throne allow and even encourage such practices, I'll never know. And we're supposed to be the savages, heh."

The lanky man stood up, bristling like a cactus. He followed the example of the rest of the Dawn Dragon Throne and marched out in a rage on his flying sword.

"Any more questions?" Yung asked, feeling tired.

About a fifth of the amphitheatre had been emptied. The four that remained of the big five and all other organizations shook their heads. The old minister from the Westmoon royal family had a fearful look in his eyes and clothes damp with sweat.

After all, the Dawn Dragon throne had publicly announced to cut ties with the Westmoon kingdom.

Yung touched the bangle he wore on his arm. It wasn't the one he got from the auction house, but one given to him by Nanya. He didn't fear war or assassination. Yung read the last line of the text message Nanya had sent. It was actually the last five lines, but there was a bug in the token that resent her message four more times.

<No servant of ours shall be shamed upon our presence. Come, we shall back you.>

She's like a wife, a sister, and a mother packed into one. Even if her child was the one to bully other people's kids, she'd unconditionally take their side. Yung didn't know how to feel about that other than horny, which took some of his dread and fatigue away. Yung knew what this was called. ‘Face-slapping,’ as trope-ified by the Xianxia novels.

It did not feel as cathartic to do as it was to read. Words had been spoken, feelings were not spared, but at least the snot-nosed brat was giggling from one ear to the other, and his parents had unconcealed joy in their eyes.

That's all there was to it.

The murmurs returned, and Yung relaxed into his seat on the palanquin. Whatever the scandal at the start, the sect recruitments must go on.

"Youjin Chun, come forward." A member of the Twilight blood palace would be hosting the tests today, operating the testing sphere. The man was also an away elder of the Youjin clan. He called for the Youjin heiress with an expectant voice.

About half an hour after the Dawn dragon throne and their affiliate organizations had left, phase one of the much-awaited quinquennial sect recruitments finally started.

Youjin Chun stood up without a hint of nervousness on her face. She calmly walked down the amphitheatre steps and rose onto the pedestal.

Her fingers touched the testing sphere, which glowed with a Dim gold light. The whole scene was cast upon the mirror in the sky for all to see. A number appeared inside the sphere, the same way Nyanya’s did all those days ago.

"Bone age sixteen. Dim gold foxmoth physique, xiantian. Gold, darkness, and sword triple lingqi affinities with sword and gold houtian minor, and darkness major at the xiantian grade."

There was a split second of disappointment on Youjin Chun's face despite the impressed murmurs from the crowd. Xiantian physique meant she could reach that realm in yuanqi cultivation if she trained hard enough. Same for the lingqi affinity.

Su Nanya raised her left eyebrow in a peculiar way and licked her lips like candy.

Oh no, she’s impressed. Yung did not like Youjin Chun, and he didn’t want his girlfriend to be impressed with someone he did not like.

But the vixen simply glared at him, then signalled the Twilight blood palace elder, who offered the heiress an invitation. Two more came from the Selenosilver Valley and the Malignant moon sword sect. The young man sitting beside Han Xinglou had his eyes pinned upon Youjin Chun's frame, and Yung guessed this guy was the wife-stealer Duan Louheng.

The strange feeling that Yung himself was the third party in Su Nanya's affair returned, and he immediately started feeling a kinship with the dude in that strange, self-denying, punch-a-bro-in-the-face kind of way.

“Kii!”

Shut up Silky!

"Can I decide after all the candidates have tested?" Youjin Chun asked and got an affirmative reply from all sides.

After her, the eight other Youjin clan members stepped forward one by one. They all had the Dim gold foxmoth physique, though none at the xiantian level. Their affinities were mostly gold and darkness, with either sword, thread, and other manners of weapons as the third.

In his vision, Yung looked at the communicator screen; part of the border had folded upon itself, and now he couldn't press the 'x' icon at the top right. He stopped feeding xinqi into the token strapped to his wrist. He had fashioned it like a wristwatch so that the bottom of the token would constantly touch his skin.

Something soft poked his shoulder, and he saw Nanya's dainty fingers retreat with a frown. She wore a Su similar 'watch,' and her pout told Yung she was displeased.

Yung started up the communicator again, and the wonky screen returned. The previous messages had all been erased. It seems like the bug in the storage array was not fixed.

Yung sighed, typing on the ‘keyboard.’ <What is it? I had to restart the token.>

Su Nanya snarled, then sat back into her royal seat, retyping her message

<We are surprised.>

<Why?>

<Servant dearest, we had hoped you would employ your glib tongue to defeat the daughter of incest with wits. Yet you merely regurgitated unto her unfair visage our own words verbatim, without adding your own ingenious touch.

<Uhh, I did say I might disappoint you.> Yung felt weird. Su Nanya was using suggestive words again, and that meant she really was mad.

<We reject such a lack of confidence. Where are the liquid admonishments with your lips? Where are the silver slivers of your mouth?> The vixen sulked.

Yung looked at her, then replied, <You want me to kiss her?>

Su Nanya rose up and slapped Yung with a crisp sound that seemed to echo forever, then sat back down. Yung held his cheek.

The venue fell into an uncomfortable pin-drop silence for the third time that day.

"Who allowed you to stop?!" Su Nanya hissed at the announcer.

The elder stuttered the next Youjin candidate’s name.

<You slapped me!> Yung typed. <I was joking.>

<You shall not joke. How was our palm?>

<The slap was too fast. Can you do it again?> Yung had an innocent look. Su Nanya hid her face behind her tail, but Yung could see she was giggling. No wonder the slap felt ecstatic.

<Answer our question, boy.> She said.

<A-A sweet kiss or a dirty slap, it doesn't matter. I simply love it when you touch me!> Yung said, spouting that one-liner from a certain movie at Su Nanya's red-blushing face.

<H-How talented indeed. Yet you failed to use your guile on that slave woman.>

<Haha, well… If I try to be witty, I might make mistakes, and they might use that as a weapon against me. If I only speak the truth, though, and give the facts straight, then the best they can do is deny it. After all, they are weaker than the Su Fox Clan, and the weak cannot twist the truth into falsehood.> As he said that, Yung felt a sense of unease, like he had chosen to commit a minor evil 'for the greater good.' He hated that phrase.

<To their own detriment, such small-minded these bumpkins are.> The vixen chatted back.

<I know, right? Besides, with the truth, I can speak less and only speak provable facts. With clever comebacks and smart oratory manipulations, I will probably speak myself into trouble.>

<Dare you use oratory manipulation on a maiden other than us! We shall have you castrated, you crass defiler of words!>

<Y-You slapped me for nothing. You actually knew I was joking. You, Thank you!>

<You shall not be unreasonable.>

<Ahem, yes. Because you can't reason with someone unreasonable, like that Ducal Bastard. The best way forward is not to play their games at all.>

<We suppose.> Su Nanya frowned. There was a bug. Her message had been transmitted three times. After a few more seconds, she wrote, <Most would think twice about offending someone so much powerful though.>

<You said you would protect me! No take-backs.>

<And we shall. Even if the heavens and all other powers in the plane wish to harm someone under the Su fox clan's protection, they shall have to pay the ultimate price. After all, the delighted dreams and victorious visages on your dirty barbarian kinsmen are truly a sight to see, such safe you have made them feel. Oh beloved servant, your acts of today pleases us superbly, for your words were for your people, and they were nobler than the fake aristocracy of these villages. Be proud, and be fearless, and we shall see to it that you are rewarded.>

<Wow! This is the first time you praised me so directly. So cool!>

<Indeed we are.>

<Aww, your blushing shy face is so damn cute I want to eat it up. I love you.>

<Eeeeeeek!>

Su Nanya lowered her head with eyes closed, her fox ears pressing down against her human ones.

The last Youjin candidate walked over with steady steps. She tripped because her eyes were on Yung and Su Nanya. The little girl blushed, then jumped up with a shy giggle. She touched the testing sphere.

"Youjin Cailan, bone age fifteen. Dim gold ottermoth physique, houtian. Gold, darkness, and river houtian affinities with river major."

***

There was talking among the elders of the Selenosilver Valley, Twilight Blood Palace, and Victorious Tide Island. Youjin Liu's opinion was asked, and after a short minute of sound transmission politics, the Victorious Tide Island extended a direct invitation to the girl. Everyone had satisfied smiles on their faces, especially Youjin Liu, with the newest connection his clan had made.

So far, none of the Youjin kin had hybrid physiques or mixed affinities. It was a good start.

Now it was finally time for the general public.

Chao believed he would pass. He had to! Cultivation base was not a requirement for the test, and as for talent, his mother clan had tested it ages ago. It was not even a competition. It wasn't; it should not have been. But Chao could not calm his heart. His eyes were piercing straight at a particular point in the amphitheatre.

"Xiu Jiujiu, come forward." After the Youjin clan members finished their testing, the host called the first girl in line for the general public. The funny name got a round of laughter, but Chao's mind wasn't there.

It was on Ziyou Yung and Su Nanya. They were both making weird gestures in the air from time to time. Chao's heartbeat had risen when the vixen had slapped the boy, then it fell when she caressed him with her tail.

First, he thought that Brother Yung had offended Fairy Su somehow. But now…

They are flirting! Youjin Chao's eyes turned bloodshot. But he reined in his anger and decided to concentrate on the here and now. The test, the test...

Chao clenched his fists tight so hard they turned red. He could not keep the rage down. That was his yin! His!

“Bastard…” He heard Ziyou Ling’s curse from behind, and the rage left him like a popped balloon, and all that was left was shame. He did not have the face to turn around.

Sorry for the Delay. I moved to Finland!

But no, the choice had been made. Chao would leave; she would stay, even if he had not articulated it yet. If he had to move out of the madlander settlement for it and cut ties with her kin, then so be it.

The waitmaiden of the Dim Gold Hotel climbed the podium steps like a shy rabbit.

Chao concentrated on her and tried his best to not look up at the amphitheatre. Yes, it would all be okay soon enough. He’d show them. He, the cripple, will show them true talent. He’d show them all!

Just like he had when he was but five years old at his mother's clan.

…yet, he was not a cripple then, with his three dantians thoroughly shattered. He knew the testing artefact worked by sending a tiny current of qi into the renyao, from the sphere to the bones to the dantians to the sea of consciousness where the qi would excite the innate zhenqi.

And I have no zhenqi… The nervousness returned in full force, and he instinctively looked away from the podium. And his gaze landed right on Su Nanya gluing herself to Yung's arms.

You are not helping, Brother Yung!

He once more tried his absolute hardest not to look at the Twilight Blood Palace, but his wandering eyes caught someone just as hateful.