In the secluded yard of his manor in the Inner Sect, the Third Prince, Zhao Shun, was seated in sedentary Cultivation.

  After a moment of quiet, he clicked his tongue in frustration, momentarily revealing a manner unbefitting of his otherwise mild and scholarly appearance. “I cannot calm myself…!”

  Standing, Zhao Shun tensed himself, a vigorous surge of Qi flowing from his body as if to assure himself. “There will be time to refine my Cultivation later! I’ve prepared for this moment for years now, I’m plenty strong enough for this!”

  Immediately sensing the pressure from afar, Ren Liwei quickly found his way to the yard, looking over Zhao Shun with eyes that seemed less haggard than usual. “Is everything alright?”

  Zhao Shun scoffed and reclaimed his quietly dignified manner. “Of course. In fact, I’ve already finished my preparations in the royal palace. All that remains now is to wait for an auspicious day.”

  Ren Liwei’s eyes lit up with surprise, followed by anticipation. “So soon?”

  Zhao Shun chose his words carefully before responding. “There should come an appropriate time… next month, I'd think. Until then, I have to clean up any loose ends. Tell me, what have you found with regards to Sun Huan and the commoner girl?”

  “Sun Huan seems willing to offer his support, I doubt he has much care for anything besides testing his own strength.” Ren Liwei’s eyes narrowed as he thought of Jun Li. “As for Jun Li… I’ve seen her sparring with your sister these past few days.”

  The thought of Zhao Shun bringing someone of common birth into his faction caused Ren Liwei no small amount of grief, but viewing the Third Prince as his superior, he didn’t bother complaining.

  Remembering his sister, Zhao Shun laughed. “First, she overstepped by breaking through to the Crimson Palace stage, and now she’s making connections with promising talents?” Zhao Shun was well aware that his sister had talent in Cultivation exceeding that of most, and that her remaining at the Qi Condensation stage was a way of tactfully remaining out of the competition for the throne.

  Yet for Zhao Xiaoli to now suddenly begin Cultivating in earnest, while gathering allies of her own, Zhao Shun felt he could not turn a blind eye. “So be it then, I’ll deal with her if she has the nerve to get in my way.”

  'And it seems I won't have the opportunity to obtain that Jun Li girl…' Crossing his arms behind his back, Zhao Shun looked towards Ren Liwei. “Before anything else, I’d have you find a way to prevent the commoner girl from moving to support my sister. The method doesn’t matter. I trust it should be no issue for you?”

  Ren Liwei was truly overjoyed to hear Zhao Shun discard the idea of recruiting Jun Li. With a burgeoning thrill in his heart, he gave a respectful bow to Zhao Shun. “I’ll have it done, sir!”

  Holding back a smile, Ren Liwei thought of just how he would dispose of Jun Li. Although Ren Liwei respected the authority of the Glass Cloud Sect and its rules, the commands of the prince held far greater weight to him, more than enough for him to internally reconcile breaking a rule or two.

  ‘If all I have to do is prevent her from coming to the princess’s aid, then I’m more than happy to make sure she ends up dead!’

  … … … … … …

  On the Inner Sect's sparring stage, Jun Li and Zhao Xiaoli stood opposed to one another, spaced over five meters apart. Jun Li softly held a long sword at her side, and although she seemed at ease, her posture was carefully controlled to align with the principles of the Drifting Ghost Blade.

  Zhao Xiaoli was much the same. Yet her stance, which held her right sleeve out of view, seemed more peculiar than Jun Li’s.

  Breaking the stillness in an instant, Jun Li swiped her sword in a wide, slow arc as her feet quickly carried her forward, closing the distance to Zhao Xiaoli.

  Zhao Xiaoli did not flinch, having watched Jun Li’s skills progress day after day, even to the point of simultaneously executing both Martial Art and Movement Technique with little effort.

  Shifting away, Zhao Xiaoli raised her sleeve, a short sword almost invisibly lashing out against Jun Li’s sword, gently diverting its course.

  Following the force of Zhao Xiaoli’s strike, Jun Li’s sword drifted through the air, slowly accelerating as it smoothly twisted back towards Zhao Xiaoli, undeterred.

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  Each time it was deflected or evaded, Jun Li’s sword would increase in speed, until eventually her manner of fighting transformed into an endless loop of strikes, each swipe of the sword bearing no discernible beginning or end.

  Even faced with this flowing deluge of slashes, Zhao Xiaoli hadn’t allowed Jun Li’s sword to so much as touch the hem of her robe.

  Although Zhao Xiaoli’s swordsmanship was fast and precise, she still found herself reaching the limits of what she could defend against.

  Luckily, the speed of Jun Li’s attacks seemed to plateau at that very edge of her capability. ‘Honestly… being able to push me like this within weeks of her having picked up a sword…’

  Zhao Xiaoli couldn’t help but feel wronged by the difference in their speeds of improvement, thinking of how much time she had put into learning her family’s sword techniques as a child.

  Even so, she had enough confidence not to lose to Jun Li completely. Focusing her attention, Zhao Xiaoli sought out a moment of weakness to exploit, maintaining utmost focus in the face of Jun Li’s relentless attacks.

  From Jun Li’s perspective, however, the deciding factor of a battle wasn’t found in weak points or openings, but instead in the decisiveness and devotion of one’s attack. To Jun Li, the traits and habits of an opponent didn’t matter nearly as much as her own momentum.

  And as her physical and psychological momentum reached its peak, Jun Li moved on impulse, executing a technique she had never attempted in a sparring match. ‘Drifting Ghost Blade – Inverting Flow...’ The flow of Qi in Jun Li’s body shifted, a pale stream of Qi flowing along her sword as it continued its looping strikes, invisibly changed.

  The moment Zhao Xiaoli’s sword next clashed against it, however, Jun Li’s blade stopped in place, as though all the momentum it had built was never there.

  Instead, Jun Li’s own body had inherited the momentum of the sword, her entire body swinging in an arc around the sword’s handle in the blink of an eye, landing at Zhao Xiaoli’s flank.

  At the end of the uncanny movement, Jun Li’s body fixed in place as momentum was returned to the sword once more, flashing in an arc around Jun Li’s body like a bladed satellite, and towards Zhao Xiaoli at a speed that made it seem as if it had never stopped.

  Before Zhao Xiaoli was able to respond to Jun Li’s movement, the blade was already placed at the back of her neck.

  In the space of a second, Zhao Xiaoli had gone from adequately defending herself to having lost her spar against Jun Li for the very first time.

  Feeling a rush of complicated emotions, Zhao Xiaoli let out a sigh and threw up her hands. “It's your win.”

  The moment Zhao Xiaoli declared her surrender, Jun Li dropped her sword and sprawled out on her back with a groan, her blank expression giving way to pain and joy.

  “Ahh… doing that technique so quickly hurt…” Holding her cramping sword arm with discomfort, Jun Li beamed with elation. “But it worked, so it was worth it!”

  Zhao Xiaoli couldn’t help but smile. Seeing Jun Li’s joy made it hard to hold onto any real grief over her defeat, even if it was faster than she would have liked. “Honestly… you’re just too talented.”

  Hearing Zhao Xiaoli’s words, Jun Li felt a bit odd. “Talented, huh?” To Jun Li, her only talent before now would be in alchemy, and that felt more like cheating to her, considering the sheer quantity of esoteric alchemical knowledge in her inherited memories, and what a remarkable master she had been learning from.

  By extension, the same could be said about the speed of her Cultivation. Even if her inherited memories could only help in limited ways with regards to Cultivation, it was still enough to obfuscate whatever inherent talent she may have had.

  But in matters of combat and swordsmanship, she had next to no external help at all.

  Jun Li sat up and looked towards Zhao Xiaoli. “Hey… what do you think talent is? People throw the word around a lot, but isn’t it pretty vague?”

  Zhao Xiaoli thought with some interest for a moment, curious as to what deeper feelings might have brought her friend to ask such a question. “…I suppose talent isn’t really a tangible thing, is it? It’s all about results, and how quickly you can achieve them.”

  Seeing Jun Li’s steady and expectant gaze, Zhao Xiaoli continued. “Let’s assume three people Cultivate and reach the Crimson Palace stage at a young age, one of them having a natural affinity for Cultivation, one of them being hard-working, and one having exceptional amounts of resources at their disposal.”

  “At the end of the day, any normal person looking at them would see three outstanding talents, regardless of how they actually reached their level.” Hearing Zhao Xiaoli’s scenario, Jun Li thought of her inherited memories.

  In effect, the moment she decided to take advantage of those memories, they had already become part of her ‘talent.’

  In the same way, her discipleship under Zhu Enlai, and the innate comfort she felt in combat were also parts of her ‘talent.’

  After a moment of thought, Jun Li stood up and grabbed her dropped sword. “I suppose if I have any ‘talent,’ then there’s no excuse not to take advantage, right?”

  Seeing Jun Li’s intent to continue sparring, Zhao Xiaoli couldn’t help but laugh. “What happened to having hurt yourself with that technique?” Jun Li grinned at the question. “I can still swing my sword as long as I don’t bend my elbow!”

  Realizing Jun Li wouldn’t be letting her rest even for a moment after her first defeat, Zhao Xiaoli wasn’t sure how to feel.

  Hiding her right sleeve from Jun Li’s vision, Zhao Xiaoli slipped back into the stance of her Sword Technique with a smile. “I won’t go easy on you even if you’re injured, so please call it quits when you reach your limit!”