For the first time in her two lives, Mu RongXue woke up at dawn like the original goods did. She combed her hair, taking care in arranging her silver hairpieces, and put on a fitted, long-sleeved, pure white robe embroidered with thin golden thread. Surprisingly, she shared a similar taste with the original villainess, and would've worn her preferred light blue robes but today she was to represent her peak. How could she not wear the peak's colors? After securing a gold sash around her waist, she tied her spatial bag to the sash tightly and placed Bing Wu snugly in its holder.
After taking a deep breath, she head out of her room. Since reaching Nascent Soul, she has been able to use light arts (1) which essentially allowed her to freely step on air. Since Qin Tang strictly forbade flying using weapons unless an emergency, light arts were the fastest way to travel.
The competition was set to begin in early morning, so Mu RongXue decided to visit her shifu at dawn. Honestly, Mu RongXue wouldn't be surprised if she were not welcome so early, if anyone had visited Winter Pavilion at this godforsaken hour sometime before six, she might've thrown a fit. However, as she arrived, she realized that, not only was Mu YangXi up, it looked like he had been meditating for a while.
Mu RongXue descended quietly taking a seat on a marble stool in the garden designated for her, carful not to disturb her shifu.
Mu YangXi said opening his eyes with a warm smile.
"Xue-er, you're here."
"En, this disciple has come to greet shifu and accompany him to the Qin Tang Competition." Mu RongXue answered bowing. She looked up to her adoptive father. Ah, cultivators in this world are so good looking! It was soothing to visit such a warm person in the morning!
"I see you've reached Nascent Soul, that's... very impressive," Mu YangXi said standing up, "I'm looking forward to your performance this year." He did not overly praise her achievement nor did he put it down, it left a very satisfied feeling in Mu RongXue's chest.
"This disciple will try her best to obtain honor at the competition."
Mu YangXi walked over and patted her daughter's head with the same warm smile he always wore, "I know you will, but it's okay if you don't win. You are still young, there's no need to push yourself."
Mu RongXue smiled confidently at him and nodded. It was only around him that even the original Mu RongXue could show her emotions freely.
Mu YangXi's heart warmed at her expression, "Try not to get hurt. Where else would I find such an adorable daughter?" His eyes softened as he lightly pinched her cheek and patted her head a few more times before leading the way towards the competition grounds, Mu RongXue following close behind.
The Qing Tang Peak competition was held in a semi public area below the mountain of the actual entrance to Qing Tang. The competition between peaks was an important, not only for scouting new talents, but also as a display of power to the people. Citizens, from royalty to peasants, from all surrounding cities were allowed to attend. Many citizens saw this event as a sort of insurance that the people who vowed to protect them were actually strong enough to do so.
There was already a huge crowd of people surrounding the huge stone stage that was about about twelve meters long and twice as wide. There were viewing areas in the crowd sectioned off and separated for the disciples of each peak and small areas for nobility. Overseeing the whole arena were balcony seats for each sect master while their chosen disciple were to stand behind them. Qing Tang was comprised of four peaks, other than Mei Hua Peak, there was also Ke Mo Peak, Bai Jian Peak, and Meng Yu Peak.
They weren't really touched on in the book and the original villainess didn't interact with many due to her lofty temperament so Mu RongXue had really no clue who most of the other peak masters or their disciples were. Let's not get started on knowing their personalities, she could barely even remember their names!
Mu RongXue sighed internally, "QiQi was no help either since they weren't mentioned in the plot..." She silently decided to continue ignoring them and feigning apathy to avoid conversation.
Mu YangXi descended directly into the viewing area and took his seat. Mu RongXue quickly did the same and took her place standing behind him. The large crowd around the arena noticed their arrival and began to chatter about. She opened her fan and looked down upon the arena with as much loftiness as she could muster as she tried to cover up her mild stage fight. Very soon, the peak lords arrived, one after another. The first was the peak lord of Bai Jian Peak, Shen BaTian. After him came Luo FeiHong from Ke Mo Peak, and finally Lu XiaWei from Meng Yu Peak.
Mu RongXue offered her formal greetings to each of the peak lords and their disciples before putting up her cold barrier immediately after to avoid conversation. To be fair, the disciples were technically not allowed to have conversations with one another, as it was not polite, but small chatter was naturally overlooked.
"Greetings to Xue-shimei (2), you're still as breathtaking as I last saw you~" The disciple of Ke Mo said giving Mu RongXue a wink. The other male was handsome all right. He had long jet black hair tied above midway with a silver ribbon, his soft black eyes and charming smile seemed to project an aura of familiarity, and the black robes he wore were carefully embroidered with dark red string.
She could barely hold herself back from full-body cringing at the forced closeness. "Heh Heh (3)... So these types of people really do exist in the world..." Mu RongXue thought darkly to herself. She gave the other a mildly irritated glance out of the corner of her eye and looked away without a word.
"Guan HeLan you're too disrespectful," another voice scolded in a stiff manner, the other male was about the same height as Guan HeLan, but had very different features. He had black hair, tied orderly into a bun and secured with a silver crown, and side parted bangs. His dark blue eyes were the same color as his robes, which he wore without a single crease. With such a severe expression, and strict tone, Mu RongXue suddenly felt scared that she was also going to get called out for her decidedly rude behavior.
"Xia ChenChao, you haven't changed at all since I last saw you a year ago. Can't you loosen up? I heard all the shimeis at Bai Jian are scared of you, how will you find a partner like this? Your shixiong is worried about you~" Guan HeLan countered.
The two soon started to bicker with one another, so Mu RongXue decided to tune out of their conversation.
"Xiao Xue, it's been a while, how have you been?" a soft voice asked from her left. Mu RongXue's eyes softened, despite her estrangement towards Ke Mo and Bai Jian, the original shared many childhood memories at Meng Yu with the owner of this voice.
Chen ChiHao was the first disciple of Meng Yu peak. When Mu RongXue was younger, she would often have to visit the peak due to injuries from overexerting herself. There Chen ChiHao would often be the one to treat her. To Mu RongXue, he was like an older brother, soft and caring. Chen ChiHao was actually very good looking, he had fluffy light-cream colored hair put into a loose braid begging him. Mu RongXue always fond of his soft beige eyes and his peaceful temperament. His light grass-green robes reminded her of a pasture and complemented his eyes well.
Mu RongXue closed her fan and turned to face him, bowing politely, "I've been well, how about shixiong?"
"I've also been well. I'm glad I could see you today," Chen ChiHao answered, his voice lighter than the racket around them.
"En," Mu RongXue agreed, opening her fan once again.
Soon after, a horn signaling the beginning of the competition sounded off and the crow grew louder with anticipation. The four top disciples were to make their way down onto the arena. Guan HeLan jumped flamboyantly down from the viewing area, his landing creating a small crater in the rock. The crowd went wild with excitement.
Chen ChiHao and Xia ChenChao looked at each other and sighed exasperatedly as they both made their way onto the arena normally by going down the steps and on to the stone pathway that led to the arena. The cheering continued as people rooted for their own favorite sect, as if this were some sort of concert.
[Mu RongXue: QiQi...]
[QiQi: Yes host? (°▽°) ]
[Mu RongXue: Is there any way for me to conserve my spiritual power? I don't want to waste it before the Event starts...]
[QiQi: Emmmm... Well, Host could show off and intimidate the contestants so you don't have to fight them!]
Hm? That made sense! Was her little system getting smarter?
[QiQi: The How to Save Your Host 101 said "Bluffing is always an easy way out!" right after "Hold onto a big golden thigh (4)" but the only golden thigh is the protagonist and Host is the villainess ya~]
Why was she unable to retort? It seems her little system has found an important handbook and upgraded, so why was she so irritated?
Mu RongXue snapped out of her conversation with her system with a plan. Closing her fan and bowing once to Mu YangXi, she walked to the edge of the viewing platform. The trio, who were standing in the arena for a while now, looked up and wondered what was taking their shimei so long.
Mu RongXue leapt over the stone railing of the platform with as much grace as she could muster.
"No way, she's jumping too?!" Guan HeLan blurted out.
Mu RongXue rolled her eyes thinking to herself, "Don't mistake me, Guan HeLan, I'm not doing this because I'm too lazy to descend the steps like you..."
Mu RongXue's white and gold robes fit her image perfectly as she glided down from the balcony to the arena, stepping on nothing but air. She looked like a goddess descending from the heavens, silver hair accessories glistening in the sunlight, her long black hair swaying in the wind along with her loosely fitted sleeves, trailing behind her in the wind. The crowd was silent in shock as Mu RongXue landed, her feet gently settling down onto the stone.
[QiQi: Congratulations Host! You've obtained +1000 admiration points!]
"I'll... Ask about those later..." Mu RongXue thought as she opened her blue fan once again and help it up to her face as if nothing was amiss. The trio looked at their shimei, with the same dumbfounded expression.
A loud voice suddenly cut through the silence.
"Only twenty and she's already reached Nascent Soul, Qing Tang is truly welcoming the genius of a century!" Shen BaTian bellowed. The crowd, now broken out of their shock, went wild with cheering.
"Xue-shimei... really reached Nascent Soul?" Guan HeLan asked in disbelief as if her mastery in light arts weren't proof enough.
Mu RongXue nodded curtly.
Chen ChiHao smiled warmly, "I always knew my shimei was a genius."
A second horn signaled for the four disciples to get ready into their respective corners of the arena; Mu RongXue, Chen ChiHao, Guan HeLan, and Xia ChenChao facing North, East, South, and West respectively. The competition was basically a free for all, any one in the crowd could challenge any corner of the arena, including disciples from other peaks.
When the set time period ends, whoever remains on the arena is set to challenge each other.
Generally the top disciples are always still standing on the arena when the given time is up, but the crowd is given a chance at challenging to prove how strong they are compared to non-cultivators and cultivators alike.
Of course, the disciples are specifically instructed to hold back so that no one receives any grave injuries.
Mu RongXue, not wanting to be bothered by a thousand challenges from normal people and other disciples, purposely flaunted her power so that very few people would even think of fighting her. She needed to save energy, after all.
The third horn sounded and the battle begun. As expected, not a single disciple was brave enough to challenge Mu RongXue, not only due to fear of her power, but also due to the fear of offending the direct succeeding disciple of the sect master. The northern corner of the arena was unusually quiet.
Mu RongXue, content with this development, levitated herself off the ground using her own qi, sat in lotus position, and started to meditate.
[Mu RongXue: QiQi?]
[QiQi: Yes~?]
[Mu RongXue: What were those points I earned before?]
[QiQi: Oh~ Admiration Points? They are values that can evaluate how popular you are in the eyes of the people around you! Since Mu RongXue was already revered by her fellow disciples she already had 500 Admiration Points, but since you showed off to a crowd, your Admiration Points increased by 1000!]
[Mu RongXue: Can they be used for anything?]
[QiQi: Well, think of it like this: Even if you kill someone, with enough admiration points, people will find a way to convince their selves that what you did is just! But be carful! Admiration Points can also be lost!]
[Mu RongXue: Hmm... Are there any other values like this?]
[QiQi: Yes, but I can only introduce them as you gain the values... I'm sorry host (╥ x ╥)!!!]
[Mu RongXue: It's okay, don't worry.]
About halfway into the given time, a huge man, about three times her size and five times as heavy, wielding a giant morningstar, shouted that he wanted to challenge Mu RongXue.
"Well, I did expect one or two people to show up at some point." she thought as her feet returned to the ground. The crowd, excited to finally see a challenger, all seemed to focus on the north corner with an attitude of schadenfreude.
"As per custom, I will give myself a handicap for normal challengers," Mu RongXue said, snapping her fan close, and facing the man in front of her.
"I will not use my main weapon, instead," she said tauntingly as she pointed her fan at her opponent, "I will only use this fan."
The man bellowed with laughter, "Don't think that just because you're a girl that I'll go easy on you."
Mu RongXue just rolled her eyes and used her fan to beckon him to attack. The crow cheered as the man swung the morningstar at Mu RongXue, the huge ball of spikes being hurled at her at incredible speeds. She effortlessly sidestepped the attack as the weapon lodged itself in the ground. His actions were generic, not well calculated, and mostly powered by brute force.
Each peak had its own specialty and attitude towards cultivation. Ke Mo was free and uninhibited, as long as a technique was powerful, it should be practiced, as a result many of the cultivators at Ke Mo were body strengthening cultivators. Contrarily Bai Jian was about following a strict path with set rules and routine training, it's disciples all practiced the Bai Jian sword arts. Meng Yu specialized in alchemy and pill-making. Disciples of Meng Yu often become merchants or healers. Mei Hua was more diverse and thus excelled in spiritual arts and taming.
The man probably focused on body strengthening arts, similar to Guan HeLan, but he was a bad match up for Mu RongXue who excelled in spells and spiritual arts.
"He probably misunderstood that no one wanted to challenge me out of politeness, and didn't realize my spiritual cultivation level from my light arts..." Mu RongXue thought absentmindedly as she gently deflected the morningstar that the man retrieved and hurled at her once again. The force of the morningstar colliding with the fan Mu RongXue covered with her own spiritual energy, sent the ball of spikes flying to the side and pulling the wielder with it. The other male's eyes grew wilder and less focused as he got more irritated.
The jeering from the crowd was starting to damage his ego. Every time he tried to attack Mu RongXue, she would dodge fluidly, as if she had completely read his actions. If he tried to trip her with the chain, she would simply leap into the air and use the chain as a foothold until he pulled it away. Just when he thought he could get a clean hit in, she would effortlessly deflect the weapon and send him flying backwards a few steps. At this point, he was frothing by the mouth in anger while Mu RongXue stood across from him, fanning herself slowly, her face peacefully emotionless, as if he hadn't been desperately fighting her for the past twenty minuets.
"Girl, all you've been doing is prancing around and deflecting my attacks, can you do anything else?"
Mu RongXue's eyes grew freezing cold as she glared at the other male in contempt, "I've been trying to give you some face as the first person brave enough to face me on this stage, yet you do not admit your weakness and instead disrespect me?" she sneered.
The crowd grew louder with, "The celestial maiden is right!" and "Save some face and get off the stage!"
The male snapped, "You think that you can be so arrogant just because you look like some harlot and know some petty tricks? Don't think the world is that simple, whore!"
The crowd around the north corner was shocked into silence. Even some audience members from adjacent sides who had tuned into the battle were frozen in disbelief. Did this guy not know who he was talking to? The only way he could speak like this is if he didn't know, right?!
The awkward silence that rested on the crowd became heavy with confusion.
"You don't deserve to talk about my dashijie with your filthy mouth!" a familiar voice rang out from amidst Mei Hua peak's disciples.
Mu RongXue, who had been just as shocked at the male's words as the crowd was, was broken out of her thoughts of "Does he seriously not know who I am?" and "Wait is he even a cultivator?". Her eyes swept over the crowd and focused on the owner of the voice.
Yu TianMin was positively seething. Even Li Qiu, who was previously frozen in shock, was now feeling a bit scared of the twelve year old that look like she was going to launch herself onto the stage and beat the challenger to death. How could she calm her shimei down?
Yu TianMin's eyes flashed a dark red and the air around her started to heat up. Her fists were clenched so tight that her knuckles turned white and her teeth were clenched as she started growling with rage.
Yu TianMin was a millisecond from tackling the male when she met Mu RongXue's eyes. Mu RongXue's eyes had been flashing a cold blue with fury before, but dimmed as soon as her gaze settled on her little protagonist. How endearing the little protagonist was, trying to protect her dashijie's dignity. The protagonist is the protagonist, after all, of course she would stand up for someone, even if it's the villainess, if they are being insulted.
Yu TianMin's previous anger dissipated, staring into her dashijie's warm black eyes as the other shook her head minutely to stop her from taking action. She felt uneasy as her heart clenched at this mysterious feeling, and embarrassed when she realized she felt just a bit disappointed when Mu RongXue looked away.
"This has drawn out for too long," Mu RongXue said coldly as she returned her freezing glare onto the male before her. Her eyes flashed blue as she gathered her spiritual energy onto the edge of her fan and sent it out with a wave, pushing the challenger to the edge of the stage in one hit. The man spit blood after taking the hit and fell down to his knees and passed out.
The crowd cheered and roared wildly at the victory, and Mu RongXue motioned with her fan for someone to pick this guy up and bring him down for treatment. A few disciples from Meng Yu Peak got her message and begrudgingly brought him down, as if not willing to treat such a person, making her laugh a bit under her fan.
"Meng Yu disciples are renowned healers, so he'll probably be fine if those kids try hard enough," Mu RongXue thought absentmindedly as she returned to her meditation, "though I don't think they want to save him."
[QiQi: Host! You've gained another 500 Admiration Points!]
"Hmm, maybe these points aren't too hard to come by...?" Mu RongXue thought as she waited for the end of the first round of the competition.
Soon enough, the fourth horn sounded as the last of the challengers descended the stage.
"Wait one moment!" A voice bellowed ominously, carried by the wind. Mu RongXue opened her eyes immediately and tensed up. She quickly grounded herself and watched carefully as a giant hooded figure walked through the crowd and jumped onto the side of the arena, between Mu RongXue and Chen ChiHao. The three disciples looked at each other, confused.
Mu RongXue focused her gaze on the figure's movements, her right hand resting nervously on Bing Wu.
[QiQi: Host! Be on alert! You've entered the first Central Event! Mission: Protect Qing Tang!]
—✿✿✿—
The author has something to say:
Author: Ai ya~ Xiao Xue has entered her first Event~ Will she be okay~?
Mu RongXue: I think I'll be okay if I kill you first.
Author: E-Em... Lady Mu, this can be discussed... P-Please put Bing Wu away!
Footnotes:
(1): Also known as Lightness Skill or "轻功", it is the ability to lighten the body so much that one can glide through air.
(2): Junior sister; referring to fellow disciple
(3): Cold or sarcastic laughter
(4): Having a strong backer or help from high places