"Your mother sounds like a great woman, I would very much like to meet her . " Shen Tianyu said in admiration . Finding such a woman in this kind of oppressive society really wasn't easy . And she had married a man that had let her s.h.i.+ne like this, if only to her family . She'd really like to discuss some things with her .

Rong Jian's eyes sparkled with an unknown emotion, still looking down at Shen Tianyu's legs . "Alright . "

"Hm?"

"I'll bring you to see my family once this stupid tournament is over and you can meet my mother . What do you think?" He finally looked up at her, clenching his fists that had now stopped ma.s.saging her to keep his calm .

"Okay! Let's do that!" Shen Tianyu readily agreed with excitement written all over her face .

They chatted for a while longer, going on with their day as usual . The eunuch should have reported the incident but the two didn't get mixed into any more trouble for the rest of the day .

. . .

"This round of the Goodwill Tournament is to truly display the skills of the younger generation . As everyone knows, the sword is not the only weapon used by cultivators and some are more skilled at it than others . " The Head Minister of Ceremonies started the day with a lavish speech about the Youth Talent Show, as Shen Tianyu has come to call it . All the partic.i.p.ants had come with their own special weapon .

Of course, Shen Tianyu brought a long whip . It looked like a regular whip but was actually made with special materials to make it more durable and hard . It hung in multiple hoops around her waist, fastened by a small strip of cloth . It was black in color, even the handle was black, yet it shone by reflecting the sunlight . The tip of the whip ended in a small spade, similar to what a devil's tail would look like in some of her previous world's art .

Rong Jian, on the other hand, brought a spear made of metal and wood . The shaft was painted a s.h.i.+ning brown . The tip of the spear curved slightly upwards, somewhat similar to a hook . It was rather sharp with no other embellishments . The end of the spear, also had a small hook that was curved upwards . The entire thing looked simple but was more than meets the eye, just like Shen Tianyu's whip .

The first match of the day followed the same order as yesterday . 'The Young Master of the Ke clan has come out with a rather unexpected weapon, hm?' Ke Qingyan was carrying something that was usually not used as a weapon in the cultivation world, an instrument . It was a seven-stringed guqin with a black lacquered base and silver strings that shone in the sunlight . There were also no unnecessary embellishments on the guqin .

"I hope we have a good match today as well . " Shen Tianyu said to him as she bowed .

"This Lady over praised me, it is enough if I can last for a bit . " He responded with a polite smile, holding his guqin .

At the start signal, Shen Tianyu unwinded her whip and smacked it on the pavement . The stone where it hit cracked into pieces after several seconds and the audience gasped . 'Hmph . Since this is a talent show, I might as well help liven things up!'

Ke Qingyan strummed a few notes of his guqin and invisible blades made from spiritual power flew out, aiming straight for Shen Tianyu . Naturally, this Talent Show wasn't more deadly than the previous round of "serious fighting", ironically, so there were plenty of Imperial physicians in standby . Also, a s.h.i.+eld was erected on the stage so the attacks made inside would not hurt the audience members, since the people at the very front were all importantly personages . Shen Tianyu could have gotten Luo Shue to come hide in the audience in case anything happened, but she was confident that nothing would happen . Besides, she didn't want to distract the other from their studies .

Shen Tianyu ran to the right in order to dodge the blades, which inevitably fell on the stage, destroying the stage . Some of them hit the s.h.i.+eld, causing it to shake somewhat but it still held . As she was running, Shen Tianyu cracked her whip, which whizzed towards Ke Qingyan . He calmly strum a few more notes on the guqin, creating more blades to counter the whip, stopping it in it's tracks . 'Hm, this one is quite talented . He may not be the best at the sword, but her certainly isn't bad with his weapon . Looks like it would suit his family's reputation . If my whip wasn't made of tougher stuff, it's probably have cracked from that attack alone . ' Shen Tianyu thought as her whip withdrew . She stopped and cracked her whip again, with a more serious look on her face . Ke Qingyan strummed more notes and she fended all the blades of sound and spiritual power off with her whip . Seeing this, Ke Qingyan's expression also grew more serious . The two exchanged fifty blows in the span of a few seconds before withdrawing .

Shen Tianyu licked her lips . 'This talent, I want him . Too bad he has a family and won't be willing to leave them . ' She raised her whip again and Ke Qingyan readied his guqin . 'It's not use getting close to him like this, he can create more blades with his guqin, my whip will eventually be overwhelmed . I guess I can only do it the long way and tire him out . He can't play forever, I just hope he won't persist too much or his fingers could become useless . But then again, he has two hands . . . he's only holding the guqin with one hand now . Is he aware of his shortcomings? Smart kid . Well, we'll see how this goes!'

She cracked her whip and it flew towards Ke Qingyan again . They exchanged more blows, so intense that a big wind was created from their attacks that blew over the audience . Shen Tianyu's whip was merely a flash of black and Ke Qingyan's fingers flew across his guqin like a hummingbird's wings .