“Thank you, Master!” Riku had already taken Yuki as her master. She had never learned so much in such a short period of time.

Yuki was stunned for a moment when she heard Riku call her master, but she quickly snapped out of it and smiled. “I am far from being a master, but as a friend, I can help you all you want.”

“No matter what, you have taught me skills that will forge my path. This makes you my master. Master, I give up.” Riku looked up at Elder Li with a smile. She knew this old man would accept her giving up.

“Winner, Heavenly Cloud Sect’s disciple, Yuki!”  Elder Li’s words echoed through the arena, causing many to frown.

“Senior Li! You said no one was allowed to forfeit!” The Roaring Thunder Sect’s sect master finally found some ground to stand on. Seeing how Elder Li kept changing the rules per match was against the Dragon Festival’s rules.

“Oh? Since when was it your turn to tell me how I can and can not hold the matches?” Elder Li asked coldly. He raised his hand towards the sky, causing everyone to look up. But many wished they did not, as a massive hand suddenly blocked the sunlight.

“Di-Divine star!?” The Roaring Thunder Sect’s sect master almost fainted. He never thought this elder would be in the divine star realm! He could only watch in horror as the hand descended from the sky. But for some reason, the huge shadow only lingered over The Roaring Thunder Sect’s sect master until finally….

*Slap!*

“Pfft….” Yuki couldn’t hold it in. Seeing the old bastard being slapped silly made her day. She even gave Elder Li a thumbs up. Elder Nishikawa, on the other hand, had already lost all composer. She fell out of her seat, laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. It was not just her, but many were laughing due to how Elder Li went about slapping the Roaring Thunder Sect’s sect master in the face. 

“The Roaring Thunder Sect’s sect master, do you have any more questions? If not, shut up and sit down before I slap you.” Elder Li spoke calmly as if he had not already slapped the old man.

The Roaring Thunder Sect’s sect master sat back in his chair. His face was purple with anger and embarrassment. In all his long years, he had never been so humiliated in his entire life. He looked down at Elder Li and then at Yuki, who was smiling away and knew he had to get rid of the damn girl as soon as possible.

“Elder Li, you should really slap him once more. He keeps looking at you as if he wants to bite you. Or maybe you opened a new door for him, and he is looking to get spanked by you.” Yuki tried to fan the flames get get Elder Li to slap the old bastard again.

“Young one, I have never slapped anyone in my entire life. I only threatened him just now because he keeps questioning me.” Elder Li was trying to sound like he was truly a good person who would never hurt a fly. But all he got was an eye roll from the little girl below, causing him to chuckle. 

The matches continued, and finally, it was time for Nana to fight. She hopped up onto the stage and looked at the young man who was wearing a black cloak and frowned. “You smell of blood. It’s not fresh but more like it’s been imprinted in your skin. Who are you?”

“Hmmm?” Elder Li looked at what should be a young man and realized something was very wrong. He was about to speak when he saw the young man suddenly dash forward to attack Nana. He panicked because he knew the little girl would get mad at him if her doa partner was harmed in any way by outsiders. But before he could do anything, a black streak of lightning suddenly flashed by, and the sound of metal on metal could be heard. Everything was happening so face no one was even making a noise. They all stared at the stage in surprise!

“It seems someone came to die!” Yuki’s voice filled the space. 

“Tch!” The young man clicked his tongue before suddenly pushing off Yuki and jumping back. As he did, three gray balls dropped to the ground and exploded, creating a massive smoke screen.

“Nana!” Yuki quickly retreated to Nana’s side. At the same time, Silvia arrived next to them. 

“They are after Nana,” Silvia whispered. “This is not the work of the Roaring Thunder Sect. That man was from an assassin organization.”

Yuki’s aura suddenly changed. “Someone wants to kill my Nana?” 

Silvia looked over at Yuki, whose eyes were wide with a crazed killing intent in them. Her head was tilted to the side, and her sword shook ever so slightly due to anger. She took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down. She looked at the smoke that was quickly disappearing and knew that the assassin was gone. “Silvia, Nana is not to be alone at any time from now on. We will protect her at all times.”

“Don’t worry, I will make sure nothing happens to Nana.”