The market lights shimmered like scattered stars, lanterns swaying as the night wind stirred. Jia Wei Xin walked beside Zhang Tian, still shaken—but calm on the surface. He had shielded her from that rogue cultivator with a single, overwhelming burst of power—casual and deadly. She had seen his eyes in that moment: amused, dangerous, but not cruel.
Now, he strolled beside her as if nothing had happened.
"Don't walk around alone next time," he said offhandedly, popping a candied hawthorn into his mouth. "Pretty girls without cultivation? That's asking for trouble."
"I told you I have a sifu," Jia Wei Xin muttered, annoyed but not ungrateful.
Zhang Tian gave her a sideways glance. "Right. You mentioned that before." He tilted his head slightly. "And who, exactly, is your sifu?"
She hesitated, but lying served no purpose. "Liu Mo Fei."
Zhang Tian stopped in his tracks.
"…Come again?"
"Liu. Mo. Fei," she repeated, brows furrowed. "Why?"
He stared at her like she had just confessed to being raised by a demon lord.
Then he burst out laughing.
"You? You're his disciple?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Do you know him?"
"Know him?" Zhang Tian scoffed, sharp and dry. "Unfortunately."
"You're… enemies?"
"We've met. Not formally, not as friends—but as enemies by necessity."
___
One hailed from Cloud Serpent Peak, all about "nobility, grace, and inner cultivation."The other came from Shadow Flame Sect, infamous for "creative techniques," "questionable ethics," and a habit of blowing things up first, asking questions later.
Different philosophies.
Same ruthless brilliance.
Same unshakeable overconfidence.
They were fast.
They were clever.
And they were both award-winning experts in strategic shamelessness.
Their past clashes were the stuff of cautionary tales and campfire gossip—usually told with a lot of dramatic sighing by whichever sect elder had to clean up the mess.
Zhang Tian still remembered their last encounter in vivid, explosive detail.
The setting: a half-collapsed ruin housing a supposedly divine artifact.
Liu Mo Fei descended in pristine white robes like some holy sage from a scroll painting. Zhang Tian, already there for two hours, had booby-trapped half the courtyard and was munching roasted peanuts like it was a picnic.
"I see you've matured," Mo Fei remarked, eyeing the snack.
"No more wine?"
"Stopped after the last bottle you poisoned."
"It was a detoxification tonic."
"I threw up fire for three days."
"You had inner heat issues."
Zhang Tian responded by launching a direct blast of qi at his chest. Mo Fei dodged with insulting elegance.
They fought for four chaotic hours—interrupted only by a tea break Mo Fei insisted on, during which he brewed tea on a burning talisman. There were fake injuries, real injuries, a minor rockslide, Mo Fei fake-meditating to bait Zhang Tian into range, Zhang Tian using a mirror illusion to flirt with his own reflection just to mess with him, and at one point, both pretending they didn't actually want the artifact anymore.
In the end, neither won. The ruin was reduced to dust. The artifact mysteriously vanished (both claimed innocence).Zhang Tian left with a phoenix-burn scar on his wrist.
Mo Fei limped away, claiming it was "part of a footwork experiment."
And now—now—both of them had set their sights on Jia Wei Xin.
Untouched.
Unclaimed.
And as she would eventually learn, utterly unprepared for how shameless they could be when it came to her.
Neither would back down.
Both would misbehave.
And poor Jia Wei Xin?
She'd have no one to cry to when the truth came out.
___
The crowd around them thinned. The wind shifted. The sounds of the market seemed distant, muffled—like everything had quieted to make way for something else.
Zhang Tian's smile faded.
"Well. Speak of the devil…"
Jia Wei Xin followed his gaze instinctively but saw nothing.
"I need to go," Zhang Tian said, already stepping away. "He's nearby. I can feel him."
"You're not going to fight here, are you?"
Zhang Tian gave her a crooked smile. "If I stay, he might. Your sifu doesn't exactly enjoy bumping into me in public."
"Why not just talk?"
"There are people you talk to," he said. "And then there are people you duel across ten mountain peaks."
Before she could respond, Zhang Tian turned to her—then in a sudden motion, pulled her into a brief, unexpected embrace.
His breath was warm against her ear. "If he ever disappoints you," he murmured, "let me know."
And then he was gone—disappearing into a narrow alley, his presence retreating like a tide.
___
Liu Mo Fei arrived moments later, stepping out from a side street with that infuriating calm he always wore. His eyes swept the area, sharp and searching—not just for her, but for something more.
"Are you okay?" he asked, voice steady, though something raw pulsed beneath it. "Did you get into any danger?"
"No," Jia Wei Xin answered quickly, keeping her tone neutral. "I only got lost."
But his gaze lingered on the alley Zhang Tian had vanished into. The breeze carried a faint, unfamiliar qi—one he recognized instantly.
"Who was that man?" he asked, his voice low.
She hesitated. "His name is Zhang Tian."
Liu Mo Fei's jaw didn't visibly tighten, but she felt the shift.
"I see."
"You know him?"
He paused. "We're familiar."
"Did he… touch you?"
Her eyes widened. "No," she said flatly, cutting him off. "He saved me from someone else. That's all."
"…Let's go," he said simply. "It's getting late."
They walked in silence, exiting the market side by side.
He looked calm, but the tension in his shoulders never eased.
Inside, his thoughts churned. He had left her alone. And someone—Zhang Tian, of all people—had found her. Helped her. And stayed close.
Why?
Zhang Tian never did anything without a motive. And this time, his attention wasn't casual.
Liu Mo Fei clenched his fists beneath his sleeves.
With her beauty, her presence… the man must've had thoughts. Dark, twisted ones. It made his blood boil.
They had been rivals long before now. But the next time they met, it wouldn't be just a duel. It would be war.
Not to test his strength.
To crush him. To shatter whatever sick fantasies he might have started forming about Jia Wei Xin.
He would make him forget she ever existed.
___
Meanwhile, Zhang Tian was already far from the marketplace, racing through the night with his inner robe billowing behind him. Just moments ago, as he considered staying longer near Jia Wei Xin, an urgent talisman had arrived—trouble in his sect.
He had no choice but to leave.
Otherwise, there would've been a glorious, glorious fight in that market. Especially over a girl like her—so unique, so unexpected.
And the fact that she belonged to Liu Mo Fei? That only made her more worth stealing.
As he sped through the trees, his mind replayed her face. Her voice. Her calm under moonlight.
A girl like her… ending up in the hands of some hermit cultivator?
He scoffed.
That old fox Mo Fei must've seen her beauty and invented some righteous excuse to keep her close. Pretending to be noble, hiding his true thoughts. Disgusting.
Zhang Tian's jaw tightened.
One day, they'd face each other again. And when they did… they'd settle everything.
Not just old scores. But something new.
Because this wasn't just rivalry anymore.
It was personal.
A storm had begun to brew. What started as competition now edged toward something darker.
The threads of fate began to twist.