~~~四~~~

~~~有毒旳京争对手~~~

In the days that passed, the students continued their education and training. The classroom learning was pretty much the same as what they were used to in the Jin Empire. It was the training that was different, the style being unique only to the Spirit House in the whole Academy.

Instead of getting constant instruction from the professor, the students were basically left alone for a majority of the block to practice whatever they wanted. Towards the end of their time, they would display what they had been practicing in front of everyone and get critiqued by their peers for improvement. This allowed the students to get to know each other and see various magic techniques up close.

Every day remained the same for Dàoyì as he woke up, got some morning training in, talked with Xuělián as she had breakfast, went to morning classes, visited her for lunch, went to his practical classes, and ate dinner before going to bed. The repetition was nice, but he as well as the rest of his friends from the Jin Empire were waiting to be cleared to go on missions.

Before any students could be allowed to go on missions they needed to be cleared by the professor who was in charge of their practical classes. After that, they could choose to apply for a mission from the boards that were displayed in all of the house towers. The applications would go up to the Soul Maidens and they would either approve it or decline it. In the Seventh Princess' case, she would also provide team suggestions to those who applied for certain missions since she got to know her students better with how small Spirit House was.

Speaking of Spirit House, there were only sixty students before the foreign exchange students joined and they were most definitely not like those from other houses. Students from other houses were almost always of noble status with no students from lower classes. This was because noble families typically had stronger spiritual energy to present upfront, but the Soul Maiden of the fifth house chose differently than her counterparts.

Since the entrance exam was just simply a display of talent that the Soul Maidens could choose from, the elder four would usually pick those with high levels. This could be because of their best spells or just because they favored a certain magic type, but the princess looked at more than just outright talent. She also looked for potential.

In all the entrance exams that she's sat through, the ravenette always looked deeper into candidates and chose those who were usually considered unrefined or untalented. She looked through every technique and saw the strengths and how they could be pushed further. If she believed that being put in her house could help them, then she would choose them.

It was this selection technique that led the Spirit House to its extremely diverse population. There were students that came from noble backgrounds but were shunned by their families for being seen as trash. Those from poor and common families existed here as well. Even those who were or were the children of criminals walked Spirit House Halls. The entrance exams were technically open to everyone who could use magic and the princess made sure that everyone had an equal opportunity.

The blue haired male smiled at the observation. He knew the female was empathetic and would not forget her humble beginnings as it was proven in her actions at the academy. Even though she was rarely seen outside her flat due to her position, many of the students spoke rather fondly of her.

"Hey, Dàoyì, are you even paying attention?" called Tiě as she waved a hand in front of his face. When she noticed his eyes finally focused on her she shook her head. "We were just dismissed for lunch, you know?"

"Ah, thanks for calling me, Tiě," the male spoke as he rose from his seat, still donning the Jin Magic Academy's uniform. He then turned to the others. "I'll see you all this afternoon."

As his form disappeared out the door, the male with lighter blue hair shook his head before letting out a sigh. "It's not fair," he complained as their smallest member stormed out of the room with a huff. "Dàoyì has beauties fawning over him left and right. He leaves none of them for us."

"Hǎyáng," called the twin with her hair pulled up in a ponytail. Her sibling shook her head before finishing, "You're the only one who seems to care about that."

As this was happening, the woman with eyes that shone like amethyst was up in her flat, moving around the kitchen as she worked on making a simple lunch. As a slightly sweet tomato sauce was working on one of the burners, she had a pot of noodles boiling right in front of her.

The ravenette quickly became tired of the male buying meals for the both of them every day in fear of him wasting his money, so this was her solution. She would just cook all of their meals before he even had a chance to think of spending a single coin.

The woman usually had enough time to do this anyway since she finished her work the moment she received it. She believed that letting the work pile up would only serve to stress her out like it had done in her past life so she refused to give it a chance to fester.

'At least I actually learned how to cook more than eggs in this life,' she thought with a small smile. Her mind was greeted by the multiple times she assisted her slender mother in the kitchen while her father would be in his workshop. 'I honestly have no clue how Mina Von Astra could possibly function out in the world.'

Just as the female picked up her spoon to have a taste of the sauce, there was a tapping from her balcony door. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that it was an imperial messenger hawk so she had Nana take the letter. Still hovering over the stove, the young woman opened and read the letter to see that it was a response from the emperor. He had decided to approve her request and would make an announcement that all of those who wanted to be considered worthy suitors would first have to beat her in a duel.

"Yes!" Xuělián cheered victoriously. She then threw her hands up in excitement, accidentally knocking into her saucepan. With her trained reflexes, she was able to save the sauce from going everywhere, but she ended up burning a majority of her left palm and her inner wrist.

'Fuck!' she thought while biting her lip, a loud squeal still managing to escape her form. The female's arm felt that it was on fire, but she just stood there and stared at her hand with wide eyes. 'Nice to know I'm still a dumbass!'

Finally snapping out of it, she moved to run her hand and wrist under some cold water when the magic circle lit up. Cusses were freely falling from the woman's lips as her back faced the guest as she did her best not to full out scream in pain.

"Lián-mei, what's wrong?" the older being asked as he walked over, only for his eyes to widen when he saw the red and blistered skin. His touch was gentle as he grabbed the unaffected skin and brought it closer to inspect. "How did this happen?"

After turning off the stove and having Nana bring down a first aid kit, the male sat with her to treat and wrap it. His eyes twitched every time she flinched but she still explained to distract herself from the pain.

"Well, I just got a letter saying that the Holy Father approved my request and got a bit excited," the female explained with a small chuckle. She then looked down at her bandaged limb when her companion finished and experimentally moved it to find that the bandages were secure. "I bumped into my pots at the stove and got burned."

"What did he say in the letter that got you so excited in the first place?" Dàoyì asked as he stood up to start serving lunch. He knew that she would still try to do it herself if he wasn't fast enough. "You're normally quite aware of your surroundings."

A smirk crept onto her face as the ravenette took her seat at the dining table. She then used her food hand to help the Iron-Throated Devil onto the glass surface before saying, "The emperor has made a decree that any man who wishes to be one of my possible suitors must first defeat me in a duel."

The man flinched upon hearing the new information. He remembered how fierce his friend was as a child from practicing songs beside her in the forest. Her attack spells were meant to hurt and from what he's heard, she's only improved over the years.

Anyone fighting against the woman would not have a good time even if she did lose in the end. According to the others in the Spirit House she has managed to keep up her ground even with the First Princess for a long while. The gap between their skills was by twelve levels, but she kept the Head Mistress on her toes the entire time.

He had not even had the chance to feel her current spiritual pressure yet and just the thought of it sent a chill up his spine. Blue eyes flicked over to the ravenette who was stroking the spine of their serpent friend, trying to imagine what it would be like to face her in a serious fight.

Over the course of their meal, the pair just held light conversation about random topics. That ranged from topics in the academy's curriculum to interesting books that the female had recently started.

'It seems that part of her hasn't changed either,' the male thought with a chuckle as he watched the younger rant on about one of the characters. Her eyes were lit up as she spoke and her gestures were much more animated compared to how she acted outside. Seeing her so freely passionate about something caused a light warmth to spread throughout his form.

"Oh! Speaking of sweet, one of the first years gave me some custard tarts on my way back to the tower this morning!" she gushed while placing a hand on her cheek. She was practically melting upon remembering their sweet taste and smooth texture. "They were so good!"

"A first-year?" the blue eyed male echoed. His eyebrows knitted together as he recalled that only one student was accepted into the Spirit House at the entrance exams that year and it was a boy. "Shouta gave them to you?"

"No, it was a girl from the Fire House," the female corrected with a small chuckle upon seeing his concerned expression. For a split second, her lips twitched upwards but it wasn't noticed. "She remembered me from the entrance exam and she said that she really admired what I was doing and gave me two tarts!"

Her guest let out a sigh before nodding with a chuckle. Relief flooded through him as he said, "That's good that you have a positive impression on so many of the students." This just earned a small snort as the nineteen-year-old lifted a sleeve to cover the lower part of her face.

"I really don't if you ask any other student from the other four houses," she responded lightly. Her eyes shifted off to her left as she looked out the windows. "Most of the student body actually find me strange or dislike me for the ways I run this house, but the faculty put their trust in me so it really doesn't matter."

Once they had finished eating, the male took their dishes over to the sink and washed them because of the female's injury. He didn't want her to have too much work to do when she was already such a busy person. He then bid her a quick farewell before leaving the tower for his afternoon training.

The first half of the block passed by normally with most of the students either sparring or practicing on their own. The professor was weaving in between groups, making sure they were actually being productive when an explosion went off from the center of the campus. He went silent for a few moments as the students all flocked over to see a plume of black smoke rising from the center building. Amber eyes remained glued to the building before a high-pitched whistle was heard before a loud pop with a burst of red lights flying up from the smoke.

"Crap! All of you retreat back to the Spirit Tower immediately!" he hissed before turning to the students and pointing to their tower. He then turned on his heel towards the main building. "Under no circumstances are you allowed to come out before a Soul Maiden tells you!"

They were left with no time to ask questions as the eldest of the group took action and began shoving the others in the direction of their dorms. Along the way, they could see many other students flocking to their towers in the same manner with some of the faculty guiding them.

Upon reaching their tower, the seven were greeted by the sigh of not their Soul Maiden, but the overseer of the Water House. Her stern eyes were watching over all of the students that came into the tower, accurately counting each and every one.

"Your Grace, what exactly is happening right now?" the white haired foreigner asked as almost everyone else rushed inside. Dàoyì was the only one to remain by his side as the woman finished counting the last of the Spirit Students. "Is the academy under attack?"

"Yes," she answered bluntly, her pale grey irises finally turning to meet the two males. They were completely serious as she delivered the news. "And it appears that Seventh Princess is currently facing the threat."

"What? How do you know?" the second male questioned, perking up as soon as his sworn sister was mentioned. His eyebrows furrowed together as he clenched his fists.

The Soul Maiden's eyes were placed on him before she gestured up to the sky and said, "That signal flare is carried by everyone in the royal family." She then let out a small hum as she watched multiple auras rush over to the center building. "If one of them fires it, it means that they're facing a fatal threat and need assistance."

No other words were needed as the blue haired male immediately took off running straight towards the danger. He ignored the calls of both figures, pure adrenaline pumping through his veins as he refused to let history repeat.

"Damn brat! Doesn't he know that if she of all the royals fires that flare it's a high threat?!" the woman hissed, ushering the remaining student into the tower before activating the barrier around it. Her form was shrouded in a light, aqua toned aura as she made her way towards the main building. "He's just asking to be killed!"

Meanwhile, the ravenette stood at the top floor of the academy's central structure, in her first sister's office that was now trashed. She was surrounded by figures dressed in black skintight suits that didn't show their faces.

'Fuck this is bad!' she internally hissed, keeping her knees bent and her arms up. Purple eyes were narrowed as they flicked to each of her six attackers. 'Something isn't allowing my spiritual energy to flow properly. I can't use any of my magic!'

In her eyes, the faceless figures had chosen the right day to attack the academy. The Head Mistress was away at a meeting across the country and many of the professors were focused on teaching so they had their guards down.

From what the woman could tell, each of them were at level sixty so she was at a disadvantage by just using physical attacks. She was limited to defending and dodging until some help could reach her which was going decently until she was hit by a poison attack. Since she couldn't use her spiritual energy, the poison could not be expelled immediately and it was only flowing faster due to her constant moving.

"Who knew that all it takes to corner the Seventh Princess is some custard tarts?" cackled one of the figures. Their energy crackled in their hands as the princess blinked up at them.

'What?' she thought, ignoring their continuous monologuing. The female then remembered that after eating those tarts, something felt off but she just brushed it off as being paranoid. 'Wait a minute... something that limits spiritual energy once consumed...'

The woman let out a sigh as she recalled that such a substance would be given to those who were locked in the dungeons. It was a non-fatal poison known as sleeping willow. The effects took a few hours to appear but would last for quite some time unless the antidote was given.

'God dammit,' she internally whined while blocking a fist using her left hand by reflex, resulting in instant pain that she refused to show. The bandages wrapped around it were now dirtied and soaked with blood. 'I let myself get poisoned by a legitimate child.'

The group surrounding herself was wary of the female, but couldn't stop their growing excitement as her movements became sluggish. It might not be shown on her face, but her strength and speed were definitely waning. This was evident as she became less capable of dodging, reduced to standing with most of her weight on her right leg as she couldn't put pressure on the other without a wave of pain.

"Are all of the royals this stubborn, or is it only the mutt that they adopted?" scoffed the being from behind her as more explosions sounded from lower floors. There were definitely more than the six attackers from the sounds battle going on.

"Sorry to say that it's a trait all of us share. It has nothing to do with my origins," Xuělián mused with a nonchalant shrug. Her body was screaming in pain, but her pride wouldn't allow her to show that. "And others should be arriving to help soon so I would stop wasting time if I were you."

"You're right, we've wasted enough time playing around with you," huffed a deep voice from her left. They held a large battle axe in both of their hands that began to flow green. "That flare will have this place flooded with royal guards in a few minutes."

A small sigh left the female's lips as all six of them gathered their spiritual energy for a combination attack. Her expression remained neutral as she struggled to gather what energy she could in her core as she thought, 'Well, at least they're coordinated. Much better than some of the others that have tried to kill me in the past.'

Just as every attacker lunged towards her, the princess was suddenly enveloped in a sphere of light blue vines that protected her from every blow. None of the vines were damaged and she was left with wide eyes as she thought, 'Dào-gē?!'

The sound of battle continued outside of the protective sphere, but the princess couldn't see any of it. Instead, she was left barely standing in the center of the vines before her knee gave out and she crumpled to the ground.

'Oh. Oh no... Am I bleeding anywhere?' the female thought as her hearing started to go fuzzy and her vision began to blacken at the edges. These were symptoms that she remembered experiencing from passing out at a blood drive in her senior year of high school. This was followed by an involuntary shiver as a chill ran down her spine. 'Oop! Here's to fucking blood loss I guess!'

Just as she closed her eyes, the woman felt a strong spiritual pressure before her body was propped up and she felt energy being folded through her from her back. As the foreign energy surged through her body, it forced the poisoned blood to one spot and she was able to cough it up.

"Qī-mei," a familiar voice called as she fell back into a firm figure. Her closed eyes twitched slightly at the uncharacteristically gentle nature of the voice. "Qī-mei, are you alright?"

Every part of her body felt so heavy, but the ravenette forced her eyes to open as she was met with the sight of two blurry faces looking down at her. After a moment, they focused and she asked, "San-gē? Dào-gē?"

Both males let out a sigh of relief at her response, even if it was a little weak. They were just happy that she was able to respond given the state she was in. Her dress was torn in various places with blood soaking into the fine fabrics. Her hair was messy and sticking up in various places with a few strands sticking to her forehead due to sweat. She was actually a little bit pale compared to her normally fair complexion and her breathing was quite slow.

"I'm sorry," she rasped, knocking them out of their thoughts. Her hands reached out to grip either one of theirs. "I wasn't careful and let myself become poisoned. I wasn't able to fight properly."

"That's enough, Qī-mei," Ōritsu said as he placed an arm underneath her knees and stood up with her. Blue eyes stayed glued to her form as the second male stood as well. "You know your faults and you did the best you could in your condition."

The younger female let out a hum as she felt the Crown Prince's energy once more and processed him walking towards the balcony doors. Her eyes flicked back to the others in the room who she just noticed were standing behind the blue haired male.

"San-gē, where are you taking me?" she asked as he opened the doors, greeted by the fresh breeze brought by the sea. It was getting harder to stay awake but she wanted answers. "The infirmary is downstairs."

"I'm taking you back to the palace so you can fully recover," the male declared as his energy condensed into strong wings on his back. They then spread to their full size before he took to the air. "You've been poisoned twice today and knowing you, you would try to continue with your duties as a Soul Maiden instead of recovering properly."

Back in the trashed office, blue eyes just stuck to where the prince flew off to before the First Princess walked in past him. Her face was full of disappointment as she looked to the mess of her office before they narrowed at the two assassins they left alive. The woman wanted nothing more than to rip them to shreds, but they needed to be interrogated.

From what Hikari could gather, their main target was the Seventh Princess, which wasn't surprising considering how many looked down on her for her background. What was surprising, was how they were able to weaken her before confrontation, so there was obviously more than just them who were in on it.

After being questioned about the whole ordeal, Dàoyì and Tsukiyo, the student representative for the Spirit House, were allowed to retreat back to their tower. The female shook her head before saying, "His Highness really isn't good at being discreet."

"What do you mean?" the taller figure asked with a raised brow. As they passed by other floors on the lift, multiple faculty members and those called in from the palace were busy cleaning up the damage from the recent battles.

"Ah, that's right. You're foreign so you wouldn't really know," the older female realized as she blinked up at him. She then shrugged as she held her elbows and shifted her weight. "Well, it's a common belief amongst many of the nobles that the Crown Prince has taken a liking to Seventh Princess Xuělián. More than a sibling should."

The male almost choked upon hearing that assumption. His chest tightened uncomfortably at the thought of the woman being surrounded by that kind of attention and it didn't go unnoticed. "But she's seen as his sister, isn't she?" he questioned after clearing his throat. "She was adopted by the emperor."

"That's true, but they aren't related by blood so if His Highness takes the right steps, then no one can go against him," the young noblewoman retorted. Her eyes flicked from side to side to make sure no one was listening as they stepped into the main courtyard. "In fact, some of the palace servants overheard him talking to his assistant. He was saying that he plans to abolish her status as princess and just leave her as a Soul Maiden. By removing her from the direct line of royalty but leave her with a high ranking in our society, he can marry her without too much judgment and make her empress."

It was at this point that Dàoyì could feel his blood boil. The plan was sneaky but could work in the long run. If it was a declaration of the emperor, no one could escape it without at least being imprisoned for treason.

Upon seeing the serious expression on her junior's face, the female couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Honestly, I'm completely on board with Her Highness becoming empress." She held her hands behind her back as she looked over to the male with a smug look. "She would be the only one who wasn't so... artificial, but now I see that she wouldn't agree to it."

"She was always close to the first three royals, the Crown Prince in particular," she continued to say as they walked. The orphaned male was silent as he listened to her explanations, completely expressionless. "But she holds no romantic interest in him. She only sees him as a close friend or a sibling at most."

'Good,' the Yín woman's current companion thought as he let out a sigh. His shoulders fell as he released all of the tension he didn't know he was holding. 'She can't marry Yín Ōritsu.'

"Thank you for telling me all of this, Tsukiyo," the male said as they entered the first floor of the Spirit Tower. His eyes showing nothing but genuine gratitude. "I will keep this in mind."

"It's no problem," she chuckled in return before placing a hand on his shoulder. There was a knowing smirk on her face as her pale eyes held an unknown glint in them. "I wish you the best of luck, Shīdì."

As the male made his way up to the flat on the top floor of Spirit Tower, the owner of the space laid in a luxurious room in the palace that she would use whenever she was permitted a vacation from work. A frown was plastered onto her features that regained what little color they had in the first place.

The female’s arms were crossed over her chest as she let out a huff and turned into her side from under her quilt. She had taken the antidote for Sleeping Willow and would recover within the day, but the imperial physician found that she was running a fever. He then gave specific instructions for her to rest until the fever died down and she showed no signs of illness.

Knowing that she would do the exact opposite of those instructions if left to her own devices, all of the royal siblings opted to keep her in the palace. To do so, the first thing they did was lock the female in her room. Of course, she just took this as a challenge and spent her time in bed formulating plans.

After a few more hours of just laying in bed and just going through what books she had left before moving to the academy, a smirk appeared on the princess’ face. She then sat up and thought, ‘Finally! All of my spiritual energy is recovered!’ The young woman then sprung up and wrote a quick letter to her family, explaining where she went.

The female knew she was definitely going to get an earful about this from the empress, but she couldn’t find herself caring as she opened her wardrobe. After finding a simple black hanfu amongst her heavier articles of clothing, she changed and brushed out her hair before tidying up.

Once the room was cleaned to her liking, the ravenette took a deep breath and allowed her energy to pulse all throughout her body. ‘Drawing from the elements of Earth, Air, and Spirit: Teleport!’

She could feel the ground disappear before her feet and she felt herself falter slightly as a wave of nausea washed over her. Instead of feeling the ground form below her once more, she was harshly dropped out of her spell and she let out a scoff. She was not where she wanted to be.

Any teleportation spell used a lot of concentration as the user had to visualize exactly where they wanted to end up for as long as it took for the spell to transport the entirety of their physical body. There were many worst-case scenarios for if a mage were to lose concentration in the middle of it. The royal was lucky that she was only placed meters away from her wanted location instead of the spell only transporting a singular limb.

Originally, the woman wanted to get into her flat, but she found herself splayed out in one of the flower beds just outside of Spirit Tower. A sigh left her lips as she slowly sat up and brought her hands up to massage her temples.

‘Well, that honestly went better than expected,’ she thought, shivering slightly as a breeze blew by. There was a pounding in her head with each step she took and she cursed this body for not having a better immune system. ‘I am literally just going to cocoon myself and have the crystal plate read one of my books to me.’

Upon entering the building, the woman in black made her way to stand in the center of the magic circle. Holding her key in her hand, the floor disappeared beneath her feet and she was weightless before feeling solid ground once more.

“Nana, I’m home,” she called mindlessly as she waltzed straight to her kitchen to get some water. The serpent perked up at the sound of her voice, but so did someone else.

“Lián-mei, you’re back?” Dàoyì responded, causing the female to choke on her drink as he popped his head up from the couch. To his right, the snake slithered over the back of the couch and straight over to the kitchen.

The male was at his sworn sister’s side in a split second only to be waved off as she looked up at him with wide eyes. When she finally cleared her throat the first words that came out of her mouth were, “What are you doing here, Dào-gē?”

“I should be asking you that question, Lián-mei,” he retorted while helping the female over to the piece of furniture he was just occupying. He frowned while feeling just how hot her forehead was. “You shouldn’t be moving around in your current condition.”

“Saying that just makes me want to do the exact opposite,” she muttered in return as their cold-blooded companion sat up on the coffee table. Her purple eyes watched as the student disappeared behind her once more. “My sisters and brothers trying to keep me locked in the palace is the exact reason I teleported out in the first place.”

“Foolish girl,” the twenty-year-old muttered as he walked up to her loft and snatched the blanket from her bed. He had already taken care of feeding her fish and watered her plants earlier when he came up to check on Nana so he didn’t worry about it.

After descending the stairs once more, the young man knelt in front of the ravenette and removed her shoes before laying the blanket over her. He then brought a hand up to check her temperature once more, letting a small smile slip onto his features when she nuzzled into it with a soft purr.

“Dào-gē, are you going to stay here tonight?” Xuělián asked as she watched him walk over to one of the other couches. She was currently laying on her side with the blanket tucked underneath her feet as the couch allowed her to fully stretch out without hitting either of the armrests.

“Of course, Lián-mei,” he responded softly while watching her with a soft gaze. The soft flicker from the fireplace causing her eyes to sparkle. “What brother would I be if I just left you alone while you were ill?”

~~~Fin. Chapter 4~~~