No one understood what Father was trying to say. No one but Big Sister and I. She nodded. “I see. Little Brother has enough magical powers but he lacks finesse. He needs more understanding and comprehension of high magic.”

I scratched my head. “Wait,” I tried to make myself clear, albeit impatiently, “So, like in an RPG-game, I now possess a high-level technique but I do not have enough experience points to level up? So I still cannot use this high-level technique?” Father frowned at the comparison but he nodded nonetheless. “Roughly put, but yes. You really take after me after all. You remind me of when I was young.” And that remark made Mother, who was sitting just beside him, giggled in agreement.

“So what can I do?” I asked again, vainly earnest for a solution, “Surely you won’t tell me that I have to wait until I’m thirty or even fifty before I can use it? And what about Big Sister? She’s been using sword telekinesis for barely how many years? Why is it that she can use it and I can’t?” “Qinglan’s case is different,” Father insisted and said, “She has been using magic for more than a century even before she began using her sword while you have barely drawn breath for less than a quarter of a century. What’s more, Qinglan has been using sword telekinesis magic for twenty years. That’s ten times more than your two years. You are smarter and brighter, I will admit, for having thought up ways to expedite a process that should have taken more than two years. But you will appreciate that your big sister’s far ahead in experience compared to you.”

“So, you’re telling me that I’m a genius?” I cracked into a simper but Father, in his readiness to puncture my glee, remarked placidly, “Not really. I’d say this is expected of a Spirit of a legendary relic.” Surely it wouldn’t hurt to praise me just once, I scowled quietly.

Father seemed to have guessed me. He chuckled. “Well, let’s leave this for a future conversation. Tell me about your trip to Yishui.” I recounted everything; starting right from the start to the end where I was stabbed by the woman in black. “Uncle Hai, I have a question,” Lin Feng spoke suddenly and Father’s gaze turned to him. “Why can’t we use Shiyan’s Bee Scout to look for the woman? We have her prosthesis.” Father smiled and replied, “I see. So Shiyan’s not the only one green and raw here. You and Chongxi are the same too. Tell me. Would you allow anyone to track you? Won’t that defeat the purpose of keeping herself masked?”

Lin Feng was stunned speechless. But just as our conversation came to a pause, a shrill hoot came from outside the window. It was my Spirit Eagle, circling high up the sky outside. Lin Feng got to his feet and opened the window and the spectral bird flew in and perched on the windowsill with a message attached to its leg. Lin Feng took it off and I withdrew the Spirit Eagle back into my Gourd. He unfurled the paper and saw two words: Thank you. Lin Feng smirked. The whiff of indifference and alienation practically seeping from the two words told us enough: he still believed that we were his enemies.

Later that night, Xiao Qi and her Sisters came with Yuanyuan and Xiao Yu. Lin Feng and Chongxi then went off with the latter two girls. They had slept not one wink the entire night and they needed rest. With my condition now stable, it was only right that they return to the Center. Big Sister left with them. She ought to go back to Father and Mother. So that left Edelweiss and the Seven Sisters with me in my ward.

Edelweiss would understandably wish only to stay by my side. But Xiao Qi and her Sisters were only here because they were terribly bored. The nurse who was doing her rounds became utterly shocked when she found my room crowded and of course the Sisters was mercilessly driven away by the nurse .

Edelweiss watched me the whole night, her gaze distant and blank as if in a trance and I too, looked at her in a similar fashion. We stared at each other for moments of silence until I finally burst out laughing. “Why are you looking at me so strangely?” I could not resist any longer. Edelweiss pursed her lips and looked away, shaking her head. We might not be old couples who have spent half of our lives together, I brooded, But we had certainly gone through our fair share of thick and thin together. Still, she looks like a little lass young and fresh into love.

Edelweiss kept her lips pouted and remained wordless. The dark circles that ringed her eyes betrayed the fact that being awake for the whole night had taken their toll on her. She had been with me all the time even though she had been struggling against sleep to remain awake. “I’m fine now,” I said, gently patting her hand, “You should get some sleep. Look at those dark rings around your eyes.”

She nodded demurely and lowered her head on the side of my bed and dozed off.

Just when Edelweiss’ soft snores began to fill the ward, a litany of footfalls began to echo off the walls of the quiet corridor outside. Edelweiss immediately stirred, her hands wandering stealthily to the hilt of her golden dagger. “It’s fine,” I assured her, “It might be someone going to the bathroom. Relax.” Edelweiss nodded. Her hands were about to let go of her dagger’s hilt when the footsteps stopped suddenly outside my door.

Edelweiss straightened up, her hand clutching on her dagger and crept slowly to the door. If there was anything I had learned from my experiences, that was I should never take chances with any unknowns. As Edelweiss moved closer to the door, I quickly took out my Spirit Gourd and released Smoky, my Spirit Cat and it padded skulkingly beside her.

Edelweiss reached the door and she reached out a hand to grip on the door handle. But before she could, we hear three loud raps knocking on the door. She looked at me and I nodded. She carefully twisted the knob and the door swung open to reveal a tall but scrawny silhouette. Edelweiss switched on the lights and ward was flooded with bright luminescence that I first caught sight of that distinctive fur outercoat and the eccentric-looking combination of capri pants and well-polished leather shoes. Having not seen him before, Edelweiss threw him a look reeking of disgust and suspicion.

“I see my partner has come to make her acquaintance,” he sneered and said. “And what of you, Prince Beile? What business do you have in so late an hour?” I scoffed in return to Jin Qichen’s quirky opening speech.

He chuckled. “I was informed by my partner that you were wounded by here. So here I am to visit. I am only here out of concern. You might notice that I haven’t brought Na San with me as a show of goodwill.” And I let out another wordless scoff before saying, “And so?”

Earnestly, Jin Qichen tried persuading me once more. “You should have agreed to my terms, then you would never have to endure such troubles, Spirit of the Sword. By your release of Na San, I trust I won’t be far off by guessing that there are still grounds for a repeal. How’s that? Think about it. Work with me and none of my confederates will ever come to darken your door again!”

My eyes narrowed with disdain. “Tell me about your collaboration with these people. How did you come to be?” Believing that a show of candor might win me over, Jin Qichen revealed, “We each have our own individual goals, even though we call this a collaboration of sorts. I only told them about my meeting with you and one of them, a woman, passed on my word to the others.” I let out a thoughtful “Oh?” and Jin Qichen took it as a cue to go on. “With the exchange of information going on, I was told that you have encountered two other of my partners at a restaurant and the hotel at Shanggu.”

No doubt the woman is one of his cohorts, but the restaurant, he says? That could only mean the middle-age charlatan?! Jin Qichen spied the shift in my expression which was enough to confirm his words. In a tone that sounded as if I had agreed to become his partner, he went on saying, “I have two more partners anxious to meet you. Honestly, I have no idea what they would do to you, Master Spirit of the Shiyan Blade. But work with me and I will see that no one will come to bother you anymore.”

I smiled. “Thank you for providing such invaluable information. I believe it’s best you get on your way.” Hearing this, Edelweiss, who had been standing behind Jin Qichen, opened wide the room door with a look that tacitly said: “Get out!”

The brusque change in the mood only displeased my visitor. “I’ll be frank,” he added crossly, “These are people who have designs for your power. Insidious designs. And I can safely say the same about their modus operandi. To them, I am both a partner and a rival. Hence, I daresay I would enjoy it immensely if they can be removed off the chessboard. I need you, Murong Shiyan! Work together and we can defeat them together!”

Saying nothing, I took out my Spirit Gourd and yanked off the stopper. I released my Spirit Wolves and had them driven Jin Qichen out of the hospital. Finally, when he was gone, Edelweiss came back to sit by my bed. “Who is this man?” she asked.