Chapter 52 - Bojing’s Reason (1)

The next morning, Yuan Bojing woke from his deep slumber with Long Xia in his arms.

After spending yet another erotic night together, he felt exhausted from the sexual high he had experienced with her. He had to admit that it had been the best nights in his entire life, but he was unable to bury the anxious feelings he had about the morning after.​​

He watched as Long Xia breathed in and out peacefully. Her raven-black hair curtained her face as she slept on one side of his chest.

To call her beautiful was an understatement. Long Xia was a devil with the face of an angel. Her skin was like smooth marble that glowed; her hair was like silk in his hands. The dragon tattoo on her sternum reminded him that she was a warrior. Her heart was as hard as the ice in her eyes. She was strong. She adapted. She wasn't afraid of anything. He loved that all about her.

The wait for the final competition wouldn't be for long now, and the awareness made him cold.

"Are you joining the selection?" his grandfather, Shi Yan, asked once.

"Not interested."

"Ah, that's good," he says.

"Why?" Yuan Bojing continued. "You'd fear I'd lose?"

His grandfather laughed. "I don't fear you'd ever lose, given you are the son of Shi Yen."

Indeed. His mother was the strongest warrior in the eight organizations. Yuan Bojing took pride in that. As her son, it was expected of him to follow her lead. He trained hard. He studied martial arts techniques with her. He wanted to be just like her. But Long Xia had an even stronger desire to be like Shi Yen more than him.

Yuan Bojing knew about her dreams since their childhood. The Shi-Yuan's have been friends with the Long's since before he was born.

But before that, their families had been enemies for generations.

The Long's and Shi's have spent years competing over whom were the strongest family and organization.

The Long's had always been number one. They founded the eight until the Shi's took over. He never knew the full story as to how that happened. But it was Shi Yen and Long Jie's alliance that buried the tension between them. Shi Yen thought it was good to raise her children with Long Jie's to maintain the alliance. It worked.

Yuan Bojing and Long Yat-sen (the two eldest sons) became best friends and sworn brothers. But they probably didn't expect his relationship to bloom and fail with another one of the Long's…

He remembered when they were children. He watched Long Xia pick up a wooden sword in her backyard, waving it around. She thrust it forward.

'You're using the wrong form,' Yuan Bojing told her from behind, arms crossed.

She looked at him warily before she looked down, slightly embarrassed that she was caught. He then came over toward her. He picked up her hand, adjusting the position she had on the pommel. He then spread her feet slightly apart, positioning her to lunge forward. She took a few steps, lunged, and then thrust.

Long Xia smiled bashfully at him with icy eyes when she got the right form. 'I did it!'

Yuan Bojing's breath caught, but he collected himself. 'Why do you want to learn to use a sword?' he questioned. 'Guns are more effective from what I know.'

She smiled as she kept lunging, her black braided hair moving with every step. 'My father has a sword in a locked chest he keeps. I hope to inherit it one day. I want to be able to use it,' she answered breathlessly.

'Why don't you ask your father to teach you how to use it?'

Long Xia lowered her makeshift weapon, averting her gaze. 'Mother and father believe I'm too young right now.'

Yuan Bojing chuckled.

Long Xia furrowed her brows. 'Why are you laughing?'

He smiled. 'I believe your parents are overprotective. My mother taught me how to use a wooden sword when I was four.'

She crossed her arms. 'Well, my parents are just worried about me! I can't say yours are responsible.'

He laughed again. 'Probably not, but it doesn't mean they don't love me.'

'Well, it doesn't matter,' she countered and pointed at him. 'Because I will one day catch up to you!'

'Dream on,' Yuan Bojing said as he began to stalk away. He then turned back once more to watch her practice.

Since then, he watched Long Xia grow stronger, more skilful. She had never failed to impress him. She had risen to the top alongside him, and he realized that Long Xia would one day surpass him. And he was happy about it, which is why he couldn't help but kiss her the other day, which led to something more.

"I'll tell you a story about my own grandfather," Shi Yan, his grandfather, continued, breaking his daze. "For generations, one warrior from each of the eight organizations competed in a blood bath to see who was the strongest, and the winner became Emperor. For generations, the Long's had reigned until one year my grandfather was to compete against his rival, Long Tian."

Shi Yan paused to drink some of his Oolong tea. "Now Long Tian was the strongest person he'd ever heard of. The man was a beast—a monster. Everyone was afraid of him. The competitors trembled when they realized they had to compete against him." He ran a finger around the rim of his teacup. "If you heard of the tale of Julius Cesar. You'd know that the man was a Roman general who led armies and fought wars. He had many enemies who plotted against him and stabbed him to death.

"On the eve of the competition, six of the competitors had found where Long Tian had been resting, and they stabbed him 23 times."

Yuan Bojing gaped. "Why?"

Shi Yan continued. "They did it to get a better chance by killing the strongest warrior. My grandfather was the only one that didn't take part in his assassination. He found it cowardly and dishonourable. He then won that competition, and once he became Emperor, he abolished the competition and made it so that his descendants would inherit the role instead. But rumour has it that one day a member of the Long family will attempt to take back what had always belonged to them, so future competitors need to keep an eye out for anyone by the name of Long."