The old Empress was puzzled as well. Logically, no matter how proud Sisha was, she wouldn’t challenge someone two tiers above her on her own.

“If Mother doesn’t believe me, then please allow me to spar with Sister Marcy,” Sisha said.

“If you insist on it, then let’s see what your sister Marcy thinks,” the old Empress said.

“Me? Afraid of her? I’m more worried I’ll ruin that pretty little face of hers and have a hard time explaining it later.” Marcy laughed.

“Since Marcy has no objection, then fine. If you can defeat your sister Marcy here, I’ll allow you to join the succession contest as well.” The old Empress coughed lightly twice and nodded, then added, “Stop at the point of contact.”

The hall was spacious enough. If they kept it restrained, it was more than enough for a duel between two people. The surrounding Blood Clan nobles all stepped aside and watched the showdown between the two royal sisters with great interest.

Sisha slowly drew the longsword from her waist. The silver blade gleamed brilliantly under the lights. She looked at Marcy with cold indifference.

“If your face gets cut, don’t blame me!”

Blood gathered along Marcy’s arm and formed into a longsword. Sword in hand, she thrust at Sisha. As she closed in, she stabbed out more than a dozen times in rapid succession.

Sisha merely lifted her arm slightly. Her silver hair fluttered. She answered with just one simple thrust. Her sword aura was sharp and imposing, instantly breaking Marcy’s attack. A crimson flash shot straight at Marcy’s face.

Marcy’s expression changed drastically. She hurriedly raised her sword to defend. The clash of metal rang out as the two silver swords collided.

But Sisha didn’t stop there. She followed with another slash. Her sword aura surged even more fiercely. Marcy raised her silver sword again to block, but this strike sent her flying back.

Marcy barely managed to steady herself after several stumbling steps. Her eyes were full of disbelief.

“Blood Curse Serpent!”

Suddenly, blood-red runes flashed across Marcy’s arm. Then blood poured out from it and instantly turned into a giant serpent, which opened its bloody maw and lunged at Sisha.

This was the blood serpent Marcy had subdued and contracted. It was her trump card. Its combat ability was extremely strong, and its fangs carried deadly poison. It was the perfect choice for a surprise attack.

Sisha’s pupils shrank slightly, but she didn’t dodge. She charged straight at the serpent. Crimson sword aura erupted again. After several rapid slashes, the giant serpent froze in place in an instant.

Starting from its fangs, it shattered apart. Its body broke into more than a dozen pieces. Sisha drove her sword forward and split through the serpent’s body.

Blood rained down from the sky, but before it could touch her, Sisha had already passed straight through where the serpent had been and arrived in front of Marcy. Not a single drop landed on her.

With a light flick of her blade, Marcy reacted a beat too slow. Her silver sword was knocked away by Sisha, and the blade was then laid against her neck.

“You...”

There was shock in Marcy’s eyes, but also anger. Sisha had just slain the blood serpent, and Marcy had suffered backlash from it as well. Her vitality was badly damaged, and she glared at Sisha in fury and frustration.

The nobles in the hall had treated this duel as entertainment, but the strength Sisha displayed now had far exceeded their expectations.

If she could defeat Marcy, then Sisha’s strength had to be at least at the Seventh Tier. And her foundation at the Seventh Tier was far more solid than Marcy’s.

When had she advanced two levels in a row? She had only gone to the human Imperial Alliance once, and after that she improved by leaps and bounds. What exactly happened? Kristin frowned as she looked at Sisha’s back.

Sisha spun her sword in a flourish, shook the blood from it, and sheathed it again. Then she returned to kneel on one knee beneath the throne.

The old Empress was deeply surprised by Sisha’s performance as well.

“Sisha, it seems that before I knew it, you’ve already grown.” The old Empress was surprised, though not exactly pleased. After a pause, she said, “Very well. I’ll give you a chance. If you can defeat your other elder sisters, then it’s not impossible that this throne could be yielded to you.”

“Thank you, Mother.” Sisha lowered her head slightly as she spoke.

This is bad.

Alarm bells rang in Kristin’s heart.

Originally, the struggle for the throne was a matter for the elder princesses. It had nothing to do with the younger ones behind them, who lacked both age and strength. For those lower-ranked princesses, their only role had been political marriage. But now, Sisha had broken that rule.

Now that Sisha had the qualifications to compete for the throne, it was no longer likely that she would be married off to him. No matter what, he couldn’t let that happen. He absolutely couldn’t allow Sisha to keep growing stronger and enter the succession race.

And the reason Sisha had grown stronger came from Nanzhou, in the human Imperial Alliance.

“Light, go to the human side and investigate. Find out exactly who assisted Sisha and who helped her,” Kristin said, pulling a subordinate closer and whispering into his ear. “If they can be dealt with, then deal with them in secret first.”

“Yes.” The subordinate named Light answered softly.

He glanced around the hall. No one was paying attention to this side. So he quietly slipped out of the crowd, left the hall, turned into a black shadow, and swiftly vanished into stealth.

...

...

Lu Feng sat in front of his computer, one hand on the keyboard and the other gripping the mouse, frowning as he racked his brains.

He’d started writing a novel just to kill time, but before he even hit fifty thousand characters, he got stuck.

He closed his eyes and swayed his head back and forth, checked his phone for a while, then stared blankly out the window for a bit, and came to a realization.

Sure enough, I’m really not cut out for writing novels.

Writing this stuff wasn’t even half as satisfying as gaming.

So Lu Feng opened the author dashboard and created a new chapter. With a few quick taps on the keyboard, he typed in the title: Update Paused, Deepest Apologies.

Main text: Due to being busy with various matters, I can only pause updates for one day.

Lu Feng thought about it and felt that what he wrote still wasn’t quite right, so he added a few more words.

“Deepest apologies. Due to being busy with various matters, and also feeling unwell, I can only pause updates for one day qwq.”

Actually, the main reason for the break was that Lu Feng was lazy. Too lazy to think, and even lazier to write.

He added an emoji at the end, then clicked “Confirm Edit” and posted the new chapter.

Even though he knew no one would see his apology chapter, and no one would urge him to update anyway, he still wanted to post something for himself, just to prove he existed.

After that, Lu Feng clicked back into his novel page and saw the number “10” displayed under his bookmarks.

Now I’m a man with double-digit bookmarks.

Lu Feng felt a little satisfied.

Out of those ten bookmarks, five came from mutual support with other authors, plus one from himself and one from his alt account. That still meant he had three real fans.

Back when he had just started posting the book, he checked his bookmarks almost every half hour, watching the number slowly rise step by step.

But now, even though he knew full well he was a flop, he still checked his bookmark count whenever he had nothing better to do.

No patients came to his clinic, and his side gig was a flop too. Sure enough, he was weak, useless, and only especially talented at eating.

Would any customers come in today?

Lu Feng looked toward the door, and suddenly noticed that two people had come in.

A woman with a child.

Speak of business, and business arrives. Lu Feng immediately got up with a bright smile and went to greet them.